Cooking for friends and family
Cooking food for people you love is one of life's great pleasures and especially if the meal is a celebration. Sharing good food, laughter and conversation is what brings people together and forges memories for years to come. I love to cook but perhaps even more so, I adore the preparation, spending evenings and weekends consulting cookery books and files of clippings from papers and magazines, brain storming menus and recipe ideas. For me, it is also important that it is a visual feast, we eat with our eyes first, and presentation is as necessary as the choice of food. Throw in the considerations of provenance, seasonality and the practical issues of transportation, cooking methods and time and you have one very happily occupied cook.
The first of such planned feasts took place in mid July, in the last few days of the heatwave, just when the skies threatened thunder. A birthday lunch for my mum, in her garden amongst the roses. I wanted to provide a summery spread of cold food and salads, (with temperatures of nearly 30℃ it was far too hot to pop something in the oven). I also needed to factor in transportation, salads needed to be robust enough to survive a 90 minute drive in an old car with no air conditioning.
For the main course I decided on a vegetable tart, a summer vegetable and pesto rose tart from BBC Good Food magazine (changing the recipe slightly to use gluten free flour from Doves Farm and omitting the breadcrumbs). It's a little fiddly when you don't have a microwave to soften the vegetable slices but otherwise straightforward with very pretty results. The quantities in the recipe provided enough for a smaller tart even when using a 23cm quiche tin. Easy to make in advance and delicious served cold, its perfect picnic food suitable for travel.
To serve alongside the tart I made three salads; sliced heritage tomatoes of different colours and sizes, with crumbled feta, black olives and Greek basil plus a good drizzle of olive oil; a crunchy green salad with Dolce Verde & Little Gem lettuce plus French Breakfast radish and red chicory for a splash of colour (packing a simple French vinaigrette in a jam jar); and finally some new potatoes with boiled quails eggs, parsley, chives, capers and mayonnaise. A plateful of cold poached salmon fillets provided the final dish. Everything packed easily into one cooler bag with plenty of ice blocks and survived the journey well.
For the dessert I wanted something light, yet spectacular and with cherries being both in season, abundant and also one of my mum's favourites, it had to be the cherry pavlova recipe from from Waitrose. Easy to make, with only the cream to whip before assembly it was perfect and was pretty much devoured in minutes.
The second planned feast was a Saturday evening supper for friends on the last weekend in July. When cooking for guests at home, I like to do as much preparation in advance as possible, so that you can spend time with those you have invited rather than slaving in the kitchen. This simple beetroot and goats cheese terrine looks very pretty using different coloured beetroot. Add a punchy green salad with some rocket for a bright contrast. For the main course a warming bowl of ribollita provided a little warmth on a chillier evening (heatwave now well and truly over). The dish is a family favourite, using this recipe from Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall, cheap and easy it never fails to disappoint and I've yet to see anyone not scrape their bowl clean when presented with it. A simple dessert of chocolate mousse provided an elegant finish. A little online research for chocolate mousse led me to this article by Felicity Cloake. She certainly researched the subject well so it seemed best to follow her suggestion and use Elizabeth David's recipe with an additional decorative spoonful of cream, fresh raspberries and a dusting of sesame caramel. It's another easy recipe that can be prepped in advance and is the perfect simple and light finish to a meal. Now all that's left to do is the washing up!
The first of such planned feasts took place in mid July, in the last few days of the heatwave, just when the skies threatened thunder. A birthday lunch for my mum, in her garden amongst the roses. I wanted to provide a summery spread of cold food and salads, (with temperatures of nearly 30℃ it was far too hot to pop something in the oven). I also needed to factor in transportation, salads needed to be robust enough to survive a 90 minute drive in an old car with no air conditioning.
For the main course I decided on a vegetable tart, a summer vegetable and pesto rose tart from BBC Good Food magazine (changing the recipe slightly to use gluten free flour from Doves Farm and omitting the breadcrumbs). It's a little fiddly when you don't have a microwave to soften the vegetable slices but otherwise straightforward with very pretty results. The quantities in the recipe provided enough for a smaller tart even when using a 23cm quiche tin. Easy to make in advance and delicious served cold, its perfect picnic food suitable for travel.
To serve alongside the tart I made three salads; sliced heritage tomatoes of different colours and sizes, with crumbled feta, black olives and Greek basil plus a good drizzle of olive oil; a crunchy green salad with Dolce Verde & Little Gem lettuce plus French Breakfast radish and red chicory for a splash of colour (packing a simple French vinaigrette in a jam jar); and finally some new potatoes with boiled quails eggs, parsley, chives, capers and mayonnaise. A plateful of cold poached salmon fillets provided the final dish. Everything packed easily into one cooler bag with plenty of ice blocks and survived the journey well.
For the dessert I wanted something light, yet spectacular and with cherries being both in season, abundant and also one of my mum's favourites, it had to be the cherry pavlova recipe from from Waitrose. Easy to make, with only the cream to whip before assembly it was perfect and was pretty much devoured in minutes.
The second planned feast was a Saturday evening supper for friends on the last weekend in July. When cooking for guests at home, I like to do as much preparation in advance as possible, so that you can spend time with those you have invited rather than slaving in the kitchen. This simple beetroot and goats cheese terrine looks very pretty using different coloured beetroot. Add a punchy green salad with some rocket for a bright contrast. For the main course a warming bowl of ribollita provided a little warmth on a chillier evening (heatwave now well and truly over). The dish is a family favourite, using this recipe from Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall, cheap and easy it never fails to disappoint and I've yet to see anyone not scrape their bowl clean when presented with it. A simple dessert of chocolate mousse provided an elegant finish. A little online research for chocolate mousse led me to this article by Felicity Cloake. She certainly researched the subject well so it seemed best to follow her suggestion and use Elizabeth David's recipe with an additional decorative spoonful of cream, fresh raspberries and a dusting of sesame caramel. It's another easy recipe that can be prepped in advance and is the perfect simple and light finish to a meal. Now all that's left to do is the washing up!
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