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| Nannyp |
Starters with style?I will be doing lunch for our French friends, their mum and Dad, and one other adult.I shall probably do a roast dinner, as I find this easy and it is not something the French cook. I would like some starter ideas. JP doesn't like soup, so no soup. I have looked online and found some interesting one's. Tarragon Baked Eggs looks nice, and I can try that before doing it for them. http://www.greenchronicle.com/recipes/tarragon_baked_eggs.htm This to look's lovely, Beetroot Cured Salmon http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2725/dazzling-beetrootcured-salmon or Smoked Salmon Gateau http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1046/smoked-salmon-gateau finally, these look nice and might be what I plump for Mussel, Bacon and Brie tartlets. http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1929/mussel-bacon-and-brie-tartlets What do you think...any other ideas? |
| Manta Ray a l'Anglaise |
I do a good stuffed pepper..............  Handy as a starter or a veggie main.
For 6 people as a starter 3 whole Peppers, red or green 1 tin chopped tomatoes or 1lb fresh cherry tomatoes chopped Olives 100g feta cheese salt, pepper, basil cheese for topping Cut the peppers in half long ways incuding the stalk so you have a bit of stalk in each half, remove the seeds and connective tissue inside the fins, but make sure you don't cut off the stalk end. Mix the tomatoes with as many halved olives as you want. Cut the feta into small cubes, season and add a generous amount of basil, mix well. Put the filling in the peppers and bake for about 30 - 40 mins, finish the last 5 mins with grated cheese on top or not. You can make this up before hand to save time. I used to work in a hotel which did some lovely but simple starters, mostly based on a white sauce. So Prawn, Leek & Pasta was one Bacon & mushroom was another You need a quantity of white sauce about 1 pint, can be made before hand. For the prawn, leek & pasta, also some cooked pasta shape. Sweat off some chopped leeks, add prawns and pasta & white sauce, mix all together, you could serve it in a ramekin baked with the usual grated cheese topping or in 1 big dish. Mushroom and bacon is self explanitory really, fry off add white sauce - dish - cheese - grill/oven. When I was on holiday, the first morning somebody wanted scrambled eggs for breakfast  So I did 6 as there were 6 of us, but nobody else wanted it. The washer-uppers were going to throw it away, but me being difficult again wouldn't let them waste it. At night I made some cheese sauce, chopped some cherry tomatoes, added them to the scrambled eggs, poured the sauce over, half an hour in the oven. They all thought it was lovely........white sauce......it's the answer to everything 
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| Nannyp |
I like your style Itsyray...I was probably going to make the tartlets...but imagine me trying to do that for 8, along with the main course.
So, it may well be the peppers...as that seems very easy and will look lovely. Thanks 
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| Manta Ray a l'Anglaise |
Life's too short to faff about with tartlettes
And...........I have done plenty of faffing about in my time
Sometimes those fillings were put into filo pastry - 3 squares laid on top of each other but with an eighth turn (if you know what I mean), and then they were gathered up to look like laundry bags. They did look nice but doing them 2 per starter on a Sunday lunch when 50 were going to be served.............I didn't even bother to suggest it to you, the filling is good baked on its own As is the filling for the stuffed peppers. if you're doing 8, that's 4 peppers, use a tin of tomatoes and add a few fresh chopped, it'll look as if it's all fresh  and about 150g of feta.
Itsyray |
| Nannyp |
Thanks...and I'm not sure why I am being giving a beating too
You obviously like the smiley
I bought some tinned tomatoes the other day from Aldi (or Lidl) I think...and they were really red and luscious looking..maybe I'll buy some more of them. I always have a few large tins, ready for the curry sauce! 
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| Manta Ray a l'Anglaise |
I like all these smilies.
I put because I was telling you to use a few fresh tomatoes in the mix and it would look like you'd used all fresh, so it's a bit naughty.......I was smacking myself for my naughty cheating.
Itsyray |
| Nannyp |
 
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| Nannyp |
Okay, so no Feta cheese in my biggest supermarket 
What shall I use instead....choice of many French cheeses of course and there is Mozzerala. |
| Manta Ray a l'Anglaise |
How strange.................well Feta is a ewes milk, semi soft mild cheese and in the mixture it kinda keeps it's shape and just goes softer. so I would say you don't want a hard cheese, maybe Mozzarella would do it. If you were in UK I would suggest you try something like cottage cheese, don't use cream cheese though.
Add salt to your mixture as Feta is very salty and adds a certain something in that department......... Itsyray |
| Nannyp |
Thanks Miss
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| Nannyp |
The stuffed peppers looked and tasted good, thanks.
I really enjoyed them, and wasn't sure I would, as I am not a tinned tomato lover. Easy to do, and looked good. The rest of the meal went well too. I combine 2 recipes.....Pacific salmon fillets en croute (but the croute was the finest filo style pastry, brushed with melted butter, 2 sheets together, then sprinkled with parmesan, ground and flaked almonds, then 2 more sheets brushed with melted butter. On top, 2 fillets one on top of the other, spread with a thick topping of creme fraiche, mixed with a tablespoon of horseradish, and then topped with chopped beetroot. Fold over the filo, sprinkle on more parmesan, place fold down on a baking tray and cook in hottish oven for upto 40 mins. I did lovely individual sherry trifles with frozen raspberries, madeira, raspberry coullie, custard, whipped double (ish) cream, almonds and a cherry. These went down well, as there is no French equivalent. Yum. |
| Manta Ray a l'Anglaise |
Sounds lovely, I'm glad it went well. Sherry trifle is a blinder really as it can be so tarted up from what it used to be and yes there is no French equivalent.
I could do something in filo pastry for my finger buffet................. Did you use Mozzarella instead of Feta? It obviously worked if you did
Itsyray |
| Nannyp |
Yes, Mozerella, and if I find Feta sometime, I'll try it, just to see if I can see the difference. Just realised I can serve this to my friends in October, and make one without cheese for one of them.
Will make the en croute with Leek and Potato too, as that was the original recipe. The problem is, yes it would go well, and may well slice better when cold, but it was a bloody pain to slice today. There is enough left for us to eat tomorrow, which is good. No sauce though. I got JP to make the sauce, as he was a chef, so I thought "why keep a dog etc ". It was a white wine with tarragon....yummy.
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