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Sunday 25 April 2010

Easy Sunday Lunch.

On the menu is:
-Pimms or sparkling wine.
- Dips and an asortment of crackers.

- Rosemary roast potatoes,
- Chicken, fish parcels or burgers on the bbq, &
- Pick n Mix platter.

- Start off by making sure all your Pimms ingredients are chilling in the fridge so you can prepare it just before your guests arrive so it is still lovely, cold and refreshing.

- I started my potatoes which my sweet boyfriend Jai has named 'Baby Aimee Potatoes' well beforehand so I wasn't rushing to get them cooked when everyone arrived.

For the potatoes you will need:
- 1kg of baby potatoes (adjust this according to how many guests you have, or how many potatoes you'd like to end up with!)
- Rosemary flavoured sea salt to season,
- 2 garlic cloves finely chopped,
- 3 sprigs of fresh rosemary, OR
- 3 tsp of mixed dry herbs,
- 1tsp of oil,
- 4- 5 tsp butter, or enough to coat your potatoes.

1. Wash potatoes and chip any bigger ones in half.
2. Par- boil potatoes until soft.
3. Transfer potatoes to baking dish and put in oil, butter, chopped garlic, fresh rosemary or dried herbs.
4. Sprinkle over enough sea salt (preferably rosemary flavoured) to coat potatoes.
5. Put into a preheated oven at 225degrees and cook until golden and crispy which should be anywhere inbetween 45- 60 minutes.
6. Make sure to turn potatoes to coat in butter and herb mixture every 10- 15 minutes to avoid burning.

- Next you can start getting your Pick n Mix platter ready. This is a great way to serve a salad to your guests as they can pick anything like so you dont have to worry about mixing ingredients in to one large salad that some people wont like. For this platter you can basically use anything you desire, although below I will list the ingredients that I used for inspiration.

For the Pick n Mix platter you will need:
- 2 packets of vine tomatoes,
- 1 cucumber, diced,
- 1 small can of corn kernels,
- 4 hard boiled eggs, sliced in half lengthways,
- small amount of mature cheddar cheese, cubed,
- small amount of mixed black and green olives,
- 1 small lettuce of your choice, ripped in to small bits,
- 3 or 4 slices of streaky bacon, cooked until very crisp then shredded in to smaller pieces.
- 1 or 2 slices of bread to make home made croutons.

To make the croutons I half toast the slices of bread in a toaster, then spread olive oil on to one or both sides of the bread, season with some sea salt and herbs, then pop them under a hot grill until golden and crisp. Cut up in to cubes and you're done!

To serve the salad, I used a large white platter and gave each ingredient its own seperate section so nothing mixes together.

I served this salad with a lovely little pot of organic tomato chutney from the Egham Fete in Surrey.

- At this point I would start to organise your dips and nibbles and serve them up in bowls and plates ready for your guests to arrive.

- Slice and butter a large bread stick or some soft bread rolls for people to have with their lunch.

Now its time to make your Pimms!

Traditional Pimms No.1

- Take one slice of orange, lemon, apple, cucumber per person and one sprig of mint and add to two parts lemonade to one part Pimms.
OR you can do it like me and chuck a bottle or two of lemonade in a punch bowl, enough Pimms to taste and chuck in a whole bunch of chopped orange, cucumber, mint and strawberry.

Make sure you're meat is ready on the bbq, and serve the meat, potatoes, pick and mix platter and plenty of Pimms to your happy guests!

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