The theme of 'The Last of the Winter" was a hearty affair, but began with a slightly passé but lovely goats cheese and parmesan pudding (which was actually a soufflé, I just didn't want to say that!). I served that hot and only slightly dipped in the middle (they wouldn't sit down when I asked them to!) with a warm pear, watercress and walnut salad (served with a rapeseed oil dressing).
The main was actually a three pie affair. There was one veggie I knew about, but another I didn't so some last-minute mushroom, chestnut and tarragon pie filling was whipped up to solve the problem. After the veggie version, pie two was a slow cooked game pie in a rich port and thyme gravy. Nice, but even after 5 hours melding together some bits (maybe rabbit) we still tough as old boots. Oh well, onwards to the special but of fun... the squirrel pie!
I made a big one, and stuck a herby tail in one end after having run out of time and being unable to remember what the silhouette of a squirrel looked like in order to make a little squirrel decoration...! Maybe that would have been a little too crude too, though I guess the tail was hardly respectful of the veggies! (Who, I should point out, were very decent, even in the event of teasing).
Squirrel itself doesn't taste of much, though I was told it tasted rather like frogs legs (i.e. bland).
Dessert was a double ginger cake (stem ginger as well as dried) with port-mulled blackberries and a pear cream. Yum. (Though a little charred on top, I cut that off and pretended nothing had happened. That'll teach me to think I've time to whip on a frock just as it's due to come out of the oven!)
Anyway, as it was a smaller than usual supperclub with just 6 guests this time, the happily sozzled bunch embarked on a game of trivial pursuits and chatted until well gone one. Sorry lovely neighbour!
