Asparagus Risotto,with a wolf Blass Chardonnay,then Venison Casserole, found the recipe online Della's "venison with pickled walnuts." The meat was marinated in Guinness and Oloroso Sherry (the recipe said Port,but I didn't have any ) for almost two days,
and then cooked with garlic, onions and herbs,using the marinade as the liquid. Cooked in a low oven for almost three and a half hours. With that ,we had red Cabbage, broccoli and Anya potatoes,which I love, their knobbly shape and interesting shapes me a contrast to the pieces of meat.
As Delia said , it was unctuous and utterly delicious.
As one of the group is a Vegetarian, I made her some stuffed Courgettes,with aubergine, peppers ,tomatoes and capers,with some. Bread crumbs to bind it together,and some Dukkah scattered over .they were baked in the oven with a little tomato sauce.
To drink ,two bottles of 2005 Minervois from the Langedoc .
The cheeses were made by some gorgeous Guava jelly( similar to Membrillo) but given to me by a friend recently returned from Cuba.
Finally there was a Creme Brûlée ,with Clementines and Raspberries underneath the custard..
With that we drank a half bottle of Muscat de Beaumes de Venise, absolutely delicious. I also made some dates in coffee and cardamom,with some little walnut biscuits and Greek Yoghurt.
Now I see what we ate, I realise there were a awful lot of walnuts......
By midnight I was knackered.
A lot of clearing up still to be done.
And I made nine pots of marmalade in the morning,or rather I had to reboil some that I had made the night before which hadn't set,as I was trying to cut down on the amount of sugar
Finally,and I almost forgot, but my football crazy family were here for lunch as well.
