Chowing Down Through History
Saturday 11 September 2010
..a little snack...
I'm bored of the basics and always trying to jazz stuff up. Take my lunch today, mackerel in tomato sauce on toast...so far so boring... but I slapped some English mustard on the toast, then some of the Spanish chillies from the previous meal, a grind of black pepper, and, < hola! > something a little spicy but really tasty ... it really doesn't take much ... :-)
Sunday 5 September 2010
D & C come for dinner
Well I invited D & C over for a meal last night and this is what we had:
Starter (washed down with a nice Prosecco. A medley of Spanish ham, Fuet sausage and cheese from Lunya, complemeted by pickled chillies, orange jelly and pickled red onion. The cheese was really nice with the orange jelly and individually, the meats and the pickles were really tasty, but I think it was a bit much for a starter, next time I'll drop the smellier cheese and perhaps make the portions a little smaller.
Main course (ably lubricated with Wolf Blass Yellow Label Cabernet Sauvignon): Parma Ham wrapped Chicken Breasts stuffed with roasted red pepper and pickled hot green chillies on a saffron, spinach and basil Risotto . This was fantastic. The tastes really came out. I adapted the recipe from a mixture of Jamie Oliver and BBC Good Food , throwing in the chillies to give a bit of bite. JO says that a risotto should be like a "...hug from your mum..." , well, chucking in a knob of butter just before serving gave it a velvety softness that felt like a hug to me ;-) !
Dessert : I had had a go at making Gordon Ramsay's Blackberry Pannacotta with Madeleines , but the Madeleines were a disaster! Top Tip? DON'T buy silicone moulds... It was good job that I practised the day before, so I dropped them from the recipe and just used the pannacotta and the blackberries, but I threw in a blackberry coulis, made from boiling about 250g of blackberries with 50g of caster sugar, then dropping in a little vanilla extract and chilling before serving. You know what? No-one noticed the madeleines were missing - it was just enough.
After that lot, the evening degenerated into its usual puddled drunkeness; a great night in... ;-)
Starter (washed down with a nice Prosecco. A medley of Spanish ham, Fuet sausage and cheese from Lunya, complemeted by pickled chillies, orange jelly and pickled red onion. The cheese was really nice with the orange jelly and individually, the meats and the pickles were really tasty, but I think it was a bit much for a starter, next time I'll drop the smellier cheese and perhaps make the portions a little smaller.
Main course (ably lubricated with Wolf Blass Yellow Label Cabernet Sauvignon): Parma Ham wrapped Chicken Breasts stuffed with roasted red pepper and pickled hot green chillies on a saffron, spinach and basil Risotto . This was fantastic. The tastes really came out. I adapted the recipe from a mixture of Jamie Oliver and BBC Good Food , throwing in the chillies to give a bit of bite. JO says that a risotto should be like a "...hug from your mum..." , well, chucking in a knob of butter just before serving gave it a velvety softness that felt like a hug to me ;-) !
Dessert : I had had a go at making Gordon Ramsay's Blackberry Pannacotta with Madeleines , but the Madeleines were a disaster! Top Tip? DON'T buy silicone moulds... It was good job that I practised the day before, so I dropped them from the recipe and just used the pannacotta and the blackberries, but I threw in a blackberry coulis, made from boiling about 250g of blackberries with 50g of caster sugar, then dropping in a little vanilla extract and chilling before serving. You know what? No-one noticed the madeleines were missing - it was just enough.
After that lot, the evening degenerated into its usual puddled drunkeness; a great night in... ;-)
What a great idea!
... I've been cooking for friends for years and often find myself stumped to remember a nice dish or combination that worked well. Then today, someone suggested that keep a blog...and here it is!
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