Brian made Ricotta Dumplings in Broth. This was a yummy dish. The broth was a joy to just sit and sip, and to steal Revi’s very apt description – the dumplings tasted like little donuts.

Cori made Liver Pate. People’s feelings about liver were a mixed bag, but I like it and quite enjoyed the pate. It was a great spread for the nice bread slices she brought.

Rachel made Small Cheese Crackers. I think this is something of a misnomer, as they were less like crackers and more like cheese filled pastries, where the dough was a potato, flour, and butter mixture. Rachel felt that they could have used more cheese filling, and I agree.

Catie made Shrimp Bites. I was super excited about how these sounded, and I loved the green color from the parsley. But I was disappointed to find them a bit bland, and would cut way down on the amount of flour used.

Catie also made Roasted Bell Peppers. Such a simple dish, but one you can’t really go wrong with. The roasting brings out all of the natural sweetness of the peppers, and it only takes a little olive oil, garlic, and basil to punch it up.

Rachel also made Marinated Eggplant. This was a surprise favorite for me. It had so much depth of flavor with a little bit of spice and garlic, and especially the zing of the capers and the freshness of the mint.

I made Glazed Radishes. Radishes are so often served raw, so I was interested to experiment with cooking them. I really liked how it took away their bite and brought out a ton of unexpected sweetness and buttery goodness (there’s a lot of butter!). The recipe said to cover while cooking down the liquid, but after 45 minutes and little progress I removed the lid.

Paris made Salad with Herb Dressing. The salad had a bunch of varying crunchy textures that were really nice, and the flavor was great with the olives and wonderful dressing packed with a variety of different herbs.

Riley made Pasta Salad with Radicchio. When she introduced her dish, she said it was weird. I wasn’t sure what she meant by that, until I took a bite. It seemed like an odd mixture of things that didn’t know what it wanted to be – like both the salad contents and the dressing were compiled from whatever happened to be leftover in the fridge.

Shayna made Pappardelle with Mushrooms. I’m a fan of pasta and mushrooms, but this dish bordered on bland. It helped to grate on more of the extra parmesan that Shayna thankfully had brought along, but even then I think just a bit more salt would have enhanced the flavors.

Erin made Valle D’Aosta Polenta Pasticciata (baked polenta with fontina). While not a dish that would blow your mind with its uniqueness, it was polenta with a lot of melty cheese, so it was a crowd pleaser that no one was sad to be eating.

Laura made Spaghetti Carbonara. There’s a reason this is a popular Italian standard – what’s not to like about pasta with pancetta, garlic, egg, and cheese!? I love how the egg cooks from the heat of the pasta and helps all the flavors stick.

Domenica made Sartu. I had never heard of Sartu before, but it’s an incredible sort of risotto casserole with a filling surprise. Domenica started cooking it a day in advance because of all the filling elements (meatballs, mushrooms, chicken livers, sausage and cheese), and she had a hard time getting it out of the mold, but I was quite happy to eat the fruits of here labor.

Erin also made Rabbit Stew with Walnuts. I adore rabbit and am so excited on the rare occasions when I have the chance to eat it. This was in a tasty cream and wine sauce, but the meat wasn’t as tender as I’d hoped it would be, and I found the walnuts somehow distracting.

Anthony made Strawberry Preserves, which he served layered between strawberry cake and topped with whipped cream. I always enjoy his cakes and think this was a good application for the preserves, but can think of lots of other delicious ways to use them as well.

Revi made Chocolate Salami. As Revi put it – it’s basically fudge. And there’s nothing wrong with that! Plus I love the presentation of it, with the biscuits and the dusting of powdered sugar really making it look like salami.