finger food and more

Yesterday's match between England and USA was intense I thought. There were moments when I couldn't watch the telly and I felt like my heart stopped for a split second. At the end it was a draw, 1-1 for both teams.

In case if you're wondering which team I support, it's... ok, here's the deal. I am torn. I used to live in the States and I have families and friends there; and for the office World Cup sweepstakes, I have USA. But now I live in England and I have always been an England football fan. And so yesterday, I wore my England top and I sang both national anthems, God Save the Queen and Star Spangled Banner. But if I have to choose only one team, it'll be England.

Anyway, let's talk about food. For times like this, dinner in front of the TV, I like crowd-pleasers that are manageable to eat in the living room and can be made well ahead of time so that when my friends arrive, there's hardly any work to be done. It's always handy to have crisps, pretzels, penuts and microwave popcorns which I love and there's nothing wrong with them. But, of course, I cannot just have them. I have to make something. As much thought and preparation, if not more, can go into finger foods as into a sit-down meal.

A finger food dinner can wind up being more work, especially when serving many selections. My strategy for this is to get as much preparation done as possible in advance. Gather the elements and have them sitting either in the fridge or on the counter, ready to be assembled. This makes my life much easier and gives me a chance to actually enjoy my get-together, maybe even have a couple of drinks myself!

Everybody loves to nibble whilst watching TV and one of the most requested nibble foods is chicken wings. I probably have about twenty-something recipes for chicken wings, and the one that I made yesterday was chicken wings with herbes de Provence and lemon zest. The wings can be prepared in the afternoon and just keep them in the fridge. About half an hour before everybody arrives, simply roast in a moderate oven.


I also made spicy sweet potato wedges that's flavoured with rosemary, cumin, coriander, smoked paprika and a pinch of cayenne pepper. Again, these wedges can be prepared ahead of time and they can go in the oven at the same time with the wings. I served the wedges with a cool sour cream and chives dip. Yum.


And that's not it. I also made my curried risotto. Yes, risotto isn't exactly a quick dish to make but this is my strategy. I prepared all the elements ahead of time; the onions, celery, garlic, chicken and pancetta. And I also kept the stock simmering on low. At half time, I started cooking. I sautéed the finely chopped onions, celery, chicken and pancetta. And then I added the garlic and some spices, cumin, coriander and curry powder. I added the rice and some white wine. When the wine was reduced slightly, I added the stock a ladle at a time until the rice is perfectly cooked. I also stirred in a little mascarpone cheese towards the end of the cooking to give a lovely creaminess. All done in fifteen minutes, ready to be eaten during the second half of the match.

I didn't take any pictures of the risotto as the match was starting.

For something sweet at the end, we had Nigella's Chocolate and Pear Pudding. Again, I prepared the pudding ahead of time, keeping them in the fridge ready to be baked in the oven for 15 minutes which gave me plenty of time to whipped some cream.


Again, I managed to stuffed my friends, Adam and Kelly almost to death. It's been a great weekend with more matches and plenty of food to come.

Have a great one friends.

weekday dinner

Dinner time tonight was filled with laughters and surrounded by great friends. I made maple and honey chicken and Chinese pork ribs. The chicken thighs were marinated overnight in maple syrup, honey, cinnamon, garlic and apple juice. And I used my own special sauce to marinate the pork ribs which consisted of sweet chilli, hoisin sauce, sesame oil, cranberry sauce (yes, cranberry sauce for some sweetness) and a little bit of lime.

Since most of the preparation was done the night before, all I needed to do earlier after work was just to put the chicken and ribs in hot oven until the chicken is cooked and the ribs are tender. Delicious.


And also to satisfy my vegetarian friend, I made honeycomb cannelloni, a recipe from Jamie's book. Jamie put a little twist to this pasta dish; rather than laying the cannelloni tubes on their sides, as is the traditional method, the cannelloni is stack facing up in a snug-fitting pan so they look a bit like a honeycomb pattern.


The cannelloni was then filled with a rich vegetable ragu and topped with a white sauce and cheese before baking it in the oven.

The first time I made this was kinda a disaster as I didn't use the right size cannelloni and the also the pan. And a note from Jamie for this recipe is, being precise helps! An advice I ignored the first time and I have learned my lesson.

And to end, for something sweet I made mango and coconut panna cotta which I prepared last night so that they can set and of course to also save time.


People who know me, know that they don't associate me with football but I am actually very excited for the World Cup which starts in a few hours. I'll be hosting few of the matches and I cannot wait to have some friends over for food and cold beverages. The first one will be this Saturday for England vs USA. Bring it on!

One last thing, Thank God it's Friday.

Mad Moroccan Lamb

Another reason why I love the weekend is I got the time to try some recipes from Jamie's book that are time-consuming. On the menu for dinner tonight was Mad Moroccan Lamb. I like lamb stews or roast lamb, and I like the idea of making a dish that looks different or maybe a bit mad.

When I saw this recipe for the first time, I thought it was weird and I was hesitant to try it. I'm not sure with idea of roasting a shoulder of lamb for a couple of hours and then burying it with couscous and then bake again for another hour... Jamie says this may seem a bit of a palaver, but actually it's a pretty easy dish to make. Yes, the lamb took about three hours to cook, but I didn't have to do anything while it roasts in the oven. And the result was meltingly tender lamb... yum.

So this is what I've done... First, I scored the whole shoulder of lamb in criss-crosses and then I rubbed the meat all over with freshly ground up cumin, coriander and fennel seeds, black peppercorns, dried chilli and sea salt before pushing some fresh rosemary leaves into the cuts. The lamb then went to a hot oven for two hours.

In the meantime, I fried some sliced red onions, cinnamon, thyme and chickpeas with a pinch of salt and pepper until softened. Then add some water and balsamic vinegar to the softened onions and let it simmer until the mixture is nice and thick.

In another pan, I boiled some stock and I added some raisins and dried apricots. Simmer for about five minutes, by which the fruit will have plumped up. Add a glug of olive oil and then the couscous. Remove from the heat to allow the couscous to soak up all the liquid. When no liquid is left, I poured the couscous to a large baking tray and I drizzled it with some olive oil.

After a couple of hours, the lamb will be nice and golden. I took the lamb out and I turned the oven down a bit as Jamie mentioned. In an oiled snug fitting roasting tray, I used my le creuset shallow casserole pot which was perfect, spoon some of the couscous and then topped with the chickpeas and then the lamb on top. And then, here comes the 'mad' bit I think. Completely cover the lamb with the rest of the couscous, put four lemon halves around the sides and then cover the pot with a wet and oiled greaseproof paper and aluminium foil before baking it for another hour.


I think Jamie didn't use any dried fruits in the couscous looking at the picture in the book, or at least any that's noticeable. But I liked mine with some specs of black and yellow.

Oh, and another thing, Jamie says the couscous crust (couscous is a funny word, isn't it?) should be lightly crispy and can be cracked open. But it wasn't a problem for me. It's just a little different.

And then it was time for my friends and I to eat. To serve, I shredded the meat and added a good dollop of yoghurt and sprinkled over some aromatic coriander leaves and sliced red chilli. Yum!


And for dessert, I made floating islands. It's basically meringues that are poached in hot milk and then served floating on a sea of custard and topped with spun sugar. Again this is another recipe that is time-consuming to make but not at all difficult to make. My favourite bit was making the spun sugar which I thought was a lot of fun. This is my 137th recipe and I have 27 left to try.


Anyway, I can hear my bed calling me now.

Have a great weekend everyone.

spoilt

As much as I love having friends around and cooking for them, I also enjoy being the guest (though this doesn't happen very often, but very exciting when it actually happened). The past few weeks I have been invited for several meals and I'd like to share some of them:

My friend Adam made this lovely Irish Lasagne, which he called Spudagne a few weeks back. It's still lasagne but instead of layering sheets of pasta over the meat sauce, he used mashed potatoes (spuds) and then topping it with white bechamel sauce and loads of cheese before baking in the oven. My other friend, however jokingly called the dish as cottage pie which stirred up some debates. Well, call it whatever you like, but I will call it delicious comfort food.

Last weekend, Kelly and I were invited for Glee evening at Cailean's friend's mansion. The house was beautiful and somehow I felt like we were transported from the North East of England to Tuscany. It could be the effect of the long island iced tea and big glasses of wine we had.
After a lot of food, Glee, laughs and chats and a good night sleep, in the morning for breakfast, we had cinnamon swirls, Danish pastries, and Cailean prepared some eggs benedict that consisted of half of an English muffin, topped with bacon, poached egg, hollandaise sauce and chives. yum.

Also at the same weekend, I was invited for a BBQ at Nina and Fitim's house. However, the weather wasn't the best so most of the cooking had to be done indoor. Nina must had been cooking for hours because she prepared so many dishes. There were prawns cooked in oyster sauce, spicy lamb kebab with peppers, grilled corn on the cob, grilled chicken, vegetable dumplings soup, meatballs cooked in tomato and coriander sauce and a vegetable dish which I cannot remember. What a feast and they were all delish!

And tonight I was invited for another extensive meal, and this time, not only one but three of my friends cooked for us. Thank you to Cindy, Shirley and Tere. We had Chinese chicken and corn soup, fried cauliflower, vegetable stir-fry, curried vegetable, steamed chicken and a beef dish cooked in soy sauce. After all that delicious food, we then had rum and raisin ice-cream. Just perfect to end the night.

Thank you everyone for having me and for your hospitality. I am so spoilt and I cannot wait for your turn to come to mine or for your other invites. :)

Have a great one.

Summertime Tagliarini, Aubergine Parmesan and Swiss Roll

Yesterday for lunch I made summertime tagliarini, a pasta dish served with a refreshing and zingy sauce that's made of pine nuts, lemon, parmesan and pecorino cheese, parsley and olive oil. It is like blond pesto, really. And even though the weekend wasn't very warm (in fact, cold), the tagliarini was still delicious.


Last night to celebrate my friend, Merlyn's birthday that I missed last week, I cooked a birthday dinner. I made my Japanese Cream of Corn Soup, yummy as usual to start.

Since last Wednesday, I was craving for aubergine (eggplant) parmesan and so that's what we also had last night. My other friend, Leo is temporarily a vegetarian, so it's perfect. I grilled the thick slices of aubergines before layering them with mozzarella and parmesan cheese and baked in the oven. The aubergine towers then served with a spicy tomato and pepper sauce and sautéed mushrooms.


And dessert was Jamie's 1980s-style Black Forest Swiss Roll, which turned out to be Swiss Fold because I was too greedy with the filling and I couldn't roll it. The presentation was not the best I must say, but it was sinfully delicious. The chocolate sponge was brushed with orange and cherry juice before layering it with melted chocolate, whipped cream, cooked cherries and rolled (or in my case, fold). Yum. We all had two generous slices each.

I gotta go to the gym now.