When impressing friends with food (recipe)

This meal is a combination of recipes taught to me in my cooking class this year, and recipes from the Kids' Cookbook that I particularly like. I just thought that they would blend well in one meal. The first time I cooked the puffs, I burned the butter so much that the saucepan caught on fire. This was mainly because I took the recipe too literally. I have rewritten it slightly so that you will not make the same mistake.

And of course, everybody loves chocolate, so I couldn't resist adding chocolate mousse as a dessert. The main problem I had with it was that the sugar/gelatine mixture didn't beat up quickly enough, so I had to serve tea later than usual. It didn't matter much in the end, though - it was still delicious.

I hope you enjoy this fabulous 4-course meal.

Menu:

• Chicken & Bacon Puffs
• Chicken Noodle & Corn Soup with Ham & Cheese Bread
• Apricot Chicken with Vegetables
• Fruit Punch
• Choc-Honeycomb Mousse

Note: I suggest that you work throughout the afternoon on these if you want a splendid dinner. If you want to cook this for lunch, make the dessert and drink the night before, and (depending on time constraints) the entrée, and just heat it up before eating.

Entrée

Chicken and Bacon Puffs

You will need:

• 2.5 mL (1/2 tsp) oil
• 5g (1/6 oz) butter/margarine
• 100g (3 1/2 oz) minced chicken
• 4 tsp (1 Australian tbsp) diced bacon
• 1 thinly sliced green onion
• 2 sliced mushrooms (optional)
• 2 tsp plain flour
• 1/4 cup (2 fl oz) thickened (heavy) cream
• 1 1/2 sheets puff pastry
• 1 egg, beaten (for glazing)

1. Put oil and butter into a medium saucepan, heat until melted. Reduce heat to medium, add minced chicken and cook until lightly browned.
2. Add diced bacon and green onion (Optional: also add mushrooms) and cook for a minute or two.
3. Remove from heat, sprinkle plain flour over chicken mixture, stir in. Add cream slowly, cook over low heat for two minutes. Season if necessary, then set aside and allow to cool completely. (This would be an ideal time to start on the Apricot Chicken.)

Soup & Bread

Chicken Noodle And Corn Soup with Ham & Cheese Bread

You will need:

• 1 baguette
• sliced cheese and sliced ham
• 1 pkt Chicken Noodle Soup mix
• 1 can creamed corn

Slice baguette about 8-10 times, but not quite all the way through. Trim sliced cheese and ham to about the same size as your cuts, place them in the cuts so that the cheese is to the right of the ham. Bake in either low temperature oven or microwave on Med-High until cheese has melted. Cut bread all the way through now, always cutting between the cheese and the bread. Makes 8-10.

Make chicken noodle soup as per packet directions. Add a small can of creamed corn, stir, and simmer for 5 minutes. Serves approximately 4.

Main Meal

Apricot Chicken With Vegetables

You will need:

• 4 pieces chicken
• 35g (1 oz) French Onion Soup mix
• 425 mL (13 1/2 oz) apricot nectar
• apricot halves
• 1 sebago potato and 1 sweet potato for every person
• beans and frozen corn suitable for amount of people

1. Remove any skin from chicken and place in a casserole dish. Cover with French Onion Soup Mix, pour apricot nectar over mixture, cover with aluminum foil and bake at 180°C (355°F) until chicken is starting to brown. Uncover, add apricot halves, bake again until chicken is tender, serve with vegetables. Makes 4.
2. While the chicken is cooking, remove skins from potatoes and boil together. Once the potatoes are tender, mash them up together.
3. Before serving meal, boil beans and microwave corn. Split these vegetables between the people eating. Serve potatoes with apricot chicken syrup on top and serve chicken with apricot halves and syrup on top. Bellissimo!

Drink

Fruit Punch

You will need:

• 1.25 L (2 pints) orange juice
• 425g (13 1/2 oz) canned fruit salad
• 1 orange and 1 lemon
• 725 mL (24 fl oz) lemonade

Pour orange juice into a large bowl or jug. Add canned fruit salad. Squeeze the juice from orange and lemon, and add to the mixture. Chill. Before serving, add lemonade and stir. Serves 10.

Dessert

Choc-Honeycomb Mousse

You will need:

• 1/2 cup (125mL, 4 fl oz) thickened (heavy) cream
• 250g (8 oz) milk chocolate
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 tsp gelatine
• 1/2 cup (125mL, 4 fl oz) water

1. Heat cream in a small saucepan over low heat. Add milk chocolate. Take off heat and stir until chocolate melts. Pour into mixing bowl, set aside to cool.
2. Mix sugar, gelatine and water in a different small saucepan over low heat. Stir until sugar dissolves. Turn up heat, boil, take off heat and pour into a different mixing bowl.
3. Beat sugar/gelatine mix with electric beater on Medium for about 10 minutes, or until thick and fluffy. It would be good to have an electric beater with a turntable thing. Mix chocolate through gently, making sure it is still fluffy. Spoon into four dishes, sprinkle with chopped choc-honeycomb bars (like Violet Crumble or Crunchie) and chill for at least 30 minutes. Makes 4.

If I had to rate each of these according to their ease, I would say:

• Puffs: The chicken mixture is a bit fiddly and it is difficult to know when the mixture is cooked. Medium.
• Soup and bread: Easy. Very easy, even.
• Chicken: I had to work with 3 others for this recipe, so that made it more difficult than it should have been. Medium-easy.
• Punch: It's just pour and mix. Easy.
• Mousse: Medium-easy, but time-consuming.