Casual Dinner Party for 4

One of the major faux pas of hosting a dinner party is leaving your guests unattended for too long.  This is not so much of a problem if you either have a better half who radiates in the role of front of house, or if you enjoy the open plan living and can easily see and interact with your guests from behind the cooker or kitchen sink. If you do not find yourself in such a situation however, then you need to plan out your dinner menu in such a way that everything is done ahead of time.  Preparation is key.

Of course to make life a little easier, you could always buy certain things ready-made.  Yes it may be cheating but if Delia Smith says it's fine, then you can't argue with that.

I was planning a midweek dinner party, very casual; very relaxed and nothing elaborate; just good food. The menu was as follows:

Starter

Goats' cheese and red onion marmalade bruschetta with a balsamic glazed salad.

Main

Tomato and mascarpone tagliatelle, with bacon, mushrooms and peas.

Dessert

Lemon Meringue Pie

Ingredients are as follows:

For the starter

Bag of pre-prepared salad

Stick of bread, you can choose any you like, ciabatta, baguette, tiger loaf etc

Goats' Cheese

Good Quality Olive Oil

Balsamic vinegar (2 tblsp plus extra to serve)

3 red onions sliced into half moons.

Vegetable oil (1 tblsp)

Brown sugar (50g)

Red Wine (100ml)

For the main

1 Bag of fresh pasta

Frozen peas (2-3 ramekins full)

Mushrooms, sliced (a punnet)

Bacon, diced (8 thick rashers)

Fresh Tomatoes, chopped ( 450g)

1 White onion diced

Mascarpone (100g)

Tomato Puree (1 tblsp)

White wine (optional) 50ml

Parmesan or Grana Padano (50g grated and extra to serve)

For Dessert

Pre made sweet pastry case

1 lemon (grated rind and juice)

Cornflour 25g (1oz)

Boiling Water 150ml (1/4pt)

Caster Sugar 225g (8oz)

2 medium eggs, separated

Method

1.  Plan for time in advance of your guests arriving...if you cook regularly and are confident, I would allow an hour in advance, if you are less confident, then plan for longer. 
2.  Heat the table spoon of vegetable oil in a frying pan and meanwhile peel and slice the red onions.
3.  When the pan is hot throw in the onions, mix them round so they are coated then pour in the red wine (at this moment you want the pan to be hot, so that it will burn off the alcohol) sprinkle over the sugar then the balsamic vinegar; stir again then reduce the heat to the lowest it will go. Cook at this heat for around 10 minutes until the onions are soft and jammy.
4. Now move on to prepare the main course; chop the vegetables and put into bowls ready to cook later. Chop the bacon, grate the cheese and weigh out all the rest of your main course ingredients.
5.  Next you need to make your dessert; I always use the Be-Ro recipe for lemon meringue pie.
6. Place the ready-made pastry case on a baking tray, preferably with a lip around the edge so your beautiful creation doesn't slip off and smash at any point.
7. Place the egg yolks with 100g of the sugar, lemon juice, grated rind and boiling water in a saucepan and mix well.
8. ****TIP**** If you like a tart lemon pie, add the grated rind of another lemon. 
9. Blend the cornflour with a little cold water and add to the lemon mix.  Stir constantly and you will start to see and feel the mixture thicken to look more like lemon curd; at this point, take the pan off the heat and pour the lemon curd into the tart case. 
10.  Now to make the meringue, whisk the egg whites until they form stiff peaks.  To test, turn the bowl upside down above your head, if you end up clean, they have reached the correct consistency; if you end up with egg on your face, you will need to start again.
11. Once stiff peaks have been achieved, gradually whisk in the rest of the sugar, then pour over the lemon mix and spread out with a pallet knife or a spatula.
12.  Place the pie to one side but turn the oven on to pre-heat to 150 degrees, 300F or gas mark 2 and continue to prepare your starter.
13. Slice your bread and put through the toaster on the lowest setting.
14.  Drizzle each piece of bread with a little olive oil then place on your red onion marmalade, be generous!
15. Slice the goats' cheese and lay 2-3 rounds per slice on top of the marmalade, place under the grill for 2-3 minutes until the goats' cheese has just started to melt and brown, but be careful that the bread doesn't burn.
16.  Whilst grilling your bruschetta dress the plates with a handful of the washed salad tossed in a little balsamic vinegar.
17.  ****TIP****There are some delicious balsamic vinegars out there, with hints of chillies or blackberry; it is worth investing the time to find some.  Try speciality cheese shops or a local farm shop/deli for a bit more variety than the usual supermarket stock.
18. Once your bruschettas are cooked, remove them from the oven immediately, place on top of the bed of salad and drizzle a little more balsamic over the cheese.
19. Hopefully you have timed it just right and should now be ready to eat the starter, so place the lemon meringue pie in the pre-heated oven for 25 minutes or until the pie is golden in colour. REMEMBER every cooker is different, your pie may take a little less or a little longer, adjust as necessary, if you aren't sure, check your pie sooner than 25 minutes to avoid a disaster. Once cooked, set aside until you are ready to serve it.
20. ****TIP**** Always set a timer, that way if you are a chatterbox you will have something to remind you to attend to your food.
21. Your main will take about 10 - 15 minutes to cook, no longer.  Once your starter has finished nip into the kitchen and place a little vegetable oil in the pan and begin to heat, meanwhile put the kettle on to boil.
22. Once the pan is up to heat, add the bacon and fry for 1-2 minutes then add the onion and fry for a further 2 minutes. 
23. Add your boiling water to a separate pan and put on a medium heat to get ready for the pasta.
24. Add the wine to the hot pan with the bacon and onion.  Allow to bubble for a few seconds to burn off the alcohol then add the tomatoes and puree and leave to reduce for about 3 -4 minutes.
25. Set a timer and nip back through to talk to your guests.
26. Once reduced, add the mushrooms to your mixture and coat in the sauce then mix in the mascarpone.
27. Put the pasta on to boil (see the packet instructions) for just less than recommended, you don't want to over cook the pasta in the second stage when it gets coated in the sauce.
28. Once the pasta has cooked, drain and add to the bacon mix along with the peas.  Mix thoroughly and add in the parmesan. 
29. Allow the peas to warm through then serve.

Although there are many bullet points to this dinner, it is in actual fact really easy to make.  I have given you a step by step guide in the order I think you should cook this and as long as you give yourself sufficient time, you should be absolutely fine.  You may even find yourself having to do a few more dinner parties after this meal.

My advice to you:

·         Read through the recipe in full before you start.

·         Give yourself plenty of time to prepare.

·         Stay calm and good luck!!

P.S. sorry for the lack of pictures for this one, I am still getting used to photographing my food before I tuck in!

Comfort Food - Macaroni Cheese

Despite this being a common pasta dish, I have to confess I only came to this recently.  This is not a dish we had when we were growing up at home, and having tried a few failed versions at pubs throughout my life it wasn’t a meal that I was really keen on making myself.  But it always sounds so good, and when you see it in magazines it always looks so good and the concept…pasta, cheese sauce…what’s not to like?

 I decided I would give it a go and make my own version and I have loved it ever since.  It is naturally loaded in calories but if you are feeling down or poorly this is a great tasty dish that will have you glowing on the inside.  Recently I have been ill and this was all I could think of to bring me out of my gloomy self pity and it worked a treat.

Ingredients (to feed 4)

Dried macaroni pasta (250-300g)
1 onion diced
1 packed of back bacon/ 8 rashers (can be smoked or unsmoked)
Butternut squash cubed (250g)
Breadcrumbs

 For the cheese sauce

1/2 a pint (300ml) milk
1-2 tbsp of plain flour
Knob of butter (1/2 - 1oz)
150g grated cheese
English mustard (2 pea sized drops)
Salt and Pepper

 Method

§         Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees centigrade.

§         Prepare your butternut squash (or pumpkin). Peel away the skin to reveal the vivid flesh beneath and remove the seeds.  Dice into 2cm chunks and put on to boil for 10 minutes.

§         Measure out the pasta by selecting a suitably sized ovenproof dish and covering the bottom of the dish with a healthy layer of the dried pasta.  Don’t forget that pasta doubles in size once cooked. This is the way I measure out my pasta for these types of dishes; if you want to be really precise, I have provided a measure, but it really depends on the size of the appetites you are trying to satisfy.

§         Put your macaroni on to boil in salted water as per the packet instructions, but cook it for just less than the advised time.  If it says cook for 10 minutes, only boil for 8.  You want it to be almost there but not quite, otherwise it would over cook when you put it in the oven later.  You can of course use other pasta shapes; penne, farfalle, fusili, conchiglie, even rigatoni would all be good shapes, if you don’t have any macaroni. 

§         While your pasta and squash are cooking you want to cut up the bacon into strips and gently fry in a little oil for a couple of minutes, then add the onion, season with pepper only (as the bacon is salty enough) and gently fry for a further 2-3 minutes.  You don’t want to overcook anything.

§         For the cheese sauce…first you need to make a basic white sauce.  You start by making a roux, which involves equal quantities of butter and milk.  You melt the butter in either a pan or microwaveable jug. Then add the flour and stir quite vigorously to make sure there are no lumps. 

§         Little by little you add your milk, always stirring to ensure there are no lumps.

§         Once all the milk has been combined you heat until the sauce thickens. 

§         Now add half the cheese and heat/stir until all melted into the sauce and then add the two pea sized amounts of English mustard (you do not want to ruin the dish with the over powering taste of mustard, so proceed with caution).

§         Season with salt and pepper then add the rest of the cheese; stir until all melted and combined.

§         You don’t want the sauce to be too thick, but then again you don’t want it to be too thin.  It needs to be able to coat the pasta and add some luxury to the dish.  If it is not thick enough you should add more flour, if too thick, add a little more milk.  Remember you can always add more; you can never take away so keep a steady hand and taste, taste, taste!

§         Once you have made the sauce, everything is ready to combine, take your oven proof dish and put in the pasta, squash and bacon and onion mixture, mix up a little, then pour over the cheese sauce so everything is covered; give it another little mix.

§         Finally cover the top with breadcrumbs and place in the preheated oven on 180 for 15-20 minutes, or until the breadcrumbs have turned a golden brown colour.

Very comforting, very more-ish, this one will have people coming back time and time again.