Celebrations

My brother,  'the colonel' was in town for work last night, so the Victorian arm of our family (such as it is) all got together to eat and say hi!  What a perfect opportunity for me to cook a few of Donna's dishes - to cross a few more of the list!

As we were travelling up to the big smoke to eat at the co-tenants 'city pad' I decided not to cook the 'braised beef with cheese croutons' here in the resort town and carry it up to reheat once there, but to cook it completely once I arrived. It only took 1.5 hours to cook, should be a doddle ... right? I'm not sure it was really!
     Firstly we left our resort town a little later than I anticipated. As a result, the dish went in the oven later than I anticipated too
     Secondly I didn't really factor in the two very hungry boyos who were waiting quite patiently to be fed but didn't get anything too substantial until 7:45pm ;-) They ate some nibbles while waiting and were very patient and loving, and it all worked out well really, but still, what a bad aunt!
     Thirdly I continually worried that the meat wouldn't be tender enough after only 1.5 hours. I kept thinking if it had gone in earlier, it could have cooked longer. I should have trusted Donna really, as the meat was sooooo tender and perfect! My nephew S even commented how just picking it up in his fork made the meat fall apart!

A few issues in the making of said dish - naturlich!  Chefs using both the words 'beer' and 'beef' in a recipe should put one in a bolder font perhaps, but definitely do something to differentiate for blind old people like me which word they are currently using!
I read 'beef' instead of 'beer' at one stage and returned the beef to the pan a step too early. Although this didn't ruin the dish per se, I think it did compromise the end result. The 'beer' was supposed to reduce by half before the 'beef'' went in, so I think the gravy at the end would have been thicker and richer if I'd done the steps in the correct order! Oops

As a side dish to complement the braised beef I also made 'garlic and thyme braised cauliflower'. Little did I know when creating this menu that it wasn't only HoM who had 'issues' with cauli. Although everyone had a piece of the cauli to at least taste the dish for me (weren't they sweet), there were few people at the table who actually enjoy the taste of cauliflower, no matter how infused with other flavours it is!

The last dish I made for last night was a 'chocolate peppermint slice'. The end result was a bit dodgy so, according to HoM, I may be up for elimination tonight ;-)
The second layer of the slice - the peppermint icing layer - hadn't set properly when I poured on the chocolate layer or, now I'm thinking about it more, maybe the hot chocolate sauce made the icing runny again. Mmmmm either way, 30 minutes later when I attempted to slice it up for transport to the big smoke, the peppermint layer oozed all over the place!
I chucked it back into a cool place - the freezer this time - and put it straight into the fridge when I got to the co-tenants house. By the time it was needed for dessert, it was perfectly fine for serving!  It's a very rich slice though and a little goes a long long way!

I'm taking the extra peppermint slice to the in-laws in 'Ballas' tomorrow to share. I'm confident they'll love it ;-)