A great dinner at my friends’ house

Friday I was at a dinner party of some friends of mine, who had decided that they would cook for a change. Which came as a very nice surprise as for some reason people always feel nervous when they are cooking for me?? I really don’t know why as I’m really not a difficult person….

Anyhow it was really great to not having to cook for a change and just sit back and relax. I must say they have really outdone themselves , they have prepared a royal feast with a lot of love and care. Knowing they don’t have a real cooking experience, made it even more special. They started with a duck salad with pieces of apple, walnut & bacon with a coulis of Gorgonzola cheese… I know some people might be afraid of the strong taste of the Gorgonzola, but I must admit that it gave a nice harmony in this dish.

So a great start was already set! Now up to the main course… Here they choose to make a Chicken stew prepared with Old Geuze beer and Peperkoek (this is a kind of breakfast cake spiced with cloves, cinnamon, ginger, succade and nutmeg). Again a really nice preparation! Funny enough that this was a dish that I wanted to prepare this week for me and my girlfriend 🙂 but they beat me to it 😉 It was a sweeter dish, this because of the ‘3 fonteinen old Geuze’ beer and the ‘peperkoek’. This they made a day before (which is best for a dish like this, then it can rest over night .

But the real top of the evening was the dessert, a kiwi tartlet . This was made with a crust of petit beurre cookies with pastry cream and on top of that slices of kiwi (can also be replaced by passion fruit or raspberries…). Really yummy, just thinking of it makes me want one (ok two) again.

They served a red Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon wine. TWO THUMBS up for Laurent and Stijn!! Thanks guys you really did a great job. Now next time I’ll have to cook for you guys I will be nervous :-).

Stijn and Laurent got their inspiration in following books.

For the Duck Salad: La cuisine à quatre mains