Tonight we had a few of Karen’s friends (and now our friends!) over for dinner to unite over a love for Charlottesville and a love for wine.
Bill and Gayle are the son and daughter-in-law of Jack + Jamie Davies, who bought Schramsberg Winery in Napa Valley in 1965. Karen met them at the Cville Film Festival and knew we should get together to talk wine.
Tracy and Clayton are Karen’s other great friends from Madison County and we’ve enjoyed getting to know them since moving here (we went to their Christmas party!)
MY OTHER RECIPES
Appetizers for the group – simple, Barefoot Contessa style
The Davies brought a bottle of Brut Rose, which we uncorked and tasted around the room. I loved it! It had the structure of a wine with all the bubbles you’d expecting from a sparkling.
We also enjoyed a Prince Michel Symbius that Tracy and Clayton brought (LOVE that one!) and a white merlot Matt and Karen picked out for the evening. I tasted both throughout our dinner.
To eat we served a classic – Bleu Cheese + Date Stuffed Pork Tenderloin (local from the Organic Butcher!)
Matt took two tenderloins and butterflied them, and then butterflied those pieces and layered in a mash of chopped dates and our favorite D’Auvergne Bleu Cheese. Tie ‘em up with baker’s twine and bake for about 30-45 minutes at 400* until pork reaches desired temperature
We also served maple + garlic sauteed kale
Karen made a parmesan jasmine rice
And her No Knead Bread
Delicious!!
Dessert was especially scrumptious!! Apple Pie bake topped with vanilla bean ice cream!!
And decaf coffee for us adults 🙂
‘Twas a super fun night – we love to entertain! We’re having Great Harvest for dinner on Wednesday night and friends over on Valentine’s a week from today! Gonna be a busy one.
Dishes to do!
I LOVE me some wine!That dinner looks DELISH 🙂
That tenderloin sounds ridiculously delicious! Glad you had a fun adult party! 😀
Everything looks wonderful! Love the stuffed tenderloin, it’s one of my favorite meats. I need to try it with bleu cheese.
Are those fresh olives?!
Your dinner looks fantastic, Kath! I love wine tasting. Looks like you had a lovely dinner 🙂
Those grapes look SO juicy! I miss grapes, they are so darn expensive! Looks like you had a fun night Kath, the food is beautiful!:)
That salad looked especially amazing. Was it all as tasty as it looks?! 😉
There’s nothing like good wine! What a lovely night.
Looks fantastic and relaxing! 🙂
That tenderloin sounds amaaazing! The evening looks like it was wonderful.
What a great way to enjoy a weekend with family and friends 🙂 Salute!
Your dinner looks good and your dessert looks AMAZING!
I’ve never had a white merlot- yum! I’ll have to look for one next time!
I love sautéing greens in maple, garlic gold, and bragg’s liquid aminos. So simple and sweet, yet gives the best flavor to the greens 🙂
There is nothing like great food with great company. Glad you had a wonderful evening. I would be all over that apple pie and vanilla ice cream! Mmmm! 🙂
bleu cheese and date stuffed pork? Holy crap that sounds so delicious!!!
aaaah you’re so grown up indeed!
I think the dessert looked the best out of all the goodness!
My husband and I have actually been to the Schramsberg winery in Napa. It is out of this world. Fun fact about the winery…the Brut Rose was the first U.S champagne served at a royal setting. Sounded like a fab dinner btw!
Wow that looks like it was an *amazing* spread!!! So glad y’all had such a good time.
That is so crazy that you love Bleu d’Auvergne cheese because I happen to LIVE in that region of France! And you are certainly right, it is SO good 🙂
Woah that meat looks SO good. As does the apple pie and icecream – officially envious of your snacks now! 🙂
This post is amazing!
Schramsberg Winery in Napa – have been to it! And i looooooove rose bubblies. I have had that brut rose and it’s great!
And I also love Barefoot Contessa. I just posted twice last week about my love for Ina (and Jeffrey :))
What a fun nite for you!
That parmesan rice dish looks amazing? Any chance of sneaking the recipe for us? 🙂
women and wine. we all age well. delicious looking dinner
wow,what a great dinner – looks like you’ve got the entertaining piece down!
That pork looks great! I love stuffing tenderloins, the options are endless!
Mmm…lovely dinner! Especially the dessert. 😉
Glad you guys had a fun night! 😀
What a fun night! I love wine so I would of loved trying new ones, I will have to write down the one you said you loved! My fiance and I love finding a new wine!
I was looking for what dessert was and yum, there it is, the apple pie heaven , lol!
How exciting you will be having great harvest over for dinner next week, cant wait to see what you guys have planned for dinner then : )
What a fabulous dinner party! The food looks amazing and the wine sounds amazing! Great new friends too. 🙂
Looks like such a fun night! Reminds me of one of my favorite dinners that my mom makes :).
Yum! That looks incredibly delicious!
what a blast and a great menu! i love dinner parties. maybe i’ll grow up one day to host 😉
The dinner looks great! Dates, blue cheese, pork tenderloin… yes please!
You guys are so creative in your cooking! Everything looks amazing, and the photos are fabulous.
You all are classy down there in the south! 🙂 Looks like you had a great night!
This looks like my dream night! 🙂
We almost Schramsberg in Napa… it will certainly be on my list next time.
YUM! This looks amazing. You may have to post a recipe for both the rice and the pork sometime soon.
If you ever hop on the blogger book bandwagon, yours should be about entertaining. You and Matt always host the best dinners for your friends! 🙂
: )
Fabulous appetizers! All you need is a little brie cheese and a baguette.
You. NEED. To write a cookbook. Seriously.
Thank you 🙂
mmm, all that food looks amazing!
Everything looks so good! I especially like the idea of a date-stuffed pork tenderloin. Scrumptious!
What a fun night!!
Clayton is totally talking about a riddler and how champagne gets its bubbles in that picture, isn’t he!? 🙂
YES! Except it was Bill talking, not Clayton 🙂
I’m glad it was a fun evening. This is strange, but i had a dream i was at your party and you ran out of plates 🙂 Cheers
What gorgeous food! The dessert looks especially amazing 🙂 Glad you had fun!
How fun and very adult like.
what a fabulous meal…everything looks and sounds delicious!
Good food, good wine, great night. Looks like fun!
I love bubbly wine : ) looks like you had a great night with such gorgeous food! I agree with MonsteRawr ^ you do need to write a cookbook! I know throw that in the mix of all the chaos of opening a bakery! lol maybe one day!? : )
My mouth is watering; the kale, the jasmine rice…the apple pie. What a beautiful dinner, Kath; this looks like it was so much fun. Enjoy your Sunday and keep warm!
Wow, such an elegant evening! So grown up! 😉
Wow that pork looks amazing! You guys are so classy with your dinner party!
That dinner looks incredible! I wish I had a plate sitting in front of me right now!
What a wonderful dinner! Everything looks so delicious!
I’d been waiting to see your dinner party menu!
Stuffed pork tenderloin is awesome, I usually do mine with spinach and goat cheese.
What wonderful, adoring fans you have, Kath! Wish you all could have been there to taste the incredible food! It’s great to know that there are so many out there who appreciate crafted food and wines!! woot!
What a wonderful delicious dinner! I actually had pork tenderloin yesterday too but yours looks excellent
Looks great. Would love the recipe for that parmesan rice.
Thanks.
Ann
I love Schramsberg! A few years ago we did the cave tasting and I can’t wait to do it again. My favorite is the Cremant.
Just catching up on your posts after a long trip. I love Schramsberg. It’s on my cycling route as well.
The dinner looks amazing!