My mate Keith and I have been eating for years. That is to say our entire friendship has been based on a couple of decades of wining and dining. Until Woman and Baby came along, that is. Still, he's happy. Actually Baby is quite cute. (What am I saying? Nurse! NURSE!)
But to the point. We decided, a long time ago, that restaurants at Christmas time give very poor value for money and, given that were are both competent in the cucina, we could do better ourselves. So we agreed to cook the World's Best Dinner between us. We'd have the same budget that we would have if we went out, but spend it on a home-grown meal.
This year we are eating tomorrow.
Keith is bringing starter and dessert. The starter is Portobello mushrooms stuffed with gorgonzola and wrapped in prosciutto. I don't know what he's bringing for dessert.
For the main course we are having Beouf Bourgignon. I've just sweated a carrot, onion, half a head of garlic and a celery stick with some thyme and a couple of bay leaves. One bottle of burgundy and 15 minutes reducing later I have the most delicious-looking (and smelling) marinade. It's going to sit until tomorrow afternoon, when I'll brown the beef, throw in a good pile of shallots and mushroom, some organic beef stock and cook it over a candle for a week. I forget what else goes in. A bit of this and a bit of that, I suppose.
I'll let you know if it's as good as it sounds, shall I? I plan to serve it with broccoli and mashed potatoes with celeriac and Dijon.
Tonight we had Lancashire Hotpot - very underrated.
S
