A pre-birthday dinner

First up I have to apologise about the lack of pictures in this post. We had the best of intentions to take lots of pictures at our last dinner party, but only remembered at the end of dessert.. woops!

I had originally decided that I wasn't really going to plan anything for my 40th birthday, mostly due to the tyranny of distance from friends and family. We decided that we would have one of our dinner parties, just so that we could enjoy good food and wine with great company, and my upcoming birthday was as good an excuse as any. It ended up being a couple of weeks early as one of the people we wanted to invite works in the mines, and we wanted to work with his schedule.

When I sent out the invite, it read like the following:

A Gentleman of a “certain age” would like to invite you to join him on a retrospective culinary journey through some of the tastes, flavours and memories of life thus far.

Menu:

Canapés

·            Mangrove Jack, wrapped in pasta with Aioli

               My take on a Friday night favourite – Battered fish with Tartare sauce

·            Potato and ham croquettes, mustard sauce

               Reminds me of my Nana’s (and then Mum’s) corned beef with mash and mustard sauce

·            Deconstructed prawn cocktail

               As a child of the 70’s, I have to have a soft spot for it. But no avocado, I promise!

·            Lamb’s fry, bacon & onion

               Memories of Dad on the farm, and fresh lamb’s fry for lunch

Dinner

·            Beetroot, rocket and chevre salad, on toast

               Simple, but grown up flavours. Classic – showing that good ingredients treated simply are always a winner

·            Hot smoked beef, smoked garlic, slow poached egg, tomato confit and chips

               My take on Steak, eggs and chips… Perhaps a little tweak here and there, but always a favourite when Dad was cooking!

·            Mini Gateau St. Honore

               Dedicated to the patron saint of Pastry Chefs, and one of the first real restaurant desserts I cooked.

Afters

·            Tea, Coffee and Chocolate Mint crunch

               Chocolate and mint has been a favourite flavour combination since I can remember. Generally in ice cream, but always the combination.

·            Cheese with Oat and rosemary biscuits

                        Because I like cheese. And now that I am growing up, isn’t it the grown up thing to                 serve?

The aim was to treat myself to some favourite memories, but I found it really difficult when I wrote the menu. There were so many dishes that stood out, and so many that I wanted to share. Of all of the dishes, I am told that the Fish wrapped in pasta was a favourite - I think because it was so unexpected. For me, the out and out winner of the night was the prawn cocktail. I have never had a reaction to food like I did to that dish. I strained pureed tomato, onion, capsicum and celery through several layers of muslin to get a perfectly clear 'tomato water' (fruit juices are clear, when you remove the solids that float in suspension). I served it in a champagne saucer with a lettuce leaf, and a skewered prawn tail fried in garlic oil and chilli flakes. It took people an age to work out what the clear liquid was - and really tickled my fancy.

The rest of the meal was a success - although I probably wouldn't recommend trying to hotsmoke beef (or anything else) in a domestic kitchen, with a domestic rangehood. But at least we know the smoke alarms work!

Fantastic night as always with that group of people, and an excellent selection of wine to go with it. I think Jane and I got to bed a little after 0100... But very much worth it.

On the general home front, not too much to report. MacK is growing daily - and my next post will have pictures of him, I promise. It is raining, which is really unusual for Townsville. Being the dry tropics, it generally doesn't rain between April and October. We don't mind, as it is actually cool enough to climb under some blankets without sweating! Lovely.