Lunch for 6

We had a few friends from our car club round, first time ever, and one of them is soooo judgemental.  It took me ages to have the courage to invite them (love her husband, she’s a challenge).  As we are all going on a 4 day cruise next week with looots of eating, I decided to go lightweight, but in retrospect it wasn’t really lightweight at all. Ooops.

I dispensed with any starter, and went straight for mains with a really yummy Chicken a la King, recipe from the home help of a friend of mine.  A Butternut and Feta Quiche, a big salad and mains were sorted. 

For Dessert I did a Strawberry Cheesecake, recipe from my brilliant cook mother, and ice cream.  It looked really pretty and was soo easy to make.  Could have done the biscuit base a little thinner, but it was good anyway.

The Chicken a la King was bog standard white sauce, cooked chicken and mushrooms.  Secret ingredient – 250 ml of cream.  Hence the maybe not so lightweight!

The quiche had my standard cheese pastry, which is soo tasty and is incredible easy to make (equal quantities flour, butter, cheese, blitzed together and pressed into the quiche plate) and I think that’s what makes it tasty.  I’m not a fan of Butternut and Feta quiche, a bit bland normally, but I used mature cheddar (normal cheddar here has no taste whatsoever) and plenty of seasoning in the egg mix, so it was ok. Sprinkled a bit of chopped rosemary from the garden over the top, but not too much, I find it very overpowering. I also learnt the secret from my mom of taking the quiche out of the oven just as it’s beginning to set.  It carries on cooking for a while and ends up nice and creamy.

The Cheesecake was blitzed stawberries, 2 pots of cottage cheese, a pot of whipped cream, and a tablespoon of dissolved gelatine to help it set.  All dumped on top of the biscuit/butter base, chilled to set, decorated with strawbs.  Looked quite spectacular, so much so in fact that my one guest who doesn’t normally eat desserts had a large slice!! I really so need to learn to post photos, I was quite pleased as it was a first time for me with that recipe.

Now we have a week before our cruise, and I refuse to abstain from eating when there’s so much available, including the midnight feasts, so it’s a week of preparation.  Luckily the weather is very hot, so it’s quite easy to eat light.

Has anyone cooked with agar agar instead of gelatine?  Does it do the same job?  I’m trying to get out of using gelatine, have a problem with the ingredients, and have been advised to use agar agar, but not sure…….

Previous dinners from alison

• Lightweight chicken and vegies - October 30th, 2009
• Mushroom Quiche - October 28th, 2009
• Birthday Dinner - May 28th, 2008
• Return of the MishMash Queen! - May 27th, 2008
• Chicken a la King al la Ali - April 25th, 2008