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Being the Best Hostess:
The Dinner Party
Words Talibah Simone
To be the best hostess, you either show off your chef skills providing your guests with your favourite dishes or you pick a theme. You’d need 2 meat or fish options, a starter, a rice, quinoa or pasta option, vegetable option and a desert. Always have a bottle of bubbly, juice and water available – appealing to every kind of guest.
Your table arrangement is very important. If you have a glass or textured table, a table runner is all you need; whereas if you’ve hired standard white tables, use a plain white cloth and a colour table runner.
You will need:
Dinner & dessert plate
Silverware for both starters, main & dessert
Glasses for water and wine
Decorations:
Napkins
Flowers (loose or in stem glasses)
Place matt (optional)
Candles (optional)
Seating your guests is also important! Have the ‘loudies’ next to the ‘quieties’ - you’ve got to encourage conversation!
I have created 9 recipes for the perfect spread for your dinner party!
Feeds: 6 guests
Full duration: 3hours
Mediterranean Salmon fillet
Ingredients:
500g Half salmon side
250g cherry tomatoes
2 garlic cloves
2 red onions
2 tbs olives (drained)
2 tbs olive oil
1 red pepper
1 yellow pepper
1 green pepper
1 orange (freshly juiced)
1 tbs honey
Seasonings: 1/2 tsp paprika, black pepper, basil & coriander(dried or fresh), cumin
1/2 tbs baby capers
Fresh sprigs of thyme
Method:
Preheat the oven to 200ºC/180ºC fan. Dice baby potatoes in half and boil in hot water for 5 minutes, bring to boil and cook till tender. Drain.
Cut peppers and onions into chunks, set aside. Halve tomatoes.
Squeeze orange and add juice to a bowl. Add honey and seasonings to bowl and mix, then add the salmon - set aside for 5 minutes
Whilst the salmon marinates, drizzle the oil into an oven dish, I always use a pyrex for my oven baked foods as its non stick. Arrange potatoes as a base, add salmon skin-down, leaving the juices in the bowl. Arrange remaining vegetables over the salmon. Drizzle the orange honey mix over the salmon and vegetables then bake in the oven for 15 minutes.
Add capers and olives to dish and bake for another 10 minutes.
Scatter parsley to dress and serve!
Garlic Chilli Seafood Cocktail
Ingredients:
300g Mussels, King Prawns & Squid
3 red chillies deseeded & diced
6 garlic cloves diced
2 1/2 tbs of butter
1tsp black pepper
1tsp parsely
Method:
Add butter to your heated saucepan, move around pan and add garlic, onion and chillies. Sauté for 2 minutes
Add prawns, black pepper and parsley and sauté for another 7 minutes on low heat.
Add prawns to a serving dish and pour juices over, scatter fresh parsley and serve.
Jerk Chickpea Salad
Ingredients:
Jerk marinade:
Blend:
1/2 tbs cloves
1/2 tbs cinnamon
1/2 tbs nutmeg
1 tbs apple cider vinegar
2 tbs brown sugar
1 scotch bonnet (with seeds)
2 tbs olive oil
4 stalks of scallion trimmed
4 garlic cloves
handful sprigs of thyme
2 plantains fried in rapeseed oil
1 can chickpeas (or 2 cups cooked)
400g Spinach leaves
4 medium tomatoes
1 red onion diced
1 avocado chopped
1/2 tbs coriander chopped
1/2 tbs parsley chopped
1 lime juiced
Method:
Rinse chickpeas in a sieve and add to a non-stick saucepan, add jerk marinade and fry chickpeas for 3 minutes, stir and set aside.
Slice Plantains into circle piece. Add 2 tbs of rapeseed oil to a saucepan and fry plantain turning over sides when brown
Roughly chop remaining vegetables and add to your salad dish. Add chickpeas and plantain, drizzling the lime juice and serve!
Spiced Peach & Pistachio Oat Crumble
Ingredients:
6 peaches
2 tbs vegan butter
2 tbs brown sugar
1 tsp Madagascan vanilla essence
Topping:
2 cups of oats
3 tbs of coconut flour
Handful of de-shelled pistachio nuts
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tbs butter
1 tbs brown sugar
Method:
Preheat oven to 190 degrees. Slice peaches into cubes
Add 2 tbs of butter to a heated skillet. Once butter has melted, add sugar and vanilla essence, stir till sugar has dissolved. Add peaches into mixture and stir. The peaches will cover the entire base of the skillet.
To make the topping; in a medium sized bowl, combine oats, flour, pistachio, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, a tbs of sugar and a tsp of butter together in a bowl and either stir or use your hands to make your ‘oat crumbs’
Spread topping into skillet and flatten.
Bake until the peach base is bubbling, for about 45 to 50 minutes.
There may be excess sauce from the base, pour this into a small dish. Once crumble is baked, pour over and serve with single cream or vanilla ice cream. You can also crush more pistachio nuts for that extra crunch.
Fruit Platter
Gather your favourite exotic fruits and accompany with nuts and dark chocolate for that sweet and sharp experience!
I used pineapple, kiwi, oranges, watermelon, mangoes, blueberries, raspberries passion fruit, red and green grapes.
Madagascan dark chocolate
Almonds & Brazilian nuts
Tooty-Fruity Punch (Non Alcoholic)
Cranberry juice
Orange juice
200ml Sparkling water
Raspberries
Oranges (sliced)
Strawberries
Mint leaves (fresh)
Method:
Combine all in a jug and stir!
Leave in a fridge for a minimum of 30 minutes
Dinner Party Water
The perfect water for your guests is a cucumber, lemon and mint infused mix - serve in a cold jug!
The trick for the spiralled cucumber is to cut a cucumber in half and peel! You only need about 5 slices per jug to have a perfectly infused jar!
Vegan Pastelon
Ingredients:
Cheese sauce (Blend the below):
1 cup Cashew (soaked for min of 2hrs)
1 tbs Lemon juice
1/2cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup grated vegan cheese
2 Garlic cloves
Nutritional yeast
Black pepper
Meaty tomato sauce:
500g portobello mushrooms cleaned, chopped
Minced garlic
1 tbs olive oil
1 red onion diced
1 cup plum tomatoes (tin) or Marinara sauce
1 tbs black pepper
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp parsley, basil, oregano, thyme
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tbs brown sugar
(Optional - 1 fresh chilli diced)
2 carrots diced
Layering:
2 plantains sliced & lightly fried
Lasagne sheets
Method:
Soak your cashews for 2 hours. Drain and rinse them till the water is clear, then set aside. Preheat oven at 190 degrees
Blend cheese sauce ingredients until smooth. Add extra water to mixture using a tablespoon if you’re struggling to blend ingredients. Set aside
For the meaty tomato sauce begin with sautéing the onions with the oil till onions are clear. Add in the mushrooms, carrots and mice garlic, stir for 2 minutes. Add plum tomatoes or marinara sauce. Add seasonings, sugar and herbs, stir and allow to simmer for 7 minutes.
The Fun Part - Layering - cover base of dish with the 3 tbs meaty sauce, ayer plantain till it covers surface, spread 3 tbs cheese sauce, next layer lasagne sheets. Repeat until mixture is finish OR to the capacity of your dish.
Sprinkle vegan cheese on top and put in the oven for 25 - 30 minutes, ensuring that the cheese does not burn.
Coconut Chicken Satay Skewers
Ingredients:
700g Breast Fillets sliced
3 tbs rapeseed oil (for browning)
Seasoning:
1 tbs paprika
1tbs black pepper
1/2 tsp all-purpose seasoning
Coconut Satay sauce:
3 tbs Peanut butter
4 tbs Coconut milk
1/2 tbs brown sugar
1/2 tbs Thai red curry paste
1/2 tbs black pepper
1 tbs minced garlic
1 tbs lime juice
1 tbs soy sauce
Garnish with coconut shavings
Method:
Slice breast fillets into 1cm strips (about the size of your index finger. Add to a bowl and season. Set aside.
Prepare a plate with a paper towel. Add the oil to a hot saucepan and add chicken. Brown on each side (roughly 4 minutes each side). Once all pieces are cooked, set aside allowing oil to drain on the paper towel. Remove oil from saucepan.
Using the same saucepan, combine all the sauce ingredients together and stir. Leave to simmer for 5 minutes. Add chicken and stir to ensure that chicken is fully covered. Allow to simmer for another 5 minutes.
Add chicken pieces to a skewer folding both ends of the chicken strip together and pierce stick through the middle. Once all pieces are equally assembled on the skewers, serve on a plate and drizzle excess sauce and garnish with coconut pieces