Wales vs England - Hen party canapé cookery competition - a fight to the bitter end! .... or not :)

Hi James, I just wanted to write and say thank you so much for what was incredible activity on Saturday. The girls had such a brilliant time and it was exactly what we wanted. The canapes were fabulous and all the girls have commented on how brilliantly you organised us all! You have such a wonderful business and we wish you well!

We will all be recommending you to friends of ours as it was such a perfect event for a hen party. The bride to be loved it! 

Vicky
[There's a PS right at the end of this post - wait till then.......]

The 'before' team shot - Let's go!

"Suprise!.... Today we're all doing a cookery lesson"

"I don't cook!" said the horrified hen's mother

"You do today!"

"Ooh - I love an assertive man!....."

Oh yeah - you've got to love hen parties!

Somehow the hen's friend who had organised the whole weekend had managed to keep this part of it a secret - to everyone. They'd all paid for something, just didn't know what. 

Once again we were crossing The Apprentice with Hell's Kitchen - a cookery event is good, but it's so much more fun when you're competing against your friends. In this case there was a welsh team and an english team. 

Snowy Cotswold hills from the terrace of hill house - like you're transported to the Dolomites

After a few demonstrations from me of techniques they would find useful it was over to the team captains to organise their teams. It may look daunting at the beginning, but actually - as they quickly found - when you split your group up into sub groups which take on one canapé each, actually it's quite straight forward - and rather enjoyable.

As always they had their trusty recipe booklet with all the info and I was going round everyone to give a bit of help, support & tips.

Complete with recipe booklet

Cold Canapés

Vegetable sushi

Mini beetroot rosti with smoked salmon and dill mustard

Hot Canapés

Saffron risotto balls
Mini Yorkshire puddings with roast fillet of beef

Spoon of scallop wrapped in pancetta with asparagus puree and shiitake mushroom

Beetroot and potato on the mandolin to make beetroot rosti

Making smoked salmon rosettes to go on rosti  & cutting brie for risotto balls - eyes down!

When you run out of space in one kitchen you overflow into the next kitchen. Making  asparagus puree here.

Yorkshire puddings fresh from the oven - haven't they risen well!

Seasoning sushi rice - vitally important you taste it! Their's tasted great!

Rolling arancini

Plating up time (note the beer bottles - these events are relaxed affairs!)

And when you run out of space in both kitchens you spill over into the dining room to make your sushi!

Judging time!

• Vegetable sushi

We judge on presentation & taste. On the left was the english team - much more uniform round shape. But the seasoning of the rice of the welsh team (right) was much better - don't forget the seasoning dulls down as the rice cools, so it needs to be slighty more seasoned than you think it should to take account of this. This is why supermarket sushi tastes so awful - it's too old by the time you buy it. 

The carrot decorations got bonus points though!

• Mini beetroot rosti with smoked salmon and dill mustard

The hen with her beetroot rosti & smoked salmon.  "Good enough to be on Ready Steady Cook!" I quipped. Actually she had been. "Ainsley Harriot!" gushed the hen's mother "Such a lovely man - gave me a great big hug!" Everyone loves Ainsley!

The english team on the left again, and the welsh on the right. Equal points on taste - it's just so good. But on presentation -  maybe the english teams rosti could have been a bit more bite size - such a good effort & labour of love though! Great result from the welsh team!

• Saffron risotto balls (arancini)

The welsh team above - an iphone is never far away......

Any dip? Quick ransack of the fridge turns up some tomato salsa - great dip!

The english team goes more rustic (above).

Well presentation-wise the welsh teams were much more uniform shape. Also turned out more flavoursome risotto. The english team's risotto maker had added a lake of stock half way through to try and speed it up. Turns out it's better just to wait and let the rice absorb the stock naturally - rice ends up more creamy: well you live and learn! :)

• Mini Yorkshire puddings with roast fillet of beef

What a great job on these - everyone's favourite canapé. The english team (left) went for a bite size canape version, while the welsh team went for a more rustic brunch size version. Who's right? Both are good! Slight overcooking on the beef though for the welsh team - not sure what my wedding guests would say if I served them like that - so I think the english team won through on the taste there - judging's a hard thing!

• Spoon of scallop wrapped in pancetta with asparagus puree and shiitake mushroom

Welsh team above and below right. English team below right.  On this one both were as good each other! A national tie!

Final results though as I added up the marks - the welsh team won by 5 points - hoorah! for Wales. And hoorah for all my canapé chefs and their wonderful creations - you all did a wonderful job! Amazing what you can do really - isn't it!

The 'after' group team photo - cheers!

"Seemed like a lot of faff at the beginning" said the hen afterwards "... but then you get going, and get into doing your own thing - and it's really quite easy and so worth it - it all tastes amazing!"

Yay - fun time was had by all!

PS - Thanks for choosing Wales as winners - always good to get one up on the old enemy!

Well... 'choosing' had nothing to do with it - it's a fair & honest contest!



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Cook your own dinner party - a corporate cookery event

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Sunday 25th - Friday 31st May 2008, Derry House, Downderry, Cornwall

Dear James,

Thank you so much for a week of fantastic food!

Every meal was fabulous and yet again you have converted the boys to new foods. On the Saturday morning the boys asked what was for breakfast and were most disappointed with the choice of cornflakes or rice krispies!

We all had a great time especiallly Dad who was over the moon with his surprise chef!
Thanks again, you played a huge part in making Dads birthday week the success that it was.

Kind regards,

Annette, Graham, Suzanne, Matt, Dan, Hayden, Lauren and Joshie.

XXX

Everyone deserves a holiday. And everyone deserves a holiday from cooking. Large luxurious holiday houses are the new hotels, ideal for large groups of family or friends, only with the freedom of having your own house. But who out of your family or friends is going to give up their holiday to cook, and are they used to cooking for 10 or more people?

This was where I came in, cooking again for a family of 10 (incorporating 3 generations). They had all enjoyed it so much when I had cooked for them last year while they stayed in Gloucestershire, they wanted me to do the same this year in Cornwall.

XXXXX

Derry House (aka The Beach House), a large Victorian House, recently refitted to the highest standard, is situated, as its name suggests, just up from it's own private beach on the Cornwall coast between Plymouth and Looe. Of its many features, nothing was more pleasing to see on arrival than the herb garden directly outside the kitchen which sits at the back of the house, the reception rooms and dining room all looking out over the sea.

Sunday

08:00. After finishing off the wedding which closed at midnight, unpacking, then re-packing for Cornwall (8 checklists and half a kitchen), and driving through the night, it was time to set up for breakfast.

There was apple and berry compote with greek yogurt, my speciality museli (easier to say what isn't in it), and a large selection of freshly cut fruit as seen here.

A traditional english breakfast followed with bacon (seen back here) and sausages from Home Farm in Bredons Norton, Oakfield organic portobello mushrooms, vine tomatoes and Clarence Court Burford Brown eggs.

Toasted homemade bread followed - I unleashed the chocolate bread (it was Sunday after all), which accompanied the sesame and poppy seed variety, home made pink grapefruit marmalade from Collis, the small market garden in Evesham, and homemade hedgerow jelly from Dove Cottage in Broadway.

Sunday dinner

What better way to start the english holiday than with an english roast. Each of the menus which I am serving over the week is chosen in advance by the organiser from a large repetoire which ensures I can procure the best quality ingredients.

For Sunday dinner there was parsnip soup with parsnip crisps, followed by a main corse of roast sirloin of beef with yorkshire puddings, red wine sauce, rosmary roast potatoes, horseradish, chantenay carrots and french beans with red onions, as seen in a photo at Broad Marston Manor a few weeks later:

Apple pie brought the classic english Sunday roast to a close, again a photo from a few weeks later:

Monday

While breakfast carried on in a similar vein to the day before, the weekday evenings took shape with an early meal for the children, then a later sitting for the 'big children'.

My personal mission was on again - how to get children to eat things they normally wouldn’t go near.

There’s a few rules of childrens cooking I‘ve picked up -

• If it’s meat it has to be bland, if it’s a vegetable it has to have serious flavour
• Don’t let different foods touch each other
• If it looks appealing, there’s a higher chance that it will be tried - think shapes, colours, & glossyness (if that’s a word)
• If you’re serving something they aren’t used to accompany it with something they are used to - one old, one new
• Don’t use hot plates
• Don’t serve the food too hot
• Don’t put too much on a plate - think small portions: they can always come back
• Don’t add much salt.
  

Monday childrens tea

Chicken goujons with chips (both handmade of course), butternut squash and peas (not shown).

Yes you read right - it was butternut squash, not carrots - but you liked it!

Knickerbocker glory - An improvement on my last version - now the original dessert with fruit, coulis, sponge, custard, jelly, ice cream, cream - and a cherry on the top. As well as a few scatterings of marshmallow, chocolate - that’s what holidays are for.

Monday adults dinner menu

To start - Grilled asparagus and parmesan - similar to this but with raspberry vinaigrette.

One of my favourite main courses - Ballottine of free range organically reared duck with rosemary noisette potatoes, kale and a cherry brandy sauce with fresh cherries.

Strawberry meringue roulade with strawberry coulis and prosecco sorbet - all made fresh in the afternoon


Tuesday

The chocolate bread I made and toasted went down well - it was the first request at breakfast on Tuesday morning as soon as everyone had sat down. I still had a couple of bananas I had brought with me and thought these might go down well - chocolate toast with bananas. Bananas on bread and butter had been a favourite for my grandfather, so this was just taking it a little further. They all went pretty fast.

Tuesday childrens tea

This was pronounced the best meal they had ever had. Playing around with old favourites is always fun. Having read about the black farmer brand in The Sunday Times, I was interested to try something out, and those were the sausages I found, pork and bramley apple. Perfect. Outside the kitchen door was a herb garden at arm level - perfect for picking and adding to whatever I was making. Here I used chive flowers, as they were in the peak of their all too short season.
I knew I wanted to use courgettes some time this week but was looking at various ways of doing them. I ended up adapting Tanya Ramsey's parmesan courgettes - in her book she sautés them and sprinkles in the parmesan at the end so it melts. I roasted thinly sliced courgettes (boiling courgettes is a criminal offence), sprinkled some parmesan on top and finished them under the grill. Perfect round shapes look much more edible.

Pork and bramley apple sauasages with cheesy mash, sweet corn and parmesan courgettes. Gravy served on the side.

Dark chocolate nemesis with white chocolate sauce - and pysalis (cape gooseberry) on top - which got eaten as well.

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The bread proved while I served the children, and was then baked off in between serving them and adults. As the dark chocolate bread was so popular I tried making a white chocolate loaf. There’s a sunflower seed loaf too and some parmesan bread rolls for Friday. It was the daily change of flavour of the bread rolls that everyone loved.

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Tuesday adults dinner menu

Starter of smoked duck and mango salad with coriander dressing - again using some of the chive flowers from the garden.

Main course - Fillet of cod topped with rarebit served with watercress creamed potato, spinach and a tomato and herb dressing
The reception to this dish as I served it was rapturous. I invented it one evening at The Lygon Arms, and still like it. You may say it is a bit like fish pie re-incarnated. The cod is grilled skin side up so the skin goes crispy before being finished with the welsh rarebit.
Served here with roasted courgettes, red peppers and asparagus.
Dessert - Tarte tatin with madagacan vanilla ice cream and toffee sauce

For easy ice cream serving tip see here.

The apples bubbling in caramel earlier in the afternoon.


Wednesday night is buffet night

Wednesday is a nice day for a suprise birthday party. Although, admittedly, the other 6 are good too.

As soon as breakfast was clear, it was time to start preparing for the evening buffet. Good food takes time.
Open sandwiches on French baguette:
1 - Smoked trout with capers
2 - Coronation chicken - tikka sauce, mang chutney, fresh coriander et al.
3 - Prawns with marie rose
4 - Plum tomato, mozzarella, basil and olive oil

Avocado (in sesame) and cucumber sushi with soy, wasabi and pickled ginger. The wasabi is hot so only take a tiny bit. I did say tiny.
Confit of duck, apple and hoi sin spring rolls - the first thing to be made that morning.
Mini Broadway sausages from Collins of Broadway with grain mustard mayonnaise in one corner and tikka marinaded chicken skewers with coriander yogurt in the other.
Tiger prawns in filo with cocktail sauce
Mini tomato, mozzarella and basil pizzas (some with olives - as not everyone is an olive fan)
Barbecue flavour chicken legs - using the organically reared free-range chicken from the Smallholding in Chadbury - this is the most succulent chicken you will ever come across.
Glazed lemon tarts and strawberry and champagne tarts (the champagne is in the crème patisserie and the glaze) - again all made in the afternoon for the best freshest taste.


Thursday childrens tea

Sole goujon with chips, glazed carrot batons and mange tout sautéed with soy (not shown) Fruit trifle - freshly made as soon as the main course has gone out, so it remains light and fresh.


Thursday adults dinner menu

Chicken liver parfait - made fresh that afternoon with elderberry chutney from Dove Cottage in Broadway made from elderberries picked from the fields around the village and my homemade poppy seed bread toasted.
My personal favourite - roast saddle of lamb with sun dried tomato and basil stuffing, nicoise vegetables, grilled new potatoes (luckily it was a fine day, so all the doors could be opened to let out the smoke made by the grill pan) and a light balsamic jus.

After the saddle has rested out of the oven I pour the juice from the roasting tray into the sauce - to give it the extra flavour. Grilled polenta with nicoise vegetables and pesto dressing for one non-lamb eater.


Dessert on this day was glazed cheesecake, similar to that seen last year, but taller and with a new improved recipe. The base was made in the morning after breakfast, left to set in the fridge and the middle cooked first thing that afternoon)


Friday - the last supper


With both menus served together in the rush I missed the photos, apart from this.....


Childrens menu - Chicken in a basket with rosemary roast diced potatoes (more rosemary from the herb garden), creamy peas with bacon and sautéed baby corn with sesame (not shown, but very tasty)


Knickerbocker glory - similar to the one you saw on Monday, but with orange jelly inside this time instead of raspberry. Save the best till last.

Parma ham salad (adults starter) - as seen before


Grilled fillet of beef with sautéed bok choi, rosti potato, beetroot and a red wine sauce - similar to the beef dish seen here.


Blackberry crème brulee - similar to this version photographed at Upper Court in September 2006

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