Twisted Tapas Tales

Modern spins and travel inspired variations of Catalan flavours was the spirit behind Twisted Tapas Tales, our most recent secret gathering.

Our 16 guests were warmly welcomed into the brightly decorated casa of our hosts Ben & Kerri with a refreshing Sangria Blanco - an Asian spin of nasi pear and lychee meddled with white wine and softly topped with cava. As people got acquainted we served nibbles of warm homemade pan con tomate (bread with fresh tomato) and Jamon Iberico - yes, we managed to get the real deal!

First up, the lighter tapas. These plates were paired with an exquisite 2006 Letras, Rioja Alavesa. Enter the deconstructed Spanish omelet - or the 21st Century Spanish Omelett. A beautiful combination of caramelised onion topped in a martini glass with an egg sabayon and potato foam. Carpassion Peruvian Tiraditos left guests intrigued with layers of texture and unusual flavour combinations of wafer thin raw salmon, drizzled with passion fruit and lemon syrup finished with fine filo pastry crisps.

The menu took a turn to the slightly heavier dishes with Calamares Rellenos con Morcilla - tender baby squid stuffed with a hearty blood sausage. Following the more traditional but equally moreish Gambas al Ajilo. These flavours beautifully balanced with a 2007 Cathar Crianza, Ribera del Duero.

Onto the more travel-inspired creations we hit Barcelona and Bombay in a combination of Pani Puri con Patatas Bravas and then headed to New York for Fatty Lollipops - delectable skewers of grilled watermelon and pork belly. Guests were delighted to discover an unusual wine in the 2005 Morayama, Priorat - a surprisingly smooth red which worked beautifully to enhance the richness of these flavours.

Our last round of tapas was more meaty as we served a perfectly seared bife of sirloin drizzled with a fresh Chimmichurri and toasted almonds, and a homely Chorizo and Garbanzo bean stew.

The final sweet highlight of the evening was the home-made Churros con Chocolate Naranja - the churros perfectly light and crispy served with a rich, warm chocolate sauce.

This was one fabulous fiesta - an ambitious menu of 14 tapas plates each a surprise in itself served with rare Spanish wines courtesy of Platinum Wines.

Check out the photographs below!

Our hosts Kerri & Ben hide behind the homemade menu-fans

Beautiful handmade decorations made by Kerri. Welcome bags for guests - each containing everything needed to devour the feast!

Bags of fun

What's on the menu?

Argha preparing the Iberico and sampling it's deliciousness

And this was just for starters....

Ready to welcome our guests

Just before guests arrive, Angie pulls her warm bread out of the oven ....yum!

The fiesta is underway as guest take their seats

Busy in the kitchen

21st Century Spanish Omelette - egg sabayon, potato foam and caramalised onion

Peruvian Carpassion - wafer thin salmon drizzled with passionfruit and lemon syrup served with filo crisps

Calamares Ruenos con Morcilla - baby squid stuffed with blood sausage

Ensalada Naranja Acettuna - Refreshing orange and black olive salad served with a fresh cumin and orange dressing and cilantro

Barcelona meets Bombay in pani puri stuffed with patatas bravas

The best gambas al ajilo this side of Barcelona!

Sampling the vino

Elisa serves the New York Fatty Lollipops - grilled pork and watermelon skewers

Perfectly seared sirloin topped with zingy chimmichuri and toasted almonds

A hearty chorizo and garbanzo bean stew flavoured with pimento rojo (fleshy red peppers)

Churros a la Angie

Churros orgasmico! Served alongside a chocolate-orange pot

Bravo! Once Upon A Table

Sofia's spiced riesling liver pate

This recipe came together through a lot of experimenting. After reading about 10 liver pate recipes I took the bits that sounded most interesting and had a go. I must admit I had to test it out twice before getting the final pate just right.

If you're in Hong Kong, buying chicken livers is a real mission. You'd think they'd be readily available at any wet market. After going to a couple of chicken stalls and asking for "gaai gon" I eventually got lucky with about 100grams of livers for HK$10. Unfortunately these were mixed with other innards - heart, anyone? In the end I went to City Super where you can buy 100grams for HK$17. They are imported from France, and look as clean as liver can.

Below is a summary of what I did. I'd recommend you have a play around with the ingredients as you go along, try different types of alcohol, different herbs, and spices! - good luck

You will need:

1 Kilogram of chicken livers - enough for 2 big bowls of pate

1 Liter of milk

2 Glasses of riesling - I used a lovely riesling from Alsace

A dash of port wine

2 Red onions chopped fine

2 Cloves of garlic chopped fine

1 Bunch of fresh thyme

1 Block of butter

3 Bay leaves

3 Cloves

Mustard - I used dijon

Dry sage

Maldon salt

Pepper

This is what I did:

Soak your chicken livers in the milk for about 24 hours. Make sure that you cover them. This does 2 things. It tenderises the livers and it also helps remove toxins. When you're ready to get cooking, take the livers out of the milk and pat dry. Cut out any grizzly looking bits.

Gently heat the wine in a saucepan with the cloves and bay leaves. Let it simmer until the wine reduces by to about a third of it's original quantity. Add a dash of port into this mixture too if you fancy. When the mixture has reduced nicely turn off the heat.

Melt about 3 tablespoons of butter over a low heat.

Fry up the onions and garlic until soft.

Add the chicken livers and a lot of salt and pepper and about 3 tablespoons of the fresh thyme leaves. Sprinkle generously with some dry sage.

Cook gently until the chicken livers are soft and tender and still red inside. You do not want to overcook them otherwise they go hard and grey and lose their colour and flavour.

Just before they are cooked add the wine mixture (remove the cloves and bay leaves) and give it a good couple of stirs.

Turn the heat off.

Now cut about half the block of butter up into chunks.

Put the liver mixture and the butter into a bowl. Be careful about how much liquid goes in. I drained some of the liquid off, but left some of it in. You just need to use your eye for this - you don't want it too soupy.

Season again with salt and pepper and add in about 2 - 3 tablespoons of mustard. You want to over season it because when it sets it loses flavour.

Using a hand blender, blend the mixture. You can go as chunky or smooth as you like. You can also add in a bit of cream to this mixture for more richness.

When your mixture is nice and smooth, then pour into a ramekin or a nice bowl.

Put to one side.

Melt the remaining butter in a saucepan. As it comes to boil scoop off the foam that rises to the top so that you get clarified butter. Now pour this on top of your pate.

Let this cool for about 10 minutes and then pop into the fridge.

You can add some thyme leaves to the clarified butter to give it some flavour if you like. This layer will set on top of the pate and keep it fresher for longer. You can keep this in the fridge for about 1 week. If you "open" the seal then use within 3 days. You can also freeze the pate in the fridge for about 1 month.

To serve you can throw some pickles, or caramalised onion onto a board, along with some olives and fresh leaves. Serve on chargrilled gingerbread (see our recipe) for a bit of decadence, or on crusty bread.

Enjoy with a glass of reisling or ice wine.

'Twas the nigh before Christmas - Menu

Tonight, Once Upon A Table will celebrate Christmas. Here's the menu:

Welcome
Spiced Pear Prosecco

Canapes:

Nordic cerviche crostini

Parma ham & fig

Tomato & basil crostini

Starter

Butternut & apple soup with crispy sage

Main
Slow roasted pork loin enveloped in caraway and mustard

Calvados caramelized pears

Roast potatoes served with rosemary sour cream

Green beans

Desssert

Austrian Apple Strudel with Cream or semi-freddo
•Coffee and Melomakarona - Greek honey & spice Christmas biscuits

Cost: $380 (without matched wines) , $520 (including generous glasses or matched wines)

Mama Mia! Inspired by off-the-beaten-track adventures in Italy

It’s no secret that a trip to Italy is a sensorial adventure that will delight the palate and leave your mind filled with evocative memories. Once Upon A Table’s 3rd secret supper: ‘Mama Mia' takes inspiration from our own personal travels to this sun-drenched land. We’ve reflected on our most memorable journeys selecting recipes that once captured our imaginations and left our taste buds enticed. From Isola Stromboli off Sicily to the pastel coloured villages of Cinque Terre, Liguria to the mountains of Lombardy, Milan we will recreate off-the-beaten-track recipes that will leave you as captivated as they left us.

In true Italian style we look forward reliving our experiences with you through generous sharing platters, good conversation and a carefully selected wine menu that will bring out the flavour of each dish.

Join us on Saturday 6th of November at 7.30pm where we will share a 5 course experience of the flavours, aromas and sounds of our Italy.

Cost per head: $540 – This includes a 5 course menu served with generous glasses of wine which has been carefully matched by Elisa, our Italian friend and sommelier (see below for menu).

To be invited please email Sofia at onceuponatable@gmail.com by the 12th of October with a short description of one of your favourite meals from your travels. We will select 12 guests based on the best descriptions. We will confirm the guest list on the 14th of October by 8pm.

As always the secret venue will be revealed the night before via email & text message.

Buon appetito!

Mam Mia! Menu
Apertif
Campari
Campari with soda & freshly squeezed orange juice

Antipasto
Antipasto di mare: Insalalata Di Polpos
Antipasto of the sea: A salad of baby octopus, potatoes & peperoncino served with 3 choices of extra virgin olive oil alongside roast vegetables & homemade foccacia
Matched with: Prosecco di Valdobbiadene - Zardetto (millesimé 2009)

Primi
Pasta alla Norma fatta in casa
Homemade Pasta alla Norma (freshly made on the day)
Matched with: Soave 2007

Secondi
Osso Bucco con patate e fagioli
Osso Bucco with smashed potatoes & tender green beans
Matched with: Lagrein 2007

Limoncello fatto in casa
Homemade limoncello

Dolci
Semifreddo alle nocciole e mandorle
Semifreddo with salted hazelnut & almond praline

Caffè e biscotti a due gusti: pistachi e zenzero, arancia e cioccolato
Coffee with biscotti of two flavors: pistachio & ginger, orange & dark chocolate

Una sorpresa alla fine
A final surprise

Passionately Pairing People & Flavours

10 singles, 7 courses of lovingly prepared food, 3 passionate cooks, 12 bottles of vino, and 1 long table in a secret venue.

These were the ingredients for Once Upon A Table’s second event: Passionately Paired.

“Passionately Paired” was inspired by a book my good friend Matt gave me for my birthday called the “Flavour Thesaurus” . The book cleverly works through 99 flavours grouping them into unique pairings and combinations each described in a quirky write up. It’s a great read.

The food for the evening was prepared by a trio of ladies united by their passion to cook, eat, laugh, talk and share ideas.

To add a twist to the theme we decided not to limit pairing to flavours and textures, but to include people pairing too. We therefore only invited singles to the secret supper – 5 eligible guys and 5 gorgeous gals. A bit of a chemistry experiment perhaps, but fun.

The secret dinner was held in the gorgeous home of a very dear friend who generously gave up his space for a day and night so that we could do our thing.

Upon arrival guests were welcomed with prosecco and pomegranate cocktails in the living room of the apartment. One guest told me that this was a brilliant way to “warm everyone up, and get them feeling relaxed”. To be honest, the 3 cooks needed “warming up” too –we were not sure how the pairing of people part was going to work out!

But the bubbly helped and the canapés were snapped up: Asparagus parcels wrapped in salty prosciutto, drizzled with a sweet balsamic glaze, pungent gorgonzola paired with caramelised red-onion, fig slivers and walnut crostini, watermelon dipped in honey and homemade dukkah, and dates enveloped in bacon (a twist on pigs in blankets).

After the chit chat we invited our guests to the dinner table for the first course – a cold pea soup flavoured subtly with a splash of fresh lemon and garlic served with chunky homemade croutons.

To ensure that the guys and girls all got to speak to one another we asked the gents to move to the next seat on their left after each course. They all politely agreed and did as they were told.

After the first round of musical chairs we served Shreya’s refreshing salad of rocket, caramelised beetroot and fresh goat’s cheese dressed in a tangy mustard vinaigrette.

Before the main dish tiny glasses of homemade lemon, lime and mint sorbet were served to guests giving them a moment to refresh and take a breather (in hindsight perhaps a bit too much food?!)

And then the main dish – fresh summer cherry & port sauce over duck breasts served on a bed of herbed polenta alongside braised bok-choi.

Looking across the table as everyone was tucking in was encouraging. We didn’t expect the conversation to flow so easily. People genuinely felt at home. Of course the wine helped, but more importantly the surrounding comforts - being in a real home (albeit a complete stranger’s to our guests), eating genuine, unadulterated home-made food and chatting with likeminded souls gives this type of evening an unmatched ambiance that you cannot buy in a restaurant, bar or club.

The three of us cooks eventually joined guests at the table for the final highlight of the evening: Toni’s dark cocoa torte topped with a dollop of homemade chocolate mousse, almond ice cream and raspberry coulis. This was the perfect way to round off the meal and to ensure guests were not left unsatisfied!

In the wee ours of the morning we handed guests their gifts - jars filled with Sofia's home made Dukkah. New friends left the apartment to continue the merriment…apparently they all got home at 3am.

The evening left us feeling warm, happy and rewarded. We’re looking forward to the 3^rd Once Upon a Table secret supper in October – so watch this space!

Getting ready...

Drink break

The table is set.

What's dinner without fleurs!?

Guests mingling in the lounge area

Watermelon dipped in honey & home made dukkah

Iranian dates wrapped in bacon

Caramelised onion, pungent gorgonzola, delicate fig and walnut topped on home made crostini

The fresh, summer cherry and port sauce

Spicy rocket, sweet beets and goat's cheese salad

The canard served on home made herbed polenta draped in the cherry port sauce

Dinner conversation

Chocolate deliciousness

Hanging out with our guest, Elisa

Chocolate torte topped with chocolate mouse, alongside almond ice-cream & raspberry coulis