Disco Fever!

Lianne is back!

Thanks to her dedication to the annual Big Fun Walk, raising funds for the North London Hospice (you can donate here), we got to enjoy her company and cooking again 🙂

And her chosen theme for D dinner was… Disco!

What the hell is Disco food, you ask?

Well, It’s all those food fads from the 70′ – And they’re BONKERS.

But before we dive into the food, here are the people:

As Bernhard was away cavorting (sorry, working) in Cannes, this was an All-Woman dinner: Dorottya, Idit, yours truly, Lianne, and her fantastic friend, Becky.

I’m proud to say we ALL dressed up to the nines in fabulous 70′ Disco fashion:

Now, the 70′ Disco era was all about partying – lots of flash, lots of fun – and very little time actually labouring in the kitchen.

Accordingly, Lianne’s dishes were all party foods which emphasise look over nutrition.

Aperitif: Curried/ Devilled Eggs, shop-bought Cheese Straws, and a Cheddar & Pineapple Hedgehog:

Curried eggs: 6 eggs, hard boil, refresh in cold water to cook quickly. When cool, halve, scoop out the yolk into a bowl, and mix with 1 tbsp mayonnaise and a couple of tsp English mustard powder. Mix the egg yolk mixture and pipe it back into the egg white half. Decorate with curly parsley for a proper vintage vibe!

The ‘Hedgehog‘ was a large potato wrapped in tin foil and given a tin foil head, lovingly crafted by Lianne. The spines were toothpicks holding cubes of mature cheddar cheese & tinned pineapple – a surprisingly good combo!

For starters: Prawn Cocktail (my favourite this dinner – fresh and zesty):

Iceberg lettuce shredded finely. For Marie Rose sauce mix 5 tbsp mayo with one of tomato ketchup, and 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce. Layer lettuce, prawns, Marie Rose sauce, and more prawns, a drop more Marie Rose sauce and sprinkle with paprika. Dress with lemon and cucumber. ❤️

Mains: Chicken & Chips in a basket:

The chicken was seasoned with salt and pepper and oil, and roasted at 220C for 40 mins., shuggling regularly (I didn’t know shuggling was a verb till Lianne enlightened me!).
The chips were bought oven chips (she had walked 11 miles that morning for charity!!)

Israeli giant “couscous’ with tomato sauce and frankfurter sausages made by Idit (all Israeli kids grew up eating this):

Fry a thinly chopped onion in a pot; add chopped garlic clove and diced frankfurters, and fry till they get some colour. Add some paprika, tomato puree and 1.5 cups of tomato passata. Mix. Add a cup of giant couscous and 2 cups of boiling water, and salt. Bring to a boil and simmer till the couscous is al-dente (about 5 minutes).

And a simple veg salad: Iceberg lettuce, cucumber, tomato, and radish, with salt & pepper, olive oil and lemon.

For Pudding:

Tinned Tangerines in Orange Jelly:

2 tins drained mandarines, 2 packs jelly, follow instructions add to bowl with mandarines. Chill overnight. Will take about 4 hours to fully set (I happen to know Lianne’s process included arranging the mandarine segments in a lovely pattern on the bottom of the bowl, and then trying to poke them back down when they stubbornly floated to the top in a jumble. I’m sure that improved the taste).

And another Israeli 70’s staple: Biscuits & Cream Layer cake (which I’d made):

In a bowl, mix 250ml whipping cream, 1/2 cup milk, 1 pack cream cheese, 2 tbs sugar, and a sachet of instant pudding; whip the mix to a stable cream.

Dip Pettit-beurre biscuits in instant coffee and place in one layer; spread some of the cream on the biscuits, and then another layer of dipped biscuits on that. Then another layer of cream.

Sprinkle with cocoa powder. I sprinkled it with Hundreds & Thousands for the Disco look.