According to a god preaching ageing man in America, the end of the world is nigh and we should all be preparing ourselves for either being chosen by God and being ascended to heaven or for those who are not picked, staying here on earth and enjouring a slow and painful death - sounds like its going to be an interesting night!
Even though judgement day was upon us, R and i had been debating since Tuesday what were were going to have for our last supper. Up until Friday R was adamant he was having an Indian in a local restaurant, its high up on his list of his most cherished things in his life ( 1. His dog 2. Indian Food 3. Football 4. Me? ). Me I'm not so keen, don't get me wrong i adore the spiciness and the exotic pleasures of Indian cuisine but I'm yet to be blown away by the meals I've been served in the restaurants, maybe its the slightly early ninety's feel of the nylon tablecloths or the not so authentic Indian music they all seem to play, it could even be the undesirable fake after eights that you are given at the end of your meal with your bill. Whatever it is, the tastiest Indian's Ive had are the ones R has cooked at home from scratch , maybe ill just have to try and impress him with a home made version of his favourite Indian dish.
Fortunately for me he decided to have one on Friday night instead which left me with the difficult decision on what to prepare him for what could be his dernier repas..
R has many favourite foods but i wanted to choose something that would satisfy my needs for my last supper as well, I'm a great lover of the tapas/ antipasti style way of eating- bringing together many small meals to amalgamate into a feast. This always sends a shiver down R's spine as he never believes what i prepare for him will be enough for him to feel full or satisfied ( o ye of little faith).
I decided upon crispy squid, chilli and coriander marinated prawns, home made lemon mayonnaise, fresh English asparagus and some different types of Italian antipasti.
After trawling the local markets for ingredients and visiting our local fishmonger i arrived home laden with tasty goodies ready to spend an afternoon preparing them.
De- heading and preparing squid is actually quite calming, i really found the whole process not disgusting but really quite enjoyable, however de - heading and peeling prawns is a completely different matter. Even after painstakingly removing the brains and outer shells of 20 of the small creatures i still was gagging after number 15, however much i do it i just cant get use to it- i wont go into details ( I'm pulling my face in disgust just writing about it).
Having had serious disasters in the past while trying to make home made mayonnaise i religiously read as many recipes as i could eventually accumulating a few in hope of trying to find the right technique, after a good time spent vigorously whisking and tentatively pouring in the rapeseed oil a luscious thick and glossy mayonnaise arose out of the depths of the bowl it was created in - happy days!
The only other thing that needed prior preparation was the pizza bread i was going to make - if anything this was just to bulk out the meal so R wouldn't feel like he was being robbed of a proper meal ( gluten does wonders for filling people up when they've not had a lot to eat - who says white bread is bad for you ).
Feeling mildly guilty after a few to many drinks the weekend before we had made a pact (incidentally the Monday after the booze fueled weekend) that we would refrain from drinking until we departed on holiday ( 28th may- not exactly months away) but having spent what i thought would be a relaxing afternoon preparing food, morphed into a much more stressful time ( due to unpredictable problems at my regular job) how the time ran away with me i just cant seem to understand, after combing pizza dough out of my hair and cleaning bread flour up from the cracks of my kitchen floor i sent R a text saying that we couldn't possible spend the last night on this earth without sharing a quality bottle of rioja, men dont need a lot of convincing when it comes to drinking.
Upon arrival of the much needed bottle of precious red, the meal was ready and i more than happy to report that the amount of food was sufficient enough not only to fill the belly of R but after such a feast we were prepared to face whatever fate God had decided to dispense on us.
Even though judgement day was upon us, R and i had been debating since Tuesday what were were going to have for our last supper. Up until Friday R was adamant he was having an Indian in a local restaurant, its high up on his list of his most cherished things in his life ( 1. His dog 2. Indian Food 3. Football 4. Me? ). Me I'm not so keen, don't get me wrong i adore the spiciness and the exotic pleasures of Indian cuisine but I'm yet to be blown away by the meals I've been served in the restaurants, maybe its the slightly early ninety's feel of the nylon tablecloths or the not so authentic Indian music they all seem to play, it could even be the undesirable fake after eights that you are given at the end of your meal with your bill. Whatever it is, the tastiest Indian's Ive had are the ones R has cooked at home from scratch , maybe ill just have to try and impress him with a home made version of his favourite Indian dish.
Fortunately for me he decided to have one on Friday night instead which left me with the difficult decision on what to prepare him for what could be his dernier repas..
R has many favourite foods but i wanted to choose something that would satisfy my needs for my last supper as well, I'm a great lover of the tapas/ antipasti style way of eating- bringing together many small meals to amalgamate into a feast. This always sends a shiver down R's spine as he never believes what i prepare for him will be enough for him to feel full or satisfied ( o ye of little faith).
I decided upon crispy squid, chilli and coriander marinated prawns, home made lemon mayonnaise, fresh English asparagus and some different types of Italian antipasti.
After trawling the local markets for ingredients and visiting our local fishmonger i arrived home laden with tasty goodies ready to spend an afternoon preparing them.
De- heading and preparing squid is actually quite calming, i really found the whole process not disgusting but really quite enjoyable, however de - heading and peeling prawns is a completely different matter. Even after painstakingly removing the brains and outer shells of 20 of the small creatures i still was gagging after number 15, however much i do it i just cant get use to it- i wont go into details ( I'm pulling my face in disgust just writing about it).
Having had serious disasters in the past while trying to make home made mayonnaise i religiously read as many recipes as i could eventually accumulating a few in hope of trying to find the right technique, after a good time spent vigorously whisking and tentatively pouring in the rapeseed oil a luscious thick and glossy mayonnaise arose out of the depths of the bowl it was created in - happy days!
The only other thing that needed prior preparation was the pizza bread i was going to make - if anything this was just to bulk out the meal so R wouldn't feel like he was being robbed of a proper meal ( gluten does wonders for filling people up when they've not had a lot to eat - who says white bread is bad for you ).
Feeling mildly guilty after a few to many drinks the weekend before we had made a pact (incidentally the Monday after the booze fueled weekend) that we would refrain from drinking until we departed on holiday ( 28th may- not exactly months away) but having spent what i thought would be a relaxing afternoon preparing food, morphed into a much more stressful time ( due to unpredictable problems at my regular job) how the time ran away with me i just cant seem to understand, after combing pizza dough out of my hair and cleaning bread flour up from the cracks of my kitchen floor i sent R a text saying that we couldn't possible spend the last night on this earth without sharing a quality bottle of rioja, men dont need a lot of convincing when it comes to drinking.
Upon arrival of the much needed bottle of precious red, the meal was ready and i more than happy to report that the amount of food was sufficient enough not only to fill the belly of R but after such a feast we were prepared to face whatever fate God had decided to dispense on us.
Pizza bread with crushed tomatoes, garlic.basil and oregano
Tomato and mozzarella and fresh basil, Steamed Asparagus. Melon and Parma Ham and marinated olives.
Crispy Fried Squid
Prawns marinated with chilli. lemon . garlic and coriander
Home made lemon mayonnaise
I don't want to bore you with all the different recipes but if anyone wants to know how to make anything leave me a message and your e- mail address or e-mail me at mrs.amynield@gmail.com and i will be more than happy to send you the recipe .
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