ST:TNG Mystery Party Recipes These are the dishes I made for the party. It was summer in Australia & very hot hence the presence of several cold dishes. However, I think most dishes will be fine whatever the season. In examining these recipes you will probably note that the most important thing about all of them is the name! You can really cook anything for this party as long as you give it some kind of exotic name! Also, presentation can turn an ordinary dish into something your friends will swear came from another galaxy! Most measurements for these recipes are metric, however I have tried to note imperial measurements wherever possible. Metric cup & tablespoon measurements are slightly larger than imperial. However, these recipes are pretty tolerant of imprecise measurement! Have fun in the kitchen! H'ors D'oeuvres Klingon Warrior Flesh Dip with freshly slashed vegetables and Sargonian Grain Chips (Can be prepared a day ahead) 3 red capsicums (peppers) 2 tablespoons tomato paste 2 spring onions (shallots) chopped 1 tablespoon shredded basil 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar 150g (5 oz) cream cheese 1 teaspoon cracked black pepper Chopped vegetables (carrot, cauliflower, celery etc) & cornchips to serve. Halve capsicums & remove seeds; flatten slightly. Place under a hot grill and cook until skins are charred and black. Place capsicums in a plastic bag and cool for 5-10 minutes. Peel away charred skins. Finely chop 2/3 of the roasted capsicums and place in a bowl with tomato paste, spring onions, basil, & balsamic vinegar. Place remaining capsicum & cream cheese in blender or food processor & process until smooth. Fold into tomato mixture with pepper. Serve chilled with chopped vegetables and/or corn chips. Platter of Roasted Intergalactic Delicacies Baby eggplants Baby zucchinis 1 or 2 cloves garlic basil, oregano (fresh is nicest but dried will do) Good olive oil Finely chop or crush garlic & herbs. Combine with oil. Slice eggplants & zucchinis in half(leave their skins on). Brush with oil-garlic mixiure. Place under hot grill cut side up & cook until slightly charred & tender. Serve hot or cold arranged artistically on a plate. Frozen Romulan Love Nectar Cocktail (This recipe uses an Icecream maker) (Best prepared a day ahead & left in a very cold freezer) 50g mint leaves 250g (1 cup) sugar 500ml (2 cups) water 150ml bourbon 30ml creme de menthe Place mint leaves & half the sugar in a blender & blend until well combined. Remove & place in plan with remaining sugar & water. Bring to boil, stirring occasionally, & simmer for 10 minutes. Strain & chill. Add creme de menthe & bourbon. Put mixture in your icecream maker & freeze, following manufacturers instructions. (Note: because of the alcohol the freezing point is lowered. Thus this remains fairly soft & prone to liquefy quite readily) Serve chilled in glasses. Or if you're feeling "wild 'n' crazy" you can pour a dash of champagne into each glass as well! Entrée (NB: This is entrée in the European sense, that is a starter, not the main dish) Romulan Snake Coil (with Ferengi Bovine Yoghurt) Coil Filo pastry 1 onion (chopped) 1 cup sesame seeds 1 tspn paprika 1 cup bean sprouts 2 cups grated carrot 2 tspns cumin 2 tablespoons peanut paste (peanut butter) melted butter Yoghurt 1 cup yoghurt 1 tblspn chopped mint 1 clove garlic (crushed) 1 tblspn chopped coriander Sweet chilli sauce for taste & flavour Saute onion, carrot & sprouts & cool. Add other ingredients. Spread 1/3 of a cup of mixture near the top edge of two sheets (stacked) of filo pastry. Brush edges of pastry with butter. Roll pastry from top to make a sausage shape. Fold ends in before getting to the end of the pastry sheets. Carefully coil the sausage to make the centre of a spiral coil on tray (round pizza trays are good for this) which you have covered with foil & brushed with oil or butter. Brush with butter. Make another sausage & join it to the end of the previous sausage with a little melted butter. Continue until all the mixture is gone or you have a decent looking spiral coil. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake in a moderately hot oven (180 C or 350F) until crisp & golden. Decorate with a "snake's head" made from aluminium foil if you're feeling adventurous! Cut into pizza shaped wedges & serve with yoghurt. Yoghurt Combine all ingredients. Chill. Main Course Vulcan Fowl with traditional blood sauce (Jurizian witlof and Cordhonian stuffed mushrooms) (You can start this dish earlier in the day and then put it into the oven to bake about 30 minutes before you will be ready to eat) Vulcan Fowl & Sauce Sufficient 1/2 chicken breasts for your guests (1 each)(Or you can use chicken pieces) 3 tablespoons seasoned plain (all-purpose) flour 1/4 cup (60ml/2 fl oz) oil 4 rashers (125g/4 oz) rindless bacon, chopped. 1 onion, chopped 200g (~7 oz) mushrooms, sliced (more if you like) 1 cup (250ml/8 fl oz) port (vintage port provides a more satisfying "bloody" colour & a fuller flavour than a tawny port) salt &pepper to taste 3/4 cup (185 ml/ 6 fl oz) sour cream or natural yoghurt 1/2 teaspoon honey Preheat oven to 180C (or 350F) Dust chicken in season flour, shaking off excess. Heat oil in large frying pan. Fry chicken, turning, until golden on all sides. Transfer to casserole dish. Sauté bacon and onion in same oil for about 2 minutes. Add mushrooms & sauté for about 1 minute more. Stir in port & salt & pepper to taste. Pour over chicken. Bake, covered, for 20-30 minutes or until chicken s tender. Blend in the sour cream & honey together. Stir into casserole & return to oven for 10 minutes. (Or if, like me, you are having trouble finding room to stir because you never seem to have big enough casserole dishes for entertaining, remove the chicken pieces and place on heated plates. Stir sour cream mixture into remaining sauce in casserole dish & gently reheat over a hotplate, assuming your casserole dish can handle this.) Serve with vegetable accompaniments. To accompany this dish you can use whatever vegetables you like. I tried to make them slightly exotic to add that quintessential "intergalactic" touch. Below are the accompaniments I served. Jurissian Witlof I simply sliced several witlof in half lengthwise and microwaved them until tender. Cordhonian stuffed mushrooms (You can stuff these with anything you like but here's what I did) Field mushrooms (depending on size, one per guest) 1-2 cloves garlic, finely chopped cream cheese (~50-100g) butter(25-50g)- softened parsley, finely chopped Clean mushrooms & cut off stalks. Combine cream cheese, butter, garlic & parsely and placed heaped spoonfuls into the centre of the field mushrooms. Place under hot grill & cook until mushrooms tender. Dessert Betazoid Endorphin Flan (with coffee creme anglaise) (Can be made a day ahead) Shortcrust Pastry 1 1/2 cups (225g ~71/2 oz)) plain flour (all-purpose flour) 125g(4oz) cold butter 1 egg yolk 3 tspns ice water (approximately) Flan Filling 300ml (1/2 pint) thickened cream 2 teaspoons grated orange rind 300g (~10 oz) dark chocolate, chopped cocoa Coffee creme anglaise 3 egg yolks 1/4 cup (55g) caster sugar (fine sugar but not icing sugar) 1 cup (250ml (8 fluid oz)) milk 2 tablespoons roasted coffee beans (whole, not ground) 1)Pastry Grease a 24 cm round loose-base flan tin. Sift flour into bowl & rub in butter (or process flour & butter until mixture resembles breadcrumbs). Add egg yolk & enough water to make ingredients cling together. Press dough into ball & knead gently on a floured surface until smooth. Wrap in plastic (cling-wrap) & refrigerate for 30 minutes. Roll pastry between sheets of baking paper until large enough to line tin. Lift pastry into tin, ease into side, trim edge. Lightly prick base with fork & refrigerate for 30 minutes. Cover pastry with baking paper & fill with dried beans or rice. Place on oven ray. Bake in moderately hot oven (190 C or 375 F) for 10 minutes. Remove paper & beans carefully bake another 10 minutes or until just beginning to brown. Cool. 2)Filling Combine cream & rind in pan & bring to simmer. Remove from heat & add chocolate. Stir until melted. Pour into pastry case & refrigerate until set. Dust flan with cocoa & serve with coffee creme anglaise. 3)Anglaise Beat egg yolks & sugar in small bowl with electric mixer until thick & creamy. Combine milk & coffee beans in pan, bring to boil. Remove from heat & stir into egg mixture. Return to pan, stir over low heat, without boiling, until custard thickens slightly. Strain. Cool. ( I served it refrigerated) I made little "communicators" out of white & dark chocolate to garnish each slice by drawing the communicator shapes (the two bits separately) onto grease-proof paper & drizzling chocolate into the shape then refrigerating until hard. I then joined the two pieces by slightly melting the back of one with a warm spoon & refrigerating again. Linda Jeffery