I am seizing the day ... and writing. I am not sure if anyone is ever going to read it (with the exception if my husband under duress) but that's not the point.
I want to write about food and entertaining. So I just need to start. Friends have often said that they don’t entertain or if they do they don’t enjoy it as much as they hope they will because they find deciding what to cook really difficult. They then pick a recipe that is to complicated and end up spending most of the evening in the kitchen, on their own , not catching up with the people they have invited for dinner. I get quite a few phone calls/emails asking for recipes … so I am going to write them down and maybe you will enjoy them.
I am not sure where to start ... maybe with the alternative dinner party we had on Tuesday ... Jack wants the recipe so here we go ...
After a few failed attempts and a baby sitting crisis at their end we found someone to look after our sleeping children and we took dinner to Jack and Emily's.
We all decided it was a great, stress free way to do dinner ... They cleared the toys and laid the table, we bought the food. We could leave a messy house and they did not have to worry about the shopping or cooking.
It is sad I know but after a few glasses of wine we thought we could even start a new trend of less stressful dinner parties. If you are keen to follow the trendsetters dinner to go was steak salad, followed by Gu.
I had pre-cut and cooked all but the steak so when we arrived there was very little to do. Emily settled the children, Jack griddled the steak, I assembled the salad and Rich poured the wine… team work at its best.
RIB EYE STEAK SALAD
2 rib eye steaks (approx 500g), 100g of mixed leaf salad (I use herb, baby leaf and rocket), 1 butternut squash, 12 asparagus spears, 50g of blue cheese, 50g flaked almonds, teaspoon sugar, butter, extra virgin olive oil
- Heat oven to 180
- Halve the butternut squash in two place in roasting tray drizzle with olive oil and place in oven for 40 minutes or until cooked, should be soft and lightly golden. Take out of the oven, cut into chunks (i leave skin on) and cover in tin foil to keep warm while you put the salad together.
- Steam the asparagus for 1-2 mins till cooked (the time will vary with size of asparagus). Once cooked drain and run some cold water over them to stop them cooking. Shake of water and put to side.
- Place a dry frying pan on the heat and add 50g of flaked almonds, keep stirring till they have a slight colour on them, once they start turning a light brown, add a teaspoon of sugar to the pan and stir. The sugar will coat the almonds, once coated place almonds on a plate, if you leave them in frying pan they will keep cooking and burn.
- Rinse frying pan and pop back on heat with a tablespoon of butter, once the butter is bubbling add steak to pan,. The steak I buy is 1.5cm thick. Cook it for a minute and a half on each side for medium rare and remove from heat, leave the meat to rest in warm place for a few minutes.
- Place the salad leaves in a large bowl or on a plate, pour over half the dressing and mix well to ensure all the leaves are covered. Place the butternut squash and asparagus in another bowl and pour over the rest of the dressing, gently mix to cover all the vegtables and place the dressed butternut squash and asparagus over the salad leaves. Crumble over blue cheese (if using) and sprinkle with half the flaked almonds.
- Slice the steak into strips and place on top of salad with any juices. Sprinkle on the rest of the almonds, drizzle the dish with olive oil and serve.
Cooking Notes
If you are not a blue cheese fan or what a slightly lighter dish then leave it out.
Salad Dressing
3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon of maple syrup
1 teaspoon of wholegrain mustard
1 clove of grated garlic
pinch of salt and pepper
Place all the ingredients in a jam jar, shake for ten seconds ... your done.
… first post … done.
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