mea culpa

sorry anyone who actually came here looking for an update. i have been head chef here since the last post, but i have not had a camera or the inclination to post. doesnt mean i have turned out crap meals i assure you.

so - tonight i actually did a cheffie kind of thing (and there are no photos or complaints - they dont dare - sorry).

It as a "salmon stack" with a rocket salad (leftover salad no less) and some oven roasted asparagus.

what did i do?

i prepared a meal for 3 people (it took 30 mins total - no kidding). This meal could easily been made for more people (with a few more ingredients and a little more prep time and tools - particularly molds) as follows:

- took a bunch of asparagus (15-20 pieces) and broke the stems off where it was natural. as they say - bend them and they will break. I then seasoned them with a good splash of EVO and a pinch of salt and pepper and put them in an oven for 15 mins at 200c

in the meantime i did the following:

- made a mix of capers (2-3 tablespoons), cherry tomatoes (i used about 10 - chopped), eschalots (3 - medium sized but you could easily use one medium sized red onion finely sliced and then chopped) which i seasoned with 1-2 tblsp of evo and a good pinch of sea salt and a good sprinkling of pepper (like 10 rounds of your usual pepper shaker)

- got a couple of metal molds (cheffie things) and stacked layer by layer the following - smoked salmon (any good quality of the shelf variety), one or two rocket leaves and the mix . Once i completed each stack i drizzled them with some EVO and a little seasoning. in the end i had a 3 layer salmon stack which was about the height of you thumb and the same width around.

- when it was finished our plate had the following on it:

a smoked salmon stack
~5 spears of warm asparagus which is finished off with 1-2 tsp of lemon juice and some extra salt and pepper
a salad (ours was rocket, pear, goats cheese and a drop or 2 of balsamic), in reality it could be anything.

in the end there was nothing left and not a complaint in the house. I served my own with a nice crisp white wine (the girls are not drinking today) but i reckon this meal would have gone down well with any bubbly or even a chilled red (rose)

in the end - i dont care what you you drink or eat with it