A dish we enjoyed at our Feast of Fish evening taken out of a River Cottage Light & Easy Cook book.


Ingredients:
4 courgettes grated into long strips
Big Pinch of Chilli or Peri Peri Flakes
Salt
Pepper
Olive Oil
Lemon Zest and its juice
Chopped Parsley
Chopped Basil

Method: Mix everything into a bowl and serve on the side of seafood.

Batter Peter Hadfield made on Saturday, originally from Elizabeth David, via the River Cafe Cookbook.

Ingredients
4oz plain flour sieved into a bowl
2tbs olive oil 
150ml water 
Salt
2 Egg Whites

Method: 
4oz plain flour sieved into a bowl, 2tbs olive oil and 150ml water whisked in to make a creamy batter. Leave in the fridge for a couple of hours. 
Season. Whisk 2 egg whites and fold in; use! Simples!

Cooked by Lizzie Heath from Ottolenghi's recipe book Jerusalem. 
Serves: 8

Ingredients
8 medium Romano peppers
1 large tomato, roughly chopped (170g in total) 
2 medium onions, roughly chopped (250g in total)
about 500ml vegetable stock

Stuffing:
140g basmati rice
1½ tbsp baharat spice mix (shop-bought or see recipe, page 299)
½ tsp ground cardamom
2 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped (200g in total)
400g minced lamb
2½ tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley
2 tbsp chopped dill
1½ tbsp dried mint
1½ tsp sugar
salt and black pepper


The method is inside his recipe book - http://www.ottolenghi.co.uk/ruth-s-stuffed-romano-peppers-shop

Another huge THANK YOU to Ben and Sasha from The Secret Garden Cafe for making our evening so wonderful. I am sure we can all say we will be back there again very soon.

We had 22 foodies attend last night, we were spoilt with the most amazing array of food anyone could ask for, all cooked and baked by one chef, Sasha. 

Sasha, Ben and their team seriously pulled out all the stops for us last night. Those who came made it a fantastic evening. 
The Food was thoroughly enjoyed by all. 
I am tucking into the raw chocolate cake as I type, I am in love with the peanut topping. 

The Secret Garden Cafe
15 Kenwyn Street,
Truro, TR1 3BU

Monday – 10.30 – 4.30
Tuesday – 10.30 – 4.30
Wednesday – 10.30 – 4.30
Thursday – 10.30 – 4.30
Friday – 10.30 – 4.30
Saturday – 10.30 – 4.30
Sunday – Closed

We also had a lovely review by our guest Food Blogger "Cornish Foodie" read here
 http://cornishfoodie.tumblr.com/post/100651376606/potluck-a-new-social-eating-experience-eat-and

Cooked by Guy Kerr at our Vegetarian Italian Potluck evening.
Serves: up to 15 people
Suitable for Vegans

Ingredients:
2 sticks celery
2 onions
2 cloves garlic
4 carrots
2 tins tomatoes
1 tin each of flageolet and cannellini beans (though he used dry ones!)
1/4 green cabbage
fresh thyme and rosemary
salt and pepper to taste.

Method:
Fry onion, garlic and celery in olive oil for 5 mins, then add rest of ingredients and cook for as long as possible on low heat. serve with fresh bread.

Baked by Greg Morris for the Vegetarian Italian potluck evening. Recipe taken from the Kenwood World, South Africa.
Serves: Up to 10 people
Suitable for Vegetarians


Ingredients
4 eggs
115g caster sugar
100g plain flour
15g corn flour
25g melted butter

For the filling
115g green and blacks dark chocolate
150ml very strong black coffee
100ml Kahlua coffee liqueur
300ml double cream
½ tsp. vanilla essence
50g caster sugar
3 x 250g cartons mascarpone cheese
Chocolate shavings or grated chocolate,

To decorate
Cocoa powder, for dusting

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas 4. Grease and base line a 22cm spring form cake tin. Fit the Power Whisk. Place the eggs and sugar in the Kenwood Bowl and whisk until pale, thick and creamy. The mixture should be thick enough to hold a trail when the whisk is pulled from the surface.
2. Sieve the flour and corn flour together and lightly fold in half using a metal spoon.
3. Fold in half the melted butter, and then repeat with the remaining flour and butter.
4. Fold in lightly to avoid knocking the air from the mix.
5. Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden. Turn out and leave to cool overnight if time allows. Fit the Roto Food Cutter and grate the plain chocolate. Mix the coffee and liqueur together. Cut the cake into three layers.
6. Line the base and sides of the cake tin with clear film and the base with non-stick baking parchment. Place one sponge layer in the base. Sprinkle over about a third of the coffee mix.
7. Using the Power Whisk, whip the cream, vanilla and sugar together until it forms soft peaks and fold into the cheese. Reserve 4 tbsp. Spread a third of the mix over the sponge. Sprinkle over half the chocolate. Top with another layer of sponge.
8. Drizzle over half the remaining coffee liqueur mix. Top with half the remaining cheese mixture and all the chocolate. Top with the last sponge and press down lightly. Finish with a final layer of cheese mixture. Chill for 2 hours.
9. Release from the tin, peel off the clear film and transfer to a serving plate. Spread the reserved cheese mixture around the edges. Sprinkle with chocolate, dust with cocoa and serve.

Cooked by Taor Morris on our Vegetarian Italian Potluck themed evening. Recipe taken from JamieOliver.com with a few changes made.
Serves 6-8 people
Suitable for Vegetarians (who eat cheese)

Ingredients:
6 large aubergine
olive oil
2 onions, peeled and finely chopped
2 cloves of regular garlic, peeled and finely sliced
2 heaped teaspoon dried oregano
4x400 g good-quality tinned plum tomatoes
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
a little cider vinegar
6 large handfuls Parmesan cheese, freshly grated (but you actually need a lot more)
4 handfuls dried breadcrumbs
300 g buffalo mozzarella

Method:
Remove the stalks from the aubergines, slice them up into 1cm thick slices, and put to one side. Get the frying pan really hot. Meanwhile, put 2 or 3 lugs of olive oil into a large pan on a medium heat. Add the onions, garlic and dried oregano and cook for 10 minutes, until the onion is soft and the garlic has a tiny bit of colour. If you're using tinned tomatoes, break them up and add them to the onions, garlic and oregano. Give the mixture a good stir, then put a lid on the pan and simmer slowly for 15 minutes. 

Meanwhile, grill the aubergines on both sides until lightly charred – do them in batches, as they don't all fit into your griddle pan in one go. As each batch is finished, remove them to a tray and carry on grilling the rest until they're all nicely done. When the tomato sauce is reduced and sweet, season it carefully with salt, pepper and a tiny swig of cider or white wine vinegar. You can leave the sauce chunky or you can purée it.

Get yourself an earthenware type dish (25 x 12–15cm). Put in a small layer of tomato sauce, then a thin scattering of Parmesan, followed by a single layer of aubergines. Repeat these layers until you've used all the ingredients up, finishing with a little sauce and another good sprinkling of Parmesan. Toss the breadcrumbs in olive oil with a little oregano and sprinkle them on top of the Parmesan. Add on top the torn-up mozzarella.

Place the dish in the oven and bake at 190°C/375°F/gas 5 for half an hour until golden, crisp and bubbly. It's best eaten straight away, but it can also be served cold. 

Cooked by Jean Keeling on our Vegetarian Italian themed potluck evening, recipe taken from foodrepublic.com
Serves: 4-6 people
Suitable for Vegetarians 


Ingredients
2 fennel bulbs (about 2 pounds), fronds trimmed and reserved
About 2x  1/2 cups olive oil
1 x  1/4 teaspoons red pepper flakes
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesean cheese
Directions: 

1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Trim the base of the fennel and remove all dark and light green parts down to the white bulb. Slice each bulb in half lengthwise. Cut each half lengthwise into 4 wedges and remove the cores.
2. Lay the wedges on a rimmed baking sheet and add olive oil to a depth of 1/4 inch. Sprinkle each wedge with a pinch each of salt, black pepper, and red pepper flakes. Top each with about 1 teaspoon of Parmesan.
3. Bake until fork-tender, about 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool in the oil until just warm. Using a slotted metal spatula, transfer the fennel to plates and garnish with the reserved fennel fronds.