A recipe for a starter

There is nothing better than having friends over for a meal but to enjoy yourself you do have to be organized. I had to find recipes that I could prepare the day before as we planned to go out with our friends.

Roasted Red Pepper and Goat's Cheese

This is a nice light summery starter and it is by Mary Berry who did a talk at the Tenterden Food and Wine Festival a couple of years ago. I shopped at Waitrose for my ingredients.

There were 3 peppers in each jar. With a sharp knife it is easy to carefully open them out.

Cut each pepper skin in half then put little dollops of the cheese on each one. (I found there was not quite enough for 6 so in one pepper I put Philadelphia cream cheese and this works perfectly well, especially if someone doesn't like goats cheese.) Of course the cheese could be blended to make a more spreadable filling.

Cut the marinated aubergines with a scissors and place an even number on each skin.
Chop the basil leaves and sprinkle them over each one.
Season with salt and a few grinds of black pepper.

To make the chimneys:

Tear off some cling film. Place a skin carefully in the centre

Bring the bottom clingfilm up so the skin curls up and then bring the top part of the clingfilm down, and keep the cling film firm. This draws the top of the skin over to make a roll. Seal the roll, rolling the clingfilm round the pepper and gently sealing up the sides like a cracker. Place all the little rolls in the fridge to firm up.

To serve:

Toss some lambs lettuce with a dressing. Cut each roll into two or three and plate up with some lambs lettuce. The fresh flavours work well served with fresh bread and butter.

Serves 6
2 x jars of red roasted peppers

1 x 150g tub soft mild goat's cheese (Chavroux)
Philadelphia if required

salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 x 200g tub marinated grilled aubergine (chiller counter)

a handful of fresh basil leaves, chopped

Lambs lettuce leaves

french dressing