Dinner At My House! Including recipes...

I love love love love watching Come Dine with Me on tv, the main reason being that I'm quite nosy and like to get a look at other people's houses! So when I was asked if I wanted to take part in a blogger's online version I jumped at the chance! 

Research from Ocean has revealed that dining rooms are one of the least used in the house. Now this isn't true for me; I'm in mine all the time... I write in there, I read in there, it's where I got to talk on the phone because it's quiet and it's also where we eat every night. I wonder if perhaps the reason people are using their dining room less is because they prefer to sit in front of the tv to eat? But I do agree that we should love our dining rooms a little more, I'll be the first to admit that ours is a little bit of a dumping ground.. it's a constant battle to keep the table clear of everyday mess! 

So step into my home and join me for dinner... 

The first step for me was to start planning and as you can see above ^ I love a brain storm! I'd already decided who was getting an invite, and I as I eat with all of them pretty often I knew the sort of food they'd be happy to eat (luckily none of them have special dietary requirements). 

My planning consisted of working out the 3 courses, decoration and entertainment. For the challenge we were limited to £50 so it was also important for me to work out the costings so I that I didn't overspend (eek) !

​Now shall we get on with the important part, the food?!

The Starter - Vegetable Spring Rolls, served with Soy Sauce
Now for future reference I hate making filo pastry, I studied food and I have always hated pastry making.. but particularly filo. So it should be no surprise that I cheated a little bit here and bought the pastry ready-made. These spring rolls are really easy to make (if you buy the pastry) and taste even better than ready made ones.

You will need (to make 4 spring rolls):

• 50g of grated carrot
• 2 tablespoons of cannelinni beans
• 50g of beansprouts
• 1 spring onion, sliced
• 1/4 red pepper, sliced
• filo pastry (approx 8 squares, 23cm each)
• 1 tablespoon of sweet chilli sauce 

Once you've got your ingredients ready, preheat your oven to 220C (I have no idea which gas mark that is sorry) and line a baking tray with greaseproof paper. Then it's time to assemble:

• Mix the carrot, beans, onion, pepper and beans together with the sweet chilli sauce in a bowl.
• Lay the pastry squares flat on the work surface and brush with a small bit of oil. Lay another square on top of this one and brush again with oil.
• Take about a quarter of the filling on a spoon and place on one corner (the one nearest to you) of the pastry square. The fold this corner into the centre, and tuck it under the filling. Fold the 2 outside corners into the centre so that it looks like an envelope. Brush with more oil, and the roll it up to look like a sausage! 
• Repeat until you've made as many as you need.
• Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes. 

The cost of making spring rolls is really low, you could make about 12 spring rolls for only a few pounds depending on what you already have and where you shop. 

Main Course - Lamb with dauphinoise potatoes and green beans in rosemary gravy
Now I know some people can find lamb quite tricky to cook, but it really doesn't need to be. This is actually a great recipe to just put in the oven and leave. You can carry on with your day and just let it cook slowly.

You'll need:

• a leg of lamb (about 2kg should feed 6 people)
• 9 cloves of garlic
• Rosemary
• 200ml of red wine
• Salt
• Black pepper
• 100g unsalted butter
• 1kg of potatoes (I like red potatoes for this) - peel and finely slice
• 75ml of whole milk
• 175ml of double cream
• green beans (amount dependent on how much you want each guest to have)
• 230ml of dry white wine
• 230ml of chicken broth (1 stock cube)
• 4 tablespoons of plain flour

So first things first, get the lamb ready to cook. 

1. Preheat the oven to 120C
2. Make small slits into the meat approx 1cm deep
3. Push 8 of the cloves into these slits (peel and slice them first), also push in some rosemary
4. Give the meat a rub over with some butter and season with salt & pepper
5. Place in the oven on a roasting tray, pour red wine over and cover with foil. 
6. Leave to cook for 5 hours, but be sure to check about halfway through that it isn't drying out (add more wine if needed).
7. For the last hour of cooking, take the foil off and turn the heat up to 160C. You should find that the tray is full of meat juices and wine, use these to baste the meat 2-3 times in the remaining time.
8. Remove from tray, and cover in foil to keep warm before carving.

For the gravy:

1. Spoon the fat off the juices left in the roasting pan and add the rest to a saucepan. You want the hob on a medium heat at this point. 
2. Add the dry white wine, the broth, rosemary and flour.
3. Stir whilst bringing it to the boil and then remove from the heat. 
4. Before serving strain to remove the rosemary. 

For the dauphinoise potatoes:

1. Crush a clove of garlic with a teaspoon of salt. Place in a large pan and add the milk.
2. Add the cream and pepper whilst bringing to the boil.
3. Add the potatoes to the pan and stir to make sure they are fully coated. Bring back to the boil and then simmer on a low heat.
4. After 15 minutes the potatoes should now be soft and you should have a thick sauce. 
5. Remove the potatoes from the pan, place into a buttered oven-proof dish and bake for 45 minutes (you can do this during the last hour of the lamb's cooking time). 

The green beans can be cooked however you prefer, personally I just boil them up until they are slightly tender.

Serve it all up on a plate and then tuck in.. YUMMY! 

This one is really difficult to cost, but it should cost you much more than £15 depending on the lamb you buy.

The Dessert - Chocolate brownies, with walnuts, served with vanilla ice cream

You will need:

• 6 tablespoons of cocoa powder
• 225g  butter
• 200g caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 125g plain flour
• 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• 4 tablespoons of chopped walnuts
• 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• Vanilla ice cream (unless you make your own).

These are really easy to make, and are absolutely delicious. Trust me: these are popular!

1. Melt the chocolate and butter together over a low heat. Transfer to a mixing bowl, and mix them together. 
2. Add the sugar to the mix gradually, followed by the eggs one at a time.
3. Sieve the flour, baking powder and salt into the mix and fold it in. 
4. Add the walnuts and stir to distribute evenly through the mix.
5. Spread the mix into a greased tin.
6. Bake for 25 minutes in a preheated oven at 180C.
7. Take them out, and pop one (or two) into a bowl with a spoon of ice cream. Sorted.

These are another fairly inexpensive dish to make, and while it may not be the most sophisticated dessert I didn't hear any complaints! 

I kept the table decor pretty simple, but seasonal. Our table doesn't really have enough room for large centerpieces, but I really love the simple elegance of the vase filled with pinecones. As we were eating in the evening, I later added some tealights around it on the table. 

I absolutely loved my "Come Dine with Me" night, and I got full marks from my guests too, WOOHOO! We entertained ourselves by playing a couple of old board games that we all love, and just generally enjoying each others company.

I would definitely host another evening like this with my friends, and we've already decided that we're going to do it again at each other's homes. It was so much fun! 

If you think your dining room needs a little bit of tlc, why don't you host your own "Come Dine with Me" night and get it full of the people you love! 

I'd be thrilled to find out your thoughts on my night, what would you have cooked? Drop me a comment below!

Stay safe and get cooking, x