Dining NY style with Ding & Dhong

Roast chicken with lemon jam, watercress salad, pumpkin cake with oriental style belly pork, NY style striploin steak & steaks plump and juicy in the pan

My friend Ding married her Dhong two years ago on a bright sunny day in Sydney. These two were made for each other, like apple pie and ice cream, coke and hamburgers, you get the idea. Ding can't cook to save her life so its no wonder she married a man that can. The boy is a whiz in the kitchen! And we somehow managed to rope them into cooking for us. At first it was 6 people, then it became 7 and finally it was 9. Poor Ding was a little stressed on the day. Nothing worse than not having enough food right? They arrived at my place around 4pm and began preparing for the big feast. I did say to Dhong, a simple dinner will do really. And please don't cook too much because I can't deal with leftovers. What does the man make? Pumpkin cakes, NY style steaks with red wine gravy thing and balsamic and olive oil roasted baby roma tomatoes and parmesan fries, watercress salad with feta, walnuts, honey and mango, roast chicken with lemon jam and oriental style oven roasted belly pork! Is the man nuts? Mildly.

We started off the evening with some sauvignon blanc, oven roasted belly pork, watercress salad and pumpkin cakes. The pumpkin had been oven roasted, seasoned, mashed up and pan-fried. Served with a dollop of creme faiche, miso reduction, grated coconut and toasted sesame seeds. It was a nice smooth contrast to the savoury belly pork which was tender but still with some bite to it. The watercress salad was light and refreshing on that hot evening. We took a small break in between the meals and Sabby entertained us with her notorious escapades while Dhong fried up 9 steaks on 1 griddled pan. Each striploin steak was about 250gm each with a nice chunky piece of fat attached to it. I managed about 3/4 of the steak and polished off all the lovely roasted baby romas and parmesan fries. The red wine gravy thing was very good! Bit stingy with the sauce, only 2 tablespoons each! Then there was the roast chicken "just incase we didn't have enough to eat"! The lemons were thrown into the oven as well so it was caramelised and jammy. It was nice but too bitter and overpowering for me. And finally, dessert which was my only contribution to the dinner. A Bailey's cheesecake as requested by Ding. I added a layer of chocolate ganache to the base which upped the initial recipe of PG13 to 18SX. Deliciously decadent! Thank you Ding & Dhong for cooking such a brilliant dinner!

Bailey's cheesecake, Ding & Her Dhong