Saturday 24 April 2010

St George's day dinner party menu

So yesterday was St George’s day, as a patriot and an Englishman I wasn't going to miss this opportunity - I never allow any patron saint days go as they are all brilliant excuses to cook something different or traditional - I had some good friends coming around and I had booked the day off work to prepare our feast.

To be honest I had been thinking off and on all week about what to cook but had not decided on anything. The morning of the big day was now upon me and I had to decide..

The morning of St George’s day was a little frantic as not only did I have to create the menu I had to shop for it.. I am lucky enough to have a great grocer fairly close by and this was going to be my first stop!

The challenge was to create an English themed menu, that was in season and achievable in one afternoon.. As we were just at the beginning of the Asparagus season this was a must! The previous week I had visited a Farmers market at Denbies Wine estate, what a fantastic Vineyard it is and an amazing English wine that they produce in Surrey Gold!! At the market I had visited a little cheese stand for a small producer based in East Sussex - Nuts Knowle Farm who produced an amazing soft Goats Cheese called St George - which of course I had bought with one eye on my St George's day feast. That was a must for a course too! Englishmen means beef and I wanted to include Watercress somewhere in the menu. Finally my garden was groaning with Rhubarb so I had to put this to good use as well...

So this is the menu that I created for my good friends, I think that you will be able to tell that I was unable to pick one or the other starter so I decided to make them both.

St George’s day menu

Soft boiled duck eggs with Asparagus spear soldiers wrapped in crispy bacon
Goat’s cheese and Beetroot, Lentil Salad with Garden Flowers and Herbs
English Onion Soup with Sage and Cheddar Cheese Crouton
Sirloin Steaks with Anchovy and Herb butter, Watercress and a tower of twice fried chips.
Stem Ginger and Rhubarb Cheesecake
Sticky Toffee Pudding and Toffee Sauce

Lucky for me the weather was unseasonably good and it allowed me to cook some of the courses on the BBQ which adds so much to the meal, especially the steaks!

I’ll be posting my recipes for my St George’s day dinner party menu over the next couple of days after all, the weather is still great and not to be wasted!!

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