Ow...
I need to stop entertaining. I really need to stop entertaining.
1. It's actually fairly pricey
2. MY BACK HURTS from standing up and doing all the cooking!
Today we have a Hallowe'en party, so there's a definite pumpkin and ginger theme going on, with a few added extras.
No party, for example, is complete without a quiche lorraine, made with smoked bacon, cheddar cheese, fresh eggs, and rich double cream. So there's one of those in my fridge.
I am from the Middle East, so in my world when you want to feed people, you make stuffed vine leaves. So I have a plate full of witchily dark green leaves rolled cigar-like around a filling of rice, onions, tomatoes, mint, parsley, cinnamon and clove. All the spices of the orient, right here, right now.
On my hob, I have a rich butternut squash soup simmering away, fragrant with bay leaves, bouquet garni, paprika and a wee spike of chilli (needs more though, I just tasted it). Shortly before serving, there will be the addition of cream and lemon juice to enrich it further.
In the oven, I am just baking the last of the cheesy pinwheels, and I have already finished the sausage rolls.
For the vegetarians, there's a Moroccan vegetable pie made with filo pastry, and stuffed to the brim with butternut squash, chickpeas, shallots, ginger, coriander, cumin, paprika, lemon juice and hummus.
Later on I shall also be making batches of potato wedges by chunking Maris Pipers and lobbing them in the oven with a generous coating of olive oil and paprika.
For afters, we have chocolate cupcakes, rich and squidgy, shortly to be covered in milk chocolate buttercream and white chocolate stars. We also have pumpkin pie, which I think I may cover in a cheesecake style topping of cream cheese and whipped up double cream. And we have a gingerbread house, which surprisingly for me, given that I'm normally a major failure in the icing department, is artistic.
Roll on party time! And everyone, you are under ORDERS to be impressed. :) Pictures will be coming soon, I'm pretty sure. I can't let the ginger-house go unsnapped! :)
1. It's actually fairly pricey
2. MY BACK HURTS from standing up and doing all the cooking!
Today we have a Hallowe'en party, so there's a definite pumpkin and ginger theme going on, with a few added extras.
No party, for example, is complete without a quiche lorraine, made with smoked bacon, cheddar cheese, fresh eggs, and rich double cream. So there's one of those in my fridge.
I am from the Middle East, so in my world when you want to feed people, you make stuffed vine leaves. So I have a plate full of witchily dark green leaves rolled cigar-like around a filling of rice, onions, tomatoes, mint, parsley, cinnamon and clove. All the spices of the orient, right here, right now.
On my hob, I have a rich butternut squash soup simmering away, fragrant with bay leaves, bouquet garni, paprika and a wee spike of chilli (needs more though, I just tasted it). Shortly before serving, there will be the addition of cream and lemon juice to enrich it further.
In the oven, I am just baking the last of the cheesy pinwheels, and I have already finished the sausage rolls.
For the vegetarians, there's a Moroccan vegetable pie made with filo pastry, and stuffed to the brim with butternut squash, chickpeas, shallots, ginger, coriander, cumin, paprika, lemon juice and hummus.
Later on I shall also be making batches of potato wedges by chunking Maris Pipers and lobbing them in the oven with a generous coating of olive oil and paprika.
For afters, we have chocolate cupcakes, rich and squidgy, shortly to be covered in milk chocolate buttercream and white chocolate stars. We also have pumpkin pie, which I think I may cover in a cheesecake style topping of cream cheese and whipped up double cream. And we have a gingerbread house, which surprisingly for me, given that I'm normally a major failure in the icing department, is artistic.
Roll on party time! And everyone, you are under ORDERS to be impressed. :) Pictures will be coming soon, I'm pretty sure. I can't let the ginger-house go unsnapped! :)