A Relaxed, Girlie Dinner

My good friend Faye came over for dinner last night. It was another warm day and I wanted to cook something summery and casual. I also wanted it to be quick and easy as I’d been in the office all day so wouldn’t have much time when I came home and I didn’t want to neglect my friend whilst concentrating in the kitchen. So, I went for a big plateful of spaghetti with a creamy lemon sauce and beautiful pink salmon. We chatted in the kitchen over a glass of rosé wine while I assembled the dish, which took no time at all.

Salmon and Lemon Spaghetti



I didn’t measure my ingredients, I just went by taste. For the lemon sauce I used maybe 4 tablespoons of cream, a knob of butter, the juice of a lemon and about half the zest. I heated this gently until thickened, stirring occasionally.

I fried the salmon fillets in a little olive oil and cooked the spaghetti. To assemble, I drained the spaghetti and put it back in the saucepan, then added the sauce and tossed the spaghetti to coat it before flaking in the salmon and throwing in some chopped flat leaf parsley. A quick mix together and it was ready to serve with some more parsley, a wedge of parmesan and a grater!

Roast Rack of Lamb with Crushed Potatoes and Caramelised Garlic

This recipe from ‘Rick Stein's French Odyssey’ is fabulous for tender, succulent spring lamb. The caramlised garlic is mild enough to not overpower yet strong enough to give a complimentary kick to the dish.



I’m sure there are a million other users for this delicious garlic; served with chicken, over roasted vegetables, spooned over salad or perhaps even spread on thick, crusty bread.

Scrambled Eggs

When scrambled eggs are cooked well they are a far cry from the little rubbery balls of egg that all too often go by the same name. I think perhaps the name should be changed to ‘Softly Scrambled Eggs’, with emphasis on the word softly, in order to bring attention to the key to this dish. It takes a matter of seconds to overcook the eggs and this will instantly ruin them, turning them rubbery. You need to watch them constantly, but that really is no hardship as they take just minutes to cook.

I used duck eggs when I made this, simply because I had some and I’ve become somewhat evangelical about their richness since discovering them. You would use exactly the same method for hen eggs.

Scrambled Eggs with Crispy Bacon

Serves 1
Ingredients
2 rashes of bacon
2 or 3 eggs
2 tablespoons of double cream
Salt and freshly ground pepper
A knob of butter

Fry the bacon until crispy and keep warm in the pan while you cook the eggs.

Lightly beat together the eggs and cream just to combine and then add in a pinch of salt and pepper.

Heat the butter over a medium heat in a non-stick saucepan and when it starts to sizzle add in the eggs. Stir the eggs continuously with a wooden spoon (to avoid scratching the pan), until they are of a creamy texture and still a little liquid in places. At this point take the pan off the heat as the eggs will continue to cook a little in the heat of the pan.

Lay the bacon on some kitchen paper to remove excess fat and then serve it on top of the eggs.

Easter Cake Bake Round up!

Wow, just look at those fabulous cakes. If you click on each picture you'll be taken to the blog that it came from.

I’m absolutely delighted by all the entries, each one was just delectable. You’ve made my job in finding a winner very difficult indeed, really you’re all winners to be able to produce such stunning cakes. But an overall winner there must be and after a lot of consideration I can say that the person is…………

Cheryl at Gruel Omelet for this fabulous creation:

Isn't it fantastic? Even the pot was made by Chery's talented hands. Check out how she made it here.

Here's a list of all the participants:

Rachel from Baltimore, MD at Coconut & Lime
Sus from Griesheim in Germany at CorumBlog
Margaret from the West Midlands, UK at Kitchen Delights
Veronica from Rome, Italy at La Testa nel piatto
Helen at Tartelette
Y from Sydney, Australia at Lemonpi
Belinda from Wales. Belinda doesn’t have a blog but wanted to join in the fun.
Victoria from Melbourne at OOOH!Cake
Eliza from Oregon, USA at Notes from My Food Diary
Minko from Canberra, Australia at Couture Cupcakes
Kelly-Jane from Aberdeenshire, Scotland at Cooking the Books
Sabrina from San Francisco, CA at YumSugar
Kazari at I think I have a recipe for that...
Cheryl from New Jersey, USA at Gruel Omelet
Brigitte from Singapore at Küchendunst aus Singapur
Chris from outside Atlanta, USA at Mele Cotte
Andrew from Henley-on-Thames at Spitton Extra
Swee San from Sydney, at A Self-Proclaimed Foodaholic
Myriam from zürich, Switzerland at Once Upon a Tart
Hannah from Bedfordshire, UK at Hannah's Country Kitchen
Susan from New York, USA at The Well-Seasoned Cook
Rachel from Paris, France at R Khooks
Melody from Illinois, USA at Fruittart
Zorra from Andalucia, Spain at 1x umruehren bitte aka kochtopf
Betsy from Seattle, Washington USA at Ovens to Betsy
Sus from Griesheim, Germany at Porcini Chronicles
Anne from Sweden at Anne’s Food
Ulrike from Kronshagen, Germany at Küchenlatein
Brilynn from Canada at Jumbo Empanadas

Thank you all for taking part and making my first event so very enjoyable.

P.S. I do hope I haven't missed anyone or got anyone's details wrong - please do contact me if I have.