Dinner for Stu

Our friend Stu was arriving to stay and we had a family dinner…Of course this is always a good opportunity to try out more dishes for the blog.
Emily at work told me about some cauliflower fritters she had had for dinner the previous night. This got me thinking. I was planning to make the Cauliflower Soup in the previous post for the first course…maybe we could turn this into cakes...
Got wondering which herb to use and decided to try sage.
It worked well.
So here we go

For 8 people
1 ½ cauliflowers broken into florets
1 onion chopped
1 litre chicken stock

1 cup parmesan cheese
1 cup ground almonds
2 -3 eggs
8 sage leaves finely chopped
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Flour (optional)
Rice Bran oil

½ cup best mayonnaise
1 chili chopped
Juice of 1 lime

Cook the cauliflower and onion till soft
Drain well (save the stock it will make great soup.
Blend with a stick blender don’t make it too smooth
Add almonds and parmesan
Whip the eggs and add with sage leaves to mixture
Add 2 eggs first you probably will need 3 but test the water first.
Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper
Put into fridge about an hour
Form into patties this quantity made 20.
Fry in oil till golden

Serve with the Lime Chili Mayo
Just mix all ingredients together chill for about an hour to meld the flavours

Sicilian Styled Fish with Squashed Basil Potatoes
Jamie Oliver has been cooking some great food…I really want to cook almost everything
So I do apologise if you get sick of seeing his name. I also apologise for the photo my camera was running out of batteries and that was the last shot before it failed…
Anyhow!!!


Sicilian Fish

200 gms white fish per person e.g. Hapuka, Swordfish
Several stalks rosemary
4 lemons thinly sliced
1 jar capers
8 tablespoons Olive oil
1 jar anchovies
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Cut fish into chunks about 4 cms and place in a bowl
Put rosemary leaves capers and oil into mortar
Scrunch up with the pestle and add to the fish
Massage fish well
You can do this in advance and keep in fridge till ready

Heat oven to 220C
Into your roasting pan lay out the fish
Season with S & P
Cover with lemons and anchovies
Pour over any remaining marinade
Cook for 20 minutes






The Potatoes
Jersey Bennes
Handful of basil
Freshly ground black pepper
Good olive oil I used the Italian Colonna Orange infused oil…this is like liquid gold a sensational oil

Cook the potatoes till fork tender
Drain
Add basil and as much oil as you feel fit
Squash up with a fork
This is divine!

Serve with a crisp green salad.

Now dessert

Wicked Crème Caramel with a twist of Lime

This quite rich but delicious
To feed 8

The Caramel
1 cup sugar
6 tablespoons water
Bring to boil and simmer till it turns golden about 15 minutes
Keep an eye on it...it can turn from golden to burnt in seconds.

Meanwhile prepare The Custard

2 cans condensed milk
Equal amounts of whole milk
Zest 3 limes in strips
1 vanilla bean split scrape seeds out
6 eggs

Scald milks with lime and vanilla seeds and pod
And strain

Beat eggs in a bowl
Temper eggs with a little hot milk
This is to reduce the chance of scrambling the eggs.
When mixed add rest of milk

To compile the dessert
Light butter ramekins
Pour a little caramel into the bottom of each ramekin
Be careful it is very hot.

Then share the custard between the ramekins

Bake at 150C in a bain marie for 25- 30 minutes
It should still tremble a little in the middle

Cool and then chill for at least 3 hours.

To serve either put a dob of whipped cream on top
A little lime zest for garnish











Or you can turn them out

This is a really rich dessert and the only thing to go with it is
Another Jamie idea

Thin Sliced Pineapple with Mint Sugar. Yum!!!

12 mint leaves
½ cup sugar
Bash in mortar and pestle till all mixed together










Peel pineapple
Cut into quarters
Remove stringy old core
Thinly cut long slices
Arrange on a plate and sprinkle with minted sugar



How about that!
What an easy dessert.