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Tim Brennan
Tim Brennan is the owner of catering company Caper & Berry. Contact: www.caperandberry.co.uk |
Tim Brennan answers all your Catering related questions |
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Keep it local
Q. Is it possible to create a great summer wedding menu using only locally sourced produce? If so, is it going to be more expensive?
A. Tim Brennan says: The best reason to use locally sourced food is for its freshness and we are lucky enough in Surrey to have some really fine producers.
If you're planning a summer menu, a popular choice is an asparagus tart with a cheese and baby leaf salad. Secrett's farm in Milford grows the most wonderful asparagus and its range of leaves and herbs is stunning. For local cheese try EIEIO Cheese in Thursley.
Another good option is a trout salad or pâté with watercress, using smoked fish from Tillingbourne.
For a main course you could opt for a fillet of beef, either served individually as steaks or cooked whole on the barbeque and served with béarnaise sauce and watercress. Surrey has some amazing local meat producers. Lower Roundhurst Farm near Haslemere has fantastic lamb and beef. While Hatchlands Park, a National Trust property near Guildford, has some of the best beef I have ever tasted.
To finish, it has to be summer berries, perhaps made into an Eton Mess.
Sourcing food locally does often carry a premium, however I firmly believe that knowing the heritage of your food is important. The extra cost will not be vast, but the difference in taste will be substantial. |
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Cheesed off
Q. We wanted to serve something different to the traditional cheese board and biscutis to our guests in the evening. Do you have any suggestions?
A. Tim Brennan says: This is a question often asked and here are some interesting alternatives.
Posh hot dogs - Cook a variety of sausage flavours over a charcoal barbeque and serve them in freshly baked rolls with a selection of homemade chutneys and relishes.
Ice creams - Perhaps employ a waitress to offer little pots of ice creams to your guests from old fashioned cinema attendance trays. These go down a treat as it cools everyone down from the hot dance floor.
Mini fish and chips - Serve these in newspaper cones with homemade tartar sauce. A delicate beer batter on the fish, and crisp fries are the perfect end to the evening.
Chocolate fountain - What can be better than dipping fresh english strawberries in rich warm chocolate.
Coffee trolley - Serving a selection of coffees to your guests in the evening always works well. Why not spice it up with some exciting liquers? |
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Cheesed off
Q. We wanted to serve something different to the traditional cheese board and biscuits to our guests in the evening. Do you have any suggestions?
A. Tim Brennan says: This is a question often asked and here are some interesting alternatives. Why not try:
Posh hot dogs ? Cook a variety of sausage flavours over a charcoal barbeque and serve them in freshly baked rolls with a selection of homemade chutneys and relishes.
Ice creams ? Perhaps employ a waitress to offer little pots of ice creams to your guests from old fashioned cinema attendance trays. These go down a treat as it cools everyone down from the hot dance floor.
Mini fish and chips ? serve these in newspaper cones with homemade tartar sauce. A delicate beer batter on the fish, and crisp fries are the prefect end to the evening.
Chocolate fountain ? what can be better than dipping fresh English strawberries in rich warm chocolate?
Coffee trolley ? serving a selection of coffees to your guests in the evening always works well. Why not spice it up with some exciting liqueurs?
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Return to Oz
Q. My fiancé is Australian and we have lots of his family and friends coming over for our big day. My only concern is that they may find the wedding too formal! How can we incorporate an informal meal which gets people talking and brings everyone together after the church service?
A. Tim Brennan says: Food is a great way to get people talking and the more interactive that you can make it the better. We are doing some really interesting things with food at the moment and some of the most popular ideas have been: food stalls instead of a canapés reception, sushi rolled to order, a seafood tempura station or a freshly grilled satay bar. Last summer we did a circus themed wedding and had a spectacular flavoured hot popcorn bar.
Instead of the traditional plated starter, how about anti pasti platters with char grilled asparagus, cured meats and roasted marinated vegetables or even a cracking seafood platter with seared tuna, smoked fishes and king prawns?
I always think that barbequing meats is the best way to eat them in the summer, we marinated our fillets of beef or butterflied legs of lamb for 48 hours and then served them on wooden boards to each table with salads. If you want to be really different, why not pick a guest to carve the meats on each table.
Lastly, why not have a selection of mini desserts instead of just one dessert, so that each of your guests gets two or three different desserts to try? Later in the evening we often wander around with old fashioned cinema usherette's trays full of organic ice cream pots, which always go down a treat. |
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