Eurovision - friends and food

Eurovision, you either love it or hate it, but you can't ignore it.   To some its the social event of the year and others, well, maybe not so much.

Beyond the show and the singing however, there is the social aspect which gets ignored by both its critics and by the media generally. It is definitely a great example of bringing people, friends, family and old acquaintances, together.

Unlike seasonal holidays, you are under no obligation to invite family but, of course you do. The pressure is off to make formal preparations for food or drink and, to many a group of friends, its an excuse to shout at the TV without the feeling self conscious. Actually, an all round good bit of fun, and also no obligation to watch the show itself but to simply get competitive with the scoring at the end! A little more seriously, the event does carry with it a real feel good air, especially as it brings friends together that may have not seen one another for a number of weeks or months.

Food is informal and for the most part, can be a mixture of platters and bowls. More substantial meals are probably an inconvenience for the most part, who wants to prepare dinner when you may have twenty people squeezed into a one or two bedroom flat or apartment?

If you have a handy deli or grocers that can prepare these for you, even better. For those of you who would like to prepare a few things of their own, I've laid out below some suggestions for a number of titbits, but if you run out of time, don't stress, crisps, dips and pizza is normally just a phone call away.

Dips which can be prepared days in advance

These are great to have on standby and very straight forward to make and these three dips which are great to make and full of flavour. Using three types of bean/pulse.

Use a large tin of chickpeas and butterbeans for ease rather than all that soaking overnight.

For roasting: One bulb of garlic, three large red peppers, a large white onion and some good olive oil.

To a medium sized baking tray add:
• the garlic cloves, but don't peel them
• the peppers (whole but de-stalked)
• one onion, peeled and quartered
• olive oil to coat the above
• a couple of pinches of salt Bake in medium to hot oven (190c) for 25-30 minutes.

For the dips:

• One tin (220 grams) each of chickpeas and butterbeans
• 300 grams of cooked broad beans
• 20 grams mint
• 20 grams parsley
• three dessert spoons of honey
• one teaspoon of ground cumin
• the juice and zest of one medium lemon
• 50 grams of freshly grated parmesan

For the chickpea dip:

In a food processor add the drained chickpeas, the garlic (which should easily come out of their skins), onion, parsley and honey and process until smooth.

For the butterbean dip:

Again, in the food processor, add the drained butterbeans, the roasted peppers (after putting them in a plastic bag to cool, the skins should easily come away), salt to taste and the cumin. Process until smooth.

For the broad bean dip:

After first shelling the beans and using a potato masher, add the mint and parmesan. Add the lemon juice and zest.

Something to munch on:

Chorizo, always a good standby and always very quick to prepare. Slicing it up into generous bite size pieces with some additional olive oil and putting a little extra chilli and/or garlic onto a baking tray, adding halved mid-sized mushrooms to soak up a little of that oil and putting these into a moderate oven (say 170-180c) for 15-20 minutes is a really good and simple way to impress.

Once you've taken these out of the oven and whilst still hot, drizzle with a tablespoon of honey and combine. The sweet, hot, spicy combination is addictive.

House roasted Almonds (or cashews, or walnuts or a mixture of all three)

With a little oil, add 250 grams of blanched nuts to a baking tray. Again, in a moderate oven for 15-20 minutes. Separately, in a bowl, add two heaped teaspoons of smoked sweet paprika, two generous teaspoons of dried thyme or chopped dried rosemary and an equal amount of sea salt. Taking the nuts out of the oven add these to the spice mixture whilst still hot and combine thoroughly.

House olive mix

In a shallow pan, add two tablespoons of olive oil and a large crushed clove of garlic whilst the oil is still warming through. Add a half teaspoon of turmeric and a teaspoon of cumin seeds. As the garlic is just starting to golden, take off the heat and add the zest and juice of a large lemon (or of two limes).

Separately, in a large bowl, thinly slice half a large red onion and separate the crescents. Add your choice of olives (250 grams) and add the spice mixture. Mix and allow to cool.

Additions could in include finely sliced chillies and/or sweet peppers. Just for a little crunch.

For those of you who have a little more time as these are quite fiddly to make:

Simple Asparagus Rolls

Take one large day old, loaf of white bread, ideally leave in a plastic bag overnight on the side - carve the crusts off and then thickly slice lengthways, You should have five, large, thick slices, butter these on one side.

Take some Parma ham and lay these on each slice of bread, you will need four, possibly six slices of ham for each slice bread, depending on the size of your loaf. Take your asparagus which has been blanched and slice lengthways. Place these end to end and side by side from about an inch from the long edge of each slice of bread. Roll the lengthways and fasten with cocktail sticks.

Place on a baking tray and brush with olive oil and cook until brown - this should take no more than 20 minutes. Allow to cool and cut into appropriate lengths.