Last December it was my turn to cook dinner for my book and cooking club 'Cook da Books'. We had read and were going to discuss a book called 'We have always lived in the castle' by Shirley Jackson. The story is about two sisters and an uncle living together in a big house outcast by their village. The rest of the family is dead. They were killed with arsenic mixed into the sugar on the berries that were the dessert of a big Sunday roast lunch.
I based the dinner menu on the Sunday roast lunch menu from the book. In the book it's a Spring menu. I adapted it to Christmas time.
The Menu
A Deadly Dinner
Prosecco with Cranberry
Kale Crisps
Salad with Herbs
Roast Lamb Shoulder
Crushed New Potatoes and Vegetables
Minty Mushy Peas
Eton Mess with Blackberries and a Pinch of Arsenic
Kale Chips
Kale is my new favourite winter vegetable, whether blanched and sauteed with onion, olive oil, lemon juice and salt or, like in this recipe, baked in the oven until crispy. A very simple way to create a wonderful snack. I got the recipe on a blog called Roost, which I highly recommend for healthy recipes:
http://www.roostblog.com/roost/tuscan-kale-chips.html
Salad with Herbs
A simple salad with any herbs I can find and finely sliced radishes. I like flat leaf parsley, chives, coriander and chervil. For the dressing I use olive oil, salt, pepper and either lemon juice or white wine herb vinegar.
Roast Lamb Shoulder
Crusched New Potatoes and Vegetables
Minty Mushy Peas
For the lamb shoulder I used a Jamie Oliver recipe, which I will definitely cook many times in future! It is so simple and so delicious! It's easily prepared in advance and needs little attention while in the oven so it's perfect for when you have people coming round for dinner:
www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/lamb-recipes/incredible-roasted-shoulder-of-lamb-with
For the vegetables I used lots of different coloured carrots - white, orange, dark red, almost purplish, some orange with a purple boarder.
Eton Mess with Blackberries and a Pinch of Arsenic
For the Eton Mess I made a Pavlova rather than smaller meringues. I love it when there's a lot of gooey meringue in the Eton Mess.
For the berries I had to use frozen ones. Along side the Eton Mess I served a bowel of sugar. With a pinch of Arsenic of course!
As I always I forget to take pictures of the finished food and the dinner itself. Here a couple of shots including the aftermath...
