Southeast Asian supper. Mostly.

The title of this post could just as well have been, "In which Marie bites off more than she can chew."

It is clear blue Monday in Cape Town, a little windy in Constantia, and three long trestle tables have already been arranged on the patio, under the hot African sun. A gecko clings to one of the wooden slabs, and I hope he doesn't get too warm. There will be a supper there tonight, a little farther out from the house than usual, as the space must seat 15, and it may get nippy, away from the shelter of the awning and the walls. Guests have been advised to bring wraps. There will be many candles in glass chimneys.

I was tired of my usual lunch and dinner menus. Cold soups, tarts and terrines and roasted chickens. So I turned to SE Asia for inspiration. It is food I cook often at home in New York. The litchi salad and duck dumplings are based on recipes from David Thompson's Thai food bible. I've turned his roasted duck into duck confit for the salad, and the dumplings should be quail. But who's going to debone a quail? Those days are over. The udon noodes are a bit of a stretch. Further east.

It's a goodbye supper in a way, as I fly home to Harlem, to a Frenchman and  Dominican, on Saturday.

Monday Supper Menu

Drink:

Lime-leaf (garden) infused gin and tonic

Food:

Litchi salad with confit of soy duck, crispy shallots and duck skin

Aubergine salad with steamed eggs, leek scapes (garden) and XO sauce

Chicken wings a la Pok Pok with fish sauce, garlic and sugar

Cold udon noodles with spring onions, sesame oil, fish sauce and lime juice

                                                             x              x                 x 

Flavour bundles - sticky pork filling with tamarind, roasted peanuts, shallots, garlic and ginger wrapped in butter lettuce

Pickled carrots

Dipping sauce (fish sauce, lemon grass, lime, ginger, chilli)

x              x                 x 

Hot duck meatball curry with green coriander (garden), verjus and coconut milk

                                                               x              x                 x 

Pineapple fluff

Passion fruit and lime pie

Fresh tamarillos (garden)

x               x             x

There it is.