Come dine with mallowstreet!

In the spirit of healthy colleague competitiveness a few of us in the office embarked upon the ultimate office challenge of doing our own version of Come Dine with Me. Over the weeks leading up to it there was a lot of fighting talk and worried faces, possibly because you know that at some point soon your colleagues are coming to your house and you might have to actually clean your bedroom.

The bar was raised very high for the first installment, where 4 of us nervously trekked out to Wanstead (an area our Director had previously had no knowledge of) to be greeted by our colleague's immaculate and very grown up house. I was terrified, her garden actually had grass and it had been mowed. This is before we even entered. I have to admit that cooking is kind of my thing, aside from tapestry and knitting but I'm not actually that good at those, it is what I do to relax and I love it. So I have to admit to a certain level of jealousy as Jules brought out her delicious 3 courses with home grown salad. How could I compete?!

So last night I stuck to my favourite foods, resisted attempts to pretend I was Heston, and did things that I could cook well in advance and I knew tasted yummy. In doing this I think I finally hit my dinner party stride. I managed to avoid my usual error of having a main that you have to concentrate for, as usually by that point I'm at least 3 glasses of wine in and just want to chat. Last night I didn't have to really think about a thing. It paid off. My favourite food critic was there, our Cuban events coordinator, and when she said my started "erupted" I knew something had gone well.

More than anything though it was just wonderful to sit round in the garden, in late September no less, eat food and drink plenty of wine with fun people. Oh, and they loved the bunting... or had at least been forewarned to comment upon it. Well done them!

I said I would share some of my recipes for them so this may be a slightly long post. All feed 4 people at least.

Starter - Squid and Chorizo Stew

2 large squid, cleaned with tentacles, cut into rings
1 large chorizo sausage (I get mine at Continental Delicatessan in Brixton) cut into 1/2cm slices
1 medium Spanish Onion
2 cloves garlic
1 Red Pepper
6 ripe large tomatoes
1/3 bottle rioja
Turmeric
Chilli flakes
Marjoram
Sage

1. In heavy cast iron casserole (or big pan) fry off the onions and garlic for 3 minutes over a medium/high heat. Add chorizo and fry for a further 5 minutes on medium heat, add the chopped red pepper half way through.
2. Add 1 heaped tsp turmeric mix it around so it coats everything then pour in the wine. Leave to simmer softly as you add all the squid.
3. Chop the tomatoes up roughly, place in a seive with some salt to get rid off excess liquid and then add to the pan with a couple of pinches of dried chilli, depending on how spicy you like it.
4. Cover with a lid and turn the heat to low, after 1 hr add the marjoram and sage and season with salt and pepper. Cook for a further 30 minutes on a very low heat.

Serve with crostini or fresh bread.

Main - Duck with Mummy's beans and fennel

For the duck see earlier post - Duck Delicious Duck!

Mummy's beans -
300g dried cannelini beans (soaked overnight)
1/2 bottle dry white wine
3 cloves garlic
2 eschallions roughly chopped
150g lardons/pancetta cubes
1 medium tomato
vegetable bouillion stuck 1 1/2 pints
Olive oil
juice of one lemon
Sage
Thyme

1. In a large pan fry off the onion, lardons and 2 cloves of garlic finely chopped.
2. Drain the beans and put them in the pan with the white wine, simmer for 15 minutes, add the stock.
3. Leave to cook, simmering on a low heat with the lid on for 2 hours, check every now and then that you have enough liquid.
4. Once the beans are soft and tender give them a glug of olive oil, pour over the lemon juice, the herbs and the last clove of garlic (crushed). Mix it all together and take if off the heat. after 5 minutes, season with salt and pepper and serve.
It is also delicious cold as a salad the next day.

Pudding - White Chocolate and Pomergranate Panna Cotta

5 leaves gelatine

300ml whole milk

300ml double cream

50g caster sugar

2 vanilla pod (split lengthways)

170g white chocolate

200ml coconut milk

1.       1. Soak gelatine in ice cold water for 10 mins

2.       2. Place milk, cream sugar canilla pod and seeds into saucepan and heat gently until simmering. Remove from heat when sugar dissolved

3.       3. Put chocolate and coconut milk into a bowl over pan of simmering water then sieve other mixture into this bowl and stir until smooth

4.       4. Squeeze excess water from gelatine at to mixture and whisk until complete smooth.

5.       5. Put on mould and leave in fridge to set, after 15 minutes scatter the pommergranate seeds on top. Leave to set for another few hours.

SeServe with poached pear and raspberry and black pepper sauce

4 4 medium pears peeled

1 bottle robust and fruity red wine

75g caster sugar

2 Star Anise

1 stick cinnamon

8 cloves

5 Allspice berries

100g raspberries

1. put the wine and spices in a pan with the sugar and bring to a boil.

2. add the pears and make sure they are covered, simmer on a low heat for 2 hours or so until tender.

3. remove the pears and reduce the remaining liquid, add the fresh berries and 2 turns of black pepper, mix until the berries fall apart and then serve.