Easter Saturday Menu

EASTER SATURDAY DINNER

with Cathy, Roger, Bec & Jane

served by Jonathan & Mel

ENTREE

Roasted figs with gorgonzola served on a witlof leaf & garnished with fennel & white peach, dressed with mirin & grapeseed oil jus & topped with finely sliced parsley

MAINS

BBQ salmon with a horseradish crème & caper salsa, garnished with fennel, chives, coriander & dill

Mushroom, caramelised onion & gorgonzola tart

Mushroom, caramelised onion & artichoke tart drizzled with chilli butter sauce

Salad of nashi pear, with parmesan & pecan, dressed with a white mustard seed dressing

DESSERT

Mini sticky date puddings with vanilla ice cream topped with pecan crumble & soaked in an Khalua & caramel sauce, garnished with sweet sugar droplets

Cauliflower Cheese Please

We were lucky enough to be adopted by Jo & her family this Christmas as we stayed in Sydney. We went over to Jo's place in Bronte for dinner and they had prepared a beautiful Christmas feast. There was ham & turkey and lots of vegetarian options for Jonathan & me. One of them was cauliflower cheese - & it was delicious. It was so long since I'd had this dish & since Christmas I've made it quite a few times. I'm not a real fan of winter, but I do like winter food & am looking forward to having this cheesy dish again as the months get colder.

To make this I parboil the cauliflower and then cover it in a baking dish with a cheese sauce - much like the one you'd use for lasagne. I use whatever cheese we have at home, but like to include something with a bite, like parmesan or extra tasty.

I lightly cook some onion rings that go on top before the dish goes in the oven. On the meal pictured below I've added some dukkah that Jonathan had made for another meal. It gave a really nice crunch & flavour as it had cumin and coriander seeds in it.

Once you've got your cauliflower cheese in the oven & it starts bubbling & the top has gone a lovely golden colour, get it onto your plate & enjoy that delicious cheesy-ness this winter.

Crispy roasted beetroot stems

Yum! Some people love beetroot. I like it enough, but when we roast it, its the stems I love! We all know you can eat the root & the leaves, but what about the bits in between? Keep those stems & roast them in olive oil & salt until they're crispy & delicious.

For this meal we had baked parcels (see Baked feta & rosemary parcels - my current fave), roast beetroot & stems served with cottage cheese & cracked pepper.

Baked figs with gorgonzola & mirin jus

Our neighbours in Taumarunui had a fig tree that we used to climb & eat the fruit of. More often than not though the figs would be left on the ground to rot.

I think my Mum would have made jam given the chance, but its hard to believe we could have let the fruit go to such waste.

Jonathan's parents came to visit last weekend & bought some lovely fruit while here - mango, passion fruit, plums and figs.

Jonathan baked the figs in a deep dish and put the gorgonzola on just before taking them from the oven. Many people don't like gorgonzola - if that's you I'd suggest buying dolce ('sweet') as it has more of a creamy taste.

Jonathan mixed the caramelised fig juice from the baking dish with some grapeseed oil & mirin. Grapeseed oil is lighter than olive oil and mirin is a sweet rice wine available in most supermarkets. He then poured this mix over the figs, before garnishing with fresh parsley from our balcony garden. The mirin in the sauce is a great sweet complement to the blue cheese.

These make delicious entrees and you would only need one or two each because of the strong flavours - great with a glass of wine.

Note: this is the first time I've used the world 'jus' - but a quick search tells me it means 'the natural juices given off by the food' so I think it fits perfectly.