If you had to impress someone, what would you cook?

Good_Queen_Bess · Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2006 5:46 pm Post subject:

Ok then. Someone important is coming round and you want to impress them. Maybe it's a new love in your life? Maybe it's the boss?
So what would you cook to impress them?

For Meat eaters:

Ghost cheese, pancetta, red onion and tomato tart, followed by
Pigeon breast cooked in red wine, with dauphinnoise potatoes, followed by
Pears cooked in red wine, served with vanilla ice-cream.

Starter:
My own receipe (although it's prob been done before)
Ghost cheese, pancetta, red onion and tomato tart.
You need:
red onion
pancetta (or any other small cubes of of bacon)
goats cheese
tomato
ready frozen pastry

Preheat oven to whatever the packet of pastry says.
Roll out the pastry into size of tart you'd like (small for a starter as it's v filling and larger for main)
Bake pasty for however long it says.
Fry off onions and pancetta in butter and olive oil, until pancetta crispens and the onions are softened. Add tomatoes into pan and cook lightly, until cooked - you should then be able to remove the skins if you want.
Remove pastry from oven and cut out centre for tart (don't cut all the way through)
Add tomato, pancetta and onion mix
Crumble the ghost cheese on top.
Grill for a few minutes - WATCH carefully as you don't want the pastry to burn. The ghost cheese should only melt slightly.

Serve

Main Course

Pigeon Breasts cooked in Red Wine, with dauphonnoise potatoes

This is fattening - but it's the only way to eat it.

Dauphonnoise potatoes:

You'll need:
double cream
potatoes
1 to 2 gloves of garlic
onion

Slice onion and fry in butter and oil til soft - add garlic.
Slice potato very thinly, preferably with a mandollin or food processor. you can peel them if you want - doesn't make that much difference
In a large square dish - about 7" x 7", add one layer of potatoes, then some onion and garlic mix, then season and add a little butter. Repeat over and over til you get a layer. Pour over double cream til it's about 3/4 of the way up the dish.
Cook on abut 200oC til it's cooked. Which takes approx 1 1/2 hours depending on amount of potatoes used/thickness of slices. If you stick in a fork there should be no resitance. And it should be golden brown.
It's very rich but beautiful!

For pigeons:

Add butter and oil into pan on high heat.
Season bird.
Cook 1 minute a side, then lower heat to medium.
Cook for further 1 minute a side, then add a glug of wine.
Cook for a further 1 minute a side.
Remove and rest for 5 minutes.
This cooks the pigeon rare - but that is the best way I have found, otherwise it get's dry.

Serve with pigeon with potatoes - it's a dream.

Pudding!
Pears cooked in red wine. With good quality vanilla ice-cream.

Haven't got time to write this receipe down!

_________________

Paz,
Jackiex

dawnlee · Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2006 10:12 am Post subject:

The starters and the pudding sounds delicious but I dont think I could bring myself to eat pigeon.

Good_Queen_Bess · Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2006 10:12 am Post subject:

I didn't think I could, but I'l' try anything. It's honestly very nice.
_________________

Paz,
Jackiex

jules · Posted: Thu Apr 20, 2006 9:57 am Post subject:

Me too, dont think i could eat Pidgeon - but then again its only the thought of it !!!!

polar · Posted: Thu Apr 20, 2006 1:15 pm Post subject:

but probably if we ate it without knowing what it was we would like it
but me personally would never choose it. Could not eat a poor pidgeon
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Good_Queen_Bess · Posted: Fri Apr 21, 2006 9:04 am Post subject:

Poor pigeon? They are horrible creatures. They spread disease. They taste fabulous with some red wine sauce.
_________________

Paz,
Jackiex

AskCy · Posted: Wed Aug 30, 2006 9:39 pm Post subject:

I'd cook Stamna

Good_Queen_Bess · Posted: Wed Aug 30, 2006 11:06 pm Post subject:

Sounds lovely
_________________

Paz,
Jackiex

jessop · Posted: Sun Sep 17, 2006 4:03 pm Post subject:

It would depend who i am cooking for and why, in my trade some resturants ask you to do a trade test which means you have to cook something with the ingrediants provided bit like ready, steady, cook. other times will be like make me 2 composite salads a round of sandwiches and a egg based sauce (these are a little tricky) hollandaise is one example.
If i was trying to impress for a job depending on what i had i would always go for simple food but with good natural flavours i wouldnt want to get over complex to try and impress ( this is something i often try to stick to) but keep it simple and tasty, if you look at italian food it is nearly always tasty fresh ingrediants but not poncey and technical, just simple but great tastes. That is where im personaly coming from when i cook and while ive been training ive been told that it is a good approach to go on.

how about,

gazpacho soup (cold spanish tomato soup)

grilled cod loin (with butter and garlic)
potato and celeriac chilli mash
fresh green beans or baby corgettes and carrots
served with a butter and dill sauce (veg stock butter dill small dash of white wine)

follwed by a homemade lemon and lime custard tart served with chantilly cream.
Simple perfect nice one.

Good_Queen_Bess · Posted: Sun Sep 17, 2006 4:05 pm Post subject:

I did "salt sea bream" recently - it was amazing. So easy and so tasty.
_________________

Paz,
Jackiex

jessop · Posted: Sun Sep 17, 2006 4:14 pm Post subject:

Bream is a good fish! how did you do it? i do like cooking fish always looks really impresive but piece of cake

or fish rather

Good_Queen_Bess · Posted: Sun Sep 17, 2006 5:04 pm Post subject:

The fish was whole. Covered it completeley in loads of whole sea salt (not table salt), careful not to get the salt in the cavity. Wrapped it in foil. Baked for 30 mins.
Apparantly, according to the receipe, the scales are better left on the fish.

Then took it out the oven, took off the foil, scraped the skin off, and just served the flesh. Left the head/tail behind.

It was superb. It wasn't at-all salty or dry - in fact the fish was so moist and juicy. The skin flaked off easily and it easily flaked off the bones.
_________________

Paz,
Jackiex

madsue · Posted: Wed Sep 20, 2006 8:10 pm Post subject:

That is one of my all time favourite dishes GQB. I have tried it at home, but still don't get it as good as in the restaurants here! I just could not believe how beautiful the fish tasted, and that the salt didn't go anywhere near the flesh

Oh, but no foil used here. The salt is slightly damp here, and once it is put in the oven the salt forms a hard crust over the fish whilst it bakes. In the restaurants, they sometimes pour pernod over it, set light to it and bring it to the table like that. That has to be just for show though

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Good_Queen_Bess · Posted: Wed Sep 20, 2006 10:21 pm Post subject:

WOW! Sounds delightful. The sea salt I used was very dry.

_________________

Paz,
Jackiex