The Dinner Party

Yo ho! It's been a long long break since my last post. Well, lots have happened since then. Too much to update in one post.

So lets start from this week. The highlight of this week has got to be when I hosted a dinner party at home. I can only do such things when (a) I am on leave, (b) My parents are away on holiday, (c) and I have the car to drive around to buy the raw materials. SO when all three conditions are met on Tuesday, the stars are aligned and so, a party I hosted!

The party was pretty much impromptu. So for those who felt left out coz you were not invited, I really apologise! (That means you Junhao and Cat Chia) I only decided at 2pm that very day to hold the party.

BUT for those who are invited, count yourselves lucky! There were 10 of us altogether. The 3 Lim brothers; Nicole (Elijah's gf), Sandra (Moses's gf), Sheryl (Sandra's sister) and Daniel, Melissa, Serene and Shuling from church.

The menu was planned in half an hour. Coz the party was quite big, I decided to have 2 appetizers, 2 mains and dessert. At least if one of the dishes fails, there is another one to back it up. From 2pm till when the dinner started was a blur of inviting people, running to the butchery, supermarket, washing the vegetables, chopping the tomatoes, breading the chicken, frying the mushrooms, boiling the potatoes, finding silverware for the party etc etc...

At 7pm: my critics arrive. The first appetizer comes out: Caprese. Caprese is such a simple dish to prepare - there is practically no cooking involved! Just chop up the tomatoes, chop up the mozzarella, toss them with basil leaves, extra virgin olive oil and a touch of balsamic vinegar. Coz it's such a simple dish with no cooking, the key for a good caprese is the freshness & quality of the ingredients. The secret for me was the tomatoes on the vine - double the price of regular tomatoes, but worth every penny. This time round, I used regular mozzarella. Next time, I will try it with buffalo mozzarella.

The second appetizer: Chicken Milanese. This also quite a simple dish to make. Fry a breaded chicken breast, put it on top of greens and cherry tomatoes (the same vine ripened ones) and toss it with olive oil and lemon juice. Yup! They loved it too!

The next one was a bit of a disappointment. The dish was a oven roasted, Australian Free Range Veal Loin. It was supposed to be cooked to medium on the outside and then rare in the inside. But I think I left it in the oven for too long. According to the recipe, the meat thermometer was supposed to read about 70 degrees celsius. But when I cooked it to that temperature, the whole thing was well done.

The next one was less of a disappointment. I took it out too early, cut it up, realised it was too bloody to be eaten, so stuck it back in the oven for another 5 minutes. Then it came out perfect!

Verdict on the accompaniments to the mains:

Store bought Mustard - too mild

Horseradish & Sour Cream - the guests loved this with their meats!

Brown sauce - bad! (I think it's coz I used vegetable oil to make it instead of the oil from roasting the meats)

Fried Regular and Sweet Potatoes - Some of the potatoes were undercooked.

Mushrooms - Delicious, too little to go around.

I thought that with such heavy and meaty mains, dessert should be something light and fruity. I wanted sorbet and strawberries but no supermarket in my vicinity sells sorbet! I was so upset. I had no time to make dessert. So I settled for Ben & Jerry's chocolate ice cream. But when Nicole arrived, she brought an Apple Strudel with her. The perfect ending to the meal - something sweet and not too heavy. So I kept the ice cream in the freezer and brought out the strudel for everyone!

Everyone's verdict: Passable.

Lessons Learnt:

If I am going to do it again:

1. Cater more time!! Deciding at 2pm to host a 6 course dinner party for 10 at 7pm is really biting off more than I can chew! I'm quite amazed that I managed to buy all the meats and vegetables and cook them in time for the party.

2. Include a seafood item. Feedback was that having 2 meats as mains was, well, too meaty.

3. I may want to try to do a cheese course. And I also forgot to bring out the wine when the dinner started! I actually chilled a bottle of white to be brought out when the chicken appetizer was served. Forgetful me.

4. Invite people who can help prepare and wash up later! Really, I don't think the dinner will be a success if not for my guests who helped out. Love u all!