Meze starter for a hen party near Stratford-on-Avon and trout and asparagus en papilotte

You've got to love hen parties! They had a special guest at this one - didn't say much though, some people are just 2 dimensional I guess.
The other one serving them cocktails in the lounge however, was much more.... er 3D and talkative. It must have been warm in the house though - he wasn't wearing much.







They had asked for a meze style starter served in the lounge while they had drinks.

Hoummous

Baba ganoush

Aubergines are cooked on the gas top. First saw them being cooked like this by Madonna's personal cook. Totally transforms them & gives it the smoky flavour. Used this great recipe again.

Olives

Stuffed vine leaves

Grilled halloumi

Spicy meatballs

Tzatzkiki

Homemade taramasalata

As the main course was trout I had a few trout roes on hand. Taramaslata is just one of those things I'd never tried making till about 4:15pm on Saturday. But wow - it's so amazing. So different to those lurid supermarket versions you can buy. I mixed the fried trout roe with smoked salmon and made a smoked salmon taramaslata - adapting this recipe (I used cream rather than cream cheese).

Watermelon, feta, red onion and olive salad

Homemade flat bread and grissini

First time I had made the breadsticks - how did it take so long? I often see shop brought ones in the holiday house kitchens that we work in - people must have brought them for the night before. Making your own is so much better.
These ones were sesame, onion seed and some dusted with ras-el-hanout. I also did the same varieties of crisp flat breads (below) rolled out thin so you can snap & share. There was also a sun dried tomato, olive and herbes de provence foccacia.
As we had 3 other events going on, this was one of the last jobs to do and time was running by then, so I forgot to dock the first flat bread - bottom right. It bubbles if you don't.
Trout and asparagus en pappilote
Trout with asparagus, fennel, red onion, dill, cherry tomatoes, ginger, garlic and a generous splash of vermouth.
With grilled vegetables - aubergine, courgette, field mushrooms, peppers and globe artichoke slice.
Ever since the underground food bloggers conference where Ms Marmitelover served up spaghetti con vognole en papillote I've been hooked. I've also just noticed I had the greaseproof/ foil combo the wrong way round. Oops. You live and learn......


Grilled butternut squash, pommegranate, rocket and coconut salad
This also went with the trout. Normally it's with feta, but as they had feta with the meze I shaved some fresh coconut over this instead. They seemed to love it - another winning dish.