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!

0

Paella

I think my paella I made earlier today had it going on...... 

I think this has to be my favourite dish of all time. It was an old family classic started off by my nana. She had an authentic spanish recipe from their spanish friend back in the 60's. The paella pan (which I have since inherited) would only come out on very rare, and very special occasions - maybe that adds to the mystique. Each paella was a labour of love. This one I made today was too!

0

Catering for a 40th birthday party - seabass and cauliflower poached in saffron, Grilled calves liver and bacon, Pineapple tarte tatin

The dining room end of the kitchen at Wellacres had been transformed by the time we got there:

We have cooked for this family around the same time every year since 2007 when Wellacres first opened for business. This time it was for 2 meals - last Saturday night, and then this special birthday last night. Great to see them again - among my favourite people to cook for.

As we had cooked for them so many times before it was nice to try something different for them.

Seabass and cauliflower poached in saffron and white wine with  cauliflower gremolata

 Firstly cauliflower was poached in white wine and chicken stock with a healthy amount of saffron just before we left, so the saffron flavour and colour would infuse into the cauliflower. Once we got to the house, I drained that liquid onto seabass fillets (Fillets were largish so 8 did 12). This was poached just before the guests were about to sit down.

Gremolata - fine grated cauliflower, lemon zest, fine grated garlic, chopped parsley. The gremolata sprinkled on top gives you a great fresh flavour.

Grilled calves liver and bacon with creamed potato, grilled organic portobello mushrooms, vine tomatoes and bearnaise sauce

The birthday girl's favourite is calves liver and bacon - so that is what we did! 

The calves liver I started grilling on the grill pan  as they started to eat the starter - last minute is best with calves liver. Where a lot of people go wrong with cooking liver at home is they cook it for ages till it's dry and tough. Much better when it's cooked quick - after grilling I just flashed it through the oven once they had finished the starter. It did create a bit of smoke in the kitchen - but luckily the smoke alarms at that house are very well behaved and we ventilated with the windows. Makes a good bit of 'kitchen theatre' while you're eating though as well as making a better result. 

There's spinach underneath the tomato - healthy living and some chantenay carrots and bearnaise sauce was served on the side - feast!

>tr>

Pineapple tarte tatin with pina colada ice cream

While the apple or banana tarte tatin are so popular, I also like this pinepple version. So did the guests. When you hear "Wow!" "Oh my God!" and "Yum!" while everyone's eating you know things are going ok. The pina colada ice cream was a hit as well. While I've done malibu and coconut ice cream before, this version was even better. After the hass sour cocktail Ms Marmitelover made at the avocado meal I helped with I discovered a new love of cocktails. Pina colada has to be on the top ten most popular - so why not  turn it into ice cream!

Pina Colada Ice Cream

Combination of my Baileys ice cream recipe and Nigella's pina colada ice cream. The lime juice adds a neccessary zing.

400ml tin coconut milk
500ml double cream
300ml pineapple juice (ish)
200g caster sugar
Juice 3 - 4 limes. Maybe more
Toasted dessicated coconut

Heat a ladle full of the cream with the sugar till sugar melts. No combine with the rest of the ingredients and chill in fridge. Churn in your ice cream machine till it starts freezing - takes a bit longer than other ice creams because of the alcohol content.

Need an ice cream machine? See 2 I like (at opposite ends of the cost scale) here.


Related posts

Thai style seabass with pinapple and cucumber salad
Baileys ice cream
1001 Kitchen Tips #22 - Chargrilling tip - I used for the liver so it didn't stick to the pan

0

Sweet potato, feta and coriander ravioli

Kneading pasta dough? What a revelation that was all those years ago. My first pasta attempts at 14 struggled to stay together and were rather rough - and I learned a bit by trial and error. The right flour helps too. Also semolina to dust the table - prevents sticking.

Saffron pasta dough:

350g flour ('OO' or strong white - there's some great chefstalk on the subject here)
4 eggs
Saffron steeped in hot water then chilled out
1 tsp salt

Filling:

Roast sweet potato
Red onion sauteed in butter & cooled
Feta diced
Coriander (fresh)
Ground coriander seed
Lemon zest


Related post:

Homemade marmite XO farfalle poached in miso

0

Tapas for a Spanish themed hen party evening near Evesham

Only girls allowed (apart from me)

They had altered a poster which hung outside the door - got to love hen parties!

The organiser of this hen party at Littleton Manor had asked for spanish tapas so I came up with a lot of suggestions and this is what they chose from those.

Spanish style cornbread - had been waiting for an opportunity to make this Eric Treuille recipe. We made a plain version the next day for a guest at another party who was alergic to yeast. There were also saffron bread rolls which I formed in special shapes only for hen parties - for obvious reasons no photo....

Ensalata mixta - salad leaves from the garden of Dove Cottage, radishes, cucumber, roasted aspargaus, artichokes, spanish olives, hard boiled eggs etc.

Asparagus wrapped in smoked salmon

Chorizo and corn empanadas

Ham and cheese croquettes (and cheese and mustard ones for vegetarians) - from this recipe. No photo sadly - they went with the wine tasting that the hens had pre-dinner. So good I can't believe it took this long to get round to making them for the first time. Also spanish style meatballs.

Patatas bravas

Tomato and bread salad

Serrano ham, manchego, fresh cherries and toasted almonds
(Won't be the last time I'll be making this!)

Paella - cooking in the kitchen. The first outing for nana's paella pan which I inherited recently. They had Spanish friends from way back (we're talking 50's or 60's) who lived nearby when they lived in New Malden and introduced them to spanish cuisine. The paella pan would only come out for large special family events - and it was the highlight every time, like everything else she cooked it was a labour of love. You would see the pan hanging up in the utility room each time you were there and just hope. I still use the original spanish recipe passed down the generations though have updated and improved it slightly.

Madgetts farm chicken, Home farm belly pork, chorizo, squid, scallops, mussells, king prawns, cod, salmon alond with the onion, pepper, artichoke, saffron, white wine base

Vegetarian version

Churros with chocolate sauce

Churros cooking earlier in the day. I used this recipe.

Also white chocolate mousse with blueberries from this recipe to which I added the bluberries and blueberry coulis.

After clearing up it was back to the kitchen to unload and clear up, via the cheese farm to pick up cheese I had pre-ordered for our lunch party of 55. The herdsman came out of his house to check who was going down the drive at that time - most people have picked up their cheese before 00:30 on a Sunday morning, but then needs must......

1

Saffron potatoes

A little saffron added to the turned new potatoes as they boil results in a wonderful flavour. The colour is good too.

These went with the scallop dish last Saturday.














Related posts:

Scallops with saffron potatoes and pea puree
New potatoes with chives

0

Scallops with pea puree, saffron potatoes and pancetta

Taken last Thursday near Dowdeswell, Cheltenham, the brightness has been photoshopped - hence the strange glow.

I'm still using some saffron I brought back from Spain for the potatoes. When my Grandparents first went to Spain on holiday they used to get tiny sachets of saffron instead of change in some shops, and we have an old family recipe for paella, handed down from a real Spaniard who had it past from his family - safe to say it is the best ever paella, and is saved for very special occasions. Sadly these days you go shopping in Spain only get Euros in change.

The basil sauce is made with chicken stock, cream, milk and basil, and has been frothed with a hand blender to make it lighter.

This is a very summery dish, and was served with a medley of runner beans, mange tout and broad beans.

1