I was talking to a friend from work a few weeks ago and she mentioned that she was doing Come Dine with Me. I got very excited at the thought of her being on TV but she informed me that she is not going on TV but actually doing it with 4 of her friends. What they do is follow the TV format and give each other marks out of ten but at the end they go to a swanky restaurant in London and the winner doesn't pay. How utterly fabulous darling. I immediately sent an email round to 4 of my most culinary skilled friends and the first date was set. As with the TV show each impending chef du jour has to send through the menu before the actual date.
First up - Gemma. I have to admit I was really intrigued by what she was going to rustle up - after all when I first met her at University she could barely cook an egg but now, 10 years on she was the obvious choice for this foodie jaunt. She is quite the cook.
So, the menu came and it all sounded lovely. A selection of meze for starters, followed by Lamb Tagine with a chocolate torte and lemon sorbet to finish up.
The evening at Gemma's house was just gorgeous. Music playing, table set, chilling in the kitchen and plenty of wine. The meze was yummy. Humous, a sweet potato and olive salad, goats cheese with sweet peppers and chick peas and an aubergine puree plus lots of pitta. It was all a little too moorish for me and I just wanted to keep eating.
Up next was the lamb tagine served with cous cous and apricots. I was a tad apathetic regarding the apricots - I've never been too much of a fan however the whole dish tasted delicious - apricots compliment cinnamon so well.
So finally came desert - an extremely rich chocolate torte with extremely lemony sorbet. The sorbet wasn't quite set but it didn't matter - it tasted excellent and placated the richness of the chocolate in a subtle way.
Along with the good food and flowing wine there was great conversation with 4 of my best friends. Gem really has set the bar high.
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