Readers of earlier posts [-1-] and [-2-], may remember that my birthday weekend had so far been a series of surprises – each one topping the other. My previous post had seen me reeling from the arrival of invited (but unexpected by me) guests Tony and Gill. I’d left the post promising to detail the food that was served up by Sharon after a long, hard afternoon in the kitchen.
After celebrating with a glass of fizz, we sat down to:
Gnocci
Served with roast cherry tomatoes, blue cheese and rocket topped with a sweet pepper sauce.
Sharon had made the gnocci and the sweet pepper sauce during the afternoon, so I knew we were having roast peppers at some stage because the delicious smell peculated throughout the room I was in. This was followed by:
Seared Tuna Steak
Served with lemon and coriander couscous, samphire and garlic butter.
Fresh Tuna cooked in garlic butter is one of our favourite meals, so this was a delight. All the flavours were balanced nicely and the steak was not too big for its role in the meal.
Pan-fried Leek & Ginger stuffed Chicken Suprême
Served in a white wine sauce, with sweet potato, feta cheese and a crispy sesame seed savoy cabbage.
Sadly up to and including this point we had taken no photographs of the food. We were too busy enjoying the experience, the company and the wine, which Tony had very kindly brought along with him. We next had a choice of ‘cheese first’ or ‘pudding first’. Tony and I had cheese, the ladies had pudding – which was again, magnificent:
Garden Berry and white chocolate Cheesecake and cream
This was based on the mixed berries we had picked at home and made into jam.
And that, apart from a few petit four type nibbles she’d bought in, was Sharon done for the night. The meal, the company and the day had been a great success and something I will remember as a birthday treat for a long, long time.
In the next post I will wrap up Hellifield and move on to my final day of surprises – Sunday 8th December. b.t.w. I lied about the pics. …..