Dinner party food

Thank you to everyone who liked my first pottery attempt. I'm hoping there may be more to come yet!

We had some old friends over for dinner last night whom we haven't seen in ages, so I wanted to push the boat out food wise.

This was the menu :-
Smoked salmon and prawns with horseradish cream and lime vinaigrette
Pan fried venison served with sloe gin and blackberry sauce with celeriac gratin dauphinois and roasted cherry tomatoes
Oreo lime cheesecake

I tried to make it so there was minimum fuss when they had arrived as the kitchen and dining room are open plan. Both the starter, which was more of an assembly job, and the pudding were made in advance and of course the gratin and tomatoes were sitting happily in the oven.

The starter is a small layer of smoked salmon topped with large prawns. You then have a little crème fraîche mixed with horseradish, followed by leaves dressed in a mixture of honey, lime juice and ginger. Very easy and light to eat.

The puddings I made with an Oreo biscuit base, the cream cheese, cream, lime zest, lime juice and a little sugar. The whole thing was topped off with a thin layer of lime jelly. Whilst it was of course sweet, the intenseness of the lime was quite refreshing.

Stupidly I forgot to photograph the main event!! Too busy serving it. I had made little individual gratin dauphinois, layering home grown celeriac with potato in a shallow dish, then pouring over thinned (with water) crème fraîche which had been flavoured with grainy mustard, a little garlic and lots of pepper. This was topped with a little grated cheese before going in the oven. The sauce for the venison was made by frying off a little bacon, then adding about 200ml of sloe gin (my own), crushed juniper berries and blackberries ( from the freezer). This was cooked, liquidised and then simmered until reduced by about half. It was intense and fruity and was a great partner for the venison, which I had rubbed in oil, salt and pepper and dried thyme before pan frying for about 3 minutes each side. 

I was very pleased with the overall balance of the meal and whilst it wasn't exactly frugal eating, it was certainly a lot cheaper than eating out at a restaurant!