Dinner for 7
Baba Ghanoush, Dukkah and Za'atar with Bread for dipping
Spinach Salad with Dates and Almonds
Lamb Chops with Autumnal Roots, Shoots and Fruits
Dukkah Crusted Ocean Perch
Cheese Course (1608, 6 yr Cheddar, Emerite Blue, Bliss and a soft Goat Cheese)
No-bake Lemon Cheese Cake
Raspberry Fizz to Drink
My son wanted a Friday Night Dinner for his birthday this year. Due to the busy schedules of teenagers we had to move it to a Saturday and even then one friend ended up having to cancel. My son and I worked on the menu together. He loves lamb and middle eastern flavours. After trying to work around food allergies and diet restrictions we came up with the above menu to suit all.
The teens all dressed up for the occasion like they were off to a high end restaurant. One of the guests even brought me flowers ... she is welcome back anytime.
I worked as the chef and my husband was the waiter. My daughter worked as the official food photographer. This is the first time I have not sat at the table of one of my dinners. All went well. With me not sitting down and eating each course the timing sure went off without a hitch.
It started with baba ghanoush, dukkah and za'atar with bread for dipping. I don't think I will ever go back to store bought baba ghanoush again, this was so tasty. Having dukkah with bread and olive oil reminded me how much I love it. There was also grated fresh tomatoes to dip your bread in before dipping it in the za'atar.
The recipe for the baba ghanoush was from Jerusalem a Cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi. I made the dukkah using a recipe from Taste I have been making it for a long time so I don't always follow it exactly and this time I used almonds in place of the hazelnuts. I bought the za'atar locally.
The Spinich and date salad was also from Jerusalem a Cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi. I loved this salad and plan to add it to my regular rotation of side dishes. It was delicious.
The mains included the lamb with two sauces, the dukkah crusted fish and a parsnip thyme and leek mash.
The recipe for the fish is something I have also been doing a long time. I bread the fish by dipping it in seasoned flour, then milk then dukkah and bake it in the oven. The fish stays moist and the crust gets crunchy. The other dishes were based on a recipe from BBC Food . Not having fresh currents available for the red current and green chilli sauce I used frozen raspberries in their place. I also did not have pomegranate powder to sprinkle on the lamb so I used a little sumac instead. It was all rather tasty. The yoghurt and date sauce could be eaten on it's own in my opinion.
We forgot to get a photo of the cheese cake before it was devoured by the guests. We did get a shot of the Raspberry Fizz at its fizziest, it is favourite alcohol free drink in our house.
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