Sharing the Christmas Cheer

"That time of year" has finally arrived, and what better way to celebrate it than with friends!  This year I decided to keep it simple and intimate. The dinner: simple. The friends: intimate.  But boy! was it a juggling act to make 3 courses with limited kitchenware AND no running water in the kitchen. Nonetheless I succeeded in getting everything done by the time everyone arrived, but of course without lacking some hiccups AND an interesting finale... in the tub (details to follow).

The menu:

Drink: Apricot Bellini

Starter: Scallops with Cauliflower puree and Spanish chorizo

Main: Cannelloni 

Dessert: Choco-Chunk cookies (not really, actually)

The Apricot Bellini was (and is) quite easy to make. For my version I chose to warm the apricots with a bit of caster sugar.  We had to wait a bit for them to cool before pouring the prosecco, obviously.  My house mate, Eva, had some assembly-necessary champagne glasses layin' around so we used those.

What resulted was an-okay tasting Apricot Bellini. I was hoping for there to be more a sugar kick from the fruit and sugar. Though I could taste the apricot, and that's about all I remember about it, I had to keep stirring the glass as the fruit chunks would sink to the bottom! (Note to self: buy a mixer and a shaker). And, I guess they must have been quite good that I had more, many! more, glasses after. I have a nice headache this morning to show for it!

Next up was the starters. I was excited about making the scallops as I've never made them before and they're very simple to make.

For the puree:
1 head of cauliflower--take off the leaves and stems, keep the florets

...just to add: I dislike cauliflower. I cannot remember the last time that I actually ate the veg, but all the recipes call for cauliflower with scallops, so I made this sacrifice for the sake of coking and the pleasure of my friends. (Awwww. What a nice friend I am!).

Okay, so...
Salt
Pepper
Medium-sized sauce pan
cream

This is how I did it:
Put all the cauliflower florets into the pan and covered with water
Boil until the florets were absolutely soft, almost mushy on bite
Drain half the water
Add the cream

Now, before I go on, it important to point out some mistakes that almost cost me the puree, and would have really made the starter quite bland and thus a major FAILURE. First, when the cauliflowers were cooked in the water, I drained the pot, but left half the water.  I then added 200ml single cream to the water and cauliflower and let that boil.

Blitz all the ingredients together

What was then produced was a very, very, very liquidy solution of cauliflower, water, and cream.  Yes, it sounds off-putting but the point is that I needed to bring it "back"; I had to save the puree.

This is the liquid puree.  Though the picture doesn't quiet capture how liquified it was but you see that on the spoon the liquid is quite grainy, rather than smooth. If it was a proper puree it would have a thicker, consistency, it would appear less grainy in this photo.

So I went into A&E mode and began saving my puree. My process was to:

1) dump half the concoction  (I know, I know-- I'm wasting. But honestly, what more could I do with a liquid veg thing that was cooked in milk?)

2) chopped two hand-fulls of baby potatoes

3) boiled the potatoes, dumped the water, added the potatoes into the liquid cauliflower, and blitz everything in the food processor

The puree was SAVED!!!

Okay! So back to the starters:

Slice spanish chorizo into thick slices

Place in a medium frying pan on low-medium pan

Cook long enough that the fat comes out and covers the bottom of the pan

Remove from heat

Take scallops and place into the same pan

*the chorizo oil has now served as a flavourful oil for your scallops

Cook on both sides until a big brown and tender but tough to touch

Dress your plates

I choose to use small plates as they would look more appealing with the size of the scallops.  Most of the recipes that I saw plopped the scallops on the puree, on large plates.  I chose small plates because I thought they looked better in proportion of size.  

MAIN COURSE: CANNELLONI

I went for simple, for this meal. I bought pre-made cannelloni tubes rather than make them at home. When making cannelloni you can't more classic and simple than ricotta with spinach. First, and most importantly, pre-heat the oven at 190C.

500 grams of spinach

300 ricotta

salt

1 egg

pepper

flour

150 g butter

milk

1 tin can (400 g) of chopped tomatoes

1/4 carrot

1/4 celery

small white onion

FOR THE CANNELLONI

Cook the spinach until it is all wilted down

Cool for a bit

Mix in the ricotta and egg

Stuff the Cannelloni tubes

FOR THE BECHAMEL

*A chef friend of mine showed me a really great, and fault-proof way of cooking bechamel

In a medium sauce pan, slowly melt the butter 

Add flour gradually whilst whisking

Continue adding flour until the butter and flour are evenly mixed, should kind of look like sand

Then pour in the milk, slowly and in batches, whilst whisking

Mix and continue mixing until you get a liquid white sauce-- the bechamel

TOMATO SAUCE

Finely chop the carrots, celery, and onions

Sweat these ingredients in a sauce pan

Add the can of chopped tomatoes

Fill the can with water, and add this to the pan

Simmer for 20 minutes

In an oven-proof pan, lightly butter (or oil) the sides and bottom

Fill the cannelloni tubes with the ricotta and spinach mixture

Line the pan with the tubes

Pour the béchamel sauce of the tubes and then the tomato sauce

Cover with parmesan cheese

Place in the oven at 190C

Back for about 30-40 minutes

Serve. Eat. Smile.