and fun but I am exhausted this morning....as our baby was turning 25 (a 1/4 of a century)!!we had asked over some friends for a braai. Only about 8 extra...so I was really very careful to provision just enough to feed us. I am always told I offer a huge laden table(I really use this opportunity of grilling extra for the week if there are not too many of us and it does not keep DH at the fire too long.)
We planned to meet at the beach for a swim about 3.30pm which we did. There were some young ones too. These ranged from 3 - 7yrs.
Back at the house at 6pm and there we were surprised by a family of 4 to join us and then...well, .....we ended up with 29 friends altogether. Thank goodness I did buy more salad and meat etc so there was plenty for all.
DD made her pizzas as planned. Boy are the good. She uses Jamie Olivers recipe for the dough and the toppings were:
Pesto....... I made (made another batch as everyone wanted to use it as a dip too.
Tomato sauce .........DD made a large quantity (so we would have some for the week too) all gone. It was so good everyone used it as a meat and veg sauce. I was in the throws of making Charlie's Salsa Verda sauce but too many people kept arriving and more pizzas had to be made so the kitchen got very crowded.
Figs, goat cheese, arugula and honey.
........and then different toppings using tomato sauce, cheeses, proscuitto, whatever everyone fancied. The guests had a ball topping these. They never got to the fire but were done in the oven.
Pork tenderlions (3) I had marinated in Ketchap Manis....an easy and excellent soya sauce. (You can use regular soya sauce and add honey, ginger and garlic instead)
8 racks of pork ribs...the long ribs...OH so good. also marinated in the manis. Problem was in cutting them so in the middle of all this out came my cleaver...did not work so...out came the hammer.
Hammer and cleaver and a friend chopping away, with myself wadding loads of paper towel around the area as it sure was a messy proceedure, of course, this had everyone cheering as he got through each bone...fortunately only 2 of the racks were like this.
Grilled Asian eggplant
Grilled red and yellow peppers, skins removed, sliced, evoo and garlic added.
Potjie potatoes...always dissappears.
Judy's bean salad...had to quickly make a second batch, I have a cup of bean salad left, enough for DH tonight.
Grilled pears and blue cheese salad on baby greens.
Salad of greens, grape tomatoes, broccoli, red onion and a rasberry balsamic vinegrette.
Fillers...baguette with toppings of mozerella and tomatoes and pesto, basil etc (about 6 8" lengths cut in 1/2 dissappeared.)
Dessert: Malva Pudding and whipped cream....the 7yr old wanted to do the cream so it was nearly like butter but no one minded by this stage.
Wine...well there were wines, red, white and rose.
(about 25 bottles were finished and apart from the excellent Sancerre and Cote de Provence (in the blue bottle) which is what I drank, I'm afraid I do not know what wines were consumed.
From Judy in mass
* Exported from MasterCook II *
Green Bean, Walnut And Feta Salad
Recipe By : Marie/Epi Swap
Serving Size : 8
Categories : Salads, Tried & True,
Vegetables, Vegetarian
Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
2 Pounds Fresh Green Beans -- trimmed1 Small Red Onion -- thinly sliced
4 Ounces Feta Cheese -- crumbled
1 Cup Walnuts -- toasted & chopped
3/4 Cup Olive Oil
1/4 Cup White Wine Vinegar
1 Tablespoon Fresh Dill -- chopped
1 Clove Garlic -- minced
1/4 Teaspoon Salt
1/4 Teaspoon Freshly Ground Black Pepper
Cut green beans into thirds and arrange in a steamer basket over boiling water. Cover and steam for 15 minutes, or until tender-crisp. Immediately plunge them into cold water to stop cooking process. Drain and pat dry.
Toss together green beans, onion, cheese, and walnuts in a large bowl. Cover and chill for 1 hour.
Whisk together olive oil and next 5 ingredients; cover and chill 1 hour.
Pour vinaigrette over bean mixture and chill 1 hour. Toss just before serving.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
I've also done this using blue or gorgonzola cheese with delicious results.
We planned to meet at the beach for a swim about 3.30pm which we did. There were some young ones too. These ranged from 3 - 7yrs.
Back at the house at 6pm and there we were surprised by a family of 4 to join us and then...well, .....we ended up with 29 friends altogether. Thank goodness I did buy more salad and meat etc so there was plenty for all.
DD made her pizzas as planned. Boy are the good. She uses Jamie Olivers recipe for the dough and the toppings were:
Pesto....... I made (made another batch as everyone wanted to use it as a dip too.
Tomato sauce .........DD made a large quantity (so we would have some for the week too) all gone. It was so good everyone used it as a meat and veg sauce. I was in the throws of making Charlie's Salsa Verda sauce but too many people kept arriving and more pizzas had to be made so the kitchen got very crowded.
Figs, goat cheese, arugula and honey.
........and then different toppings using tomato sauce, cheeses, proscuitto, whatever everyone fancied. The guests had a ball topping these. They never got to the fire but were done in the oven.
Pork tenderlions (3) I had marinated in Ketchap Manis....an easy and excellent soya sauce. (You can use regular soya sauce and add honey, ginger and garlic instead)
8 racks of pork ribs...the long ribs...OH so good. also marinated in the manis. Problem was in cutting them so in the middle of all this out came my cleaver...did not work so...out came the hammer.
Hammer and cleaver and a friend chopping away, with myself wadding loads of paper towel around the area as it sure was a messy proceedure, of course, this had everyone cheering as he got through each bone...fortunately only 2 of the racks were like this.
Grilled Asian eggplant
Grilled red and yellow peppers, skins removed, sliced, evoo and garlic added.
Potjie potatoes...always dissappears.
Judy's bean salad...had to quickly make a second batch, I have a cup of bean salad left, enough for DH tonight.
Grilled pears and blue cheese salad on baby greens.
Salad of greens, grape tomatoes, broccoli, red onion and a rasberry balsamic vinegrette.
Fillers...baguette with toppings of mozerella and tomatoes and pesto, basil etc (about 6 8" lengths cut in 1/2 dissappeared.)
Dessert: Malva Pudding and whipped cream....the 7yr old wanted to do the cream so it was nearly like butter but no one minded by this stage.
Wine...well there were wines, red, white and rose.
(about 25 bottles were finished and apart from the excellent Sancerre and Cote de Provence (in the blue bottle) which is what I drank, I'm afraid I do not know what wines were consumed.
From Judy in mass
* Exported from MasterCook II *
Green Bean, Walnut And Feta Salad
Recipe By : Marie/Epi Swap
Serving Size : 8
Categories : Salads, Tried & True,
Vegetables, Vegetarian
Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
2 Pounds Fresh Green Beans -- trimmed1 Small Red Onion -- thinly sliced
4 Ounces Feta Cheese -- crumbled
1 Cup Walnuts -- toasted & chopped
3/4 Cup Olive Oil
1/4 Cup White Wine Vinegar
1 Tablespoon Fresh Dill -- chopped
1 Clove Garlic -- minced
1/4 Teaspoon Salt
1/4 Teaspoon Freshly Ground Black Pepper
Cut green beans into thirds and arrange in a steamer basket over boiling water. Cover and steam for 15 minutes, or until tender-crisp. Immediately plunge them into cold water to stop cooking process. Drain and pat dry.
Toss together green beans, onion, cheese, and walnuts in a large bowl. Cover and chill for 1 hour.
Whisk together olive oil and next 5 ingredients; cover and chill 1 hour.
Pour vinaigrette over bean mixture and chill 1 hour. Toss just before serving.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
I've also done this using blue or gorgonzola cheese with delicious results.