Saturday, January 07, 2006

13 courses



Last night, we had a gourmet dinner with four of our closest friends. Each couple were instructed to prepare three small dishes - I went with seven, but made mine REALLY small. So, we had 13 in total.

It was an absolute blast - delicious food, and extremely pleasant company. As a hostess, I had chosen things that could be prepared well in advance, and left the kitchen to the others who needed to heat and/or chill their things. I'll tell you more about my own dishes soon, and share pictures - but for now, here's the menu:

-Fried Halloumi with a Caper Lime dressing (borrowed from here.)
-Cherry Marys - cherry tomatoes injected with a vodka-tabasco mixture
-Crostini with aragula, raitziki and grilled lamb
-Chanterelle tartlets Lena and Nico)
-Grilled scallops and jumbo prawns with a citrus salsa (Tesse and Danne)
-Yellowfin Tuna Chichimi
-Mandarin Granita

-Soup with Monkfish, Halibut, garlic croutons and saffron aïoli (Tesse and Danne)
-Salmon soup with olive aïoli (Lena and Nico)

-Lemon ice cream - served in frozen lemons (Lena and Nico)
-Fleur de sel-caramels
-White chocolate mousse with strawberry sauce and fresh strawberries (Tesse and Danne)
-Tiramisu

As you can see, both visiting couples decided to prepare fish soups - it was really fun to compare and contrast, and marvel over how different two so similar dishes can taste. (And that's what we get for not organizing in more detail who gets to bring what.) We're definitely doing this type of dinner again - soon! - it's perfect for sharing lots of good food, and absolutely excellent if you have friends that are as happy to cook as you are.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Cherry Marys sound inspired. I'd like to make them for a friend's birthday. Can you tell me the proportions you used? And did you have to scoop out any of the insides, or just squirt in the liquid? Thanks, Anne! Love your blog!

Anne said...

Anonymous - you need a large syringe and needle. First, try to get rid of as much of the insides as you can, using the needle - then squirt the new liquid inside. I used 100 ml vodka, juice of half a lemon, a good pinch of salt, some tabasco and a little worcestershire sauce - and there was a lot left. I made about 20 tomatoes. Good luck!

sailu said...

Its fun to have friends around who love to cook and enjoy the food we cook..:)

Anonymous said...

Maste fraga om en sak, vet att jag lsate om det nagon gang pa din blogg, och att det star pa din onskelista. Cremme de tartar vad ska man ha det till? sag det namligen i mataffaren har i england och funderade pa att kopa med hem..

Anne said...

Maria, det är en form av bakpulver, kan man säga. Det går att använda i en del småkakor - men det är inte utbytbart mot något annat. I Sverige heter det "vinsten", och är krångligt att hitta i vanliga affärer. :)

Anonymous said...

trodde att det var nat sadant eftersom det var recept pa scones pa baksidan, bast att kopa en har da verkar det som..

Deetsa said...

OH. MY. GOD.

That sounds like such a wonderful feast to have with friends. Everything sounds delicious. You are my hero, Anne! ;-)

Anonymous said...

Cherry Marys sound amazing! That is a brilliant idea for a new twist on a bloody mary!