Nouveau Southern Dinner Party

Nouveau Southern Dinner Party

We enjoyed a small gathering last weekend of friends for appetizers and cocktails inspired by the South. We put our own twist on it, doing a duo of duos — two takes with modern twists — on Southern classics.

The menu was as follows:

• Homemade Pimento Cheese Spread on Crostini (http://vinoevittles.blogspot.com/2010/07/pimento-cheese-recipe.html)
  
• Southern Pickle Platter: with pickled green tomatoes, okra and sweet petite gherkins
• Double Oink Roll-ups: sausage balls wrapped in bacon and baked with a brown sugar and mustard glaze
• Chicken Wing Duo: traditional spicy and Memphis Rendezvous barbecue style. Served with homemade buttermilk blue cheese dressing and crudité (http://vinoevittles.blogspot.com/2010/09/bama-baked-wings-recipe-offers-healthy.html)
  
• Duo of Deviled Eggs: avocado and cayenne eggs, as well as traditional made with sweet gherkins and garnished with smoked Spanish paprika
• Red Velvet Cupcakes for dessert with Cream Cheese frosting (the beautiful cupcake liners are from Sutton Gourmet Paper www.suttongourmetpaper.com) I like Martha Stewart's recipe for the cupcakes and frosting.
• Cocktails: A Drunken Arnold Palmer (made with Firefly Sweet Tea Vodka and homemade lemonade) and an Alabama Sunset (made with brandy, prosecco and muddles blackberries and sugar)