A Feast in the Making - Part III

The day of the dinner party. I was stressed, nervous and pumped!

But let me just say that my respect for chefs and caterers has tripled! I cooked dinner for 15pax, spent 2 full days in the kitchen and I was utterly exhausted by the end of it. I was so tired I wanted to puke and I couldn't feel my legs. You smell like the kitchen for at least a week, and that's only if you don't cook afterwards; else the smells will just linger around you. Your hands, your hair and just the entire you. And no matter how many showers you take you still smell like garlic, onions and stews. THUMBS UP to those who dedicated their lives to this sport! Yes, cooking is a very complicated sport ... that I still love very much despite of all the muscle pains. I love feeding people.

Anyways, I woke up to a gorgeous sunny morning. Though I woke up to construction workers chit chatting outside my window while they were building the 'pang' with the bamboos. Yes, is unfortunate. The tenants at the building have decided to revamp and renovate, starting with the exterior walls of the building. An 8-month project, which my parents and I totally feel played by our landlord for not letting us know while we signed the lease. Anyways, I will save this story for another time.

I set my alarm for 9:00am. Still lots to do even though I cooked all day the day before. I'd say I've made 50% of the meal - beef stew, duck, soup, parmesan crackers and fillings for my quiches. So I started my day with a big cup of coffee and a good breakfast. I sat down and enjoyed my brekkie because I didn't want to feel burned out in the middle of cooking. I've done that before. My relatives came for dinner (20+) and for whatever reason, I got really fed up cooking and I just stopped. I let my aunt cooked the rest of it that day. I was just so tired and whatever I was making just didn't taste good. I was not going to let this happen again today! I began cooking at 10am.

Having a sharp knife makes your life much easier in the kitchen.

I started assembling my quiches and baking them off since quiches can be served at room temperature or you can quickly pop them back in the oven to reheat just before serving.

I know, is not very pretty.

Here's my basic quiche recipe:

Prepare your pie dough, either get the store bought short crust pastry or make your own Pate Brisee. Blind bake them first in a 220C/425F oven for 5-7mins. Remove the pie weights or whatever you are using to weigh the dough down. Brush with egg wash and continue to bake for about 7minss. Let cool slightly.



Filling:
3 large eggs
175ml heavy cream
2-3 handfuls of grated cheese of your choice - Gruyere, Swiss, Gouda are common in quiches
salt and pepper to taste
Any kind of herbs that match the main ingredients of your quiche
*stir everything together + whatever else you chooses to put into your quiche.

Quiches are like pizzas. Is a very forgiving dish and you can put whatever you want into your quiche (let's you clear out your fridge). Here are some suggestions: asparagus, ham, sun dried tomatoes, olives, artichokes, mushroom, spinach ... and the list goes on and on.

Pour the mixture into the prepared pie crust and bake for 20mins in oven. Turn down the heat to about 180C/375F and bake for another 15-20mins until firm, golden brown and a bit puffy.

Cut up quiches to bite size pieces





The next thing I did was my Mixed Berries Strudel with Vanilla Custard (creme anglise). In general, I use 6 sheets of philo pastry for a strudel with each layer covered with generous amount of melted butter. I used the frozen mixed berries, but you can of course use fresh ones. Add in grated lemon zest, a squirt or 2 of lemon juice, sugar and flour to the mixed berries. Toss around and spoon onto prepared pastry. Roll it up like sushi, folding in the sides. Brush the top with more melted butter and sprinkle with damerera sugar. Bake for 30mins in 180C/375F oven or until golden brown and crisp. *This reheats well too and the pastry will crisp up again once you reheat. So is ok to make ahead of time.

Your basic creme angliase:
1/2C heavy cream, 1/2cup milk, vanilla bean or extract, 3 yolks, 3-4T of sugar.

Gently heat cream, milk and vanilla together. Don't boil. Whisk yolks and sugar together. When cream mixture is hot, slowly whisk into the egg mixture, a little at a time so you don't scramble your eggs. Once you have tempered the egg mixture, pour everything back into the pot and gently simmer until the mixture thickens and coats the back of your wooden spoon. That's your custard! So easy and simple!

I guess that's enough recipes for this post. The rest of the time I was just doing prep work for the remaining dishes. Cutting up veggies, making my crab & avocado salad, defrosting the chicken thighs for the Chicken in Mustard & Cream Sauce, etc etc.

Friends arrived at around 6pm and I was able to chit chat with them enjoyed some ham & wine before I needed to reheat my dishes and cook up my paellas.

Quiches, canapes and ham platters were served while they were playing poker and watching Mean Girls. They loved the quiches, especially the one with the chorizo & potato filling. They loved the different varieties of Spanish hams too. Is not something that you'd normally get for yourself when the iberico is at $400 for like 250g at City Super.

Prep table for my appetizers

Beef stew

Baked Chicken in Mustard and Cream Sauce

Paellas simmering away

Ready to dig in!

I think it was a pretty good first time hosting a dinner party for my friends. They liked the food and at the end there were only a few pieces of chicken left, bits and pieces of the duck and a bit of paella, which they were happy to take home. Desserts they loved too. Mr Tsun had seconds, which I took that as a compliment!

I think I will keep hosting parties as a seasonal thing. Once every season so I can experiment with different ingredients and dishes that are best for that time of year.