The croque with hock

I'm sure you've heard of a Croque Monsieur – it's a baked, or more popularly, fried sandwich which forms a crispy crust but an oozing filling in the middle. Croque literally means “crunch” from the verb “croquer” - “to bite”. The croque is the perfect partner for my soup with a hat. This is not just any old sandwich!

There are heaps of different variations of the croque. My most recent gives you a short cut too if you're pressed for time. I assembled the sandwiches in the morning, ready to be completed in the evening.

Croque with hock

for 4 sandwiches

8 slices of medium wholemeal bread

4 tsps Dijon mustard

75g each of Gruyere and mature cheddar cheese, grated

1x90g pouch of cooked ham hock

1 medium onion, preferably sweet or mild flavour,

finely sliced and left raw

60g unsalted butter

Spread ½ tsp of mustard over each slice of bread. Spread the cheese onto 4 slices of bread followed by the onions and ham hock. Sandwich together with the other 4 slices of bread.

At this stage place your stack of croques on a large sheet of foil, wrap tightly and fridge.

When you're soup is in the oven :

Heat half the butter in a frying pan until foaming – you'll get two sandwiches in your frying pan – fry for 1-2 minutes on each side and then pop the croques onto a baking sheet and into the oven whilst you repeat using the remaining butter and two sandwiches.

You may think the onion would be harsh to the palate but I assure you it isn't, provided you use either a sweet or mild variety. The sharpness of the onion cuts through the richness of the cheese.

I should say too that I divided the 90g of ham hock between three of the croques, the fourth without the hock is for me – wrapped separately. It's no hassle to serve with or without!

Soup and a sandwich … with a difference

Soup is a perfect choice it can be made ahead and in fact benefits – flavours are enhanced and given a chance to develop.

I chose one of my favourites – Carrot, Coriander and Chickpea – if you'd like the recipe, check out the Soup label Sunday 3rd February 2019.

If you fancy doing something different and have individual cauldron shaped soup bowls, give your soup a puff pastry hat. You don't have to stress, use puff pastry sheets. For four bowls you'll need 2 x 320g sheets – two “hats” per sheet with left overs. Freeze the leftovers for another day.

If you're interested in the soup bowls, they are sometimes called “lion head soup bowls” and have a capacity of 600ml approximately. They have a fat body and a narrower top. Check out Le Creuset Stoneware Lion Head Soup Bowls if you fancy treating yourself!

Pre-heat your oven 200fan/220c/Gas 7. Your soup should be cold – pour into the bowls leaving a gap of 2/3 cms at the top. This prevents the soup bubbling through the pastry when heated. Cut out four circles from the sheets that are slightly larger than the bowl and drape over the filled bowls. Make sure you've cut air holes in the pastry. Brush the pastry with beaten egg then bake for 15 – 20 minutes until the pastry is crisp and golden – serve immediately with your sandwiches.

Speaking of sandwiches …

Revolving doors!

Entertaining comes in many ways. The month of October has been one of what I call “revolving doors”. How is it that you don't have guests for ages and then someone, somewhere flicks a switch – four times we've had guests for food!

As you know our American friends have visited. They were followed by “pie night” - a supper with friends. I've said many times – stick with what you know and as importantly, what your guests love. The pies were steak and cheese, potato and onion. The dessert was H's alternative birthday cake. The thank you note said it all … “the pies were divine!”. I'll take that.

Then came card night … this evening is different because it's time critical. We break for supper so making ahead and being able to bring everything together in the fastest time is what's required.

Entertaining can be stressful enough but it's not just the cooking, it's deciding what to cook that's the biggest headache. The best piece of advice I can give is sit back and think. What time of year is it – what type of gathering is it – i.e. formal ish or informal. A dinner usually means three courses, a lunch or a supper two. I know I've said this recently but you need to know what your guests like or, more to the point, dislike and obviously take into account any specific dietary stuff!

Back to card night … using that formula – it's Autumn, chilly and it gets dark early.

There's nothing tastier or faster than soup and a sandwich – here's my version.

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 – the principles you can use to suit your own menu and enable you to enjoy yourself too!

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 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!

If you'd like to see a photo guide of the Gateau have a look at My favourite cake 6^th May 2018 which gives photos of the Gateau and the drizzle. You can find the ice cream recipe on the ice cream label 26th May 2018 Ritzy Rhubarb Ripple along with other no churn ice creams.

Coming next … the aim of this game and then the verdict!

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 ...