Sunday, March 22, 2009

Dinner Party

I woke up with a feeling that today was something to look forward to, and after eagerly checking my calendar, I discovered that dinner at a collegues's house was on the agenda. Not just any collegue, but the only other vegan in the entire of the company I work for.

Dinner with friends is one of my favourite activities for sure. I like food, and I like friends! But having friends cook for me, a rare occasion in itself, can sometimes be less than inspiring if they are having to cook differently to how they normally cook, just for me.

And its to be expected - I wouldn't expect a Mexican to be able to cook up a great bit of sushi for a Japanese guest, but he'd sure know how to make a damn fine burrito. Although don't get me wrong, I have had some truly delicious meals cooked up for me by some of my closest omniviouous friends.

Having a vegan couple cook up a dinner party is a different kettle of fish. Vegans know how to cook vegan, what tastes good, and what doesn't. How to make traditional dishes without just leaving out any non-vegan elements, but substituting in something that will work. How to get the most flavour out of food, without simply throwing salt it. Thats the advantage of eating healthily.

Chocolate Torte with Raspberry Coulis

Enter the vegan dinner. This wasn't just your average one-pot meal for 6. This was a 3 course banquet, with printed menu and everything - the whole nine yards. And it was superb! For starters, we had falafels with tahini dressing, and salad, with pina-colada and puppodums to wet the appetite further. Then came a thai curry for the main meal. Followed by the simply wonderful chocolate torte, served with raspberry coulis and soya cream. We also had one of my quinoa and almond muffins that I'd baked earlier, which looked a little out of place amongst such royalty, but actually went quite nicely with the sauces!

So there you have it!

4 comments:

Ruby Red said...

Oh, wow! All those courses sound amazing! I will have to keep those ideas in mind for the next time I cook for people... The falafel with tahini sauce and pappadums sound perfect! And almond quinoa muffins are the best! It's really nice to know vegans in real life because having dinner turns into a big fun awesome event!

Hannah said...

Man, that chocolate torte looks killer! What a fun dinner party overall though. :)

vegetablej said...

A vegan feast, what a rare treat. And printed menus - ooh la la. Yummy looking pictures as always. (Drool)

green clementine said...

Quinoa & almond muffin sounds yummy!

Do you use quinoa grains or flakes? I'm very much interested in the recipe. Feel free to post it here or pass it on to Trave at work if you don't mind sharing your baking secrets :-)