Competitive cook-in

Dishes to wow your female friends at a Little Christmas pot-luck supper, writes DOMINI KEMP

A wise and wonderful woman I know started a club for women who like good food and better chat. The idea was that we all went to one of our houses on a particular evening every couple of months, bringing a few dishes to share.

She called it a Pot Luck Supper and we’ve had some great dinners over the past couple of years. Because of the pot luck nature of the evening, we would sometimes have an abundance of lamb stews or braised hunks of meat while at other times, it was as though Yotam Ottolenghi himself had put on a frock and joined the party as the table would be teeming with our interpretations of his Middle Eastern creations.

This year, our first pot luck falls on Little Christmas (tomorrow, January 6th), so I shall make my way over to our hostess for the evening with plates and bowls of food and a bottle or two of wine. We will do what women were traditionally supposed to do on Little Christmas: hand over the reins to the menfolk and leave our cares and troubles at the door. Then we shall celebrate our dishes and all that the table bears.

But don’t be fooled. Although it’s not as competitive as a Little Miss Beauty pageant, we’re all pretty good cooks. Some of us even do it for a living, while the others could – they’re that good. So after a couple of glasses of wine, the critiques can be quite ruthless. Plus, if you don’t bring something that looks like effort was made, there can be repercussions. I brought over a few bags of lettuce once – that I had grown, not bought – under the pretence of being all Noma-esque. I was let off the hook this once, but was encouraged to do a little more for the next dinner.

For the next few weeks, I will be concentrating on lots of raw and superfood meals and giving you light and healthy dishes so that our resolutions for a healthy January are given a bit of a chance.

SAFFRON CHICKEN, ORANGE AND FENNEL SALAD

Serves 6

1 orange

Pinch of saffron

2 tbsp white wine vinegar

300ml water

2 tbsp honey or agave syrup

2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed

100ml olive oil, plus a little more

4 skinless chicken breasts, sliced

2 fennel, thinly sliced

Bunch basil, coriander, and mint

Juice of 1 lemon

Salt and pepper

Cut the orange into quarters and then cut these into two or three segments. Chuck into a small saucepan – which has a lid – and add the saffron, vinegar and water. Put the lid on and simmer for about 45 minutes on a very gentle heat. You may need to add more water if it’s getting too dry.

After 45 minutes, or even an hour, you should be left with a very squidgy, soft orange pulp. Put this in a blender along with the honey, garlic, olive oil and a little salt and pepper. Blitz until you have a runny and puréed marmalade-like dressing.

You can steam-fry the chicken by simply heating a few drops of olive oil in a frying pan, adding the chicken and letting a few bits brown then, instead of adding more oil, add a few splashes of water. You’ll have chicken that’s pale and uninteresting looking, but after about five minutes, when you feel it’s nearly cooked through, add a few tablespoons of the orange sauce. The honey/agave will help it to colour a bit. Cook thoroughly and then set aside to cool.

Slice the fennel and toss it with the lemon juice, salt and herbs. Add some more olive oil if necessary. Mix with the chicken and add more orange dressing or olive oil or lemon juice.

It is quite a sharp, bitter salad. You can always bulk it out with more greens. Use the orange dressing to marinate or glaze chicken or fish in bitter salads.

LIME AND COCONUT ICE CREAM

Serves 8-10 as just a little taster

60g desiccated coconut

300ml full-fat milk

400ml tin coconut milk

Zest and juice of 4 limes

5 egg yolks

180g caster sugar

300ml cream, lightly whipped

A few mangoes to serve, sliced

Bring the desiccated coconut, full-fat milk, and coconut milk to the boil in a medium-sized saucepan. Set aside. Beat the egg yolks and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Add a good ladleful of the hot coconut mixture to the beaten egg yolks. Then mix well and add some more hot milk. Then transfer this back to the saucepan and gently heat so that the mixture thickens up enough to coat the back of a spoon. Don’t let it boil or it may curdle. Keep an eye on it and take your time. If you are worried that a few bits may have scrambled, you can always sieve this out.

Allow the mixture to cool down, and when close enough to room temperature, fold in the whipped cream, lime juice and lime zest. Put it in bowl that can go in the freezer and freeze it. After an hour or two, you can take it out and give it a stir and a mash with a fork so that it breaks up the ice crystals and keeps the zest evenly distributed. Freeze for a few more hours and serve with slices of mango.

DOMINI RECOMMENDS

Nutritionist Susan Jane White will be doing a demo and talk in our restaurant in Brown Thomas in Dublin on January 24th at 7pm. Tickets are €20 and will include a super food dinner, juices, a demo and a talk. Please email event@feast.ie for tickets.