An Evening with the Food Gang: A British Supper

Last weekend we got together with some of our food loving friends for a bit of a British supper. Please don’t wince. British cuisine is divine. I love, love, love it! I miss chicken curry, Cornish pasties, Fish & Chips, Coronation chicken. Well, you get the idea. Anyway, you may remember me talking about our Lasagna Pot Luck that we hosted here in December.

Everyone thought Pot Luck Club sounded a bit, well, crap. So we are now The Food Gang, a bit unexpected but completely unpretentious. The whole idea is that five couples get together to enjoy amazing dishes. The host decides on the theme and makes the main course and everyone else brings a dish and wine to share.

Saturday night was Gemma and Seth’s turn to host and it was such an enjoyable evening. Their dining room looked amazing. I love the hand painted gold and cream stripes on the walls. The tulips and candlelight were so beautiful, too.

Gemma made the most delicious Steak & Ale pies. I’ve never had them before and am not a huge steak lover but these were to die for. Look at that golden short crust pastry! They were filled with slow cooked steak, carrots and ale. Yummy scrummy.

Here is a glimpse of what we enjoyed. This is Luke’s heaping plate (bear in mind that he’s an Englishman at heart and hasn’t had pie since we were last in England – 8 months ago):

He helped himself to a second serving approximately the same size. I know, it is my fault. I never feed him! Ha!

Everyone knows, pie’s best friends are mashed potatoes and mushy peas. I know, mushy peas are a northern thing in England and many southerners don’t really like them. I must admit that the mushy peas I had in Bristol were horrible so I was dreading making this green dish for friends who had never had them before. We decided on a Jamie Oliver recipe. These Minty Mushy Peas were to die for. So fresh tasting with the mint and spring onions and easy to make. Everyone in the Food Gang loved them.

Jamie Oliver’s Minty Mushy Peas

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 bunch spring onions, chopped

1 handful fresh mint, leaves picked

1 pound (500 grams) frozen peas

2 large knobs butter

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat the oil in a pan and add the chopped onions, mint, and peas. Cover and leave for a few minutes to steam. Mash with a potato masher. You can do this with a food processor as well, just pulse it until smooth. Whether mashing or pulsing, when it’s done add the butter and season very carefully, to taste.

Luke’s Mustard and Garlic Smashed Potatoes

Ingredients

Potatoes

3 cloves of garlic

Butter

4 tbls. whole grain mustard

Chop the potatoes and peal the garlic. Place them in cold water with salt. Bring water to a boil and cook until potatoes begin to soften. Strain the garlic and potatoes. Mash them, leaving some chunks.

Add a few tablespoons of butter and mustard and mix until combined. Enjoy!

So that was the main meal, but we also enjoyed two different filo cups, one stuffed with fig and cheese and the other stuffed with asparagus and parmesan that Heather made. Heather also baked a gorgeous mac ‘n cheese topped with golden bread crumbs and sliced tomatoes. We also enjoyed Gemma’s delicious rosemary bread.

We finished the meal off with Nigella.

Image from Nigella.com

Abbie made Nigella Lawson’s cloud cake. The top was light as a cloud with the whipped cream, but the base was rich and dense flour-less chocolate cake. The Food Gang was stuffed to say the least.

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