Mud, mud, glorious mud, nothing quite like it..... when you're trying to get from the entrance of the field to the marquee. And that was just the beginning - it had been raining for weeks prior it seemed - and the rain set in as we were en route to the venue. Essential equipment for weddings - full set of waterproofs, waterproof non slip shoes and a high tolerance level. Pushing vans through mud and unpacking in the rain is so refreshing!
Wet chefs dry off after the 'get in' - the first round of chef jackets slung up to dry
Bunting and paper lanterns give a lovely homely country feel. The country look is definitely in this year - it's funny how wedding fashions go. This looked really good - especially when you compared with the dreariness of the outside!
Even the flowers had a country feel - I love the understated look - it makes it much more of a family celebration.
Beetroot rostiwith
goat’s cheese and rocket (there was also pear & cranberry chutney to go on top of this after the pic was taken)
Home-cured trout blinis with dill and lemon crème
fraîche
Buffalo mozzarella, sun-dried tomato and basil on
skewers - suggestion by the bride - this was big on flavour, just what you need in a canape!
Homemade sage and onion bread rolls - people keep telling me it would be much easier buying them from the bakery across the road from me. Wouldn't be the same though - noone can make them as good as you. The difference in quality is worth the time!
Also, we've noticed, another wedding fashion has definitely been sharing platters - like a buffet, but served on platters at the table for guests to pass among themselves. Great idea - much more informal, gets all the guests interacting and saves on all the queueing at buffet tables - I love it!
For this one the bride and groom had asked for platters of smoked salmon (above, with diced onion, capers, parsley and lemon scattered on top) and beetroot, wild nettle and feta filo tarts as seen here. We also served a bowl of fennel, radish and orange salad per table.
Another addition for the vegetarians who obviously couldn't have smoked salmon we served some vegetable carpaccio.
Gloucester old spot / Berkshire breed pig roast - quite the centre piece (all the waitresses were snapping away on their phones). We plated up the pork and rosemary roast potatoes, thn served salads in bowls on the table, again for guests to serve themselves.
Colours, textures, flavours - all prepared fresh on site just before being served - makes the difference.
Cotswold mess (aka Eton Mess) with local seasonal
berries
"Best food we've ever had at a wedding" we kept being told by all the guests we passed outside as they took a breather outside after coffee. Wahoo! Makes it all worthwhile!
Ahhhh! That's it then. Sit back and relax. Or is it? Well not quite. Time to pack up, push the van out of the field through the mud (beats weight lifting in a gym), back to base to unload, start clearing up, back home to put the first load of laundry on, then back to the venue around midnight to pick up the next load of equipment. By this time the mood has changed completely in the marquee, and the traditional wedding tunes have changed to live rap with an MC. Just what you need to keep you going while you work!
Completely caked in mud by this point of the day I didn't want to drive back on to the field again and get stuck in the mud again (only a tractor could have pulled us out at that point) so parked on a road nearby and had to haul all the equipment over a stone wall. 01:30 off we go again back to base via the 24 hour supermarket for last minute supplies. Back at base by about 03:15 to unload where the overnight guys were busy washing up the first load of crockery & cutlery for the wedding the next day. Finally 04:30 and time for a bit to eat and a couple of hours rest, then soon enough it's time to set up for the next wedding and off we go again! Keeps you on your toes this business - every day is a challenge, that's why we love it!
"Do we have to sit down for the main course? The canapes are so good we could just keep going with those all night" quipped the guests on 9 January at Rectory Park. Well this is what we did 2 days ago for a post wedding celebration - an all canape event with savoury and dessert canapes, and there is another one booked for April 10th too. If you're going to do it why not do it in style?!
As a large number of the party were vegetarian (almost half) I just changed a few of the canapes to account for this, and also so they would all be different (rather than using the same ingredients). There was also one guest with an allergy to raw onions & chives - so this also had to be taken into account.
And as the Coach House at Upper Court has wireless broadband I took along the laptop and uploaded some photos of the canapes as we sent them - http://twitpic.com/photos/MyCotswoldfood
Baked new potatoes with Oxford Blue cheese, broad beans and rocket
I really like the way this turned out - simple yet very tasty, the essence of a good canape. Normally I do the baked new potatoes with smoked trout mousse and asparagus, but for this event tried out a new vegetarian version. As they had asparagus with the previous canape I found this one and used Oxford Blue instead of gorgonzola, charlotte potatoes instead of the purple ones and watercress instead of rocket.
I sent the first plate out and it was back empty in about 20 seconds. Rather popular.
Beetroot rosti with cream cheese and beluga lentils – NO RAW CHIVES/ ONION
It's always good when you try out things for the first time on the day. No room for error. Started making these at 2:30pm on the day - always
best to be fresh.
Such an amazing colour when you slice the raw beetroot and potato on the madolin. Used my trusty rosti method then made small bite size individual ones. Heat is everything with these - too low and they'll be a soggy mash, too high and they'll just burn on the bottom - it's somewhere in between, practice makes perfect.
When I first heard looked atJohanna's beluga lentil post last November I was caught up thinking of beluga caviar (how much of that did we serve in my time at Claridges?). So while I was thinking of toppings for this - cream cheese and beluga seemed the obvious choice, just beluga lentils rather than beluga caviar - I've really got into beans & pulses over the last year (slight difference in price too). It really seemed to work. As fast as I made them they vanished and I ended up using everything I had made - even the back up.
Sweet potato scones with sweetcorn chutney - recipes as seen here last year
Anne Meadows is currently making pork and leek sausages at Home Farm as well as their regular ones - and I think these taste much better. Only thing is the pork and leek were only made into larger sausages rather than chipolatas, so I got those, twisted them in half to make them into cocktail sasuage size and cut them in half. It was worth it though
- tastes so good.
Dessert canapés
Mini pecan pie
One of last things to bake - about 3:30pm. Lay all your trust in
a Nigella recipe. They turned out great - even better than expected. Heated again before they were served they filled the kitchen with a wonderful caramel aroma. My favourite canape of the night - but I'm biased.
Mini blueberry and white chocolate cheesecake
These had turned out so well as a dessert version for the buffet I did last year that I added them on as a canape as well made in canape muffin cases.
Made the night before (well night into morning - the last tray below went in the oven at 2:30am), I used this tip again so they don't stick to the cases. Topped with candied lemon zest.
And yes - we did move them to a clean plate just after a quick photo call.....
Mini tarte tatin
Tarte tatin was another example of it'll be alright on the night. When I first made it over 3 years ago I was doing it for the first time for a party that evening. And it turned out so well. It rapidly became my favourite dessert to make - what can be better than caramelised apple? Bite-size ones like this were lush.
See behind the scenes photos of the team in action here on facebook
