Christmas Dinner

For the last Come Dine With Us session of the year, it was only right that we pull out all the stops and cook a Christmas dinner.

We first had to get the TWO turkeys in the oven straight away to get them cooking. They needed to cook for three hours so we covered them in muslin and poured melted butter over. Whilst the turkeys were cooking we basted them every half an hour or so.

Whilst the turkeys were in the oven we got on with preparing the vegetables. Peeling and chopping potatoes, parsnips, carrots and Brussels sprouts (of course!). 

We also got on with making our gravy and stuffing.

We roasted the potatoes in duck fat, we glazed the parsnips in honey and we boiled the brussel sprouts before crushing them in a dish and mixing with a bit of cream and Parmesan before cooking in the oven for 15 minutes. This is a great for people who don't like the traditional brussel.

We set the table...

... And sat down for Christmas dinner together:

After all this food we still had room for warm mince pies and cream.

We all had a very festive day and it was a great way to finish off the year.

We wish all our members and staff who have supported us over the year a very Merry  Christmas and Happy New Year!

Lambeth Learning Disability Assembly

Today the cooking group catered for the launch of the Lambeth Learning Disability Assembly Forum. This is a group that has been set up to represent the people of Lambeth who have a learning disability or care for someone who does.

The cooking group were asked to produce a buffet lunch for 65 people.

The group took on this challenge and yesterday cooked lemon drizzle cake, flap jacks and caramelised onion and goats cheese tartlets ready for today.

We also prepared chicken tikka, egg & cress, tuna & sweet corn and homemade houmous to be used as fillings for sandwiches we put together today.

Today we prepared smoked cheese, salami and dill pickle open sandwiches..

.. Egg and cress sandwiches..

... Ham and tomato..

... Tuna and sweet corn...

And chicken tikka and salad wraps...

We also prepared homemade houmous    and carrot sandwiches.

We took the food to the event and presented the buffet to a hungry crowd.

The chefs were very proud of the spread they had prepared.

Everyone enjoyed the food especially the lemon drizzle cake! 

We received loads of compliments about the food which made the cooking group really happy about what they had accomplished in such a short space of time.

Fruit skewers and cooked pineapple.

This dessert is a fun way to present fruit and involves doing something a bit different with pineapple.

Firstly we chopped bananas, melon and prepared strawberries.

We then put the fruit on skewers.

For the pineapple we chopped the pineapple and drizzled over a mixture of honey, olive oil and cinnamon.

We then put these on a hot pan until they were browned on each side.

Very tasty!

Salmon tagliatelle

The group found a recipe for a salmon and chilli tagliatelle which they wanted to make today. 

First we had to chop up some spring onions, garlic and red chilli.

We then poached salmon fillets and got our ingredients ready for the pan.

We then cooked the chilli, spring onion and garlic in a hot pan with a glug of olive oil.

We then cooked the fresh tagliatelle and added the flaked salmon and pasta to the cooked spring onion, garlic and chilli.

We added some parsley before serving.

The group also made a fresh salad to accompany the meal.

This was a very flavourful dish and the group would like to try with other seafood like prawns or crab.

Cottage Pie

The weather is beginning to change and Autumn will soon be upon us so it is time to start thinking about what meals we can make to keep us warm on cold days.

The group decided on a comforting cottage pie, which incorporates lots of vegetables.

First we peeled and chopped potato and sweet potato for the topping, and chopped onion and carrot.

We then fried the onion and carrot with some garlic and added the mince.

Once the mince was browned off we added beef stock, seasoning, garden peas and sweetcorn. We let this simmer whilst the potatoes were boiling.

We mashed the sweet potato and potato together to create the topping of our cottage pie.

Once the mince had simmered for a few minutes we put it in a dish and topped with the potato mix. We then baked this in the oven for half an hour.

We had the cottage pie with broccoli on the side.

Everyone really enjoyed the cottage pie and loved the sweet potato added to the mash. Everyone agreed that this dish is a great way to incorporate vegetables into a meal and would be a great winter warmer on a cold day.

Lemon Cheesecake

To make this lemon cheesecake we started with the base.

First we had to break up the biscuits, to do this we put the biscuits in a plastic bag and broke them up using a rolling pin:

We mixed the broken biscuit mixture with some melted butter, this is so the butter can act as glue to hold the base together once it has cooled.

We then compacted the mixture into the bottom of a cake tin, creating an even layer to form the base.

The base then went in the fridge whilst we prepared the rest of the cheesecake. 

To make the topping we mixed marscepone cheese with caster sugar:

We then added the zest and the juice of two lemons to the cheese and sugar and mixed really well.

We then spread the mixture over the biscuit base and put back in the fridge to set.

We served the cheesecake with frozen mixed berries that we had heated in a pan for a few minutes.

The cheesecake was a great success and everybody loved it! 

Sea Food Pasta

The group found a recipe for a seafood pasta in a tomato sauce in one of our cookbooks. As some of us do not eat seafood that often we decided to give it a go.









First we finely diced garlic and onion.

We then cooked them down in a little olive oil until they had soften.
To this we added paprika, tinned tomatoes, a little chicken stock and seasoning.
We brought this the boil and added the mixed seafood and simmered for 5 minutes.

We added the pasta to the sauce and then served the dish with fresh parsley and a wedge of lemon. The group enjoyed the pasta but also suggested that adding some chili would improve the flavour.
  

Mackerel Fish Cakes

The group found this recipe for mackerel fish cakes. Some of the group had never tried mackerel before so were excited to try something new.

We spoke about the nutritious value of mackerel and found out that it is rich in essential oils, vitamins and minerals. We also found that it is relatively cheap compared to other fish.

To make the fish cakes we used cooked mackerel fillets, cold mash potato, spring onions and horseradish sauce.

First we shredded the mackerel and finely chopped the spring onions.

We then added the cold mash potato and four tbsp's of horseradish and mixed well.

We then made the mixture into fish cakes and dipped them in flour, egg and then bread crumbs to create a crunchy outer layer once cooked.

We baked our fishcakes in the oven for about 35 minutes but for quicker results you can fry them.

Ready to go in the oven.

Whilst the fish cakes were cooking the group prepared a fresh with tomatoes, cucumber, spring onion, coriander, peppers, feta and olives in an olive oil and lemon dressing.

Chopping ingredients for the salad.

The finished salad.

Once the fish cakes were crispy and golden on the outside we served them with the salad.

 Everyone thought the fishcakes were very tasty and a great meal during summer.