The Venue: My parents house - providing access to a decently sized kitchen
The Guests: The hosts - my parents, the chefs - myself and TFB - and the esteemed visitors; my father's former pupil master (tutor in law speak) and his new wife (no he's not a serial philanderer, but a delightful gentleman getting on in years who's been lucky enough to meet a lovely new lady after being bereaved).
The Menu: Having been mulled over for many months and being reincarnated multiple times we had eventually decided upon... Cured salmon served on toast with soft cheese and chives for starters, a recipe adapted from James Martin's recent Food Map of Britain programme. Main was to be chicken in a whisky mushroom sauce with dauphinoise potatoes and griddled courgettes from TFB's favourite Whisky Kitchen cookbook. Finally dessert was my own creation of a white chocolate and lemon cheesecake. If you're diabetic look away now but the ingredients are white chocolate, juice of two lemons, condensed milk, whipped double cream and cream cheese (although I didn't mention that to my cheese phobic father). A final flourish was provided by TFB's homemade and truly luxurious tablet, for those who are uninitiated tablet is not a pill but rather a crunchy version of fudge, made primarily from sugar and condensed milk. Yum!
The concept had arisen as TFB and I are keen entertainers and Mum and Dad were long overdue in reciprocating an invitation. I was desperate for TFB to meet the esteemed visitor, whom I knew to be an amusing companion and as such a convenient date was arranged for everyone to converge for Sunday lunch. What followed amounted to a turf war. My mother is a little proprietorial when it comes to her kitchen and the rights to cook almost had to be physically wrestled from her. After she had finally conceded we were nagged for weeks about finalising a menu and providing her with a list of ingredients. Ultimately she contented herself with bustling about while we were prepping. A sample of conversation went along the lines of:
Mum "It's not a problem if I just prepare dinner for tomorrow in a corner is it?"
Me "Well actually we're needing all the space for our prep and we'll fall over each other if you do"
Mum, as she sets herself up anyway "I won't take up much space"
It was a toss up who was most likely to come to harm - her, as my patience wore out, or us as we tripped over her and went flying.
Needless to say no injuries did occur and the end result was nearly flawless. I was thoroughly won over by the salmon, despite my concealed skepticism beforehand. I have since made TFB do it again. Main was very well received. If I was being super picky the chicken had maybe had a minute or two too long in the pan but was still acceptably tender and succulent and the accompanying sauce was a triumph. The plating was magnificent with individual ramekins holding the dauphinoise. Compliments abounded as we all enjoyed the dish. Finally my dessert was sweet and delicious. Prepared in individual pudding rings it stood in the middle of the plates, garnished with raspberries and grated dark chocolate and was yummy! The tablet at the end was the crowning glory and not only did a nameless guess admit to losing count after 13 pieces but was seen leaving with a doggy bag!
Lunch extended throughout the afternoon with the guests not leaving until gone 5pm. Everybody had seemingly had a wonderful time and TFB and I were really rather pleased with ourselves. It has to be said that he did the bulk of the work but I hope I proved useful and I think in the kitchen we make quite a good team. And the best bit of all was that as it wasn't our house we didn't even have to do the washing up! That's why Mum has a dishwasher - he's called Dad!
Happy Cooking
The Girlfriend.
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