My Freo fan dinner party menu to combine potatoes* and the shell game**:
Roast some medium-large potatoes in jackets. Halve them when done.
Scoop out all the flesh other than 5mm or so on the skin, and mash it to your preference. Mine tends towards shedloads of butter and a clove of finely minced raw garlic.
Reserve mash to accompany your choice of protein/veg for mains. Roast bone-in shoulder of escaped goat is recommended. As sauce, a jus of the roast juices, some good stock and mixed vegetables, strained then thickened with the blood of your enemies. If time is limited, a panfried breast of eagle is a worthy alternative.
Meanwhile, prepare the entree. Adorn the potato shells with crisped bacon and a good sharp cheddar cheese, then bake/grill until melted and browned lightly. To serve, arrange upside down on a large tray with plenty of extra space.
Place a single olive under one shell, and in all of them stick a toothpick with a little flag on it, identifying Coach, Board, CEO, Players, Youth, Leadership, Travel, ETAF, etc etc.
Once at table, invite your guests to choose the shell which conceals the Olive of Responsibility For All Our Woes, while switching them subtly around and mumbling incantations about Accountability, Sustained Success, and the Not Making of Excuses. Palm the Holy Olive, and slip it in the plastic wallet on your lanyard.
Every oliveless shell must be consumed in one mouthful by whomever chose it, while singing the Volga Boatmen intro to our old anthem.
Serve mains as if nothing unusual has happened.
There will be no just desserts.
*may contain traces of Peter Dutton
**and to achieve Roly-style spread
