Thursday, February 16, 2012

A milestone celebration


Our son's 18th birthday was last week! Wow, it makes me feel old to be the mother of an adult but I am actually quite a young parent as I gave birth to him just after turning 19. On his actual birthday, the three of us went to a favourite local restaurant (which I must bring my camera to next time so I can post about it) and then we hosted a family party on the weekend. It was a great night that was thoroughly enjoyed by all, including the birthday boy.

During the month preceding the event I perused many recipes for dips, finger foods and sweets and pre-cooked a few freezer suitable items along the way to keep myself organised. I actually had to stop at one point because my freezer was full to the brim of baked goods so I couldn't squeeze another item in. The photo below was taken after clearing out the freezer on the morning of the party, pictured are samosas from Terry Hope Romero's recipe testing, pinwheels, sausage rolls from where's the beef and oven baked falafels.


I chose a selection of dips and daringly made a couple that I hadn't tried previously, one of which turned out better than the other. As my mum is seriously allergic to all nuts I decided to keep them out of everything apart from the sausage rolls and changed this Mexican layered dip around to suit. I started with a base of refried beans and layered it with guacamole instead of cashew cream, then topped it all off with chopped tomatoes, olives, spring onions and coriander. This was a big hit, especially with my niece and brother in law.  


A hummus variation with roasted red capsicum, olives and smoked paprika that I made last Christmas, a spiced carrot dip which I wasn't very fond of, and a Moroccan broad bean dip called bessara were the other dips I made to go with pita bread. The bessara was quite similar to hummus although it had a deeper earthier flavour. I stumbled across this dip when I was searching for recipes that used dried broad beans a while ago as I accidentally purchased broad beans when I meant to buy Egyptian fava beans for ful medames.


For sweets, I made a carrot semolina halva from recipe testing and rocky road from Green Gourmet Giraffe minus the nuts. I also made a chocolate cake and frosting from The Joy of Vegan Baking which was decorated with choc-mint balls (see top photo).


Now that the party is over and with recipe testing finishing up soon, I aim to get back into a more regular blogging routine. That's the plan anyway!


Bessara (Moroccan broad bean dip) (Adapted from this recipe)

200g dried broad beans
2 cloves garlic
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 heaped teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
fresh chopped parsley, for garnish

Place the broad beans in a bowl and cover well with water. Allow to soak for at least 8 hours or overnight. Drain the beans in a colander and rinse well with fresh water. Place the beans in a saucepan, cover with water and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer, covered for about an hour or until the beans are tender.

Drain the beans in a colander and allow to cool then place them in a food processor with the garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, salt, cumin, paprika and cayenne pepper. Pulse for a few minutes, scraping down the sides every so often, until it becomes a thick smooth paste. Add some additional water if you prefer a thinner consistency.

Transfer to a bowl and garnish with parsley. Bessara is traditionally eaten warm, I served it at room temperature which was fine.

17 comments:

  1. Wow! Congratulations! To him and to you for raising him for 18 years :) How amazing (I imagine) to have him be almost the age you were when you had him. Congratulations, too, on this food - what a great selection. Everything looks wonderful.

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    1. Thanks Kari, it's pretty amazing that he is so grown-up and almost my age when I had him as the last 18 years have gone by so quickly. I'm very fortunate that he has been such a pleasure to raise and is developing into a fine young man.

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  2. great achievement - don't know what you will do for the 21st :-) But seriously all that food looks fantastic - I am in awe at all the work you did for it - love the rum balls on the cake - and am glad you got to try the rocky road - such a great sweet snack. Hope you enjoy a breather now that the party and recipe testing is over

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    1. Thanks Johanna, the 21st will definitely be a bigger affair so I'll probably go even more crazy in the kitchen. I did enjoy all of the cooking and the rocky road was a cinch to put together for such a delicious outcome.

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  3. Happy birthday to your son! What a milestone for both of you :) The party spread is incredible--you really went all out. I'm going to have to try that bean dip soon, looks delish!

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    1. Thanks Jes, hope you enjoy the bessara if you give it a try!

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  4. Wow, that's quite a spread you put on! I hope the birthday boy appreciated all your hard work!

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    1. Thanks Theresa, the birthday boy really did appreciate all the work even though he wasn't that keen on having a party to start with.

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  5. What a feast! Happy birthday to your son - perhaps now that he's 18 you'll have to refer to him as the young man. ;-)

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    1. Thanks Cindy, I'm going to use the young man from now on! We actually do call him that around the house sometimes so it's a perfect blogging nickname.

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  6. The food looks so perfect. I hope it all went off without a hitch and he enjoyed the celebration!

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    1. Thanks K, he did enjoy the celebration and all of the left-over food as well.

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  7. What an amazing spread of food! Everything looks really good.

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    1. Thanks Ashley, my plan was to have a broad selection of food available for various tastes.

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  8. It´s been a while, but I am drowning in my mouth by staring at your last picture with this choco nutty (?) looking like sweet!!! I must try this asap and know how to prepare it by myself. Please help me with it!

    thx

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  9. Thanks for stopping by hail2seitan! The rocky road was very easy to prepare - mix together chopped up vegan marshmallows, turkish delight and dessicated coconut in a large bowl. Pour some melted vegan chocolate over the top and stir thoroughly. Place the contents in a lined tin and refrigerate until set. There is a link to the recipe I used just above the photo. Hope you enjoy it!

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    1. Ah, now I could find the link. I´m not sure getting vegan marshmallows here in Europe. And by the way I never tried marshmallows at all. It always looked so weird to me when I saw them in the stores out in the US. Maybe I will try to modify this with nuts. Thx & keep on preparing Vood!

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