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You need about 8 hours to prepare all courses from scratch. I know it looks almost impossible to make but you can prepare some dishes and some parts of them in advance. Time management is crucial.
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1. Start with Roasted Butternut Squash Soup with Banana Shallot. It can be prepared two days in advance and kept refrigerated. Boil and serve hot, the soup must warm up your guest.
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2. The pastry and dough can be prepared a day before and left in the fridge overnight:
- Spicy Parmesan Biscuits – Preparing Time: 20 minutes, chill overnight
- Mushroom Tartlets Pastry – Preparing Time: 20 minutes, chill overnight
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3. The day before you can also prepare:
- Mushroom Tartlet Sauce – Preparing Time: 20 minutes, Cooking: 20 minutes, chill overnight,
- Hot Pork Empanadas filling – Preparing time: 20 min, Cooking: 15 minutes, chilled overnight
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4. 3-4 hours before the serving time may be prepared:
- Hot Pork Empanadas - pop them in the hot oven just before serving for 10 min
- Spicy Parmesan Biscuits
- The Lime Dip - keep it in the fridge
- Apple Muffins
- Mushroom Tartlets cases
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5. 30 min before serving:
- the Mushroom Tartlets - asembling and baking
- the Courgette Bruschetta - preparing and assembling
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Below the courses in order of serving
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Courgette Bruschetta
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Preparing Time: 15 min
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Cook Time: 15 min
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Total Time: 30 min
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The recipe makes: 10
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Ingredients
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Method
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1 small baguette sliced
1 garlic clove
1 tsp olive oil
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Preheat griddle. Drizzle each slice of the baguette with olive oil and grill on both sides until crisp. Peel the garlic and rub over each grilled slice.
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1 good quality courgette diced
1 garlic clove finely chopped
1tsp olive oil
1 tbsp lemon juice
salt and black pepper
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Heat the olive on a pan, sauté courgette and the garlic for 5 minutes. Add salt and pepper cook until they are golden. Add lemon juice.
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1 tsp lemon zest
a handful Greek basil
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Top each sliced bruschetta with cooked courgette. Garnish with Greek basil and optionally lemon zest.
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Spicy Parmesan Biscuits
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Preparing Time: 20 min Chilling: 30 min
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Bake Time: 15 min
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Total time: 1 hour 5 min
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Makes: 8-10; pastry can be made 1 day in advance
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| Ingredients | Method |
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60 g plain flour
pinch of salt
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
45 g chilled and diced unsalted butter
60 g grated Parmesan cheese
1 tbsp cold water
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Place all ingredients in a glass mixing bowl. Crumble them with the fingerprints until resamble fine bread crumbs. Gather the ingredients to form the smooth ball dough.
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Flour lightly the worktop and roll out the Parmesan pastry. The dough shoud be 4-5 mm thick. Use the pumpkin shape cookie cutter and stamp out 8-10 shapes. If necessary, gather and roll out the pastry again to use it all.
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Line a baking tray with baking paper. Place the biscuits on the tray and refrigerate 30 min. Preheat the oven to 180ºC/Gas mark 4.
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Remove the biscuits from the fridge and bake around10 min until golden brown. The biscuits will puff a little. Serve with Roasted Butternut Squash Soup with Banana Shallot
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Roasted Butternut Squash Soup with Banana Shallot
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Preparing Time: 10 min
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Roast Time: 30 min Cook Time: 20 min
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Total Time: 60 min, can be made 2 days in advance
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The recipe makes: 1.3 l; the detailed recipe here
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Ingredients
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Method
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1 butternut squash diced and roasted
1 large banana shallot finely chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
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Place the large, thick-bottom saucepan over the medium heat. Pour the olive and when it's hot, add the chopped shallot and fry for 2 minutes, stir from time to time to avoid the burnt onion. Add the roasted squash and stir to mix the vegetables.
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1 liter of stock eg. beef, chicken or vegetable
50 ml double cream
salt and pepper to taste
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Pour the stock into the saucepan and bring to the boil. Remove the saucepan from the heat and blend the mixture until smooth.Pour the double cream into the saucepan, add salt and pepper to taste and return the saucepan to the heat to warm it through.
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Serve with Parmesan Biscuits
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| Hot Pork Empanadas with Lime Dip | |
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Preparing time for ingredients: 30 min
Preparing time for the dough: 15 min
Preparing time for the dip: 5 min
Asembling the empanadas: 45 min
Chilling the dip: 20 min
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Cook time for the pork filling: 15 min
Chilling for the pork filling: 30 min
Rest time for the dough: 30 min
Bake time for empanadas: 15-20 min
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Total time: 2.5 hours
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Makes: 20
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Ingredients
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Method
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For the filling:
1 tbs sunflower oil
½ medium onion finely chopped
175 g minced pork
3 garlic cloves, smashed or finely chopped
1 red chilli seeded and finely chopped
½ ground cumin
½ ground cinnamon
125 ml tomato puree
1 tsp organic tomato paste
2 tbsp raisins
10 green olives finely chopped
salt and pepper to taste
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Heat the oil in a pan, add onion and soft it for 5 minutes.
Add the minced pork and fry until lightly brown. Add the garlic, chilli, cook them for 3 minutes. Add spices, tomato puree and tomato paste, raisins and olives.
Reduce the heat to low and cook until thick about 15 min. Add salt and pepper, stir and set aside to cool. You can place it in the fridge and keep it there for 30 minutes.
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For the dough:
175 g plain flour
½ tsp salt
30 g unsalted butter
90 ml warm water
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Place the flour and salt in a mixing bowl, combine. Add the butter and rub into the flower until resembles breadcrumbs. Add the water and stir to combine. Using your hands, gather all ingredients. Transfer the dough onto the lightly floured worktop and knead until smooth. Wrap the dough in the plastic wrap and let it rest in room temperature for 30 min.
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For the Lime Dip
300 ml of Greek yoghurt
½ lime, only juice
2 tbsp fresh coriander chopped
1 tsp lime zest
Salt and pepper to taste
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Pour the yogurt to a glass bowl. Add the lime juice, coriander, lime zest, salt and pepper. Combine all ingredients and tranfer the dip to the serving container. Chill before serving.
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Roll out the dough to a 2 mm thickness, cut out the rounds with the cookie cutter. Place 1 tsp of the filling on each round, fold the dough over the filling and seal tightly.
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Preheat the oven to 200°C. Gas Mark 5. Line the baking tray with baking paper and place the empanadas onto it. Brush with egg wash. Bake about 15-20 min until golden brown. Serve warm with the lime dip.
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| Mushroom Tartlets | |
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Preparing Time for Shortcrust Pastry: 15 min;
Chilling: 30 min or overnight;
Preparing time for Mashroom Sauce: 20 min;
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Bake Time for Shortcrust Pastry: 15-20 min
Cook Time for Mushrooms Sauce: 20 min
Bake Time for Mushroom Tartlets: 20 min
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Total time: 1 hour 25 min
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Make: 6 tartlets 11.5cmx6.5 cm (4.5inch x2.5 inch);
the detailed recipe here
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| Ingredients | Method |
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Shortcrust Pastry (Pâte Brisée) from this recipe
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Sprinkle the worktop lightly with the flour. Roll out the chilled pastry using short sharp strokes to avoid stretching. The pastry should be 5mm thick. |
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Cut out the rectangles, they should be 2 cm larger than the tins. Lift each rectangle up, place in the tin and press the dough into its corners using your fingers. Don’t trim the edges, only press lightly. Chill 30 minutes.
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Heat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/Gas mark 6 and cut baking paper into 6 rectangles. Fill each pastry case with the paper rectangle and press the paper, particularly in the corners of each case and fill with ceramic beans to weight it down. Bake the cases around 20 minutes (blind baking).Remove pastry shells from the tins. Leave them to cool.
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Mushroom and Cheese Sauce (from this recipe) |
Heat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/Gas mark 6.
Spoon the mushrooms and cheese sauce into each pastry case; pop them in the oven. Bake about 20 minutes until sauce is set and the edges of the cases are lightly browned. Remove from the oven and let the tartlets rest for 10 minutes. Serve warm.
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Apple Muffins
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Preparing time: 20 min
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Bake time: 20 min
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Total time: 40 min
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Makes: 12; the detailed recipe you will find here
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Ingredients
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Method
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250 g plain flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
100 g golden caster sugar
70 g brown sugar
25 gr chopped walnuts
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Place the flour, spices, baking powder, bicarbonate soda, sugar and walnuts in a mixing bowl. Mix the ingredients.
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100 g unsalted butter, melted
2 free range eggs
125 ml full fat milk
210 g peeled and chopped finely apples eg. Golden Delicious
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In a separate bowl mix the milk and eggs. Add the cool melted butter and stir to combine the ingredients well. Pour the egg mixture into the bowl with the dry ingredients. Combine them gently with a wire whisk. Add the diced apples and stir them into the dough.
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Preheat the oven to 180°C (up and down)/ Gas mark 4. Spoon the dough into the cases to fill ¾ of each case. Place the tray into the oven and bake about 25 minutes until golden brown. The muffins are ready when a skewer placed in the dough comes out dry.
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