Dinner Party

Last night, we had our friends, Mr. and Mrs. P, over for dinner.  We hadn't had them over in some time and wanted to make it special, so we both went into high gear.  Luckily, our cleaning lady came in the morning, so we didn't have to clean the house.  I tried to do as much as possible beforehand, so we could spend the maximum amount of time with our guests.  I decided to make Zucchini Fritters as an appetizer:

2 medium sized zucchinis
2 large eggs
2 green onions, chopped finely
2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/4 cup flour (or gluten-free flour Mrs P!)
1/2 tsp baking powder

Shred the zucchini in a food processor fitted with a shredding disc then squeeze out as much liquid as possible with your hands before adding to a bowl along with the other ingredients.

Heat a few tbsp of olive oil in a cast iron pan until quite hot, then add large spoonfuls of the mixture to the pan and flatten with back of the spoon.  Cook until nicely browned then flip and repeat.  Add a small amount of oil to the pan before adding fresh batter.

Allow them to cool on paper towels to soak up any excess fat.  They can be served warmed or at room temperature with any sauce you fancy.  I served them with homemade peach chutney for a savoury flavour.

In addition to the fritters, I put out a bowel of olives and an assortment of Goudas (aged, smoked and spiced) with a selection of crackers (Lavash, Sesame rice crackers and Finn Crisps).

For them main event, we had a roasted, flattened chicken flavoured with lemon and Rosemary.  I had never prepared a flattened chicken before but it was dead easy, especially when we purchased an already flattened bird (poor thing).  I seasoned it with good olive oil, freshly ground salt and pepper and  the juice and zest of 1 lemon.

She looks coy, no?

I used our biggest cast iron pan, heated some olive oil on high and then seared the chicken, breast-side down, for about 10 minutes.

I then flipped the chicken, added some fresh Rosemary leaves and popped it into a 400 degree oven for about 40 minutes.  I removed it to a platter to rest and covered it in foil to keep the juices in. To utilize the oven efficiently, we also roasted potatoes and carrots (par-boiled first) and onions tossed in olive oil and fresh thyme.

In addition, we served cooked green beans tossed with Dijon mustard and sliced, fresh tomatoes, served with homemade mayonnaise (dead easy and very tasty).  Of course, CC likes to fuss with the table setting and flowers, especially as we don't entertain too often.

For dessert, CC made lemon curd which he added on top of whipped cream and stewed fruit - scrumptious!

It was a lovely, lively dinner party which began with G and Ts, moved onto white wine and finished with decaf coffee.  I played some jazz records on my new record player which helped set the mood for the whole evening.