so I decided in a whim to throw a party to celebrate the fact that my favourite pescetarian* is back in town for the month (although, there hardly was a need for a reason to throw a party - I felt I really needed something to look forward to and a party was the perfect answer!).
This time, I thought a luncheon might be quite a lot of fun since most people have plans for the evening rather than in the day (yes yes, all these friends of mine that are attached...) and the theme of 'soup, salad and sandwiches' was perfect as most things could be prepared in advance (hence more time to entertain people when they arrive) and all the food, except the soups, could be served warm or cold.
I served 3 soups - pumpkin and leek, mushroom and onion. Of course, all the food served was completely pescetarian-friendly so I could not cheat with chicken stock and had to make vegetable stock by boiling soy beans with ikan billis.For the salad portion there was stir-fried fresh corn with chilli and parsley (and loads of butter),
a delightfully summery mango salsa,
char grilled capsicum (conveniently nicknamed 'traffic light')
celery and carrot sticks (you can catch a glimpse of it in the top left corner) with hummus and a simple cucumber, cherry tomato and olive Mediterranean-inspired salad.
And fulfilling the sandwich component was tuna in olive oil (dolphin-friendly, I should emphasize), 
soft-boiled eggs with homemade mayonnaise,
teriyaki salmon and a cheese platter with Cornish chutney (sadly not pictured due to eagerness!). To go with all the food I served three types of bread (baguette, country-style walnut loaf and thin-cut white) for some variety.Needless to say we were stuffed and what better way to burn all the calories than to engage in some friendly competition...
ahh... good times... and the irony of the day? the pescetarian could not make the party at the last minute!
*a vegetarian who will eat fish
Recipes
To make homemade mayonnaise, you need:
2 egg yolks
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon of salt
pepper to taste
Whisk the above ingredients then slowly add 1 cup of olive oil while whisking. The mixture will emulsify and become a lovely yellow mayonnaise.
For a hearty pumpkin and leek soup, simply finely chop up some leek and fry over low heat in a heavy-bottomed pan with some olive oil. Let the leek soften (do not brown) before adding in chunks of pumpkin (the rule of thumb is smaller is better). Add enough stock to cover the pumpkin and cook over a low fire with the lid half-covered. The pumpkin will release water and once the vegetables are soft, you can remove the lid to allow the soup to cook down. When the water level is down to the desired level (it depends on how thick you like your soup), remove from heat and blend to desired creaminess. The soup is now ready to be served!
For a delightful mushroom soup, melt 40g of butter in a large pot. Add 1 medium shallot, chopped, and cook till soft. Add the roughly chopped mushrooms (I used about 2 punnets-worth of white and brown in total) and slowly cook it till soft and browned. Add 600ml of stock, 1 diced potato and a sprig of chopped parsley, then add 60ml of white wine once the stock starts to boil. Let the soup cook down. Remove about 1/4 of the soup and puree the rest. This is so that when you return the separated soup, the end result has nice chunks of mushroom. Boil down to desired thickness before serving.
(If you do not have to cook a pescetarian-friendly version, fry some chopped bacon with the shallot at the beginning of the recipe as it will add a lovely smoky flavour and body to the soup)
The onion soup needs some tweaking so I'll post the recipe when I have figured out how to improve it. :)
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