Meatballs and Shortbread

           Being the first night of this new attempted venture I thought it would be good to stick with something fairly safe for the first round of guests. I am certainly eager to use these events as opportunities to cook new and unfamiliar things, but I guess as others and myself are warming up to the concept it would have been a bad idea to scare them away with something out there and potentially undercooked! In an old house in London a while ago I had had some friends over for dinner and cooked up a big batch of meatballs. The massive bowl was downed in about 10 minutes despite there being about eight or nine each. With this in mind I figured they were a popular and fairly friendly choice for the night – and so I decided that menu number one would be spaghetti and meatballs with a pea, parmesan, fennel and mint salad. Dessert can often be a tricky one as well as I find myself always thinking directly about cakes. Even though there is a whole other world out there for the sweet-toothed, for some reason it is a batter poured in a tin that I always seem to think of. With a few beautiful days still gracing us with their presence however it was difficult to resist the vibrant red of strawberries and raspberries at the market that are so reminant of summer. And so with sunshine in mind I decided to do simply berries and ice-cream, and make some home-made choc-chip shortbread to accompany. I had never baked shortbread before but figured with just three ingredients – butter, sugar and flour – that it wouldn’t be too hard to get some sort of baked biscuit together. As I am learning however, without being told exactly how a pastry is supposed to look or form it was hard to know whether my concoction was too dry or too wet, or if by using my hands I was warming the dough too much (or not enough!). I managed after a few attempts to roll the sticky paste out and cut some fairly symmetrical circles that in the end seemed ok. They were chilled and baked and actually the smell that came out of the oven when they were done was pretty enticing. Amazing what can come from a bit of butter and sugar!

                   It was a nice number of six at the table as we sat down to eat, myself included, and the intimate atmosphere seemed to encourage good conversation. Talk turned to the art of courting and I felt my brother was certainly benefitting from being the only male at the table as five other girls spoke their minds. It surely gave me a glimpse of what nights like this could be... people, voices, music, and a big pot of spaghetti in the middle acting as the anchor. I certainly don’t expect the food at these nights to be mind-blowing every time, that is not really the idea of these dinners. I guess what I hope for is to use the food to be a central focus that all can link with, and let the night and the experience grow from there. Bringing people together that hadn’t caught up in a long time and seeing the interaction grow gave me a confidence that I needed. Perhaps, I thought, this thing might just work.

               So with questions of next week’s date being asked from the departing guests it is now time to think of next week’s menu. For some reason I think the night will come around rather quickly! And thank you to the five who helped me pioneer into this wonderful world of food and friends and remind me exactly what it was that inspired me to start it in the first place.