Belated report of Mr B’s birthday dinner

On April 19, 2014 by battenburgbelle

As we were heading off for a few days of extreme eating over the Easter holidays and going out dancing on the evening itself, we decided to have a celebratory dinner chez nous the evening before Mr B’s special day.

Rack of lamb

Birthday dinner, featuring rack of lamb

Starters were, for Missy B, the usual tomato and mozzarella salad and, for us, some very nice venison paté that found its way from Grandma and Grandpa B’s fridge into ours, on the grounds that we would probably actually eat it. I served that with some lovely spelt bread from the freezer, via Bath, lightly toasted.

The main course was inspired by the book of the month – the Valvona and Crolla one. I did a rack of lamb flavoured with garlic, anchovies, rosemary and thyme and roasted on a bed of fennel. It does make me chuckle to see Missy B, once a fairly vocal vegetarian, tuck heartily into a plate of pink lamb. It was very tasty and accompanied by Richard Bertinet’s garlicky potatoes (much like dauphinoise, with extra garlic – still very popular with Missy B despite straying from her favourite recipe) and green beans. I also steamed some leeks, shaved a bit of Parmesan over them and grilled them. Also very good and a handy way to make a bit of leftover leek into a lovely little side dish.

I had managed to save a couple of the raspberry and ricotta tarts, so that was dessert sorted out.

Pear and amaretto cake

Mr Ottolengh’s pear and amaretto cake

We took the birthday cake with us to the Nitty Gritty on Sunday evening – a great evening out at the Constitution in Camden, dancing the night away to fabulous ‘60s music and nibbling at slices of Mr B’s favourite cake – a gorgeous pear and amaretto loaf cake, one of Mr Ottolenghi’s specials, that never fails to delight, with it’s moist cake and lovely crumble topping. A great way to endear yourself to your fellow dancers!

2 Responses to “Belated report of Mr B’s birthday dinner”

  • Everyone at the Nitty Gritty loves you (especially the young mod boys) and they love you even more now that you took cake! It was yummy.

    It makes me laugh how you – the one who didn’t like lamb – now cook it and scoff it at the drop of a hat!

    Jx

  • battenburgbelle

    Maybe I should bring cake to the Nitty Gritty every time 😉

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