Parma ham, rocket, sun dried tomato and parmesan pinwheel, rhubarb and custard cake and other lunch buffet items

Parma ham, rocket, sun dried tomato puree & parmesan pinwheel

Starts off looking like this. My favourite part of this particular buffet!

Tuna nicoise open sandwich (among others)

Rhubarb - straight from my garden to make this rhubarb and custard cake.
There are also coconut cake bars there and some left over roast rhubarb in the middle.

Rum and raisin cupcakes - see recipe here

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Birthday meal cooked near Burford, Oxfordshire

Chocolate and almond torte with white chocolate ganache and berries - birthday cake aka torte becomes dessert to serve at the table family style

Served this up last night at Field House near Burford - love doing parties at this house. They only have an aga and the kitchen is more of kitchen-sitting room with 180 degree views of the countryside - great relaxed feel. Seriously chocolatey! I'd had quite an audience watching me prepare - five of them aged between 4 and 7 - most put out that I was cooking for their parents & grandparents rather than them. Next time guys!

Orzo risotto with grilled prawns and scallops & courgette carpaccio - lucky they were plain white plates or the pattern would have eaten too - went down rather well!

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Cheese scones topped with camembert, Pancetta & butternut squash tartlets, florentines, banana upside down cake - buffet lunch delivery

There's more to sandwiches than just sandwiches right?
For these ones we made cheese scones, cut them in half and topped them with camembert and raw apple mixed with vinaigrette (stops them going brown).
Liked the florentines too - years sinced I'd made any.

Cheese and apple scones 

Pancetta, butternut squash and sage tartlets - no cheese in these -  you can't have cheese in everything and they are nice as they are. 

Banana and mango upside down cake. Same recipe as the pineapple just changed slightly.

Cranberry and apricot florentines.  Used this recipe  just changed  for cranberries and apricots

Fruit plate for a more healthy option - watermelon, pineapple, fresh coconut, kiwi, blueberries

Related posts

Other buffet lunches we have served

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Salmon and asparagus en croute

Taken around 2am on Sunday morning - everything almost ready for all the Easter Sunday parties......

There's some creamed wild mushrooms in there as well!

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Easter holiday dinner party - suckling pig & assiette of mini cheese courses and desserts including banoffee eclairs

"This is like your second home in the Cotswolds!" I quipped. We have cooked for the same family 2 or 3 times a year ever since Wellacres opened in 2007 - it's so good why go elsewhere? They are also the parties we look forward to - always a fun evening!

This time round they really went the whole hog. Well, suckling pig anyway - as one pig will suit a smaller party. 

Scallops, tiger prawns and salmon with vegetable noodles, ginger, herbs & whisky -  you open at the table so you get all the aromas - see more here. 

As I was making these there was a heated rummy then blackjack game going on between mother and daughter, everyone gathered round the kitchen table.

Ballotine of suckling pig with chestnut stuffing

The previous suckling pig roast we had served had been supplied by the farmer who reared them in his spare time. He had suggested subbing the scored skin with vinegar as well as salt overnight to make the best crispy crackling. So I tried this this time - certainly looked good, but so busy never got round to trying it. 

After slicing I served it on a large platter at the table. The accompanying vegetables - sautéed savoy cabbage & caraway seeds, rosti potato and french beans wrapped in pancetta were plated. 

The night before de-boned, the leg, belly and shoulder meat reserved for stuffing the next day and the skin scored , dried and seasoned with salt and vinegar. 

Looks kind of cute in the tray. There is no place for being squeamish in the kitchen - you forget this isn't a normal sight for everyone however.......

Only after bit of persuasion from the male guests to the rest of the party was the pig allowed to be served at the table - it all adds to the theatre of the meal!

Can't decide between cheese and dessert?  Why not have both. On the same plate! They liked it so much last time around they asked for the same thing for this meal. 

• Blacksticks Blue cheese and mulled wine jelly - this was so popular last time we did the same thing again (just with double the amount of gelatine in the jelly which makes it easy to cut).  
• Goats cheese souffle with mustard white wine sauce
• Bakewell tart
• Shotglass of black forest trifle (I loved these - see recipe here)
• Banoffee eclairs (just had this idea they would be nice - couldn't find a recipe so made my own - pureed fresh banana and a little lemon with whipped double cream piped in the middle of the eclair and then the banoffee toffee recipe from banoff pie)

Everyone was choosing their favourite dessert - as we hear so often, well at every assiette of dessert we serve. I think each of the items got at least one vote! 

Just can't wait till the next one now. What's that to be? I was trying to suggest the idea of the cookery events we do - see how its done. Wellacres is the prefect venue for that. Now that would be an evening to remember too.


Related posts

40th birthday meal, December 2011 - Seabass & cauliflower gremolata, Calves liver & pineapple tarte tatin (not on the same plate)
Assiette of mini cheese courses and desserts

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Plum sauce for duck spring rolls

There's a good tip going round for food bloggers - watermark your photos to stop anyone else stealing them and passing them off as their own. This is not something I have to worry about - the photos I end up with are so bad nobody would ever want to steal them - they're always in a rush as you're sending food out to clients, or they're in the middle of the night in the kitchen.

This is a good case in point - taken around 3am in my little cottage some time at the beginning of February with the left overs from a canapé party. The  message remains the same though - why not make your own plum sauce? It's a million miles away from the one you buy in the supermarket - never worked out why the bottled version is a light - dark brown colour when plums are.... well plum coloured. Try this recipe - easy, but it will be a revelation from those ready made versions!

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