Tuesday, 7 February 2012
Monday, 2 January 2012
New Year's Day
It is now 2nd January; 2012 is now well underway and my hangover is abating. To kick off the year we hosted a curry and hair of the dog lunch party to blow away the cobwebs of the night before and get us all going for the year ahead.
Few guests had actually been anywhere for New Year's Eve, we have all got children, so the celebrations were mainly early nights. Which put everyone in good humour for our annual local get together.
The house was over run with a hoarde of children ranging in age from about 3 to 15, the boys rushed off to the park and played football in the pouring rain, Maddie hosted a cinema show in her room for the younger kids. This gave us around 1 1/2 hours of sanity. The rain beat down all afternoon so there wasn't anywhere for the kids to go, so as the afternoon wore on they rushed around like maniacs making a terrific noise.
I kicked off the day with a blinding headache (a relic of the previous fun evening), but that soon melted away as we prepared the feast.
Lorna made Bloody Marys - spicy and delicious, Oscar made his legendary Mango and Lime Smoothies (see earlier post), I made a sweet and delicious Royal chicken korma courtesy of Madhur Jaffrey, aloo gobi (I rather overdid the quantities of this so we'll be eating it for months). Our friend Simon made a delicious dahl and Veronica brought home made cheese cake for pudding. Kate made us some bread and filo pastry snacks (which were divine).
To drink there were Bloody Marys, Cobra beer, Prosecco, Muscadet, red wine from Montepulciano and a small scattering of soft drinks. Our lovely friends from the street all came armed with lots of wine and more Prosecco.
The last guests disappeared at 9pm and I staggered off to bed after another bowl of Aloo Gobi!
I really recommend the Royal Chicken Korma - it was so sweet from the sultanas and nutty from the almonds, and more spicy that the restaurant version.
Few guests had actually been anywhere for New Year's Eve, we have all got children, so the celebrations were mainly early nights. Which put everyone in good humour for our annual local get together.
The house was over run with a hoarde of children ranging in age from about 3 to 15, the boys rushed off to the park and played football in the pouring rain, Maddie hosted a cinema show in her room for the younger kids. This gave us around 1 1/2 hours of sanity. The rain beat down all afternoon so there wasn't anywhere for the kids to go, so as the afternoon wore on they rushed around like maniacs making a terrific noise.
I kicked off the day with a blinding headache (a relic of the previous fun evening), but that soon melted away as we prepared the feast.
Lorna made Bloody Marys - spicy and delicious, Oscar made his legendary Mango and Lime Smoothies (see earlier post), I made a sweet and delicious Royal chicken korma courtesy of Madhur Jaffrey, aloo gobi (I rather overdid the quantities of this so we'll be eating it for months). Our friend Simon made a delicious dahl and Veronica brought home made cheese cake for pudding. Kate made us some bread and filo pastry snacks (which were divine).
To drink there were Bloody Marys, Cobra beer, Prosecco, Muscadet, red wine from Montepulciano and a small scattering of soft drinks. Our lovely friends from the street all came armed with lots of wine and more Prosecco.
The last guests disappeared at 9pm and I staggered off to bed after another bowl of Aloo Gobi!
I really recommend the Royal Chicken Korma - it was so sweet from the sultanas and nutty from the almonds, and more spicy that the restaurant version.
Saturday, 12 November 2011
Martha Stewart's lemon curd tart
This is amazing, the curd very tart, a fantastic pudding after a rich meaty main course, eased down with a nice chilled Sauternes.
You'll need six egg yolks, beaten, 1 cup of sugar, 1/2 cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice, 1/4 lb of unsalted butter, 1 tablespoon of lemon zest.
To make the tart, buy some short crust pastry, roll it out and line a shallow baking tray (round thing) for tarts, prick the base with a fork and cook for 30 mins or so at 150C (I think). Remove and leave to cool.
To make the lemon curd beat the eggs then strain through a sieve into a medium sized heavy saucepan, Add the sugar and lemon and cook over a low heat stirring constantly to combine. Keep stirring until the sauce thickens and coats the back of a wooden spoon, it's a bit of a fag as it seems to take ages (10 - 15 mins approx). Remove from heat and allow to cool a bit, then stir in the sticks of butter a little at a time. Then stir in the lemon zest and allow the mix to cool completely.
Pour into the pastry tart and refrigerate. When you want to eat it dust with icing sugar and adorn with a sprig of mint, serve with clotted cream.
You'll need six egg yolks, beaten, 1 cup of sugar, 1/2 cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice, 1/4 lb of unsalted butter, 1 tablespoon of lemon zest.
To make the tart, buy some short crust pastry, roll it out and line a shallow baking tray (round thing) for tarts, prick the base with a fork and cook for 30 mins or so at 150C (I think). Remove and leave to cool.
To make the lemon curd beat the eggs then strain through a sieve into a medium sized heavy saucepan, Add the sugar and lemon and cook over a low heat stirring constantly to combine. Keep stirring until the sauce thickens and coats the back of a wooden spoon, it's a bit of a fag as it seems to take ages (10 - 15 mins approx). Remove from heat and allow to cool a bit, then stir in the sticks of butter a little at a time. Then stir in the lemon zest and allow the mix to cool completely.
Pour into the pastry tart and refrigerate. When you want to eat it dust with icing sugar and adorn with a sprig of mint, serve with clotted cream.
Saturday, 29 October 2011
Saturday, 1 October 2011
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