Naomi's Menu

Naomi has suggested a lovely Summery and (given this is Australia) Christmassy menu for the Yam Daisy Cafe.
So aren't I clever to post it up in Christmas week!

The aim is to give an idea of the sort of meals that will be available at YamDaisy Cafes (when they exist!).

She has filled the 4 Things On The Menu criteria (See Here) as follows:

SOUP: Chicken and Vegetable Soup served with Savoury Scones flavoured with Parmesan Cheese and Herbs. Yum. Say no more!

MAIN 1: Spiral Pasta with Avocado, Ham and Chilli (Pictured).
I made this one so I could take a picture of it ~ and since it was a warm Summer day I made a salad.
It is a beautiful salad with particularly nice ham (thanks to the little Italian Supermarket up the street), cucumber from a friends garden, spring onion and basil from mine.
I charred the chillies over a flame and since my chili sensitive daughter was sharing the salad with me, I limited it's contribution to subtly flavouring the dressing - I added slivers of red bell peppers instead.
I chopped the avocado and spring onion and dressed them while I was preparing the rest, and as soon as the pasta was cooked I dressed it too. It was a very simple dressing (lemon, olive oil, thyme, pepper and a little honey - and a tiny bit of chili) and just enough to bring all the flavours together.
This was a lovely fresh meal in a bowl!

MAIN 2: Roast Chicken with Roasted Potatoes, Pumpkin, Parsnip and Onions and a beautiful Gravy.
Isn't this a favourite!

FRUIT DESSERT: Crepes with Strawberries (pictured also!)
O yes, of course I had to make this one so you could enjoy the picture! I used orange juice in the pancake recipe, very nice! The flavour does come through just enough.
But my real trick, just in case you don't know it, is to prepare the strawberries and sprinkle them with caster sugar (a teaspoon is plenty for a punnet) and sit them in the fridge for a couple of hours.
This gives time for juice to come out of the fruit and turn to syrup as it mixes with the sugar. The flavour is intensified and the strawberries are beautifully shiny.
A little cream and a sprinkle of icing sugar, and there is dessert!