thepassionatecook

Avocado & goats cheese crostini with slow-roast balsamic tomatoes

I've always liked having friends over for dinner parties with tons of food... the stress involved beforehand, not so much. It takes years of practice to select just the right dishes that won't leave you frazzled when your guests are here - even more of an art than cooking itself, I should think.

This recipe is one of the amuse-bouches I made for last night's farewell & birthday party with the lovely Heidinger family... there aren't many people who appreciate food just as much as we do, but these people certainly do! Even better, they enjoy the preparations just as much and aren't shy to offer a hand, even if push DOESN'T come to shove. Those are the best dinner parties - where you can go at a leisurely pace, everybody chips in and there is just as much fun to be had with the preparations as the actual food itself.

The secret lies in selecting dishes which allow for advance preparation, leaving just a few bits and bobs required for assembly sur place and a la minute. These easy-peasy canapes are one example - the tomatoes are slow-roasted in the oven in the morning, the avocado & goat's cheese cream takes no time at all to put together and even the garlic-infused crostini-bases can be prepared well in advance. Less chance of panic, more time to chit-chat... party food par excellence!

Teriyaki veal fillet with asparagus and green tea noodles

I've always been a fan of Japanese food - it's so fuss-free and wholesome, yet incredibly tasty. What surprises me the most about it, is how seldom I make it at home! People often shy away from making Asian food simply because they lack the ingredients - and who wants to go to a specialist store and buy a vast array of food stuff of which you're only going to use a fraction, with the remainder using up valuable pantry space until you finally have the guts to throw it away ten years later...

This dish uses things I readily have at home all the time and I guess most cooks would have the ingredients at hand - the Teriyaki marinade is made from scratch and any of the more unusual condiments can be easily substituted. If you cannot find green tea noodles, I often use plain buckwheat soba noodles (which is even healthier, eliminating the wheat), the Noilly Prat I used for the marinade can be replaced by Fino sherry or sake, white wine vinegar can easily stand in for the rice vinegar. The hot chilli bean paste is optional, but if you don't have it and want to add some spice, try wasabi instead.