I was so excited to host our house in our upstairs apartment for this exchange and wanted to add some great food to a memorable night! I went through several different menu ideas but finally landed on this. I knew there was something everyone could enjoy, but surprisingly, even those who didn’t like certain foods before ended up trying and loving them. I hope you can take some inspiration for a night with friends and family or keep it all to yourself!

I started by preparing the ragu the day before and knew this 3.5 lb chuck roast was going to take a good long while in the slow cooker. I seared it before putting it in the pot with carrots, onion, celery, garlic, tomato puree, red wine, beef broth, rosemary, and basil. After almost 12 hours of cooking on low, I shredded the meat and let it cook in the sauce a little longer before putting it in the fridge for the next night. I also made the Nutella peppermint bark and put it straight into the freezer so it would break easily the next day. I simply spread some Nutella on parchment paper lining a sheet pan, sprinkled broken candy canes, and drizzled some white chocolate on top.

On the day of the party, I ran by Trader Joe's to get some burrata, Wisconsin Cheddar, and some last-minute ingredients. I started by making the butter for my garlic bread, which was well-known in my college business endeavor, Pastabilities. I would typically use a loaf of Italian bread for this but got a baguette for tonight since we had other sides. I like to broil my garlic bread on high to really toast the bread, which I did right before dinner was served so they were fresh. I then roasted the cauliflower with olive oil, salt, and pepper and kept it warm in the oven. Such an easy and simple addition to a meal. Next, for the Caprese salad, I sliced some Roma tomatoes, drizzled them in olive oil, and mixed in some salt and pepper. After removing the stracciatella from the burrata, and saving the fresh mozzarella for another day, I added lots of fresh basil, lemon zest, salt, and pepper. After putting it on the salad, I topped the whole thing off with ripped fresh basil. A fantastic creamy caprese salad with a bit more freshness to it. Finally, before serving everything, I cooked some polenta in chicken broth with brown butter, and after it was done cooking, added in the cheddar from Wisconsin. Safe to say, a few of us had a couple trips back to the kitchen after the first serving.

I made some well-sized meringues when I was at my parent's house, and brought them home for this meal. When preparing these cookies, I made sure there was a well in it, so the whipped cream and lemon curd wouldn’t slide right off. The whipped cream was homemade with brown sugar and vanilla, topped with some lemon curd. I tried to blend it into the cream a bit. Some chopped strawberries and raspberries were the perfect addition to this dessert. I served it with a couple pieces of the Nutella bark so there was something fruity and something chocolatey.