Canapé Party Catering

My favourite plate - picked this up in Murano. Where else?
Black pudding with scallop and creamed leeks
Asparagus and gruyère wrapped in pancetta
Tuna Niçoise (topped with poached quail egg)
Scotch quail eggs

Tuna Niçoise (topped with poached quail egg) - love a runny egg shot, right?

Bloody Mary shots with crudité

Asparagus and gruyère wrapped in pancetta

Black pudding with scallop and creamed leeks

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Sole roulades with saffron risotto, mussel broth and french beans wrapped in pancetta served near Cirencester

From a 50th birthday we served in the middle of June for a family from the States staying near Cirencester on the Cotswolds leg of their UK trip. They were so overjoyed with everything we served (this was preceded by a soufflé starter and followed by a trio of desserts and this was after their delivery meal we made for them the day before).  

 It's always good to be part of that special moment for people's birthdays!

There's a sole mousse which binds these together with the herbs picked from outside my kitchen window.

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2014 A to Z Blogging Challenge - J is for (Cheesy) Jalapeños wrapped in pancetta or with crispy breadcrumbs

This should spice up the wedding breakfast!

Cheesey jalapeno peppers wrapped in pancetta & topped with breadcrumbs

Originally we were going to do these as a canape for a wedding this coming June. But the wedding couple instead decided on serving them as a side dish for the main course. Why not! This will spice up the lamb & chicken dishes they chose. I am a new fan of jalapenos after making these jalapeno poppers for a Mexican theme menu last year. 

Cheesy jalapeno peppers

Cream cheese or quark
Red onion diced
Lime juice
Coriander (cilantro in US)
Ground cumin
Parmesan
Jalapeno peppers

Slice the jalapeno peppers in half lengthways and remove the seeds. Mix all the other ingredients together and stuff inside the peppers.
You can roll them in pancetta, or for vegetarians top them with  mix of breadcrumbs, herbs & grated parmesan. Both versions can be baked in the oven for c. 15 - 20 minutes @ 180 oC till peppers are soft and either pancetta is crisp (for pancetta version) or breadcrumb mix is crisped up and brown for the other version.


Related posts:

Jalapeno poppers for a Mexican theme menu

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Cheese scones topped with camembert, Pancetta & butternut squash tartlets, florentines, banana upside down cake - buffet lunch delivery

There's more to sandwiches than just sandwiches right?
For these ones we made cheese scones, cut them in half and topped them with camembert and raw apple mixed with vinaigrette (stops them going brown).
Liked the florentines too - years sinced I'd made any.

Cheese and apple scones 

Pancetta, butternut squash and sage tartlets - no cheese in these -  you can't have cheese in everything and they are nice as they are. 

Banana and mango upside down cake. Same recipe as the pineapple just changed slightly.

Cranberry and apricot florentines.  Used this recipe  just changed  for cranberries and apricots

Fruit plate for a more healthy option - watermelon, pineapple, fresh coconut, kiwi, blueberries

Related posts

Other buffet lunches we have served

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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!



Related posts

30th birthday canape cookery event
Cook your own dinner party - a corporate cookery event

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Grilled leeks wrapped in pancetta

Makes a nice vegetable accompaniment - doesn't everything taste better wrapped in bacon?

I did these at the end of March - time on the photo is 6:13am - it was a rather long day.....

So on the grill pan to get the bar mark flavour then add white wine & season, cover with foil and finish cooking in the oven till soft. Then when cool wrap in pancetta and roast in the oven. You get the pancetta flavours seeping into the leeks - what could be better?

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Asparagus wrapped in pancetta with gremolata

Another starter we served over Cheltenham race week. And another one that's been popular since the moment we first served it.
You wrap the asparagus in pancetta raw and then bake it, so as the asparagus cooks it takes on the flavour from the cooking pancetta - totally delicious. After wrapping the french beans in pancetta, this seemed the next thing.
Fennel and radish is the salad garnish de jour.

Some other asparagus dishes we've done:

Related posts
Canape spoon of seared scallop and asparagus puree
Roast asparagus with sauteed tiger prawns and oyster sauce dressing
Crown of asparagus1001 Kitchen Tips #48 - Peeling asparagus
Roast asparagus with chickpeas, almonds and tahini dressing
Grilled asparagus with parmesan
Grilled asparagus with scallop and prawn fricasse
Asparagus and gruyere tart
Asparagus and hoummous on new potato
Asparagus soup shotglass
Roast asparagus and pepper salad

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The game is afoot - dinner party chef in Chipping Campden, venison saddle and venison faggots

"My family are flying in from Iceland and we wanted to try something traditionally english, especially interested in game - what can you do?"

After a lot of suggestions this is finally what we arrived at to celebrate the head of the family's 70th birthday.

Roasted saddle of venison with venison faggot and blackberries, creamed cabbage and leek, fondant potato and french beans wrapped in pancetta.

Don't caul us we'll caul you.
Finding the caul to make the faggots was actually more diffuclt than expected. As it was a rather late booking, by the time the menu was confirmed the race was on to secure ingredients. I had spoken to the Meadows at Home Farm about it, but by the time the menu had been confirmed Micky had been to the abbatoir where he could have picked up the caul. All the local butchers (even Halfords where they make their own faggots) I tried too couldn't help either, saying if I ordered it now they could get it for next Monday - that was fine, but the event was that Saturday. There was nothing for it but to try making them in pudding tins. It's not like London where you can find whatever you need somewhere in the city whenever you need it.

Then as I picked up the week's meat order from Home Farm next day, Micky said he had to go to the trade butcher in Toddington the next day and would ask there. Next morning first thing - phone call - "I got the caul fat, but I could only get a whole case..."
Wow - that is going to be a lot of faggots......

All part of the behind the scenes drama. There's more to it that just turning up for 4 hours on a Saturday night.......

We had actually been talking about making faggots for the farm shop for a couple of years, but never getting round to it. They end up with so much pigs liver that doesn't sell (much more tasty than lambs tbh, but nobody seems to want to buy it) so now it looks like now they'll be coming to a farm shop near you. If you live near Tewkesbury that is.

Faggot recipe? Something similar to this one. If you make more than you need the leftover makes a nice meatloaf. Apparently.

Starter

Beer poached prawns with warm potato salad & watercress, radish & fennel

The beer was... er... Piddle In The Hole from the nearby Wyre Piddle brewery.
Along with that was soy, thai fish sauce, ginger, garlic, parsley (normally coriander but the host was not a coriander fan) and chilli. This marinades in the afternoon and is then cooked in the marinade. We also take lime to squeeze over the top. Instantly popular since the first time I did it a couple of months ago.
They are threaded on lemon grass sticks which impart their flavour as the prawns cook.
We cook the potatoes when we get to the venue so the potato salad is still warm as it goes on to the plate.

Dessert
Shotglass of mango sorbet
Glazed lemon tart
Chocolate tart
Spoon of sticky toffee pudding
Strawberry meringue roulade

Oh yes strawberry meringue. Oops. Just as I was leaving I realised it was still in the kenwood mixer - I had been busy setting up the other two parties, so just clingfilmed up the whole thing and took it with me and made the meringue at the house after rolling the venison in parma ham and getting that in the aga. Fresh is best they say.



All cooked on the aga at Meadowbank (with a little help from the fan oven too).

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