A 70's Inspired Dinner Party

When my friend Sue offered to rebind my 1974 Cookery Year the price was for me to teach her to make profiteroles.  I finally got round to paying my debt and Sue and her husband came round for dinner with Sue making pudding.  Profiteroles (a 70s classic) comprised the pudding and it seemed appropriate that the rest of the meal came from the same era.

Menu:

Canapes: Cheese and Pineapple hedgehog; Prawn Cocktail and Guacamole Tartlets
Starter: Cheese Fondue with ciabatta (invented in 1976 apparently)
Main Course: Salmon en Croute
Dessert: Profiteroles
Petit Fours: Mini Madeleines

The menu was more about fun than haute cuisine and we had a great evening

Having promised profiterole excellence I was very relieved that they worked and as one of Mr Vitty's favourite desserts there were never going to be enough of them. Sue went home saying she was no longer apprehensive about making them in the future, so objective achieved : ) .

I also realised how much I enjoy making puff pastry which I did for the salmon en croute.  I've made puff pastry before but for the first time I appreciated the therapeutic nature of the repetitive folding and rolling to make the layers and a  huge sense of satisfaction when it works.  I know that the all butter chilled versions you can buy from the shops are good (and I have an emergency packet in the freezer), but if I have the time I'm always going to make it in the future.

Other elements of the meal could have been better.  Cheese fondue is more difficult than it looks and we didn't like it enough to bother trying to make it again (it's also not good for my cholesterol level!).  I was never going to like the cheese and pineapple hedgehog, but we couldn't do without one for a 70's inspired meal.