A Quick Trip to Venice via a Dinner Party

Photo of Venice by Onofrio Paccione hangs in our dining room.

I imagine the fog lifting over the canals. The painted shutters framing the windows on the ancient faded, orange, and pink stucco architecture.  The scene looks like a mirage, a ghost of a city from a very long time ago.  As I get closer , as the boat drifts nearer, the city suddenly comes to life. I am an eager visitor, ready to be let in. I wonder what is going on inside the palazzo’s, the shops, the wine bars. Who are these Venetian people .  I imagine that I live here, giving a dinner party.

I am under the spell of this city. I walk to the market to shop for ingredients, looking  and going in and out of each stall.

Elegant, fashionable, mysterious. Venice is a stage, an opera and a carnivale day in and day out. The people, the actors dressed  in voluptuous  draped and pleated silk fabrics, embroidered passementerie (elaborate trimmings).

I created a dinner, themed Sheila’s Venetian Room and I invited friends to Venice for dinner. I played the Dogaressa.

A perfect theme for entertaining . As a joke, I made up a the bill that was given to one of my guests at the closing of the meal.

Here's the bill that I presented ( as a joke) at the closing of the meal. It was presented in an American Express bill holder- one you would receive at a restaurant.

The menu for the evening was entered in my journal, 
as seen below.

Journal page from 1990. Note the Harry's Bar Martini pitcher.

The Menu:

Hors D'oeuvres:

Nuts, Olives

Wild Mushroom Tart

Martinis

First Course:

Paglia e Fieno

Main Course:

Sogliole in Saor
(marinated fried sole Venetian style)

Potate Arrost Al Limone e Rosemarino

Dessert:

Zabaglione Fragole

Biscotti

Recipes:

Sogliole in Saor

 from Giuliano Bugiali's Foods of Italy 

Marinated Fried Sole Venetian Style

2 lbs Sole fillets cut into pieces
2 by 4 inches

For the marinade:

4 large eggs

¼ cup milk

pinch of salt

For the sauce:

1 large onion finely chopped 

½ cup extra virgin olive oil

4 tablespoons sweet butter

4 bay leaves
10 whole black peppercorns

½ cup white wine vinegar

1 cup water
salt and freshly ground black pepper

¼ cup raisins

2 tablespoons toasted pine nuts
For the fish:

1 cup bread crumbs
1 quart vegetable oil
4 tablespoons sweet butter

Cut the sole fillets into pieces, 3 by 4 inches.

Lightly beat the eggs, mix in the milk and the salt. Add the fish pieces and mix well. Let the fish marinate for 1 hour. 

Prepare the sauce:
Heat the butter and the oil in a heavy saucepan over medium heat.

Saute the onion over low heat until they are translucent, about 5 minutes.
  Add the peppercorns, bay leaves and wine vinegar to the pan and cook for 2 minutes. Then add the water and simmer for 30 minutes. Keep the sauce warm while cooking the fish.

Finely chop the parsley and garlic together. Soak the raisins in a bowl of lukewarm water for 15 minutes. 

In a deep fryer or heavy deep pan, heat the oil with the butter to about 375 degrees F.
Remove the fish pieces from the marinade and one at a time bread them on both sides, pressing the bread crumbs to adhere. Fry several pieces quickly in the hot oil, turning them over once. Drain  well and place the fillet pieces  on a serving platter and sprinkle with the chopped ingredients.

Drain the raisins, pat them dry with paper towels and spread them all over the fish  along with the pine nuts.

Pour the reduced hot sauce over the fish. Cover with aluminum foil and allow the fish to stand for at least one hour before serving.

Drawing of platter with Sogliole in saor.

I obviously love travel, whether vicarious or real. I am excited about experiencing the cuisines of different cultures. By creating some of my dinner themes as cuisines of different places, it lets me look forward to an exciting new journey and I invite my friends to come along.

I would love for any of you to write me about having dinner in someone's home in a different country, and share the adventure and experience so that I can share it with all of you who read my blog.