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enu IdeasSo, how do we put it all together? Recipe books are great, but piecing it all together for the killer meal is sometimes a bit tricky. Cookings members share their killer combo's.
 | Winter Warmer Party  |
| BBQ Celebration Party |
| Classy Marie Claire Dinner Party |
| Fabulous Fast Food Feast |
| North African Experience |
| Go Crazy, Go Yellow! |
| Boys' Weekend Away |
This works well as nearly everything is do ahead, so it gives you maximum time with your guests. Nothing is complicated, but the result is very pleasing.
| Corn and Ginger Soup [Sydney Food p 72], served with crusty bread |
| Braised 5 hour Leg of Lamb [Return of the Naked Chef p 174] (Leave out the potatoes) |
| Mashed Potato, greens and bread |
| Chocolate Sauce Puddings with Pear and Apple Compote |
| Bruschetta with a difference |
| Greek Leg of Lamb (Boned and butterflied, marinated in oil, lemon and garlic, cooked on solid plate) |
| Skinless gourmet sausages |
| Char grilled eggplant and zucchini |
| Greek salad |
| Boiled new potatoes, or potato salad |
| White Chocolate Tiramisu [Maire Claire Food Fast p 48] |
Fresh from a recent Cookings event to celebrate Mark and Tamara's Wedding
Add Psychadelic Coleslaw for extra life
A special occasion prompted the assembling of this three course menu. Advance preparation is a feature (see comments below), which makes the evening more enjoyable for the cook. The dessert is the only thing with a degree of difficulty, but it is worth the effort.
| Pre-dinner Drinks: Guava juice with soda and zested lime blocks [Marie Claire - Drinks p49]. We used apple and guava juice. |
| Spinach salad with warm garlic dressing [Marie Claire Food Fast - p44]. Have the dressing all ready to heat and add ingredients that have been pre-chopped |
| Lamb racks with spice and eggplant [Marie Claire Flavours p172].
Everything spiced and ready to go in the oven when the time is right. Don't
shy away from whole fresh spices. Cooking time longer than suggested in recipe, and
lamb was still nicely medium rare. Beans and pine nut butter [Marie Claire Food Fast p134] Beans ready to steam, pine nuts chopped and in pan with butter ready to heat at serving time. This was a very popular accompaniment. New Potatoes with Salt and rosemary [Marie Claire Food Fast p134] We par boiled these so they didn't need to be in the oven too much longer than the lamb. |
| Chocolate Icecream cones [Marie Claire Flavours p126], plus a simple raspberry coulis. This was very fiddly to make (you need the right moulds - don't try it with home made cones of baking paper - they leak!!) but delicious. We renamed it "Madonna Dessert". |
| Wine: We shared a Chardonnay and a Penfolds Cab Sav. |
| Music: We stayed upbeat all night with Dido, Matt Bianco and REM. |
A superbly impressive yet simple dinner party with all recipes from Marie Claire - Food Fast by Donna Hay. Beware, though, it is NOT a prepare ahead menu - everything needs to be freshly cooked and assembled.
| Pasta with smoked salmon and dill sauce [p26] Easy as, and v yummy. Don't be tempted not to use fresh dill. . |
| Lamb with Quince glaze [p26]. You won't find a better use for your Maggie B Quince Paste. And yes, make sure you get lamb backstraps for this. |
| Served with Warm Walnut dressing over rocket [p134] and boiled new potatoes |
| White Chocolate Tiramisu [p48]. A dinner party killer recipe that really does take ten minutes, while looking and tasting a million dollars |
| Music: Something very cool. |
| North African Lamb with Chilli, Ginger, Chickpeas. [The Naked Chef, by Jamie Oliver, p111] |
| A vegetable and cous cous dish OR Perfumed Pumpkin and Cous Cous [Arabesque, by Greg and Lucy Malouf, p 184] |
Both these dishes can successfully be prepared before the guests arrive, and kept wrm in the oven.
| Some warm leb bread or similar on the side |
| Orange and Cardomom icecream [The Cook's Companion, by Stephanie Alexander, p 475] with Middle Eastern Fruit Salad [The Cook's Companion, by Stephanie Alexander, p 54] |
| Music: Paul Simon - Rhythm of the Saints (well, close enough) |
Borrowing from The Surreal Gourmet concept of mono-cuisine, here's an all yellow meal which will surprise your guests. This probably needs to be something of an occasion - yellow invitations would set the scene nicely.
| Cheezels |
| Corn Bisque [Sundays at Moosewood, p484] |
| Chicken in Lemon Mustard Sauce [WW Dinner Parties p100] OR Chicken coconut curry [Cooking for Two] |
| Tumeric rice |
| Selection of steamed yellow vegetables: beans, squash, capsicum, corn |
| Lemon and Poppy seed cake with lemon icing OR Old fashioned Lemon Sauce pudding |
| Wine: Chardonnay, of course |
| Music: Beatles Yellow Submarine, also of course!! |
A buck's weekend has turned into an annual event, and Cookings web-chef Dave developed No Ordinary Emergency Pasta I for the first one. There is no power, and cooking facilities are on gas rings inside, a BBQ and an open fire outside. A small kero fridge is inside. Here's what we ate in 2001 . . . .
| Sat Breaky: Cereal, Bacon, eggs |
| Sat Lunch: BBQ Lemon and Ginger chicken wings (marinated and frozen at home) PLUS Pumpkin soup and bread |
| Sat Dinner: Marinated Lamb Leg (two of them, boned and butterflied, marinated in lemon juice, olive oil, garlic and rosemary, frozen at home) PLUS Gourmet sausages, BBQ vegetables (eggplant and zucchini), jacket spds in the fire and a Greek Salad. |
| Sun Breaky: More bacon and eggs, and pancakes |
| Sun Lunch: Left over soup and sausage sandwiches |
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