Casual Dinner for 4

I recently hosted a dinner party for a couple of friends.  It was on a weekday, casual, and rather last minute.  In such cases, my go-to recipes are those by Ina Garten - her spinach gratin, basil tomatoes, sweet potato 'fries', and chicken marinaded in an 'Asian' sauce made up of Dijon mustard, soy sauce, garlic (and I add a little Worcestershire sauce).  I'm not going to repeat her recipes here, but if you are keen on simple yet wonderfully flavoursome dishes, I would strongly recommend that you get your hands on her books.  

I also cooked a super quick and easy vegetarian pasta dish (one of my guests being vegetarian).  Here it is:

Ingredients

2 large cloves of garlic, minced

2 medium sized courgettes, relatively thinly sliced

200g broccolini, steamed

1 tablespoon vegetable oil 

A handful of toasted pine nuts (optional)

200g cooked spaghetti (I use wholewheat)

Method

Heat the oil in a pan (medium heat) and add the garlic.  Cook for a few seconds, then add the courgettes.  Once the courgettes have softened a little - this will take about 5 minutes - add the broccolini.  Use a wooden spoon to gently combine the ingredients, taking care not to mash the courgettes up.  Add the spaghetti and combine well.  Finally, mix in the pine nuts, or sprinkle on top.

As you can see, very little effort is necessary in the making of this dish.  It's also very versatile - you can use any pasta or veg you fancy.

From back to front: Sweet Potato Fries, Chicken & Tomatoes; Vegetarian Pasta; and Spinach Gratin

If I'm being perfectly honest, I didn't have a great deal of time to make dessert, so I decided to assemble a cheese board instead.  I went to Paxton & Whitfield on Jermyn Street (cheese heaven) and bought 3 different slices of cheese: brie with truffle (probably my favourite), telaggio (a rather pungent soft Spanish cheese) and stilton.  I also had some malted and plain crackers at home and these go perfectly with the cheese (note - heating these up in the oven for a few minutes beforehand makes all the difference, in my opinion!)  Finally, I rummaged around my fridge and found a red apple, some black cherries and two figs.  The end result: a pretty cheese board that took no time at all to prepare!

Clockwise from L-R: Telaggio, Malted Crackers, Plain Crackers, Stilton, Figs, Truffled Brie, Red Apple and Cherries