the birthday dinner

January birthdays aren’t easy. After all the hullaballoo of Christmas, the last thing you want to do is go out, spend money and eat and drink loads. Quite the opposite. I’m usually in the second week of eating and drinking more healthily. And let’s face it, turning 27 isn’t particularly exciting!

That’s not to say my birthday dinner on the ninth of roast monkfish, cabbage and leek stir fry and pureed cauliflower wasn’t fantastic. It was. And as a special treat, we cracked open a bottle of champagne too. How’s that for a treat?

The monkfish was divine – we had picked up too much of it from Borough Market over the holidays, and had frozen two lovely tails. They defrosted really well, so I seasoned them and seared them in about 5 sprays of olive oil in a pan before transferring them to a tin in an 180 C oven for twenty minutes.

While that was roasting away, I stir fried the sliced cabbage and leeks in a few more sprays of olive oil with salt and pepper. The smell is beautiful, and there isn’t a need more more herbs, unless, of course, you like them. Thyme might be nice.

Last but not least, I steamed the cauliflower for about 10 minutes before pureeing them with a hand blender and a bit of the steaming water. Be sure to season it well!

You might have noticed a lot of “I” – that’s because I love cooking, even on special occasions. But my lovely husband did all the clean-up and kept my champagne glass topped up!