Italian Themed Dinner Party

Our thanks to Mino and Zia at the Truddhi cookery school for teaching us what we needed to give a most successful dinner party on Saturday. The plan had always been to host a evening based on what we learned there. So on Saturday we persuaded usual suspects Bob&Lynn and John&Andrea to be our guinea pigs - not that they took too much persuading :-)

Antipasta mista con focaccia

We bought a variety of meats in the local market* sliced using our deli-style meat slicer bought following an earlier trip. The focaccia worked much better than an earlier trial bake though whether it was the yeast, the time to rise or the ambient temprature we are still working on.

Orecchiette con cime de rape

Home made from flour and water, every ear individually hand rolled; time consuming or what! The recipe was pretty much the one Mino demonstrated on Rick Stein's programme and was a great success.

Coniglio ripieno al forno

We bought the rabbit from Randalls Butchers in Wandsworth Bridge Road and Mary very patiently filleted it. She stuffed it with a mixture of fried giblets, breadcrumbs and egg** then tied it with string into two neat parcels. Baked with potatoes and lashing of olive oil.

Torta limone con lamponi

I was pastry chef and made a tart filled with lemon flavoured Confectioner's custard (creme patissiere) set wih gelatine and decorated with rasberries.

And of course plenty of wine. Even though I say it myself the evening went very well. Mind you with the right company that is pretty much guaranteed. A bonus was that most of the preparation was done in advance; the absence of last minute cooking meant we too could relax and enjoy.

* Origin within the EU for personal consumption so legal! [1] [2] [3]
** [11-Nov-07] Mary has asked me to add that the stuffing also included parmigiano, pecorino, parsley and garlic.