A Seven Deadly Sins Dinner Party
I’m feeling more than a little gelatinous right now. Still digesting the weekend.
I may have mentioned our dinner club in the past (remember the Southern feast with peach cobblah and sour cream ice cream? and the slightly less appetizing vintage Kraft party with processed cheese slice tablecloth?) – it was our turn to host, which meant getting to choose a theme. All the great ideas I had back when it wasn’t my turn were long gone, and so after mixed reactions to the suggestion of an evening based on this photo, I took a Twitter suggestion to do the Seven Deadly Sins – greed, lust, envy, pride, gluttony, sloth and wrath. Everyone got to pick one sin and turn it into a course.
I, probably not surprisingly, went with gluttony for my food courses, and sloth as a decor theme (and dress code).
I missed out on a few photos, there being a dozen or so people over and it getting dark so much earlier these days. One of those photos was of the beer and cheese fondue that S&I brought to represent sloth. (Don’t you think they should have ordered a pizza for sloth? Or showed up with nothing?)
M&A jumped on lust. They made fizzy drinks with Prosecco and Chambord, and floated halved fresh figs in them.
They assembled little appetizer plates for each couple; they steamed fresh artichokes and melted butter with thyme, and made Indian-inspired wraps with paneer and shredded marinated spiced veg, and hollowed out pomegranates and filled them with mildly sweet and aromatically spiced rice pudding. (That’s it at the top.) Then they told us all we had to eat them with our fingers (and preferably each others) – I’m just glad I didn’t have to eat an oyster.
Next was Pride, courtesy of P&V – sliders from In Search of Total Perfection by Heston Blumenthal, made with hand-ground brisket, short ribs and chuck. They made the cheese (similar to comté) and ketchup from scratch. I knew a photo wouldn’t have done these babies justice.
For the main we had a whole smoked turkey from Winter’s turkeys – a divine cross between turkey and ham that cooked, unstuffed for 3 hours (at 300F) before the party, acting as the very best potpourri and food foreplay all in one.
Wrath came from W&S – they made spicy scalloped potatoes, green beans and curried Brussels sprouts, all with a kick.
D&N brought a chocolate extravaganza (from Costco! cheater!) to represent Envy for dessert, which remained in part on our dining room table this morning and which got picked at for the rest of today, and which I have overdosed on.
And I, still in charge of gluttony, had to take advantage of a reason (can you think of any other?) to make a cherpumple. What’s a cherpumple? It’s whole pies baked into cakes. I’ll let the creator, Charles Phoenix, explain:
Rather than go with CHERry, PUMPkin and apPLE, as he instructs, we did just apple and cherry, with a white cake batter from scratch.
If you want the full pie-cake instructions, I posted them over here.
Must go digest now.
How did the cakepie taste?
Pretty good! Sweet!
Wowser, that cherpumple looks all sorts of evil.
Did you make the pies from scratch? I saw a recipe once that said to use store-bought ones which didn’t seem very appealing. I guess it cuts down on your prep time, right?
I should make one for my grandfather’s 85th. He always takes a slice of everything at Thanksgiving and Christmas – this way he can do it all in one pass.
OMG! That looks gross and delcious all at once! That video was hilarious! Thanks Julie!
The “Cherumple” video is hilarious! While slightly scary, a large part of me wants to make one!!
It’s the holidays made easy. Thanks.
Looks like a fun night! 🙂 That Cherumple omg it’s about as deadly as a dessert my Mom used to put together…I still dunno what to call it: mix together prepared jello coconut pudding with whipping cream, cut an angel food cake into cubes, mix the cake with the pudding mix, spread it in the bottom of a 9×13 pan, top with cherry pie filling, chill and serve.
WOAH! That dinner party looks quite deadly! And that cake pie looks quite interesting!
tomato jam – I am unable to locate the recipe that I thought you gave us in the last week or so, BUT, I could be having a moment and it could have been someone else…could you refresh my memory, please. thanks Julie – really enjoy your site…it makes my day!
Hey Julie! I think I like the look of your apple and cherry piecake best. What brand of pie did you use? What white cake recipe did you use? And finally, did you use your own icing or bought? Inquiring minds want to know.
Cheers!
Robyn
Hey! I posted more detailed instructions over at the Family Kitchen! You can see them here – http://su.pr/1rqpqg
Marilynn S: If I recall correctly-think Julie’s Tomato Jam recipe was in Swerve? I still have the issue if you need it I can email it – ericabellis@hotmail.com
You did what???!!!
…and ate it?!
I think I have a Cherpumple obsession…i’ve talked about it with every person I’ve talked to today…i may be the chair of the Cherpumple fan club soon….absolutely genius…or completely terrifying…still trying to decide.
Isn’t anything genius a little bit terrifying though??
I’m with Stacey! I have sent that video to all my friends! Wickedly scary dessert. Truly a sugar nightmare.
Wow…I saw this online a few months ago and I love that you made the cherpumple. Perfect for your party, I think.
Thanks for sharing your blog with us Julie, always a pleasure to read.
Robyn from Mountain Ontario: We will have an open house on Oct 16 & 17 from 12:00 to 4:30, at our kiosk, and we will be demonstrating how we make apple cider.
Come out, it’s free 🙂
MFO
Denise tells me to pass on the info that she infact made the chocolate covered strawberry from scratch! She sweat over it as she grated the chocolate by hand and stirred and stirred and stirred. She only bought the mouse from Costco!!!! She didn’t want anyone to think she can’t cook. And she still loves you…xoxox D
OMG Julie! Fantastic post 🙂 As usual. I had never heard of a CherPumple Cake before so that was a special highlight for me, thanks for including the video. I love that yours was made from scratch. Fabulous dinner theme, you are in inspiration.
Wow I have never heard of a cherpumple!!! Love the idea.