First of all: taste! But when everything is delicious, what else can you do to impress your guests? Before you start to eat, you look at the food, and if the table looks amazing, you don't even have to convience kids to eat vegetables. My family eats a lot of meat, but after this dinner party, the only leftover were the meat balls...
I decorated with edible chestnuts (already baked and peeled) and baked pumpkin seeds (from the pumpkin I used) and grapes . I also used candles and fairy lights to make it more cosy, and they fit very well with the red tablecloth. The whole table reminded me of a medieval feast. The guests were amazed, so try these tricks. Play with the colours, lights and shapes.
It maybe looks a bit difficult to make a table like this, but it is not. If you buy, and measure, cut, chop, grate everything a day ahead, and make the right timing, you will be fine, even if you are making the whole dinner alone. For this amount (for 15 people) I needed 8 hours total, from writing the shopping list until putting the last piece of chestnut on the table.
I always put on some good music, never forget to dance and think of the people who I am cooking for. I believe, that I am reconnecting nature, and farmers and really good quality ingredients with my family or friends. I believe that I nourish them and also myself, I am taking care of their health and also mine. I believe cooking such a feast is much more than just the act of making different dishes. Cooking is art, which can entertain, nourish, bless, heal and reconnect us to ourselves and to each other, even if only for a moment in our busy life...
Meatballs
This meatball crossed my mind several times before, and I first made it in the summer, when the garden was full with fresh herbs. I was thinking how to spice up the meat, so you can taste the freshness in each meatball. I tried with parsley and basil too. Both of them were amazing! And everyone asked me, how I made them. Well, nothing special, just a looooots of herbs! 😉
It is always important to know where your ingredients are coming from, especially when it comes to meat. So I ordered this beef meat from a local farmer, where cows are outside the whole year, and just! grazing. In the end, no matter how the cow lived, it is slaughtered. And I think this is the key thought to responsible eating habits. It was alive and had to die, so I can eat it. At least what you can do is pay for your meat and animal welfare. Or don't eat it. I decided to eat meat once in a while, so I am conscious about the origin. And I believe, the more I pay for a piece of meat, the better life the animal had.
I cannot write more precise quantities than these. The consistence depends on the fat and water percentage of the meat and the size of the egg too. Use half a kilo of meat and one egg, and a handful of herb, mix them. Start adding breadcrumbs, and try to make the balls. When you lift them and place them to the pan, and they don't fall apart, they are good 🙂
0.5 kg minced meat from a responsible, local farm
1 free-range egg
breadcrumbs, homemade is the best (keep some dry bread at home, and grate it before using)
salt, pepper
a big handful of chopped basil or parsley, or any available fresh herb (next time I will try with mint and yoghurt on the side!)
1 small onion chopped and caramelized in a bit of oil for half an hour (you can use raw onions too, but caramelized onions make it more delicious, because everything is better caramelized, just like toasted...)
Pour a little bit of oil in a pan (I made it with sunflower oil, because that is local). Shape small balls with wet hands and place them in the hot pan. Fry them until they are brown on each side. Place them in a bowl and decorate with the same herb.
Sweet potatoes with pistachios and dates
Sweet potatoes are always good, especially baked in the oven, cooled down and mixed with some sweet stuff. Baked ones will keep the sweet potato taste with an additional taste of chestnuts. Autumn is here!
3 big sweet potatoes (local! it grows everywhere, so try to find them in your area)
a small handful of pistachios, chopped (try to find "local", it grows in the Mediterranean, in the US, in the Middle East, in Asia)
5-6 pieces of dates, chopped (grows in the Middle East, North Africa, and in the US too, try to find the closest source)
1 tbsp honey (local)
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Bake the sweet potatoes in the oven, in aluminum foil for 40 minutes, let them cool down a bit. Cut them in half, scrape out some of it and mix it with the dates, pistachios, balsamic vinegar and honey. Place this mixture back into the sweet potatoes, plus decorate the top with pistachios and whole dates. Everyone will love them!
Corn-kale salad with crunchy chips on the top
You can find these vegetables almost everywhere locally, and if you have a small garden grow these kales. They are extremely healthy, super easy to cultivate them, and the harvest is until december! and they survive the cold winters too.
2 corn cobs
4-5 leaves black palm kale
4-5 leaves curly kale
garlic (as much as you like, I used 3 cloves)
1 onion
salt, pepper, chili
oil to spread
Chop the onion, and the garlic. Caramelize them in a pan with a bit of oil, for half an hour, add the chopped black palm kale and the spices to it, simmer until the kale gets soft enough. Boil the corn cobs. Clean the corn cobs, place them into a pot, cover with cold water and some of the leaves, do not add salt. Cook them for 20 minutes, after boiling. Cool them, cut the corns off the cobs, add to the kale-onion mixture.
Wash the curly kale leaves, dry them, place them on a baking tray, sprinkle with a bit of oil and salt. Bake them in the oven on 180 degrees for 20 minutes, or until they become crunchy. Decorate the salad with the teared leaves. Serve immediately.
Baked vegetables
4-5 potatoes (this time I used purple)
4-5 carrots
4-5 turnips
oil
salt
Wherever you live you can find these vegetables locally grown. Peel them and don't cut the top of the vegetables (you can do it a day before, keep them in water) place them on a baking tray, sprinkle with oil and salt. Bake them on 200 degrees for 40 minutes. Serve while they are still warm.
Potato and pumpkin puree
1 kg potato
0.5 kg pumpkin
300 ml milk
50 g butter
salt and pepper
Chop and bake the pumpkin in the oven (180 degrees, 40 minutes). Boil the potatoes in a pot (always start in cold water). Mash all of them, mix with milk and butter, salt and pepper. The puree will get an amazing orange color, and it tastes better, than just from potatoes.
Baked beetroot salad
0.5 kg beetroot baked in the oven
50 g blue cheese
a small handful of roasted, salted almonds
a small handful of pomegranate
dressing: 1 tbsp juice from the pomegranate, 1 tbsp juice from the beetroot, 1 tbsp of lemon juice, salt, pepper, a little piece of blue cheese, 1 tsp of vinegar, 1 tsp of honey, 1 tbsp of olive oil. Blend them together.
Cut the beetroots, and the blue cheese, chop the almonds, clean the pomegranate. Mix them well, save some pomegranate and almonds for decoration. Pour the dressing, mix it well, decorate.
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