My Last (Very Green) Supper at Harlinger Street

After four and half years living in South London with my friends Zoe and Claire, it is time to move north of the river and live with the boyfriend. In an effort to clear my freezer and cupboards before the move at the weekend I thought I would get creative with whatever is left and make a dinner for the three of us, it just so happened that everything ended up green!

We started with a cocktail, it is based a Brazilian Caipirinha and put into practice what I learnt at the Shake It Cocktail lesson last weekend. I named it the Rumpirinha and tastes like cola cubes, and is what Emily has taken to calling this drink.

The Rumpirinha

Ingredients:

• 30ml Morgan Spiced Rum

• Half a lime, cubed

• 3 tsps caster sugar

• Ice, lots of it!

Method:

• In a cocktail shaker, muddle the lime and sugar together

• Add the ice and rum

• Pop on the shakers lid and shake well

• When the shaker becomes frosted it should be done.

• Pour into a old fashioned glass (we didn't have any so used martini glasses)

It started with homemade pea and mint soup as I had loads of frozen peas! Really simple to do and very tasty.

Pea and Mint Soup - Serves 6

Ingredients:

• 400g frozen peas

• 1 onion, finely chopped

• 1 celery stalk, chopped

• 50g butter

• 1.5 litres vegetable stock

• few sprigs of mint

• salt and pepper

Method:

• Fry the celery and onion until soft

• Add the stock and seasoning, simmer for 20 minutes

• Add the peas and mint, bring back to the boil and simmer for 6-7 minutes

• Blend well, add more seasoning if you think necessary

This was followed by a pesto bake with chicken, cashews and green vegetables, served with a green side salad and garlic bread.

Pesto chicken bake with cashew - Serves 6

Ingredients:

• 450g pasta (I used penne)

• 100ml double cream

• 1 jar of pesto

• 2-3 courgettes, chopped into disks

• 10 balls of frozen spinach, cooked (you could use a bag of fresh)

• 50g cashews

• Packet of ready salted crisps, crushed

• 250g cheese, grated

Method:

• Preheat your oven Gas Mark 5.

• Boil your pasta until al dente.

• While you wait for the pasta, pan fry the chicken until sealed, then add the courgettes and cook through until the chicken is cooked.

• Add the cooked pasta, chicken and courgettes to a large baking dish, add the cream, pesto, cashews and spinach, mix together throughly.

• Top with the crisps (they had a crunchy layer) and then the cheese.

• Bake in the oven for 25 minutes.

• Serve with a side salad and garlic bread.

We were then throughly stuffed so skipped the ice cream sandwiches and just ate the cookies and a mint thins with a nice cup of tea on the sofa - A perfect last night in together!