The Dinner Party + me wearing High Waisted Pleated Shorts Part III - Mains

OK so I have now realised it is sheer stupidity to try and blog a whole dinner party.  I think in future I will post about the dinner party then give the recipes one blog at a time over the following week or so.

As I have already committed to this I will now offer the final installment of the dinner party menu hosted last week.

Slow Roasted Pork Shoulder on a bed of Roasted Root Vegetable and wilted Baby Beet Leaves:

Pre-heat a hot oven (250- 280°C).  Score the crackle at 1cm increments, you need a really sharp knife for this so if you don’t have one get your butcher to do this.  I used a 2kg boneless pork roast.

In a mortar and pestle crush cumin and coriander seeds and rub in to the pork shoulder.  Season with a generous amount of olive oil and salt in a roasting tray, then place in the oven for 30 minutes.

Peel 2 large potatoes and cut into 2cm cubes.  Cut the leaves from 6 baby beets and set aside.  Clean the beets and top and tail – beets are messy as you can imagine so it is best to wear some form of gloves for this (unless you are going for kitchen hand look at the dinner party).

Cut the beets into quarters and place in a large mixing bowl with the potatoes.  Peel one large sweet potato and cut into 2cm cubes and add to the bowl with the beets and potato.  Dress with olive oil, salt, pepper and rosemary tossing the vegetables until coated in oil.  Spread vegetables into 2 roasting dishes so that there is one layer of the vegetables only, and they are not over crowded, and set-aside.

After the pork has been in the oven for 30 minutes turn the oven down to 150°C and remove from the oven.  Place the vegetables into the oven.

To the pork add 3 peeled and quartered shallots and 6 unpeeled cloves of garlic.  Spread around a bunch of fresh Thyme and add 1 cup of dry white wine and cover with baking paper.  The wine and the baking paper will keep the meat moist.  Return to the oven and cook for a further 3-4 hours.

Take the baby beet leaves and remove the red stalks, tear the leaves and place in a large bowl.  Once the vegetables are cooked – approximately 1-1½ hours remove from oven and add to the beet leaves and toss.  There is no need to add any oil at this stage, the oil from the vegetables will be sufficient at this point.

Once the meat is cooked take out of oven and place on a chopping board to rest.  Take the pan juices, shallots, garlic and thyme and blend together.  Strain the liquid into a saucepan and place on medium heat adding a tablespoon of rice flower to thicken and white wine if required.

Dress the vegetables with vino cotto serve the pork on bed of the roasted vegetables, this can be done individually or on a large platter.

NB: It is always problematic serving anything that needs to be carved.  I really suck as this – usually because at this stage of the evening (after aperitivo (cocktails) and the entrée (Champagne) I cant be trusted with anything sharper than a fish knife.  Anyway I suggest that you ensure you have either butcher/chef/family patriarch to ensure this is done properly.

Panzanella – Italian Bread Salad:

Umm Yep I am a messy cook- You just need to own it!

As a celiac I used gluten free bread, which usually is an issue at a dinner party, but this salad is so delicious that no one even noticed.  The key to this salad is stale bread so it is even perfect to through together when you have nothing in the cupboard.

Crumble the bread into a bowl.  If you don’t have stale bread place the breadcrumbs on a roasting pan and place in a low oven until they have dried out.  Marinate the bread in red wine vinegar and olive oil.

Quarter, core and dice three tomatoes and one continental cucumber and add to the bread.  Season with salt and pepper and shredded basil leaves and refrigerate for at lease 30 mins.  Dress with additional vinegar and olive oil to your taste and garnish with basil leaves.

The Dinner Party + me wearing High Waisted Pleated Shorts Part II - The Vegetarian Shuffle

It really is very inconsiderate to be a Vegetarian at a dinner party.  This may sound a bit controversial especially as may people are vegetarian lately.  The fact that people falsely think that you can lose weight; and I think that it is made worse when most vegetarians I know spot being vegetarians after a certain number of beverages – I wont name names but you know who you are.

My family essentially carved our way in this country through farming and my father has returned to it as an alternative to SKI’ing.  So vegetarianism isn’t something that I could toy with while eating beef from my father farm is not allowed (eating the profits apparently is not cool, but you still need to have beef or lamb at least once a day).  Nor would I want to, even if I have evolved beyond the meat with every meal menus of my childhood.

What makes it even worse is when I am notified that an emergency dinner party guest was a vegetarian less than 24 hours out from the event.  This was exactly what happened at a dinner party I catered for a couple of weeks ago – I say catered as it was not at my house but at the BBFF’s so she was the host.

Actually, I don’t even understand how one can insist on such a requirement.  I am a celiac – which is far an actual medical condition and not a mere choice.  When put in a like situation I adapt within the existing menu and hope that my digestive system doesn’t cash that cheque until I get home.

The fact was that I had less than 24 hours to work a vegetarian into my menu.  A task that may not appear to be difficult but when the food has been purchased and Pork was the key to the main.

This is a new thing that I am trying for two reasons: firstly, after spending this year cooking with my brother (a chef that trained at a 5 hat restaurant) he is all about the prep and, frankly, I think all those little bowls holding the ingredients is hot; secondly, when I cook during you may find that the main course is not served until 11pm; and finally, as can be attested by many a previous dinner guest, my cooking after a few cocktails males for some interesting interpretations of my menu.

So the challenge I faced as I woke up the day of the event in a Champagne haze was what to serve the vegetarian.  Telling them to suck it and just give them the sides is not part of my dinner party vernacular.  Also an individual vegetarian option does not work either as, lets face it, at my dinner parties everyone wants to have some of everything – it is just that good!

For the answer I had to look through my back catalogue of recipes as there was no time for a trial.  I learnt this the hard way last time I had a last minute vegetarian guest added when my attempt to adapt.  This resulted in me serving them was essentially blobs of mushroom infused dough in a vegetable broth.

In the end I decided to take one of my most loved canapés, which was vegetarian and think big.  My “Mushrooms stuffed with ricotta and fresh herbs” was the perfect choice I just needed to substitute button mushrooms with field mushrooms.  I did make the mistake of preparing extra field mushrooms for the meat eaters and served them on the table like you would a side salad.  As anticipated they were a total success, though it probably would have been better to use button mushrooms for the table.  They were still eaten, but such a large side after an already balanced meal was a tad gluttonous, even with the light desert.

So the next time you have this issue, or I guess want a great canapé for your next cocktail party, you need look no further.   

Field Mushroom stuffed with Ricotta and Fresh Herbs:

Pre-heat oven to 180°.  Remove and dice the stalks of mushrooms and mix in a bowl with ricotta.  Add fresh thyme and chopped parsley and season with salt and pepper.  Turn the mushroom tops upside-down on a roasting dish and spoon the ricotta mixture into the mushrooms.

Place the mushrooms in the oven and cook for 15-20 minutes. (This recipe is also great if you substitute half the ricotta with feta to give the mushrooms more bite.)

I served 2 to the vegetarian in place of the “Cumin & Coriander Slow Roasted Pork” which was served on a bed of “Roasted root vegetable & Wilted Baby Beet Leaves”.

I also served a “Panzanella” as a side salad on the table too.  In the end it was a very successful evening and I am happy to say that at least the vegetarian knew about and enjoyed wine.

There is one thing that I am not 100% sure about and that is the wine etiquette for a dinner party.  If I am hosting I will generally supply between half to one whole bottle per person, just a back up – though it is not unheard of for me to skip out to a local pub for some “Take Aways”.

This is usually later in the evening – you know when the decision has been made to dance, but you don’t think that whole group will get passed the bouncer at your preferred nightspot.

OK back to my actual point, there is an expectation that people will bring drinks too, so you would usually not have to make the midnight dash to the pub, but I have noticed there is not clear guideline as to what is to be expected. 

I usually take 2 bottles of wine.  This allows me to take a bottle of red/white wine and a bottle of sparkling.  I do love sparkles as an aperitif, preferably Veuve Cliquot or Bolli but it does depend on how much I like the other guests, and another bottle for the rest of the night.  You can never really guess what will be on offer and it is better to be safe than sorry.

So my policy is “one bottle for me and one for the ‘House’” – that is take any special drink you want and a bottle of wine for the host.  While one would expect the person hosting to have some wine as a regular host myself I know the effort that is needed to pull it together.  To have them then provide wine too should not be a forgone conclusion.  Sure they may have something special for the evening already planned and that is fine, they don’t need to drink it that night, it is merely to say, “Thanks for having me”

What do you think/do?