#1 watermelon salad

wife arranged for her good friend close friend J, and family H & M to come for dinner this evening on 20.10.2018. ^^

my daughter, SIL & youngest daughter joined for 8pax dinner..son forgot he has RI 10yrs get together so missed this home dinner.

i made 10 dishes-

1. watermelon feta cheese salad (my first attempt)
2. Dubrovnik orange jam chicken
3. ika sugatayaki (japanese grilled whole squid)
4. chorizo prawns
5. grilled vegetables
6. tagliatelle fruiti mare
7. squid ink risotto
8. vongole spaghetti
9. herb crusted rack of lamb (celery, mint)
10. tagliata di manzo (USDA Prime corn fed ribeye and black angus 150days grain fed ribeye)

& J brought her wonder platter of delicious fruits.

my first time making watermelon salad. kind of tired of pumpkin & quinoa salad.

i googled. bought a watermelon S$6.99 from sheng shiong. the guy selected a ripe one for me and luckily it was very sweet.i cut about <1/3 melon into cubes, added 100g feta cheese cut smaller cubes, and  2 stalks of chopped mint. and chilled.

when serving added 2tbsp extra virgin olive oil, squeezed 1 fresh lime, added 1/2tbp salt.

it was really refreshing. everyone loved the salad. ^^

dinner 5 tapas dishes

i served the 5 tapas dishes first.

#2 dubrovnik orange jam chicken

the dubrovnik orange jam chicken not my best.

the non-stick property of the pan i used was failing so did not do the browning very well, and texture not the best.

still quite a tasty dish & all finished.

#3 ika sugatayaki

everyone loved the  ika sugatayaki.

steamed 95% cooked, then added agave nectar, a bit of honey, gourmet butter, sea salt & pepper & flamed.

absolutely delicious la! 🙂

#4 chorizo prawns

& everyone loved the chorizo prawns, so tasty, delicious even though i used frozen prawns.

#5 grilled vegetables

grilled vegatables was a good complement to the meat dishes. the corn especially good becos i added gourmet butter.

i should hvae flamed the vegetables too la!

#6 tagliatelle fruiti mare

the 3 pastas were quite superb because of the tasty intense chicken stock.
and they were all al dente. i made the pasta dishes more al dente after the recent amalfi coast trip. my children, whole family all liked it al dente.

good tagliatelle, with prawn & squid, and basil from my garden.

#7 squid ink risotto

likewise the squidink risotto, very flavourful form the stock & special squid ink flavour & totally al dente.

very nice indeed!

#8 vongole spaghetti

and a vongole spaghetti specailly for my youngest daughter. she ate vongole like everyday during our recent amalfi coast trip.

#9 herb crusted rack of lamb

#9 herb crusted rack of lamb

the rack of lamb was very good. i lazy to do pistachio crusted so just used chopped fresh celery (could not get parsley) and chopped mint from my garden).

H told J and my wife (who don’t take lamb) that it was like a good chicken. indeed no gamey taste, very tender & moist, adn nice flavour. M loved the crust too.

#10 tagliata di manzo (corn fed usda prime ribeye)

i sued 2 beef from mmmm this evening, an australian black angus grain fed ribeye S$69/kg and a more expensive USDA prime corn fed ribeye S$100/kg

.the usda prime was more marbled and fat flavoured. the black angus was more beefy. actually M and i both preferred the more beefy black angus and i think H as well.

J’s wonder fruit platter

and of course nothing c/w J’s wonder fruit platter, so beautiful to behold and all the sweet tasty fruits including a special kiwiberry, and of course yellow dargonfruit, persimmon, honey jackfruit, cherries, blueberries etc, no fig this evening.

we had a wonderful evening, dinner and sharing among good friends.

c.h.e.f andy