If there's one thing Caliban and I do well together, it's the Sydney Morning Herald crossword. If there's another, it's host dinner parties. I do the cooking, Caliban creates the playlist, keeps the wine glasses full and occasionally steps in as my sous chef.
On Saturday night, our friends B and S came over for dinner. They too are excellent at hosting dinner parties - like me, B takes care of the cooking and S is in charge of entertainment and ambience. They're a fantastic match.
We've eaten at B and S's twice now, and both times we experienced super culinary delights. B spent some time in Spain as a spring chicken, so his paella was a dish to be reckoned with (I just ate it, though, and then asked for second and third helpings until my heart could no longer bear the thought of more chorizo sausage). We knew that our meal had to be up to their standards.
I decided to make garlic prawns, mushroom risotto and sticky date pudding for dessert - it's officially winter now, and comfort food is a must. What could be more comforting than a bowl of steaming garlicky tomato stew topped with prawns, hearty, creamy risotto dotted with meaty mushrooms and the ultimate crowd-pleaser, sticky date pudding (for which no adjectives are needed)?
The mixed mushroom risotto is courtesy of Donna Hay, and the sticky date pud is from BBC Good Food, but the garlic prawn recipe is all mine. It's not a traditional garlic prawn recipe - I don't have cast-iron pots, so I didn't use them. It's a bit of a cheat's recipe, really. I don't have a problem with it, because it tasted wonderful - let me know what you think!
Garlic prawns (serves 4)
Ingredients
1kg raw prawns, tails intact
2 400g cans diced/whole/chopped tomatoes*
2 heads garlic
12 cloves garlic
1 brown onion, chopped
Olive oil
1 cup vegetable/chicken stock
Method
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees.
2. Add onion and a tablespoon of olive oil to a saucepan over medium heat. Cook slowly (for around 5-7 minutes) until onion has browned and softened.
3. Smash garlic cloves (do not chop) and add to onion mixture. Cook for another 5 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, chop the stems off the garlic heads and place on a sheet of foil. Drizzle some olive oil over them and wrap the foil around them tightly. Place on an oven tray and roast for 15 minutes.
5. Add tomatoes and stock to garlic and onion mixture, and bring to the boil. Turn down the heat as low as you can and simmer until the garlic heads are ready.
6. Remove garlic heads from oven and allow to cool slightly. Carefully (they'll be ridiculously hot) use tongs to squeeze the garlic flesh from the skin. Add to the tomato mixture (along with the olive oil in the foil).
7. Add prawns and simmer for another 5 minutes, or until prawns are cooked through.
8. Serve with crusty bread, aioli and lots of good red wine.
*I like using whole canned tomatoes, because I like the chunky texture. But if you'd like a smoother stew, try diced or chopped tomatoes. I used Annalisa Cherry Tomatoes, because I like their sweetness.
Showing posts with label dinner party. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dinner party. Show all posts
Sunday, June 13
Friday, December 18
christmas dinner!
Having people over for dinner parties is one of the chief joys of my life. I love everything about it: planning the menu, shopping for ingredients, "slaving" over the stove. I. Love. It. Lucky for me, Caliban and I have lots of willing dining companions to call on. Last week, I invited my best friend D over for an early Christmas dinner - and it was a triumph of epic culinary proportions. Truly!
D isn't big on vegetarians ("It's not a meal without meat," is practically a trademarked D-ism), so I knew she wouldn't be happy with a pescetarian meal, especially when it was meant for a Christmas celebration. I decided to make D and I roast pork loin, and made stuffed squid for Caliban.
The menu
Entree
Cold rocket and cucumber soup
Main
Roast pork loin with mango
Squid stuffed with Mediterranean couscous
Roast tomatoes with pesto
Best ever roast potatoes
Dessert
White chocolate pannacotta with drunken berries
The soup and pannacotta are Gourmet Traveller and Australian Women's Weekly recipes, respectively, so I won't repeat them here. I will say, though, that the pannacotta was sinfully easy to make. I was terrified that the pannacotta wouldn't slip from the moulds easily, but it did and I am now considered a Michelin-star-style chef by D and Caliban. Good stuff.
Here are the recipes for the rest of the dinner, which went off like a pimply kid at Schoolies.
Roast pork loin with mango
Ingredients
500 gm pork loin (more or less, depending on guests - this served D and I with lots left over, just the way I like it)
Asian marinade (I used Asian Fusion from The Royal Botanical Gardens in Melbourne, which is basically a mix of soy sauce, brown sugar, fish sauce, lime juice, sesame oil, ginger, garlic and coriander - easy enough to make at home)
1 ripe mango
1 cup fresh mint, chopped
Method
1. Baste pork generously with Asian marinade. Cover and refrigerate for at least three hours, preferably overnight.
2. Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celcius. Place pork in oven and roast for 1.5 hours.
3. Dice mango and mix with mint. Serve with pork.
Squid stuffed with Mediterranean couscous
Ingredients
Squid tubes (as many as you need: 1 per guest is adequate)
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup couscous (for each tube)
Tablespoon oil
Tablespoon butter
1/4 cup chopped fetta
1/4 cup fresh coriander, chopped
1/4 cup sundried tomatoes
Method
1. Place 1/2 cup water and tablespoon of oil in saucepan. Bring to the boil and remove from heat. Add couscous and cover for three minutes.
2. Remove lid from couscous and add butter. Stir through with fork, separating the grains. Add fetta, tomatoes and coriander and mix through thoroughly.
3. Open squid tube and fill with couscous until the tube is about three-quarters full. Use a toothpick to seal the end.
4. Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celcius. Place squid in oven for 1 hour, basting every fifteen minutes or so with the white wine. (Use more if necessary, depending on size of squid tube).
5. Serve, eat, enjoy!
Roast tomatoes with pesto
Ingredients
Six good quality tomatoes (or two for each guest)
2 bunches fresh basil, chopped roughly
1 cup good quality parmesan
1/2 cup roasted pine nuts
1 cup good quality olive oil
Method
1. Slice the tops of the tomatoes off (about a centimetre) and scoop out the flesh. Place tomatoes upside down on paper towel and leave to drain (about 15 minutes).
2. Place basil, parmesan and pine nuts in a food processor or blender. Add olive oil gradually, and process until smooth.
3. Scoop pesto into tomatoes, filling to about a centimetre away from the top.
4. When ready to serve, place in oven at 200 degrees Celcius, and roast for 10 minutes.
Best ever roast potatoes
Ingredients
9 potatoes (or three for each guest)
Sea salt
1/2 cup olive oil
Method
1. Boil potatoes in water for ten minutes.
2. Chop in half and place in roasting pan.
3. Pour olive oil over potatoes (more or less than I've recommended, depending on your love for olive oil/size of potatoes/propensity for heart attacks) and sprinkle with sea salt.
4. Roast in 200 degree oven for 1.5 hours. Drool.
D isn't big on vegetarians ("It's not a meal without meat," is practically a trademarked D-ism), so I knew she wouldn't be happy with a pescetarian meal, especially when it was meant for a Christmas celebration. I decided to make D and I roast pork loin, and made stuffed squid for Caliban.
The menu
Entree
Cold rocket and cucumber soup
Main
Roast pork loin with mango
Squid stuffed with Mediterranean couscous
Roast tomatoes with pesto
Best ever roast potatoes
Dessert
White chocolate pannacotta with drunken berries
The soup and pannacotta are Gourmet Traveller and Australian Women's Weekly recipes, respectively, so I won't repeat them here. I will say, though, that the pannacotta was sinfully easy to make. I was terrified that the pannacotta wouldn't slip from the moulds easily, but it did and I am now considered a Michelin-star-style chef by D and Caliban. Good stuff.
Here are the recipes for the rest of the dinner, which went off like a pimply kid at Schoolies.
Roast pork loin with mango
Ingredients
500 gm pork loin (more or less, depending on guests - this served D and I with lots left over, just the way I like it)
Asian marinade (I used Asian Fusion from The Royal Botanical Gardens in Melbourne, which is basically a mix of soy sauce, brown sugar, fish sauce, lime juice, sesame oil, ginger, garlic and coriander - easy enough to make at home)
1 ripe mango
1 cup fresh mint, chopped
Method
1. Baste pork generously with Asian marinade. Cover and refrigerate for at least three hours, preferably overnight.
2. Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celcius. Place pork in oven and roast for 1.5 hours.
3. Dice mango and mix with mint. Serve with pork.
Squid stuffed with Mediterranean couscous
Ingredients
Squid tubes (as many as you need: 1 per guest is adequate)
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup couscous (for each tube)
Tablespoon oil
Tablespoon butter
1/4 cup chopped fetta
1/4 cup fresh coriander, chopped
1/4 cup sundried tomatoes
Method
1. Place 1/2 cup water and tablespoon of oil in saucepan. Bring to the boil and remove from heat. Add couscous and cover for three minutes.
2. Remove lid from couscous and add butter. Stir through with fork, separating the grains. Add fetta, tomatoes and coriander and mix through thoroughly.
3. Open squid tube and fill with couscous until the tube is about three-quarters full. Use a toothpick to seal the end.
4. Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celcius. Place squid in oven for 1 hour, basting every fifteen minutes or so with the white wine. (Use more if necessary, depending on size of squid tube).
5. Serve, eat, enjoy!
Roast tomatoes with pesto
Ingredients
Six good quality tomatoes (or two for each guest)
2 bunches fresh basil, chopped roughly
1 cup good quality parmesan
1/2 cup roasted pine nuts
1 cup good quality olive oil
Method
1. Slice the tops of the tomatoes off (about a centimetre) and scoop out the flesh. Place tomatoes upside down on paper towel and leave to drain (about 15 minutes).
2. Place basil, parmesan and pine nuts in a food processor or blender. Add olive oil gradually, and process until smooth.
3. Scoop pesto into tomatoes, filling to about a centimetre away from the top.
4. When ready to serve, place in oven at 200 degrees Celcius, and roast for 10 minutes.
Best ever roast potatoes
Ingredients
9 potatoes (or three for each guest)
Sea salt
1/2 cup olive oil
Method
1. Boil potatoes in water for ten minutes.
2. Chop in half and place in roasting pan.
3. Pour olive oil over potatoes (more or less than I've recommended, depending on your love for olive oil/size of potatoes/propensity for heart attacks) and sprinkle with sea salt.
4. Roast in 200 degree oven for 1.5 hours. Drool.
Saturday, October 3
dinner party!
I love hosting dinner parties. I have a selection of aprons (my favourite is red with white polka dots, with a ruffle at the bottom - very Betty Draper) for such occasions. Since we got engaged, we even have a set of matching cutlery for such occasions. It's all terribly grown-up, until the booze starts flowing.
Some of our favourite dinner party guests are Caliban's sister and her husband. Let's call them...Lorna and Alec. Yes. They're among our favourite guests because: a) they love food as much as we do; b) they always bring top-notch wine; and c) they live a matter of minutes away, so they're always happy to get merry.
Lorna and Alec came over last night for a South American feast. Alec recently returned from Argentina with a box of amazing, handcrafted chocolates for us, and a bottle of Norton 2005 Malbec from Mendoza. We decided it was only fair to open the amazing bottle with Lorna and Alec, with a South American feast to match.
Caliban took care of the starter, and served spinach and carrot pesto on sourdough with grilled haloumi. The pesto was his own creation - he had made it earlier that day to use up our leftover spinach, parsley and coriander (and carrot. We always seem to have a lot of carrots). To this, he added parmesan, pecorino, olive oil and penauts. Yum.
We served chimichurri lamb (tuna for Caliban) for mains, with patatas bravas and a Spanish salsa salad. I was inspired to make the lamb after seeing Tom roll a deboned leg of lamb on MasterChef a few months back. He filled his with a sort of salsa verde, but I figured I could do it just as easily with the chimichurri, a popular South American condiment. Unfortunately, the butcher only had lamb rolls that had already been stuffed with rosemary and garlic (between you and me: yum!). No matter, he said. I'll debone one for you and show you how to tie the roll. Score! He even sent me home with string to tie my roll with. Needless to say, after all this help, it was a hit.
For dessert, we served creamy lime tart (a Gourmet Traveller recipe) with double cream and strawberries, and as petit fours, we ate chocolate whiskey truffles, prepared by Caliban. They were inspired by a Donna Hay recipe, but didn't quite work out like hers. The recipe called for the chocolate to be served in large spoonfuls, which wasn't very attractive. Still, they tasted fabulous. Perfect with red wine or coffee.
Chimichurri Lamb
1.5 kg lamb leg, deboned
1 cup fresh Italian parsley (packed)
1/4 cup fresh coriander (packed)
1/2 cup olive oil
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
Tablespoon paprika
Tablespoon cumin
Tablespoon ground chilli
Four whole garlic cloves
Blend the parsley, coriander, olive oil, red wine vinegar, spices and garlic in a food processor. It should have a slightly runny consistency. Open the lamb leg and spread the sauce in the middle. Close the lamb over and tie in three sections. Spread more sauce over the lamb. Leave for up to 24 hours.
Preheat oven to 200 degrees (Celcius). Cook lamb for 35 minutes (medium). Serves four.
Patatas bravas
Eight large potatoes (cut into medium-sized chunks)
One onion (chopped)
400g can chopped tomatoes
100mL tomato puree
4 whole garlic cloves (chopped)
Tablespoon paprika
Tablespoon chilli powder
Pinch sugar
Parsley, to serve
Heat olive oil in saucepan. Add chopped onion and stir until soft and browned (about five minutes). Add garlic, tomatoes, puree, spices and sugar. Bring to the boil, while stirring. Simmer for ten minutes. Remove from heat.
Preheat oven to 200 degrees (Celsius). Bake potatoes for 50 minutes, or until crispy and golden. Reheat tomato sauce if necessary, and pour over potatoes. Serve with a little parsley.
Tip: This serves four, but I think everyone always wants more potatoes, so don't be afraid to tweak this recipe and make more of it than you think you need. Potatoes are universal crowd-pleasers!
South American salsa salad
200g can sweet corn kernels
400g grape tomatoes
400g cannellini beans
1 capsicum, roasted*
1/2 cup chopped coriander
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1 Spanish onion, chopped
1/2 cup caramelised balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
Tablespoon brown sugar
Teaspoon chilli
Mix tomatoes, beans, corn, coriander, parsley, capsicum and onion in bowl. Don't be afraid to use your (clean!) hands to mix. For dressing, mix olive oil, balsamic vinegar, red wine vinegar, sugar and chilli. Pour over salad and leave for up to two hours before serving.
Tip: this would be great on bread, as a sort of South American bruschetta. Serve with a cold, crisp glass of Pinot Grigio to cut through the acidic dressing.
Some of our favourite dinner party guests are Caliban's sister and her husband. Let's call them...Lorna and Alec. Yes. They're among our favourite guests because: a) they love food as much as we do; b) they always bring top-notch wine; and c) they live a matter of minutes away, so they're always happy to get merry.
Lorna and Alec came over last night for a South American feast. Alec recently returned from Argentina with a box of amazing, handcrafted chocolates for us, and a bottle of Norton 2005 Malbec from Mendoza. We decided it was only fair to open the amazing bottle with Lorna and Alec, with a South American feast to match.
Caliban took care of the starter, and served spinach and carrot pesto on sourdough with grilled haloumi. The pesto was his own creation - he had made it earlier that day to use up our leftover spinach, parsley and coriander (and carrot. We always seem to have a lot of carrots). To this, he added parmesan, pecorino, olive oil and penauts. Yum.
We served chimichurri lamb (tuna for Caliban) for mains, with patatas bravas and a Spanish salsa salad. I was inspired to make the lamb after seeing Tom roll a deboned leg of lamb on MasterChef a few months back. He filled his with a sort of salsa verde, but I figured I could do it just as easily with the chimichurri, a popular South American condiment. Unfortunately, the butcher only had lamb rolls that had already been stuffed with rosemary and garlic (between you and me: yum!). No matter, he said. I'll debone one for you and show you how to tie the roll. Score! He even sent me home with string to tie my roll with. Needless to say, after all this help, it was a hit.
For dessert, we served creamy lime tart (a Gourmet Traveller recipe) with double cream and strawberries, and as petit fours, we ate chocolate whiskey truffles, prepared by Caliban. They were inspired by a Donna Hay recipe, but didn't quite work out like hers. The recipe called for the chocolate to be served in large spoonfuls, which wasn't very attractive. Still, they tasted fabulous. Perfect with red wine or coffee.
Chimichurri Lamb
1.5 kg lamb leg, deboned
1 cup fresh Italian parsley (packed)
1/4 cup fresh coriander (packed)
1/2 cup olive oil
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
Tablespoon paprika
Tablespoon cumin
Tablespoon ground chilli
Four whole garlic cloves
Blend the parsley, coriander, olive oil, red wine vinegar, spices and garlic in a food processor. It should have a slightly runny consistency. Open the lamb leg and spread the sauce in the middle. Close the lamb over and tie in three sections. Spread more sauce over the lamb. Leave for up to 24 hours.
Preheat oven to 200 degrees (Celcius). Cook lamb for 35 minutes (medium). Serves four.
Patatas bravas
Eight large potatoes (cut into medium-sized chunks)
One onion (chopped)
400g can chopped tomatoes
100mL tomato puree
4 whole garlic cloves (chopped)
Tablespoon paprika
Tablespoon chilli powder
Pinch sugar
Parsley, to serve
Heat olive oil in saucepan. Add chopped onion and stir until soft and browned (about five minutes). Add garlic, tomatoes, puree, spices and sugar. Bring to the boil, while stirring. Simmer for ten minutes. Remove from heat.
Preheat oven to 200 degrees (Celsius). Bake potatoes for 50 minutes, or until crispy and golden. Reheat tomato sauce if necessary, and pour over potatoes. Serve with a little parsley.
Tip: This serves four, but I think everyone always wants more potatoes, so don't be afraid to tweak this recipe and make more of it than you think you need. Potatoes are universal crowd-pleasers!
South American salsa salad
200g can sweet corn kernels
400g grape tomatoes
400g cannellini beans
1 capsicum, roasted*
1/2 cup chopped coriander
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1 Spanish onion, chopped
1/2 cup caramelised balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
Tablespoon brown sugar
Teaspoon chilli
Mix tomatoes, beans, corn, coriander, parsley, capsicum and onion in bowl. Don't be afraid to use your (clean!) hands to mix. For dressing, mix olive oil, balsamic vinegar, red wine vinegar, sugar and chilli. Pour over salad and leave for up to two hours before serving.
Tip: this would be great on bread, as a sort of South American bruschetta. Serve with a cold, crisp glass of Pinot Grigio to cut through the acidic dressing.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
