The menu kicked off with a Tom Cruise inspired shaken cocktails (red berries, limonchello and gin) which fit perfectly with the summer evening and was accompanied by some 80s coloured savoury macaron (cream cheese & wasabi and green olive tapenade – Pierre Hermé started his macaron experimenting in the 80s).
First course was edible pacman with pâté powerballs and confit cherries. I had wasted considerable amount of time playing pacman in the name of research. Second course was twisted bacon and a two toned tartiflette, a kind of deconstructed version with the use of sweet potatoes and some peppery roquette to balance the Reblochon. Tartiflette was created in the 80s by the Reblochon producers to promote their cheese.

Homage to 80s power dressing and those big shoulder pads: main course of Power puff pastry shoulder pad with a boeuf printanier (slow cooked spring beef stew).
A cold war soup: communism watermelon gazpacho and cucumber capitalism sorbet was served as a palate cleanser. And to finish off a 80s Paris Brest (the 8 was filled with a praline pastry cream and the 0 with a salted butter caramel cream).
The first 4 dishes were accompanied by red wines recommended by my great local caviste who matches all my wines for me as I’m hopeless. He also recommended a lovely caramel/light Irish whisky to go with the dessert.

Special thanks to myprivatedinner for providing the apartment, Jay-P for an awesome 80s music mix, my lovely culinary assistant Bernadette, Sten Pittet for taking some pictures for me and my lovely guests for coming!

Like every blogger I check my stats regularly. I’m less bothered about it, then when I first started. It’s a hobby not a career (hence me not always blogging, if I don’t feel like doing it, I just don’t). My no. 1 search engine term seems to be 80s. I think it’s because I mentioned it a few times and even made 80s biscuits a while ago. Anyway, this got me thinking about what 80s food I could eat today without having to wear a shellsuit.

Back in the good old days of the 80s at every kids’ (yes, I was still a kid back then ) party I went to, there would always be cheese & pineapple sticks sitting on the buffet table. This party snack came second for me after all the E-numbered and fluorescent coloured junk food.

Even a couple of years of living in a country which produces some of the best cheeses in the world, I would still say that this combo is pretty good. The sweet slightly acidic tang of the pineapple with the saltiness of the cheese is one hell of a match. Change a few things and this would make a perfect canapé (or dessert) for any noughties soirée.

In order not to have that 80s “naff” factor (unless you want that), I think it’s key to:

a) Use fresh pineapple (none of that tinned stuff, thank you!)

b) Not chop everything into cubes and do the classic cheese ‘n pineapple cocktail sticks. Slice them in triangles, circles, heart shapes…be imaginative, just don’t do the cube thing. I cut the pineapple into quarters and then sliced it, which kind of made “triangles”.

Alternatively, you could easily do a pineapple capaccio (you’ll need a good sharp knife to slice the pineapple fine enough), crumble the cheese on top and sprinkle it with freshly chopped mint.

Voilà a quick and simple dessert/starter with no eighties shoulder pads in sight.

80s Cheese & Pineapple, noughties style

1 pineapple, ripe (it’s ripe when you can pull out one the leaves easily)
250g feta cheese
1 bunch of mint, chopped

Do I really need to tell you how to do the rest? No, I thought not.
Send me a mail if you’re REALLY stuck