Making magic for your one special day!

It makes all the hard work worth it when everyone enjoys the wedding! This was one near Tewkesbury where we made the Dairy free Eton Mess for the first time.

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Dairy free eton mess for a wedding near Tewkesbury

A record number of dietary requirements this year. Unlike a lot of people I do try and go out of my way to make sure they have as near to what everyone else is having as it can be. If you research recipes, and hunt down ingredients, anything is possible really, it just takes time and care! Far too many other chefs don't bother, so the gluten free, dairy free etc guests we cook for are always amazed at what we serve up for them!

Dairy free whipped cream? Easy! With a bit of help from @CocoPazzo .

Chill a tin of coconut milk in the fridge overnight. It has to be good quality coconut milk with high fat content. Refrigerating it makes it split between the coconut fat and thin water at the bottom.

Scoop off the coconut fat into a mixing bowl. Beat with an electric whisk till thick. If you've really thought in advance you could chill the mixing bowl too - to prevent it heating and splitting. You can add sugar and vanilla if you want to make it slightly sweeter, like I did here.

It pipes beautifully. All the chefs and waiting staff liked the coconut whipped 'cream' version better than the normal dairy cream version - the piping bag and mixing bowl were wiped completely clean - you can't get much better recommendation than that!

If you're being hi-tech you can also use an isi gun for this. According to information received the isi gun likes 35% fat content and the average can of coconut milk is 20%, so add 2 tbsp of coconut oil to the coconut cream and mix at room temperature, then chill overnight in the fridge before putting in the isi gun. Using coconut milk with added guar gum is also another tip to help prevent the coconut cream and coconut oil from separating while chilling.

We finished this one off with dried coconut flakes and toasted coconut. Despite the fact that it helps distinguish the dairy free version from the normal one, it also adds a bit more coconut flavour! Should have added malibu!

 

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Pulled pork for a 60th birthday lunch near Tewkesbury

A big massive thank you for the fantastic lunch.  It was a wonderful surprise for my Husband who was celebrating his 60th Birthday.

Everyone loved the lunch, the Pulled Pork was amazing as was the Birthday dessert.

Please thank the team, they made it so special for all of us.

Linda Workman

 Everyone's made for the pulled pork! Oh and the crackling. Luckily Henry had been washing up the night before and personally tested it to make sure it was ok to serve.

Pork shoulder or leg? This time I used leg with my own blend of spicy rub - onion, tomatoes, smoked paprika, chilli, garlic, cinnamon, coriander, cumin, fennel seeds, fenugreek, onion seeds, caraway seeds, thyme, rosemary, orange zest, nutmeg etc. Pulse all of this in the processor and smother the pork leg. Some people dry roast it, I added cider - keeps slow cooked meat moister I find - and baked it open first to set the crust on top, then covered it in foil to pot roast it, then removed the foil and let the cider evaporate - about 7 - 8 hours cooking in all - soft and succulent!

The crust becomes a paste once it's cooked. I scraped it off and put it in the middle of the serving platter with the pulled pork around so you can combine it at the table (depending on whether you like spicy or not - you have to cater for all tastes, especially when there are children). It's the paste that makes it the pulled pork you have at festival stands and sandwich delis.

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Wedding catering at Upper Court near Tewkesbury - sharing platter starter and assiette of desserts

Have your wedding ceremony, wedding reception, wedding breakfast, evening entertainment and overnight accommodation all in the same place! We have done so many events here over the years.

Last minute preparations

Champagne reception and canapes by the lake

Here comes the bride!

For a starter the wedding couple had chosen their favourite starters which we served as a sharing platter - great for more informal events - gets everyone talking. 

Mini homemade pork pies with piccallili - made fresh on the day!

Smoked salmon and watercress tart

Stilton baked field mushrooms

Homemade chicken liver pate with lavender chutney and melba toast

Garlic Dough Balls

Pastry hearts on top of pork pies - couldn't resist 

For a main course they had asked for beef, port & stilton pie and a chicken, apple and cider which we served as individuals - great comfort food!

Assiette of 5 desserts - mostly strawberry inluenced

Strawberries and cream tartlets

Mini chocolate éclair

Chocolate dipped strawberry

Shotglass of Pimms jelly

Heart shapes scones with clotted cream and jam 

I'm forever blowing bubbles - they made for fun wedding favours!

Photography courtesy of Gabrielle Wheatley, Maggie Booth and the bad ones were mine.

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Canapés, roast loin of pork and trio of desserts for a wedding in Tewkesbury

The nearest wedding venue to Tewkesbury Abbey? Quite possibly. Certainly the closest we have catered at.   Another couple we are catering for in September are getting married at Tewkesbury Abbey too - can there be a better venue around the Cotswolds?

Hardwick House

When we commit to an event we go into it wholeheartedly - we get there whether through floods, digging ourselves out of snow drifts, or days when the road melts and the kitchen is 35 degrees and you get sunburnt cooking  serving a barbecue wedding (we've done all 3 and so much more!). Sadly the same can't be said for the original caterer for this wedding - we had been called in when the chef they had originally booked had decided to go away on holiday for his 30th birthday - how could anyone do that? I remember cooking for a dinner party on mine. You have to have 1001% commitment in this business - we play a big part in our clients' celebrations - never more so than their wedding day! And with that comes great responsibility to getting it right.

Smoked salmon blinis, air dried ham with Tewkesbury mustard,  croustade of Oxford blue and pear, croustade of brie and caramelised red onion

As we were coming in to this event at a late stage all the menus had been set up already so we took them on and prepared them in our own way - which had gone down well at the pre-wedding tasting with the bride and groom.

Picked up this pear shaped board a few days before - went with the  country  feel of the wedding

Scotch quail eggs

Quail eggs for the scotch quail eggs the night before - I've started so I'll finish!

Choral group performing on the lawn - real music! Amazingly  large & varied repertoire. Made the afternoon so much better!

Roast loin of Old Spot pork with apricot stuffing, crispy crackling  with Tewkesbury mustard mash, baby vegetables and Herefordshire cider jus

Summer vegetable risotto with poached Burford Brown egg and Double Gloucester cheese crisp - we were going to add marrow to the risotto until I saw it just about to be cut - then thought the marrow could make a great bowl for the risotto instead. So we hollowed out the middle and roasted them and the risotto could go in the middle. The poached egg swung quite a few meat eaters too - so we ended up with 12% risotto vs 88% pork.

Then for dessert........

Trio of desserts - Black Forest of Dean cheesecake, hedgrow pavlova  and pink champagne jelly

Originally the idea had been to serve these just on platters at the table for guests to help themselves. At the tasting I had suggested serving all on one plate like this. It does look rather impressive when it goes out!

Black Forest of Dean cheesecake using this recipe  - the griottine cherries might be terribly expensive, but they're so worth it - this was a revelation!  

Hedgerow pavlova

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Country feast barbecue wedding catering with yurts near Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire

Marquee weddings - all very nice, but if you're after a wow factor is has to be a yurt. This was a wedding we catered for back at the beginning of June - a whole lifetime ago, but only if you measure in terms of food.

Yurts came from Yurts for Life - the one above was a separate children's tent - with a couple of entertainers keeping the children happy while the adults grazed on canapés by the lake. They had their own much larger yurt (in the background below).

To help keep the budget down we brought along our own gazebo to turn into a field kitchen.

Scallops wrapped in pancetta the night before

Thai style fish and fishless cakes (cheese, onion and sage)

Barbecue with a view. Sausages from Home Farm about 2 miles away as the crow flies made from their Gloucester Old Spot/ Berkshire breed pigs. Trying to get everything cooked before the rain set in....... 

Herby Madgetts Farm chicken wrapped asparagus  - see recipe link here

Harissa marinaded Home Farm lamb steaks and burgers too - keeping it local with real food!

Salad of grilled butternut squash, rocket, pommegranate, orange and  toasted almonds

Nicoise salad

There was also cous cous. We served all this on platters/ bowls which the waitresses tiook to the tables for guests to serve themselves family style - a great way to get everyone talking & make a more informal atmosphere.

Tomatoes - local are best - grown about 6 miles away from the wedding

Eton mess served in learge bowls one per table. Strawberries grown in the next door county (Herefordshire)

We made the eton mess a larger version of the shotglass eton mess below served at a dinner party a few months ago - i.e. separate. Halved/ quartered strawberries with strawberry coulis at the bottom, whipped cream with vanilla piped on top and crushed meringue on top. Looks much better I think when you mix it yourself at the table as you eat.

We also made large lemon tarts - again for guests to share at the table. What a feast! 

And after all this? It was time for a late night hog roast with guests - which became quite welcome as guests sheltered from the rain which fell later on in the evening (lovely British summer......)

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Tarragon poached chicken, butterflied leg of lamb and prawn, monkfish and squid kebabs - catering for a barbecue wedding near Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire

At last - a wedding where it didn't rain while we were loading & unloading - wahoo! 

The lake at Upper Court - makes a great backdrop to your wedding breakfast!

The previous week on Stow on the Wold cricket field we had been caked in mud, wet through and that was just in the first five minutes of arriving - pushing 2 vans (arriving and departing) through the mud was most.... er.... memorable. The next wedding the day after at Chavenage House we had fared slightly better because they had moved the siting of the marquee right next to the house. That was until it came to packing up in the evening and once again we were deluged. Always helps to have a good set of waterproofs and waterproof kitchen shoes. Good job we love it!

Tarragon poached chicken on the barbecue 

 This weekend just gone - perfect. The sun even came out as the guests arrived back from the church next door. Note the straw in the background though - soaking up the mud around the entrance - all the ground so waterlogged now - that'll be the great English summer.

Here is how the chicken started off the night before (below). We batted it out, filled it with chicken and tarragon mousse (chicken, egg white, cream, salt, pepper, tarragon), sprinkled on a bit more chopped tarragon for good luck and rolled it up,

Then skewered it to hold it in place and poached it in court bouillon with the tarragon stalks.

Once poached it was left to cool down, then one the day itself I just cut it into 3 and gave them a grilling on the barbecue.
The bride had said she wanted chicken, but it had to be moist - chicken can dry out easily on BBQ if you cook it too much. Poached like this you not only get a lot more flavour in there, but it also stays nice and moist.

Tiger prawn, monkfish and squid skewers marinaded in chilli, ginger, garlic, coriander, lemon, mint, turmeric and yogurt

What a revelation these were - maybe you can't see in pic above, but the turmeric gives them an amazing yellowy colour. A couple of minutes on each side with a dusting of flour to stop them sticking and they're cooked perfectly. And the monkfish is one of the best fish to barbecue because it is so meaty and doesn't fall apart like cod, and tiger prawns - well everyone loves those!

Butterflied leg of lamb marinaded in lemon, garlic and cumin yogurt (with a lone kebab tester)  

"Is there anything else we can do than lamb steaks?" asked the bride. We eventually rested on the idea of butterflied leg of lamb - which I then carved on the buffet as guests came along - the inside of the lamb perfectly pink (although there were a few well done bits for the guests who preferred it that way). Lamb as usual came from Home Farm - around 2 miles as the crow flies from the where we were serving it. 5 legs and every last bit went - very popular!

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Summer wedding buffet at Upper Court, near Tewkesbury Gloucestershire

When you run out of blue tack to put the menu up in the kitchen........

A buffet menu with a thousand things - we started putting the final touches on this after the wedding breakfast was out. 

Whole poached salmon with Pesto Mayonnaise

Assiette of cold meats

Mini quiches (vegetarian option included)

Homemade Sausage Rolls (approx 60)

Homemade Pork Pies (approx 60)

Mini pizzas (vegetarian option to be included)

Vegetable sushi rolls with wasabi and soy

Small selection of cheese

Potato salad

Spinach, cherry tomato, red onion, feta, olive

Assiette of open sandwiches inc no pork & vegetarian

2 x Gluten free sandwiches

Barbecue chicken legs

Bread & Butter

XXX

Strawberry tartlets

Eton mess

The great thing about Upper Court is we can use the herb garden too when we do weddings there - fennel was rampant, so that went by the sides, and sage flowers on top.

Pork pie

Pork pie sliced. This photo is an old one,  but now I add some pink salt to the mix which helps it stay pink. 

Barbecued chicken legs from this recipe - with added soy sauce

Sushi

Cutting strawberries for eton mess - we do separate layers of berries & coulis, whipped cream with vanilla and sugar and crushed meringue on top so guests can mix it themselves. 

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