Last Sunday I invited some friends whom I haven’t seen for a long while to dine at my place. We weren’t a large group back then during the study. But now almost everyone is in a steady relationship, so the guest number has almost doubled. To keep things simple, I decided to do a Spaghettata, a spaghetti evening so to speak. I must say it’s not easy to cook for 12 people, even it’s only spaghetti. Thank goodness, two kind friends offered to help and provided the salads (mixed salads and carrot and cabbage salad). As for the spaghetti, I prepared three different sauces: paprika, cream & smoked salmon and pesto rosso. I can’t say I’m proud of my cooking skill, since these are most regular spaghetti sauces that one can find in every Italian cuisine. I’ve done paprika sauce thousands times before, so nothing went wrong. I have only done both other sauces only once before, so I was a bit nervous how they would turn out. The cream & salmon sauce went quite well; it’s simple and quick and very delicious. Plus, I was very generous about smoked salmon, so what could go wrong? OK, maybe I was a bit too generous with smoked salmon; the sauce was a bit too salty because of it. But I didn’t use much salt for spaghetti so that evened out.
I went very experimental with the pesto sauce. First I didn’t find any regular basil so I bought red basil instead. So my planned pesto turned into pesto rosso. Unfortunately while cooking I found out I didn’t have enough pine nut at home and it was too late for me to go to the stores, so I used almonds instead. Yup, almonds (I was desperate, very desperate). The almonds totally ruined the beautiful colour of red basil and turned it into this yucky brown. Nevertheless, the sauce was eatable and it had a very nutty taste. I did warn my guests that this sauce was an experiment before I served it. Some actually found it good, or they probably lied out of courtesy.
As for the desert, I served a one-year-old Christmas pudding, which was a gift from my best friend’s mother. I had no idea how to make this, but I’m definitely going to learn, because this thing is heavenly delectable. I served it with vanilla cream which I made for the very first time in my life. It was a bit too floury but together with the Christmas pudding, they were exquisite. Nevertheless I shall improve my vanilla cream next time. The second dessert was mousse au chocolat flavoured with orange which was provided by another friend. I don’t why, but everyone seemed to be impressed that I could beat 100 mL cream with a wire-whisk into whipped cream (for mousse au chocolat) within 3 min. Haha, is it really difficult? I don’t have a food processor so beating eggs and cream by hand is a regular routine for me. Guess, people just got too lazy nowadays thanks to modern technologies.
Well, it was a very pleasant evening. Everyone had fun (or at least I hoped so). It was good to see my old friends again. Giving dinner party is fun and I shall do it again soon, but next time with less guests, of course. Dinner for 12 people was a bit strenuous to prepare, specially when I have a small kitchen.
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主菜1:鮮奶油鮭魚醬
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