Please critique my dinner menu and ISO salad & dessert suggestions

[Barrie]

I'm having a vegan couple (I hope "vegan" is the right term - they eat eggs and dairy but no meat or poultry) over for dinner the weekend after next and I'm obsessing over the menu. Here's what I have planned so far:

Appetizer: Asiago Dip with Crostini (CL)
Entree: Butternut Squash and Hazelnut Lasagne (Gourmet)
Side: Roasted Asparagus w/Balsamic Browned Butter (CL)

I'm also going to make/buy some yummy bread to serve with dinner.

What do you think? Does it sound ok so far? Does anyone have any suggestions for a salad and dessert? Aside from our vegan friends' dietary restrictions, we also have a citrus allergy and an aversion to beets and tomatoes (my DF).

Thanks in advance for your help!

[beccathebaker]

Looks like a great menu. I would recommend a simple mixed greens salad-maybe with some arugula and clementine slices- that always looks pretty.

Because it looks like there will be a fairly good amount of cheese in your dinner, i would go with a light dessert, like sorbet or a fruit salad with yogurt dressing. It's also really fun to grill fruit like bananas and pineapple with a little rum! :)

Have fun- let us know what you decide.

-Becca

[Barrie]

Just bumping this up - hoping to get some more feedback on salad and dessert.

[chefbecky]

You could try a variation on the Italian White Bean-and-Artichoke Salad (it's posted on the CL Web site). I made it last night after rediscovering the recipe -- yum! It's more of a main dish salad, but you could pare it down a little to make it a side salad. I remember serving it once as a side to homemade pizza and everyone loved it!

It's basically spinach, red onion, artichoke hearts, provolone, green peppers, basil, parsley and white beans, with a really easy red wine vinaigrette. You could take out the provolone since you're having a lot of other cheese. And you could make it fancier by individually plating each salad with the ingredients arranged on top instead of tossing it. I highly recommend it!

[wonderwoman]

Your menu sounds wonderful, especially the lasagna. :)

My favorite Italian restaurant serves a zabaglione with mixed berries (strawberries, blueberries and blackberries, I think; maybe raspberries too -- guess I need DH to take me there again soon :D). They serve it cold. I don't know if you could lighten it, but there's a recipe on Food and Wine that I think would be similar. I thought CL had published its version last spring, but I couldn't find it on the Web site.

http://www.foodandwine.com/invoke.cfm?objectid=5EE99E37-6526-4567-9FE0408C38CCF073

[stomkow]

FYI

"Vegetarian" is the correct term... Vegans consume no animal food or dairy products....

[SusanMac]

There was an awesome dessert in the Dec issue called Sweet Potato Cake. It was very dense and flavorful, but not too sweet. I thought that might be a good complement to your squash and hazelnut lasagna.

The recipe called for canned sweet potatoes, but I cooked fresh ones and just mashed them (somehow I can't bring myself to eat potatoes in a can. seems weird to me) It's one of my favorite CL cakes, probably because it's not typical (I got a few weird looks from guests when I told them what it was. Vegans probably won't flinch!)

[Deanna]

I once knew a person who was vegan; not only would he not consume any animal products, he would not use soap or shampoo made from any animal fat, nor would he wear or use any products made from leather, cowhide or animal skin.

That was my education on vegan-ism.