You can never be too prepared

We just had two very good friends of mine, N&J, over for dinner. I was keen for them to catch up with Mum while she was visiting. There is a bit of a mutually admiration society when it comes to my parents and N&J. It all started when N&J were visiting Ireland and my parents invited them from dinner. Once they tasted my Mums tiramisu they were hooked. Now I always try to organise a meal when the folks visit.

It was fun deciding on what to cook and, being the organised little things we are, we had most of the main work out of the way the day before. Unfortunately the night before the dinner N phoned to say J would not be able to get out of a work commitment and so we had to postpone until the next night. Lucky for us both the main and the dessert tasted better with an extra 24 hours to absorb the flavours.



J had very kindly brought me back some Foie Gras from his last trip overseas and I was eager to try it. That's truffle oil in the glass piggy in the picture.

We spotted some ready made filo pastry shells and decided to fill them with the truffle foie gras and serve with a salad dressed in truffle oil dressing. Nice and light to get the meal going.



For mains I wanted to make Mum's Moroccan Lamb dish so I could put the final photo with the recipe. It turned out delicious. We made enough for eight and even though there were only five of us we completely cleaned the bowl. Everyone went back for seconds.



For dessert it had to be tiramisu and, lucky for us, a cookbook we had purchased recently, Food we love, had the most delicious looking tiramisu cake in it. I'm glad to report that it tasted even better than it looked. There was some cake left over so I know what Mum and I will be having for afternoon tea today.





Truffle oil dressing

1½ tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon champagne wine vinegar
¼ teaspoon fresh squeezed lemon juice
½ teaspoon sea salt (fleur de sel) or coarse salt
Few grindings of black pepper

In a small bowl, whisk together while truffle oil, olive oil, champagne wine vinegar, lemon juice, sea salt, and black pepper; set aside or refrigerate until ready to use. If refrigerating, bring to room temperature before using.


Tiramisu

6 eggs
1 cup (220) caster sugar
½ cup (75g) plain flour
½ cup (75g) self raising flour
½ cup (75g) corn flour
¼ cup (10g) instant coffee granules
1 ½ cups (375ml) boiling water
¾ cup (180ml) Marsala
¼ cup (60ml) coffee flavoured liqueur
300ml thickened cream
½ cup (80g) icing sugar
3 cups mascarpone
3 1/3 cups (500g) Vienna almonds, chopped coarsely


1. Preheat over to moderate (180C/160C fan forced). Grease two deep 22 cm round cake pans. Line bases with baking paper.
2. Beat eggs in medium bowl with electric mixer for about 10 minutes or until thick and creamy. Add caster sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until sugar is dissolved between additions. Gently fold triple-sifted flours into egg mixture. Divide cake mixture evenly between pans; bake for about 25 mins. Turn cakes, top side up, onto wire racks to cool.
3. Meanwhile, dissolve coffee in the boiling water in a small heatproof bowl. Stir in Marsala and liqueur; cool.
4. Beat cream and icing sugar in small bowl with electric mixer until soft peaks form; transfer to large bowl. Stir in Mascarpone and ½ cup of coffee mixture.
5. Split cooled cakes in half. Centre half of one cake on serving plate; brush with a quarter of the remaining coffee mixture and spread with about 1 cup of the cream mixture. Repeat layering until the last cake half is covered with cream. Spread remaining cream around side of cake; press almonds all over cake