Beth & Steve's Thanksgiving Dinner

I had my own especial reason for thanksgiving this past week - my friends Beth and Steve were visiting from Maryland in the US. To celebrate, some friends and myself had a houseparty and ate and drank and talked the weekend through, catching up on what we'd done in the past 18 months, current events and our plans for the future (as well as the requisite gossip about mutual acquaintances!). It was fun and relaxing and I feel wonderfully recharged, which, given that the Season of Dodgy Canapes is almost upon us, is definitely a good thing. Back to the food front, on the Saturday I cooked a long, leisurely dinner. Beth and Steve contributed a couple of lovely bottles of Spanish cava that lasted us through the snail and venison courses, and a bottle of Australian Shiraz accompanied the main and cheese. We started at 7pm and finished about 10:30pm, but nobody was in any particular hurry!

Amuse-Bouche: Kebabs of Lime Prawns & Caramalized Chilli Kiwifruit

We ended up with two each of these, which I suppose is a bit more than an amuse-bouche should be, but I refuse to waste food. I originally intended them to be cubes of ham, but unfortunately I spent Wednesday and Thursday in bed with a headcold, and was meeting Beth, Steve and several other friends for dinner after work on Friday, so by the time I got to the supermarket it was 00:10 Saturday morning (thank god for 24 hour shopping!). Needless to say, the meat counter was closed, and I was hugely reluctant to attempt the Vaguely Pork products in the chillers. Fortunately these organic prawns were available and fresh so they shuffled in as a substitute. The kebabs were pronounced 'delicious' and a very cool taste combination, so I think the prawns actually worked better in the end, as ham might have been a bit too heavy. I served these with a shot of chilled Lemon Schnapps, which slid down very nicely.

Lime Prawns & Caramalized Chilli Kiwifruit Kebabs
4 ripe but firm Kiwifruit
200 gm Prawns
Juice of 1/2 a Lime
2 Tb Butter
1 Tb Thai Sweet Chilli Sauce
1 Tb Brown Sugar
1 Tb Tequila [optional]
12 small wooden skewers

1. Peel and then cut the kiwifruit into cubes, then cut into quarters.
2. Put 1 Tb of the butter, all of the sugar, sweetchilli sauce and tequila in a frypan and bring to a low simmer.
3. Put the kiwifruit in the frypan, making sure they are thoroughly coated, and then cook on medium heat until caramalised.
4. Put under low grill/oven and keep warm.
5. Wipe out frypan, put back on heat.
6. Add butter, limejuice and prawns.
7. Cook on medium heat until prawn flesh is white - about 2 minutes.
8. Skewer a cube of kiwifruit and a prawn together on a single skewer. Mind your fingers - they're hot!
9. Serve.

Entree One: Snails in Garlic & Shallot Butter with Wholemeal Baguette

This is definitely one of those 'love it or hate it' foods. No prizes for guessing which side I'm on! I bought a huge can of 5 dozen snails when I was in Bahrain earlier this year, and have been just dying for the chance to open them. I figured four snail lovers in one room was reason enough, although about 10 each was more than enough, and the leftover dozen (uncooked) snails made dinner a couple of nights later. We had two abstainers from the snailfest, but I fed them a can of Mussels in Galacia Sauce from a very nice, if expensive, Spanish product range I keep a little stockpile of - just for culinary emergencies such as this (their octopus is divine). The boys (yes, the abstainers were the male members of the dinner party. No comment.) cheerfully dove into the garlic sauce with the bread as well. The sauce is a fairly simple one from the back of the can but as it so often turns out, simple is best.

Snails in Butter Sauce
4 dozen Snails
250 gm Butter
3 Shallots
6 big cloves of Wight Garlic
Salt & Pepper
Bunch of Flatleaf Parsley, chopped
French baguette

1. Finely chop the shallots and garlic cloves.
2. Mix together the butter, shallots, garlic and season with salt and pepper to taste.
3. Put the snails into shells or snail dishes if you have them, otherwise a wide shallow dish is fine.
4. Cover with butter.
5. Cook in a pre-warmed oven at about 400°F/200°C/GM6 for about 8 - 10 minutes until the butter is bubbling.
6. Serve dressed with chopped parsley and slices of French baguette.

Entree Two: Polenta Slices topped with Pesto, Venison and Balsamic Syrup with Rocket Salad

When you don't want to go overboard on the protein early in the meal, but want your guests to feel they've been treated (and that you're not being skimpy!) venison, with its delightfully rich heaviness, is the ideal meat. Of course, at the price most places charge, that's all you can afford for a dinner party anyway! This entree is a particularly economic use of venison, as it took one £2.50 steak to feed six. Of course you could use more than I did, but for a multi-course dinner party this was all that was needed. The boys especially liked this dish and the Balsamic Syrup - a new release from specialty food purveyor Merchant Gourmet - was such a hit that when we went to the supermarket on Sunday we were charged with picking up a couple of bottles for people to take home with them. It's smooth and distinctively Balsamic, but not too sharp, and it pours beautifully for all us presentation-fussy cooks. I'm not a great fan of giving recipes which require a particular branded item, but in this instance it's worth it. Sorry my US readers, but I have no idea if there's an American equivalent. In truth the ingredients are not much more than Balsamic vinegar, cornflour and water so perhaps it wouldn't be too hard to make yourselves. Other than that, this is easy and quick to cook and assemble, and was my favorite dish of the evening.

Polenta Slices topped with Pesto, Venison and Balsamic Syrup
1 Polenta cake
4 Tb Pesto
1 Venison Steak
Merchant Gourmet Balsamic Syrup
Fresh rough ground pepper
Olive Oil
Butter
1 bag of Rocket salad

1. Either make up polenta into a cake or, as I do, buy it already made.
2. Slice six 1/2 inch slices of polenta from the cake.
3. Cut the steak into thirds and then slice in half sideways, so you have thin pieces of venison.
4. Fry the polenta slices on medium in a mix of olive oil and butter until browned - about 5 to 10 minutes.
5. If necessary, keep the polenta slices warm in a low grill or oven.
6. Fry the venison about a minute and turn over when the blood comes through and it browns.
7. Fry on the other side until browned.
8. Plate the polenta slices and spread with a thin layer of pesto. Homemade can't be beaten of course, but at a pinch, jar pesto is convenient and will just have to do!
9. Place a piece of the venison on each slice of polenta & pesto.
10. Dribble the Balsamic syrup over it in a zig-zag.
11. Dress to the side with rocket. The slightly peppery, slightly iron taste of the rocket balances the rest of the dish very nicely.
12. Serve.

Main: Roast Duck with Mango Couscous Stuffing, Cranberry Sauce, Buttercup Squash Mash, Baby Potatoes & Mangetout & Almonds in Lemon Sauce

Duck is a huge favorite amongst my friends, in fact I believe it's the only meat that all of us like, oddly enough. So the roast of the day was quite a simple choice. This turned out to be an extremely tasty bird and I'm happy to say it cooked beautifully. I've been guilty of overdrying duck in the past - finickity bird! - so I stuffed it with a couple of slashed lemons and although I couldn't personally detect any lemon taste, I think the internal moisture defintely helped.

I had intended on making peach and pinenut stuffing but then I discovered a can of mangos buried at the bottom of the cupboard and was diverted from my course. This eventually became an amalgamation of mango, pinenuts, pork & sage sausagemeat and couscous (as I'm not a huge fan of rice stuffing) and was a definite hit - I think there were only a couple of tablespoons left over. The Oceanspray Cranberry Sauce was jazzed up a bit with some powder forte spice and homemade cherry brandy (because basically I'm incapable of leaving commercial sauces in their virgin state!).

Val makes an absolutely gorgeous sweet potato casserole which everyone loves, and although I made Squash Mash, I stole part of his recipe for the topping. Due to a lack of pecans we ended up with walnut and hazelnut topping, but it was just as delicious. The texture of the mash was a little too soft, as I always forget squash isn't as fibrous as the pumpkins I usually cook, but it tasted good.

I sometimes wonder if you can unlearn how to cook an item? The potatoes were boiled and put in the pan to finish off roasting, and although they were cooked, weren't at all crispy and roasted on the outside. Very disappointing. The leftovers fared much better in the next morning's fry-up. This is the third or fourth time I've had problems with my roast potatoes however, so obviously it's something I need to look at. The Mangetout tossed with sliced Almonds & Lemon Sauce are a standard of mine - it's a lovely sauce and conveniently makeable well beforehand, and the end cooking is nice and fast - almost as fast as they disappear!

Mango Couscous Stuffing
1 cup Couscous
1/2 can Mango Slices, diced
Mango Syrup
3 Tb Pinenuts
1 Tb Flatleaf Parsley, minced
4 Pork & Sage Sausages
Butter
Salt & Pepper

1. Top the mango syrup up to 2 cups with water.
2. Mix together the couscous, diced mango, mango syrup and water, pinenuts and parsley. Leave until the couscous has absorbed the liquid. It should swell to twice its size.
3. Squeeze the sausagemeat out of the sausage casings and partition into teaspoon sized lumps.
4. Fry the sausagemeat on medium in a small amount of butter until just cooked (i.e. no pink showing anymore).
5. Thoroughly mix together the couscous mixture and the sausagemeat.
6. Season.
7. Put in the oven with the duck for the last hour of cooking (i.e. on 400°F/200°C/GM6).
8. Serve.

Butternut Squash Mash with Val's Nut Topping
2 Butternut Squash
1/2 cup Heavy Cream
Salt and Pepper
1 Cup Nuts, preferably Pecan but Walnut, Hazelnut or similar are also good
1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
1/2 Cup Flour
1 Egg

1. Cut the squash into eighths and deseed.
2. Roast the squash until soft and cooked - about an hour in a medium oven.
3. Skin the squash and mash. I use a potato ricer - wonderful invention!
4. Add the cream and season to taste.
5. Put in a casserole dish, leaving about a third room.
6. Beat the egg.
7. Mix together the nuts, sugar, flour and beaten egg.
8. Cover the squash mash with the topping.
9. Put in the oven with the duck for the last hour of cooking (i.e. on 400°F/200°C/GM6).
10. Serve.

Sugar Sauce Base
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
1 cup water
1 Tb cornflour
Flavoring, i.e. 1 Tb lemon juice, 1 tsp essence, etc
4 Tb Alcohol

1. Bring the sugar, salt 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 liquid is reduced to a thin sauce.
4. Add the flavoring and and half the alcohol, 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 alcohol. Reduce to the consistency you want - I like it medium to thick.
   
   In the case of Lemon Sauce for Peas or Beans I use 4 Tb Lemon Juice and the rind of a grated Lemon, and don't bother leaving it overnight.

Cheese: English Cheeses, Grapes and Crackers

As Steve is British and missing the tastes of home every now and then (apparently the sad state of pickled onions in America is a sore spot!) I decided to buy an English cheeses platter for the dinner party. Included on it were Red Leceister, Gloucester with Chives, an English Brie, a vintage Cheddar and the inevitable Stilton.

Dessert: English Trifle

When I announced we were having trifle for dessert there was a marked lack of enthusiasm - years of soggy sponge, canned fruit and instant custard have relegated this dessert to the ranks of Unspeakable English Cuisine, which is a great shame. English trifle to me brings back memories of Boxing Day, this being the only time my lactose-intolerent mother ever made it, and although it wasn't my favorite childhood dessert (Bananna Custard was awarded that distinction) I still retain a huge amount of affection for it. Freshly made and alcohol redolent, trifle serves as an example of the best of traditional English cooking. And I'm happy to report everyone loved this version and the glasses were all scraped clean. . .

Trifle is one of those useful desserts that actually taste better if made the day before, and it lasts well too (I must confess I deliberately made extra helpings and ate them for breakfast the next couple of days). There are a hundred different recipes for trifle - mine includes a sauce for the fruit and only uses strawberries - but as long as you have the sherry-soaked sponge layer, the fruit layer and the custard layer, you're set (pun not intended!). Don't be tempted by cheap sweet sherry for this dessert - use good quality dry Spanish sherry. Your palate will thank you.

English Trifle for Eight (or six and breakfast!)
Sponge Layer:
8 Sponge Fingers or Cakes
1 cup good quality Dry Sherry
Fruit Layer:
250 gm fresh Strawberries (or other fruit)
Basic Sugar Sauce (see recipe above)
4 Tb good quality Dry Sherry
1 Tb Strawberry Essence (optional)
Custard Layer:
750 ml Heavy or Double Cream
5 Egg Yolks
1 Tb Vanilla Essence
1/2 cup Castor Sugar

1. Break the sponge fingers into three and put each in a glass (I used plastic throwaways - worked perfectly and no dishes afterwards!) or bowls. If you want, you can make it in one big bowl, but individual portions look much nicer.
2. Drizzle the sponge with the sherry, making sure it is soaked.
3. Cover, and leave the sponge at least 3 hours and preferably overnight.
4. Cut up the fresh strawberries or other fruit into halves or 1 inch pieces and put on the sponge.
5. Make the Sugar Sauce (see recipe above) and add the sherry and the strawberry flavoring.
6. When the Sherry & Strawberry Sauce has cooled (it makes a very pretty baby pink colour), pour it over the strawberries.
7. Heat the cream in a pot to a gentle simmer.
8. Beat the egg yolks until they pale slightly and add the vanilla essence.
9. Very slowly pour the heated milk onto the egg yolks, whisking all the time.
10. Pour the egg and milk (custard) mixture back into the pot and on a low medium heat stir the pot - usually 10 - 20 minutes. Make sure the custard doesn't overheat and seperate.
11. At this point, add the sugar to taste.
12. Stir the pot until the custard 'catches'. This usually happens suddenly, so don't get distracted by other things.
13. When the custard has cooled a little, pour over the sponge and fruit layers.
14. Leave the trifle to cool.
15. Garnish with wafer quills or chocolate or sugar sprinkles and serve.