Easy Summer Supper for Friends
Pan fried king prawns in garlic, butter and lemon
Roast Corn-Fed Chicken with cannellini bean mash and fresh steamed asparagus
Lemon drizzle cake with Italian-style strawberries
Some friends came to stay the other Friday who we haven’t seen for four years and I was really struggling with what to give them for supper. We have Italy in common – indeed, they are largely responsible for the four years N and I spent in Italy as they, too, had spent formative working years in Milan and Bologna and couldn’t recommend the experience more highly – so I contemplated doing something Italian. Italian is usually quick and easy with great results; the weather had perked up from the wintry stuff we’d been enduring; and, finally, I didn’t have much time to prepare a fancy meal as I was going to be out of the house, involved with a school summer fayre, until about half an hour before they were due to arrive. And I still had their room to prepare, flowers to cut and arrange and a whole load of tidying up to do! Yes, ‘quick’ and ‘easy’ were going to be vital ingredients in the meal.
Having felt totally uninspired all morning, I opened a few cupboards and peered in the fridge and suddenly decided. I would do roast chicken with cannellini bean mash (instead of potatoes, to make it more interesting – and I had no potatoes in the house anyway!) and asparagus. So, with renewed vigour, I scuttled off to the supermarket and found two very presentable corn-fed free-range chickens, some more asparagus to add to the bunch I already had in the fridge (more time and I’d have gone to our local florist who has a fantastic range of fresh fruit and veg and a fabulous new range of Italian, French, Spanish, you-name-it quality food products) and an extra can of cannellini beans to add to the two I already had in the larder. I then threw in about 300 other items for good measure before scooping up youngest child and dashing off to Summer Fun Friday half an hour away at her big sisters’ school. A frantic hour and a half ensued while the children threw themselves around bouncy castles; while we were blasted out by music from the Cheerleading displays; while I tried to catch up with all the mothers I don’t normally get to see because my girls usually take the school bus; while I tried to keep track of my three daughters who scattered in every direction; and while I tried to feed them hotdogs (and resisted their pleas for ice-cream – monstrous queue, no way) so I didn’t have to bother feeding them when I got home and shoved one down my own gullet in un-comely haste as I’d had no time for lunch. By the end of all that and a hot journey home, the clock ticking, I had a screaming headache.
I burst through the door and went straight to make up beds and make the place look presentable – flowers, clean towels, soap, shower gel, loo paper, all that ‘preparing for guests’ kind of thing – and finally, 15 minutes before their arrival, got to the kitchen. I grabbed the two chickens with their gorgeous yellow corn-fed hue, and put them in the roasting tin. I stuffed their cavities with half a lemon, half an onion, some peeled garlic cloves and a whole bunch of rosemary and thyme from the garden. I poured a good slug of white wine over them, rubbed in rosemary sea salt and finished them off with an equally large slug of olive oil and popped them in the centre of the roasting oven. I think I probably chucked some quarters of onion and unpeeled garlic cloves round the edges, but can’t quite remember. Good if you do, doesn’t matter if you don’t. Right, they would be good for an hour, so I concentrated on the cannellini bean mash.
Now, this was inspired from a recipe in a magazine but, as usual, I adapted it to my own palate and designs (largely because I could no longer find the magazine!). I opened three cans of cannellini beans, emptying each into a sieve and sticking them under the cold tap to wash off the can juices. I took some fresh rosemary sprigs (about 3 good sized ones) and about 3 large peeled and slightly squidged garlic cloves and put them in a saucepan with about 400ml of milk and a sprinkling of salt and brought it to the boil before reducing to a simmer. At this point I added the beans and let them soak in the simmering milk for about 10 minutes. I removed the rosemary sprigs and chopped them finally and put them back in the saucepan with the other ingredients. Then I mashed the beans with a hand-masher and adjusted the flavourings. This meant adding many twists of my tropical mix pepper grinder (the original recipe suggested pink pepper corns but I couldn’t find any locally – subsequently found out that Waitrose stock them) and the juice of a lemon to add some bite. I also poured in a generous amount of quality extra-virgin olive oil and stirred in a large handful of rocket leaves which I had lying around the fridge. Eventually satisfied, I put the mash into a bowl and poured some more good greeny olive oil over the top with a few more twists of pepper and salt and a sprig of rosemary to make it look pretty.
By now, of course, the guests had arrived. We’d walked round the garden and were making in-roads into our second bottle of fizz and all was well with the world. I popped the mash into the warming oven to join the chickens which I’d put in there after about an hour of roasting and which were looking golden and gorgeous and smelling divine, as only chicken can.
While this was all resting I set about knocking up a first course. I remembered I had some frozen king prawns in the freezer, so took them out, defrosted them in the microwave and chucked them in a frying pan with some melted butter, crushed garlic, lemon juice and Worcestershire sauce (the magic ingredient – a trick I learned eating fried prawns like this on the beach in Portugal) and torn up leaves of parsley. They were done in a trice and put on a plate with a handful of lambs lettuce salad which I also had lurking in the fridge and needing eating.
While the first course plates were cleared I steamed a couple of bunches of asparagus. After a few minutes when they were al dente and bright green, I put them into a serving dish and poured the ubiquitous quality extra-virgin olive oil over them with generous twists of salt and pepper from the grinders. The chickens were ceremoniously removed from the warming oven and placed on a board for carving. I told N to do it ‘rustically’ – i.e not slicing like you would a normal English Sunday Roast chicken, but effectively cutting each bird into quarters. The lovely juices which came out of the roasting tin – with just a little white wine, milk, butter and bouillon added - were poured into a jug and there you have it, a tasty gravy.
The third course was just as easy. Having eaten a little Italian and local cheese for good measure, I got out the home-made lemon drizzle cake I’d bought at the school summer fayre (deliciously heavy and moist) and married it with Italian style chopped strawberries. To do this you take a punnet of strawberries, hull them, chop or slice them up, add about 4 or 5 tablespoons of caster sugar and the juice of a lemon and let the mixture rest for 20 minutes or so. This produces a lovely sweet syrup around the chopped strawberries which goes beautifully with icecream, cake, anything chocolately or just on its own. And to be really Italian, you would add a twist of black pepper. Optional, but worth a try - it's surprisingly good!
There. Job done. They seemed to like it. Hope you do too.
PS: I would have loved to have shown you pictures but it seemed a bit much to get the camera out in the middle of the meal so you’ll just have to use your imaginations!
Roast Corn-Fed Chicken with cannellini bean mash and fresh steamed asparagus
Lemon drizzle cake with Italian-style strawberries
Some friends came to stay the other Friday who we haven’t seen for four years and I was really struggling with what to give them for supper. We have Italy in common – indeed, they are largely responsible for the four years N and I spent in Italy as they, too, had spent formative working years in Milan and Bologna and couldn’t recommend the experience more highly – so I contemplated doing something Italian. Italian is usually quick and easy with great results; the weather had perked up from the wintry stuff we’d been enduring; and, finally, I didn’t have much time to prepare a fancy meal as I was going to be out of the house, involved with a school summer fayre, until about half an hour before they were due to arrive. And I still had their room to prepare, flowers to cut and arrange and a whole load of tidying up to do! Yes, ‘quick’ and ‘easy’ were going to be vital ingredients in the meal.
Having felt totally uninspired all morning, I opened a few cupboards and peered in the fridge and suddenly decided. I would do roast chicken with cannellini bean mash (instead of potatoes, to make it more interesting – and I had no potatoes in the house anyway!) and asparagus. So, with renewed vigour, I scuttled off to the supermarket and found two very presentable corn-fed free-range chickens, some more asparagus to add to the bunch I already had in the fridge (more time and I’d have gone to our local florist who has a fantastic range of fresh fruit and veg and a fabulous new range of Italian, French, Spanish, you-name-it quality food products) and an extra can of cannellini beans to add to the two I already had in the larder. I then threw in about 300 other items for good measure before scooping up youngest child and dashing off to Summer Fun Friday half an hour away at her big sisters’ school. A frantic hour and a half ensued while the children threw themselves around bouncy castles; while we were blasted out by music from the Cheerleading displays; while I tried to catch up with all the mothers I don’t normally get to see because my girls usually take the school bus; while I tried to keep track of my three daughters who scattered in every direction; and while I tried to feed them hotdogs (and resisted their pleas for ice-cream – monstrous queue, no way) so I didn’t have to bother feeding them when I got home and shoved one down my own gullet in un-comely haste as I’d had no time for lunch. By the end of all that and a hot journey home, the clock ticking, I had a screaming headache.
I burst through the door and went straight to make up beds and make the place look presentable – flowers, clean towels, soap, shower gel, loo paper, all that ‘preparing for guests’ kind of thing – and finally, 15 minutes before their arrival, got to the kitchen. I grabbed the two chickens with their gorgeous yellow corn-fed hue, and put them in the roasting tin. I stuffed their cavities with half a lemon, half an onion, some peeled garlic cloves and a whole bunch of rosemary and thyme from the garden. I poured a good slug of white wine over them, rubbed in rosemary sea salt and finished them off with an equally large slug of olive oil and popped them in the centre of the roasting oven. I think I probably chucked some quarters of onion and unpeeled garlic cloves round the edges, but can’t quite remember. Good if you do, doesn’t matter if you don’t. Right, they would be good for an hour, so I concentrated on the cannellini bean mash.
Now, this was inspired from a recipe in a magazine but, as usual, I adapted it to my own palate and designs (largely because I could no longer find the magazine!). I opened three cans of cannellini beans, emptying each into a sieve and sticking them under the cold tap to wash off the can juices. I took some fresh rosemary sprigs (about 3 good sized ones) and about 3 large peeled and slightly squidged garlic cloves and put them in a saucepan with about 400ml of milk and a sprinkling of salt and brought it to the boil before reducing to a simmer. At this point I added the beans and let them soak in the simmering milk for about 10 minutes. I removed the rosemary sprigs and chopped them finally and put them back in the saucepan with the other ingredients. Then I mashed the beans with a hand-masher and adjusted the flavourings. This meant adding many twists of my tropical mix pepper grinder (the original recipe suggested pink pepper corns but I couldn’t find any locally – subsequently found out that Waitrose stock them) and the juice of a lemon to add some bite. I also poured in a generous amount of quality extra-virgin olive oil and stirred in a large handful of rocket leaves which I had lying around the fridge. Eventually satisfied, I put the mash into a bowl and poured some more good greeny olive oil over the top with a few more twists of pepper and salt and a sprig of rosemary to make it look pretty.
By now, of course, the guests had arrived. We’d walked round the garden and were making in-roads into our second bottle of fizz and all was well with the world. I popped the mash into the warming oven to join the chickens which I’d put in there after about an hour of roasting and which were looking golden and gorgeous and smelling divine, as only chicken can.
While this was all resting I set about knocking up a first course. I remembered I had some frozen king prawns in the freezer, so took them out, defrosted them in the microwave and chucked them in a frying pan with some melted butter, crushed garlic, lemon juice and Worcestershire sauce (the magic ingredient – a trick I learned eating fried prawns like this on the beach in Portugal) and torn up leaves of parsley. They were done in a trice and put on a plate with a handful of lambs lettuce salad which I also had lurking in the fridge and needing eating.
While the first course plates were cleared I steamed a couple of bunches of asparagus. After a few minutes when they were al dente and bright green, I put them into a serving dish and poured the ubiquitous quality extra-virgin olive oil over them with generous twists of salt and pepper from the grinders. The chickens were ceremoniously removed from the warming oven and placed on a board for carving. I told N to do it ‘rustically’ – i.e not slicing like you would a normal English Sunday Roast chicken, but effectively cutting each bird into quarters. The lovely juices which came out of the roasting tin – with just a little white wine, milk, butter and bouillon added - were poured into a jug and there you have it, a tasty gravy.
The third course was just as easy. Having eaten a little Italian and local cheese for good measure, I got out the home-made lemon drizzle cake I’d bought at the school summer fayre (deliciously heavy and moist) and married it with Italian style chopped strawberries. To do this you take a punnet of strawberries, hull them, chop or slice them up, add about 4 or 5 tablespoons of caster sugar and the juice of a lemon and let the mixture rest for 20 minutes or so. This produces a lovely sweet syrup around the chopped strawberries which goes beautifully with icecream, cake, anything chocolately or just on its own. And to be really Italian, you would add a twist of black pepper. Optional, but worth a try - it's surprisingly good!
There. Job done. They seemed to like it. Hope you do too.
PS: I would have loved to have shown you pictures but it seemed a bit much to get the camera out in the middle of the meal so you’ll just have to use your imaginations!
Comments
...and then I read your next post about sausage casserole - and guess what's cooking at the moment..? yep - sausage casserole! :)
The Worcester sauce/prawns is an interesting idea. I've never really made much use of it - a splash on hot pot perhaps. I seem to remember Chinese take-aways coming with little pot of soy and another which we decided was Lea and Perrins. Time to experiment. Come to think of it Delia Smith uses it in her hot and spicy prawns recipe.
I've never used milk in my chicken gravy - it does sound a lovely mix of liquids though.