Recipe: Individual Salad Nicoise – Serves 4            

1 Small iceberg lettuce shredded
1 small red onion cut into thin slices
3” piece of cucumber chopped
1 can of cannellini or flageolet beans drained
½ a jar of artichokes drained and chopped
1 large can of tuna drained and flaked but keep the oil
4 hard boiled eggs cooked for 7 mins
Black olives
Vine tomatoes
Parsley to garnish

In 4 bowls add the lettuce, onion, cucumber, beans, artichokes and tuna, shell the eggs and half or ¼ add to the bowls with the vine tomatoes and olives.

To make the dressing in a jar add the tuna oil the juice of ½ to 1 lemon 1 crushed clove of garlic 1 table spoon of olive oil and season with freshly grated sea salt and black pepper put on the lid and shake well, drizzle over the salad and serve with warm crusty bread.

To smoke the fish, they recommended a deep roasting tin with a rack, but I used a wok and a round defrost rack from the microwave, as you need air all around the fish.

Scatter a good handful of Earl Grey tealeaves on the bottom of the wok / pan, then fit in the rack. Mix together the juice of one lemon with 1 tbsp of brown sugar, dissolve the sugar in the lemon juice and brush the salmon with this. Lay skin side down on the rack. Make a hood with tin foil and cover the wok / pan. Put on a low heat for 10 mins, turn off the heat and leave to smoke for a further10 mins, lift out. Serve hot or cold.

I used the salmon cold for a starter at a dinner party, it went down really well.

Here is the recipe for the Avocado Salad.

Hot Smoked Salmon + Avocado Salad

Ingredients:

1 Bag of Mixed Leaves to Include Rocket and Wate

rcress

1 Bunch of Spring Onions Chopped

2 Avocados sliced

Home Smoked Salmon  Fillet

Dressing:

Juice of 1 /2 or 1 Lemon

2 tsp Whole grain Mustard

1 Clove of Garlic Crushed

1 tblsp of Honey

3 to4 tbsp of Good Quality Olive Oil

Method:

Put all the dressing ingredients into a jar and shake well. Toss the leaves and the avocado slices in the dressing, arrange them on serving plates, top with the spring onions and salmon. I served these with little pots of lemon and chive mayonnaise

Juice of Half a Lemon,    2 to 3 tblsp of Mayonnaise,  Chopped fresh Chives

Mix the mayonnaise with the lemon juice and chives, put into little pots and decorate, with Curls of Lemon Zest and Chopped Chives

They wanted to make the centre of the office into a street. This worked very well, as you can see from the photo. They also wanted Vintage Crockery and a 50’s style menu.

The vintage crockery looked really amazing, with plates, cake stands, cups & saucers and teapots.

The food was more or less finger food with tiny crust-less sandwiches, cucumber salmon, coronation chicken to name a few, and small savoury items that included mini scotch eggs, and mini sausage rolls, cheese and pineapple on sticks of which I used 700 cocktail sticks, jelly and blancmange scones with homemade strawberry jam and pots and pots of tea.
They also had a Victoria sponge cake competition, they all looked very professional, I don’t know what the prize was but they got to eat all these as well.
A good time was had by all.

For more information on Vintage Tea Parties
call HILARY on 01484 510111.

Recipe: Stuffed Figs – Serves 4 as a starter 2 as a main course

Stuffed Figs

4 Large ripe figs
4 Slices of Parma ham
4 Chunks of blue cheese
Olive oil, Balsamic vinegar, Honey
Mixed leaves to serve

Cut a cross in the figs ¾ of the way through (see photo). Put the cheese inside the cut. Wrap a piece of Parma ham around the fig to hold it into shape. Repeat with the remaining figs. Put them into an oven proof dish. Drizzle with the balsamic vinegar oil and honey and bake in a medium oven for 5 to10 mins depending on size. Arrange the mixed leaves on a plate, take the figs out of the oven, and drizzle over the warm dressing from the dish and top with the figs. VIOLA. One of the quickest supper dishes you can make.

There are thousands of visitors each day and they all have to be fed and watered. There are several cafes around the site, but in the main hall, between the two large domes there is a huge canteen This consists of 6 enormous tables, 2 central tables to prepare, chop and serve food and one either side for self service.

All the food is made on site, they have their own bakery that produces fantastic rustic breads and at each end of the 2 central tables there is a large bank of baker’s ovens, that I presume cooks everything else

Holiday to Cornwall

When we were there they had on offer, large bowls of Greek salad with a huge chunk of bread, (see pic) large flatbread with a huge wedge of brie and salad and homemade soup just to mention a few.

You queue up and get whatever takes your fancy and sit down and eat. Then when you have finished and the plates have been cleared away, you go to one of the tills and tell them what you had and then pay. I am sure everyone is honest and does not abuse this.
But my main reason for writing this blog is what do they do with the waste / leftovers? They have a recycling system and everything goes into the appropriate bin, i.e. tea bags, coffee grounds, leftover food. I asked one of the waiters, what happens to it at the end of the day, the answer was, it goes to the composter and comes out the other end in two weeks time. How good is that!!!. I wish I had a method of using up all the peelings etc that came out as compost within two weeks’

Strawberry Fields Forever                                     

White chocolate ice cream

Chocolate decoration

Strawberry cheese cake –  see
Strawberry Cheese Cake & Coulis Blog

2 Large strawberries

Strawberry coulis  -  see
Strawberry Cheese Cake & Coulis Blog

Fan the 2 strawberries, place a piece of cheesecake on a large plate, top with a strawberry fan.
Put the other fan on the plate, then put a scoop of ice cream on and dot with coulis, serve.

YUM !!

Strawberries Three Ways

Strawberries Three Ways

Slice of strawberry cheese cake
Chocolate cup
White chocolate ice cream
A few chopped strawberries and slices
2 Strawberries fanned
Strawberry fool or yoghurt
Strawberry coulis.

In a shot glass put in some chopped strawberries and top with some coulis and the fool or yoghurt, decorate with sliced strawberries. Fill the chocolate cup with ice cream arrange all these on a plate and top the ice cream and cheese cake with the strawberry fans Dot with the coulis and serve. Wait for your guest reaction.

Ooh!!!