Dinner for Friends

I reckon all foodies like to show off every once in a while. Our My Secret Kitchen mantra is 'make your meals more amazing' which is all about our products giving simple ways of making the everyday taste extraordinary -whether its a touch of Balsamic Reduction, or easily rustling up the best Brownies EVER (I promise). I totally understand that we all feel so busy and time poor in the kitchen but every now and then its such a delight to take more time preparing a meal. So I wanted to share with you my dinner for friends last night - how many My Secret Kitchen products can I get into one evening? And make it a Danish meal at that.

For some time now, we have been meeting roughly once a month with our nearest and dearest friends to take it in turns to dine with a menu from around the world. Phil started it several years ago with a cooked-from-scratch Indian meal and since then we have travelled to Australia, Afghanistan, Ecuador and Ethiopia to name a few, on a magical mystery culinary tour.

Last night was my turn and Denmark my country of choice. Thanks to my Danish neighbours and friends for their inspiration in the form of this fabulous 1978 Danish Cookery Book - love it!

After much deliberation and too many episodes of MasterChef, here is my menu with no less than 10 My Secret Kitchen products in 3 courses. And don't ask me for the recipes, this was my evening of make-it-up-as-you-go-along and self indulgent foodie heaven!

Starter
Open sandwich of rye bread (made with Original Beer Bread Mix plus the same quantity of rye flour and a dark stout), anchovy butter, smoked trout, celeriac remoulade (a mayonnaise based sauce with crème fraiche and Thai Dressing with Kaffir Lime), baby leaves and a sweet mustard and dill dressing (with Secret Wild Garlic Spices), garnished with salmon caviar.

Main Course
Slow roasted belly pork (marinated overnight in Miso Dressing with Ginger), pork tenderloin wrapped in parma ham, Jerusalem artichoke puree (seasoned with Lemon & Chipotle Spiced Sea Salt), baby carrots, potatoes in smoked parsley oil (fine chopped parsley in Oak Smoked Rapeseed Oil), and a mix of onions, apples, hazelnuts caramelised in Balsamic Reduction and a pork jus.

Dessert
Pudding was a Danish apple cake on a biscuit base (with Secret Vanilla Pudding Spices) and topped with almonds in Maple Caramel Sauce, crème anglaise, Danish blue cheese ice cream, pine nut brittle, red fruit gel with Hibiscus & Rose Nectar.

The starter was not too filling and the secret star was definitely the anchovy butter. The belly pork was gorgeous and could have been the main part of the dish without the tenderloin. I'm kicking myself for not adding a final dusting of icing sugar on the apple cake but hey, the blue cheese ice cream made up for it! In fact, can we do it all again tonight?

Clare
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