Chateaux Duff? More like shattered Duff!

We had a buffet party for fourteen people last Wednesday, all of them old and dear friends.  I am only just recovering so please excuse the absence of posts.  We have always been a fairly convivial couple but when we retired down here we reduced our entertainment to the occasional supper for four, or perhaps six.  Catering for fourteen meant relearning a lot of old tricks.  Fortunately we work well together.  I am no cook (except for breakfasts, at which I excel!) but I am definitely the 'King of the Canapes'.  God bless Waitrose and all who sail in her because their deli' counter sells fresh anchovies in oil and vinaigrette sauce, and herring pieces with onion in a sweet sauce.  Usually I bake my own tiny crostini from little roundels cut from a French stick brushed with extra virgin olive oil but this time, given the numbers, I used ready-made blinis. A dab of creme fraiche with the anchovies crossed over the top, or a piece of herring with a blob of mayo' - Hellmans, of course - on top.  I also made a dish of scrambled egg and smoked salmon sprinkled over with what I call 'Bullshit Beluga', or lumpfish eggs to you!  I broke up some ready-made bruschetta into bite-sized bits and asked people to dip into the egg dish.  Plus, of course, the usual nuts, olives and sundry garlic-soaked bits and pieces that I would not touch with a beanpole!

For the main course, the little 'Memsahib' made her usual potato salad - just tiny new potatoes (peeled, took hours!) and plenty of chopped onion mixed in mayo' - plus a tomato and onion salad suitably dressed.  She then made a 2-bean salad with red onions, green peppers, garlic and dressing.  She stuck to an old favourite (at my insistence), what we call 'Swedish' chicken, which is just morsels of cold chicken mixed with fresh apple slices, banana and mayo' and served on rice.  She also produced a sausage flan, and then, the star dish of the night - Provencal Tart!  At the end of this litany I shall provide you all with the recipe.  One of our friends had, by arrangement, produced a home-made summer pudding, whilst we offered a small chocolate mousse-type pud, as well.  Finally, there were three cheeses on offer, one of which was an extremely lively brie that attempted to ooze itself off the cheese board - honestly, I swear I saw it move!

A very pleasant evening passed and we had the double doors on the small conservatory open so that the smokers could step outside for 'a drag on a fag'!  However, I am forced to admit that the effort of producing all this to the standards insisted on by the little 'Memsahib' was fairly knackering!  Happily, because they were all old friends, we used paper plates which went straight in the bin as they were finished with, thus cutting down on the clear up and the washing up.  It was perhaps a cruel indication of the passage of time that people began to go home around the time that, twenty or thirty years ago, we would have been beginning to party!

Now, a terrific recipe especially for summer: Provencal Tart:

Pastry:

Don't be proud, or silly, just buy ready-to-roll dessert pastry.

Filling:

4 Tab spns olive oil

6 Large ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped

2 Tab spns tomato puree

1 T spn sugar

Garlic clove finely chopped

3 Spanish, ie, red, onions, sliced

2 Tab spns butter

Fresh Rosemary, chopped

2 Tab spns grated parmesan

2 tins of anchovies, drained

Olive oil

Fresh ground pepper

Beaten egg

Small black olives

 

Cooking:

Cover your shallow baking dish with the pastry.  Pierce the base all over with a fork and cover with grease-proof paper weighed down with pellets and bake at 200 for 15 mins. Remove, brush with a little beaten egg and allow to cool.

Heat oil in pan - add chopped toms, tom puree, sugar, fresh ground pepper (to taste), and cook on low heat until excess moisture removed - mash occasionally to form puree.

Cook onions and garlic in butter with a little Rosemary until soft but not brown!

Sprinkle bottom of pastry in its baking dish with the parmesan; add onions, and then the puree.

Arrange the little anchovies in a lattice pattern over the top and place a small black olive in each square.

Brush lightly with olive oil, bake at 350 for 30 mins. May be served warm or cold.

"And so to bed!"

 

 

 

Comments

[fallenmonk]

Sound nice. I am sure everyone had a nice time.
The recipe sound very nice and pretty easy. Another way to reduce the water and enhance the flavor of your tomatoes is to peel, seed and chop but instead of in a pan put them on a baking sheet with edges(jelly roll pan) and roast them with the olive oil in a slow oven. It will concentrate the flavor nicely and you can just ignore them for an hour or so while they roast.

[David Duff]

I shall pass that on to the Commissariat Department. (It's all stewed tomatoes to me!)