Greek Tapas

Last week I went to a Greek cooking class at the South Melbourne Market. The ladies from Greek Food Odyssey were friendly and informative. It wasn't a hands on class but rather a demonstration class with plenty of delicious samples to taste. For $50 (which was a last minute discount) it was well worth it.

My two favourite dishes were the Thracian hot eggplant salad and the Spetsofai (Greek sausages in a capsicum, tomato wine sauce). For me the thing that makes these two so delicious is the roasting of the capsicum and eggplant on hot coals (my webber). Both were relatively easy to make the only tricky bit was timing the roasting of the vegetables.

For the eggplant salad I peeled the roasted skin and cut it so that it opened up flat on the serving plate. Then I drizzled balsamic vinegar and finely chopped garlic over the top followed by a sprinkling of fetta cheese and a generous amount of continental parsley. For the Spetsofai I browned onion and sliced greek chorizo. Then added tomatoes and a generous drizzle of red wine followed by the sliced roasted capsicum. To garnish I added a sprinkling of parsley. I also barbecued some pork spare ribs which is not exactly Greek but oh well they tasted great.

It's really satisfying to got out and eat something and then come home and pretty much replicate the dish with the same flavour. The lucky guests for my first monthly dinner will be having both Greek dishes.

Lamb Roast with Lemon Meringue Pie

After last weekend's extravaganza I decided so get back to something more simple and traditional. And what could be more simple than the Sunday lamb roast. I quite like the way Jamie Oliver prepares his vegetables so was inspired to do the vege's Jamie style. It was my first attempt at roasting something on the webber and I've now discovered that I really don't like the current brand of charcoal I'm using. They take ages to heat up and the heat they produce is not as good as heatbead. It took an hour to cook a 1/2 kg roast when it really should take about 45mins. A glass of KWV cab sav was a nice addition.

For dessert it was the family's traditional lemon meringue pie only this time I would try a baked version. For the pastry I made pate sucree (sweet pastry). This turned out much better than last time mainly due to the tiny holes that I put in the pastry before cooking it. The filling was relatively simple. Heat lemon juice, water, suger and cornflour until it starts to boil. At this point the filling goes through an amazing transformation where by it changes from a runny milky texture to a think transparent texture. You then furiously add butter and egg yolk until its all mixed in. I've had a few failures with the meringue before but thankfully this time was pretty good. The only thing I'll do differently next time is leave the pie in the oven (whilst off) a little longer to ensure the meringue hardens a little more.

A Great Weekend Of Food

I turned 30 last year in December and decided to delay having a birthday bash as December is a particularly poor month for organising a party. It also gave me plenty of time to figure out what I wanted to do. In the end I decided to host a party at my place and provide all the catering minus any alcohol. Well, last Sunday was the day and I was really happy with how things turned out.

Catering for a party with 26 guests would prove to be quite a challenge but thankfully I had enough for everyone with just a little bit left over. Preparations started on Friday night with an ingredients breakdown in numbers (like MS Excel) followed by a grocery shop at Coles. I had planned to make one dessert on Friday night but was too buggered and so went to bed early. Saturday morning started with a flurry. I planned to make three desserts, nanaimo bars, peppermint crisp cheesecake and a lime and coconut sorbet. I had made the nanaimo bars and the cheesecake before but was going into unknown territory with the sorbet. Things didn't exactly get off to a good start when I poored to much milk into the custard mix and had to throw it all out and start again. By midday I had completed most of the three desserts.

After visiting a friend for a bit and then completing a fresh food shop it was time for the marinade preparations. For the main meat selection I planned to make chicken tikka skewers, chicken tandoori drumets and moroccan lamb skewers. For something different I bought some Boerewors (South African sausage) as well. All the preparations went well and leaving the meat to marinad over night turned out to be a winner. For snacks the plan was to make baked vegetable samosas and pork spring rolls. So the last task for Saturday was to make the fillings for the samosas and the spring rolls. By 10pm I was buggered and called it a night.

Sunday started early with the main objective to have the olive bread and the three salads done by 11am. The three salads were a dill, capsicum and tomato past salad, a chickpea salad and a greek salad. I had only made the pasta salad before so it was going to be a challenge to get the other two done in quick time. 11am went past and I had only finished two of the salads. This was the trigger to put the call out for reinforcements. I had planned for one of my friends to come over a little earlier to help out but soon realised that more were needed. By 12 I still had to roll the spring rolls and samosas, make the skewers, finish off one of the desserts, prepare the BBQ and put out the cheese and crackers. With the extra help everything was pretty much completed by 2pm which was when the first guests were expected to arrive.

Slowly but surely everyone started turning up and by 3:30 or so we were tucking in to all of the tasty food. I was a litte surprised about the items that people seemed to enjoy the most. The olive bread was a big hit and the greek salad seemed to go down quite well. It was really great to see everyone there and as the day got on I had more time to catch up with everyone. Out of the desserts the lime and coconut sorbet was a real hit and a big thanks to one of my friends for bringing over a pavlova as well.

After a long day I was completely hammered but it was definitely one of the best birthdays I've had. I really enjoyed cooking for everyone and was happy with how all the food turned out. I can't say I'll be catering for 26 people again in a hurry but I'll definitely do it again in the future. The only downside is I have no photos to post. Oh well next time.