A Modern English Dinner Party

In 9 Courses [Menu]

Guest blogged by Amanda Berne, Senior Cookbook Editor at Ten Speed Press.

Photographed by T. Shane Gilman

Nyetimber - Champagne-style English Sparkling wine really does taste great after its been laid down for a couple of years (thanks for the tip Andrew)

Friday morning, well into the planning of our feast… recipes chosen, guests invited, wine pairings suggested… an e-mail comes in from Sam, my co-chef/conspirator—you know, the owner of this blog. Some highlights:

From Sam Breach
To Amanda Berne
Date Apr 20, 2007 5:21 AM
Subject arrrgh

"last nigh i stabbed my hand wit a skewer… cant move my middle left finger…i am try to find vicodene but i cant find it…why does it hurt so much?"

Uh, oh.

The quick story? Sam was in pain for the love of English food. She stabbed herself with a skewer while trying to rig some yogurt draining contraption in her refrigerator with skewers and rubberbands.

Don't try this at home. Really.

We had to feed 12 people in roughly 36 hours. Nine courses, including an amuse, fish course, soup course, appetizer, palate cleanser, entrée, cheese course, dessert and mignardise. The last thing I needed was a swollen, drooling co-chef with one hand. I offered postponement, but to my relief she didn't. My Sam, she's a trooper.

It's not like we just wake up, e-mail each other and say, hey, let's have a nine course dinner party for 12 tonight.

We started weeks before and the spreadsheet master, that's Sam to the mere mortals out there, got us hooked up on the Google shared spreadsheet so that we could start tossing ideas around. It was St. George's Day, some holiday in England, and Sam was set for an English feast.

I should offer — I'm not English, nor British even. I'm from Baltimore; not very helpful. What Sam doesn't know is that I might have inwardly cringed a little when she suggested that. English food is the butt of many, many jokes, some of which I might have made at one point. I mean, really, who eats faggots and feels ok about it after?

Here was a typical conversation during our planning process:

"Sam, how about we do rarebit?"
"Amanda, that's Welsh not English." Oh.

"Sam, how about we do mushy peas?"
"um, no, they are gross." Oh.
(I won on that one though; see later in post.)

Beans on toast? Gross.
Black pudding? Nope, can't really get it here.
Bacon pudding? Um, what?!? Ok, this one doesn't exist.

Getting the point? There could be no Sam down — I needed her.

But, for those who have met Sam, well, she's one tough broad, and Friday night she picked me up to go shopping and get started. We hauled everything up to her amazing apartment, and got to work.

First thing was first: We had to order pizza.

With that tough task out of the way, it was time to start prepping. That night we made Campari and grapefruit sodas; cleaned fresh sardines to marinate in malt vinegar; made chicken wingettes into stylish lollipops; ate pizza; prepped the tikka masala sauce; ate some chocolate; made mint oil; drank champers.

Slept.

As usual, Sam woke me up at some ungodly hour to go to the farmers' market. She softened the blow with a cup of tea and promised to buy me a Claire's Square for my trouble. Bribery works, folks. Her hand was still swollen, but looking (a bit) better, but she still couldn't do certain things. Like zip her own coat—that's what friends are for.

We spent the next 12 hours shopping and cooking, with barely a moment to sit down. There were moments of panic (I won't tell you which ones), and moments of pure, unadulterated joy, while tasting all the dishes (and the Claire's Flapjacks, my new favorite treat). And many moments in between as we danced around the kitchen to BBC Radio 2 streamed in through the speakers. It was all-British, all the time from this moment on. Including the fresh English muffins that I bought from Boulette's Larder to cheer up my wounded English friend. It worked, especially with the salty English-style butter. Oh, and the lemon cake.

We finished down to the wire, I was out of the shower minutes before our first guests arrived, and the kitchen was clean with our stations set to plate each dish as it was served.

We went for a modern English approach...

Mini Yorkshire puddings with seared grass-fed beef, fresh horseradish sauce and watercress were the perfect starter for when guests arrived. A toast of good English bubbly that Sam had been cellaring for 2 years, was actually quite a nice way to start the evening. It was only when everyone was there that we told the guests our St. George's theme

If you've been to England and haven't scarfed down fish and chips, hot out of the fryer, 1 a.m. after the pubs close, then you haven't been to England. Our version, being the first course, was considerably lighter. We marinated fresh local sardines, made a mash of English peas, and home-fried paper-thin potato chips. Fried in groundnut (peanut) oil—um, ridiculous

Peas and mint are a classic English combination, so we prepared a super silky pea soup with a drizzle, polka dot and swirl of mint oil. The trick here is that you don't need to strain the soup—just blend like hell until it's as smooth as you want it. That could be up to five minutes


Curry houses are some of the best eating on the cheap in London, so we paid homage with the "Chicken Dippa Masala," which were yogurt-marinated chicken "lollipops" with a smooth, spicy, sweet masala. We were eating this out of the blender with spoons. Shhhhhhhh

Gin; cucumbers. Must I say more on the English-ness? And, yes, they were English cucumbers


I don't know when beef Wellington went out of fashion, but I say we make a protest to bring it back. Especially our deconstructed wellys with puff pastry circles, grass-fed filet, mushroom duxelle, seared foie, herb crepes and pan sauce. Rich? Yes. I might have licked the plate. Served with the cutest little kale-kissed Bubble & Squeak cakes ever.

I don't know why ploughmen only eat cheese. I think it's an English thing. But, I love Ploughman's lunch. Ours included an English Cheddar and Cheshire. We had rhubarb two ways to go with it – chutney and stewed – and salty English (syle) butter for the bread. At least what I hadn't used in cooking that day. Oops!

I found my new favorite dessert. Sticky toffee pudding. It's so wonderfully English, with a simple caramel made from cream, brown sugar and butter. I ate mine, and then the guy's next to me. Ok, I didn't eat his, but we split the remainder of someone else's. I know. It's a sickness

Finally, for a last bite, Maids of Honour, the small puff pastry tarts with a curd, almond and lemon-y filling

Each course had wine or beer pairings [like the Duchy Originals Organic English Ale pictured above] that we assigned, and we finished the night dancing to one of England's modern songstresses, Amy Winehouse

Next time any of you refer to English food as a joke, well, I'm gonna sic my one-handed English friend Sam on you!

Amanda Berne

Other Resources & Further Reading
Samanda Dinner One
Archives
2006 | Experimenting for England - English Dessert Recipes - What's For Pud Roundup
2005 | Teaching Tim 2 - Tips on making Chicken Tikka Masala


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A Modern English Dinner Party