Indian Night

Our Feed Lot dinner parties are based on a different theme each month, and while it would still be easy to choose an old favourite dish to cook - we all seem to enjoy trying something we've never cooked before.

Early in June we held Indian Night - the perfect food for a cold Toowoomba night! 

First Cambo didn't disappoint with his themed outfit, then Scotty impressed us all with his Samosa cooking...

So here's our final menu:

Entree:  Spinach & Feta Samosas, Poppadoms
Main:    Chicken Korma, Rice
Dessert:  Gulab Jamun and Rosewater, Pistachio and Cardamon ice cream

Irish Night

Every now and then we decide to create our Feed Lot dinner themes around a particular national event or celebration.  This seems like a good idea at the time, but invariably our Feed Lot date is changed, and it seems a little strange to celebrate, for example, Chinese New Year three weeks after the actual event.  Needless to say, this is what happened for Irish Night, a celebration of St Patricks Day, but we didn't let it get us down!

Irish Night was held at the Cambo's house, with Cambo appropriately decked out in green, and his favourite Irish bands lined up ready for the evening.

Ironically, in true Irish fashion, there was an element of forgetfulness with dessert - which looked great, but was missing a key ingredient, so didn't taste so great... to be sure, to be sure!

Below is our final Irish Night menu:

Entree:  Potato & Leek Soup with crutons
Main:  Guinness Pie, Farmhouse Sausage &Vegetable Casserole with Soda Bread
Dessert:  Irish Baileys Cream Baked Cheesecake

This is probably a good time to remind you about our Feed Lot rules.  Everyone is given a course, which for us usually means we have 2 dishes for one course (because there are four main contributors).  We also try to cook something traditional based on our theme, that we either haven't had at a previous dinner or cooked before.  This is why we may miss the obvious and easy choices for some themes - because it may be a bit 'mainstream' or we've had it before.

I think for Irish Night, while it was tempting to cook a potato-based dish for dessert, enough is enough when it comes to potatoes... even on Irish Night!

Recipes to follow...

Old Favourites Night

Old Favourites Night was held at the our house, allowing Feed Lot members to bring one of their 'favourite' dishes... as well as their 'favourite' drink, while wearing a 'favourite' item of clothing.  Sarah Cambo even snuck in a request to play her 'favourite' game after dinner... Sing Star!

Old Favourite Night was actually harder to cater for than I expected, having no idea what the others were contributing, and therefore not knowing if it would 'go together'.  I guess that is part of the Feed Lot appeal - the surprise factor, and the ability to have a laugh if it doesn't all go to plan...

Anyway, Old Favourite Night...



The Cameron's favourite Entree:  Peach, Lychee and Halloumi salad
The Howard's favourite Main:  Roast Leg of Lamb with Couscous and Tzatziki sauce
The Cambo's favourite Dessert:  Chocolate and Coffee Self-Saucing Pudding with Cream and/or Ice Cream

Turned out Old Favourites Night was a hit, with three DELICIOUS courses... and no room for 'Cadbury Favourites' chocolates after dessert.  Sign of a great dinner!

Chinese Night

Chinese Night was chosen in celebration of the Chinese New Year.  It was a bit last-minute, and therefore I'm sure some of our dishes were technically not Chinese, but still a form of Asian cuisine.  At the Feed Lot, we're not terribly fussy... especially when it tastes great!

Sara and Troy treated us to some Fortune Cookies, Chinese Beer and we all read our Chinese horoscope from the local paper.  In true Chinese spirit... chop sticks were compulsory!  Here is our menu:

Entree:  Jiaozi (Pork Dumpling) and Cucumber Salad

Main:  Honey Soy Chicken, Chinese Beef with Sweet Orange sauce, Fried Rice

Dessert:  Custard Tarts and Tapioca Pudding

Cucumber Salad

Chinese Beef with Sweet Orange sauce

Tapioca Pudding

Christmas Dinner Night

When you belong to a dinner party group, Christmas is definitely a highlight of the year.  The Feed Lot's Christmas dinner for 2010 was held at Deb's house, and it seemed like yesterday we had enjoyed Christmas In July Feed Lot, so this dinner was a little less traditional... but just as delicious!

Canape:  Cambo's Christmas Bruschetta (without the onion, because it's not a Christmas colour!)
Entree:  Gazpacho (chilled soup)
Main:  Pork Belly with Cinnamon Apples, Beans, Roast Potatoes and Red Cabbage
Dessert:  Rum & Raisin puddings with Brandy Custard, Eton's Mess, Rocky Road Christmas Tree

 

I will get the recipes from our Christmas Feed Lot up as soon as possible, so you can enjoy them yourselves over the coming week.

Wishing all the Feed Lot readers a Merry Christmas, and a coming year filled with good food, good drink and great company!

'Tis the Season

Has your love of cooking and entertaining lead you to tackle a Christmas party or meal this year?  I tend to get a bit excited, and while I would LOVE nothing more than to hold a Christmas brunch, cocktail party and three course dinner party all in the spirit of the season, I have instead decided to focus on hosting the family Christmas lunch.  Last year I successfully pulled off a traditional English Christmas dinner with Turkey and all the trimmings whilst working in a Ski Chalet, something I'm extremely proud of having never cooked a Turkey before.  This year won't be a huge affair, but I'm excited to be cooking for my family, and have been busily ooohhh-ing and aahhh-ing through the December food magazines to create my menu. 

So far I've earmarked a few recipes from Donna Hay's Celebrate Magazine... and I'm about to crack open the December/January edition of Delicious magazine.  Foodie Magazines can be great sources of not only recipes, but menu ideas also.  The bonus is they often come with added hints and tips for setting the table, matching drinks and little style ideas to make your occasion even more memorable.

I'll keep you posted on my family Christmas menu... but right now I'm loosening my belt in preparation for The Feed Lot's Christmas Night, only three sleeps away!

Finger Food Night

The Feed Lot's Finger Food night had only one rule... no cutlery required!  It was a bit hard to determine the types of finger foods that fell into 'entree' and 'main' course, so we split our menu into two courses instead of three - savoury and sweet.

Here's what we ended up with:

SAVOURY
Maple & Mustard Sausages
Mini Pizzas on Puff Pastry
Parsnip & Carrot Fritters with Persian Feta
Cheese & Cherry Tomato Tiny Tarts
Stuffed Mushrooms - Kilpatrick with Parmesan Cheese; Spinach & Goats Cheese; Tomato & Basil

SWEET
Mini Cheesecakes
Fruit Platter with Toblerone Dipping Sauce
Mini Lemon Meringue Pies
Sweet Pizza with Nutella, Marshmallows and Nuts

Everything on the Finger Food menu was mouth-wateringly good, which made it hard to refuse trying absolutely everything... a few times!  Finger Food probably works best with more people, in a cocktail setting, so the food comes out slowly but steadily, but our Feed Lot is only a little group of seven, and we're so accustomed to sitting down at the table, that's how we did it.  And it was just as delicious!

Chilli Night

When we first scheduled Chilli Night it fell on Sarah and Cambo's wedding anniversary, 14 years!  All of a sudden we had planned a Hot Chilli Wedding, allowing Sarah and Cambo to renew their wedding vows, in the original wedding attire, supported by the rest of The Feed Lot team automatically appointed to Bridal Party.  Being a dinner club, we did offer to re-create the Cambo wedding menu, however the Bride and Groom suggested some things should stay in the 90's... so Chilli theme was locked in!

Unfortunately, the Hot Chilli Wedding was cancelled due to illness, but I still wanted to share the concept.  One month later, we found a date that suited and enjoyed Chilli Night at our place - without the wedding.  Scotty made a playlist for the evening - Red Hot Chilli Peppers with the occasional Hot Chilli Woman thrown in for good measure.

While I'm not sure our Chilli night would have satisfied a Chilli master, it still had some of us reaching for a few sips of milk, or in Cambo's case, a few napkins to soak up the condensation on his forehead.

Our Chilli Night menu:

Entree:    Chilli Con Carne with Natural Corn Chips, Natural Yogurt, Guacamole and Salsa
Main:      Cashew Chicken with Burnt Chilli Paste, White Gold and Sweet Potato Hot Red Chilli Salad
Dessert:  Chocolate-Chilli Cake with Ice Cream

   

Christmas in July

Christmas is such a wonderful time, we couldn't resist the opportunity to not only celebrate mid-year, but to enjoy a traditional hot Christmas dinner in the middle of winter.  Our Christmas in July Feed Lot was held at the Cameron's house, with beautiful Christmas table setting and so much delicious Christmas food even Santa popped in for a visit.

The Feed Lot group with Santa

In true Christmas spirit we enjoyed a real feast, with lots of drink and of course our fabulous Feed Lot company.  Here was the final menu:

Canapes:  Prunes wrapped in Prosciutto
Entree:     Prawn and Mango salad
Main:       Roast Ham, Roast Turkey and Roasted vegetables
Dessert:  Christmas Pudding with Semifreddo
Sweets:    Christmas Tree Rocky Road

The best bit?  We get to do it all again in December!  Ho Ho Ho...

Thai Night

Thai Night was determined by putting one suggestion each into a hat, and drawing out the next Feed Lot theme.  In my experience, everyone loves Thai food but I think we had put off a Thai night because it is such a common cuisine for take away or dining out.  A cuisine you are familiar with definitely makes it easy to decide on your dish... unless of course you are making Thai dessert without a deep fryer!  Here is how we enjoyed Thai night:

Entree:    Rice Paper Rolls, Thai Chilli Chicken Wings, Chicken Skewers
Main:      Phad Thai, Massaman Beef, Chicken and Lychee Red Curry
Dessert:  Banana Fritters with Rum Syrup and Ice Cream

Just add wine!

French Night

Sometimes our themes for The Feed Lot are as simple as choosing a county's cuisine.  French Night was held at Deb's house, with not a snail in sight (huge sigh of relief!):

Entree:  French Onion Soup
Main:  Boeuf Bourguignon with creamy potato mash and Quiche Lorraine
Dessert:  Chocolate Torte

As you can see, just because we follow a theme, doesn't always mean our menu's flow in a traditional sense.  Boeuf Bourguignon and Quiche Lorraine are hardly a common match for a main course, but sometimes that is where the fun lies.  There are no rules about 'matching foods', we simply enjoy whatever we come up with. 

French Night also included a game of celebrity heads, carefully prepared by the Cameron's.  Each person's 'celebrity' was French, which for some of us made guessing a little hard... it was a great game to play around the dinner table with minimal fuss.

International Night

Towards the end of each Feed Lot we decide where, when and what theme will make up the next Feed Lot.  International Night was determined after too many wines and the discovery of a world globe at Pie Night.  Each household had to spin the globe, stopping it with a finger - your dish would come from the country your finger landed on.  To make things more interesting, a speech was to be made by each household about their country.  Here's what we had:

Entree:     Buffalo Wings with Blue Cheese Dipping Sauce (Canada)
Main:       Chicken Kiev (Russia) and Swedish Meatballs (Sweden)
Dessert:    Lychee Fruit Salad (Madagascar) and Vodka Jelly Shots (Russia)

This Feed Lot ended with SingStar... and we're blaming Russia's Vodka Jelly Shots!

Pie Night

Technically our second Feed Lot, this was the first Feed Lot with majority attendance. We had tossed around ideas over email, and decided on PIE NIGHT at Sarah & Cambo's house. Each course had to be a pie of some sort... but for some reason we kept them all a secret, resulting with this menu:


Entree:    Mini Lamb Pies
Main:      Chicken & Leek Pies x 2!
Dessert:  Apple Pie and Caramel Pie

Pie Night was a huge success, and is still high on the favourites list.

Pretty sure we all slept a good couple of kg's heavier that night!