A conversation on Twitter between some fellow food bloggers spurred me into an action I’d been contemplating for a while. The conversation was around dinner parties and what seems to be a common excuse employed for not reciprocating a dinner party invitation to a food blogger being ‘I can’t cook as well as you and I’m too scared of cooking something rubbish for someone so discerning’ or words to that effect. It’s an excuse I’ve heard before and one which is pretty poor, in my eyes. I’m as happy eating a home cooked chilli as I am a Michelin star dish. I eat take aways and junk food. I eat pretty much anything and probably wouldn’t even turn my nose up a roadkill as long as it wasn’t going to poison me. In fact, if I was on a plane that crashed in the middle of nowhere and there was nothing else to eat, I don’t think I’d have any qualms in getting stuck into a piece of chargrilled buttock, should the circumstances require it.

So, this spurred me into inviting a Gulp (official collective term) of food bloggers over for dinner, before I thought too hard about what that actually entailed. I got a bit of a reality check when my Sister commented ‘So, basically, you’ve invited a load of food critics around your house for dinner?’. In other words ‘Cooking doesn’t get tuffa than this’!

So, the final and honoured list of victims guests were Chris from Cheese and Biscuits, Lizzie from Hollow Legs, Mathilde + hubby David (@dewilded on Twitter) from Mathilde’s Cuisine, Dan from Essex Eating, Krista from Londelicious, Kavey from Kavey Eats and Helen from Food Stories.

So what did my guests travel from the depths of wildest Essex, the far reaches of the Northern line and every corner of London, for? Well, I had to put quite a bit of thought into the menu because whilst I expected similar attitudes to food as me (see above), I still wanted to impress and cook something a bit different, but as seasonal and local as possible.

The final menu was:

Canapes

Truffled Foie Gras on Toasted Sourdough & Rye

Mushroom Pate on Toasted Sourdough & Rye

Starter

Winter Crunch Salad (was almost pear, blue cheese and spiced walnut salad, but this was less seasonal and more faffy to put together)

Wine - Chateau Bouscasse Pacherenc (dry) 2006

Mains

Steak, Stout & Oyster Suet Pudding

Venison, Port & Mushroom Suet Pudding

Moroccan Filo Pie

All served with a celeriac, potato & leek mash

Wine - Domaine Des Escaravailles le Ventabren Cairanne 2007

Dessert

Caramel Banana Blondies with homemade bitter chocolate ice cream

Wine - Brown Brothers Orange Muscat & Flora

Cheese Course

A (very) ripe Epoisse

Comte

Rich & Creamy Gorgonzola

I have to say that I did cause a bit of a stir by insisting on serving the cheese course last, not to mention the fuss caused by the exceptionally ripe Epoisse (“it smells of corpse”), but apart from that, the evening seemed to go pretty well. So, thanks to Chris, Krista, Lizzie, Helen, Mathilde, David, Kavey & Dan for making the effort of coming to a stranger’s house in SE London for dinner.

I’d also have to say thanks to Paul at Theatre of Wine, who made the wine recommendations, based on what I was cooking.

Finally, as much as I’d like to, I can’t take all the credit, seeing as Ms R made a cracking banana blondie, not to mention enduring being a Sous Chef under my command for the day! Dank je wel, Poffertje.

Next Week: Biggest Jim hosts an Ostentation (official collective term) of Michelin Starred Chefs.