New Year? Whoops, we forgot.

Christmas came and Christmas went, we enjoyed the company of friends, I enjoyed cooking. The last of our visitors were vegetarians and I wanted to do something a little different, thanks to another blog that I follow,  'Cornish Chickpea' I was inspired to make a lentil bake served with twice cooked jacket potatoes filled with cheese, our friends and Simon all enjoyed the lentil bake, I can't say the same for myself, it is reminiscent of Pease Pudding although with far more flavour, I just do not like Pease Pudding, but the twice cooked jacket potatoes were great. I must say it did look very nice though, although unfortunately I forgot to take a photo. Another variation of ensaladilla for starters and fresh Chocolate Mousse for desert, I hate to think how many calories are in this decadent desert.

Chocolate Mousse.
250 ml dbl cream, beaten until it thickens.
4 organic eggs, separated, whites beaten until very stiff.
Egg yokes lightly beaten, blend in two tbs. of Cointreau to the yokes ( you can use Brandy)
Zest of one half orange (optional) stirred in at the end.
6 oz Green and Black Organic dark chocolate I used 80%, well broken up, melted over a pan of boiling water with a nob of butter, do not allow the bowl to touch the water.
Fold the egg whites into the cream, fold in the yoke mixture, gently fold in the melted chocolate . pour into individual dishes. With a teaspoon gently scrape off the  remaining chocolate which will have set, to decorate the mousse.

Double cooked Jacket potato.
Scrub the potatoes, boil for about ten minutes, remove and place in baking pan, sprinkle with salt and drizzle with olive oil.
 Bake in hotish 400f oven for half an hour, test that they are soft before serving.
This will give you a light fluffy potato inside and a lovely nutty outside.

So back to the title of this post, we forgot it was new years eve until we switched channels and found a  Queen concert on BBC 1, by the time the penny dropped we couldn't be bothered to go anywhere or even to find a drink in the house.
 In Spain the new year is seen in by eating twelve grapes at each of the chimes, we had bought the grapes in readiness, they also were forgotten, it was only today that I remembered that we had them. So the  new year has come and we missed it.
Things are growing in the garden, don't they know it's still winter? rhubarb still trying to get above the mulch and the asparagus is showing shoots, and I still have not planted the broad beans.
A very belated Happy New Year everyone.