Ah... hor d'oeuvres week. The week I was least excited about, and fretting over what I could do. I looked at my bookshelf wondering which book had the magic answer, then I remembered about Donna Hay's, Instant Entertaining. After a flick through, I decided on the parmesan wafer salad as it looked easy, and interesting.

Then I nearly forgot I had to make a hor d'oeuvre. I was busy making butter chicken from scratch and ultimate chocolate Christmas puddings (which will be blogged soon!). It wasn't until Hamsley reminded me, that I got my act together.

It was an interesting flavour combination that had the table divided. Dad found the vinegar too over powering, mum thought the two types of cheese didn't really match up, whilst Hamsley and I found it a bit unusual, but felt that it all some how worked.

Would I make it again though? I think not. But had we not have set a hor d'oeuvres week, I would probably have never made this recipe!

 Parmesan Wafer Salad

1 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 red apples, thinly sliced
80g rocket leaves
1 1/2 tablepsoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
sea salt and cracked black pepper
150g goat's cheese

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (355°F). Arrange 8 x 1 1/2 tablspoons of parmesan in circles on a baking tray lined with non-stick baking paper and bake for 10 mintues or until crispy. Set aside to cool.

2. Toss the apple and rocket in the combined vinegar, oil, salt and pepper. Arrange on serving plates with goat's cheese and parmesan wafers.

Serves 4.

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What to give your mum for her birthday when she tells you not to get her a gift (because you are kind of between jobs and aren't exactly swimming in money)?

Well me being me, I told her I was going to cook her dinner instead then and wasn't going to take no for an answer. Little did she know I had the idea of a 3 course meal up my hand!

I trawled through the Taste website for ideas. Finally I decided on a prawn cocktail recipe. I'm not sure why I chose this recipe from all the others, but it doesn't matter because it was a huge winner!

I slightly altered the recipe and added some avocado slices.
The dressing is delicious, I had no idea that orange juice and Dijon mustard went so well together! Keeping this recipe on hand to impress!


Prawn Cocktail
Taste Website

2 tbs fresh orange juice
2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 tbs white wine vinegar
1 tbs Dijon mustard
1 tbs chopped fresh chives
36 large cooked prawns, peeled leaving tails intact
1 treviso lettuce, hard core removed,finely shredded

1. Whisk together the orange juice, oil, vinegar, mustard and chives in a jug. Taste and season with salt and pepper.

2. Place the prawns in a large bowl. Pour over the dressing and toss until well combined.

3. Divide the treviso among serving glasses. Top with the prawn mixture to serve.

Serves 6.

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