Twickenham Ladies Xmas Luncheon

Ladies Xmas Luncheon

What do you get when you have a bunch of Twickenham grown-up ladies from different nations together in December? Couple that with great food and the odd tipple of wine? Yep, you guessed it, an evening filled with a cacophony of gossip, reindeer meddling and general mayhem....actually that's not what happened, well not much anyway :)

Glogg - Swedish Mulled Wine

Beetroot Salmon Gravadlax

So I am a bit of a gym bunny and a while ago when one of my fellow gym buddy's suggested a xmas dinner I jumped at the chance, add a few more like minded gym goers and we had our very own 'grub club' of sorts. The gathering itself consisted of a bunch of gals from Brazil, Britain, Canada, NZ and Sweden - the event itself spearheaded by a generous Swedish host, Saga. She bravely opened her lovely home to us ladies to enjoy, and on this occasion, a pot luck xmas dinner. The Challenge? Each gal brings a dish that represents, to some degree, their country of origin. 

Swedish Apetisers

Skagenrora - shrimp salad

So, putting aside that it is normally summer back in NZ this time of year, (I didn't think rolling out the barbie was suitable) I opted to make a NZ Lamb cocotte and a warm kumara salad. I'll be posting my recipe for this soon.....

We kicked of the festivities with a lovely glass of Glogg - Swedish mulled wine, this was served warmed and I must say this stuff is really good. 

Brazilian Ham, Nuts & Fruit

Ham Brazilian style

Next up we popped a bottle of Jacobs Creek fizz, and started on an amazing smorgasboard of Swedish starters. The dishes were beautifully presented and consisted of shrimp Skagenrora served with salmon roe, dill and sour cream. There was a beetroot infused Salmon Gavadlax, Pickled Herrings (these were deliciously sweet, the fish not too over powering) and a malty Swedish bread topped with sliced meatball, beetroot salad and radish, all prepared by our host Saga.

Canadian Salmon & Vegetable

Pickled Herring

The wine flowed and after some time we then started on our mains, first the Brazilian glazed ham served with a type of massa flour (derived from cassava) mixed with fruit and nuts. This was eaten by taking a slice of ham and dipping it into the four mixture and eaten. It was a delicious, salty sweet ham and coated with flour mixture, this was an experience of different textures and flavour which by the way was made by our exotic lady, Cristiane. To follow we had the most moreish cheese vegetable pasta bake, laced with Salmon bites. The dish made by Clare who had cutely placed her Canadian flags around the edges. This was a wholesome dish, one you want to settle in with on a cold night with a lovely chianti. Finally my lamb cocotte and kumara salad. 

NZ Lamb cocotte

Warm Kumara Salad

The kumara salad is a favourite with my family and was adapted from a recipe from my sister-in law. It's a very naughty dish as far as calorie count goes so you only want to have this as a special treat. My recipe for these two dishes will be on goodkai soon.

To finish the evening we had brilliantly British mince pies made by Tina who made her own proper (not the sweetened stuff you get at the store) shortcrust pasty for the pies. The filling was delicious and so much better than any bought version, you really can't beat home cooked in this instance. Following the pies our fellow Brit Heather treated us to some xmas chocolates from Hotel Chocolat, if you get the chance, forget about the rest and just get these - they're a treat and I am completely hooked on these.

It was a fun night, we have already planned another ladies lunch in the new year so we are looking forward to that. This time its Pasta Making!

5/6th The Ladies - Saga, Heather, Clare, Cristiane, Moi 

If anyone is interested in any of these recipes just tweet me http://twitter.com/G00dKai