Saturday, October 31, 2009

All Hallows' Eve dinner party

Last night my incredible husband cooked another feast for five guests including us. The only thing we didn't prepare ourselves were the sundried tomatoes. It was marvellous, the menu was:

Amuse bouche - crostinis prepared by moi (mackerel pate, sundried tomatoes and artichoke)

Starter

Pumpkin ravioli with witches' sage butter

Main course

Pot roasted pheasant flavoured with orange on a bed of brussel sprouts and bacon served with chesnut duchess potatoes

Dessert

Pear and blackberry crumble with hazelnut icecream

There were things that went really well. Lovely guests as always. Conversation was a bit worky-work orientated but c'est la vie. The halloween theme worked wonderfully with hubby preparing a family of hollowed out pumpkins for the occasion. The wine was delectable, we have rediscovered Mersault, beautiful. The halloween theme spread to the menu with the pumpkin ravioli which worked very well, a very interesting set of tastes, the sweetness of the pumpkin set off well against the savoury sage butter. The main course was a great recipe from one of our fave recipe books - Off Duty - by chefs; apparently what they cook when they're 'off duty'. The pheasant was good with a delicious jus. We could have got a potato bag to squeeze the duchesses out of, but had to make do with an icing sugar one. The Hazelnut Icecream was declared the star of the evening with husband announcing that this was the best thing he had ever made, and I had to concur. We finished with Betty's coffee and some Yorkshire cheeses from Booths'. A great evening.

No comments: