Dinner !

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Friday night, a friend of mine and I finally pried gaps in our ridiculous schedules to get together to do what we both love to do. Food geek out!
Aaron had planned to have dinner ready for when I arrived, but, as usual, chatting and flicking through cookbooks took priority, so dinner was a late one- giving me the opportunity to get involved.
Here are the recipes we tried- three courses, for old times sake.

Gordon Ramsay's smoked duck breast salad with pomegranate vinaigrette


He's much more relaxed with throwing things together these days (under my reproachful gaze) but he's still a recipe slut... And I'm kinda glad of it. This was possibly my favourite dish of the meal and I would never have discovered it otherwise. I sometimes think I should try out recipes a bit more often and expand my repertoire.
The smoked duck is so beautiful- really rich and strong against the salad and the sweet freshness of the pomegranates. I also loved the toasted flaked almonds.
The vinaigrette was made with pomegranate molasses (worth investing in if you like your Middle eastern cooking, or if you're a fan of Ottolenghi!) Dijon mustard, Olive Oil and groundnut oil.
The salad leaf contained chicory, for crunch. I've been loving Chinese lettuce in salads recently for that purpose, but chicory also adds a slight delicate aniseed flavour.

Tiger prawns, scallops and clams with tomato and feta

This dish contains some of my favourite ingredients- scallops and tiger prawns. With the fresh spring onion and tomato sauce, this is a really comforting rustic dish. A new favourite! We served it with yoghurt flatbreads- and I cannot recommend this enough. Like the smoked duck, that was one of my favourite parts of the meal, I can't wait to do them again!
They were really simple to make, and if you eat them cold, the yoghurt really comes though.
I'm so into these, I had to share the recipe!

Yoghurt flatbread
140g wholemeal flour
1½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
140g Greek yoghurt
3 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
4 tbsp clarified butter (or a mixture of melted butter and vegetable oil)

Combine all the ingredients, apart from the butter, in a bowl and use your hands to mix them together to a dry dough; add more flour if needed. Knead the dough for a minute or so, until it is smooth and uniform. Wrap it in cling film and chill for at least an hour.
When ready to make the flatbreads, divide your dough into six pieces. Roll into balls, then flatten them with a rolling pin into round discs about 2mm thick. Heat some clarified butter in a non-stick pan and fry the flatbreads, one at a time, on a medium heat for about 2 minutes on each side, or until golden brown. Add more butter as you need it and keep the flatbreads warm as they are cooked.

Pudding was Gizzi's spiced pear and chocolate souffle with salted caramel sauce

The spiced pears were poached in orange zest, white wine, honey, vanilla and a mix of spices- Cinnamon, cardamom and cloves. if you do this, please please save the juices after! The smell is amazing and has so many possibilities.
The salted caramel sauce was another buzz word for me. I cannot resist anything with salted caramel...

Give one of these a go sometime soon!

x

Souper!

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Here's a quick recipe for a nice throw together soup I made the other day- A real store cupboard recipe. Soup is one of my favourite things to eat this time of year... It makes it a little less depressing.
Generally my soups are very thik, but this is quite a thin one.
This recipe is packed with beans and there's no cream (Not a fan of cream based soups!) so it's as healthy as it is tasty... Of course.

Butter , Chickpea and Sundried Tomato Soup

Empty a tin of butter beans and half a tin of chickpeas into a pan. Pour in a cup of vegetable or chicken stock. Squeeze in a teaspoon of pureed garlic (simple and store cupboard-you see?) and a tablespoon of tomato puree. Add two tablespoons of finely chopped sundried tomatoes and a teaspoon of their oil.
Slice and ad two spring onions and season with a pinch of paprika, salt, pepper and dried basil. I also add a tiny pinch of chilli powder as I like all my food to have a bit of warmth behind it- but thats optional! Warm through and blitz briefly to break down the beans a bit, but leaving it a little textured.

I serve my soup with a sundried tomato and parmesan home made roll. And in a tea cup, apparently... But only when all my bowls are in the dishwasher!

x

Dinner 29.12.2010

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So last night I had dinner with my friend Aleks. We like to cook with a fishy theme, so after squid stews and salmon en croutes, I decided to go for the King of all fish dishes- a classic fish pie.
I particularly like this recipe as (Aleks look away) its so easy to do. There is no blanching, poaching, frying etc. It's a genuine one pot dish. Throw in the onions and broccoli alongside the prawns, salmon and cod and you're good to go.
I also made a massive wholegrain loaf to accompany it. Well... To be honest, I made the bread first and planned the fish pie entirely around that... As, unless you're a carb-o-phobe, fish pie is so much better with chunks of bread. Talking of carbs and the like... I have plenty of low fat, healthy versions- but like low fat cakes- they just aren't the same.

The pudding is another incredibly simple recipe. Puff pastry rolled with marzipan and topped with sliced nectarines, blueberries and a fruit glaze... It's actually one of my favourite desserts!

Thanks Aleks- for the Prosecco, clean and well stocked kitchen, squid themed movies and a lovely evening :)

x