Wedding catering at Brockworth Court Tithe Barn, Gloucestershire

There are lots of houses in the Cotswolds called Dove Cottage or Dove House - a few hundred years ago they were kept for their meat. In a lot of houses and barns you see dove holes in the stone walls - but here at Brockworth Court Tythe Barn was a real dovecote. Makes a great talking point as this is where the guests were congregating for their reception drinks. 

Edible flower pots on the table! When I was clearing up the next morning all these had gone - they must have had a serious sugar rush!

Roast butternut squash soup with beetroot pesto served in a bread bowl - do you ever get so hungry you can eat the bowl? 

See how to make the bowls here.

Gill and Anton put together the other starter: ham hock, broad bean, mint and basil pearl barley risotto with beetroot pesto

Matador pie for the main course - similar to this one from a wedding a few years ago. This time we served it with dauphinoise potato, french beans and red wine braised red cabbage. At the tasting they said it was the matador pie that first switched them on to us - they had had the pieminister version at another wedding they had been to but much preferred ours. Not one to argue!
There was also a haddock, tiger prawn and mussell pie with sweet potato mash topping and a meditteranean vegetable pie with crispy filo topping.
When we were clearing up the next day there were compliments from the parents of the bride and groom The pies were the talk of the wedding apparently!

Trio of desserts - strawberry and gooseberry crumble tart, lychee and pommegranate panna cotta and chocolate & blackcurrant brownie

Related posts 

Other weddings we have done

Matador pie 2011

Lychee and pomegranate panna cotta 

0

Turbot and trout fish head soup

I know I know - you shouldn't make fish stock with oily fish. But that's just in french style cooking. They don't know everything do they?

Bangladesh, India, Thailand, Indonesia - all those places and more they'll cook & eat everything - it's suprising how much we waste! The eyes in particular are a delicacy. Not sure I could eat crab shells though - maybe it's an acquired taste?

So with some trout and turbot heads & tails left after filleting them for a couple of parties (the turbot for a main course dish and the trout to cure for a starter of another party) I made this soup.

Onions
Whole baby shallots
Carrots
Leeks
Celery
Fennel
Baby button mushrooms
Parsley and coriander stalks
Garlic
Ginger
Lemongrass
Chilli (only had green so used those)
Rice wine
Light soy sauce
Lime
Thai fish sauce
Coriander leaf
Seaweed


Made this back in January - so it was a winter warmer with the root veg, ginger & lime. It had been another typical Monday - phone & email going mad with enquiries, so by the time it came round to doing this the daylight had gone - hence odd light.

After doing quite a few thai meals we had all these thai ingredients in the kitchen - and they work really well with the fish heads. Thai fish makes everything taste good - even lamb (that's another story/ blog post).

Sweat off all veg. Add veg stock, ginger garlic, lemon grass, chilli etc & fish heads. Bring to boil and simmer for 20 minutes. Should never overcook fish stock - taste goes bad. The parsley & coriander stalks give out flavour to the stock, then I removed them for the finished dish. Keep adjusting to taste - you can never have too much thai fish sauce, soy & lime. Think I added some rice wine vinegar too. On top I did a variation on gremolata - instead of the traditional parsley, garlic and lemon zest this was a more thai version - coriander, garlic and lime zest. It gives it a nice fresh taste on top. I also added some deep fried seaweed on top - really going for the healthy soup that day!

Next time might try a coconut milk version......

0

Meat Free Monday #13 - Marmite XO farfalle poached in miso with shitake and kale - umami fest

The thing I like about Twitter is you get the news just so much faster than any other medium - at least a day or two faster than the newspaper, and even faster than the radio bulletins.
Before Marmite XO had even gone on sale it was being tweeted by one particular marmite lover as it was being served at the first Underground Midnight Feast - note: pays to be one of the marmarati. The Marmarati? Well they also seem to have converted Donal to the 'dark' side (i.e. the marmite side). So it was time to try it out. I had read the underground midnight feast post while I was letting some pasta dough rest in the fridge. I went back to rolling out the dough thinking of marmite. Marmite. Pasta. Marmite pasta? Now there was an idea. But google marmite pasta and all you come up with is pasta with marmite sauce (a student classic by the sound of it) but what about mixing it in the pasta dough - after all you can do it with everything else - beetroot, nettles, blue curacao, squid ink, spinach, saffron, chocolate to name a few (though not at the same time).

Well last Monday I picked up a jar of XO and had a go.

200g OO flour
2 eggs
1 heaped tsp Marmite XO (I saw you licking that spoon!)

It comes out the colour of gjetost and you get marmite flavour hands as you knead the pasta dough - yum!

Marmite as we all know is rich in umami so what about a umami fest - a real pick-me-up? That is what I ended up with - miso, shitake mushrooms and kale also being rich in umami.

I had been wanting to try farfalle for a while. Unfortunately no sign of the fluted pasta wheel (so many venues, so many kitchens - it gets confusing), so after rolling out the pasta to thin lasagne-like strips I just cut them into rectangles and pinched them in the middle. If you cook them in the miso they soak a bit of the flavour too hopefully, and any marmite flavour they release is kept - best of both worlds. Oh and and its saves time and washing up - not that these things matter ;)

Related posts

Other Meat Free Monday dishes

2

Asparagus soup (canape)

Last night at Meadowbank in Chipping Campden.

0

Curried parsnip soup with walnut and raisin bread rolls

0