Come Dine on the Sea

[SaucySailoress]

OK, so when we go on passage, we take turns cooking. But one of the meals has to be a three course dinner to Come Dine with Me standards. It's sort of this silly rule I have to keep standards high... I like good food, and don't see why I should eat **** when I'm not cooking....

The budget is a dinar a head.... that's 2 quid or three dollars, but you can use pantry items for free. So, for example, if you bought a box of choc brownie mix, that'd have to come out of your budget. But if you made them from scratch, the flour, sugar, cocoa comes for free, so all that's out of the budget would be the eggs.

The aim is to win. So entertainment counts too!

So, to start us off, this is a real one I did in Oman:

Starter: Watermelon Balls, with a special juice
Main Course: Sweet & Sour Chicken with mange tout, served with rice
Dessert: Home made Ice cream served on home made brownies, with a side of home made meringues (I think that might be why I won)

Entertainment: We were in a marina, so I dragged everyone to the hotel beach to build giant crab castles, dragging sand from below the high water line. (Yeah, so tropical beach wear was the theme). It was awesome seeing the looks on the faces of the staff when they saw them in the morning....

Whilst we were in a marina, all I'd have changed about this one on passage would have been the entertainment.

Now... I need great ideas. I like to win these things, so be creative.

[NornaBiron]

That sounds brilliant, maybe we can use your idea on the Red Sea Sailing Safari next winter :-)

[carstenb]

Dinner is made from recipes in my cookbook (happy to send you a copy if you pm me with a private e-mail).

Depending on where you are in the world - this can be done for under 3 bucks.



Cold Cucumber soup


Some peeled cucumbers
Crusted garlic
Olive oil
Some finely chopped onion
A little very finely chopped chili



The soup is a little cold appetizer (great on a hot summer day!). Figure on one large cucumber for two people (it’s supposed to be small portions).

The peeled cucumbers and 2-4 tablespoons olive oil, the onions, garlic and the chili are put in a blender and blended until it all becomes a fine soup,

Serve it in small bowls, perhaps with a bit of bread alongside.

Spaghetti with prawns

Fresh spaghetti
Some peeled prawns (shrimp or whatever)
1 crushed clove of garlic
1 finely chopped red chili pepper
White wine
Chopped parsley


Sauté the garlic in oil. Don’t let it brown. Add the white wine and chili; let it cook until half the liquid is gone.


In the meantime, cook the spaghetti al dente and drain it.

Add the prawns to the sauce and let it cook just enough to warm the shellfish. Not too long or else the shellfish will dry out and become tough. Max 1 minute.

Dessert when you simply don’t have time!

Heavy cream
Grand Mainer or Amaretto
Chopped semi-sweet chocolate
Slices of banana
A mandarin wedge or the like

Mix the cream with a little of the liquor. Whip it until fairly stiff. Mix in the chocolate and banana. Put in the refrigerator for an hour or so.

Spoon the mixture into some wine glasses and serve with a mandarin wedge on top.

[Factor]

All sounds wonderful. We use the Great Ideas Galley Guide by Susan Bett. Its a great guide to provisioning and cooking on board.

Great Ideas Galley Guide

[aclmck]

entree

6 rice crackers /head topped with sundried tomatoes olives gherkin with cream cheese spread on two only, cheese (your favourite) anchovies,fresh tomato,olives on two only favourite dip spread with one or two of the above toppings.drizzle with olive oil and salt and pepper

main meal

pasta marinara

cook pasta to taste

sauce/topping mixed seafood any type1-2/3 cup /head, can tomatoes 1/4 large onion fine chopped, cup of stir fry veges,tomato paste 1/4 cup tomato sauce,2 large garlic cloves, good quality olive oil drizzle s&pepper to taste

place onion,garlic in saucepan/frypanwith a little water cook until onion is cooked,add tomatoes cook for 2minutes, add tomato paste and veges cook through add seafood when nearly cooked add tomato sauce 1-2 tablespoons or to taste salt and pepper to taste

add pasta to sauce serve with a drizzle of oil and or grated parmesan cheese

Desert

packet of dry chocolate biscuits, packet of fresh cream, packet of mascopone cream,grated chocolate

place dry biscuits with mascopone in between on bottom of a bread loaf tin make 2 layers if you have enough then top with fresh cream with grated chocolate , refrigerate for 2 hrs before serving

All easy and possible to do in a seaway without too much hassle, mostly prepared in advance

[Georgiegirl]

Factor

The galley guide you have, do you know if it still in print. Amazon doesn't have a copy and there isn't a PDF version. Any ideas?

[SaucySailoress]

Georgiegirl, you need to get the boat galley cookbook... The author is a member here and really cool. Plus there are loads of free tips on her blog. Google it, it's an awesome site! I am well impressed with the recipes so far. Not sure why my entertainment didn't show... I remember typing it out (we made giant crab mounds on the beach, taking sand from below the waterline, and the looks on folks faces in the morning were classic) but I'd like to see that sort of thing included too...

[carstenb]

I use the cookbook "Slow Food - Made So Easy" by Carsten Breuning (otherwise known as "moi"). I fany of you want a copy, pm me your email and I'll send you a copy, about 80 recipes of great food. I used to have a job that required me to eat in michelin starred restaurants (yes, I know, it's a tough life but someone has to do it) Anyway, after almost 30 years of munching my way through wonderful food all around the world, I had developed into a reasonable amateur cook. Guest at our house kept asking for my recipes and I finally got myself together to write them down - so now there is a cookbook.

Saucy - here's a cheap dinner (all tapas or antipastos)

boiled leeks

clean the leeks and cut them into 15 cm lengths, boil until just tender. Let cool and cut in half lengthwise. Marinate in a olive oil/vinegar dressing. Serve cold with crumpled bacon and freshly shredded parmesan cheese on top. Sourdough bread alongside.

Ham/ricotta

Mix some ricotta cheese with commercially prepared pesto, or make your own f.eks. Basil pesto. crush many, many Basil leaves, mix with some olive oil and crushed piñon nuts, a little garlic and just about anything else you have handy.

Now mix the pesto with the ricotta until you have the taste you want. Roll a spoonful up in a ham slice

Pancetta mushroom cups

Take a muffin pan and line each of the muffin cups with italian pancetta (bacon). Separately, quarter some small mushrooms and fry them in olive oil. drain the mushrooms. Fill the pancetta cups with a mixture of mushrooms/ piñon nuts (if you want you can add a small amount of whipped egg to it, although this is not necessary). Pop into a hot oven for about 10-15 minutes (you want them hot but the pancetta should not be burnt) You can add your favorite herbs to this - some chili makes it hot, basil, oregano, rosemary, thyme, garlic. Experiment - it all tastes good.

Serve all the above with really good sourdough bread and yes, red wine.

[nigel1]

Those pancetta mushroom cups sound great, and easy to make, I'll be trying those soon

Thanks

[SaucySailoress]

Originally Posted by carstenb

I use the cookbook "Slow Food - Made So Easy" by Carsten Breuning (otherwise known as "moi"). I fany of you want a copy, pm me your email and I'll send you a copy, about 80 recipes of great food. I used to have a job that required me to eat in michelin starred restaurants (yes, I know, it's a tough life but someone has to do it) Anyway, after almost 30 years of munching my way through wonderful food all around the world, I had developed into a reasonable amateur cook. Guest at our house kept asking for my recipes and I finally got myself together to write them down - so now there is a cookbook.



. .

Never mind the pm. ME ME ME ME, I want that book! Pleeeeease?

[SaucySailoress]

Doh, you need an email address... I'll send you that pm...!

[NornaBiron]

Originally Posted by nigel1

Those pancetta mushroom cups sound great, and easy to make, I'll be trying those soon

Thanks

Me too! I have Carsten's book and can confirm there are some lovely things to try there.

[Seaworthy Lass]

Originally Posted by NornaBiron

have Carsten's book and can confirm there are some lovely things to try there.

I second that .