We celebrated John’s birthday with an elegant dinner party at home. We created a steakhouse dinner menu, and to make the night extra special, we served up signature cocktails and an elevated Funfetti cake.
Our Menu
- Dirty Shirley
- Romaine Stack
- Filet Mignon
- Funfetti Cake
We started the night with the Dirty Shirley. Dirty Shirley was the “drink of the summer” for 2022, so we wanted to do our spin on it with homemade pomegranate syrup, Lemon Limeade Spindrift, and Luxardo Cherries.
Plan ahead and make the pomegranate syrup in advance. Combine 16 oz. of pomegranate juice with 1/4 cup of granulated sugar in a small pot over low heat. Gently simmer for about 45 minutes until reduced by half. Carefully pour into an airtight jar and store in the fridge.
To make the cocktail version, pour 2 oz. of vodka and 1.5 oz. of pomegranate syrup into a tall glass with ice then top with lemon-lime sparkling water. Garnish with Luxardo cherries. For the mocktail version, simply omit the vodka.
We served all the food family-style at the table. One of our favorite dishes at steakhouses is the wedge salad. We switched out the typical iceberg lettuce for more flavorful romaine and stacked all the ingredients on a large platter for serving. To assemble our Romaine Stack, layer romaine leaves with diced tomatoes, pancetta, blue cheese, chives, and Smitten Kitchen’s buttermilk dressing (recipe below).
Buttermilk Dressing from Smitten Kitchen
Ingredients
1/2 cup well-shaken buttermilk
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 small garlic clove (minced)
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper
Whisk ingredients together until smooth and season to taste.
We ended the night with Funfetti Cake, a childhood favorite! We used the standard Funfetti Mix from Pillsbury but to elevate the cake, we made a homemade vanilla buttercream. To decorate, we put as many rainbow sprinkles as possible on top and added tall candles.
