The Rustic Italian Feast...

I promised you I'd share the menu from the charity dinner held at our Chicago home a few weeks ago. Today's the day.

As I go through the menu, I'll make a few comments about how you have access to all of the recipes.

When I do a dinner like this, I try to offer a selection of appetizers. In order to make my life easy, I try to make a few of them ahead. That way I am just reheating most things and one item will come from the oven, baked on the spot. Oftentimes it's a focaccia.

This focaccia had Calmyra figs, prosciutto, green onion and Stracchino Italian cheese. The theme of the evening was Rustic Italian, so everything you're going to read about fits that style. The nice thing about my focaccia recipes is you can vary them for whatever you're hungry for. Just go to my web site at www.dinnerwithzola.com and look under Appetizers for a focaccia recipe. Follow the instructions for thawing the dough, but choose your own ingredients to go on top. Don't be shy. Experiment.

The appetizers we had that evening in addition to the focaccia included Balsamic-Roasted Exotic Mushrooms with White Truffle Olive Oil Glaze. (You got this recipe last week.) You also got the one for the zippy peppers (Colorful Peppers with Zip). I served these appetizers (or "little plates") with Irish-buttered garlic and herb crostini. Zola Nuts were on the menu, as well as cubed Parmesan. Try it sometime. Just take a really good Parmesan cheese and cut it into tiny cubes. They are great with a glass of wine and they melt in your mouth.

For dinner we started off with Zola's Caesar Salad (on the web site) with Parmesan cracker wheels. Someday I'll teach you how to make those. You'll laugh when you find out how easy it is. My buddies Nina and Jacob were helping with the dinner prep and service. Even Jacob couldn't wait to go home and make the Parmesan crackers. Great instead of croutons.

The main course was the Italian Chicken and Sausage Trattoria Style (basically a Rustic Italian sausage stew). (The recipe is on the web site. You learned about this one a few weeks ago.) On the side we had tri-colored orzo with Parmesan and creamed leeks.

For dessert, I do a buffet when there are enough people and it's a fancy enough occasion.

This time we had The Dom De Luise Family's Pistachio Cake with a Zola Twist. (You've gotten that recipe and even a picture. It's on the web site now.) The reason I made the cake is the dinner was the day after St. Patrick's Day and the cake is green. You should have seen the faces of our guests when we had a guest appearance by a REAL leprechaun! He was visiting the Irish pub downstairs on the street level, and I arranged for him to come visit our place. It was a real hoot. Guests went home with pictures of themselves with the leprechaun.

The other desserts were an ooey-gooey Chambord-Godiva brownie torte (French Chocolate Brownie Tort, on web site) and a special coffee drink. The coffee drink is called "Affogato." I'm going to share that recipe with you today. Affogato translated from the Italian is "drowned" or "drunken." It's a dessert in itself! My Italian buddy Claudio shared this traditional coffee drink with me, and now I am sharing it with you.

Affogato "Drowned Coffee"

Per person

1 small scoop vanilla or caramel ice cream
1 serving espresso or strong coffee
1 shot of whiskey (Canadian whiskey, not Scotch whiskey)
Whipped cream

Put your scoop of ice cream in a large coffee cup. Mugs would work well too. Top it off with the espresso or coffee to just about fill the coffee cup. (Instead of making individual servings of espresso, I just brewed espresso ground coffee in my regular coffee maker. Worked great and took a lot less time. For this kind of a drink you don't need to fuss over an espresso maker if you don't have the time or the inclination.) Put in your shot of whiskey and top with whipped cream. No need to stir. You can serve it with a spoon if you'd like. The ice cream will melt right into the coffee so you're good to go either way.

Enjoy!