A Birthday Dinner

Harriet had her birthday dinner at our house on Friday night & I promised her a birthday blog. In typical Harriet fashion there was some initial vagueness around numbers. When she told me who was coming I expressed some surprise because I thought her initial request had suggested more than 2 friends. The next thing you know she had invited 12, but in the event there were 8 including Harriet plus Peter, Phoebe & I so that was fine. She had wanted a barbecue and you know what our weather has been so I was a bit worried. But that worked out as well.
So what did we eat?
Initially we put out hummus & that amazing Galilee cheese spread plus olives. And the famous cheesy feet & hands. Then we did a plate of Zany Zeus haloumi with lemon wedges and the broad bean fritters served with lemon yoghurt. If you've not cooked haloumi do try. It's simple and delicious. On the other hand, maybe not. It's not cheap & we have a bit of a reputation for it now.
By the time they'd finished with that lot it was getting a bit cooler so we came in and sat around the table. We barbecued vegetarian sausages that went down really well with my homemade tomato sauce. And we just did a selection of salads. Quite a selection actually because as usual I don't know when to stop. I did the Turkish vegetable fattoush and the carrot salad from the Moorish blog. Then I found an amazing beetroot pilaf I wanted to try. It's really 2 pilafs (is that a word?) combined but don't let that put you off. You just need 2 cooking receptacles. For 6, heat a little oil & butter in medium frying pan with a lid (or cover securely with tinfoil). Add half a finely chopped onion and partially soften. Stir in 3/4 cup brown basmati rice - I used a combination of brown basmati & wild rice - & fry 3-4 minutes, then add 1 medium beetroot peeled & finely chopped (yes you will have messy fingers) plus 400ml hot vegetable stock. Bring to the boil, reduce to the lowest possible simmer, cover & leave 25 minutes, resisting the temptation to peek. While that is doing, start the 2nd pilaf off in the same way adding a cinnamon stick & 1/2 tsp turmeric to the onion. Stir in white basmati rice, cook 3 minutes, add 375ml hot stock, bring to the boil, cover, reduce to lowest simmer and cook 15 minutes. At the end of the cooking time rest both pans covered 5 minutes then 15 minutes uncovered to cool slightly. Gently fold both together into a serving dish with some chopped flat leaf parsley and lots (about 200g) of crumbly feta.
That was my absolute favourite but the 'piece de resistance' was probably the quinoa & edamame salad. Again really easy. Quinoa is available in most supermarkets & I buy Ceres Organics. Rinse about a cup of quinoa & simmer in a little over twice the volume water or stock about 2o minutes until all the liquid is absorbed. Spread 0ut on a tray & leave to cool.
Saute about a cup of frozen corn (or kernels scraped off 2-3 cobs) in a pan with crushed garlic & salt about 5 minutes on a high heat until lightly coloured. Blanch & pod a 400g bag of frozen edamame beans. We got these at Moore Wilson's. I don't know if you can buy them not frozen. In a large bowl mix the quinoa, corn mixture, a drained tin of chickpeas, 3 finely sliced spring onions and 3 finely sliced radishes. If you get them from your garden you may be lucky enough to find 3 in slightly different shades. Make the dressing in the processor:
1/3 cup olive oil
zest & juice of 1 lime
2 cloves garlic crushed
1 tbsp honey
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp cumin
handful basil leaves
salt & pepper
Then toss with the quinoa mix. Colourful & delicious.
We finished the evening with Floriditas Vegan Raspberry Chocolate cake.

The last of summer?

I am not going to get into the study to write this blog every week now that school is back. I am going to try a new approach & do a monthly round up of the things I think you will like the best. It hasn't been the best of weather but we have had a reasonable return from the garden considering. And even a few more outdoor meals. We did all Phoebe's favourites one night. Vegetable skewers - red onion, green & yellow courgette, button mushrooms, capsicum yellow, red, green & orange. Phoebe's all time barbecue favourite is watermelon, red onion, olives, feta & parsley. And she doesn't even like onion, olives or parsley. This really works as a refreshing salad on a hot day. Marinade the red onion in lime juice first to reduce some of the sharpness & bring out the pinkness. Dress with the lime & olive oil to taste. Grind on lots of black pepper.
When you have an abundance of tomatoes don't forget Jamie's Mothership Tomato Salad. This is the best tomato salad in the world. Use as many different colours & shapes as you can. I add a little sugar with the salt to bring out the flavour in the tomatoes. I use my rosemary sugar.


For lamb & kumara lovers we discovered the best lamb salad in an old Cuisine: Lamb salad with spinach kumara & capsicum. We did it for visitors from the UK. I used different types of kumara to give it some variety. If you don't have vincotto maybe try some kind of fruity balsamic.
Another salad which is now firmly in the repertoire is a beef salad with yellow split peas. Cook about 1 1/2 cups yellow split peas in chicken stock until just tender, drain & spread out to cool. Don't overcook or they will turn mushy - I did this the first time & I just froze them to use later as a dip or dahl and started again. It was worth it. Make a dressing in the food processor with 1/3 cup pumpkin seeds, 1/2 cup olive oil, 2 cloves garlic, zest & juice of 1 lemon, small bunch of flat-leaf parsley. Pan grill a piece of sirloin to your liking and after resting cut into cubes. Mix the split peas with diced capsicum, celery & red onion & mix with half the dressing. Drizzle the remaining dressing over the steak & serve side by side on a platter scattered with watercress.
I recently bought some quinces and poached them in an amazing liquor. There are lots of recipes. Give it a go. We used muscat and spices. The colour is incredible. They are very rich and you only need small servings - but delicious.

Is this summer at last?

Smoked fish with roasted potatoes & egg is one of my absolute favourite summer salads. This is from the January 2006 Cuisine which has one of the best ever selections of salads & is one we return to every summer. We just call it "the fish issue". This year we have been using our home grown Swift potatoes. I recommend Swift for an outstanding crop of waxy potatoes. Try them. We like to get our smoked fish from the Coromandel Smoking Co. We get it from Olive Guy at Harbourside Market. You can probably find an outlet near you.

We recently tried a duck risotto. This was beautiful and we have decided to experiment more with duck so keep an eye out for more. Make a glaze with:

2 tbsp honey

a splash of sherry

2 cardamom pods, bruised

1 tsp cracked pepper, slightly crushed

1 tsp orange blossom water.

Using one duck breast per person, score the skin, season with salt & pepper and put skin down in a hot pan with a little olive oil. When the skin is golden (about 4 minutes), turn & cook a further 2 minutes. Tip away the excess fat - there may be quite a bit - and brush the skin with the glaze. Turn skin side down again & cook a final 2 minutes. Rest before serving. Here is quite a good description of the process for cooking duck. You could crisp up the skin under the grill if you like.

In the meantime make a basic risotto, including a cinnamon stick a a few strands of saffron with the rice. Add fresh peas (or frozen if you have none in the garden) & chopped parsley & celery leaves at the end. Top with the sliced duck.

I recently made broad bean fritters to eat with Turkish bread as an alternative to lamb meatballs. These were so divine. And perfect the next day as a spread on toasted Turkish bread. In the food processor, mix a big bunch of flat leaf parsley (you could use coriander) and a smaller bunch of mint. Add salt & pepper, 1/2 tsp cayenne. 1 tsp ground cumin, a sprinkling of chilli flakes, zest & juice of a lemon, and 500g defrosted broad beans skinned. I found they were easy to skin when they were part defrosted. (Use fresh in season.) Sprinkle in 1 tsp flour & pulse for a few seconds. Don't be tempted to add more flour - the mixture will be too dry. To make the fritters, use 2 spoons to make elegant quenelles. This is really easy, just roll a spoonful of mixture from one to the other about 3 times, try it. Then deep fry the fritters for about 2 minutes. When they rise to the top of the oil they are done. They will be brown on the outside and bright green within. These will be very popular so don't skimp. You could serve as a starter with a lemony yoghurt dip too.