When friends come over to spend the day, this is the kind of menu I would suggest as we, usually, take a long walk after lunch and return dying for a cup of coffee and a slice of cake.

                                                    

                                                           MENU

A Hot Chicken Terrine with Peppers and Cheese

Spaghetti with Summer Vegetable Sauce

Large Green Salad

Cheese Platter with Grapes

Coffee

Cake with Raisins

Cinnamon Biscuits

               A HOT CHICKEN TERRINE WITH PEPPERS AND CHEESE

          This isn’t a terrine, as it’s served hot.   A “loaf” or a “mould” perhaps?

One 1½ kg (3 lbs) chicken, skinned

Chicken stock

1 medium onion, quartered

1 clove garlic

1 bay leaf

1 slice ginger, peeled

1 tsp black peppercorns

4 cardamom pods

1 tsp coriander seeds

1 cinnamon stick

1 tsp salt

4 long, sweet, red (Florina) peppers, roasted, peeled, deseeded and chopped

Béchamel sauce (recipe given below)

4 eggs separated, whites whipped to soft peaks with a pinch of salt 

200 g (a bare 7oz) regato or kefalotyri or pecorino, grated

1 tbsp estragon, finely chopped,

2 tbsp parsley, chopped

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the béchamel Sauce

150 g (5 oz) butter

1 bay leaf

200 g (a bare 7oz) all-purpose flour

1 litre (4 cups) hot chicken stock

Very little salt and freshly ground pepper

Nutmeg

Butter and crushed cornflakes for the terrine or loaf tin

2 tbsp finely grated Parmesan

            Cover the chicken with cold chicken stock.   Tie up, in a piece of muslin, the onion, garlic, bay leaf, ginger and the spices and drop into the chicken stock.  Add salt, bring to the boil and skim thoroughly.  Cover the saucepan, reduce the heat and simmer for 40 minutes or until the chicken is cooked.  Remove the cheese cloth pouch, squeeze and discard.  Strain the stock, and set the chicken aside to cool. Then remove the bones and gristle from the chicken, and chop it finely.

           Make the béchamel sauce.   Cook the flour and bay leaf in butter, over low heat, stirring for 3-4 minutes.   Remove from the heat and add 2 ladlefuls of hot chicken stock at a time, stirring vigorously, and simmer until well blended and thoroughly cooked. Continue so, until all the stock has been used and the sauce is thick and glossy.   Discard the bay leaf.  Then add half the cheese,  the chopped chicken, egg yolks, tarragon and mix well together.  Gently fold in the egg whites. Taste and add freshly ground black pepper, more nutmeg and very little salt, if necessary.

          Butter a terrine or a loaf tin, lavishly, and sprinkle with crushed corn flakes.   Spoon half the chicken mixture into tin and level the top.   Sprinkle with the chopped Florina peppers, the remaining cheese and the parsley.  Add the second half of the chicken mixture press to even the surface.

          Bake in an oven preheated to 180C (350F) for 40-50 minutes or until the terrine is slightly brown and shrinks from the sides of he tin.  Remove from the oven and reverse on a heated dish, sprinkle with Parmesan and serve.

                           SPAGHETTI WITH SUMMER VEGETABLE SAUCE

500 g (1 lb) spaghetti or whatever pasta you prefer, boiled in salted water and sprinkled with a little olive oil

2 tbsp olive oil

2 medium onions, grated

1-2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 tbsp tomato paste

2-3 tomatoes, seeded and grated, skins discarded or

One 400g (13.3 oz) tin plum tomatoes, crushed, seeds discarded

Sugar to taste

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/8 tsp Cayenne pepper or a pinch of pepper flakes (optional)

4 courgettes, sliced and sauteed until half cooked
2 carrots, sliced and sauteed until half cooked

2 aubergines, the long variety, peeled and cubed and slightly sauteed

2 red peppers, deseeded and cut into strips

2 yellow peppers, deseeded and cut into strips

A bouquet garni (1 bay leaf +2 parsley sprigs + 1 thyme sprig)
Combine all the vegtables and salt sparingly 

½ cup basil, chopped

Hard cheese like kefalotyri, pecorino or Parmesan, grated

        Cook the onions in olive oil and a little salt until soft, add the garlic and tomato paste and cook, stirring for 2-3 minutes.   Stir in the tomatoes and cook for 10 minutes more.  Then add the vegetables, the bouquet garni, a little salt, pepper, sugar and the Cayenne pepper or pepper flakes, if using.  Bring to the boil, lower the heat and simmer gently, covered, for 15-20 minutes or until the vegetables are cooked to your satisfaction.  Taste and add  more salt, pepper and sugar if necessary.  If the sauce needs thickening, remove the vegetables, with a slotted spoon, and reduce the tomato sauce. Then return the vegetables to the sauce and sprinkle with chopped basil.

        Serve the sauce over the hot spaghetti sprinkled with cheese.

                           

                                                   CINNAMON BISCUITS

62.5 ml (¼ cup) olive oil

62.5 ml (¼ cup) corn oil

100 g (½ cup) sugar

A pinch of salt

1/8 cup orange juice

½ tbsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

250 g (almost 2 cups) flour

          Beat the sugar and the 2 oils until creamy. Stir in the salt, orange juice, cinnamon, baking powder and the bicarbonate of soda.  Add the flour by the spoonful until you have a soft and pliable dough that does not stick.   You might have to use all the flour.  

          Shape the dough into walnut-sized balls and flatten out with a fork.  Bake the biscuits in an oven preheated to 170C (325 F) for 12-15 minutes.

   

                                           CAKE WITH RAISINS

          You could double the ingredients in order to prepare 2 loaf tins of this fabulous cake.

400 g (3 heaped cups) self-raising flour, mixed with

1 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp nutmeg

½-1 tsp ginger

Pinch of salt
1 tsp baking powder

250 g (8 1/3  oz) raisins, soaked in
62.5 ml ( 1/4 cup) brandy or rum for about 15 minutes

150 g (¾ cup) sugar

75 ml (1/3  cup) olive oil

250 ml (1 cup) orange juice

Grated rind of 1 orange
1/2 tsp baking soda

         Blend the soaked raisins and reserve. Preheat the oven to 180 C (350 F).

         Beat sugar and olive oil until thick.  Then stir in the orange rind and juice, and soda water.  Fold in the blended raisins and, finally, the flour mixture and mix very well together.   Place in a 28 cm (11 inch) cake tin lined with baking parchment and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour.