Celebration Dinner 20th June 2009

Mr. Stripey Cat joined me this weekend to celebrate 12 years of partnership. Doesn't time fly when you're having fun?


Starter of Mixed Vegetable Tempura in a Sparkling wine batter.

The vegetables used were carrot slices, onion sliced through the root to give disks, green pepper, whole broad beans in pods and comfrey leaves. It was served on a simple grated salad with a garlic ginger dipping sauce.

I was really pleased with the tempura. The batter was a mix of 50/50 cornflour and wheat flour beaten just before using with enough sparkling dry wine to make a thin coating on the vegetables. The crunch was robust enough to hold its character while everything was fried and plated meaning we could sit and eat together, rather important for this meal.


Greek Aubergine Bake with crushed garlic potatoes and sesame coated horta.

The aubergine bake was based on a recipe I last used about 20 years ago, and originally contained feta cheese. For a vegan version I substituted soy yoghurt and some Cheezely. The flavour was good but the yoghurt separated during the long oven cooking and looked a bit unattractive. More work needed before I release it to an unsuspecting public.

We've been harvesting our new potato crop eagerly but are agreed that the flavour of the baby spuds this year hasn't been great. To give these a bit of character they were par boiled, crushed a little and then coated in olive oil and garlic slivers before roasting in a hot oven for 45 minutes or so. Very easy and adaptable, they will keep warm succesfully if the first course over runs.

The sesame horta was another really delicious dish. Greens from the garden, leafy weedy magentaspreen, beet thinnings just beginning to make tiny beetroots and Good King Henry, were blanched briefly to wilt them, drained and cooled. They were squeezed by hand (this was a very manual cooking experience) into a long sausage, dressed with lemon zest and toasted sesame, cut into sections for the baking/serving dish and drizzled with a little good olive oil. They were then popped into the oven for 20 minutes so that they were warmed in time to serve with the main course and potatoes.


Cherry sponge on a cherry conserve with Elderflower sorbet.

A tender sponge filled with fresh, pitted, cherries and cooked in a muffin tin to make serving portions. The sorbet was made by using some of the elderflower syrup made a couple of weeks ago sharpened with extra lemon and the ice crystals rendered a little smoother with a big splash of gin.


Almond fondants.

To have with our coffee I made these rather simple chocolate coated fondants which I had intended to flavour with peppermint. Alas, the countryside French don't have any need for peppermint oils and I wasn't able to get any flavouring so had to use almond instead. They were very sweet but as we'd eaten so much we really didn't need more than one each.

Of course, there were loads of leftovers but we had them for lunch today. And now he's gone back to the UK and the cats and I are alone again for another few weeks.