Whilst we are on a local venue theme, we are also delighted to be sponsoring the play Dangerous Liasons at The Theatre Royal in Winchester on 24th and 25th June.  We do hope several of our clients will join us for the evening.

Gerard Basset with Creative Catering for the Rose Road Appeal

We activelysupport local charities, Naomi House being one of these.  In addition we are working with The Rose Road Appeal in June to provide canapes for a wine tasting event run by the award winning Gerard Basset of Hotel Terravina.

We are currently interviewing for the following positions:

Experienced sous chef for a permanent full time position

Experienced cooks to work on a casual and part-time basis

Front of House Event Managers to work on a casual and part-time basis, running events throughout the south of England.

Friendly waiting staff who will look after our clients and make sure they have a good time, this position is for casual part-time work, especially through the busy summer months.

If any of the above postions are of interest to you, please call Helen, Catherine or Nicola  on 01962 849396 or email us on office@thecreativecateringcompany.co.uk

What we are up to at Creative Catering?

February and March are busy times for the team at Creative Catering, not a huge month for events, which tend to start once Easter is over, the clocks have changed and the weather begins to warm up – we hope!  However, lots of jobs to be done, starting with our annual deep clean of our two production kitchens, when every piece of equipment is removed, ceilings and walls washed and the floor re-painted, quite a mammoth job, but it’s a great ’spring clean’.

Rob, our new Head Chef joined us in November, after living and working in Spain for 12 years and along we Lee who has been with the company for 4 years are both busy trialing new recipes to add to our list of menus for events. 

Lunches have been very good just lately and Catherine, Helen and I have been chief food tasters – not good for the waistline!  But wow, the boys have come up with some great dishes which I shall be adding to our repertoire.

After Easter we shall have our final food tasting for Grange Park Opera and are really looking forward to another successful and busy year up at Grange Park, Northington.  If you have never been, I would highly recommend an evening at the Opera, you can dine in the Restaurant, order a picnic or take your own, the only thing you cannot book is the weather! on a lovely English summer evening, there is not a more beautiful spot to enjoy your picnic!

Creative Catering & Marquees

You may have noticed that we have changed our logo with the addition of ” & marquee hire”.  We have been supplying marquees for over 15 years, however, it’s surprising how many people are not aware of this, so at last we have taken notice and added the wording to our logo.  Unlike the majority of catering companies, we do not ’sub-out’ our marquee enquiries.  David, one of our Director manages this area of the business and it is of huge benefit to our clients who book the combined catering and marquee with us.  The feedback we have from clients is that the peace of mind and ease of business when dealing with one company was fantastic.

I have also heard some horror stories from clients who recall times when things have not gone to plan with the marquee they had hired, and  on the night there was no representative from the marquee company to deal with their concerns.

Children’s Easter Cookery Classes

We still have a few dates left on our children’s Easter cookery classes.  They are so popular that some Mums get together and take a whole class for 12 children.  If you are interested in doing this, please talk to Helen or Catherine in our office and they will let you know what dates we have in the school holidays.

We have classes running on Tuesday 13th April 2-5pm  Wednesday 14th 10am-1pm and 2pm – 5pm

We provide all the ingredients, a snack during the class, containers to take their delights home in and the use of an apron.  They will cook three dishes to take home, normally a starter, main and pudding.  I run the cookery classes and I have lots of ideas of what we are going to cook this holiday, however, I now need to narrow it down and let everyone know!!

It would be great to see some new faces at the classes along with our regular chefs.

Best wishes and I hope you all have a lovely Easter. 

Kaye

Rob our Head Chef  demonstrated a selection of our canapes including some favourites using local Hampshire produce.

• River Itchen smoked trout on buckwheat blinis with a lime and dill creme fraiche
• Savoury choux buns filled with New Forest blue cheese and a grape and tarragon salsa
• Hampshire beef and chorizo meatballs with a tangy tomato sauce
• Hampshire lamb fillet rolled with fresh herbs served onto a polenta wafer
• Chilli and Nettle cheese from Loosehanger cheeses  with grapes and figs
• Watercress shots with creme fraiche and curry oil
• Local pork sausages from Robert Owton’s butcher,  glazed with honey from Easton

Sadly I cannot post an image of this event as I am having an issue with my computer!! once that is sorted I will add one.

Chilli Potato Cakes

Vegetarian

Prep Time: 15 mins
Cook Time: 8 mins
Serves: 4

Ingredients

800g potatoes, diced
1 tbsp olive oil
1 red chilli, finely chopped
1 tsp smoked paprika or
1 tsp harrissa paste
2 tbsp flour
20g coriander, chopped
oil for shallow frying

 Method

Place the potatoes in a large saucepan and cover with cold water.  Bring to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes until tender.  Drain.

Add the oil to the pan and fry the chilli and paprika for 1 minute.  Add the remaining ingredients and coarsely mash, season to taste.  Divide into 8 and pat into flat round cakes.

Heat a little oil in a non stick frying pan and fry potato cakes in 2 batches for 1-2 minutes on each side until golden. 

 Serve with guacamole, tomato salsa and leaf salad for a light lunch or starter.

Dauphinoise Potatoes

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cooking time 1 – 1 1/2 hrs

Serves 6

Ingredients

1kg waxy potatoes such as Desiree or the local Hampshire potato Maris Bard

150ml full fat milk

142 ml double cream

1 large clove of garlic

pinch of grated nutmeg

salt and pepper

25 grm butter for greasing the dish

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 160 oc (gas 5)

Butter an 8″ ceramic baking dish

Heat together the milk, cream, crushed garlic and nutmeg in a pan.

Peel and thinly slice the potatoes, place them in the pan with the liquid and gently stir. dip the mix into the ceramic dish and shuffle the dish to settle the poato slices into layers.  Pour over the liquid to fill the dish.  Cover dish with greaseproof paper and foil and bake in the oven for 1 hour.

Remove foil and paper and place back in the oven until golden brown 15-20 minutes.

This dish can be cooked in advance and re-heated.

Potato, chorizo (or sausage/ham) and sweetcorn chowder

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil

1 small/medium onion, peeled and finely chopped

1 clove of garlic, crushed

450 grms floury potato such as King Edward or the Hamphire grown potato Robinta

227 grm chorizo or spicy sausage, chopped quite small (could use ham instead)

500 mls milk

1 bay leaf

Pinch of thyme

500 mls chicken stock

200grms canned or frozen sweetcorn (or fresh in the season)

2 tbsps chopped fresh spring onions to garnish (optional)

Method:

Heat the oil in a large saucepan and saute the onion for 5-6 minutes until softend but not brown, add the garic and potatoes and cook for 1-2 minutes.

Add the sausage, stock and milk, bay laef and thyme.  Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes or until the potatoes are tender.  Stir in the sweetcorn and cook for 2-3 minutes.  Season to taste.

Garnish with the chopped spring onion or chives if desired.

We had a great Saturday night (12th December) our second year catering for the British Comedy Awards at the ITV studio on Southbank.  800 people throughout the evening, finishing with a lively after-show party.

Tilly and Ellie (Centre) at The British Comedy Awards 2009

 It was great to catch up with old school friend and fellow former Easton resident, Jack Dee on the night. 

Kaye with Jack Dee at The British Comedy Awards 2009

Work is very busy at the Creative Catering kitchen.  We have a new Head Chef, Robert Hawes, who has litterally been thrown in at the deep end with his first big party being the Comedy Awards, last weekend.  Rob is doing really well and I will post a full profile of  him along with our other two new members of staff, Helen and Catherine, in the New Year.

I shall be taking two children’s Christmas cookery classes on Friday, sadly only enough time for two this year, however I have more planned for the holidays next year and will keep you all posted.

Our Christmas food orders are flying out the door.  Having a stock of homemade canapes and food in the freezer over the Festive season is so handy, and proving even more popular with clients this year.

This will probably be the last blog for 2009 so I would like to wish you all a very happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year.

Moroccan style party village

Hey, look at this, another blog up-date within one week! 

I’m really excited to announce that we shall be working with Nick and Chris at Pukkah Tents by combining our two styles of marquees.  We offer the very practical white pvc frame marquees and Pukkah provide the Moroccan Raj style tents, which offer a more bohemian feel .  Both styles work really well and it is great to offer our clients various options for the style they are after.  In the winter, the white pvc marquees are the most practical option, to cope with the weather, however, what we shall be offering in conjunction with Pukkah, is to use a pvc marquee and line the interior with the pukkah style lining and themed seating etc.  Lot’s of possibilities which we hope will appeal to all tastes and budgets.

Moroccan themed lining for marquee

 

If you would like to discuss the wide range of marquee styles we can now offer, please do call us, the possibilities for a themed party are endless!

 

For a great band, look no further than this guy!

Spencer, Lead singer with Earthlights Boogie Band

Last week I told you about the fab band Earthlights Boogie Band, here is an image, from which I am sure you will realise, Spencer is no shrinking violet!

Help for Heroes

We seem to be constantly at Avington Park at the moment, which is great, right on our doorstep and Sarah and Charlie are a delight to work with.

 Last night we worked with  Cadogon & Co  and Guy Kremer of Winchester on a charity fashion show event to raise money for Help for Heroes .  It was lovely to see Johnny, from Guy Kremer, providing the  styling for the models hair, which  teamed up with beautiful clothes from Cadogan  resulted in some very elegant and chic looking models.  Just wish I was a size 10!

For anyone interested in picking up some cookery tips from an expert should take a look at Kate Hughes website can’t boil an egg.  Kate runs her courses from our teaching kitchen at Creative Catering in Easton, which is very accesible on the outskirts of Winchester and with free parking – a bonus!  Kate is a Pru Leith trained teacher, so you will be learing from the best and she covers lots of different topics.  A gift voucher for a cookery lesson would be a great Christmas present.

I have been asked by a few people who enjoyed the summer soup recipe for Courgette, pea and mint soup to offer another.  So a favourite of our’s is roasted butternut squash and cinnamon, squash is in season now, so easy to get your hands on.

Honey and cinnamon roasted butternut squashand sweet potato soup

 INGREDIENTS

 5 oz peeled butternut squash

3 oz peeled sweet potato

2 oz peeled potato

4 oz sliced onion (or one small onion)

2 oz butter

1 pint of vegetable or chicken stock

1 pudding spoon of runny honey

A pinch of ground cinnamon

Salt and pepper

Splash of milk may be required

 Lightly whipped cream to swirl for serving, if desired

  METHOD

 Pre-heat the oven to 200°c gas 8

1. Roughly chop the peeled butternut squash and place in a baking tray.  Drizzle with the honey and sprinkle over the cinnamon.
2. Roast in the hot oven for approx. 10-15 minutes until the squash becomes golden.
3. Place your butter into a medium sized saucepan on a gently heat and allow the butter to melt.
4. Peel, slice and chop your onion, add to the saucepan and gently sauté with the lid on the pan, to encourage the onion to sauté rather than fry.
5. Chop the peeled sweet and ordinary potato, and add to the sautéed onion.
6. Heat up your stock or dissolve the stock cube with boiling water, add this to the potatoes in the pan.
7. Add the roasted butternut squash.
8. Place the lid on the saucepan and simmer gently for 25 minutes.

10. Turn off the heat and remove the lid, allow the soup to cool slightly before blending in a liquidizer.

11. Check the consistency and the taste of the soup and season as necessary.

12. Never add the salt during the cooking process as stock cubes especially, can be salty.

13. Pour the pureed soup into a clean container and when cool store in the fridge.

Re-heat as required and delicious eaten with a warm blue cheese scone

Enjoy!