Pan Asian theme meal

"Had a good Christmas?" Everyone asks when they get back to work in January. Makes you laugh - do they not think that in the hospitality world things carry on as normal during Christmas and New Year, just much busier? The guests I served on Christmas Day actually had to remind me that it was Christmas Day - one day was blending into another.

Served this Pan Asian meal the day before New Years eve. Of all the theme meals I have done I think this one was the most involved - so much preparation - but so worth it.

Homemade pan de sal

From this recipe - you roll it into a rope, roll that in breadcrumbs and then cut with a blunt pastry scraper so you get a rustic top.

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Starters served on platters on the table for guests to serve themselves

Black sesame salmon balls

From this recipe - so delicious! Steamed them over boiling water in batches. Found the black sesame seeds in East and West - a great find of a shop in Cheltenham.

 Red bean paste sesame balls (v) - made the same way as the salmon version above but with red beans.

Vegetable tempura (v) (never got a photo of that - in the rush it almost flew from the fryer to the table)

Tuna tataki with ponzu

 Tilapia larb - based on this recipe. More usually larb is made with ground pork - it is possibly one of the best tasting things - this was a fish verison and equally as good! I topped it with toased rice - an interesting texture & flavour. "Ooh - I've never seen that" said one of the guests as I was preparing things.

 Avocado and vegetable rice paper wraps with peanut dipping sauce(v)

 Main course

Blackened cod

Red thai seabass baked in banana leaf
Had to wait in the rain outside the Rannee supermarket in Cheltenham to pick up these leaves. Love this place - if you need to go out for a few minutes you just close up the shop: a refreshing change. 

Sesame crusted tofu with broccoli and shiitake mushrooms

Indonesian (vegetarian) fried rice - with some of the red curry paste from the seabass

Stir fried bok choi, sprouts, snow peas and onion

Soy bean and sesame noodle salad

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Trio of desserts

Mini coconut pancakes - used this recipe. Also sprinkled with a dusting of mango powder

Lychee and pomegranate panna cotta - used this recipe

Shotglass of mango sorbet - a variation on the orange sorbet recipe

Coconut pancakes must have been good - one of the guests said they didn'tnormally do desserts. But then she came back for another of the coconut pancakes.... and then another!

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Coffee, tea and homemade pistachio barfi (was I really peeling pistachio nuts at 1am or was it my imagination?)

Dear James

Thank you so much for the wonderful evening you created for us all at Oak House and Stables on Sunday 30 December.  We had a really memorable evening and your food was delicious.

We are looking forward to more trips to the Cotswolds and will definitely ask you to cater for us again.

With best wishes for good health and happiness in 2013.

MS

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Thai style lunch near Stratford-on-Avon

A birthday celebratory meal for my longest standing repeat customers and all made fresh once I got to their apartment. They had recently had thai style sea trout in a restaurant in Cirencester and had enjoyed it so much they wanted to try it again, so I tried it with the local trout from the trout farm.

Thai style canape starter

• Shotglass of thai style crab salad
• Prawn and vegetable rice paper wrap
• Spoon of larb - this was a revelation when Adam first made it after his Thai trip - thai fish sauce, minced pork, loads of lime, lemon grass, ginger, fresh mint & coriander thrown in at the last minute. Unbelievable. We served a couple of seconds of this too.
• Thai style chicken satay with satay dip which also went with the prawn wrap

Main course - Trout in coconut milk baked en papillotte with lemon grass, lime, ginger, garlic, basil (fresh from the garden of one of the guests) and coriander

Coconut and lime pilaff rice and thai style stir fried vegetables topped with roasted rice.

Cooking en papillotte means you get all the aromas as you open it at the table. It also keeps the fish wonderfully moist.

Trio of Thai style desserts

• Tab tim grob - a variation on this recipe (maybe red food colouring needs to be more). I left them guessing what this was till the end. Water chestnuts - who would have thought it? It's so light and refreshing - just what you need on a warm day.
• Gluay ping - grilled bananas in palm sugar syrup - popular street food. See more info here . Cooked these on the grill pan while they were eating the main course - charred flavour worked well. Helps if they're slightly underripe.
• Chocolate and mango mousse - a variation on this recipe

With coffee

Khanom Mo Gaeng

This was Hannah's contribution - she had been making this while I packed up 3 other events going on on the Sunday morning.

Again we left them guessing what this was. What? Shallots on top of something sweet? Sounds strange, but tastes so good.

We had started off with this recipe, but among the million other ingredients passing through the kitchen that weekend had forgotten to cook the mung beans, but had some chestnuts we were using for something else so made a little substitution - isn't that how all the best things are found?

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Thai style seabass with pineapple and cucumber salad

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