I'll cut to the chase. Tomorrow
we're having dinner party. I want to prepare as much as possible in advance so
that I can enjoy the company of 11 special people whilst keeping an eye on our
little monsters. Will post the recipes now and the pictures tomorrow.
Keep Calm and Have Dinner with Us! -menu
Soup: Black salsify and Jerusalem artichokes with truffles.
Wash, peel and chop black salsify
(1 kg) and Jerusalem artichokes (1 kg), then put the chopped veggies in a pot
with water (1,4 litre) and boil until tender. Puree with bamix.
Add chicken stock (600 ml) and cream (400 ml). Let simmer for 10 minutes on low
heat. (Add starch if you like a thicker soup.) Finally towards the end of cooking time add freshly grated black truffles
(15 g) and cook for 2 more minutes. Put on soup bowls and garnish with parsley.
Serve with hot with Foie gras on sourdough bread.
Accompaniment for the soup: Foie gras on sourdough bread (french-style
baking method).
Buy the bread from your local bakery,
or if you are clever enough: bake it yourself. Cut bread slices and put on top
sliced foie gras.
Roast: Entrecôte stuffed with lamb fillets and herbs; roasted on a
bed of mirepoix.
Preheat the oven to 180 ºC. Buy a
solid piece of entrecôte (2,5 kg) and two lamb fillets (approx. 250 g). Prepare
mirepoix for the roast pan – chop 2 carrots, 2 celery stacks, 2 onions, 2 shallots and 6 gloves of garlic. Then mix in some extra virgin olive oil.
Prepare herb mix: chopped capers (80
g), 2 palmfuls of chopped herbs (e.g. parsley, thyme, marjoram, sage).
Cut entrecôte open, place insidetwo lamb fillets and herb mix. Tie the entrecôte with roastingstring. Please note that all meat should be brought to room temperature before
roasting!!! Brown the entrecôte first in the frying pan for 8-10 minutes. Then move it on the bed of mirepoix and roast in the oven until food thermometer
reads 65–70 ºC. Let it rest under wraps for 10 minutes, cut and serve with
caramelized roots and some boozy mushroom sauce.
Accompaniment for the roast:
Caramelized roots à la Liisa
Peel 4 root-parsleys, 4 parsnips
and 4 carrots. Halve them crosswise. Then quarter each half lengthwise and parboil
for 2 minutes. Place onto an oven pan. Add butter (2 tbs) olive oil (3 tbs),
some salt & white pepper. Mix muscovado sugar (3 tbs) and chopped walnuts.
Sprinkle the mix on top of these beautiful roots. Roast in the oven for 30
minutes or until browned and caramelized. 180 ºC
Sauce: Madeira mushroom sauce.
Fry in butter couple of chopped shallots
together with small mushrooms (200-300 g, halved lengthwise, then thinly slicedlengthwise) until liquids have evaporated. Season with salt and pepper. Set
aside.
Bring to boil demi-glace (300 ml),
Madeira (100 ml), bay leaf and thyme. Turn the heat low. Whisk together 100 ml
of cream and 1 large egg yolk. Whisk this mixture into the demi-glace and
madeira. Add the mushrooms and let cook on low heat for 2 minutes. Do not boil,
egg yolk might scramble.
Side dishes Green salad. Get a choice
of your greens and prepare a salad.
Dessert: I have no idea, maybe fruit, Atholl brose? Usually the
guests bring something. I hate preparing desserts.
The pictures will be posted tomorrow
evening.
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