…To a surprise 65th Wedding Anniversary family get-together in France, where 25 hungry souls booked our full catering services during, what turned out to be, one of the hottest weeks of the summer.

It is a surprisingly practical choice for large families, renting holiday property, to engage private cooking services during their stay. Satisfying so many differing tastes over several days can be a real challenge for anyone and can even mar the enjoyment of the holiday. Of course it does help if the holiday home in question is equipped with working appliances!

On this occasion the stunning Chateau near Poitiers was certainly impressive,  but the infrastructure proved to be well-used and somewhat under-maintained, which made it a real challenge to work.

Feeding a small army of people  for four days whilst the oven door is falling off and the dishwasher is out of action was never going to be a doddle, but it all came together very well as always and looking beyond the peeling plasterwork, invading ants, mosquitos and flies it certainly was the most beautiful setting.

Not that the Personal Gourmet service stops at simply providing great food!  It helps to have a team fluent in the local language, as translating, trip organisation, local activity information and even entertainment were also needed to make the extended celebrations go with a swing!

With detailed menus agreed before the start of the booking, careful product sourcing was done in advance of arrival. Cakes and some of the desserts were prepared in the run-up to departure and carefully transported from the UK.

For the meat and fish, buying British always offers great value and tremendous quality, but we also sourced exceptional Duck breasts and tender Coquelet, or Poussin, from specialist ‘volaille’ producers in the Dordogne, with only the fresh breads, fruit, salads and vegetables bought daily from local suppliers around the Chateau.

Four Day Menu for 26 in Poitiers, France.

Dinner on the first night was an impeccable Fillet of British Beef,  served rare, with Dauphinoise Potatoes and a mixed salad. Dessert was tangy Citron Tart and fresh fruit followed by a selection of local and British cheeses.                                                                                                         

Breakfast reflected the Continental feel of the celebrations with fresh Croissants and Chocolatines sourced from the village bakery each morning, laid out  with a selection of fruits, yoghurt and a little Swiss speciality called Bircha Muesli which is an oat based muesli mixed with flavoured yoghurt, milk and fruit, rested overnight and served cold. It’s not to everyone’s taste, but proved immensely popular with everyone who tried it.

Lunch each day was a cold cut buffet with salads and fruit. The heat was more than most people could cope with, so light lunches were definitely a necessity!

For the second evening guests sat down to a delicate Fresh Salmon & Smoked Salmon soup before devouring a main course of Coquelet stuffed with Pesto and Goats Cheese and served with a Pea and Courgette Risotto.

The crowning glory was a wickedly delicious dessert of Meringue and Hazelnut Stacks with Chocolate Cream and a fresh Fruit Salad.

Questioned as to whether or not we might already have peaked, Friday night’s main event was the celebration Anniversary dinner for Mum and Dad and outdid all expectations.

With the help of the most exquisite Marinated Duck Breast served with sauted Carrot and Courgette strips and New Potatoes, followed by a very dangerous but utterly delectable White Chocolate and Apricot Cheesecake, which everyone loved, the gathering agreed that the bar had been raised yet again.

Not a scrap was left and a number of very satisfied guests set off, well fed, to enjoy the Bastille Day celebrations in the village, with an impressive fireworks display put on in the midst of an equally impressive thunderstorm!

Saturday was our last evening and also the night the oven door really gave up the ghost, but with the help of an ingenious guest and a wedge of wood, the boat was pushed out with a starter of tangy Aubergine and Tomato salad followed by a really exceptional Fillet of British Lamb served with Puy Lentils and Mixed Roast Vegetables. Because of the wonderful flavours in this, I offered a choice of Redcurrant as well as the more traditional Mint sauce.

After putting out a fabulous Bakewell Tart for dessert and with a little impromptu karaoke entertainment to follow, a thoroughly raucous evening ended what was a really unforgettable experience for all.

Elderflower Sorbet

This little gem is so fresh and easy to do. It’s great just on its own or with a nice lemon tart.

You can also flavour with oranges instead of lemons.

What You Need:

24 clean elderflower heads

2   1/2 pints of Water

18ozs Caster Sugar

3 Lemons,  juice and rind

2 Egg whites

What You Do:

Wash & pat dry the flowers.

Dissolve sugar in warm water. Heat and simmer for 3 mins on a medium heat. Remove pan from heat when sugar is dissolved.

Add flowers and lemon juice, infuse for about 30mins then strain & leave to cool.

Add rind.

Pour mixture into a tray or ice cream maker and leave until it goes tacky and then remove from tray or machine,

Whisk egg whites until stiff and add them to the mixture.

Pour it out into suitable containers and freeze.

Serve with a few sprigs of mint to finish.

A recent challenge involved preparing a dinner for fourteen people at a weekend home near Ipswich where differing palates had asked for a variety of well herbed and spicy dishes for each course. This is never the easiest way to cater sit down meals, presenting its own difficulties with timing and quantities and required an extra pair of hands to help with prep and serving, but nevertheless, it all went beautifully and the client and her guests had a great evening all round, with everyone delighted to enjoy that old favourite, Apple pie and Custard to finish!

Dinner Menu for Fourteen with Choices of Starter and Main course.

Drinks were enjoyed with canapes of sour cream, smoked salmon and horseradish blinis, tomato and avocado salsa with little gem lettuces and duck spring rolls.

The choice of starters was settled at seared scallops with a pea puree, char grilled asparagus with foaming Hollandaise sauce, and a choice of artichoke and carrot soup or watercress soup which seemed to cater for the differing tastes at the table..

For the main courses guests were offered pork tenderloin stuffed with Feta and sage in a creamy white wine sauce, or seared beef fillet with a red wine juice, both able to be served with a choice of either Dauphinoise  or Jersey Royal potatoes.

Fish lovers preferred to try poached salmon with spring vegetables and Aïol dressing and I was happy to provide a delicious vegetarian option of roasted vegetable and cashew Biriyani, served with spring baby vegetables.

Dessert was the easy part, a delicious handmade Dutch apple pie with hot custard, relished by all!

I recently had a great trip to South Wales to do a dinner party for four wonderful people celebrating a 40th birthday. The setting was fabulous, even though the rented cottage could only provide a shoebox sized kitchen which made for a tight squeeze on the preparation front! However, the dinner was a great success topped off with the serving of my speciality ‘Devil’s Food Cake’ dressed with candles and designed to delight.

With an 8pm sit down, preparation time was around four hours and despite the use of one or two very expensive components, the cost still came in at around half the cost of an equivalent restaurant meal. No wonder more and more people are choosing to private cater their family celebrations!

Devilishly delightful 40th Birthday Menu for Four

Drinks were served with canapes of Smoked Salmon Blinis and Tomato Bruschetta.

Once everyone was seated, dinner was started with slices of Foie Gras on toasted Brioche.

The fish course, Halibut Mornay served on Scallop shells, was light enough not to spoil the main event of Roast Lamb Loin with Spring baby vegetables and Jersey new potatoes.

Palates were refreshed with a mixed leaf salad in a pine nut and sesame seed dressing, before guests took on a varied cheeseboard which included Gorgonzola and a mouthwatering Mull of Kintyre cheddar along with some very distinctive goats cheese.

The decorated Devils Food Cake was a wickedly delicious end to a lovely evening.



Home cooking is always going to be cost-efficient compared to eating out, but you might not realise that up to 15 per cent of electricity used at home goes on making hot meals. So, as energy costs remain high, there’s a greater incentive to cut down on the amount of electricity we use. Careful energy use will help reduce greenhouse gases, too – another good reason for finding fail-safe fuel savers.

How your energy use stacks up depends on the type of fuel you use. Only 10 per cent of built-in ovens and grills are gas, yet gas ovens heat up faster and can be three times more energy-efficient than electric. The best gas ovens have an electric fan to help distribute heat evenly.

Source: bbcgoodfood.com

Jamie’s Italian, a string of restaurants run by the celebrity chef, has received praise from the restaurant goers compiling the UK Harden’s Restaurant Guide

Jamie Oliver opened the first branch of the Jamie’s Italian chain in June 2008, and has said he “should have been Italian.” The chain now has branches in seven towns and cities across the UK and he has plans to open at least four more.

Source: www.foodanddrinkdigital.com

TV chef Jamie Oliver’s campaign for healthy school dinners boosted pupils’ test results, researchers say.

Primary pupils in Greenwich, London, who took part in the Feed Me Better scheme, got better results than those in neighbouring boroughs, they found.  The study by Oxford University and Essex University also found them less likely to be off sick from school.

The schools replaced junk food and processed dinners high in fat, salt and sugar, with healthy school lunches.  And the campaign, which ran between 2004-5, led to major changes to nutritional guidelines on school dinners and mass retraining of dinner ladies.

The following is a quick guide to the different types of steak available.

 Fillet Steak

• Fillet steak is the most tender and lean steak, taken from the Beef Fillet, or Tenderloin. It is in the centre of the Sirloin, and is not weight-bearing, so it receives very little exercise, which is why it stays so tender.
• Due to the quality of this cut, it is the most expensive, but the smooth texture and mild, refined flavour is well worth it.
• Fillet can also be left whole and used to make a Beef Wellington.
• The top of the fillet is often sold whole, as a Chateaubriande.

 Sirloin Steak

• Sirloin steak is arguably the most popular, and the most available in restaurants.
• They are cut from the Loin, and have very little internal fat, which makes them lean, but also very tender.
• Sirloin steaks have a layer of fat along the side, which melts and adds flavour when the steak is cooked.
• Entrecote, Porterhouse, T-Bone, and Club steaks all come from the Sirloin.

Ribeye Steak

• Ribeye steaks are taken from the Beef Forerib.
• They have fat marbled through the meat, which caramelises and melts into the meat when cooked.
• This gives the steak a fantastic Beefy flavour, as well as making it very tender and juicy.
• Ribeye steak can also be left on the bone and served as a Bone In Rib Steak which is also known as a Cote de Bouef.

 Rump Steak

• Rump steaks are very lean, but because the muscle is worked quite a lot, they can be tough. To prevent them drying out, care must be taken that they aren’t cooked for too long.
• The best Rump steaks are taken from the centre of the rump, avoiding the sinews which spoil the texture.

 Featherblade Steak

• Featherblade is a traditional cut of steak which is having a revival in recent years.
• Taken from the shoulder, this is widely regarded as the best steak for braising.
• This is due to the deep flavour and wonderfully tender meat when braised slowly for a long time.
• Featherblade has a thick gelatinous strip with veins of fat coming from it, which have a feather-like appearance, which is where the name comes from. These all melt in to the meat when cooked.

 by Allens of Mayfair

Allens of Mayfair is a quality butcher supplying Scottish Beef and Quality Meat across the UK.

 Article Source: http://www.articledashboard.com/Article/Beef-Steak—How-To-Choose-The-Best-Cut/1399464

Now that spring is finally here, it’s time to look at cooking with seasonal spring produce.  Most of the fruits and vegetables in season now can be found year round at grocers around the country, but they reach their full potential during the spring.  Artichokes, asparagus, avocados, beets, blueberries, fava beans, peas, radishes, rhubarb, spinach, spring lettuce, spring onions and strawberries are some of these tasty fruits and vegetables that peak in the spring.  Check your local farmers market to find out what produce is available in your area. 

 Cooking with these fresh seasonal ingredients brings out a stronger and/or sweeter taste to your recipes that you would not experience at any other time of the year.  So go to your local farmer’s market or grocer, pick up some seasonal produce, and try out some of these quick and easy spring recipes.

 Jen’s Asparagus

 What you need:

3 bunches of asparagus, cut into bite sized pieces
2-3 squirts of lemon juice
1/4 -1/2 stick of butter (2 T – 4 T)
Salt and black pepper
lemon pepper
garlic salt

 What you do:

Heat butter in a large dutch oven, skillet or wok.  Add asparagus and lemon juice.  Add salt, garlic salt, black pepper and lemon pepper to taste.  Stir fry on medium heat until asparagus is tender; serve. 

 Bacon Avocado Dip

 What you need:

5 slices bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled
2 medium avocados, pitted and peeled
2/3 c sour cream
2 t minced onion
2 T lemon juice
1/2 t salt

 What you do:

Mash avocados with fork.  Combine with sour cream, onion, lemon juice and salt; mix.  Refrigerate until chilled.  Mix in bacon and serve.

 Blueberry Muffins

 What you need:

2 c flour
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1/3 c butter
3/4 c milk
1 c fresh blueberries
1/2 c sugar
2.5 t baking powder
2 T vegetable oil
1/2 t salt

 What you do:

Combine flour, sugar, salt and baking powder in a large bowl.  In a separate bowl, mix eggs, butter, milk and oil; add to flour mixture and mix until moist.  Fold blueberries into batter.  Take muffin tin(s) and fill 12 cups with muffin paper.  Evenly distribute batter to all cups.  Bake in a 375 degree oven for 25-30 minutes or until golden.

 Easy Spinach Salad

 What you need:

10 oz package or 6 c fresh spinach, washed with stems off
6 slices bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled
1-2 medium tomatoes, chopped
1/2 c radishes, sliced
1/2 c red onion, chopped
3 boiled eggs, sliced
1 carrot, grated
vinegar and oil based dressing

 What you do:

Combine all ingredients except dressing and toss.  Serve with dressing per taste.

 Rhubarb Cake

 What you need:

31/2 c fresh rhubarb, diced
1 package yellow cake mix
1 c sugar
2 c whipping cream, not whipped

 What you do:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Prepare cake mix per box directions.  Pour into a greased 13 x 9 inch pan.  Add rhubarb on top of cake mix.  Evenly distribute sugar on top of rhubarb.  Pour cream over rhubarb and cake.  Bake 50 – 60 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean.

Strawberry Banana Smoothie

 What you need:

2 c strawberries with the tops cut off
2 large bananas, peeled and sliced
1 c vanilla yogurt
3/4 c milk
4 ice cubes

 What you do:

Combine all ingredients in blender and blend until smooth; serve.

Article Source: http://www.articlealley.com/article_1490011_26.html

 About the Author: For more recipes, cooking articles, videos and food related links, visit Easy Breezy Recipes at http://www.easybreezyrecipes.com