where am I?
Pink Menu
Answer
Dear Hilda
Here are some ideas to get you thinking
STARTERS
Taramasalata is pale pink, so I would suggest home-made, not that dreadful gloop you find in tubs in supermarkets. It is really easy to make in quantity in a food processor, and quite cheap as well, bearing in mind it is a fund raising meal. Serve in small ramekins with a decent salad garnish and brown toast. Prawn Cocktail, whilst when well-made can be great, is I think frankly rather boring. Smoked salmon mousse is delicious but expensive, and very rich. A prawn mousse would make the best impression, but you might think it too fiddly for so many. You would need 30 ramekins, and you can place a couple of narrow strips of smoked salmon in the base of each, before filling with the mousse. When you turn them out they then each have a very attractive striped appearance. I give a recipe below. For a meat starter, consider serving a robust pâté with a garnish of pink grapefruit segments fanned out, with a light dressing plus a little salad. Borrow four 4-slot toasters to make the toast quickly just before serving the taramasalata or pâté.
MAIN COURSES
Cold home-poached salmon is great in the summer, and such good value these days. However, by October I think a cold main course would be a bit of a let-down. If going the salmon route, I would suggest salmon steaks steamed or baked - en Papillote - cooked in a foil wrapping. Either make home-made Hollandaise sauce pretty near the time of service and keep warm but not too hot or it might curdle, or if you are less brave, serve a simple sauce verte. Use hot double cream, seasoning and fresh watercress, blitzed in the food processor not too long before using so it retains a vibrant green colour. This is starting to sound like I work for Magimix, but I don`t! Hot buttered new potatoes and an interesting green veg would balance that well.
DESSERT
It is easy to colour meringue pink with food colouring, so why not make meringue baskets with cream and fruit, I`m not sure a pink pavlova would be that attractive, but you might like to try making a pink meringue roulade with and fill with cream and frozen raspberries. A five egg white mixture fills the large Aga baking tray and gives 14 good portions so two would solve the dessert course.
PETITS FOURS
I would suggest sourcing some pink sugared almonds to serve with the coffee. This is a charming custom at weddings in France and would be an interesting talking point. They generally put a few in little individual gauze bags sewn up and tied with a ribbon. Yours would be pink ribbons, of course.
WINE & DRINKS
Angostura bitters are great for pinking things up, such as fruit punches and fruit salads. Pink Champagne is probably beyond your budget, but you could always colour cheap Cava.
WOW FACTOR
I think that every successful party should always include one particular element that is unexpected: interesting home-made nibbles, a fabulous cocktail to start, perhaps hot canapés, maybe a small sorbet between courses, or petits fours that have a twist. Just choose one thing that people will appreciate, remember and talk about afterwards. I have on occasion, when pushed for time, served a perfectly good but not to my mind amazing meal to good friends with some such bauble and they have enjoyed the whole meal but always refer to "those wonderful napkin rings that were made out of bread which we ate as rolls" or whatever. I think you get the idea. All good PR for future Breast Cancer Care.
BALANCE
Classical culinary training stresses the importance of balance and contrast. This applies not only to taste, temperature and texture but also to colour. The normal rule is not to have any one colour or type featuring more than once in a meal, never repeat pastry, etc. You can get away with a fish/seafood starter followed by a fish main course at a pinch, but I would suggest you temper pink things with white: a pink meringue calls for a plain white filling. Beware of pink overload or the whole meal will lack definition. As it is an event with a dedicated pink theme you can bend the rules more of course.
PRAWN MOUSSE
For 6 portions - multiply by four for 30
1 oz (25g) soft butter
2 oz (50g smoked salmon trimmings
1 lb (450g) frozen prawns
3 large egg whites
7 fl oz (200ml) double cream
salt and white pepper
5 fl oz (150ml) single cream
juice of half a large lemon
1 tsp tomato purée
6 whole prawns
fresh dill
Defrost the prawns in a colander and then transfer to paper kitchen towels to remove all the excess water. Pat dry. Lightly grease the ramekins thoroughly; clean fingers are the easiest way of doing this. Divide the smoked salmon into two equal piles: Class A - the most attractive with no grey parts, and Class B. Cut the Class A salmon into narrow strips and place two into the base of each of the ramekins. Chop the prawns in a food processor or pass through a mincer until very fine. Lightly beat the egg whites until just starting to foam, then whisk in the double cream and season to taste. Fill the ramekins. Place in a roasting tin and fill with hot water to come up half way. Place on the lowest set of runners of the Roasting Oven, with a cold plain shelf on the second set of runners above. After ten minutes, carefully transfer the roasting tin to the Simmering Oven for a further twenty minutes, until set with a slight wobble when shaken. Allow to cool before turning out. Store in the refrigerator until serving. To make the sauce, place the Class B smoked salmon in a food processor or blender and add the single cream, lemon juice and tomato purée and process until smooth, scraping down several times. Serve on fish plates surrounded by a pool of sauce, and garnish with a sprig of dill on top of each mousse and decorate each with a fresh whole prawn if your budget runs to this. 16 ramekins will fit in the large Aga roasting tin so you can double up the recipe to make a batch of 15 and then only have to repeat this one more time to have enough. Have a couple of fruit juices or slice of melon handy for the person who wrinkles up his nose at your mousse.
I hope that helps. If you have difficulty finding a particular recipe then please do get back to me.
Best wishes
Richard Maggs
THE AGA COOKERY DOCTOR
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Question
Dear Cookery Doctor Could you please help me to work out a menu for a "Pink lunch" in aid of Breast Cancer Care. The idea is that we serve food that is pink, and make the whole theme pink. We have thought of salmon and prawns but any other ideas would be welcome. I plan to have about 30 people. Thanking you Hilda Clayfield