It was a pleasure to host a dinner party for our friends Robert, Robert, Maggie and Marcia tonight at our house! It was great to catch up with Marcia who is visiting from New York City.

The menu for tonight was inspired by our “Vino Italiano: The Regional Wines of Italy” book. Vino Italiano is the only comprehensive and authoritative American guide to the wines of Italy. It surveys the country’s wine-producing regions; identifies key wine styles, producers, and vintages; and offers delicious regional recipes from Mario Batali and Lidia Bastianich.

Whenever we dine at a Italian restaurant, I’m always draw to the slow cooked beef/pork dishes that exudes lots of flavor — it’s always my favorite!! Lo and behold…. I found a great recipe in the Tuscan section of the Vino Italiano book. The only concern is that it calls for ‘wild boar.’ I called all the exclusive markets (see links page) in San Francisco and surprisingly none of them carry boar (not even the Valencia Fish and Poultry market that I mistakenly called….haha). Brendan at Molly’s Stone suggested that we place the order in advance from Nicky’s USA. We decided to substitue the boar for pork; as the book suggested.

To successfully cook the ragu dish, it requires two critical ingredients: (a) fresh pasta, and (b) a full bottle of chianti wine. The next best thing to homemade pasta is the fresh pasta at “Lucca Ravioli” on Valencia Street! Since the dish is a hearty ragu style, Steve at Lucca recommended the pappadelle versus the fettuccini ribbons. I agreed to buy the last 2 ½ pounds sheets and dashed off to my next stop — K&L Wine Shop for the chianti. Nic at K&L mentioned that Chianti is a region in Tuscany and that the grape is Sangiovese. Since the wine is purely for cooking, he recommended the “Martima Sangiovese 2010” for a reasonable price of $7.99! Sold!!

Here is our elaborate ‘bon vivant’ San Francisco-Italian style menu:

• Apertif: St. Germain and Gloria Ferrer Brut Champagne Cocktail
• Amuse bouché: Roasted shrimp with salsa verde (Züm Mosel Riesling 2010)
• Appetizer: Cantaloupe hybrid melon with prosciutto and olive oil pasilla peppers (Lucas Zin Blossom Lodi 2010)
• Main course: Slow roasted pork ragu with homemade pappadelle pasta. This was served with sautéed heirloom zucchini drizzled with Monterey cheese, roasted golden beets with tangerine zest and fresh cardamom pods. (Avignonesi Desiderio Merlot Cortona 2006 and Foxen William-Doré Vineyard Santa Ynez Valley 2005)
• Dessert: Rob’s homemade cherry pie with Bailey’s and hot tea

We can’t wait to try this menu again with a true wild boar! The recipe for most of the dishes above (expect for the ragu) were originated from my love-bug!! My husband is definitely a polymath! What a great evening with friends!