SC - Food expiration dates

[Balano1@aol.com]

Folks,

These are the revised dishes in the light of comments people have made, with
answers to some of the questions people have asked:


	*First Course
	Tarte de brye
	
	NEW : Cherries
			Melon ( depending which fruit is nicer on the
shopping day)
	
	*Second course
	Nettle soup 
	Fresh bread & butter
	
NEW : ( I've got fresh rosemary/chives/sage thyme etc all growing in the
garden so I'm going to experiment with the herby butter idea. It appeals
because it's cheap, easy (zap in the moulinex for ten seconds) and will add
a little extra to the course - specially as I have a whole set of
traditional cornish butter moulds I bought in a junk fair about 5 years ago
that I've never tried out - slaves, shape that butter .......)

	*Third course
	A selection of seafood ( langoustines, tiger prawns, scallops,
winkles, etc fresh from cornwall ) on a herby salad ( rocket, various wild
herbs, watercress etc) with a sweet pepper sauce.
	( I might substitute the lobster back in here if it re-becomes
viable cost wise )
	Lemon fingerbowls

Although langoustines are by sound french, we live just 10 minutes from an
arm of the Grand Union canal, and there are hundreds of crayfish ( I think
they are the same as langoustines) just waiting to be caught. And my
childminders husband is an avid fisherman, so i'm hoping that we can pay
cash for any of his catch. There is an English crayfish variety in the
canals and rivers, but it is being driven out by an American variety which
is stronger larger and more prolific - needless to say the eaten ones  will
be American crayfish (you get lots of eco-backing that way) , but the spirit
of the idea will be good.

Limpets are the cone shaped shells ( like coolie hats) you find clinging to
rocks on the seashore around here. I have to admit I don't tend to like the
way they are served - they are usually cold and soaked in malt vinegar,
which removes their special flavour. But yes - that's the idea , to get a
collection of 'fruits de mer' and make it as appropriate as possible - I'm
thinking of making a 5am run to Billingsgate market, to get the catch as it
comes in off the trawlers, but mornings are not my forte......

i agree about the sweet pepper - I'm trying to find an alternative, but no
luck so far, that gives that cleans sharp sea air flavour.

	*Fourth course
	Game Pie
	A good redcurrant sauce?? other fruit sauce?
	Asparagus spears  (sauce??)
	
I decided to drop the clove ham - although it can be done I think it will be
just TOO much for all the suspension sets in those cars....

	* Fifth course
	Elderflower Sorbet
	Earl Grey Sorbet

I think I have settled on the Earl grey flavour - it is such an english tea
, and the sorbet tastes divine

	*Sixth Course
	Jugged Rabbit
	Dumplings
	??

Still not quite sure what to do here - i'd thought of carrots and peas but
just boiled seems slightly dull. So , still under consideration

	* Seventh course 
	Roast Duck OR Roast Venision ( probably 1/2 duck each)
	
Definitely parsnips - what a great idea : )  Now it just needs one more veg
with some color to it..... hm

	* Eight course
	Salad Elona ( slices of strawberries and cucumbers arranged in
patterns and dowsed with bubbly(probably Freixenet/other cava since it is
much better value than  champagne)

	* Ninth course
	Cream Hearts with a fruits of the forest coulis  ( mascapone, double
cream, lots of sugar & vanilla)
	Summer Pudding served with whipped cream
	Apple snow with cobblers and cream

Summer pudding was the stalwart of my childhood. When I was small we lived
in a large house in Scotland with a large garden, and a walled kitchen
garden behind, with redcurrants, black currents, gooseberries, all the fruit
and veg you could think of. I'd come home after school and mum would have a
beautiful dinner, followed by summer pudding made fresh from the garden.

I don't remember the quantities - I'll look them up and post them  - but :

Take a medley of forest fruits - black and red currents, blackberries,
strawberries, raspberries, cherries - any thing you have to hand along those
lines. Heat up in a pan to soften slightly with added sugar (pretty much to
taste)

Mean while take a pudding basin, and line it with slices of bread, crust
removed. pour in the fruit, put a 'lid' of bread slices on, cover with a
plate and put a weight on top, so that it is compressed together. Put in the
fridge for 24 hours - the juices soak through the bread  completely. Serve
with lashings of double cream...

marscapone cheese is (sp?) a sweet italian cream cheese - no it's not
English either, but it is an easy dessert that can be made 24 hours in
advance. It may get substituted out if I find something preferable.


	* Tenth Course
	Soteltie Cake - insert appropriate birthday cake for one of the
attendees (thankfully being handled by someone else, as I am hopeless at
design work !)

	* Eleventh Course
	Cheese Board - Stilton, mature farmhouse cheddar , other good
farmhouse english cheeses
	Water biscuits
	Celery

We have the grooviest cheese shop in Covent garden which I intend to visit.
It only stocks English cheese and is widely credited for single handedly
turning around the decline in English traditional cheesemaking, and making
Britain have pride in it's cheeses. If I say that it has on average at least
50 and probably 100 differnet varieties , and that the floor of the shop has
running water in troughs in order to keep the humidity and temperature just
right for cheese storage , well you see what I mean. And they almost INSIST
that you try cheeses through out their range before you buy - no blind
shrinkwrapped choosing through a glass panes.

	* Twelfth course
	Coffee
	Handmade chocolate truffles and mints. 

I've often cooked big meals/courses in the kitchen - it seems to be a case
of cooking as much as possible in advance and planning the use of the
cooking space to the millimeter - we had 16 for boxing day, for roast
pheasants, roast duck, gammon ham and about 8 acompanying veg, then various
(about 6) differnt desserts  - it was a blast : ) 


We had one other idea last night - we are going to get hold of a load of
sherry glasses and 'assign' a course to each group of attendees , asking
them to bring a suitable drink to accompany each course with suggestions for
them to think about so that it doesn't go too off course. The idea being
that they don't need to bring huge amounts - maybe one or two bottles of
wine - since you get a thimble full each, but we all get to try a range of
different drinks : )

ttfn

Karin




============================================================================

To be removed from the SCA-Cooks mailing list, please send a message to
Majordomo at Ansteorra.ORG with the message body of "unsubscribe SCA-Cooks".

============================================================================