a spring starter....(my first paid job) PART 1

So I did my first bit of professional cooking last week, courtesy of mum who has been spreading the word throughout Northamptonshire about the fact that I am off to Ballymaloe.

It was mums friends 10th wedding anniversary dinner (no pressure!) for twelve people. They basically said 'cook whatever you want' but we want three courses......

SHIT!

It was at that point that I felt like an 8 year old who just wanted to bake fairy cakes and make jelly.

Anywhooo, I got to work designing a menu. I wanted to keep everything seasonal, you know it makes sense.

So this is what I came up with:

For the starter I put together a (sort of) antipasti-style, help-yourself platter plate with

baked young beetroot and red onions. ROUGHLY CHOP BEETS, AND SLICE ONIONS INTO PINWHEELS. COVER WITH TIN FOIL AND SWEAT IN OVEN AT 180 FOR 40 MINS. REMOVE AND COVER WITH BALSAMIC VINEGAR/GLAZE AND LEAVE TO COOL.

sweet potato baked in maple syrup and soy. PEEL AND ROUGHLY CHOP POTATOES INTO CHUNKS. PLACE IN BAKING TRAY AND LIGHTLY SPLASH WITH MAPLE SYRUP AND SOY SAUCE. PLACE IN OVEN AT 180 FOR 30 MINS.

The sweet potato sounds a bit weird, but trust me it's a nice combo and seems to work. I got inspiration for these recipes from a book called 'My favourite ingredients' by Skye Gyngell who runs Petersham Nurseries.

I filled the platter dish with bunches of fresh rocket, with big chunks of lemon, parma ham and roasted vine tomatoes, then placed a pile of the bright pink beetroot and onions next to the bright orange sweet potatoes and served it up. The colours on the plate were amazing. A good, uplifting spring starter. I think they liked it?!