Delicious Saturday night

The husband and I have some really wonderful friends. This past Saturday, we got together with six of them. I like these people. We always have a great time when we hang out with them. The other big bonus -- we always have great food as well.

We haven't had a dinner with them for a couple of months. Then I saw this recipe. And I knew I had to make it. I sent around an e-mail with the link to get everyone else drooling. We picked a date. I counted down to said date.

We usually do a "first come first served" dibs system. I wanted to make the torte and a pound cake I've been eyeing. One couple provided the house and an amazing smoked pork shoulder. (He uses Alton Brown's flowerpot smoker) Another brought prosciutto and parmesan wrapped green beans and truffled macaroni and cheese also with prosciutto. The third brought a wonderful simple green salad with walnuts, goat cheese, and dried cranberries and a sangria. Do you now see why I really like these people?

The recipes I chose were spectacular. The feta torte was crispy on the outside and creamy and tangy on the inside. I could have eaten so much more than I did. I wanted to. I just knew what was coming and forced myself to walk away.

This is what the finished torte looked like.

And this is a cross section.

I could easily see myself making this again. I've thought about doing it in my mini bundt pans and adding spinach for a brunch. I will warn you that this recipe is not for the faint of heart. It contains three sticks of butter, one pound of feta cheese, three eggs, and one and a half pounds of cottage cheese. It is soooooo worth all the calories, though.

Along with the appetizer, I made the dessert. I've had the book Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey by Jill O'Connor for a while now. In keeping with my earlier vow this year to use more of my cookbooks, I decided to pull it out. The recipe for Brown Sugar Pound Cake caught my eye a while ago, but I've never had an occasion to make it. Tonight was the night. It looked simple to make. And it, too, sounded fabulous. It was easy to make. I should warn you that this recipe loaded up the calories as well. This one called for three more sticks of butter, eight ounces of cream cheese, one and a quarter cups of ground almonds, and six eggs. I served it with some rhubarb strawberry vanilla compote that I had made earlier in the day.

Here is my jar of compote.

Mmmmm. Ruby red goodness.

Here is what is left of the cake. It did not last long. Actually, there is nothing left of the cake. It makes me sad. We brought a bit of the cake home for the kids to try. The boy and girl gave it a huge thumbs up. Though, seriously, what's not to like?

It was a wonderful evening all around. Great company, delicious food, and some keeper recipes. Hope everyone else had some great food as well.