Party Recipe: Fall Dinner with Friends

Jill and Peter are coming over for dinner tomorrow night at 8:00. I bought a couple packages of pumpkin gnocchi from Lucca’s last week and we have some elk meat that a friend brought us from Colorado. How should I put all this together into a dinner party? Here’s the recipe so far:

• Elk – Not surprisingly, Epicurious.com is lacking when it comes to recipes for elk. The Minnesota Elk Breeders Association recommends just cooking it with a spice rub and a bit of olive oil. Maybe throw some mushrooms in there too?
• Gnocchi – I’ll use the pumpkin variety with this recipe for a sage and white truffle sauce.
• Salad – Plain mixed greens with some apples and a balsamic dressing should hit the spot.
• Dessert – Baked apples with vanilla ice cream sound perfect to me.
• Wine – We’ll need some bold reds to stand up to the elk and sage!
• Decor – I have a bouquet of red lilies that should be at their peak on Tuesday. Combine that with beige placemats, an orange runner (thanks Margaret!), candles and red and white napkins.

The elk may be a challenge! The rest seems pretty simple though. It will be great to catch up with them. Peter is just back from touring Europe with his band and should have lots of stories to tell!