Another Birthday Meal

But this time I was the chef.

I invited my Mum, Dad & Sister around for dinner telling them that I wasn’t going to make an effort but I ended up doing so.

For the starter I made Pea & Ham Tartlets with a Cornichon Salad. I got this from the Marks & Spencer app I’ve used before.

Roll out and blind bake some shop bought shortcrust. Defrost some peas. Preheat the oven to 160ºc (fan).

Make a dressing using dijon,honey, cider vinegar and olive oil. Toss sliced cornichon, sliced shallot and chopped radish in the dressing.

Beat together eggs, double cream and dijon mustard. Season and add chopped mint.

Pop cooked ham strips and the peas into the cases and cover with the egg mixture. Cook for about 20 minutes,

The Beef Rendang recipe can be found in Save with Jamie. I roasted a huge peice of brisket for about five hours first thing in the morning. Making a thick dark gravy with the juices.

Whizz up onions, ginger, garlic, coriander stalks, red chillies, turmeric and ground cinnamon in a processor. Pop some olive oil in a huge casserole dish and cook the paste for about 15 minutes, stirring regularly. Shred the brisket and add to the pan along with a tin of coconut milk, half a tin of water and a little of the gravy. Bring to the boil then simmer for at least 10 minutes but as long as you wish. Grate in some lime zest and juice and serve with rice, chapatis and a sprinkling of coriander leaves.

This was take two effort on dessert, I followed an app recipe and the resulting sponge was rubbish. Luckily I had made it the night before so had plenty of time to make another sponge (a Mary Berry recipe). It wasn’t my best effort at baking.

Using DIJON MUSTARD, HONEY, CIDER VINEGAR, CORNICHON, SHALLOT, RADISHES, COOKED HAM, SHORTCRUST PASTRY, EGGS, DOUBLE CREAM, MINT and PEAS for the starter…

and BRISKET, GARLIC, CORIANDER, ONIONS, RED CHILLIES, GROUND TURMERIC, GROUND CINNAMON, COCONUT MILK, RICE, CHAPATIS and LIME for the rendang…

This was dinner…30th August 2014