Come Dine with Me

[jazzactivist]

Does anyone else watch this programme on TV? I don't get to see it often, but I love it. It consists of 5 ordinary people who live in the same area inviting one another round to their houses for a 3 course meal that they cook themselves. After each meal the guests give a score out of 10, and the one with the highest score at the end of the week wins £1000. It is fascinating to see the variety of meals that people prepare, and the range of cooking skill.

If you were to cook a 3 course meal at your house for Rural Musers what would it be? Here is mine:

Starter: Fingers of Welsh Rarebit made with local, sharp Loch Arthur cheese.

Main course: Pan fried sea bass fillets (griddled courgettes for vegetarians) on a sweet potato rosti, with caper and green olive sauce, accompanied by a peppery rocket and baby tomato salad.

Dessert: Cranachan - made with toated oatmeal, Jura malt whisky, whipped double cream, and raspberries from my garden in a rose water marinade.

It would be served in my homely, arty dining room with some mellow Latin jazz playing in the background, and some suitable wines for each course.

Hope that you enjoy it.

[Crocus]

Starter: Fresh Mango slivers with a curry and ginger syrup.

Main Course: Medallions of fillet, pan fried in olive oil, with a sauce of sliced mushrooms, dash of oyster sauce, freshly ground black peppar and double cream.

Roasted baby beetroot, baby onions and young green beans, sprinkled with olive oil, course sea salt, black pepper and a few drops of lime juice.

Dessert: Chocolate biscuits with a caramal, cream and Contreau topping.

Wine: 2003 Vintage Springfield whole berry Cabernet Sauvignon.

Damask tablecloth, glass vase with green apples in the bottom and lillies on the table, candles in wall mounted candle sticks.

Music: New World Symphony by Dvorak.

After dinner wine: Weltevreden White Muscadel made from a vineyard planted in 1900.

[Oola]

Blimey, my cooking is so basic you all put me to shame! I always end up doing simple 'rustic' dinners. What I do know how to cook I can cook well, I just haven't expanded my reportoire very far. Will have to have a think about this one, otherwise I'd just end up serving a vegetarian curry or something!!!!

[Crocus]

Hi Oola, I don't cook this kind of food very often, I must add. The starter is actually quite simple. We had something similar many years ago in a very nice restaurant. The filet hubby likes to cook and the vegetables is also quite straight forward. The dessert is actually a fridge tart. Not difficult at all.

[jazzactivist]

Go on Oola, give it a go. The beauty of the TV programme was that there was a range of cooking skills and food interests. What about designing a menu based around local produce as per your other thread?

[Redstart]

Being winter my seasonal dinner would be something like:

Starter: sautéed hot mushrooms and croutons on a bed of dressed lamb's lettuce in an olive oil and vinegar dressing

Main course: carbonnade of beef (beans for the vegetarians) served with a potato and celeriac mash and braised red cabbage

Dessert: a spicy citrussy apple pie (Robert Carrier's Old English Apple pie) with whipped cream

Wine: a bottle of local white (an Aaargauer wine) withthe starter and a red merlot (from southern Switzerland) and/or the same beer as in the carbonnade withthe main course

Music: a soft medley of baroque, esp. Handel, Telemann, Bach

Table: a white damask table cloth with crystal cut wine glasses, silver cutlery and evergreen decorations, with white candles.

It would be a candle-lit dinner.

[Crocus]

Looks wonderful Redstart! The funny thing is, we don't eat this kind of food often! It's only with special celebrations, or so that we will really go to town. Otherwise it's just normal everyday "family" food. 3-course meals is not something we have at all when going out for instance. We usually only have a maincourse. Won't it be nice if we could all get together and cook something really special? Imagine how we will enjoy it!:):)

[fife]

Hi All you can invite me for dinner any time it all sounds delicious.

I would cook:-

Starter in season asparagus steamed then add melted butter lemon and parmesan served with rustic bread

Main pot roasted fillet of beef with horseradish potato cake and red wine gravy

Dessert fondant choclate pudding with extra cold thick cream.

Enjoy.......................

[Crocus]

The Rumbling Tummy!:eek:

[jazzactivist]

These all sound great. I can't wait to get round to your houses. I can taste all the dishes already... drool!

[Oola]

OK I've decided on my starter - homemade spicy parsnip soup served with homemade crusty rolls and butter.

Now on to the main course!....might be a while yet ;)

[Crocus]

Homemade crusty rolls ......yum..... I can't do that Oola!

Hi Jazz, what on earth have you done to us by putting in this tummy rumbling and drooling thread!:eek:;):)

[Katelb]

Yes,I agree Crocus,I'm sitting here drooling.
I am like you Oola,I suppose I take the easiest way out and hopefully it would suit all tastes.
I would start with mixed Melon balls and Parma Ham,
Main course would be Beef Wellington with courgettes in tempora batter,and glazed baby carrots.Cheesey Dauphinois potatos for vegetarians.
Desert would be Fresh Raspberry Pavlova with a Raspberry liquore sauce.

I am not very good with choosing wines so I would have to cheat and ask OH what to serve!! I know what I like but it isn't necessarily what everyone else likes.

[Crocus]

I know nothing about wines so hubby had to choose as well Kate!

[Healing Hands]

On Saturday I have a friend who runs my local pub coming over for supper, although it is not a proper dinner party I am starting of with:

Smoked trout pate

Main meal
Shin of Beef and Macaroni

Pud
Cherry Cheese Cake

These are all easy to cook and to prepare as they will not be coming over till quite late and then will have to get back to the pub to close up, but I thought it would be nice for them to have someone cook and look after them for once, as they both work so hard.

We will have white and red wine depending on what they prefer to drink with the meal, anf that will be followed by some Damson Gin that I made in September.

Can I come to your dinner party though Jazzactivist your menu sounds wonderful. I will come back to this thread and let you know what I would cook if it was a proper dinner party.

[SummerSkye]

All of your meals sound wonderful, pushed for a choice I would have to go with Fife and the seasonal asparagus which I love.
My menu, bearing in mind that it is summer here,
a starter of salad greens topped with slow oven roasted capsicum strips and semi dried cherry tomatoes dressed with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
Main: Leg of lamb, roasted and served with a wine gravy, accompanied by roast vegetable mix (potato,pumpkin,carrot,onion,pear) plus french green beans, topped and tailed then briefly cooked whole, tossed in butter.
Dessert: my favourite lime/lemon tart served with ice cream and cream.
Wine: Probably a chilled white burgundy would suit the entire meal.

[Crocus]

This series is on our telly at the moment, and I must say, we enjoy it quite a lot. I especially like the psychology of it all where 5 total strangers can become quite good friends (it seems) in a week. With each first night of the new week I wonder what on earth do you talk about when you don't know anybody around the dining table? I always try to predict who may win, but of course it's not really possible. Some of the menus are quite ambitious, I must say. I also quite like the ghost voice - he really make quite some comments!

What I don't like about the program is that people go sneaking about in you bedroom, your wardrobe etc. I won't like that at all and will probably lock my bedroom door should I participate in this program.

[souter girl]

Hate to sound awkward, but I have seen it and hated it (sorry Jazz!)
If any guests poked around in my bedroom they would be shown the door and never re - invited and so many hosts/hostesses really seem to fancy themselves and/or do the most peculiar things " to impress" - just the sort of dinner party I hate. Actualy I don't do dinner parties - either give or go to. Friends round to share a meal and an evening, that's one thing, but not this pretentious twaddle. I can only imagine people watch it out of a sort of macabre fascination.

[Crocus]

I don't like how people boast about their food being the best or better, but I quite like the psychology behind it. The why, the how, the where, and the stuff between the lines.

[jazzactivist]

I think that the programme has really gone downhill since I first started watching it. At first it was a game attempt by 5 people who live in the same area to cook and host dinner. The people were generally foodies, the voiceover was descriptive, and there was more coverage of them actually making the food and talking about it. Now it seems to be just another 'laugh at the lunatics' type programme, and there is hardly any cooking going on, and the people are usually a group doomed not to get on. It's a real shame. I don't like the lurking around the rest of the house while the host cooks either, but have you never gone into your host's bathroom and snooped a bit???? I have. I like to look at their bathroom, accessories and toiletries and can never resist a peek in their bathroom cabinet as it tells you quite a lot about the person's personal life...

There's no reason for our RM Come Dine With Me to be like that though! I would follow Oola's starter with a main course of Lemon Sole with a butter and parsley sauce, tiny sauted potatoes and carrot and cucumber salad.

[Crocus]

That sounds quite delicious. I won't know what to cook, especially for strangers! I think my nerves will get the better of me. Something else about the program I don't like is the fact that these poor people sometimes have to wait 90 minutes between courses, sometimes even longer. My goodness, what time of night do they get to go home?

[jazzactivist]

And doing it every night for a week too crocus! I would be zonked by night two...

[Crocus]

Hopefully they're all on leave for the week.....