Dinner for an American friend

Sunday I was broiling - and I'm not talking about the cooking technique! It was outstandingly hot for London this weekend, with a high of about 32 degrees (yes, I know that's mild elsewhere, but this is England we're talking about). Everyone's appetites took a nosedive as the temperatures soared and the dinner party I threw for Rhona, a visiting American friend, ended up starting at 9:45 pm. Although dark, it was still warm so we decided to eat outside.

Entrée: Panfried Crevettes with a Lime & Vermouth Sauce

We started off with Panfried Crevettes with a Lime & Vermouth Sauce, on a fan of blanched Mangetout and accompanied by Carmargue Rice with Pinenuts. Nothing breaks the formality barrier at a dinner party faster than prawns with their shells still on. It's just so impossible to eat them tidily! I got the crevettes from my Turnham Green fishmonger and they were huge - a good three mouthfuls of plump, sweet flesh each. Delicious. The Lime and Vermouth Sauce was a hit (Tanya later confessed to licking her fingers to get the last little bit of it). I'd originally intended to make a Thai-style chilli-lime sauce, but then decided it would be overkill with the dessert. I'm a deadkeen fan of gin Gimlets, so decided to give this a whirl instead.

I'd also originally intended using black rice, but decided it was just so hot I wanted something lighter and nuttier tasting. I cooked the Carmargue rice with pinenuts, a healthy splash of vermouth and minted water (that is, chilled water that has been standing with mint in it for a couple of hours) and then chilled them. For moulds I used little silicon bowls, a new acquisition. When I was in America my twin and her husband took me to a couple of kitchen stores and I went wild on silicon bakeware and utensils. So far I'm having a wonderful time - it's so flexible and easy to clean.


Panfried Crevettes with a Lime & Vermouth Sauce
2 crevettes per person (more if it's small prawns)
1 Tb butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 Tb cornflour
60 ml vermouth
juice and grated rind of 1 medium lime

1. Bring the sugar and water in a pan to a low simmer, dissolving the sugar.
2. Add a tablespoon of the hot liquid to the cornflour, dissolving it and add back into the syrup.
3. Simmer until the sauce is reduced to a thin sauce.
4. Add the lime juice and half the vermouth, and simmer until reduced to a medium sauce. At this point you can leave the sauce overnight. It'll thicken up even more and the taste will strengthen.
5. Add the rest of the vermouth. Reduce to the consistency you want - I like it medium to thick.
6. Heat the butter in a frypan on medium high.
7. Toss in the crevettes and cook for a couple of minutes each side, until the colour starts to go pinkywhite.
8. Pour in half the sauce and cook for another minute each side.
9. Plate the crevettes and pour the rest of the heated sauce over the top.
10. Serve.

Main: Black & White Lamb Noisettes with Mint Crabapple Sauce, Baby Potatoes, Steamed Asparagus with fresh Lemon Mayonnaise

Sadly my photo does the lamb noisettes little justice - they were the most gorgeously prepared meat I'd seen in a long long while. Little rounds of lamb were spiced up with an inset round of quartered black pudding and white pudding, reminding me of a set of Turkish inlaid wooden chequers I own. Now, I'll be the first to admit the black pudding you get in normal English Breakfasts is usually just plain nasty - but this was beautiful quality, as was the lamb. Even the black pudding haters liked these. They grilled for about 15 minutes each side on medium and then were served with a splash (or more) of the Mint Crabapple Sauce.

I suddenly realised as I was bringing in the entrée dishes that I hadn't put the baby potatoes on yet - eek! What an idiot. So I chopped them up and fortunately there wasn't much more of a wait between courses than normal. The asparagus was a lovely bunch of fresh English spears and as I didn't really fancy making hollandaise, I made my usual mayonnaise with lemon.


Mint Crabapple Sauce
1/3 cup water
1 - 2 Tb sugar
Handful fresh mint, chopped finely
1/2 Tb vinegar
2 Tb Crabapple Jelly

1. Simmer the water and sugar until dissolved and thickened (I must admit I just nicked some of the sugar sauce/syrup from the entrée sauce for this).
2. Add two-thirds of the mint and all the vinegar and simmer for five minutes.
3. Add the jelly and stir until dissolved. At this point you can leave it to cool and thicken for a couple of hours.
4. Reheat if necessary and add the rest of the mint.
5. Serve.

For 1/2 Cup Lemon Mayonnaise
1 egg yolk
pinch salt
pinch pepper (preferably white, for aesthetic reasons)
1 Tb lemon (as above)
1/2 cup oil (make sure it tastes good - I prefer hazelnut, walnut or macadamia, but any light, pleasant tasting oil will do)

1. Lightly beat the egg yolk until it lightens color.
2. Add the salt, pepper & vinegar and beat until slightly frothy.
3. A tablespoon at a time, drizzle in the oil, lightly beating it until it has blended with the egg mixture.
4. Repeat the above step until you've used all the oil.
5. At this stage you can add what you will - capers, chives, etc or more lemon juice, lime juice, etc to flavour.

Cheese: Mrs Appleby's Cheshire and Cerney Goats Cheese with Pepper

The delicatessen at Turnham Green has an impressive range of artisan cheeses, and although tempted to go cheese-buying crazy, I restrained myself and decided to get two only - a medium and a fresh - for this course. The Cerney, which came in it's own little thin wooden box from a farm in Devon, was met with universal approbation. It melted, fluffy and creamy, in your mouth with the added kicker of the pepper it was rolled in. The slice of Cheshire was a lovely golden orange, strong with a tangy aftertaste and with a good firm texture. I liked it even better than the Cerney. Both were definitely worth a repeat buy.

Dessert: Chilli-Chocolate Creams with Brandy-flambéd Figs and a Raspberry Coulis

A new dessert for me - and as usual, nice and simple to make. But very, very rich. I couldn't actually finish my Chilli chocolate cream and so had it for dessert last night as well. Rhona and Mark happily polished theirs off in one sitting however - obviously they're more hardy than me! The Figs were nice ripe Spanish offerings - Tanya amused me by admitting she'd never eaten one before and had thought they only came dried. Rhona was entertained (at a distance) by the flambéing which she had never seen done outside of television. I've doubled the chilli chocolate in the recipe below as it wasn't as strong as I wanted. The combination worked well though - the raspberry coulis was sour, the figs sweet, and the chocolate creams mildly hot and, er, creamy.

Chilli Chocolate Creams
280 ml double cream
50 gm chilli chocolate
100 gm good quality cooking chocolate
2 egg yolks
1/2 tsp salt

1. Break the chocolate into your food processor.*
2. Bring the cream to a gentle simmer.
3. Just before the cream boils, pour it over the chocolate and whizz until thoroughly mixed.
4. Add the salt and egg yolks and whizz until the consistency of thick cream.
5. Pour into individual little ramekins or glasses. I got 4 servings from this amount, but it's so rich you could easily stretch to 6 servings.

*NB: If you don't have a food processor, grate the chocolate and use a handwhisk to beat the ingredients. Lots.


With the meal we had a small bottle of Chardonnay - I forget which, though I didn't find my small glass as unpleasantly sharp as most. Still not a big fan of chardonnay however. We also drank a bottle of Apple Wine which was a present from Christmas, and which proved to be a nice medium white. All in all, it was a very pleasant and sociable dinner and evening. However, I think it's time for me to invest in a table lantern!

Comments

[Jeanne]

OMG that sounds like total heaven - particularly the dessert. I am so besotted with figs and I'm so thrilled they are back in season!! What a stunning meal - your friend is very lucky!