Issue 1247 - The Courier

12.
Tuesday 6 March 2012 Th eCourier
Courier Dine With Me
Four students. Four nights. But only one winner.
4th
Megan White,
third year
Psychology
22
As I was hosting the Saturday
so I made sure there was
plenty of alcohol involved
with some sex on the
beach cocktails! All the
cooking I really know
how to do is from
watching my mum since I was little, so decided to cook
what she does best. I made banoffee pie for dessert; I
boiled a tin of condensed milk for 2 hours to make the
toffee and poured this on a butter and biscuit base. To
finish it off I topped it with sliced bananas and whipped
double cream. For starter I cooked prawn pravencale,
which sounds a lot more impressive in the name. I
chopped tomatoes, onions and garlic and added to a pan
with a glass of white wine and king prawns. I seasoned
with mixed herbs, salt and pepper and served with hot
bread rolls. For main I slowed roasted lamb steaks on a
bed of rosemary and garlic and served with asparagus
and potato dauphinoise, seasoned peeled and sliced potatoes
cooked in double cream and milk.
Gemma
Sally’s starter of stuffed peppers was
simple yet filled with a lot of flavours. The
main was well presented, and I was very
impressed considering that Sally said she’d
never made it before as it was delicious.
My favourite course had to be the chocolate
caramel torte for dessert as it was
really sweet and finished off the meal well.
Sally was a brilliant host and her choice of
entertainment of Articulate
for the evening was a lot
of fun. 8/10
8/10
Gemma
Megan’s starter of prawns served with a
crispy bread roll was delicious and probably
my favourite during the week. The
main course was well presented; I’d never
tried asparagus before however I enjoyed
trying it. The dauphinoise potatoes were
seasoned well and complemented the rest
of the meal. Megan’s banoffee pie was
delicious. Despite stealing my idea for
my evening’s entertainment, playing the
post-it note game provided the evening
with a lot of fun. Megan’s Sex
on the beach cocktails were a
nice addition to the meal.
Matthew
Megan served up a racy cocktail to get
the social juices flowing. Sex on the
beach. But having just run a marathon
in under three hours (with virtually no
training), I was simply ravenous and
could think of nothing other than getting
stuck into a hearty starter. Prawns. My
heart sunk. The main course however
was simply magnificent. The succulent
lamb steaks had been roasted to perfection
and they were complimented beautifully
by the carefully steamed spears of
asparagus and dauphinoise potatoes.
Dessert was highly satisfactory.
Matthew
Although the peppers themselves had
been cooked to perfection, the couscous
stuffing was somewhat damper than one
may have wished for and rather uninspiring.
Main course however was a rip
roaring success. The complex layering
of flavours simply had to be tasted to be
believed! The delicate pink, moist salmon
flesh caressed the palate and was complimented
beautifully by the rich saltiness
of the cream cheese topping. Dessert was
decent.
Megan
8/10
Sally had the tough job of being the first
host. Everyone was pretty nervous but she
made us feel really welcome and once the
wine was poured the conversation started to
flow. All the food was really good and I was
surprised how much I enjoyed the salmon
not being a massive fish eater. Being a huge
fan of chocolate, the pudding was amazing
and I could have easily eaten it again and
again. For entertainment we played Articulate.
I was lucky to be on a team with Sally
who had obviously played the game a fair few
times before, however Gemma had a classic
moment describing Winston Churchill as an
ex-president of America!
7/10
7/10
8/10
Sally
Megan began her night in style with ‘Sex
on the beach’ cocktails and wine, a recipe
that I could definitely get on board with.
The prawns provincial were absolutely
gorgeous. Unfortunately the second
course was lamb, which I really don’t like,
but I tried my best and powered through a
chop. The asparagus and dauphinoise potatoes
were beautiful though. The banoffee
pie was lovely, but I am not the biggest
cream fan and there was loads of it.
Megan put on some great entertainment
and was a fantastic host, it was literally
my own awkwardness that meant I didn’t
appreciate Megan’s food
enough.
3rd
Sally Priddle
third year
Combined Honours
23
7/10
As the first person to start the
week I was absolutely petrified
about what to cook, the
standards, people’s tastes and
whether we were going to
have anything at all to talk
about. I went for stuffed peppers
with sundried tomatoes,
couscous, courgette and
mozzarella for starter as it
was simple and I could prepare
most of it before. For
the main, I cooked
salmon with garlic
and herb philly
and balsamic
glaze. I was worried
people weren’t going to like fish but everyone ate it
all. My biggest issue was my pudding: it didn’t look like
it was ever going to set as the recipe said ‘spoon in’ the
mixture and I could do nothing but pour mine but luckily
it ended up setting. I forced everyone into a game of
Articulate which meant our knowledge weaknesses were
humiliatingly illuminated but it was hilarious.