Why basic essentials on hand are essential!

We have both Mr ATMT and my close friends birthdays on the 28th & 29th May respectively, we usually try to organise some sort of get together each year but this year we hadn’t really put a plan of attack into place. I spoke to my friend at 4.20 and said why don’t you call in on your way home for a drink to toast the birthdays. Her partner was also hauled in to call in for a quick drink to celebrate. I felt that it would be nice to offer a few nibblies to accompany and stopped on my way home to buy some cheese, wine and a few pieces of fruit to throw together. I then had the idea that surely I could present something a little better at representing a birthday celebration with what I had at home, managed to serve this at 5.45. Bloody good effort if I say so myself!

What was on the platter?

My attack was:

• As soon as I walked in the back door at 5.10 (after putting the wine in the fridge) I sliced 3 chicken thigh fillets and threw some Annabel Langbein asian style marinade I’d found in the fridge, (I can’t remember what it was or what I’d used it for) over the chicken. I did know it had fish sauce and chilli in it!
• Out to veggie patch to pick some celery and carrot, rinsed and sliced, onto platter (best celery I’ve ever grown as it turns out)
• Picked last of my basil, rinsed, into jar with olive oil, cashews, S&P and parmesan, blasted with bamix to make a quick pesto

• Thinly sliced some of my sour dough and threw into toaster
• Took some turkish bread from freezer, defrosted for 1 minute in zapper machine, drizzled and rubbed olive oil over it and put into hot pan to grill
• Cut  some pickled onions into quarters and put them and some pickled cucumbers into a couple of dishes
• Threw the chicken that had been in the marinade into a pan, tossed a few times till cooked.
• Opened the cheeses I bought which consisted of Maffra Tasty, Gippsland Brie, a blue vein and some lovely goats cheese. I pushed some of the goat cheese into a small ramekin so it could be used as a spread on the sourdough.
• Quince paste onto platter
• Peeled mandarin, onto platter
• Everything onto platter, time to our a glass of wine and say happy birthday!

Happy birthday Geoff and Sally!

Just ticking what came from stock that I had because of pre-storing, making or growing.

Sour dough, pickled onions, quince paste, marinade, turkish bread in freezer, garden where I could pick basil, celery, carrot, cashews, good olive oil, parmesan salt and pepper  on the shelf. Not to mention the good company that was the motivation for making an effort!