Happy Noo Year!

I've been eating quite a lot of things over the past few weeks, so the above is a little summary. Here's to a 2012 filled with more food, fun, drink, excitement, peace on earth, and naps.

Eating and greeting 2010

I seem to become less and less excited about new year as I get older, and for the last few years I have generally stayed in and cooked enough food for about ten people (number of people actually consuming food=2). And the transition into 2010 was no different.
On the menu this new year were smoked salmon and cream cheese blinis, sea bass and salmon goujons with a green salad and guacamole, whole prawns baked with garlic and thyme, potted crab with toast, and mini jacket potatoes with sour cream and chives. And a large platter of profiteroles for pudding. I may possibly have cooked too much food.
Most of the above are quite self-explanantory, but this was the first time I'd made either potted crab or choux pastry for the profiteroles. Both turned out to be very simple to prepare and delicious. The potted crab was based on this recipe by Thane Prince although I used a pinch of ground chilli and some paprika instead of tabasco, and only a little bit of lemon zest. The resulting dish was very rich but packed full of flavour.

The choux pastry recipe was from Delia Smith with an additional tip from The Ample Cook about letting the butter, water and flour mix cool a bit before adding the eggs (I fear scramblage would have occurred if I hadn't done this). Some whipped cream and a chocolate sauce made of melted chocolate and single cream finished things off.

And so 2010 started with feeling rather full up and in need of a lie down.