Our French dinner party.....

When you put together meal ideas its often to much just for the two of you, and often a little to indulgent for a regular Wednesday night meal,  so its always great to share a meal with friends. As James and I both work in a bar on the weekends we don't have the regular social hours of our friends so we have to make the most of a free night. Our guest tonight was an old friend from London. Alex and James worked and lived together in London and its brilliant to have him living just around the corner.

The menu:

Salad au Chevre 

A nice light start to a rich meal

Beouf Bourguinon

I had marinated this one overnight so the flavours were rich and intense. I used my Chasseur French Oven for the first time and slow cooked the beef until they fell apart to the touch.

and of course the 

Brown Bread Ice Cream served here on some of the left over brown bread crumbs

 

Alex's reaction was perfect. "This is ****** unbelievable". Homemade ice cream is definitely worth doing once. It is so creamy and rich and full of all things that are to be best eaten in moderation but so worth it. There's more left of course which we would love to share with others, possibly an Italian menu next time.

So it begins......

I ask you, if you were forced to have 2 weeks off, what would you do with your time? 

I had suggestions of have a baby, go shopping, watch my favourite TV show while eating chocolate and drinking port, read a friends law readings or get stuck into craft. As much as they sound great, except the reading Law bit, I thought why not get stuck into my own passion... Cooking! I love it. I love creating something delicious and yummy. There is nothing more disappointing than eating a meal that is not satisfying. There are so many beautiful options out there that are easy to throw together, to give you a different experience, or challenge your culinary skills, that I am often found flicking through a cookbook  before bed and mentally throwing together menu plans just for fun. 

So now its time to make something a little more of those ideas. Get cooking, share those recipes with others and one day I may even know how to make Chocolate Mousse with out a recipe and be a contender for Masterchef.....

So talking of Masterchef, I have been inspired to make ice cream, but don't have an ice cream maker or even a blast chiller. So, as you do, I Googled it and came across a way to make it from David Lebovitz. An executive pastry chef who moved to Paris and wrote about it in A Sweet Life In Paris and blogs about all things sweet, shares recipes, and dining experiences. Again another place to find amazing info on all things food, including amazing recipes for creative flavours of ice cream. Milk Chocolate and Black Pepper and Candied Bacon Ice Cream are flavours that remind me of what Heston Blumenthal would create but still have something delicious about them, as does Brown Bread Ice Cream.

Brown Bread Ice Cream. My first recipe. My first attempt at making ice cream. My first delicious experience at homemade ice cream....beautiful. So creamy and sweet with a perfect little crunch.