Clams, mussels, squid and tiger prawns in black bean sauce for a 21st birthday pan asian theme buffet in Minster Lovell near Oxford

Anton,

Please pass on our thanks to James and the rest of the team – the food was fantastic (asparagus tempura and crispy shredded beef were highlights!) and Jessie was really pleased with everything.

Thanks again

Helen

Of all the things we've cooked this year (that's a lot of things) I think this has been my favourite so far! It's all in the sauce, so don't go thinking you can use a brought ready made one. 

Black bean sauce is actually surprisingly easy to make, so much so you kind of wonder why you've never got round to it before. It helps, of course, now being based round the corner from all sorts of different ethnic food shops. I used this black bean sauce recipe and dropped the seafood into it to cook & take on the flavours - wild! This was served in chafing dishes, buffet style in the barn.

Sushi as a canape, made on site, minutes before it went out - can't beat the freshness! Vegetable maki rolls, cooked prawn uramaki rolled in sesame, tuna rolls in (raw) savoy cabbage leaves, salmon nigiri, gunkan maki with keta caviar, and swordfish nigiri. 

It's amazing how often people think you just turn up on the day and that's it. They don't see the 7 day industry that goes behind all the setting up, and clearing away. This party took 10 days in total from beginning to end. The pan asian menus especially take a lot of food preparation, both before and on the day, but it's all worth it for those fresh flavours - you can't get that with ready made sauces etc. It must have made on an impression on the birthday girl's aunt as well - as she has since booked us to cater for her wedding at the same venue next year!

So after a pan-asian style main, the birthday girl had decided on a more english style dessert with lemon & raspberry meringue roulade, chocolate eclair and shotglass of raspberry sorbet. Mix and match the styles - that's what it's all about!

Canapés

Sushi Selection;

including vegetable and avocado, cooked prawn, raw salmon and tuna, keta caviar

Served with Wasabi, Soy Sauce and Pickled Ginger

Catered Buffet Menu

Sharing Platters Starter

Crispy Confit Duck Spring Rolls with Hoi Sin Dip

Stir Fried Salt and Pepper Squid

Asparagus Tempura

Beef Tataki

Prawns in Lemongrass and Coconut

XXX

Selection of 4 main courses

Chicken Katsu Curry

Pad Thai Noodles with Tofu

Crispy Shredded Beef with Honey Chilli Sauce

Mussels, Clams, Squid, Prawns and Edamame in Black Bean Sauce

served with;

Plain Steamed Rice

Pak Choi with Garlic, Ginger and Oyster Sauce

XXX

Trio of desserts;

Mini Chocolate Éclairs

Mini Lemon Meringue Roulade

Shotglass of Homemade Raspberry Mojito Sorbet 

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Japanese theme menu

 So back from a Scandinavian theme dinner party in London at 4am the day started again at 7:30 with last minute shopping at the Ranee supermarket in Cheltenham and then a lunch party, then finishing setting up another 5 evening parties as well as this one. As the rain set in it was a quick race down to Berkeley with one dinner party for the guests to serve themselves before going back up to Blockley to serve this one. Epic day!

Menu

We served these on large dishes at the table for guests to share between themselves - great for an informal hen party celebration!

 Sweet potato and prawn tempura with dashi dipping sauce [I was partially dressed in tempura batter after this. As was the kitchen work surface. And floor. Messy, but rather moreish!] - from this recipe

Chicken yakitori with tare sauce

Selection of sushi: salmon, tuna, avocado

Sushi doesn't come much fresher - made, cut and straight to the table. Forget the nori wrapping - you've had that everywhere else surely - the tuna was wrapped in cavalo nero leaves (trim out the middle stem), avocado wrapped in sesame seeds and salmon sushi coated in chives & coriander - interesting tastes!

 Tuna tartare and avocado salad with sesame soy dressing

 Beef tataki and raw vegetable rolls with chilli, soy and lime dressing - inspiration from this recipe. Sadly no shiso leaves at the Ranee supermarket.

The hens had decorated the table before we got there. I was obviously so busy getting everything ready I didn't notice till the end of the night the shape of the table confetti they had sprinkled all over. Oh you have to love hen parties!

 Just in case this wasn't enough there was a main course as well......

Chicken katsu curry - from this recipe - so delicious!

Japanese beef and shiitake mushrooms with soba noodles and crispy nori

Sesame crusted tuna with caramel soy dressing

 Crispy duck with edamame beans, crispy shallots and ponzu

Crossed 2 recipes and came up with something different - this one and this. The second is certainly an  interesting way  of cooking duck  - steaming (after marinading for 2 days) then deep frying in a wok to get the crispy skin.

 Pak choi with garlic, ginger and oyster sauce and Japanese kabocha pumpkin

 Vegetable doburi rice - there is rice under there honest! If you've only ever had sushi rice in sushi - you should try it in this as well. Another one where I mashed a few recipes and came up with something else - the flavours of this with a whole load of other vegetables added in with the rice including okra then topped it with raw veg - shiitake and enoki mushrooms, carrots, spring onion, coriander which you can stir into the rice at the table to take the raw edge off slightly. Either way the cooked rice and vegetables and the raw or just off raw topping is a nice mix!

Dessert? Skip dessert and move straight on to cocktails - it's a hen party darling!
They had a cocktail barman for the latter part of the evening who served from the front room, allowing us time to clear up. Job done.


Related posts
Other theme menus we have served
Marmite farfalle poached in miso with shiitake and kale

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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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30th birthday canapé cookery event - learn how to make canapes in your own home

Dear James,

I just wanted to say a big thank you to you and Gill for such a fantastic day and evening on Saturday. The canapé making was absolutely brilliant and everyone really enjoyed it. The food in the evening was delicious. 

I will certainly be recommending you to people in future and I expect we will be back at the house at some point.

Many many thanks again and please do pass my thanks on to Jill and the 2 waitresses.

Best wishes, 

Victoria

Another cookery event success! We seem to be going cookery event mad - this canapé one was followed by a corporate one 3 days later and the next canapé one is a week on Saturday - rock and roll!

For this one we went for a mix of The Apprentice and Hell's Kitchen - I did a few canapé demonstrations at the beginning to help everyone out, then we split the group into 2 teams in two different places in the kitchen. Then those 2 teams had to split themselves into teams of 2 or 3 to take on one canapé each (we gave them recipes in a recipe booklet), do all the preparation (enough for about 20 portions to have later) and do one good one as a display canapé which would be judged at the end in a grand finale. After this we were going to serve their own creations as canapés mid evening before also serving their evening dinner party. 

With so many people to go round helping out & showing things to, clearing up a bit in between we didn't really get too many pics - usual story, too busy. I'm hoping one of the party might send some ;)

 Cold Canapés

Sushi – vegetable and cooked prawns

Sushi making corner

Using their initiative they came up with a creamy wasabi paste to  add to the sushi. The 2 sushi teams were most excited - they'd both always wanted to know how to make it........

One canapé chef decided to marinade smoked salmon in pickled ginger juice. When I saw it I thought it would make a great wrapping for the sushi. So prawns and spring onion were wrapped in nori and this became the centre - turned out very well!

 Mini beetroot rosti with smoked salmon and dill mustard

Rush hour at the stove. Play nicely now! Beetroot rostis are in progress. I gave away my rosti tips. The last rosti was a large whole pan size which magically disappeared - some people couldn't wait for their canapes.

 Hot Canapés

Saffron risotto balls

See these above next to the ginger-smoked salmon wrapped sushi. They had to make risotto from scratch. When we ran out of space on the stove one pair used the microwave. Innovative! 

One guest took the name of the recipe 'risotto balls' and went off on a tangent...... her results are x-rated. Won bonus points though!

Mini Yorkshire puddings with roast fillet of beef
Everyone's favourite canapé. Think that's definitely one they'll be trying at home - you get the recipe booklet to take home.

Spoon of scallop wrapped in pancetta with asparagus puree and shitake mushroom

Searing scallops

 2 different presentations from the 2 teams. We had to judge on presentation and also taste. The first one looked more messy, but had more puree so you got more of the asparagus flavour. The second looked much better - less is more - but you missed out a bit on the apsaragus hit..... judging's not easy..... :)




Related posts

Corporate cookery event - learn how to cook your own dinner party

Results time!

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Wild strawberry and coriander sushi

Strawberries and coriander - who would ever think of putting those two ingredients together?

Mr Brooks might. And did - that's where I got the idea for doing this. I was going to use normal strawberries, but as I went through the garden this morning in search of rosemary and sage to go on top of foccacia I saw the recent sun had ripened up all the wild strawberries so I just had to pick them......

As this is a sweet version of sushi I used coconut milk to cook the rice rather than water. I'm not sure this is quite authentic - maybe in malaysian cuisine, but it tastes good. If you want a savoury version (with normal sushi rice) tuna and strawberry sushi is a classic.

No nori on this one - though if you google strawberry sushi - you can see some quite interesting versions and some 'interesting' ones too.

Rolled in toasted dessciated coconut. Best to toast it in a frying pan - if you put it in the oven you'll remember it's in there only when black smoke is wafting through your kitchen.......

Let it cool down too before you roll. Roll tightly in cling film - this helps you cut the round shapes easily.

Balsamic syrup makes a nice accompaniment (as above), but you could also sieve some strawberries to make a coulis as a dip.

This has been submitted to the Strawberry Feast at My Kitchen Treasures.

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