2 November 2012

A FINE NIGHT

What do you serve for guests who have paid thousands of dollars to come to your place? It's a scary dilemma and very stressful. But once the table is set, and the menu decided it becomes fun.

This week I co-hosted a dinner that John Hawkesby and I had donated at this year's 'Ten' Mercy Hopsice fundraising brunch. Four generous couples had won the dinner and they showed up filled with expectation.

The wine was no problem; Hawkesby's cellar is legendary and he brought fourteen bottles of superb French wines (see them in the Wine To Drink section of this blog.)

I served the cured salmon above to start. It's a superb recipe I got from Jimmy McIntyre at Otahuna Lodge in Canterbury and it's filled with the citrusy aromas of lemon, orange and lime. (The recipe is on the Listener website and at the great new food site; the FoodHub.co.nz)

Next up, a duck salad. I love duck salads and this time I made a variant on my famous duck and honeyed walnut salad, as I used baby beetroot, fresh green beans, some hand made mozzarella from Whangaripo Buffalo Cheese company, fresh field greens, mint and seared duck breasts.

The main course was rare eye fillet of beef with rich mushroom sauce accompanied by asparagus, and the first of the season's new Red Rascal potatoes from a farmstand on the Omaha Flats Rd.

To end we had choclate raspberry brownie (recipe on the Listener and Food Hub websites) with vanilla bean ice cream and fresh raspberry puree.

Special thanks to Shona in the kitchen and the lovely Hawkesbys for their company. (And Murray Jacobs who washed all the glasses by hand next morning!) It was a great success and I hope the guests loved it as much as the Hawkesbys and the Jacobs did.