GO CRAZY... HOST A DINNER PARTY!!! + The Recipes

 

Click the picture to see the menu photo gallery in full

 

 

Okay, so I like a challenge.

As I was sunning myself on holiday for my actual Prom, I decided (somewhat blithely) to host a 3-course dinner party for 8 of my school friends. Now I knew at the time what it entailed, (at least two days of prepping and several days of hazardous experimentation for a 3 course 6 meal menu with several components), but I hadn't banked on what meticulous planning it would take to run to time, an attribute I have been informed several times in my life that I am severly lacking. It was at this point that I decided that dinner parties should have a health warning: "please don't try this at home" etc, but as I had already done battle with a pasta machine and several soup strainers I decided to commence and hope for the best.

The one thing I would say about cooking for dinner parties is that it is extremely helpful to have two others involved in aiding the process, i.e. a washerupperer (parents are really very handy) and someone to help you oversee everything that is going in ovens and on cooker tops to make sure that you remember what you need on the go at precisely the right times. If you try to do it all by yourself, you will inevitably become exhausted and probably start having a conversation with the gammon by the end of the night, not that I have any experience of such matters.... I would also strongly advise to look at all of the cooking times of each component in every recipe before you embark upon it all, so you know exactly what time you need to be cooking each thing. As my mum is a lot wiser than me and invariably better with numbers, she wrote out a huge chart so that I could time my dishes to the point where I needed to plate up and I didn't forget the bits and bobs needed when cooking 2 different dishes alongside each other for starter, main and dessert.

Also the key to a successful dinner party (besides atmosphere) is PREPARATION. If there are things on the menu you can logistically prepare the morning, the day before, two days before, do it. You don't want to be desperately attempting to mend your broken pasta with 54 other things simmering away when you have to get out your starters in ten minutes. Even just weighing out ingredients or making sure you've chopped your carrots and grated your ginger makes you 100% less stressed and at least 75% less likely to create an enormous fire. Finally, keep calm. If you mess one or two things up, the world doesn't call a referendum on you and decide to send you into exile with only a torch and a loaf of bread for the rest of your days. Just stay relaxed and think on your feet. If you aren't calm and in control, guests can often pick up on a frenetic-near to nervous breakdown atmosphere, especially when there is a lot of glass smashing and swearing from the general direction of the kitchen. There are always creative solutions. For instance when I couldn't get my spun sugar to come off the back of a bowl in order to make sugar baskets I devised a spun sugar net as an equally decorous alternative and my friends were none the wiser. If small things go wrong, leave them out. Sometimes perfection is achieved by crafting the right balance. And most of all, despite the work and dangerous stress levels, enjoy yourself! You will feel guaranteed satisfaction in the plating up of your very own creations.

 

 

 

 

a) Vegetarian: Fresh pea soup with white truffle oil and parmesan crisps

 

 

 

This is a deliciously silky restaurant standard soup, the crisp salty Parmesan offsets the sweet peas and rich truffle oil. Definitely make a day in advance and fridge it.

 

RECIPE: for 4 (adjust for more or less)

recipe from the Masterchef cookbook

 

For the soup:     Bring 1 litre (1 3/4 pints) of water to the boil in a very large pan (I used a pressure cooker without pressure cooking it) and add 2 tbsp salt and 2 tbsp sugar. When the water is at a rapid boil, add two 2lb bags of frozen petit pois and cover immediately. When the peas come back to the boil, cook until tender, 6-9 minutes. Drain the peas and save the cooking water. Place the cooked peas in a food processor or blender and pulse for 2 minutes, adding a little of the cooking water (you'll need the rest later). Pass the pea puree through a sieve, until it come out of the bottom as smooth and silky. This does take quite a lot of time and patience and you really do feel a bit like giving up, but keep at it, the soup is worth it! Add enough cooking water to it until you feel it is at the right consistency for a smooth, silky soup. Fridge it.

 

For the parmesan crisps:  Make these a couple of days in advance, because they will keep and reduce the amount you need to do nearer the time.

Put 8 rounded tsps Parmesan cheese onto a lined baking tray. Flatten them into circles and bake for around 5-8 minutes at 180. They should be golden and look as if they have cooked enough to slide off your knife. Leave them to cool and transfer to a tin.

 

To reheat and serve:  Gently reheat the soup. Add 4 tsp white truffle oil (look for this in delis that sell oils and breads or Italian restaurants selling similar items, such as Carluccio's). Serve with the parmesan crisps and garnish with single cream.

 

STARTERS

b) Meat: Chicken and asparagus tortellini, with asparagus spears in a hollandaise sauce

[picture with title]

 

A little warning: definitely practise rolling your pasta before the day. If you have never done it before and aren't used to the technique, it could cause more than a minor panic. Pasta is a bit like a sibling: if you don't know how to handle it it's very difficult, you punch it quite a lot, when you wind it up you have a few scraps, but if you persist it eventually does what you want. However if you follow the recipe to the letter (something that sounds obvious but sometimes my mind selectively misses bits and bobs), you will definitely have a few less tussles and better tasting pasta. I made my pasta on the morning of the dinner party day, any earlier and it would go dry, any later and it would cause pointless stress.

RECIPE: for 4 (adjust for more or less)

recipe adapted from The Masterchef Cookbook and The Times Cookery Book

To make the pasta: Combine 3 egg yolks and 2 whole eggs in a mixer/food processor using the dough hook. Add a little salt and 280g pasta flour (or I sometimes use strong white bread flour) one-third at a time << this is very important, if you add it all in one go it your processor won't cope and the dough will be too tough to handle and impossible to knead as it'll basically just fall apart. Once the mix is combined (looks and feels like it'll easily come together in your hands), remove and knead until the dough has a smooth texture. Wrap in clingfilm and rest for 30 minutes in the fridge.

For the mousse filling: Cut up a skinless chicken breast into cubes and blend in a food processor with knife blade until smooth. Add an egg until the mixture looks shiny and chill for 20 minutes. Once chilled, stir in 75ml double cream. Mix until fluffy and light, season and add a tbsp lemon juice.

Cut off the top 3 inches of 12 asparagus spears and save, cooking the rest of the stalks in boiling salted water for 5 minutes until soft. Drain and whizz in a food processor until smooth - if you can't quite get it completely smooth sieve the mix. Once cooled, stir into the chicken mousse.

To roll out the pasta: You'll need to obtain a pasta machine for this one, I borrowed one from a friend. You can roll it out with a rolling pin, but I suspect it takes a while longer and uses some quite technical ability. Knead the pasta until pliable. Set up your machine and put it to the widest setting. Make the pasta into a flat circle and put the bottom lengthways between the middle of the two rollers. Then wind it through. It should come out of the bottom. It may look perfect, it may look horrific, but the important thing to remember is, no matter how originally horrific your pasta looks, it will 9/10 times be beautiful by the time you've finished. Next, you need to feed your roll/scrap back through. Once you have done this, take each end of your pasta and fold them until they meet. Then put that back through the machine. If you originally had scraps, it should start to look a bit more workable. Then put your pasta back through without folding it. After this, you should fold your pasta as before, but switch the dial on the side to the next thinnest setting and put it through. Then put your pasta back through without folding it. Repeat and go through the settings until you have a long pasta sheet or long pasta sheets that are thin, but not too fragile (as below).

Cut into relatively big circles around 3in. Place the mousse in the middle of each tortellini (around 1 tsp each, not too much as you don't want it spilling out!) Then carefully brush egg white around the edge and fold in half, sealing and crimping the edges with your fingers so the filling doesn't spill out when cooking. Then brush a little egg white on both of the corners and pinch them together so that they kind of stick together upwards to seal. Cover and fridge until needed.

To make the hollandaise sauce: Hollandaise is known as a tricky sauce to master, but this method is easy enough for anyone to get one going and as it is made in a blender it is quick enough to make 'in the moment'. This method has never split for me, but if it does, the trick is just to add just a little hot water from the kettle.

Place 3 egg yolks in the blender with 2 tbsps lemon juice and season with salt and pepper. Blend. Heat 100g butter until hot and gradually pour the butter onto the egg yolks until thick and sauce-like.

To put it all together: Cook the tops of the asparagus spears for 5 minutes in boiling salted water. Cook the tortellini for 5 minutes in boiling salted water. Heat the hollandaise. Plate up.

MAINS

 

a) Glazed gammon on a bed of mushroom duxelles, with a fondant potato and balsamic jus

 

 

 

 

With this dish, you can only really preprepare the glaze for the gammon (day before) and the balsamic jus which I made on the morning - and I have to say, the flavour is so complex but refined, it sits beautifully with the cured gammon, gorgeously soft duxelles and fluffy fondant potato. You will need to soak your gammon joints in cold water the night before you make it.

 

RECIPE: (duxelles, potato and jus for 4, gammon depending on what weight you purchase)

recipe adapted from the Masterchef cookbook and Baking Made Easy, Lorraine Pascale 

 

Balsamic Jus -  Combine 1 chopped garlic clove, 1 tbsp redcurrant jelly, juice of 1 lemon, 4 tsp balsamic vinegar, 4 sprigs of thyme and 12 vine-ripened tomatoes in a small saucepan and simmer for 30 minutes. Leave in a warm place for a while to infuse and strain/sieve before serving.

 

Gammon Glaze -  Mix 1 clove garlic crushed in a garlic press, finely grated zest and juice of 1/2 an orange, 220g honey, 340g soft light brown sugar and 100ml soy sauce in a small pan, heat gently to dissolve the sugar, then simmer for 25 minutes until reduced and thickened. Put into a container and keep until it needs reheating.

 

Gammon -   The gammon joint needs 25 minutes simmering time per pound (450g). I bought two 1.2lb joints so the simmering time was around 63 minutes, but you can just work out how long your joint needs simmering by the weight. Place in a clean pan and cover completely with water. Add 1 small handful black peppercorns, 2 bay leaves, 1 cm piece of grated ginger, 1 star anise and a few cloves, bring to the boil, then turn down the heat to a simmer, and simmer for however long it needs. Thirty minutes before the joint is ready, preheat the oven to 220 degrees.

When the joint is ready, remove from water and pat dry with kitchen paper. Remove the thick layer of skin from the joint. Score the meat diagonally both ways to form diamonds and stick a few cloves into the holes where the lines cross. Warm the glaze and pour over the meat. Cook the joint in the oven for 20-30 minutes until the top begins to brown, but watch it, because of the honey it can catch easily. Once the joint is cooked, remove from the oven and cover loosely with baking paper to rest.

 

Fondant Potato -  Cut 2 large peeled Maris Piper potatoes into two slabs each (with flat top and bottom) an inch and a half thick. In a saucepan heat 3 tbsps oil and fry the potatoes for 4-5 minutes on each side until golden brown. Add 150g salted butter, 1 garlic clove, seasoning and 250ml water. Bring to a simmer, cover the pan and let the potatoes cook for 15-20 minutes or until soft in the centre. Drain and keep warm.

 

Mushroom Duxelles -  Melt 50g salted butter in a large frying pan, add 3 large chopped shallots and 300g wild mushrooms/chestnut mushrooms and season. Cook over a medium to low heat for 8-10 minutes until the vegetables are brown and the water has evaporated.

 

To assemble, arrange fine slice of ham on a bed of the duxelles, add the fondant potato and pool with jus.

 

 

b) Vegetarian - Spiced Quorn (or sea bass) fillet on a bed of saffron and almond rice, topped with a carrot and onion seed salad with a tahini sauce

 

 

As a vegetarian myself, it frustrates me when it is sometimes assumed we cannot eat adventurous food. Any recipe can be taken and adapted so that it becomes vegetarian, which is what I did with the gorgeous Indian-style dish above. (Meat eaters who like the look of it, the Quorn fillets can be replaced with sea bass fillets, which also makes an amazing combination). Make the salad and tahini sauce on the morning, and all you have to sort then is the rice and fillets. You'll need to remember to defrost the Quorn fillets beforehand.

 

 RECIPE: Serves 4 (adjust for more or less)

recipe adapted from the Masterchef cookbook

Carrot and onion seed salad -  Fry 250g finely sliced onions in 2 tbsps vegetable oil until golden and caramelised. Put 250g grated carrots in a bowl and add salt and juice of 1/2 a lemon. Fry 1/2 tbsp each of mustard seeds and black onion seeds in 2 tbsp vegetable oil until they begin to pop. Tip over salad and mix well, then stir in the onions. Cover and set aside.

 

Tahini sauce -  Put 1 tsp of salt in a mortar and pound with 1 clove garlic until smooth. Alternatively, crush in a garlic press and mix. Pour in 100ml tahini and mix with a whisk. Add the juice of a lemon and whisk until sticky, then whisk in 75ml warm water. When it looks like thick double cream, stir in 2 tbsps chopped flat-leaf parsley.

 

Saffron and almond rice -  Put a pinch of saffron threads (available from some supermarkets and pretty much all Indian supermarkets) in 400ml vegetable stock. Melt 13g butter in a heavy based saucepan and fry 50g whole blanched almonds gently until golden. Remove and set aside. Put 13g more butter in the pan, add 200g basmati rice, 1 tsp baharat spice or if you can't obtain the baharat pop a couple of cardammon pods in - just don't forget to remove them before serving, stir, and add 50g raisins. Pour in the hot stock, season, bring to the boil, give it one more stir and then put the lid on and reduce the heat to as low as possible. Cook for about 15-20 minutes. Mix the fried almonds through.

 

Quorn fillets -  (if using sea bass fillets, dry with kitchen paper). Rub 1 tsp ground cumin, 1/4 tsp cinammon and salt and pepper over 4 fillets. Gently heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a heavy frying pan and slide the fillet in. Turn the fillets every so often on each side until cooked.

 

 

To serve, place a mound of rice on the plates, then top with two crossed fillets, then the carrot and onionseed salad. Circle with the tahini sauce.

 

 

 

MAINS

 

 a) White peach slices topping raspberry granita with raspberries, spun sugar, creme chantille and a cigarette russe

 

 

 

 

This is one of those desserts where it is mainly in assemblage. The raspberry granita (an Italian crushed fruit ice dessert) can be made 2 days in advance, just be ready to bash it up a bit, as can the cigarette russe (wafer like biscuit scrolled into a cigar shape), so that in the moment all that needs to be made is the creme chantille and spun sugar.

 

RECIPE: Serves 4, adjust for more or less

 Recipe adapted from The Masterchef Cookbook

 

Raspberry granita -  Blend 350g fresh raspberries with 125g caster sugar in a blender or food processor. Blend in 275ml water and pour into a freezer proof container (I used an old icecream box).

Freeze for 1 hour then stir the mixture with a fork, distributing the ice crystals evenly. Repeat 3-4 times until fully frozen. (A couple of minutes before you serve, remove from freezer so you can scoop it out without it being too frozen!)

 

Cigarette Russe -  Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Beat together 60g unsalted butter with 75g icing sugar. Add 1 egg white and mix well, then stir in 60g plain flour until you have a smooth thick paste. Spread extremely thin circles of the mix on a baking tray lined with greased baking parchment, I'm talking what you'd spread on toast, if it is too thick, it just won't roll as I discovered when I put in my first tray which were delicious failures. (I also failed my 2nd attempt...) Work in batches of 2 as you won't be able to work any quicker once you retrieve them from the oven. Bake for 6-7 minutes until golden. Remove as quickly as you can and immediately slide them off and roll up into a cigar shape. Here I learned you either need asbestos fingers or need to be prepared to burn your fingers for the sake of culinary art... It is difficult, so don't be disheartened if you have a lot that don't work - you only really need one per person you are serving, so they don't need an 100% success rate.

 

Peaches -  Put 2 large white peaches in warm water for 5 minutes, then peel off the skins and cut into segments.

 

You'll need to assemble your granita in a circle with the peaches on top just before your spun sugar is ready.

 

Creme Chantille - Whisk (electric whisk) 250ml double cream with 25g icing sugar and a couple of drops of vanilla essence until soft peaks (peaks just starting to hold when you take your whisks out but melt back into the bowl after a couple of seconds).

 

 

Spun sugar -  Heat 100g caster sugar gently in a heavy pan without stirring. When it starts to become liquid and golden, tilt the pan to blend together and dissolve. Using a spoon, test the sugar until when you drop it from your spoon it hardens on a plate/surface. At this stage, fill your teaspoon with the caramel and flick it onto your serving plates to make golden decorations which will solidify into shape. Pretty soon after you should get to the stage where your caramel mix is starting to make thin strands of sugar. At this stage use your spoon to make spun sugar nets/meshes over the peaches on top of the granita.

 

Then just decorate with raspberries, spoon a little creme chantille to the side of your dish and top with a cigarette russe.

 

 

 

 b) Simply Decadent Sticky Toffee Pudding

 

 

 

 

With this recipe in your hands, I guarantee you will make a lot of friends. (Or people coming round to your house slightly more often). It's moist and rich, and the sticky caramel sauce is absolutely unparalled. A spoonful of this is like a liquid cuddle - it's a bit of a silky, cosy number. I've never known anyone not to fall into the trap of the STP (possibly not the greatest sounding abbreviation I do concede). In fact, I would go so far as to say that it is probably the most "gorgeous" pudding of all time. Not that I'm obsessive or anything...

I made this the night before and wrapped it up in cling film and foil to save time, as it stays moist for a day- and then just reheated it and made the sauce on the night. Either make it the day before or on the morning.

 

 

RECIPE: Makes a tray

Recipe from Eat Vegetarian, Sam Stern

 

 Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Grease a 28x18x2.5cm baking tray. Simmer 175g chopped stoned dates with 300ml water in a pan for 5 minutes. Add 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda. Set aside.

Cream 50g butter and 175g sugar with a wooden spoon or in a food processor until light and creamy. Drizzle 2 beaten eggs in gradually, beating hard. Stir in 175g self raising flour, the date mixture and 1 tsp vanilla extract. Spoon into tray. Cook for 30 minutes or until risen and springy.

For the sauce, melt 25g butter, 2 tbsps golden syrup and 175g soft brown sugar in a pan over low heat. Boil 1 minute (it should foam up a bit). Stir in 4 tsps single cream. Pour over pudding immediately and serve with single cream and vanilla icecream. Enjoy!

 

 

 

KITCHEN SONG OF THE WEEK: Dancing Song, Little Comets

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTiGCYy73TU

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MRS BEETON'S CLASSIC THICK GINGERBREAD

So, this one's straight from the old school, as this recipe is from Mrs Beeton's Book Of Household Management (1861). She was basically the original Delia with a bit less cheating. Recently I have been doing a bit of experimentation around Victorian methods, as I am organising a charity 3 course dinner for 80 in September based on the traditional recipes of Mrs Beeton. (And yes I may have used a food processor at times to speed up the process and avoid 3 hours of chopping carrots, because after the first time although I basically don't live in the real world, I know that it is probably slightly ridiculous even with five Bob Marley compilation albums). I must confess, I have not entered into the realms of 'hardcore Beeton', which involves boiling a pig's head, veal shins and 'scalding 2 nice calf's feet; to take off the hair; slit them in two and remove the fat from between the claws, to remove every particle of scum as it rises'. I was reliably informed by friends that I am definitely not ready to cope with that level of intensity. So this was my compromise, which doesn't involve stealing and killing animals and various other activities that would probably get me a longer than average stretch in some kind of asylum. It is essentially a traybake, so just get a big tray and chuck it all in. Oh and be warned, you have to be ready to cope with the realms of olden times pudding, which is treacly, dark and thick gingerbread. If you don't think that's quite your scene, in the least patronising way I can put this, go off and make some gingerbread men and... yep, I'm just going to leave it at that. Enjoy the recipe, I have translated it and converted the quantities (on my phone.. shhhh).

Put 340g selfraising flour in a big bowl with 113g soft brown sugar, 28g of ginger, 14g of mixed spice and stir. Melt 113g butter with a small size 454g tin of treacle and add it to the flour mixture. Gently warm 1/4 pint of milk and dissolve a tsp of bicarb in it, then add it to the mixture with 3 whisked eggs. Stir the batter until all combined, then pour it into a buttered tin. I baked mine at 160 degrees for 35 minutes, but it depends how thick you've made it, depending on the size of tin, so just bake it until it is coming away from the sides and a skewer comes out clean, it should just feel shiny and firm when you press it. Brush the top with an egg yolk and pop it back in the oven for a minute to get a shiny top.

* Oh, and just a quick note, it really is best served hot, as soon as you have made it, with vanilla icecream or single cream.

KITCHEN SONG OF THE DAY: BAGGY TROUSERS, MADNESS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8gVGH8ewQ8

SIMPLE, RUSTIC BEEF (in a tomato and tarragon dressing, with new potatoes)

Personally, I like to think of beef as a low maintenance, hearty, honest type of meat, equivalent to the BBC, a Volkswagen hatchback or a stripy armchair. When you're buying a fillet of beef or a steak, you want to look for a couple of thing to maximise your chances of obtaining a prime cut of beef. Firstly, ethics again: hormone and antibiotic fed, grass fed, organic if possible - look out for labels such as Freedom Foods, Tractor Mark, LEAF on packets. Buying ethical steaks isn't just better purely because of morality and a guilt free dinner, but it is basically in your own best interests because happy cows=happy meat is proven - in fact, chemical analysis of muscle tissue has been done, and if an animal is regularly stressed or frightened by their conditions through being forcefully moved with prods and dogs, because of blood rush to the muscles altering acid levels, your meat will be tougher and it can often affect flavour and texture.

However buying ethically produced beef guarantees not a perfect steak per se. Darker meat means quality hanging- means more enzyme activity- means more tender. If the steak is marbled (little specks of fat on the meat), chances are it'll be even juicier. If you happen to be at the butchers and have the opportunity to check out the beef being cut, and it stands upright rather than flopping - it'll shrink less. All it takes is literally less than half a minute to cast your eye over the meat, because yes the way you cook it will determine how good it tastes, but like anything, you don't really want to fall at the first hurdle.

Now a little tip about getting the 'done-ness' of meat right. As you've probably come across before, different people like their steaks in different ways (and can be quite particular about it!) For instance, my dad (who I cooked this steak for) is a guy who has his "well done and nothing less." You could use a meat thermometer, but many are averse to this particular method as they claim it drains excess juices from the steak, plus most people don't even own a meat thermometer. So there is an easy technique to check the degrees of done-ness to your steak and one that has been a little overdone on celebrity cooking shows (no pun intended) but works nonetheless.

WELL DONE - Press your thumb and little finger together and gently touch the fleshy area between your thumb and wrist. This is how your steak should feel.

MEDIUM - Press your ring finger and thumb together and gently touch the fleshy area between your thumb and wrist.

MEDIUM RARE - Press your middle finger and thumb together and gently touch the fleshy area between your thumb and wrist.

RARE - Press your index finger and thumb together and gently touch the fleshy area between your thumb and wrist.

 Well, it's definitely now recipe-time! Plate up some good, honest food after a day of hard labour on the combine harvester or trawling Topshop (not in a combine harvester obviously, that would be weird).

 ROASTED STEAK WITH TOMATO AND TARRAGON DRESSING AND NEW POTATOES:

 adapted from Gordon Ramsay's Healthy Appetite

This recipe serves six. To serve any more or less, you'll have to adapt the quantities.

For the dressing, you'll need a homemade tomato sauce to be made initially. Skin and chop 500g plum tomatoes - (to skin, I plunged the tomatoes into a saucepan of boiling water from the kettle. When you take them out again and gently prick the skin with the tip of a sharp knife, they will peel off easily). Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a pan and gently sweat 1 chopped sweet onion with 2 chopped garlic cloves until soft. Crush 1/2 tsp fennel and 1/2 tsp coriander seeds and add to the pan. Season. Cook for a minute or so, then add the tomatoes, 300ml tomato juice or water, 50g soft light brown sugar, 1 tbsp red wine vinegar or white wine vinegar with a splash of red wine and a few basil sprigs. Simmer gently for 25-30 minutes until the tomatoes are soft and pulpy. Whiz in food processor and then pass through a sieve into a bowl for a smooth, silky sauce. Leave to cool.

To make the dressing, cut 500g plum tomatoes (yes more) in half and squeeze them, discarding the seeds. Chop the flesh and put in a bowl with 5 tbsps of the already made tomato sauce, 2 tbsps Worcestershire sauce, 1 tbsp Dijon mustard, few dashes of Tabasco sauce, juice of a lemon, 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar, 2 tbsp olive oil, 2 shallots (peeled and finely chopped) and seasoning. Mix well. Cover with clingfilm and chill until ready to serve.

 Heat the oven to 200 degrees c and preheat a roasting pan. Trim any fat or sinew from a fillet of beef or steak (I used a ribeye steak) and season all over with salt and pepper. Heat a nonstick frying pan with a couple of dashes of olive oil. When very hot, add the beef and sear for 11/2 - 2 minutes on each side until evenly browned. Lightly oil the hot roasting pan and transfer the beef to it. Roast for around 20-25 minutes for medium rare, but keep an eye on your beef until it's how you like it. As soon as you put the beef in, start boiling your new potatoes in salted water if you're having them. Transfer to a warm plate and leave to rest for 10 minutes.

Serve the beef warm and sliced thickly. Stir a handful of chopped tarragon and a handful of chopped flat leaf parsley into the tomato dressing and spoon over the beef. Accompany with rocket and new potatoes.

KITCHEN SONG OF THE DAY: David Bowie, Starman
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRcPA7Fzebw



BEEF CONTINUED:
Following my exploits in steak experimentation, I came across the need to attempt to find the perfect partner for beef. As beef is so versatile and universally relished (excepting by Hindus, Buddhists and vegetarians, mmm forget I said anything), I decided to include it as the meat for the main course of a community 3 course dinner I am organising, in the form of rissoles - which are basically how the posh get away with ordering 'a burger'. However, the recipe, though admittedly of the Victorian era, simply calls for 'herbs'. So I subjected a few of my most willing volunteers to a blind taste test, in order to corroborate my ideas in the half an hour hunt for beef's best friend.

1. TARRAGON -  (ran away with it) - Well as initially suspected (in the least smug way possible) when teamed with the tomato dressing accompanying the steak (above), tarragon and beef is a winning combination. Tarragon, or artemisia dracunculus as nobody calls it, has notes of aniseed and vanilla, and is most famously united with steak in the French sauce Béarnaise, reputed offspring of the Hollandaise. Also known for being spectacular with sea bass, salmon and trout.

2. THYME - (a not entirely close second) - In the grand world of beef, the most likely known associate of thyme is a roasted beef tenderloin coupled with garlic and lemon peel, which also goes fantastically with beef. Try them all together in a casserole.

3. BASIL -
Although not a brilliantly convincing bronze in the rissole race, basil is known to be an unstoppable beef sidekick in Asian beef stews with a powerful chili punch. To be honest, they were fairly good together here, but Thai beef stirfries and noodles would be an ultimately more supreme basil collaboration.

 AND THOSE WHO MISSED THE PODIUM ...

Dill and Mixed Herbs -
In the end, I have to say, the slightly bitter tones in dill are probably better suited to lamb, fish with lemon or a creamy sauce and poultry. Though don't completely write off the combination, it is often seen in stroganoff and beef dips. As for mixed herbs, they're fine for when you're on the go, but fresh is always best - and just as cheap, (80p for a bag of fresh herbs, 95p for a jar of dried herbs).

Below is the recipe for Mrs Beeton's beef rissoles, with the plus being that they're unbelievably easy, go fantastically with roast potatoes and thick gravy and are healthier than popping to McDonalds (do people pop to McDonalds?)... as you know what goes into them.

MRS BEETON'S BEEF RISSOLES:

To make 15

Mix 1lb or 453g lean minced beef (I usually get mine from the butchers) with 3/4 lb or 340g bread crumbs (pretty much a loaf of white sliced bread cut up small and bladed in a blender), salt and pepper, a small handful of chopped tarragon (or by all means conduct your own hugely exciting herb experiments) and the grated peel of a lemon. When well mixed, make a well in the centre and crack a large egg into the middle, as this will bind your rissoles. Combine. Flour your hands and pat the mixture into small burgers, before frying them both sides in olive oil, until they are a rich brown probably 2-3 minutes each side. Then put them in the oven for 10 minutes at 180 degrees. Before eating, cut one in half and make sure they are absolutely cooked through. If they aren't, stick them back in. You shouldn't soley pan fry the rissoles if you don't have a meat thermometer, because although it can look brown inside, it may not have been hot enough to kill the
e-coli.

Serve with roast potatoes, gravy and green vegetables.

DINNER PARTY BASICS

Your basic chicken (stuffed with ricotta and wrapped in Parma ham)  good for a quick lunch, coming home late starving from general places and even dinner parties yep...

adapted from Gordon Ramsay's Healthy Appetite

I'm just going to start by saying as a vegetarian of eight years , vegetarians and meat = bit of a grey area. Does it mean you eat fish or you don't, do you let meat be cooked in the same tray as a vegetarian dish? etc. With me, I don't eat meat or fish, but I'm perfectly happy to cook most meat or fish dishes for my family and friends. I accept that it's a lifestyle choice, and just as I expect they wouldn't plonk down a shoulder of roast veal in front of me, I'm not going to force them to eat a lentil stew if I'm happy about knocking up some chicken for them (not that I eat lentil stews, and not that they object to vegetarian, but you get the basic principle).
Anyway, this little wonder is fantastically easy - seriously, you can add it to the memory bank after you've made it just once, it's really that simple, as well as being a balanced meat dish that takes genuinely very little effort. And I've done a little step-by-step with pictures, in case you think I'm fabricating the truth a little, as I know some cookbooks are like - "all you need is a bonfire, a roast cow on a spit and a vacuum line fitted with a 0.2-micron filter it's as easy as that!" Nope, you could probably knock this up in around half an hour, minus the fridging time, no word of lie - and my little carnivorous informers tell me it's pretty tasty too.

Get a large good quality chicken breast and you're
flying. What to look for - pliable, should bounce back when
you gently press it, skin that isn't spotted, free range every time -
a) for moral grounds, b) your chicken won't have been fed on hormones
and will taste better, looks a bit like this one here.

Cut a slit down the edge of the breast without slicing right
through. Use a long, sharp knife.

Open out the breast carefully.

Lay out a couple of slices of parma ham
(around 60p per 2 slices from pretty much all good delis
- your supermarket will probably
have one) and lay out your chicken on top

Finely chop a sage leaf and mix it with a heaped tbsp of
ricotta cheese. Spoon this in the middle of your chicken.

Fold up the hinges of your chicken, enclosing the filling.

Wrap up your chicken in the parma ham.

Clingfilm it up and fridge it for an hour. Go and watch TV or
wash up, whatever rocks your socks.

Heat your oven to 180 and put a roasting tin/pan in the oven.
Heat a large heavy based frying pan and add 1 1/2 tbsp olive
oil. When it's hot, whack in your chicken breast and fry for 2 mins
on each side until browned, (as below).

Lay a thyme sprig on top of your chicken breast, then place
in the hot roasting pan and cook in the oven for around 12
minutes when it has come up to full heat (you might need
a couple of minutes longer if you have a massive chicken breast)
anyway, the point is - it should be just firm when lightly pressed

Rest the chicken in a warm place for 5-10 minutes, wrapped in
foil. While this is going on, you might want to think about
sorting what goes with it. It doesn't want too much, as it's pretty
much sorted but have a little think if you have a big appetite. If you
have a really big appetite, strike that, turn back time to when we were
looking at an uncooked chicken breast and have your little think now.
Not massively helpful, but I'm presuming, hoping, you'll have read this through
before attempting it. Me, I just chucked some minted peas with it, simmer
your peas in salted water for 3-4 minutes, fry them in a nick of butter for a
few seconds, mix in some fresh chopped mint leaves, sorted.

Slice diagonally and eat, if you're into that.


KITCHEN SONG OF THE DAY: Perfect Disease, The Wombats
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3Il0bRgorM&feature=player_detailpage



PUDDINGS:

                                                                              “Life is uncertain. Eat dessert first.”

                                                                                              Ernestine Ulmer

GOOEY CHOCOLATE PUDS

Let's be honest. The whole premise of a dinner party works up to the pudding. I like my puddings not too big, but delicious, fulfilling and well presented. Let's not pretend that we are not always a little disappointed when the dessert in question does  not contain an ounce of chocolate. These gooey chocolate puds are impressive and really simple and chic with cream and a centre of molten chocolate. Plus they look good and the first taste is always with the eyes (as in many walks of life). This one's also got a transcendental kick of orange, if you're bothered.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees, 160 if you're a fan oven, and lightly grease four ramekins. Melt your 60g dark chocolate (broken up), 60g soft butter, 1/2 tsp of orange rind and 2 tsps strong black coffee in a bowl set over a pan of boiling water. (Don't let the bottom of the bowl touch the water). Put 2 eggs, plus 2 yolks (to separate, crack the egg in half and transfer the yolk from one half of the egg shell to the other until you get it without any whites), in a bowl with 50g caster sugar and beat with an electric whisk or a hand whisk until it seems to have doubled and is a pale mousse. Then tip the melted chocolate mixture in with the mousse and gently with a big metal spoon, fold the mixture (use big scooping movements to keep the air in and mix the 2 together). Pour the mix into the ramekins and put on baking trays before cooking for 12 minutes without opening the door. You want the puddings to be cooked on the outside, soft in the middle and risen. Serve with drizzled cream around the outside for black plates and melted chocolate if white plates, plus Terry's chocolate orange segments (or just coat tangerine segments in dark chocolate. I know - crazy). Oh and don't burn your hands!! I just sometimes forget that they have come out of a piping hot oven, but you are probably more sensible.

KITCHEN SONG OF THE DAY: Send me on my way, Rusted Root
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LSR72zy9eE



MAINS:


<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

AUBERGINE AND FETA ROLL UPS IN TOMATO SAUCE
(Get Cooking Sam Stern)

As mains go, you want a body of food that is satisfying rather than stodgy and has a good burst of colour. This is a classic Italian dish with melted cheese, herbs and a rich tomato sauce. Perfect for a family dinner.

Heat 4 tbsps olive oil gently in a saucepan. Cook a clove of crushed garlic and a small chopped onion for 5 minutes, until soft but not coloured. Throw in a 400g tin of chopped tomatoes, pinch of sugar, salt and pepper (as you require). Reduce heat and simmer gently for 15-20 minutes, adding a splash of water if it gets too thick. Have a little taste and adjust your seasoning, adding a squeeze of juice from a lemon.
For the aubergine strips, slice 2 large aubergines into 5-6 thin lengths each. When choosing your aubergines from a supermarket or deli, you want to make sure they are firm too the touch and have shiny skin. Put 3 tbsps flour on your table/work surface and season it. Put 2 beaten eggs on a plate (yes a plate). Put a few splashes of oil into a large frying pan and heat gently. Then dip the aubergine slices into the flour and then the egg until coated (here you are making the kind of batter covering it). Increase the heat of the frying pan and fry for 1-2 minutes each side until golden. Rest on kitchen paper while you cook the remainder. (You are going to smell of frying just to warn, so you may want to wear an old shirt or whatever).
Now preheat the oven to 200 degrees or 180 if fan. Spread a bit of your tomato sauce in the bottom of a large, shallow ovenproof dish. Sprinkle each slice of aubergine with salt, pepper and 3-4 tbsps freshly grated parmesan. Put a basil leave (you'll need a fresh bunch) and a small slice of Mozzarella in the middle (you'll need 350g ball - it comes in a kind of packet with its own liquid in to keep it fresh - you don't need the liquid) and roll the aubergine slice over its filling, resting it in the dish with its seam pressed into the tomato sauce, so it resembles a roll. Top with the remainder of the sliced mozzarella, parmesan and drizzle of oil and bake for 20 minutes or until hot and bubbling. Serve with a light salad and sweetcorn for the mediterranean style colour contrast.

SWEET TREATS:

ADDICTIVE TOFFEE CHOC BARS

Sometimes you just need something to fulfil those sugar cravings. Yep. *sighs*              


Beat together 350g light muscavado sugar with 450g softened butter. When light and fluffy, beat in 2 egg yolks and 1 and a 1/2 tsp vanilla essence. Stir in 450g plain flour. When incorporated, spread the dough in a greased long shallow baking tray using the back of a fork to smooth over with lines. Bake for 25-30 minutes at 160 degrees. Melt 225g dark chocolate with 150g butter and 2 tbsps golden syrup. Stir to melt and carefully pour over the top (it will be liquidy). Leave in a cool place to set before marking into generous bars.

KITCHEN SONG OF THE DAY: Acid jazz singer, Fratellis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXEvdx610XQ


TRADITIONAL YORKSHIRE FARE - CHERRY FAT
RASCALS:  

From Eat Vegetarian Sam Stern



You see a lot of things when you are striving for an extensive traditional culinary repetoire, often ugly in experimentation, but I can genuinely say, this is the second most failsafe recipe I have every laid my hands on - it is like the jazzy, slightly obese elder brother of the scone. The most failsafe is a secret family recipe of chocolate oatcakes, the only recipe in my life which has had people physically begging for more with money and withdrawal symptoms (that'll be the blend of narcotics, stimulants and opiates then)- but the recipe is under lock and key and I can tell you now that it is more than my life is worth to reveal the ingredients. Anyway, I digress. This is a Yorkshire tea room classic, a different variation of what they serve up at the famed Betty's tea room in York (well worth a visit) and has the heads up from my Grandma who runs a farm in Yorkshire and is the greatest provider of a roast dinner I have ever had the pleasure to taste. If you are a fan of hearty Yorkshire fare, this is a genuine treat to appreciate and possibly bow down to with a slab of butter and a cup of Yorkshire tea, hot or cold.

Grease baking trays. Sift 150g plain flour and 150g self raising flour in a bowl. Rub in 150g butter until the mix resembles bread crumbs. Stir in 100g caster sugar, grated rind of a lemon, rind of 1/2 orange, pinch of ground nutmeg, 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon, 2 handfuls of currants and a few chopped glace cherries.
Beat an egg and 50ml milk together and mix into the dry ingredients with a strong fork for a stif dough. Knead into a ball. You will notice that this is fantastic to handle as well, pliable and easy to roll and cut.
 Roll out onto a well floured surface until quite thick but not too thick, you just don't want it to be thin. Cut into large circle and top with half cherries. Glaze the tops with a beaten egg yolk, brushing on with a pastry brush for the shiny tops.
Bake for 20 minutes at 180 degrees. It has had a 100% success rate every time I've made it and that is pretty often as my dad has a bit of a penchant for them!


KITCHEN SONG OF THE DAY: electric feel, MGMT
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZjmwgRmoYU


The Choux Pastry Section:



LES PETITS CROQUEMBOUCHES

(From the fantastic Baking Made Easy - Lorraine Pascale)

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Dust a large baking tray with flour. Put 60g butter and 150ml buttermilk (or if you are in a panic because you wanted to make this and you haven't obtained any, sub in milk with a squeeze of lemon juice). Once the butter has melted turn up to a fast boil. Add in 70g plain flour and remove the pan from the heat whilst stirring. Beat hard until the mix leaves the side of the pan, then set aside to cool.
Whip 200ml whipping or double cream, 40g icing sugar and couple of drops of vanilla essence  together until it starts to thicken. Stir in 1 tbsp instant coffee powder and set aside.
Add 2-3 eggs into the choux pastry mixture, one by one, beating fast. The mix will go shiny and begin to move away from the pan. The mix should fall slowly from a spoon with a jerk of the wrist. You might only need 2 1/2 eggs to achieve this, it really depends.
Either pipe or spoon mixture into puffs onto baking tray (depending on how fastidious you are). Bake for 20 minutes until they have puffed up, are firm around the edge and a light golden colour. Using a skewer, make a hole in the underside of the bun and pop them back into the oven for 2 more minutes. Take them out and leave to cool on a wire rack.
To assemble, put a dollop of cream on a serving plate and arrange a few buns on it. Repeat until you have a 3 layer structure.
For spun sugar, have a large bowl of cold water nearby as it stops the caramel cooking once it has reached the correct temperature. Put 165g granulated sugar and 165ml water in a heavy based saucepan and melt over a low heat (don't let any sugar climb up the side of the pan or it could burn). Once the sugar has completely dissolved, turn up the heat and let it boil and bubble gently until it becomes a medium honeycomb colour (you really do need to be watching the pan at this point and not staring into the neighbours garden and singing along to radio one at this point). As soon as it reaches this stage, plunge into the bowl of cold water and using 2 forks back to back, dunk them in the sugar and spin the sugar round and round the croquembouche lots of times until you have formed a sugar net around the buns (this'll hold for around 1-2 hours).

PROFITEROLES

(Get Cooking Sam Stern)
 Sift 100g plain flour, a pinch of salt and sugar onto a large plate. Tip 200ml water and 75g butter into a medium sized pan. Melt gently and then bring to the boil. Quickly slide the flour mix into the butter and beat until dough comes together. Take off the heat and beat to a kind of sticky pastey dough. Put greaseproof paper onto the plate and slide the mix onto it and leave to set for 10 minutes. It should look about like this:

Put the paste in a bowl. Beat 2 beaten eggs in gradually until smooth. Heap teaspoons apart on greased baking trays (should fit approximately 9). Sprinkle cold water in between puffs (this creates steam during cooking to puff the pastry). Cook for 20-25 minutes at 180 degrees. Remove. Pierce base of each puff with a skewer to make a little hole without cracking the puff. Cook the puffs for 5 more minutes but upside down. Cool on rack.
Whisk 450ml double cream until stiff. This means when you lift the whisks out of the bowl, the cream stands up in peaks.

Fold in 2 tbsps icing sugar and a drop of vanilla essence. Gun into the bottom of the puffs, through the small hole with a piping bag to fill the puffs with cream. Melt 110g dark chocolate in a bowl over boiling water from the kettle (don't let the bowl touch the water). Add 10g butter, 2 tbsps water, 2 tbsps golden syrup. Stir until smooth and drizzle over profiteroles. Impressive.



A LESSON IN FAILURE
Okay, so there are 3 types of people in the cooking world when masterpieces fall apart: the type who go and sit in a corner rocking backwards and forwards in a pile of smashed crockery whilst repeatedly whispering "oh no, oh no, oh no!", the type that says, "brilliant! I was secretly hoping this would happen!" and takes the tray of submerged cookies/disintegrated cakes off to a locked room to eat it and the type who says, "right ... this isn't great, but it isn't necessarily a failure." They are the most annoying type of all, aren't they? But if you can learn to become one, get a bit creative and get over your own cookiegeddon, you will be the person who turns up, granted a few hours later, but with a salvaged masterpiece.
My latest example of this was when I made a Jamaican ginger cake for my friend's birthday. Being impatient and forgetting one of the first rules of cooking, I turned out the cake from the tin which of course resulted in it falling apart immediately. So, naturally I went through the first two stages of disaster until my mum walked in and said those immortal words, "right ... this isn't great, but it isn't necessarily a failure." To which I said, "are you joking - have you seen this!! It's like a ginger massacre!" *dramatic wailing ensues* or words to that general effect.
However, two hours later, we had managed between us to craft the tasty little piece below, by using the skeletal structure of the fallen apart ginger cake and filling it with layers of crushed ginger biscuits melted with butter, massacred ginger cake and whipped cream. If you look carefully at the sides, you'll see they are in fact made out of biscuit and only the top is cake. When we cut through it, it was ginger and white striped, so everyone thought I had made a ginger biscuit ensemble disguised as a cake and it ended up being far more clever than my initial recipe would have been, as I ceased to correct them. So the moral of the story is, stick with it and find an alternative - and always have some icecream handy in the freezer if you have guests and it really is irretreviable.

The ginger cake that made it.

The bottom half fell apart, but I cemented it with buttercream.

KITCHEN SONG OF THE DAY: SWEET DISPOSITION, TEMPER TRAP
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxKjOOR9sPU