Last weekend saw me hosting my first dinner party in quite a while, a summer soiree if you will. I do love a good dinner party and I think about having them much more frequently than I do. Sometimes I blame it on the cost (no scrimping on quality when entertaining of course) or the potential work involved (Thursday and Friday evenings and all day Saturday this time around) but the main reason? Well, quite simply it's down to the constant state of my flat - and what appears to be endless piles of clutter heaped about in various corners.
But wanting to dust off my apron and do some entertaining, I pulled my socks up and did what any sensible girl might do; I just chucked the whole lot behind my couch and under my bed.
And I wonder why I can never find anything?
With only 4 chairs I kept it small and intimate (plans are in the works for a more extensive party that will involve sofas and floor sitting) but for this I wanted to make it a bit special. A bit more glitz and glamour.
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Menus and place cards. And even though it may look it, NOT made by a 12 year old.
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So what was on le menu? Well with one veggie, one pescatarian, and one "I eat anything but clods of meat" attending I decided on a full-vegetarian menu, complete with oodles of cream and cheese.
We started with spiced almonds (roasted with garlic, salt, cayenne pepper and cumin) and summer berry cocktails (pureed raspberries, simple syrup, lemongrass and melon vodka, and prosecco), the latter which were hand delivered to guests when greeted at the door. My experience here being that getting your guests drinking something nice and tasty as quickly as possible makes for much more interesting conversations at an earlier point in the evening!
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Summer berry cocktails (prosecco, lemongrass and melon vodka, raspberries)
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We made our way through 2 cocktails each complete with juicy banter before heading to the table for our starter; courgette and coriander fritters with garlic yogurt.
I have made these little guys a number of times before (usually as a side dish) and are a family favourite originated by mama. Similar to my post in 2007 the main difference in this batch is replacing the flour with panko crumbs, skipping the mint and spring onions, and replacing the feta with shaved parmesan reggiano.
Moving on to the main event, I made a new favourite addition to my summer repertoire, grilled peach and goats cheese salad. Inspired by my trip to Georgia (US) back in May, I brushed fresh peach halves with olive oil and balsamic, and put them under the grill to soften and cook. Once cool I diced them into large pieces and tossed them with baby spinach, chopped mint and basil, goats cheese, and the juice of 1 lime. In my original (non veggie) version I also add some crisped prosciutto.
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| Cauliflower, spinach and pea macaroni cheese with grilled peach and goats cheese salad |
My hardest decision was picking out a vegetarian main course. I wanted to be able to make it the day before, ensure it went with other dishes, and was both simple but an interesting combination of flavours. After way more research than I care to admit (think hours) I landed on this cauliflower, spinach and pea macaroni cheese. Using a Heston Blumenthal at Home recipe for initial inspiration I found myself straying somewhat from what was preached. I didn't faff about with the sodium citrate (oh-so-heston!) and made my own cheese combination going heavier on the gruyere and slightly less on the parm. I also used a bit more cauliflower than he recommends and would even do more so next time around. Also, because I like a little colour and thought I'd add a little bit of nutrition to the carb-dairy overload that I was creating, I added in frozen spinach (defrosted and excess water removed) and fresh baby peas.
After a small hiatus and a fair share of bubbles it was time for dessert. This is what I was looking forward to most - a strawberry and pistachio semifreddo (this time recipe followed to the T), adorned with blackberries hand picked from JF's garden.
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| Strawberry and pistachio semifreddo |
I'd never made semifreddo before so there were no promises on taste and had prepped the guests for disaster ahead of time. But ooohlala! Not only was it pretty-in-pink but there was a philosophical debate on the pistachio versus strawberry side. Which as better? And well - with the voting split equally down the middle at 2-2 I'd say that the best version was when both were eaten together.
Never one to send friends home hungry, I managed one more round before my guests rolled themselves into their transport of choice (train, tube, taxi respectively). 4 fresh mint teas served with some lime, cornmeal and apricot biscuits baked up earlier that day in a "just in case they are still hungry after 45 tons of cheese" panic. Overkill? Possibly. But then again, there's always room for just one biscuit.
