Menu for the weekend

This weekend, we're trying something different, two groups with very similar dietary requirements and definitely no mushrooms, if we had a table large enough, we'd be tempted to have them all together! We don't, so we're going to serve the same delicious menu instead:

To start
Last of the Summer tomato tarts with {or without (v)} crab salad

To follow
Sea bream {or Paneer (v)} with Tandoori butter, crushed saffron potatoes and coconut green beans

To finish
Strawberry shortbread cardamom pots with spiced white chocolate and rose sponge

Menu for a sensational Saturday

Summer is spoiling us, not with the weather just now but we're spoiled for choice in terms of flavours. For Saturday we're serving this menu and we can't wait:

To start
Strawberry, feta, mange tout, asparagus salad, Parmesan crisps.

To follow
Pulled pork {or chicken}, wilted chicory, apple and carrot slaw, toasted brioche

To finish
Chocolate tart {or g.f. and l.f. chocolate cake}, elderflower ice cream, strawberries.

Recipe for walnut and honey soda bread.

Sometimes, guests request our recipes and I often have very good intentions to share them and then, they don't quite make it to the blog. So, here is one which is often requested, if there's another that I've promised and it's never appeared, please leave a comment below to remind me and I'll do my best! Thanks to Edinburgh Cake and 21st Century Urban Housewife for prompting the eventual posting of this one.

Back to the bread, Chris baked these loaves last week and will bake them again in the morning. We have a couple of books from the River Cottage Handbook series and for this he uses handbook three, Bread. 

The recipe is very similar to the one at the link and copied below (for those too lazy to click). 

In terms of our tips, Chris doesn't warm the honey and water, he just adds them together and he finds that 275ml is more than enough water (but see how you find your dough). He also told me to mention that he kneads to a firm dough, not a soft dough as Hugh suggests and tends to make two round loaves from these quantities baking only for 20-25 minutes as that's when the bread sounds hollow when tapped on the base and is ready. Be warned, this bread won't last long and there's no danger of it surviving past 24 hours in our house!

Served with duck rillettes and plums last weekend.

Walnut and honey soda bread by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

Sweet and savoury at the same time, with an incredible depth of flavour, this quick bread is wonderful with cheese. Serves six.

200g walnuts

200g honey

500g wholemeal flour

4 tsp baking powder

10g salt

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/ gas mark 6 and lightly oil a baking sheet. Divide the walnuts into two roughly equal piles. Put one half into a food processor or a mortar, then crush to a coarse powder. Using your hands, break the other pile of walnuts into large, rough chunks. Put the honey in a pan with 300ml water and heat gently until the honey dissolves.

Put the flour, baking powder, salt and all the walnuts in a large bowl and combine. Pour in the honey water and mix to a soft dough.

Turn the dough out on to a lightly floured surface, shape it into a rough, round loaf and place on the oiled baking tray. Slice a deep cross into the top, going almost right the way through to the baking sheet.

Bake in the preheated oven for 30-40 minutes, until well risen and golden brown. Remove, set aside to cool and serve immediately - at the very latest, eat within 24 hours. 

The same bread with duck rillettes and rhubarb, earlier this year at a private dinner at Hoscote House.

Another menu for Team GB.

Not long ago, supper clubbers joined us to cheer Mo Farah to glory and to celebrate the success of Team GB at London 2012.  Having sobbed and cheered my way through lots of Paralympic coverage, we're ready to do it again. Our menu has a slightly international feel, journeying to France with the starter,  the Middle East with the main and uniting the best of British berries and indulgent USA for the pudding.

To start
Pork rillettes, pear chutney, homemade honey and walnut soda bread or
pear, walnut and blue cheese salad (v).

To follow
Lamb or mint and feta cakes (v) with chilli, pistachio and rose petal sauce, cous cous.

To finish
Celebration brownies, strawberry shots and strawberry and black pepper ice cream.

For a sweet and sour Friday, in pictures.

I just love the colours yellow and orange and sunshine of course. So last night's menu was a visual treat and it seemed our jolly guests enjoyed the flavours too. Here are the rather bright photos, I hope they make you smile.

 Summer bouquet to set the sunny mood.

 Special sunflowers at the table.

 To welcome Pea and Pecorino toasts.

 Quails' eggs with Parma ham especially for Tom (who dined with us) and his wife Hannah (who sadly couldn't make it). They will forever remind us of your wonderful wedding.

To amuse Courgette and rocket soup.

 To start Seared tuna, mango salsa and honey glazed bean sprouts.

 Or avocado,  mango salsa and honey glazed bean sprouts (v).

 Bright and crunchy salad.

To follow Asian braised beef with hot and sour salad

or Asian braised vegetables with hot and sour salad (v).

Very ripe peaches ready for baking.

To finish Peach melba with Chantilly cream and raspberry granita.

For thirteen, in pictures.

We had thirteen lovely guests join us from across Edinburgh and Glasgow last night. For most of our guests, it was their first supper club experience. It is especially great fun to welcome slightly anxious diners unsure of what to expect and to watch them relax and enjoy as the evening unfolds. For one group, it was  far from their first supper club, as hosts of Supper in the suburbs, it was a chance to take a break from their Glasgow kitchens and to enjoy a night on the other side of a supper club table. 

This is how it looked:

Sweet Williams on the table.

Places set.

  

To welcome Stilton gougeres.

To welcome Lamb bites, mint yogurt.

To amuse Pea, mint, bacon.

 

To start Mozzarella, orange, beetroot. 

 

 Handmade honey and walnut soda bread.

 Cod with herb butter, pre roasting.

To follow Cod, garlic, herb butter, caramelised tomatoes. 

 

To finish Chocolate 'tart', strawberry ice cream.

With coffee Chris's hazelnut truffles.

For a Scottish Summer, in pictures

Thankfully after a greatly enjoyed supper for our return, we only had to wait a matter of hours before we were back in the kitchen, resetting the table and standing at the front door wondering who we were about to welcome and looking forward to seeing some familiar faces too. A group of 11 lovely ladies and one great guy gathered this night and dined on:

To welcome Stilton gougeres and Seared tuna, radish, wasabi.

To amuse Pappa al pomodoro

To start
Salmon rillettes.

To follow {by special request}
Beef Wellingtons, asparagus, green beans.

To finish 

Lemon, rosemary tarts.

You can also read how one of our diners found it here.

Menu for a Scottish Summer

Living in Edinburgh, we know better than to count on a proper Summer. The key is to make the most of the sunshine when it appears and not to be afraid to revisit your Winter wardrobe or warming Winter dishes when necessary. Here we've opted for a light start, rich main and a perfectly lemony finale.


To start
Salmon rillettes.

To follow {by special request}
Beef Wellingtons, asparagus, green beans.

To finish
Lemon, rosemary tarts.

Much depends on dinner

We took several long and winding roads to reach our charming destination near Hawick. The event was a long awaited, carefully planned and exciting Saturday supper for friends and families who have been meeting together once a year for a trip that has become a tradition over the last decade or so. We were delighted to be part of it and to work in a kitchen which undoubtedly has the largest island we have ever seen!


The menu balanced comfort and indulgence.


For gathering
Brioche toast, chicken liver, caramelised red onion

Hot smoked salmon mousse, homemade oat biscuits

Pea, pecorino bruschetta

To amuse

Rocket, new potato and Sauvignon blanc cups

To start

Proscuitto watercress, spinach and manchengo cheese salad or

Duck Rillettes, rhubarb, both with home made soda bread

To follow

Venison or beef Wellington 

To finish

Baked chocolate puddings, vanilla ice cream or

Iced ginger meringue slice

Pictures to make your mouths water:

Planning.

A grand table, set for 14.

Canapes in progress.

Beautiful crockery, ours for the evening.

As the guests gathered, we served...

...and...

... and.

To amuse.

To start.

To follow.

To finish.

Gently does it.

To ease us back into hosting, we held a private supper for one lovely lady and some friends to gather and celebrate her special birthday. 

We set the table with pretty pink flowers and candles and selected delicious ingredients that showcased the best that Spring has to offer including delicate tulips, baby gem lettuce, locally foraged wild garlic, new season lamb and rhubarb.

Here's how it looked:

Work in progress.

Hazelnuts toasted and used instead of pine nuts in the pesto.

Wild garlic pesto.

More wild garlic becoming soup.

 To welcome Tulip petals with goat's cheese.

To welcome Hot smoked salmon mousse, homemade buttery oat biscuits.

To amuse Wild garlic pesto toasts...

 

...and a taste of wild garlic soup.

 The Table.

To start Crab, apple and celeriac with scallops.

 

To follow Braised little gem lettuce with

 lamb noisettes, broad beans, peas, potato rosti.

 To finish Rhubarb tarts, orange Mascarpone.