Feast for six and some figs

It isn’t so much what’s on the table that matters, as what’s on the chairs. ~ W. S. Gilbert

We get caught up in the daily workings of the corporate machinery. We often forget and go on long spells without sitting with friends and loved ones for a home cooked meal and quality time. Are we really that busy ? If so, what’s the ultimate goal of this constant .
A few years ago before I started blogging, I realized that although I talked tried talking with my friends on the phone or the interwebs, and not only when I need something, which is one of my pet peeves, we rarely ever got to sit down for meal together and just relax. Interaction became a quick “Hey how are doing ?”; “What’s going on with you ?”, “Nothing much”, “Oh nice !!”, “Keep at it”, “that sucks !”,”Nice seeing you, we’ll catch up sometime !” . But do we really catch up ? Months go by, and the same routine happens again, except for the occasional meetup at a lounge or club.

So I came up with a plan. A 5-course meal for friends prepared by myself and anyone who wanted to help. I figured it was a great way for all my eclectic group of friends to meet each other as well. Harking back to the days of old when people had dinner parties. Does anyone still do those ? A chilled evening of good company and food. If the food was bad , we could always order takeout. The question now remained how to be fair to everyone. This was when the only social network I frequented was Facebook. I hadn’t seen the twitter light then. I decided I was going to create a post at a peak time when most of my friends were on and the first 5 people that replied got in on the feast.

After the winners were selected, messages were sent back and forth to help select the menu. Several options were offered for each portion of the meal. A consensus was used to pick the hero for each section of the meal. The first one went like this :

Appetizer: Mango Salsa with tortilla chips OR Fried beef wontons with a spicy orange Asian inspired dipping sauce
Soup: Cream of asparagus soup with creme fraiche OR Shrimp and lobster bisque
Salad: Caesar salad OR Caprese salad
Entree: Grilled rib-eye with tomatillo, jalapeno and mango chutney with honeyed parsnips OR lemon-herb risotto with white Fish ( whatever is available) + Asparagus and a citrus hollandaise
Desert: Tiramisu OR Coconut pana cota with raspberry coulis OR Lavender creme brulee

It was a really fun, relaxing time spent cooking ,eating and just catching up with friends over a glass of wine and good food. It wasn’t a quick 30 minute stop at a restaurant. It was a good couple of hours where the meal was savored. No shoveling the food down and rushing to the next appointment.I stopped doing it back then because people flaked out or maybe they didn’t trust my cooking, who knows ? I’m thinking of starting it back up. Just have to figure out the logistics, how to cover the costs and a few other things. Maybe a smaller group, What say you readers.

Not to forget, since this is food blog, Here’s a recipe of some figs and blue cheese tartlettes I took to work yesterday. I scored a pound of figs last week at Belvedere square. I normally wouldn’t get them, but I wasn’t sure If I was going to see any again before the season was over.

Feast for Six and some figs

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Recipe type: Appetizer

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• Tart dough
• 1 cup of pastry flour
• 1/2 cup of almond flour
• 1/2 cup of all purpose flour
• 1 stick of butter, chliied and cut into cubes
• 6 tbs of cold water
• 1/2 tsp of salt
• 4oz of blue cheese
• 3 tbs of cream
• 2 tsp of freshly cracked black pepper
• 1 tbs of dried taragon
• 4 figs
• 6 sprigs of fresh thyme/ 1 tbs of dried thyme
• 3 tbs of orange marmalade, heated
• 2 tbs of olive oil

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F
2. Blend all the flours together with the salt.
3. Add in the butter and cut into the flour with a pastry blender.
4. Add in the cream and mix to together till a dough just forms.
5. Press evenly into a pie pan or 4 tart pans, in this instance.
6. Put in the refrigerator, while you prepare the filling.
7. Add the cream to the blue cheese and mash together to form a loose paste.
8. Add in the black pepper to the cheese mixture.
9. Take the crust out of the fridge and divide the the cheese mixture evenly into the four tart pans.
10. Drizzle olive oil on each of the tart
11. Divide the herbs evenly among the tarts as well.
12. Cut the figs in half and put one fig in each tart pan
13. Bake for 40-45 mins.
14. Top with the orange marmalade glaze.
15. Let cool a little bit and Enjoy.

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