Sunday, December 30, 2007

A purple dinner

I’ve been left alone to decorate the table whilst D tends to the incredible roasted shoulder of lamb with smashed veg and greens from Jamie Oliver’s wonderful Jamie at Home book. And to celebrate that we’ve supplemented the purple crockery and platter collection I go slightly purple crazy! The purple hued layered runners are supplemented with the sparkly magenta napkins and purple sparkly napkin rings for the girls and purple not so sparkly with silver stars for the boys. D’s new purple satin handbags and shoe Christmas decorations are removed form the tree and transferred to the table, with the purple shiny ex-Mardi Gras beads, mirrored candles and the metal snowflakes strewn randomly (?) in the gaps in between.

Everyone has got customised cutlery for tonight - D her purple set (of course!), LLcT with iron weapons forged in a volcano fire by Thor, MC with his Christmas Global-esque knife and fork, E(D) with dinky little dusty sized (aka baby’s first) cutlery and me with my ever so elegant new today LLB silverware.

I was determined not to waste the remaining lobster and whipped up the tiniest starters of puff pastry cases stuffed to the brim with creamy lobster and remaining seafood goodies. These I topped with puff pastry initials which I did unfortunately singe a tad. But everything was polished off rather sharpish so I don’t think anyone really minded.

The main event of the evening was the juicy Mr. Knibbs’ lamb, which is slashed, anointed with oil and then slow roasted for four hours on a bed of large sprigs of rosemary and unpeeled garlic cloves. The stunning woolly beast is served with gently sautéed cabbage and potatoes, Swedes and carrots all smashed together. The popular piquant sauce is capers, chicken stock, a large bunch of mint and red vinegar. Jamie is right, the shredded lamb is incredible and melt-in-the mouth and the vegetables aren't too bad either.

A purple-tastic meal indeed!

No comments: