Now for the pork
…
This dish is perfect for slow cooking and ideal to cook ahead for
a dinner party.
Slow
cooked pork loin steaks with
Calvados
cream sauce
600g/1lb
5oz pork loin steaks – 6 steaks, trimmed
glug
of rapeseed/Canola oil
salt
and black pepper
generous
sprinkle of dried herbs – sage or
thyme
2
tsps of garlic paste – optional
500ml/1
pint approx vegetable stock – use a stock pot if you're
not
using your own stock
Heat
the oil in a large frying pan until hot. Seal the loin steaks on
both sides, add salt and black pepper, garlic and herbs. Set aside
the steaks in the slow cooker then add your stock to the residual
juices in the frying pan, bring to the boil, pour over the steaks and
slow cook for 3 hours.
At the
end of the cooking time remove the pork steaks from the stock and set
aside, covered, to cool.
Pass
the stock through a sieve and set aside, covered, to cool.
Fridge
the steaks and the stock.
Now for the Calvados cream sauce!
Once again you can make the sauce ahead, leaving only the last
step – adding the cream and the pork steaks and gently warming
through, 20 minutes into the 30 minute finish time, on your hob, in a
large frying pan.
I made my “base sauce” in a small saucepan which is much
easier, when cooled, to fridge.
You'll
need approximately 200ml of stock from the cooked pork steaks which
you've already strained. Freeze the remainder of the stock.
Calvados
cream sauce
15g/¾
oz unsalted butter
15g/¾
oz plain flour
1
tsp garlic paste or 1 clove, crushed
glug
of Calvados
1
tbsp Dijon mustard
200ml/7
fl oz stock
300ml/½
pint/10 fl oz double cream
salt
and black pepper
Melt
the butter, take the pan off the heat, add the flour and whisk.
Return to the heat and cook out the flour for 2/3 mins, stirring
continuously – add the garlic paste and mustard and then, on a high
heat, add the Calvados and cook for 1-2 mins. Add the cold stock
straight into the sauce and whisk until smooth, then cook on a low
heat for 10 minutes. Season with salt and black pepper.
At
this point cover and set aside to cool, then fridge.
On the
evening, tip the base sauce – carefully – into a large frying pan
- whisk and warm gently - add the cream and simmer for 5 minutes then
add the pork steaks – simmer gently for 20 minutes as mentioned
above.
P.s. Calvados is an apple brandy produced in Normandy, France.
Pp.s. Just in case you needed “glug” defining – about two
tablespoons.
Appetiser up next!
On
the night – the appetiser
I
mentioned right at the start that I wanted to spend as much time as
possible with my guests. The sure fire way that I can is to choose
dishes that I know work and that my guests will enjoy.
I
also said that the only dish to be cooked from scratch on the night
is the appetiser, which is why I chose the following recipe. I've
served this dish three times now and it has never let me down, in
fact it has very been well received - so - stick with what you know!
Scallops
and king prawns in black bean sauce
for
5 as a starter
3 scallops per person (defrost from frozen)
5 cooked king prawns per person (defrost from frozen)
drop of rapeseed oil
salt and black pepper
Romano peppers – one orange, one
yellow, de-seeded and finely chopped to a similar
size
1 bunch of spring onions, finely chopped
200g black bean sauce – make your own
or buy a good quality ready-made
This is a dish that you pull from your freezer – the scallops
and the king prawns and from your pantry/store cupboard - the black
bean sauce.
You
need to remember to take the scallops and king prawns out of the
freezer the night before and fridge them.
Make
sure you drain any liquid and pat dry with kitchen roll before
cooking.
I always use the clock face method when cooking scallops –
heating the rapeseed oil until hot and beginning at 12 o'clock and
forming an outer circle in your pan, sealing and seasoning with salt
and black pepper. When you return to where you began turn each
scallop again to seal on the other side. Set them aside on a baking
sheet and cover with foil.
Stir fry the peppers and onions for 2/3 minutes, then add the
king prawns, season and toss together for 2 minutes to warm the
prawns through, add the scallops and the black bean sauce tossing to
cover thoroughly. Serve immediately in small bowls with small flat
breads to mop up the sauce.
My final tip – prep the peppers and onions ahead then bag and
fridge!
Last up – pudding …
The
Dinner Party Pudding – the finishing line!
I chose the following pudding because it ticks all the boxes.
It's delicious, it looks amazing and three of the four elements I
made ahead – boom!
My
pudding is Gateau a l'Orange -
Orange Cake if you
prefer. Despite its French title it's actually Jewish.
2
oranges
6
eggs
250g
sugar
2
tbsp orange blossom water
1
tsp baking powder
250g
ground almonds
Wash
the oranges and boil them whole for 1 – 1 ½ hours or until they
are very soft.
Beat
the eggs with the sugar. Add the orange blossom water, baking powder
and almonds and mix well. *Cut open the oranges, remove the pips and
purée in a food processor. Mix thoroughly with the egg and almond
mixture and pour into a 23cm cake tin – lined with baking
parchment, preferably non-stick and with a removable base. Bake in a
pre-heated oven 190c/170fan/Gas 5 for an hour. Let it cool before
turning out.
What
put me off baking this cake was the boiling of the oranges so to
bring it up to date - instead of boiling the oranges, microwave them
for 8 minutes on high. I used 3 medium sized oranges (as a guide
67-74mm) and turned after 4 minutes. Make sure your fruits are in a
covered vented microwave container. Continue with the recipe at *.
The Orange Cake is moist – moist is good but, to use the
northern vernacular, it can be claggy. This calls for “drizzle”
to serve with so here's my orange syrup (or drizzle if you prefer).
Orange
Syrup
200g icing sugar
250ml orange juice (no bits)
Put the sugar and orange juice in a small saucepan and heat
gently so that the sugar dissolves. Bring to the boil and then
reduce the heat and simmer on a low heat for 10 minutes.
You'll then have a syrupy drizzle ready to dress your cake.
I made a vanilla ice
cream ahead so the final pudding would be a slice of gateau a
generous drizzle of orange syrup and a scoop of ice cream on the
side. Ordinarily that would be enough, however, I chose to top the
gateau with a small scoop of clotted cream. I wanted to showcase a
quintessentially English tradition which I thought lent itself to the
pudding – a pudding should after all be an indulgence it was also
an opportunity to serve an ingredient that I thought my American
guests had never tasted – flying the flag as it were!
My
favourite cake – the photo guide
Take
it from someone who doesn't “do cake” - this is the exception.
The
final bonus – it freezes!
Coming
next … the aim of this game and then the verdict!
The
aim of this entertaining game …
… and
more hints and tips.
Make
it easy on yourself. The purpose of sharing my dinner party has been
to show what you can do ahead of the game.
The
more thinking and planning you can do, before you even begin to cook,
the better. You need to decide on a menu that is balanced. As an
example, a small bowl of deliciousness packed with flavour and
texture as an appetiser gets the show on the road. It should not be
too large, you don't want to overload your guests.
I
mentioned choosing serving dishes earlier and using your small oven
as a warming drawer – now both come into their own. Serving
vegetables in bowls at the table gives your guests a choice and they
are far more likely to take a small portion of something they like
the look of but ordinarily wouldn't eat. It also takes the pressure
off when you know that your vegetables are all served at the same
time, hot and in warmed dishes. I loaded a tray with my five bowls –
quick and easy to transport to the table.
The
Chestnut and Apple roast is also served straight from the oven in its
attractive dish oh – don't forget a jug of caramelised onion gravy
to serve with the veggie roast!
Plate
the main for each meat eating guest adding a jug of extra sauce on
the table.
After
an appropriate rest and table clearing the pudding can be plated –
either at the table or in your kitchen, whichever you prefer.
Hopefully you should get a wow reaction from your guests if you're
brave enough to serve it at the table. Note to self, remember to
take the ice cream from the freezer before you sit down for your
main, if you don't it'll take ages to soften and delay your pudding.
Finally,
making sure your guests are replete and relaxed with their drinks
topped up, pour yourself a large one – you deserve it!
The
verdict … and the definition of success!
The
Chestnut and Apple roast - the vegetarian option – was also very
well received and, believe it or not, my American vegetarian friend
had never had a “nut roast”. To say that Rox loved it is an
understatement. The other guests tried it too – this has happened
before, the vegetarian option turns out to be as much of a success as
the meat option.
My
definition of success is when meat eaters ask for a recipe and a
“doggy bag” of the vegetarian roast to take home. At this point
I did divulge my other secret. The roast is yummy on a sandwich,
veggie style with a home-made mayo et al, add chicken or turkey for
those that like.
Two
days later … here's a snippet from the delightful thank you card …
“...Thank you
so much for inviting us into your home and being such gracious hosts.
You really outdid yourself with everything. Gracey and I are still
marvelling at the variety and flavours of the dishes. I've had
numerous accounts of the pork melting in her mouth. Nut roast was on
the pub menu but we decided not to have it because we knew it
couldn't be as good as yours ...”.
How
great is it to read how much guests have enjoyed themselves and that
all the hard work was worth every second – of course they could
just be polite but somehow the empty plates and requests for recipes
told a different story.
It's
Thanksgiving in November and the recipes will be winging their way to
the USA soon – who knows, may be the Chestnut and Apple roast might
make the menu!
I
hope that you'll find the concept of the dinner party useful – you
may not like all of it or indeed the menu choices but that's not the
point – as I said, the principles you can use to suit your own menu
and enable you to enjoy yourself too!
