Richard Newman's 60th Birthday

Blues brothers was the theme so everyone was either dressed as a nun, in a black suit or in Carrie Fisher combats with a machine gun!

The evening started at 7.30pm, from 8pm - 10pm we were doing canapes and then at 10.30pm we did a supper.

Nibbles

Ratatouille tartlets with blue cheese

Honey Sesame Haloumi with Thyme and Tomato

Moroccan Spiced Meatballs with Cucumber and Mint

A selection of Topped Bruschetta

*roasted tomato, basil & mozzarella

*smoked fish, fennel & apple

*pea and mint smash, goats cheese & prosciutto

Supper

Hot

Pulled Firecracker Beef

Smokey Pulled Jackfruit with Blackjack BBQ sauce

Cold

Joff’s Hot Smoked Salmon

Accompaniments

Dinner Rolls

Spring Slaw

Horseradish Mayonnaise, Mustard, Chilli Oil

It all went down really well. We had loads of compliments and both Richard and Niki were really pleased.

Learnings:

The sesame coated halloumi was lovely but a bugger to cook with flying red hot sesame seeds spitting at you. Easy to warm up there and looked pretty.

I seemed to have bought peas that won't smash so very difficult to plate up. Should have gone with my gut instinct and put them in the food processor so that it was more of a dip texture - but wait, I couldnt' as Harry broke it!

The jackfruit was really popular even to the non-vegetarians. The hot smoked salmon was darker than normal as Jon used Manuka chips. Yum. Looked beautiful.

The slaw was tasty with lots of herbs and apple in it. No one had chilli oil as it was in a bottle - not easy to use when juggling a plate at the buffet table.