There are many things that make me
smile really big and true. Amongst them are really good food, really old
scotch, long walks on the beach and curling up by the fire on a cold winter
night.... wait that is a different web site. Anyway, having two friends tie the
knot is one of those smiling things. This just happened with my Friends Jill
and Sean. They got married away from the town in which we live but, sweethearts
that they are, they are planning to do a reception for those of us who could
not make the journey. They asked if I would take care of the food for this
reception and of course I said yes. We discussed what they wanted and we
decided to do a cocktail party slash tapas sort of a thing. I designed the menu
and we had a tasting and now I am going to share the recipes with you my
lovelies. This will be a two or three part post so stay tuned.
The challenge in this little
endeavour is that Jill, whom you have met in this blog, is a fish and bacon
eating vegetarian and her beau is a confirmed carnivore. So we have split the
menu right down the middle. So today we will take on the fish and bacon part of
Jill’s side and we will rock some charcuterie for Sean. I have heard that Bacon
referred to as a gateway protein. It is apt because I know more than a few
vegetarians who will eat bacon and even more who when asked will admit to
dreaming about it. Such is the power of bacon. So here is Jilly’s first dish.
Enjoy.
Asparagus
wrapped in Prawn wrapped in Bacon to the tune of Fell in Love with a Boy by
Joss Stone.
8 21/25 count raw prawns
4 strips of
good side bacon cut in half
8 asparagus
spears trimmed
2 tbsp
butter
1 clove
garlic minced
-Butterfly
your prawns, place a spear of asparagus in the center then wrap in bacon and
secure with a tooth pick
-In a
medium sized sauté pan over medium low heat, melt your butter and gently fry
your garlic. Add your wrapped goodies and cook until the bacon is crispy and
the prawns turn pink. Remove and serve. You are done. So good and so easy, give
it a go.
On to the charcuterie, the trick to a
really good charcuterie board has less to do with techniques and more to do
with the quality of the ingredients that you use. Part of the fun that I have
when I am putting a recipe together is sourcing out really good meats and
cheeses. Talking to the people who sell the stuff is awesome. They will move
you in a better direction than you originally thought possible. Such is the
case with Sean’s first offering. So I will put in my thanks to a couple of
folks who had a hand in making this board great. My first thanks goes out to
Tomas who runs Chorizo and Co. a Spanish deli. This joint makes killer sandwiches
and carries some pretty solid ingredients, including of course chorizo. Tomas
also gave me this little tip to balance out the spice in the sausage. Adding a
little bit of honey as you fry the chorizo it is a killer tip that totally
makes the chorizo sing. So I send my thanks to Tomas. The next stop is to pick
up some good cheeses. I hit up Hillary’s and the young lady, whose name I never
got, helped me pick out some awesome stuff to set up the board. Cheeses to pair
with the other stuff going onto the board. She set me up with some fantastic
goat’s milk camembert, apple wood smoked cheddar and some fresh chevre. All
this stuff worked out in epic fashion. So thanks for all the help.
Sean’s
Charcuterie Board to the tune of Don’t Let Me Down by The Beatles
2-3 good
quality chorizo sausages sliced
1-2 tbsp
honey
1 round of
Goat camembert cheese
1 baguette,
sliced
Really
whatever else you want to put on the platter. Some suggestions would be
pickles, smoked salmon, or a pate of some sort.
-In a
medium sized sauté pan fry your chorizo to heat it through. Add your honey and
let it liquefy and coat the chorizo.
-Fire
everything onto a platter or a wooden cutting board and serve. It is totally
easy and equally awesome. There is the first set of tapas. Enjoy.
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