The Beginning

My husband and I rarely get to go out. With two small children and living a long way from any family we hardly ever get the opportunity to try out new restaurants. When we do, it is usually the types that have kiddie menus and high chairs.Feeling rather sorry for ourselves and bored of staying home and watching telly every Saturday night, we decided to copy dear friends of ours and make Saturday nights "grown up" nights, complete with "grown up" food. Each Saturday one of us would get the chance to try out a new recipe. Something weird and exotic that we have never made ourselves. No holding back on any ingredients, nothing is off the table. Bring on the cream, oil and chocolate. Now because I am ALWAYS on some kind of diet, I have decided that on Saturdays I will let my hair down so to speak. So from now on, Saturdays are know as FAT SATURDAYS!

Last night was my turn choose. OOo...how exciting! So many recipes and so little time. I spent Friday evening surfing the web for ideas. I am such a fan of Jamie (Oliver that is) so of course I had to try one of his recipes, and then I thought, when considering deep frying something, who better to consult than Nigella. So armed with some recipes from these two foodies, were off to Waitrose to buy ingredients. What a joy. Coming from South Africa, we are used to good food, but the ingredients that you can find here in the UK are just awesome. WOW. It takes forever to shop here, there is just so much choice!

We invited Mark, a good friend of ours over as well, the evening was getting more and more exciting. Now Mark is one of the friends who we stole the idea from. He and his wife are just the most incredible cooks. They love their food and it is always a joy to get tips from them.

So kids off to bed, after a hearty meal of Chicken Nuggets and carrots, we were ready to start.

The recipes I chose were rather basic, but it was stuff that I've never tried to make before. First off we started with Nigella's Salt and Pepper Squid. I don't know why I have never tried to make calamari before. It was SO easy and I just love it. (Although I do have a few burn marks from the oil splattering in my face. OUCH! I am definitely investing in one of those oil-shieldy-thingemajiggies.) This recipe was particularly good and if I must say, the best calamari I have ever eaten! Give it a try!Thank you Nigella! We did however, add a little garlic mayonnaise to the recipe, that I concocted myself. It just added that little punch. It was very easy: one clove of garlic, half a red chilli finely chopped, some smoke paprika mixed into some good mayonnaise. What a joy!

For mains I opted for Steak. I just loooovvvee steak. But, Jamie style steak was on the menu tonight. As I was the only girl (Mark's wife and daughters are visiting in South Africa), I decided to go for one of Jamie's Boys Night in recipes: Jamie's Best chargrilled Steak with Salsa Verdi. I had never tried Salsa Verdi until last night and the reason I chose to, was because it contained two ingredients that I am not particularly fond of; Anchovies and Capers. But, vowing to try new things, I must say, I am glad I took the risk. I would however, recommend to use a food processor when making the salsa, otherwise it involves ALOT of chopping. I found this out the hard way. Now I must admit, we did not follow the WHOLE Jamie recipe. I did not make the mushrooms and I did not wrap the steak in bacon. I don't know, I think the salsa was rich enough, bacon would have pushed it over the edge, maybe next time.

Of course Stefan "braaied" the steak just perfectly, rare, just the way I like it and the salsa was just perfect accompaniment. Of course no steak if complete without chips, so we made the best chips we could think of. Yes, we even used a recipe for this! Auntie Donna Hay's chips. Nothing too complicated, just thinly sliced, tossed in sea salt and olive oil and then baked in the oven till golden brown. YUMMY! O yes, and there was salad too. I almost forgot, the Caprese Salad with Red Peppers. I used a Jamie recipe again, but made a few adjustments. Well, actually, the adjustments happened purely by mistake as I had read through so many recipes, I got confused and bought Goats cheese instead of Mozzarella. However, it worked out just great. I also added some thinly sliced courgettes. Wafer thin, peeled with a potato peeler and marinated it in the dressing I made of lemon juice, olive oil and chillies.

Well the evening was supposed to be rounded off with a fruit salad made from fresh cherries and strawberries that we bought at Kingston market that morning, but we were all too stuffed. Has any one else every shopped at Kingston Market? What a joy. A great place to get your fruit and veg, IF you are going to consume it the same day! Things are often a bit overripe and must be used almost immediately. Nice shopping experience though.

Anyway, the cherries and strawberries were enjoyed today. They were wonderful over ice cream. So it is back to Monday and dieting, until next Saturday. I wish I could only eat once a week and make it worth it, because last night was great.

O yes, next time I will take proper photos. I was stupid not too, the only ones I've got are of the left overs. Silly me.

Untill next Saturday....

Left overs. Tasted even better today