Last week, I invited my friends Jen and Nate over for dinner. Because we share a love of all things Disney-related, we decided to frame our dinner around the song “Be Our Guest” from Beauty and the Beast.

I even went so far as to look up the lyrics to see what sort of food we could attempt to cook. One of the main verses in the song is as follows:

Beef ragout
Cheese souffle
Pie and pudding “en flambe”

Boom, dinner planned.

I looked up how to make pudding “en flambe” and decided to skip that and go for a French Onion soup instead, mostly because I wasn’t too keen on the idea that I could possibly burn down my house.

When Jen and Nate arrived, we laid all of our ingredients out on the counter and began to cook. We had one pot going for the beef ragout, another pot for the soup, and another for the pasta that would accompany the ragout. Ramekins in the oven housed the cheese souffle, and all three of us were meticulously checking and stirring to make sure nothing burnt and everything came out perfect.

Around an hour and 15 minutes and several dishes later, our dinner was prepared and I learned that Jen has mad chopping skills and a superhuman immunity to onions, Nate is very very good at washing dishes and making sure nothing burns or overcooks and I can successfully make a cheese souffle.

Naturally, we had to set the table thematically. Jen brought some roses, I grabbed my Chip coffee cup (yes, that exists) and some books from my room.

Dinner was bomb. We were extremely proud of ourselves. The soup was full of flavor and not too thin. The cheese souffle reminded me of a cheese omelette; I think souffles usually turn out a bit more fluffed but I was perfectly content with my first attempt. The beef ragout was a wonderful mix of veggies and red wine and meat. There was another recipe that I had found that called for slow-cooking the beef and I think the next time I try to cook this meal, I’ll go for the slow-cooker.

And of course, we had the dessert. Did you really think we would have a 3-course Disney-inspired meal without a dessert?

Lovely Readers, I present to you: The Grey Stuff!

In Beauty and the Beast, the grey stuff is actually presented to Belle at the beginning of the song, served upon (of all things) what looks like a cracker.

The first time I had the grey stuff, it was served on a cupcake at the Be Our Guest restaurant at Walt Disney World. It is surprising easy to make and is one of those desserts that you won’t be able to stop eating until you start to get a bit nauseous. (But trust me, it’s so worth it.)

The recipe is as follows:

(Source: The Disney Diner)