Herefordshire Hanger steak with blackberries and sloe gin.... oh and game chips!

Crazy right now, looking back through the photo archives and finding hundreds of dishes and events I haven't done anything with. Must have been busy or something.

This was actually a dish from the end of November last year near Burford. A birthday event for a couple who owned a restaurant, an ice cream bar and a cafe in Cheltenham. No pressure then!

Hanger steak was a new find of mine from earlier in the year, at the wedding where the bride and groom flew in by helicopter. Hanger steak has far more flavour than fillet and sirloin if truth be known, and it's cheaper, so why isn't it as popular? You guys are missing out!

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Christmas sandwich and cake buffet for an office party

Chocolate log
Turkey, red pepper, spinach and cream cheese Christmas tree
Smoked salmon and cucumber Christmas trees
Beef, rocket & horseradish snowmen
Oreo white chocolate baubles

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Japanese theme menu

 So back from a Scandinavian theme dinner party in London at 4am the day started again at 7:30 with last minute shopping at the Ranee supermarket in Cheltenham and then a lunch party, then finishing setting up another 5 evening parties as well as this one. As the rain set in it was a quick race down to Berkeley with one dinner party for the guests to serve themselves before going back up to Blockley to serve this one. Epic day!

Menu

We served these on large dishes at the table for guests to share between themselves - great for an informal hen party celebration!

 Sweet potato and prawn tempura with dashi dipping sauce [I was partially dressed in tempura batter after this. As was the kitchen work surface. And floor. Messy, but rather moreish!] - from this recipe

Chicken yakitori with tare sauce

Selection of sushi: salmon, tuna, avocado

Sushi doesn't come much fresher - made, cut and straight to the table. Forget the nori wrapping - you've had that everywhere else surely - the tuna was wrapped in cavalo nero leaves (trim out the middle stem), avocado wrapped in sesame seeds and salmon sushi coated in chives & coriander - interesting tastes!

 Tuna tartare and avocado salad with sesame soy dressing

 Beef tataki and raw vegetable rolls with chilli, soy and lime dressing - inspiration from this recipe. Sadly no shiso leaves at the Ranee supermarket.

The hens had decorated the table before we got there. I was obviously so busy getting everything ready I didn't notice till the end of the night the shape of the table confetti they had sprinkled all over. Oh you have to love hen parties!

 Just in case this wasn't enough there was a main course as well......

Chicken katsu curry - from this recipe - so delicious!

Japanese beef and shiitake mushrooms with soba noodles and crispy nori

Sesame crusted tuna with caramel soy dressing

 Crispy duck with edamame beans, crispy shallots and ponzu

Crossed 2 recipes and came up with something different - this one and this. The second is certainly an  interesting way  of cooking duck  - steaming (after marinading for 2 days) then deep frying in a wok to get the crispy skin.

 Pak choi with garlic, ginger and oyster sauce and Japanese kabocha pumpkin

 Vegetable doburi rice - there is rice under there honest! If you've only ever had sushi rice in sushi - you should try it in this as well. Another one where I mashed a few recipes and came up with something else - the flavours of this with a whole load of other vegetables added in with the rice including okra then topped it with raw veg - shiitake and enoki mushrooms, carrots, spring onion, coriander which you can stir into the rice at the table to take the raw edge off slightly. Either way the cooked rice and vegetables and the raw or just off raw topping is a nice mix!

Dessert? Skip dessert and move straight on to cocktails - it's a hen party darling!
They had a cocktail barman for the latter part of the evening who served from the front room, allowing us time to clear up. Job done.


Related posts
Other theme menus we have served
Marmite farfalle poached in miso with shiitake and kale

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Italian themed wedding buffet delivery in Blockley, Gloucestershire

With half of the guests being Italian there was an Italian theme going on with this wedding buffet we delivered  to Blockley yesterday.

Pesto pinwheel bread - with 2 weddings and 4 dinner parties every  baking tray I own was being used by the time I was making this on Saturday morning so some of them went in yorkshire pudding tins - works just as well - they came out looking like pesto pinwheel yorkshires. 

Rosemary flatbread with blue cheese, grapes and honey

Roast Home Farm silverside of beef with parmesan, figs and toasted almonds

Herb roast salmon - raw ready to go in the oven. Nice and colourful no?

Herb roasted salmon with beluga lentil, orange and feta salad 

Saffron poached chicken with French bean, artichoke and red onion salad

Artichoke and pinenut filo tart (not shown)

Aubergine caponata (not shown)

Ensalata

Grilled butternut squash, spinach, beetroot and toasted seed salad - like this one

New potato, roast pepper and sweetcorn salad

After the above wedding it was on this one at Overbury Village Hall - and yes that is sunshine!

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Canapé beef wellington (beef en croute)

A little larger than a canapé this one (above) we made this for a wedding tasting a few weeks ago.  This will be part of an 'english street food' wedding breakfast we are serving next month - can't wait!

Beef fillet with chicken liver pate, spinach and creamed wild mushrooms.  Now that's a mouthful! Actually we're serving this larger than canapé version with knives and forks. 

For this english street food version served with red wine sauce 

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Fillet steak provencal with thyme and anchovy crust

Marinading in tomato provencal base with basil. We sear the steak, so still raw inside. Crust is made with fresh breadcrumbs, thyme from the garden, anchovy etc. (for some people who aren't fans we do it without).

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Thai theme meal for a hen party

A few weeks before we had done a similar meal for the same organiser (but different set of guests). This time round they chose a similar menu - must have been good last time round.

Satay - prawns, pork, chicken & lamb

Prawn crackers - much better when you fry your own. The hens delved straight in.

Thai beef salad - love the purple carrots ......

Seabass poached in soy, chilli and ginger

Thai green curry from this amazing recipe. None of this left - always a good sign!

Thai style trio of desserts - Mango sorbet (amazing how everyone loves sorbet - so refreshing), black rice pudding and pinepple pastries - see links to recipes here.

Related posts

Pan asian menu for a hen party

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Cooking a whole highland cow for a wedding near Ross on Wye

Well - not a whole cow obviously, just part of it - it was only 85 people after all.
"Do you know anything about cows?... We've just brought some".

The bridegroom has his own farm near Ross-on-Wye which he fits in in between being a solicitor. He and his farming business partner (also doubling as best man) keep a few highland cattle and had saved one for his wedding. The best man brought it up to us in their refrigerated trailer straight from the abbatoir where it had been hanging for a month and butchered. Wow - even I was amazed how much meat you get from one cow. It's amazing to see so much beef in one go. We sorted through it - a lot he took back to sell - they have a group of regulars who wait for each cow to come back to the farm and then normally by it by the eighth - have a look over here. It was easy to see why - absolutely some of the best beef you will ever see. Apparently they had been farming sheep together for years, but then one day business took the bridegroom past a sale of highland cattle - and the rest is history.


Cuts of beef

Left to right - Top rump, fillet, mince


Left to right - whole sirloin, shin, tongue


Starter

Herb pancakes filled with wild mushroom and asparagus, fennel and radish salad

3 hours making pancakes on the day of the wedding - far longer than expected, but fresh is best!

White wine sauce on top.

Normally we do this as a vegetarian main course, but they chose this as a starter for everyone instead so we made a small starter size version.



Main course

Highland beef cooked 5 ways

• Roast filet, rib and sirloin


• Meatballs ragout


• 10 hour slow cooked brisket


• Shin and chuck tagine
  


• Braised tongue
  

It's roast beef - but not as you know it.....





Dessert

Trio of raspberry desserts

• Raspberry tirimisu in shotglass


• Chocolate and raspberry tart


• Raspberry sorbet

Photographed as Joe was half way through finishing plating up. There's a complete pic here

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Catering for the Royal Naval Association 40th Anniversary Dinner 2011 in Tewkesbury

Photo courtesy of Party Angels who were running front of house operations

".... the only thing is there's no kitchen...." said the organiser of the event (he had been at the hog roast we had served at Basepoint in Tewkesbury last year). After cooking in all manner of locations over the years, this was not a problem, just a challenge.

A bar table becomes a work bench for the night

So the evening before the royal wedding we converted the back room (above) of the Royal British Legion Club (who are also tied in with the Naval Association) from a bar room to a make-shift kitchen. No cooking facilities of course, so it was just a matter of choosing the right menu which could be served up without need of a cooker. Mind your head though - this is a 1500's building so very low oak beams.

Salad of honey and mustard roast salmon, king prawns and jersey royal potatoes with yogurt and dill dressing

This had to be the second closest event we had done (the first being the hog roast a couple of units down from us), which greatly helped the logistics. I cooked the salmon absolutely at the last minute while Hannah and Ethan took the first load of equipment to the venue. Cooking it so close to the time means it stays fresh and moist once cooked. Put it in the fridge and it goes hard and dense - makes such a difference as we found out on the night.
Jersey royals are mixed with mayo and spring onions, hiding under the salad with fennel, radish and orange.

Main course - well, so fast we forgot a photo. But rave reviews were coming back before they had even finished. Brisket of Home Farm (about 5 miles from venue) Hereford beef cooked in Cotswold Way ale with new potatoes, french beans and red onions and chantenay carrots. The beef had been cooking for 10 hours on 160 oC the day before. This meant it could be sliced cold at the venue and re-heated in the chafing dishes as could the veg which had been pre-cooked in the afternoon. The chafing dishes are more powerful than you think - light them early and rather than just keeping things warm they can actually warm them up. I took the temperature probe along as well, and was able to give the dishes a helping hand on the top of the mini baby belling electric oven we took along (handy bit of kit).

Rhubarb and custard crumble tart with Cotswold clotted cream

Searching for a dessert I came accross this amazing recipe which had great reviews. It also gained amazing reviews from the guests that night too. It's like combining 2 all time favourite rhubarb desserts in one. I also added rosewater to the custard and used my trusty pastry recipe (link here) for the pastry cases. One of the comments underneath the recipe had suggested adding almonds to the topping as well which I did - a nice addition, and also bulks up the topping so it is enough.
It makes such a difference when things are homemade it seems - this tart had been a labour of love that afternoon, and came out of the oven just in time for the salmon to go in. But the amount of work paid off when we had so many happy diners. The one pictured above was the last piece, pictured after all the others (better looking versions) had been served. This one went to the couple who run the bar.
As my house is virtually opposite the venue we were able to use the oven there for the pies while the guests were eating the main course. In fact some of the rhubarb used actually came from the garden, so about 200 yards ish - that's locally sourced ingredients.

A few bread rolls the night before

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Barbecue catering for a hen party in Bisley (between Stroud and Cheltenham)

Make the most of the last of your freedom!
Well I've cooked in some amazing houses over the years but this definitely ranks as the most high. Bisley is one of those secret Cotswold villages - off the tourist track (and all the better for it) - maybe that's why Jilly Cooper lives there. I had been in the neighbouring villages but not this one - now I saw it have to go back.

When they said you go up a steep slope they weren't kidding. It's steep, and then goes up a bit more, a bit more and a bit more - like a mountain with a load of false summits. But look what awaits you when you get there - an 18th century wisteria clad beauty. The garden was bursting with life, and being so high you get a great view of the valley. Truly a stunning house.

While you can order the barbecue menu, sadly you can't order the weather - though I am working on it. This was the polar opposite of the week before. That had been the hottest day of the year - at 33 oC + hotter than Greece and the med and the wedding party had soaked it up. This week however, it rained all afternoon and the evening went cold. So it was a bit of indoor barbecuing instead, which is no bad thing. At the end of last year I purchased a large Le Creuset grill pan and fell instantly in love with it. It sure did the job on this occasion too.

Skewers of chorizo, bacon, halloumi & red onions
The hens had left choosing the menu to me so I did a couple of favourites and a couple of new things. A few days before I had been admiring Jan's chicken, bacon and halloumi skewers, and thought (& tweeted) how good halloumi and chorizo would be. @Cotswoldfood tweeted back '@MyCotswoldfood Did halloumi, pancetta and red onion the other night, excellent!' well that settled that then. And oh yes - this was such a meat fest! Sure I could eat chorizo for breakfast, lunch and dinner......

Barbecued beef stroganof
I cut up the finest Home Farm rib eye beef and marinaded it overnight in barbecue sauce. Then skewered with button mushrooms. Meanwhile my white wine and mushroom cream sauce was reducing away.
As the hens were eating inside there was limited serving space so we decided it would be easier to plate up the main items and for them to pass the salads around. So the stroganof sauce went over the skewers once plated. Classics are great aren't they?
I had first done this 4 years previously when I was cooking a series of barbecues for the same hosts and had to come up with varied options. It was about time to do it again. It's like a cross between barbecue and fondue - what could be better? [Those are grilled chilli-tiger prawns in the background by the way.]
Campari poached chicken wrapped in parma ham

This makes a great hen party dish - campari, well they like their cocktails. Because it is poached it is much moister. Wrapped in parma and barbecued (or grilled in this case), it just finishes it off.






Salads at the ready to be passed (spinach, cherry tomatoes, red onion & olive, potato salad and spiced pepper quinoa)
Desserts

Grilled pears with greek yogurt and honey
One for Ms Marmitelover - a dessert in a large bowl to help yourself. This was almost too good to serve. I had poached the pears with cinnamon, cardamon and cloves first.









Strawberry skewers with white chocolate dip
Well you can't have a barbecue without them can you? Especially a hen party barbecue.

So while we cleared up they got ready for their night out on the town (Cheltenham) - no point in doing things by halves.


Related posts

Other barbecues we have served

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