Monday, April 25, 2011

Lunch en famille

One if my absolute favourite things is having people round for food. Being the long weekend, we'd invited my sister in law, her husband and two lovely daughters, plus a mutual friend and her two lovely sons. As I have a table for four, I decided to do buffet-style and be informal. Every buffet needs potato salad, which Glutton Boy made. We had a small argument as to whether he'd made enough- can you ever have too much potato salad? GB also made a retro waldorf salad, which I love- crunchy and sweet and sharp. He garnished it in a way reminiscent of his days working in a regional hotel:






I also roasted a chicken and for the veggies, a sticky onion and cheddar quiche. The highlight was a beetroot salad from Ottolenghi's Plenty- one of my favourite books. To be totally honest, I'm not a huge fan of vegetables, not unless they're cooked Vichy or smothered in hollandaise. But this salad takes beetroot and mixes it with a tomato and roast pepper dressing, red onion, dill and Greek yoghurt. The colour of this beauty alone lifts my spirit but it is ridiculously delicious and also impressive:






Lastly, I made a peanut butter chocolate cheesecake;






I don't think I've ever cooked for such effusive and appreciative guests- it makes my heart sing to hear people making happy-eating noises! We're all gluttons at heart!


Well, the washing up awaits...


With love from GluttonGirl

In honour of times gone by

If serving waldorf salad wasn't retro enough, GluttonBoy served it like this:



Please note the apple garnish. Love it!

With love from GluttonGirl