A Meal... Planned, Cooked and Delivered
Three days preparation here. A few elements were already cooked, preserved or frozen so that made things a little less heavy duty overall. The 'Brandade', Pear Jellies and those Ice Cream Sandwiches were previously untried but all the rest was put together as a menu knowing I could cope reasonably well. It helped that Mrs. Cheoff contributed her indulgent cheesecake to lighten my workload... if not the intake of food!
We gave this meal to good friends as a way to celebrate their Ruby Wedding Anniversary. You should know that I did not take as much care in presentation on the night of the meal as these photographs might suggest. Most are taken before or after people are entertained. It would be daft to ignore specially invited guests too much while they are with you, don't you think.
On the subject of those photographs and my 'food styling'. I look at some of them in the same way as I look at my cooking efforts. Not quite the finished article. But I'm not here to apologise... I shall continue to go off to quieter places and consider improvements.
Start with a pictorial run through of each course. After that you'll find a copy of the evening's menu with a few links to recipes I used.
Have a go at some of them. Have a go at all of them. If you do give them all a go at the same time, practise the recovery position... I'm in that now!
Ooh, one IMPORTANT note! If you make those lovely Pear Jellies please, please do NOT try to take the mixture to 180º... it should read one hundred and EIGHT degrees!
Canapés
Bacon & Sweetcorn Mini Muffin
Prawn Cocktail Cracker
Smoked Salmon & Dill Crème Fraîche Blini
Quail Egg & Chorizo Jam Toast
Best Ever Cheesy Nibble
Amuse ‘Brandade’ Salt Cod, Beer & Milk Poached Potato, Crispy Onion, Garlic Foam
Wholemeal Bread Rolls & Salted Butter
Starter Beetroot, Red Onion, Goat Cheese & Hazelnut Tart
Main Chicken Dinner
Main Chicken Leg Confit with Savoury Granola (detail before plating)
Main Bird's eye view... presumably not the chicken's eye
Yup... I'm off right now to practise my gravy delivery
Pre-dessert Pink Grapefruit & Basil Ice Cream Sandwich
‘Eton Mess Cheesecake’ White Chocolate Cheesecake, White & Rose Meringues, Raspberries, Raspberry Coulis & Cream
Petits Fours
Pear, Vanilla & Poire William Jelly
Dark Chocolate, Pistachio & Raisin Fudge
Salted Caramel & Peanut Truffle
Amaretti Morbidi
White Chocolate & Salted Lemon Fudge
And... relax.
The menu with recipe links for some of the items:
Canapés
Bacon & Sweetcorn Mini Muffin
Best Ever Cheesy Nibble
Prawn Cocktail Cracker
Smoked Salmon & Dill Crème Fraîche Blini
Quail Egg & Chorizo Jam Toast
Amuse
‘Brandade’
Salt Cod, Beer & Milk Poached Potato, Crispy Onion & Garlic Foam
Starter
Beetroot, Red Onion, Goat Cheese & Hazelnut Tart
Wholemeal Bread Rolls & Salted Butter
Main
‘Chicken Dinner’
Breast, Confit Wing & Leg, Crispy Skin, Carrot Purée, Savoury Granola, New Potatoes, Broad Beans, Runner Beans, Beer Pickled Onion ‘Petals’, Bread Sauce, Herby Chicken Gravy
Pre-dessert
Pink Grapefruit & Basil Ice Cream Sandwich
Dessert
‘Eton Mess Cheesecake’
White Chocolate Cheesecake, White & Rose Meringues, Raspberries, Raspberry Coulis & Cream
Petits Fours
Pear, Vanilla & Poire William Jelly
Dark Chocolate, Pistachio & Raisin Fudge
Salted Caramel & Peanut Truffle
Amaretti Morbidi
White Chocolate & Salted Lemon Fudge
A Certain Quartet Back In Nineteen Seventy-Bloomin' Eight!