Elf Blood

Welp, it’s been a busy weekend for me, but totally worth it from a cookery perspective! On Saturday, I entertained my gran and my aunt for lunch, and decided I would lay on a full proper lunch for them – and I think I outdid myself on the menu this time! Here’s what I made:

Canapes:

• Smoked Salmon, cream cheese and a sprig of dill atop a blini.
• Ardennes pate with half a baby plum tomato, sprinkled with freshly ground black pepper atop an oatcake.

Main:

• Chicken Breast, smothered in home-made aioli, wrapped in parma ham and baked.
• A side of plain risotto
• For my Gran, bioled new potatoes served with a bechamel sauce.
• Grilled asparagus spears with black pepper, sea salt, and lemon juice.

Dessert:

• Home-made madeira cake.

Everything was well-received, I thought, which totally made the hours of cleaning and prep worth it. The risotto, I was particularly pleased with – it was my first time, and I think I managed to get the hang of it. Unfortunately, I prepared it an hour or so in advance rather than serving it immediately, so it lost a lot of its essential creaminess. I was quite pleased with the chicken, however – the aioli wasn’t too strong, and really helped keep the chicken lovely and moist, while the parma ham gave it a wonderful crispy outer shell and provided all the salt it needed. The asparagus was a nice surprise, simple but very effective and quite popular! And to crown it off, my madeira cake was delicious – again, nothing fancy, just well-made cake. There was only one slice left afterwards, my gran and my aunt having taken some home for themselves!

I do rather enjoy cooking, whether it’s for myself or for guests, and I’m looking forward to tweaking the recipe of the risotto – much like the way I approach stews and curries, I’m going to make this basic risotto a few more times, and then experiment with it and really make the recipe my own.

Right, I’d best be off now – I’m going to start the redrafting process for Bonnie Words. I’ve not heard back from my submission, but I’m still holding out hope! I might as well do the retouching now, so that if I don’t get this submission, it is at least ready for submission to another publisher.

Cheerio for now, and I’ll see you on Friday!

M.