Simple springtime menu for dinner with friends

I love inviting friends for dinner, especially on the weekend when I can have a bit of time away from writing my latest novel. Planning a menu and cooking it is then a pleasure. I want to produce something delicious, good-looking and intriguing. But I do try not to overdo it and make things so complicated I can't also loaf around and read the weekend papers at my leisure!

So here's a dinner I made very recently, which fulfilled all the criteria above.

Entree: spinach and sorrel soup(recipe in previous post)
Main course: Meat: Pork medallions with sauce Robert--which is made by sauteeing some sliced onion in butter, adding a little flour, splash of white wine(though I added vodka, which worked well!), stock, stir well till thick. Add some herbs(I added chopped sage as it was for pork), and then in a bowl stir a tablespoon of white wine or cider vinegar, a spoonful of mustard and one of tomato puree together. Stir this into the hot sauce, and serve over the pan-braised pork.
Vegetables: the first new potatoes out of the garden! And artichoke hearts, also out of the garden, stir-fried with garlic and tomato.
Green salad.
Dessert: Chocolate Pithiviers pie (recipe in earlier post, here:  http://alamodefrangourou.blogspot.com.au/2011/05/deliciously-simple-pithiviers-pie.html

All of the elements of this menu are easy to make, look great and taste even better. I made the pie and the soup in the morning, so as not to have a mad rush at the end of the day. 

I love inviting friends for dinner, especially on the weekend when I can have a bit of time away from writing my latest novel. Planning a menu and cooking it is then a pleasure. I want to produce something delicious, good-looking and intriguing. But I do try not to overdo it and make things so complicated I can't also loaf around and read the weekend papers at my leisure!

So here's a dinner I made very recently, which fulfilled all the criteria above.

Entree: spinach and sorrel soup(recipe in previous post)
Main course: Meat: Pork medallions with sauce Robert--which is made by sauteeing some sliced onion in butter, adding a little flour, splash of white wine(though I added vodka, which worked well!), stock, stir well till thick. Add some herbs(I added chopped sage as it was for pork), and then in a bowl stir a tablespoon of white wine or cider vinegar, a spoonful of mustard and one of tomato puree together. Stir this into the hot sauce, and serve over the pan-braised pork.
Vegetables: the first new potatoes out of the garden! And artichoke hearts, also out of the garden, stir-fried with garlic and tomato.
Green salad.
Dessert: Chocolate Pithiviers pie (recipe in earlier post, here:  http://alamodefrangourou.blogspot.com.au/2011/05/deliciously-simple-pithiviers-pie.html

All of the elements of this menu are easy to make, look great and taste even better. I made the pie and the soup in the morning, so as not to have a mad rush at the end of the day.