Sunday dinner.... Entrée

So a few drinks while DJ'ing on Saturday at Sakura, which incidently I completely smashed, ended up with maybe a couple more and not getting home until 5:00am. Not ideal preparation for having friends over for lunch, especially when the vast majority of the menu I'd never cooked before.

However after the initial relief of realising that I'd not hideously overslept everything was under control and so much so that I'd completely ignored the hangover that I had.

One of the menu components that I had tried before were the clear Bloody Maries that I got inspired to create after seeing both Raymond Blanc and Jamie Oliver making tomato consommé on their TV shows.

The consommé is made by blending up some good quality tomatoes, I would only use plum tomatoes that are sold on the vine but I'm sure a good result can also be gained from using other types. I also throw in plenty of fresh Basil leaves and about a teaspoon of Black peppercorns when blending as a good Bloody Mary should always have Basil and Pepper in it....in my opinion that is.

This pulp is then slowly filtered through either layers of Muslin (Cheesecloth) or a wet tea towel will work just as well. The more you filter the extracted juice the clearer the consommé will be. I can't exactly remember how many times I filtered this batch but it was done over a period of 5 days and took 24 Tomatoes making around a litre of liquid.

For added flavour I make up a small pot of Olive Oil and chopped Basil a few days before and then when it comes to serving up I add a small amount of good quality Vodka into a shot glass(which can of course be left out for drivers or children) topped it up with the tomato consommé and then drop in blobs of the Oil mixture. I also add a small piece of Celery (again as a Bloody Mary should have) which you can use to stir in the Oil along with the obligatory dashes of Tabasco and Worcester Sauce.

The surprise in this drink is the really intense tomato flavour that you get from a virtually clear liquid, it has a really "Wow" factor about which not only gets a conversation going but really does get the taste buds ready for the food to come.

OK I'm guessing you want to see what they look like............... So.....



Tomorrow I'll tell you all about the starter which was a Goats Cheese soufflé and I'm also going to blog about my affection for the previously mentioned Mr Raymond Blanc.

Until then.............