We missed Tracey and Janet, all the pesky bugs that are around at the moment are very annoying. But we had a good evening nonetheless, even though a couple of the recipes were very much less than successful!

Starter

Julie – roasted squash soup with chestnuts 

From Sainsbury’s magazine. This had crème fraiche in the soup and chestnuts and bacon in the topping. Julie said it was to make. We loved it and thought it might make a good soup at Christmas time. 

Main

Justine – Spiced rubbed lamb.

This was roasted, and then had a sauce made which didn’t reduce as much as she thought it should. Although there weren’t many lamb lovers at the table, we appreciated the tasty gravy that had the addition of Marmite in the stock.

Sides

Karen – spicy aubergine and feta with oven dried tomatoes

Karen said that this was labour intensive, but a benefit was that it could be vegan. It included raisins soaked in white wine vinegar, plus pine nuts, long roasted tomatoes. Really delicious.

Debrah – cashew coriander and mango salad with cabbage and carrots.

This had a refreshing citrus dressing, involving no oils but also ginger and sugar. Light, tasty, lovely.

Puddings

Jane – raspberry and pistachio tart

It was a palaver making pistachio paste, then whilst making it it seemed that the pastry was too wet and chunky. It was tasty, but the cream was runny and the pastry was miles too thick. 

Sue – Chocolate peanut butter fondant puddings with banana ice cream 

The recipe said to cook the fondants for 8 10 minutes which seemed much too short. And indeed it was, Sue ended up cooking them for at least half an hour. Eventually delicious, but certainly no good following the recipe. Banana ice cream was just bananas and crème fraiche combined, not the best.

Both the puddings would not have been done again