*Mother's Day* (03.04.11)

This should have been posted ages ago, but I've been having a few, er, technical difficulties.

Mother's Day

My Mum had requested that we make her one of Jamie Oliver's 30 minute meals. We normally do cook her something, as her only request on Mother's Day is a cup of tea and not having to cook for the whole day- pretty reasonable. So, instead of the usual Lasagne, we decided to agree and make her a 30 minute meal. Unbeknown to my Mum, we actually bought the book, cos we know she's wanted it for aages, and she will actually try out the recipes.

So, on Saturday, equipped with my blue hijaab, we went shopping for the ingredients. It was funny cos she came into my room when I was writing the list of ingredients, and obviously I was copying it out from the book, but I wanted it to be a surprise, so I hid the book under the bed covers, and she came in and almost sat on the book! I was like, no, Mum, my laptop's under there, sit on the other bed! In my head I was thinking close call! It's pretty difficult to keep things hidden from my Mum, she has a sixth sense or something.

Anyway, so many of the ingredients were so alien to me- for example capers (my Mum thought it was a type of fish!), anchovies, gherkings (which he listed as Cornichons- the french word- in his book to make things even MORE confusing!), balsamic vinegar, sundried tomatoes, et cetera. When I looked in the trolley at the check-out, it looked so continental! I'd never normally buy such things, and most were fresh ingredients too.

My Mother constructed her own menu, and this is what we served her:

Starter

Carrot & Corriander Soup, served with garlic bread. My Sister made this, it was pretty straightforward. The garlic bread was from a packet and was cooked in the oven for 10/15 mins.

Main Course

Fish (cod or haddock) coated with breadcrumbs, served with mashy peas (peas, broccoli, potatoes), tartare sauce, and salad. I went to have a nap at this point, so my Sister did all the coating on the fish, and when I came back later, all we had to do was put it into the oven. Here are some pictures:

The coated fish, ready to go in the oven

The tartare sauce: made from mayonnaise, capers, gherkins, anchovies etc

Ingredients for the "mashy peas"

The Salad- tossed the leaves into a pan with some balsamic vinegar & olive oil

The "mashy peas"

Mashing it all up! :)

The finished product on the plate! :)

Desert- Banoffee Pie

I was really excited about making this, cos it seemed really easy. The "pie" part- the pastry, was pre-made and bought (cheating lol), and the rest was pretty simple.

You put four tablespoons of caster sugar into a frying pan, and let it caramalise. While you're doing that, blend two bananas in a blender.  Once the sugar has caramelised, add the liquid banana and mix. Put this into the pastry and then put that into the freezer for about ten minutes to set. Whisk 300ml double cream and fold in some coffee essence (for colour). Take the pie out the freezer. Cut two bananas into pieces, and angle the knife so they are shaped interestingly. Add the pieces of banana to the pie, and on top, add the whisked double cream. Then top with shavings of dark chocolate- and you're done! Bob is quite literally your uncle.

How did you spend your Mother's Day?