Welcome

Reaching the final of Masterchef 2007 was a rollercoaster of emotion, with huge highs and lows, but I loved every minute and learnt a huge amount. I owe a great deal to John and Gregg who had faith in my ability when I did not believe in myself. Since competing on the programme my life has changed considerably. I now write cookery columns for two magazines, give cookery demonstrations and am just working on my 13th cook book - unlucky number for some but not for me!!! I love all forms of country cooking, using seasonal and locally sourced produce. This blog is to enable me to share with you a few of my recipes and baking ideas. Enjoy Hannah xxxx

Wednesday 28 May 2008

This weekend we held a dinner party in our village and everyone was tasked with bringing a course each. Luckily I was given the dessert course - my favourite course! I started with a pre-dessert of margarita mousse with fleur de sel spoon cookies and lime pearls (not frozen peas as everyone thought!) with a good dose of edible glitter and a sprinkling of salt. The mousses contained tequila and cointreau and lots and lots of lime juice. We followed with rose and cardamom icecream with crystallized rose petals and baklava with cinnamon and walnuts (following on from a Greek themed main course) and a lovely lemon cheesecake made by Millie (who was hosting the dinner). Sharing out courses is such a good idea for a dinner party as it really shares the load and it is always fun to see what people come up with for their course.

10 comments:

Sylvie said...

What a lovely idea. It makes me think a bit of an American potluck dinner, which I always thought sounded like a great idea too!

Beth (jamandcream) said...

Your desserts look amazing - you are so imaginative! We have a Safari Supper in our Village every August in aid of Church funds (different households do different courses and you walk from one course to the next). Last year my Mother-in-Law was asked to do the Dessert course and I helped her cater for about 80 people. It was such good fun and for those particpating its a good way of gaining an appetite for the next course!

A said...

what lovely arrangement for the mousse. beautiful. clever.

Milhan said...

Yum margaritas! And I love the idea of making them into a dessert.

Baklava is also a Turkish favorite (being half Turkish, I need to represent, lol). Have you ever had Kadayif? That is my favorite.

Your dinner sounded like loads of fun!

Marie Rayner said...

Wow! I am impressed. You had to make this for the whole village? Wow! Well done, and how unique!

Teresa said...

What a lovely idea. Your desserts look amazing.

Elke said...

Hi Hannah, can't wait for your book to come. Hope the recipes of the desserts are in it. If I ever win the lotto I will hire you as my personal chef, pastry chef, teacher, flower arranger.....is there anything you don't do?????

Have a great weekend.

Elke

Nic said...

Hi Hannah,
Do you mind if I ask how you made the lime pearls? I'm always looking for new presentation ideas.
I really enjoy reading your posts, always so colourful and interesting.

Hannah said...

Nicisme
The lime perles were bought from france sadly - they are just sunflower seeds covered in lime sugar. They are from Eric Bur - hope you can find some! They also make Lavender Perles which are equally delicious!

Nic said...

Thank you Hannah. Next time I pop over to France, I'll have a look!