This weekend just passed was EPIC and I mean that to be in capitals. I don't think I have ever spent a weekend with so many different pockets of people, making new friends, laughing, eating and drinking as much as I did in these few days gone. Although now it is all over, I feel a little short on thrills this week.
Let's start with Friday: your best mate's birthday with countless bottles of champagne and no dinner - so far not so good. I did however narrowly manage to avoid the part where they thought it was a good idea to neck champagne and red wine shooters; well done Kesh, you must be so proud. You broke her.
Then came Saturday which was an adventure to say the least, an epic day of eating and drinking all day at "The Big Day of Eating". This was a monumental achievement undertaken by a friend, whereby he prepared breakfast, lunch and dinner for 20 people at his flat and we are talking serious food. Arrival was 9am and unfortunately I missed breakfast but was privy to the masses waxing lyrical. I arrived shortly before lunch and eased into the crowds with a big glass of wine which probably accounted for much of my behaviour for the rest of the day. After lunch which was a pork belly sandwich on ciabatta with homemade roasted red pepper relish, a goats cheese and something bake (shit, I am really sorry I can't remember the rest of the contents of the bake but it was stupendously amazing) and potato wedges, I asked my host if I could go to sleep. And slept I did, with 20 people in the other room in a strange flat. I was then woken up hours later by a kindly stranger telling me that dinner was about to be served.
Dinner was nothing short of perfect; angel hair pasta with prawns in a saffron and tomato sauce and just the right serving size after such a monumental gastronomical day. I was so dazed and confused after my afternoon nap that I left pretty much as the plates were cleared, hardly the life and soul of the party. But what a feat: 60 meals essentially, out of a small kitchen and all dishes single handedly prepared and presented to perfection. Faultless and brave.
And if I had not had enough of food and people by Sunday, I thought it a stroke of genius to host a braai. I was exhausted after the weekend's antics but actually found peace in chopping and preparing the food quietly on my own in the kitchen. After a heavy weekend, I wanted something clean to accompany the meat and chose a glass noodle and mushroom salad. This is probably my favourite meal of all time when served on its own. It is fresh, clean, healthy and fragrant and there are many variations to it, in that you can add prawns, chicken pieces, beef or tofu. Here's how it's done:
INGREDIENTS (serves 4)
250 grams of prawns (cooked and peeled)
2 packets shitake mushrooms
I bunch of spring onions
3 carrots julienned
1/2 a medium cucumber peeled, deseeded and julienned **you can use a carrot peeler to shave slivers of carrot and cucumber if you can't be bothered with the finicky art of julienning vegetables
1 packet of mung bean noodles (glass noodles)
1 lemon grass pod, very finely chopped
1 small head of coriander finely chopped
1 large knob of ginger which has been peeled and finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic finely chopped
1 tablespoon of fish sauce
3 tablespoons of sweet chili sauce
juice of 1 lime
1 tablespoon of soya sauce
METHOD
Place your mung bean noodles into a big bowl and cover with boiling water. Let them stand for 7 minutes, drain and place back in the bowl.
Roughly chop your shitake mushrooms and fry them off until soft in a little olive oil. Add them to the noodles and mix them in well.
Chop up your spring onions and mix these in with the noodles and mushrooms.
Halve your cooked and peeled prawns and add these to the noodle mixture. Mix in well.
Add your julienned carrots and cucumbers to the noodles and mix well.
Mix the fish sauce, lime juice, soya sauce and sweet chili sauce in a cup and add the chopped ginger, lemon grass and garlic to the dressing. Throw over the noodles and mix well.
Garnish with chopped coriander and I promise you will never look back. It is a party piece.
I feel the beginnings of a cold and will be hitting the hay. Serves me right.
No comments:
Post a Comment