Italian Menu Ideas:
I had as much fun working to create this table as I did with creating the menu. I chose a simple cream paper-stock with a Sketch-flow font for the look. I wanted to give the table a more casual to semi-casual look, and felt that the font helped accomplish that. I did also originally have the menu in a frame but felt a simple border would be better than the heavier looking frame.
The Starter for this menu is pretty much the same as you would have at any Italian restaurant, except you get to pick the cheeses, yummm! I always love adding fruit as well, here grapes and cheese go well together. If I had my choice of cheeses for this particular table, I would probably go with Percorino, a harder cheese. Sourdough Bread is a must and goes well with dipping oil (don’t forget to add a little balsamic and Parmesan). For the garlic butter, I make sure to grab unsalted butter and let it soften and then I roast 4 or 5 five cloves of garlic and mix mix mix!
For the Main dish, I enjoyed the caprese salad with the gnocchi. Somehow the fresh mozzarella and tomatoes lightened up the heaviness of the gnocchi. I usually go for the big slices of mozzarella, fresh basil leaves and a red wine balsamic, oh and sea salt, regular salt just won’t do (unless, that’s all you have then of course use it!) 🙂
For dessert, the peaches dish was inspired by the book Bring Tuscany Home(page 180) where the gnocchi recipe was inspired from as well and since peaches are in full season here right now, it just seemed like kismet. I simplified a few of the steps to make the dessert a quick end to the meal.
Enjoy!
MENU
STARTERS
Table Grapes
Sourdough Bread
Dipping oil + Garlic Butter
Cheese Board
MAIN
Caprese Salad
Gnocchi with Meat Sauce
DESSERT
Roasted Peaches with Toasted Almonds and Heavy Cream
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