Never being one’s to turn down a bi-weekly Thursday dinner engagement; it seemed to make sense that we at putitout conducted our very own, internal, Come Dine With Me.

 

We began all those months ago in January, with Charlie’s opening evening. Where we were spoilt with a delicious menu consisting of, “Starters on Sticks,” a luxury three meat lasagne, and a masterfully crafted “Cadbury Chocolate Pudding,” to finish. Rounding up a lovely evening was the ever classic and some-what playground style game, the “Yes No” game, which was championed by the host himself.  Away we went with full stomachs, glazed eyes and dazed heads.

 

Following on from Charlie’s evening was Chris’s Après Ski themed dinner. Armed with everything from ski masks to a large amount of sun cream…  we’d seen better days. Upon arrival to Chris’s house, our host was rummaging around in his shed looking for, “Ski’s,” we made ourselves very much at home and before we knew it the bubbles were flowing. We sat at the table and tucked into our starter, which was a bruschette of polenta with mushrooms, walnuts and Gorgonzola cheese. With the superb melodies of traditional après ski the evening quickly moved onto the main, a bread bowl, filled with chilli con carne, washed down with the finest vin rouge this side of the river. The evening gently wound down to (and once again, in traditional après ski style) fruit with a milk chocolate fondue. Devilishly tasty. Before we all hopped on our separate modes of transport it was time for some Archers with chocolate shot glasses. Just the warmer we required to brave the biting January cold.

 

Next up was Patrick’s evening, swapping sun cream and ski masks for fake tan and shorts, he had opted for a summer theme in the intense cold. The snow bucketing down could be seen as a tactic to deter from his culinary skills, (or the lack of!?) but I digress.. Starting with Nacho’s and cheese, with a fruit rum punch we found ourselves settling into homemade burgers (BBQ’d in the snow) and chips before long, while playing the ever entertaining, and highly fitting, “Logo Game,” towards the end of the evening, Patrick brought out his homemade Ice Cream, and coffee* sending us on our way with full stomachs for our voyage home.

 

*Coffee was not homemade… it was Kenco.

 

Katie’s turn, we were presented with a lovely menu, giving an insight to a totally new culture. “Katie’s Kosher Purim Party,” with the Jewish faith in her heritage, we were invited into Katie’s home in Aldgate East to dine and learn more about this feast day.

 

Beginning with a lovely selection of foods consisting of Pickled Cucumbers, Olives, Roll Mops, Bagels, and Matzos. Before we entered the main course and with the wine was indeed flowing, it was time for Katie’s entertainment for the evening. Set up like a sort of Pantomime we were about to learn the story of Purim, we each chose characters, and armed ourselves with masks representing the characters it slowly declined from informal acting to a drinking game. Still with that aside we all learnt the story and moved onto the main.

Potato latke with sour cream, Bloody Beetroot coleslaw, Salmon with roasted veg was what graced our plates next. Our first fish dish of the series, and it was blooming marvellous! Following this was dessert, and who doesn’t like Chocolate Pots! We then rounded off a triumph of an evening with the dulcet tones of Scatman John, the ideal melody to send us on our way.

 

The penultimate evening of entertainment was Celeste’s. Being our very own Spanish senorita, it was a lovely decision to be greeted with an all-Spanish menu.  Upon arrival our hostess showed us around her new apartment and we sat down for the first course, a collection of starters, Queso de oveja curado with extra virgin olive oil, Iberic chorizo, Pâté with strawberry marmalade, Olives, and Brie with black pudding. With, “Tinto de verano,” (a traditional drink consisting of red wine and lemonade) washing down we moved onto the main course,  “Plato Alpujarreño,” (Paprika in the oven and tuna fish salad) and Toast with pork, jamon, cheese, tomatoe and Piquillo paprika. For Celeste’s entertainment we had a form of a Spanish lesson (always learning!) Celeste would read extracts from a novel and we would repeat it back to her. Needless to say, after a few glasses of wine we all thought we were much better than we are, much to Celeste’s hilarity. Finishing off the evening we were served a delicious flan with orange shots. Then off into the Brixton night to continue the festivities further!

 

Our final night of the series came from AJ. We travelled up to him in Hadley Wood, we arrived and were welcomed into the kitchen where bubbles had been prepared for us, a few words from Charlie and the evening began. AJ had asked us to send four tracks to him for a playlist, as we sat down at a beautifully laid table our instantly recognisable tracks were thrust upon us, cue the awkward anecdotes about why our tracks are special to us (granted some were more embarrassing than others.) The starter came out and was a pear, rocket and watercress salad with Roquefort dressing.

 

The chatter went on around the subjects of our song choices crossed with how much we have enjoyed the Come Dine With Me series. The main course was produced and was a Salmon fillet, prawn and butternut squash Thai curry served with rice. Another first for the series, was that this was our FIRST spicy(er) dish and it was lovely.

 

Before the dessert was served, it was results time. Saad had been collecting all of our results to ensure the voting was fair. We can reveal that Katie Houghton is the proud victor of this prestigious event and winner of the two ton cash prize. With that, champagne was opened, our pavlova combined with lychee, blueberry and passion fruit was dished up. We tucked in, all very relaxed.

 

A great hustle from the putitout gang and a massive Congrats to Katie who rightfully holds the throne for the Digital Production Culinary Genius*.

 

Until next year…

 

*Unofficial title.