Lovely Food with Lovely Friends

Some of our loveliest friends, who we don't get to see so often because they moved from London to Leeds a couple of years ago, came to stay this weekend with their beautiful baby girl. I wanted to treat them to some lovely food so that they could relaxed for once...

I spied a really interesting canape recipe on The Passionate Cook's blog a couple of weeks ago and it was just the ticket for an informal help-yourself-to-how-much-you-fancy (or the-boys-eat-the-most-and-we-all-fight-over-the-last-few) starter - Mini-Corncakes with Avocado & Lime Salsa. Super simple to make and I really liked them. They'd go down just as well at a swanky canape and champers evening as they would at an afternoon in watching the footie with some mates.

(my picture isn't the best...but then we had been in the pub all afternoon before I even started cooking...!)

Our main course - Chilli and Rosemary Aubergine Parcels with Smokey Mash- was a recipe from the latest addition to my recipe book shelf - The Modern Vegetarian by Maria Elia (who used to be Head Chef at Delfina in Bermondsey, London). It's my second favourite vegetarian cook book ever (Paradiso Seasons by Denis Cotter currently wins hands down...) and I've been slowly cooking my way through it for the past couple of weeks since I bought it. I mostly cook my own vegetarian creations, but every once in a while I find a cook book which inspires me to follow the recipe to the letter, and this is one. This recipe is inventive, different and, above all, it works perfectly. I'm not sure if I can publish the recipe here (I've tried to contact Maria Elia to ask her permission but so far no luck) so for now here's a photo of the finished dish to wet your tastebuds...

I know what you're thinking...how do you top a starter and main course like that...???!!! Well here's how - with my much perfected lemon tart...