Flambéd cheese + pork parcel + pepper soup

Many’s the long night I’ve dreamed of cheese.
~ Robert Louis Stevenson

I didn’t have time or clean fingers to take many photos whilst cooking tonight! Busy busy busy I was, time went whizzing by. On the menu from Tessa Kiros’ “Falling Cloudberries” were:
#39 Fried Haloumi Cheese – Page 151
#40 Pork Fillet in Pastry with Wild Mushrooms & Cream Sauce – Page 45
#41 Red Pepper Soup with Olives, Lemon Rind & Yoghurt – Page 343

Cheese: I engaged the help of Matt to set it alight, standing poised with my camera ready to take a picture. He slowly added a few drops of deep blue sambuca (used because we did not have ouzo)… and, oh, wow. No matches were needed. A bright orange wave of fire burst forth like a genie who’d been stuck in his lamp for too long. It was amazing watching the flames lick hungrily at the haloumi for a few bright seconds before gently subsiding.

Brilliant.

Modifications: I doubled the recipe and used sambuca instead of ouzo. Verdict: nice, but too rich in my opinion as an appetizer! I only managed 1/3 of my chunk.

Pork fillet in pastry with wild mushrooms & cream sauce: Made the pastry this morning, much to my relief afterall – or we’d have had to dine way after 7.45pm! The pork fillet drank in the brandy nicely, the pastry covering was light and buttery without being too rich, and the sauce was… mmm.

Modifications: I wasn’t sure what qualifies as ‘wild mushrooms’ (no such labels in sight at the supermarket), so I used normal flat mushrooms. I also halved this recipe as two of my other flatmates weren’t home to help eat. The pastry needed a little more water than the recipe suggested.

Red pepper soup with olives, lemon rind & yoghurt: I was surprised by how strongly the taste of tomatoes came through in this (mental note to add less next time)! The olives, lemon rind, rosemary & yoghurt in the soup sit so well with my tastebuds though. It’s like eating a Vivaldi concert, if such a thing is possible!

Modifications: Halved this recipe. Didn’t grill peppers. Didn’t peel peppers and tomatoes. I know, terrible.