our Pub dinner

Oyster Mushroom Mashed Potato

The Meal! with chilled Tuborg

Caramelized sausages

Pub food has always been a favorite with us. From spicy Buffalo wings to potato skins, we love anything that goes down well with a mug of chilled beer. And well, since summer is upon us, nothing better than a chilled pint of lager on a warm night with some pub like food to match. While we’re at it, there was some good music playing in the background while we were cooking up our pub fare. Ideas were plentiful but we narrowed it down to the basics. We didn’t want to slave in the kitchen coming up with something fancy and take too long burning a sweat. So we decided on, Chicken Bockwurst Slices with Caramelized Onions, Pan Roasted Ham, Butter Sautéed Shrimps and Garlic Dill Potato Mash. Not to forget the two pints of Tuborg ;)

Caramelized Bockwurst Slices:
Ingredients (serves 2 very hungry people)-
4 Chicken Bockwurst sliced
4 pods garlic finely chopped
1 large onion sliced
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp sugar
2 tbsp Worcester sauce
2 tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
1 tbsp fresh/dried mixed herbs
Salt and pepper for seasoning
Method:
Slice up the Bockwurst once defrosted. Heat the butter and olive oil in a non stick saucepan. Sauté the garlic and onions till they change color. Sprinkle the sugar and let the onions caramelize; this should take around 7-10 minutes. Now tip into the slices of the sausages and stir them around. Add the Balsamic Vinegar and the Worcester sauce along with the salt, pepper and herbs. Let the slice take on a nice char coat. Now take it off the heat and serve hot with beer on the side ;)
Butter tossed Shrimps:
Ingredients-
200 gm shrimps
2 tbsp butter
Salt and pepper for seasoning
Method:
It’s as simple as tossing the shrimps in butter, adding the seasoning and cooking it for 5-8 minutes or till the shrimps are cooked. Serve hot as appetizer or part of a platter.
Dill and Garlic Potato Mash
Ingredients:
2 large potatoes
1 tbsp finely chopped garlic
1 tbsp butter
Few twigs of dill
Salt and pepper for seasoning
Method:
Pressure cook the potatoes till cooked and soft enough to mash. Sauté the garlic in the butter and add to the potato mash. Add the dill, salt and pepper and mash it well enough so it’s smooth. Serve warm as a side or on a platter.
Presumably we didn’t take more than a half hour to put together this ‘pub platter’ of ours. We just put it all on one big plate, opened a couple of beers, clinked them and had a lovely evening watching some 30 Rock.

Bruschetta

Bruschetta

There was this one scene in Julie&Julia, where Julie is in conversation with her husband while cooking dinner. She dices tomatoes, a little later she flips a few baguette slices on the griddle turning them golden brown. Next thing you know, the tomatoes are nesting on the baguette and she’s garnishing them with fresh basil. I must have rewound and gone through the scene like 7 times at one go. It looked absolutely beautiful and it definitely helped that her husband loved it. So many months have gone by and now is when that scene would come to life in my kitchen. Technically in Upasana’s kitchen. Did it exactly how I played it in my head. But of course by now you should know we do bend the rules here and there. So we added a little extra for some zing. Cheese! Straight from Paris.

5 slices

Ingredients:

5 slices of baguette (you can use any other kind of bread slices)

2 chopped tomatoes

½ yellow capsicum finely chopped (green or red would also do just fine)

1 basil leaf for each slice

A pinch of fresh thyme for each slice (substitute with dried Italian seasoning)

Grated cheese to top the bruschetta (we used gouda)

1 clove of garlic

1 tbsp olive oil for toasting baguette

Salt and pepper for seasoning

Method:

Sauté the finely chopped yellow capsicum and keep aside. Toast baguette in olive oil on both sides. Rub garlic on each slice to infuse the flavor into the baguette. Top it with the chopped tomatoes, approximately 1 tbsp for each slice and the capsicum. Sprinkle a pinch of thyme and season with salt and pepper. Now add basil finely chopped or the whole leaf. Top this off with cheese and serve.

It works really well as an appetizer for a dinner party. Yes, you can show off. I would ;)