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RECENT INTERESTING QUIRKY WEDDINGS
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Chris and Christiane were travelling around south east Asia when they first asked us for a quote. They wanted us to come up with some food that would reflect their travels, this gave us the opportunity to try out some Asian street food dishes as canapés and to haul in my new Cambodian canoe that doubles as an extra large serving dish
Maew who beckons from Thailand, took over the Thai street food and offered krathoongthong, som tum, and Thai rice cakes cooked on site and served by her amazingly competent team (well, they later taught us how to carry 10 plates at a time). We also served Argentinean empanadas and malai koftas, an Indian street food. Main course was barbecued leg of lamb served with a salsa verde, ratatouille, our buttery milva new potatoes and a Yottam Ottelenghi recipe that Marnie (wedding in June) had introduced me to which is sublime al dente green beans, mange tout, peas, red onion and tarragon with a hint of chilli and lemon. Pudding could not be simpler - bowls of strawberries, raspberries and apricots with jugs of cream. Later on we cast some logs into our wood fired pizza oven and baked late night pizzas under the faint light emanating from Chinese lanterns threaded on the trees in the orchard and the rising moon.
Photos: Rachel Hudson Photography
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Music from an old gramophone greeted guests as they made their way into the marquee decorated with bird cages, antique rugs and vintage place settings.
Our kitchen was a couple of tables under a very precarious blood-red ezy-up, which threw a surreal light onto every surface making you feel as though you were not quite in this world. Never mind we had a water supply, electricity for our oven and no rain. . The girls tottered around (cobbled paths) offering drinks and nibbles while guests chatted and had their photos taken. Our first course was a simple tapas starter as Marnie had spent much of her life in Spain. We served sourdough bread from Hobbs House, olive oil and balsamic vinegar, some Spanish omelette, chorizo and olives. Also some hummus for added dipping opportunities. For the main course we took chicken thighs that were stuffed with roasted garlic and sweet potato and served this with lemon cous cous, roasted aubergine with buttermilk and pomegranate on top -Yottam Ottelenghi recipe- as was the bean and nigella seed salad. We also had a tomato salad, mizuna salad, salsa verde and harissa to add some fire. All this was served on a buffet table with our vintage plates and cutlery. Puddings of chocolate brownies and giant eton mess were again served on the buffet table and later teas in our pretty vintage tea cups - very jolly. Emerging from the red ezy-up I had a head clearing cup of coffee out of sight of the guests, chatting to a nice looking man who had come out for a smoke, as he left the girls swarmed around, eager to educate me that he was only a hot actor from one of those twilighty types of films - I really feel old now. |
This email arrived one day from Martha who was looking for a caterer:
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| "I thought it might be fun to give you a literary quote that perfectly describes my fantasy wedding feast! It's from Madame Bovary: |
| "They returned to the farm after the church ceremony was over. . . the fiddler led the way, his violin adorned with rosettes and streamers of ribbon. The wedding-feast had been laid in the cart-shed. On the table were four sirloins, six dishes of chicken, some stewed veal, three legs of mutton, and in the middle a nice roast suckling-pig flanked by four pork sausages with sorrel. Flasks of brandy stood at the corners. A rich foam had frothed out round the corks of the cider-bottles. Yellow custard stood in big dishes, with the initials of the newly wedded couple traced in arabesques of sugared almond. The meal went on until dusk, and towards the end some of the guests were asleep and snoring. " |
| I love it! Obviously those aren't the specific dishes we want, but the overall sense of natural bounty is definitely what we are after! I'd be happy to hear your ideas about specific menus." |
Fantastic! I could see it already and so sent Martha the following Madame Bovary inspired wedding feast menu (after a day or two of reading some of the novel) and this is what we decided on:
We roasted 8 whole organic chickens and served them on large wooden platters with roasted fennel and garlic. We also served large sirloins of beef with horseradish and caper sauce. We made rabbit terrines and also game pies and had large hams from Jesse Smith (one of Rick Steins food heroes) We chose salads that were in season, lots of colours and tastes, We also had huge wheels of Guernsey butter and shepherds loaves.
Pudding we suggested could be a bit more English, large earthenware dishes of rice pudding with a modern twist of white chocolate and bruleed sugar spun over them.
This was all presented on a buffet table with ivy garlands and vintage platters, the ones that may have slight cracks in but are so beautifully made. We left well after dusk, no guests were asleep and snoring, I had the rest of the night to finish the novel . . . . . .
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I met Robin and Carolyn only a couple of weeks before their wedding and we put together a wedding with a difference. (This goes to prove my belief that you don’t always have to plan months in advance for good food!)
They wanted to have their wedding in the garden, and the food served from trays or "stations". Down at the bottom of the garden, by a small stream I spied a fire pit and a homemade tripod that was used for small family barbecues, perfect for a new challenge for us.... Rowie and Ros took charge on the day, both of them experienced in open fire cooking and Spanish food. Begona also came to carve the Serrano ham. Rowie started on the pan con tomate which she made in front of guests, rubbing cloves of garlic on fire toasted ciabatta, then adding tomato (grown by her own newly scrubbed hands) salt and pepper and olive oil. As Begona carved, guests helped themselves to the serrrano, either putting it on top of the pan con tomate or straight into their mouths. Ros carved the gravad’lax thinly onto Hobbs house organic rye bread, with a horseradish and caper cream. This was also passed around by the waitresses once the champagne rush had calmed down. We passed around albondigas with paprika and mint and served Spanish omelette made from our organic eggs and potatoes, they were in tapas dishes with little wooden sticks to pick them up with. Later on in the day, and once the flames of the fire had died down a little, Rowie started on the organic mini burgers, putting them on the bottom tripod first to cook, then moving them up a bit to keep warm. As the guests asked for them so Ros prepared them, in little baps made especially for us by Thierry at La Parisienne, and adding some tomato, chilli, red onion, lime and coriander salsa and lettuce to make them extra juicy. We made special burgers for the vegetarians as well but they had to be cooked conventionally! A guitar player serenaded them, up came the stars and Rowie and Ros finally left to great applause from the crowd. |
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When I saw Sophie bake up this little beauty I could see straight away its potential on the wedding menu. Not only is it full to the gunnels of dark and moist chocolate but it also has plenty of fresh fruit as well to keep everyone happy. We take a whole cake to each table with a vintage cake slicer. Adrian and Sarah Garrett had a brilliant idea of serving this to half the tables, and the other half caramelized apple tarts with Guernsey cream. If guests wanted both they simply had to get up and find a table that had the alternative on it. To complete the "trio" of desserts we served a bread and butter pudding from the buffet table for extra leg stretching.
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"Talia and her team were fabulous on the day and during the planning process Talia was really helpful with any queries we had, she also totally understood the kind of wedding we were dreaming of which was a massive help."
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photos courtesy of Jordan Banks of Source Images
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More stories coming, waiting for the photos . . . . . .
© Cotswold Cooks 2011