Vocal Voices

We are off to a friends for a meal next Saturday and it's my turn to do the starter again.

Last time I did chicken liver pate. The last two meals we've had (we do this about 4 times a year) the starters have been mackerel pate and a prawn and avocado dish.

I want to do cold as it's easier when taking it to someone's house. I know the main is beef bourgignon and pud is a cheesecake.

I was thinking of doing potted prawns but mainly because I can't think of much else.

What about bruschetta? Nice and light, as the rest of the meal sounds fairly heavy? You could always take the chopped tomatoes and basil (or whatever) separately, and pop it on at the last minute so as not to make the toast soggy

Or risotto rice balls with hollandaise or béarnaise sauce on a bed of salad leaves.

Make any sort of risotto, enough for a small portion per diner, and then chill it in the fridge for a couple of hours. Roll it into balls - one large or two small per person, then place back in the fridge to set. Take each ball and roll in flour, then in whisked egg, then in breadcrumbs. Deep fry these till golden brown then set aside to cool. Make or buy hollandaise or béarnaise sauce.

To serve, place the balls on a bed of salad leaves and pour over the sauce of choice.

When initially rolling the balls you could push a cooked prawn or a piece of cooked chicken into the centre in a kind of Scotch egg fashion.

If you want to use prawns I have a dead easy starter.

Whip some cream, mix horseradish through it and add touch of tomato ketchup to make it slightly pink. Stir prawns in and then get slices of smoked salmon and plonk the mix into the middle and wrap it up.

it is absolutely scrummy.

I used to do similar, with or without the prawns.
Mix cream cheese & cream, with horseradish, squeeze of lemon. Lay out smoked salmon, put a layer of blanched Cos lettuce (or raw or balnched spinach), add cream mix and roll up; serve on salad leaves.

Smoked mackerel pate? Process with cream cheese, horseradish, lemon, black pepper, serve with melba toast.

I am going to pass some of these ideas on to my sister for when she does the night before *mas table. The chicken wings, samosas, vol-au-vents thing has had its day.

Some time back I saw a cook on the Food Channel do a filo pastry envelope thing with ham and herby mozzarella. They were two squares of pastry offset and layered with filling then the corners folded in and cooked on a tray.

That sounds nice

What are you going to do Debih? - given that it's usually something completely different to all suggestions
I'm always interested in starters, if only because I hardly ever ever do them any more

Potted prawns.

I'm staying clear of pate as we've had that the last two times.

I have all the ingredients and will be making them tomorrow afternoon.

Oh I love potted prawns