Mephisto2

So, as some of you may know, I recently moved into a new house and we just spent the past two weeks decorating and renovating. It's only a temporary residence whilst we build our own new dream-home. Having said that, my wife and I are feeling that little bit house-proud and have invited her extended family over for dinner on Friday.

Now I love cooking. I'm also looking forward to the dinner party. However, due to the fact that we have small stand-alone electric oven and hob (brand new, but not gas unfortunately and sort of "old style"), I'm worried about my ability to prepare a meal large enough, or interesting enough, for our guests.

I have made several suggestions, most of which we have abandoned.

1) Fillet of pork with a mushroom stuffing. These are little "mini-roasts" that you create by opening out a fillet and rolling up again around a stuffing. They are cooked individually in small tin-foil parcels. I aboslutely love them but my wife thinks they are too dry (I sometimes overcook pork!), so that's out.

2) The same as above but with beef. My wife again doesn't really like these, but I adore them.

3) Lasagne - I'm an old schoold lasagne cooker and make it entirely from scratch, incuding the bechemal sauce and pasta. This makes for absolutely lovely tasting lasagne but it takes too long and is rather messy. Also, lasagne for a dinner party is a bit boring.

4) Spaghettie Bolognese - Rather boring but a traditional Aussie choice for popular and large dinners. I think this is too cliched so nixed this idea.


I'm leaning towards making a number of dishes, and letting people pick and choose. My father-in-law cannot, under any circumstances, eat pork. Not on religious grounds, unless it's a sin to sit on the toilet and loose half your body weight!

I need a good starter. I was going to go with my favourite 'Roquet and Fig Salad with Gorgonzola Cheese", but it's not really the season for figs. So what else?


Main courses. I've been asked to cook my chicken curry. To be honest, it's extremely easy and a rather boring choice, but it's very popular. I guess it can't be too bad if everyone likes it. But I want at least two more.

For dessert, it will be port and cheese. I'm a bit of cheese chauvinist and will be serving some of the best (and most expensive!) French and Italian cheeses you can buy in Australia. Unfortunately, the best cheese in the world is impossible to get here (Roquefort) as it is illegal to import due to its unpasteurised nature. However, Livarot, Pont Leveque, St Agur, Gorganzola Dolce Latte, Formagge D'Affinois, real camembert, aged English cheddar and Stilton are all on the list. I might even stoop to some of the local cheeses to keep my Aussie friends happy!

Ideally I should also like another, light and easy to prepare dessert.


So help me out my fellow gourmands! Give me your suggestions for

Starter
Additional Main Courses
Dessert

They should be easy to prepare on a small electric oven/hob. That's about it.



Mr Mephisto