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London events also catered for. Christmas lunch & dinner in the Cotswolds, Gloucestershire
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Everyone loves sticky toffee pudding. Don't they?
It's certainly been a hit on the assiette of desserts since I added it to the equation (or equasion if you're in the US) last October. I think the spoon size sticky toffee works better than the normal size - like the equivalent of an espresso shot to a caffe latte.
Each assiette is slightly different. I served this one at this lovely house (1 of the 8 kitchens I cooked in that week) metres from the canal in Thrupp near Oxford. This assiette was:
Unfortunately some of the stags couldn't make it to the stag party so there were some extra mini desserts which I passed round at the end - had they been saving their appetites all week?
Fresh is best. This takes time to press and set so I made it around 23 hours before serving. The Sunday night function had rolled straight into the new week - a new Monday - just after midnight. I suddenly remembered the ham hock. You have to strike early out in the Cotswolds for ham hocks. Eventually I took the diced ham hock from Collins in Broadway and poached that for 4 hours in court bouillon.
Most people discard the onions, leek & carrot from the court bouillon once it's cooked. But as they have so much flavour I like to add them in to the terrine (like I do now with the salmon rillette too). There was harricot bean puree too (below), broad beans, parsley and cumberland sauce and the terrine was wrapped in leeks. Once it is up to room temperature it's just so good.
8 very different kitchens in one week - is that a new record?
I served this one at a lovely house near Stroud last Thursday. As the guests had a young girl asleep right next to the dining room they ate in the kitchen instead right behind me. This was the second time I had cooked for them - I remember them going through to the lounge after the meal last year and planning this week away to make sure I could do it - always a good sign!
This is a vegetarian version of the roast asparagus, sauteed tiger prawns and oyster sauce dressing. But now I've tried this version out I'm not sure which I like more. I took the original combination from Heidi's 101 cookbooks, just adapted the presentation. For the dressing I added the lemon juice, but also soy and used red onion instead of garlic. Also some fresh coriander. As the tahini is quite thick the warm water helps to let it down. Roasting asparagus, as I was telling the guests as I served it, is my favourite way of cooking it - boiling it means all the flavour seeps into the water which invariably you throw away. This way all the flavour stays inside. Totally clean plates afterwards, so I think they agreed.......
I was really looking forward to serving this one.
Each assiette of desserts we serve is slightly different. This one, served near Cirencester last Saturday was:
When I received 2 bookings for an all canape wedding reception I thought it was time I extended the canape menu and looked for a few new ideas. Lemon curd bread and butter pudding has always been a favourite - and there's always another use for butter dishes. The tarte tatin works really well in the small version too.
Bad lighting I know. A bit of fiddling with the bulb had made the kitchen light work in the first place, though after the dinner party we cooked by candlelight for 32 during a power cut in January, one dud light seemed like nothing.....
If you can't beat them join them! ".... and what we would like is a weekend package Friday through to Sunday - A meal delivered on the Friday night, Saturday lunch, Saturday dinner for the children and adults cooked in the house, Sunday lunch and then Sunday dinner for the children and adults again cooked in the house" "and what was the date?" "Friday 5 Mar to Sunday the.... 7th" "This weekend?"
Yes. Already a busy weekend there was a last minute party with 4 days to go. Always like a challenge.
This a little something to go with the buffet lunch delivery on the Saturday.
A vegetarian version of the adults starter last Sunday night near Cirencester. Courgettes are so versatile. And so nice raw, sprinked with a little maldon salt and lemon oil and left to macerate. Curling them like this and popping the pickled wild mushrooms inside was a last minute idea (they're always the best).
Oh yes - left it at home when I was making pasta there. The pasta drying rack. Fear not though, polenta was at hand.Polenta (or semolina) scattered on the table stops it sticking. Don't try it with flour though - it makes the pasta taste too floury when you cook it.
All tips greatfully received. Especially when they come like this: The menfolk of the party had been out fishing during the day.
Left for a couple of days for the flesh to relax (See pin bone tip here) then filletted. I've frozen the head - fish head soup coming up some time. Yes really. I've got a cure for that - I was reading Fiona's post on pink peppercorns ealier that evening - inspiration. Salt, sugar, pink peppercorns, lemon and orange zest, tarragon and cointreau. 1 week later we try out with gherkin and jalapenos & cucumber and beetroot during our baking evening. Pretty good. We will be using as part of the trout trio on Saturday. New menu idea (in another presentation of course)?
"Do we have to sit down for the main course? The canapes are so good we could just keep going with those all night" quipped the guests on 9 January at Rectory Park. Well this is what we did 2 days ago for a post wedding celebration - an all canape event with savoury and dessert canapes, and there is another one booked for April 10th too. If you're going to do it why not do it in style?!
As a large number of the party were vegetarian (almost half) I just changed a few of the canapes to account for this, and also so they would all be different (rather than using the same ingredients). There was also one guest with an allergy to raw onions & chives - so this also had to be taken into account.
And as the Coach House has wireless broadband I took along the laptop and uploaded some photos of the canapes as we sent them - http://twitpic.com/photos/MyCotswoldfood
Baked new potatoes with Oxford Blue cheese, broad beans and rocket
I really like the way this turned out - simple yet very tasty, the essence of a good canape. Normally I do the baked new potatoes with smoked trout mousse and asparagus, but for this event tried out a new vegetarian version. As they had asparagus with the previous canape I found this one and used Oxford Blue instead of gorgonzola, charlotte potatoes instead of the purple ones and watercress instead of rocket.
I sent the first plate out and it was back empty in about 20 seconds. Rather popular.
Beetroot rosti with cream cheese and beluga lentils – NO RAW CHIVES/ ONION
It's always good when you try out things for the first time on the day. No room for error. Started making these at 2:30pm on the day - always
best to be fresh.
Such an amazing colour when you slice the raw beetroot and potato on the madolin. Used my trusty rosti method then made small bite size individual ones. Heat is everything with these - too low and they'll be a soggy mash, too high and they'll just burn on the bottom - it's somewhere in between, practice makes perfect.
When I first heard looked atJohanna's beluga lentil post last November I was caught up thinking of beluga caviar (how much of that did we serve in my time at Claridges?). So while I was thinking of toppings for this - cream cheese and beluga seemed the obvious choice, just beluga lentils rather than beluga caviar - I've really got into beans & pulses over the last year (slight difference in price too). It really seemed to work. As fast as I made them they vanished and I ended up using everything I had made - even the back up.
Sweet potato scones with sweetcorn chutney - recipes as seen here last year
Anne Meadows is currently making pork and leek sausages at Home Farm as well as their regular ones - and I think these taste much better. Only thing is the pork and leek were only made into larger sausages rather than chipolatas, so I got those, twisted them in half to make them into cocktail sasuage size and cut them in half. It was worth it though
- tastes so good.
Dessert canapés
Mini pecan pie
One of last things to bake - about 3:30pm. Lay all your trust in
a Nigella recipe. They turned out great - even better than expected. Heated again before they were served they filled the kitchen with a wonderful caramel aroma. My favourite canape of the night - but I'm biased.
Mini blueberry and white chocolate cheesecake
These had turned out so well as a dessert version for the buffet I did last year that I added them on as a canape as well made in canape muffin cases.
Made the night before (well night into morning - the last tray below went in the oven at 2:30am), I used this tip again so they don't stick to the cases. Topped with candied lemon zest.
And yes - we did move them to a clean plate just after a quick photo call.....
Mini tarte tatin
Tarte tatin was another example of it'll be alright on the night. When I first made it over 3 years ago I was doing it for the first time for a party that evening. And it turned out so well. It rapidly became my favourite dessert to make - what can be better than caramelised apple? Bite-size ones like this were lush.
See behind the scenes photos of the team in action here on facebook
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Personal chef cooking for dinner parties, corporate events and weddings in Cheltenham, Cirencester, Gloucester and across the Cotswolds and Midlands. London events also catered for subject to availability. We like to use locally sourced ingredients as much as possible. When you taste what you can buy locally you would surely agree. Please leave us a comment and you can follow us below.
It's certainly been a hit on the assiette of desserts since I added it to the equation (or equasion if you're in the US) last October. I think the spoon size sticky toffee works better than the normal size - like the equivalent of an espresso shot to a caffe latte.
I served this one at a lovely house near Stroud last Thursday. As the guests had a young girl asleep right next to the dining room they ate in the kitchen instead right behind me. This was the second time I had cooked for them - I remember them going through to the lounge after the meal last year and planning this week away to make sure I could do it - always a good sign!
