Potluck success.

I attended my first potluck on Sunday & I had a fantastic time! The food was all delicious & I loved how generous everyone was. Thanks to Kristy, we also have photos to prove it.

I made the Mocha Peanut Fudge. It was the first time I had made it & I actually found it a little bit too rich, but other people seemed to like it. Here's another photo of some of the fudge that may not have made it to the potluck :-)It's not one of my recipes, you can thank Alice over at Vegan Zest for Life for this one.

I also made one of my favourite salads - Asparagus & Risoni. It's a lovely spring salad that's really quick & easy, recipe below.

Asparagus & Risoni Salad

• 250g risoni
  
• 2 bunches asparagus, ends snapped off
  
• 2 cups peas (fresh or frozen)
  
• 1 bunch flat-leaf parsley, picked, washed & finely chopped (I only ever use 1/2 a bunch, but if you love parsley, feel free to use the whole bunch)
  
• 1 large lemon
  
• Extra virgin olive oil
  
• Salt & pepper to season

Cook risoni 8mins, until al dente. Drain, place in a large bowl & drizzle with a little oil to prevent sticking.

Peel & blanch asparagus in boiling salted water 2mins – remove with a slotted spoon & put in iced water to stop the cooking. Drain & slice thinly on an angle.

Repeat the blanching process for peas, blanching just 30secs. Add asparagus, peas & chopped parsley to risoni.

Finely grate lemon rind & juice the lemon. Add to salad & season well with salt, pepper & a generous drizzle of oil just before serving.

A couple of things became clear when I was making the food for the potluck:

1. I needed a double-boiler. I was using a plastic mixing bowl that didn't quite slot into the saucepan properly & there were a couple of times when I nearly lost a complete bowl of fudge.
2. I needed a citrus juicer. I had the top of one, but not the bottom. And the top doesn't fit neatly into any of my containers or bowls, so it's really difficult to juice things.

After the potluck, I made a quick pit-stop at David Jones in the city - I have a voucher to use up. A lot of the kitchen stuff was 40% off until Sunday, so I wanted to pick something up before the sale ended. Here are my new goodies - a lovely Esteele double-boiler (that happens to fit perfectly into my existing large saucepan) & a cute little juicer.

Oh, and I've decided to participate in Vegan MoFo this year - I hope I can find enough to write about!