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Cold starters


Hallie

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I must say, I've been mighty impressed by the photos on the terrine thread - but also a little bit daunted - so it's back to the drawing board.

I need a light but special first course for Christmas. Not smoked salmon. I was going to do pan fried scallops with pancetta and a balsamic reduction over rocket, but then realised that the whole afternoon should not be about me hiding in the kitchen but spending time with my guests who I've not seen for ages. It would be better to make something the night before and then whip it out when the time came.

So this is what I'm looking to serve;

1. something light

2. something that can be cooked the night before

3. probably something seafood/shellfish (no oysters) or vegetable based

4. something interesting (not soup - far too dull)

Can anyone think of something that would fit this description?

Help MUCH needed. (Thanks)

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- prawn ceviche with limes + red chilli

- salmon + cucumber mousse

- crab mousse

- crab with pink grapefruit + chicory + toasted hazelnuts

- or, my parents' perennial favourite, tinned smoked mussels - vearrrrrrk

Fi Kirkpatrick

tofu fi fie pho fum

"Your avatar shoes look like Marge Simpson's hair." - therese

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Crab salad on crackers

1 lb backfin blue crab meat (pick through for shells)

2 green onions, minced

2 TBS diced red bell pepper

1/3 cup mayonaise

1/2 tsp sweet curry or Chinese 5 spice powder (or more to taste)

ground black pepper to taste

Add all ingredients to the crab. Mix gently until combined.

I like water crackers with pepper or thin sliced baguettes with this. Simple, elegant, colorful.

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One of my favorite starters that can be served warm or at room temp is a recipe to poach figs in Pernod and stuff with marscapone. Really, its one I stole/adapted from William-Sonoma, but it never fails to impress a crowd. Take a small saucepan and put in about two parts Pernod to one and one-half parts water, add maybe a half cup of sugar and warm until the sugar dissolves. Trim the stems off your dozen or so figs and toss them in. Poach for 10-30 min depending on the softness of the fruit and your own taste. Drain the figs in a colander and make a small incision2/3 of the way into each one, just don’t split them in ½.

Mix healthy dollop of the marscapone, a teaspoon of confectioners sugar, a pinch shredded fresh basil, and a teaspoon of balsamic vinegar in a bowl. Then stuff each fig with a bit of the marscapone mixture. At this point the good people at WS would have you wrap each one in phyllo dough. I use store bought wanton wrappers. I put one wanton skin in the cup of a mini-muffin tray and then place a stuffed fig inside. They’re less crumbly and easier to eat. Go ahead and bake just long enough to lightly brown the wanton, and turn the fig/marscapone in to a gooey mass. They can be served warm cooling rack and covered overnight and then served at room temp (I would urge you not to refrigerate them, unless its very warm in your house)

P.S. my father is fond of taking the left-over poaching liquid, adding another ½ cup sugar, reducing it down. And adding a table-spoon or two over crushed ice and a shot of white rum. Toss in a sprig of mint and your got your self some sort of tasty fig-Caribbean-julep bastard cocktail.

Alamut was the mountain fortress of Hassan i Sabbah and the later heads of the Assassins. Alamut represents more than just a physical place, more even than a symbolic home of the movement. Alamut was with you in what you did; Alamut was in your heart from the moment of your arrival and introduction to "Heaven" until the moment you died.

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why don't you thinly slice the pancetta, wrap the scallops with it, maybe with a coriander leaf, then put you rocket in a bowl in the fridge and the dressing in a jam jar the night before, then when you want it, heat your pan, cook your scallops, quickly dress the rocket with the balsamic then plate, unless you are cooking for the masses should only take a maximum of 10 minutes.

after all these years in a kitchen, I would have thought it would become 'just a job'

but not so, spending my time playing not working

www.e-senses.co.uk

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Chilled squid rings should qualify as interesting...

Clean squid as usual, keeping body intact. Rinse, drain and reserve tentacles.

Wilt large lettuce leaves in boiling water. Wrap tentacles tightly (the long way) in lettuce leaves. Wrap lettuce rolls in sheets of nori, wetting the edges to seal them.

Stuff (slide) the tentacle roll into the squid bodies and fasten body closed with toothpicks or a skewer. In a large saucepan, combine soy sauce, water, sugar and aromatics (if you desire them- star anise, ginger, peppercorns, green onion, etc). Heat until sugar is dissolved. Add squid rolls. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until squid is tender (approx. 20-30 minutes). Cool. Refrigerate. To serve, drain well and cut into slices.

Shelley: Would you like some pie?

Gordon: MASSIVE, MASSIVE QUANTITIES AND A GLASS OF WATER, SWEETHEART. MY SOCKS ARE ON FIRE.

Twin Peaks

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