What were the key ingredients?
First and foremost, really nice people (you know who you are) who we haven't seen for ages, so we had plenty to talk about.
Also our kids are all very grown up, so no one was under any pressure to get home for the babysitter.
Add to that the fact that it was a lovely early summer evening and you can see that the Gods were on our side.
However, as the 'chef' the other really important thing was that the menu worked too.
But what do I mean by 'worked'? Well, appreciative noises are always nice but the probably the most important thing is that you don't either a. get incredibly stressed out and not enjoy the evening or b. cook something that promised to be great but just turned out a bit ... meh!
One simple way of avoiding this is obviously to resist the desire to cook something experimental in favour of cooking something you've done before. I also like to do as much preparation as I can in advance, so you can still enjoy the evening from behind 'the pass'.
One way of there being a good chance of the menu working as a whole is to choose dishes that all emanate from the same part of the world.
I don't normally put all the recipes from an evening on one blog but I think that this combination worked really well ... so much so in fact, that I even enjoyed it myself!
It won't surprise any of my 'legion' of regular followers that the part of the world I chose was Italy and my main inspiration was of course the River cafe, aided and abetted by a bit of Lucy Boyd and Polpo.
I think I have blogged about all of the dishes we ate before but maybe not in combination, here's the full set of recipes.
I will also follow up with the recipes for the fabulous dessert that Lisa made which was baked peaches, raspberry and almond tart and incredible mascarpone cream
(n.b We ate the asparagus and the hot fried fingers standing and the rest at the table)
River cafe - asparagus with anchovy and milk sauce
I know this sounds very weird but suspend your disbelief ... its amazing.
Ingredients for 6
24 spears of asparagus
sauce
6 anchovy fillets(1/2 a small tin)
grated peel of 1 lemon (I do mine on a microplane but a grater will do)
1 small dried chilli (or ½ teaspoon of chilli flakes)
1 garlic clove (peeled and crushed with a little salt)
125ml whole milk
4 tbs ex virgin olive oil
method
Put the anchovies, lemon peel, chilli and garlic into a food processor and chop briefly.
Add the milk and pulse to make a smooth sauce.
Pour into a bowl and stir in the olive oil until it emulsifies. It should be a lovely thick runny consistency.
Boil the asparagus in salted water until al dente (about 5 minutes) don’t overcook there’s nothing worse than squidgy asparagus.
Drain well. Serve on warm plates with he sauce dribbled over liberally.
note: I find that if you put it in the fridge for an hour or so it improves it because it thickens up ... but remember to take it out with enough time for it to warm to room temperature again
Lucy Boyd - Hot fried fingers with mozzarella and prosciutto
When I lived in Florence I sometimes used to go and sit and chat to Leo, who was the head barman at Harry’s Bar. He would make me a very sour whiskey sour and then produce a little plate of hot fried sandwiches, made with some sort of melting cheese and ham cut into fingers.
This is very quick and easy and a delicious hot bite to have with a cocktail.
ingredients
1 cup milk
6 slices of white bread such as Pugliese or San Francisco (a bread that is not too crumbly and has some elasticity to its texture), crusts removed
1 medium-size ball of good-quality mozzarella, drained and cut into slices ½cm thick
3-4 slices of prosciutto or speck (ask the deli to slice from near the end of the prosciutto, if possible, where the flavour is more intense and sweet and the slices are smaller)
2-3 tbsp olive oil for frying
method
method
Pour the milk into a bowl and dip the bread in briefly, then tap any excess milk away on the side of the bowl – the bread should be damp but not soggy. Place slices of the mozzarella on a slice of bread and season with a little black pepper, then place a slice of the prosciutto or speck over the cheese – you may need to tear it to fit.
Place another piece of milky bread over the filling to form a sandwich and press together. Make as many as will fit in the frying-pan in one go.
Heat enough olive to coat the bottom of the frying-pan. When the oil is hot, place the sandwiches in the pan and cook for a minute or so until golden. You may want to turn the heat down a bit to prevent burning.
Then, using a spatula, flip the sandwiches over, press the top down and cook until golden and the mozzarella has melted – about another minute or two.
Transfer to kitchen paper to absorb any excess oil, then place on a board and cut into wide fingers. Serve immediately.
Lucy Boyd - seared Tuna carpaccio with chillies rocket, lemon and marjoram
Ingredients
Best piece of Tuna loin you can get (sashimi grade)
Rocket
lemons
olive oil
2 fresh red chillies, chopped very fine
fresh marjoram
method
season the tuna loin all over with s&p
get a non stick frying pan very hot then sear the loin for 30 seconds all over, put to one side (it can go in the fridge)
slice as thinly as you can, and cover each plate with slices of Tuna
squeeze over plenty of fresh lemon juice and sprinkle with marjoram and chillies to taste, drizzle with a little olive oil and season
dress the rocket leaves lightly in good quality olive oil and season and then add to each plate.
Ingredients For 6
1kg - 1.5kg Piece of beef from the thick end of the fillet
sea salt and ground black pepper
10 sprigs of fresh rosemary (or more if they are short. You need to cover the whole length of the meat)
extra virgin olive oil
1 glass red wine, preferably Chianti.
Method
Pre heat oven to 225c
season fillet all over with s and p
Make a layer of rosemary on a board using half the sprigs, place the fillet on top and then cover with the remaining rosemary. it should be completely covered.
The River cafe recipe says to roast for 10 minutes, then turn the meat over, add the wine, replace the foil and return to the oven for a further 15 minutes for medium rare. My experience has been that means that the meat is extremely rare even for a blood loving carnivore like me. I would cook it for at least another 5 minutes but obviously caution is required to avoid over cooking. If you have a meat thermometer you want the meat to be between 50 and 52 degrees at the centre when you take it out of the oven.
Once you have removed the beef from the oven let the beef sit in the roasting pan for 5 minutes..... be patient don't carve too soon or you'll lose all the precious juices.
Now remove the rosemary and place the meat on a warm serving dish. Strain the juices into a jug and serve the beef cut into slices about 1cm thick with a little of the wine juices and plenty of olive oil poured over it.
River Cafe - Roast potatoes from Lucca
ingredients
1.5kg waxy potatoes
1 medium red onion peeled
6 garlic clove, peeled and kept whole
4 sprigs fresh rosemary
6 sprigs fresh sage
120ml dry white wine
100ml ex virgin olive oil
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon fennel seeds crushed
method
Pre heat oven to 200c
peel potatoes and slice into very fine slices (5mm) use a mandoline if you can.
Put them in cold water to wash off excess starch, drain and pat dry and then put in a large mixing bowl.
finely slice the red onion and, keeping the garlic cloves whole just press them to partly crush them. Wash the herbs and pull the leaves from the woody stems.. Add the onion, garlic and herbs to the bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients and toss well to make sure the potatoes and herbs are coated with the oil and wine.
choose a baking tray that will fit all the potatoes in spread in not too thick a layer (but not too thin or they will burn at the edges).
you can prepare this at least a couple of hours before you are ready to cook
Cover with foil and bake in the oven for 25 mins.
Remove the foil , then, using the back of a large spoon or a potato masher, breakup the potatoes and herbs to make a rough mash. Drizzle with olive oil.
Return the tray to the hot oven and roast for a further 30-45 mins, until the potatoes are brown and crisp and still light and fluffy underneath.
Green beans with tomatoes
For 6
Ingredients
1 500g jar or 400g tin of peeled plum tomatoes
1kg green beans, tailed
3 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 bunch fresh basil leaves
extra virgin olive oil
Method
Heat the olive oil in a thick-bottomed saucepan and add the garlic. Gently fry before adding half of the basil and season.
Add the tomatoes, and keeping the heat high, cook to reduce to a thick sauce, which should take 10 minutes.
You can prepare to this stage this at any time before the dinner even the night before
Blanch the beans in salted boiling water until tender. Drain and allow to steam for a couple of minutes.
Add the beans, stir to combine and season with black pepper. Add the remaining basil leaves and serve drizzled with extra virgin olive oil.
River Cafe - Salsa verde
Ingredients
Flat-leaf parsley leaves large handful
Mint leaves 10 - 15 leaves
Rocket leaves, small handful
Extra-virgin olive oil
Garlic clove 1
Capers 1 tbsp
Anchovy fillets 3
Dijon mustard 1 tbsp
Red-wine vinegar 1 tbsp
Method
This can be prepared ahead and kept in the fridge
make sure your knife is sharp ... otherwise you will just bruise the leaves
Chop the parsley, rocket and mint, put into a bowl and cover with olive oil. Peel the garlic, and chop with the capers and anchovies. Add to the herbs and mix. Stir in the mustard and vinegar, season and add more olive oil to loosen the sauce.
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