A Huge Italian Wedding

My day began as a nightmare for any chef out there. Ok, not totally true, but my day began in the castle again around 11:00a.m., where preparations were beginning for a wedding of 210 guests. I started with preparing the canapés that would need to be ready around 3:30 – today’s were smoked salmon and crème fraiche blinis, tomato and basil crustini, baby baked potatoes with red onion marmalade and sour cream, spiced chicken kebabs, and vegetable spring rolls with sweet chili sauce. Both the salmon and tomato basil canapés consisted of a flat bread base with a quenelle of topping. Making quenelles is something we all dread. Ok, it is not by far the worst job in the kitchen, however, I know I am not very good at it. It is tedious. Quenelles are oval or egg shaped pieces of food, usually crafted from softer foods such as sorbet, goat’s cheese, or purées. It takes a lot of practice, patience, and a special knack to make quenelles, and I must have formed over three hundred today (including the ones I had to scrap and redo). I can by no means claim myself as a quenelle master yet, I am still rather slow at it, but I am much better than I used to be. Next I headed over to the marquee in the box truck with some supplies to help with some of the plating there. I piped over two hundred servings of mango passionfruit sorbet into shot glasses. This sounds like a pretty easy job, but oh my goodness you do not realize how cold sorbet straight from the freezer is when put into a plastic piping bag. Although I was wearing thermal gloves, I have hands that are particularly sensitive to the cold and frostbite, so this was not a very fun job.
            After a quick staff lunch of garden salad and pasta casserole, I got back to work with the canapés and scones with jam and clotted cream for tea time. Then I began plating up the canapés for service. They left me completely alone in the kitchen to do this – which surprised me considering it was only my second day, and everyone else was over at the marquee. Once they were all served, it was back to the marquee to get ready for dinner service. It was much like yesterday – saucing and dressing the starters, finishing the soup and sauces, then once service started plating everything assembly-line style, plating desserts, preparing everything, etc.

Here is the complete menu:
Starter: Smoked salmon and prawns bound in Marie Rose sauce, mixed greens and red pepper essence OR Organic Goat’s Cheese Parfait with Ratatouille Chutney & Basil Pesto, Balsamic and Sherry Reduction OR a melon rose vegan choice.
 Soup: Cream of Potato and Leek scented with truffle with Wheaten Bread and assorted rolls.
Sorbet: Mango Passionfruit.
Main Course Option #1 - Meat: Seared Fillet of Irish Beef served medium rare, celeriac purée, braised shallot, champ, brandy and Madagascar green peppercorn sauce.
Main Course Option #2 - Fish: Grilled Salmon, champ, parsley cream sauce.
Main Course Option #3 – Vegetarian: Mediterranean Vegetable Tart with Spinach and Goat Cheese Filling in puff pastry.
Side Dishes: Roast Baby Potatoes, and Roast carrots, onions, parsnip, and turnip.
Dessert: Warm Chocolate Brownie with caramel ice cream and rich chocolate sauce.
Petits Fours Assortment - madeleines, cranberry white fudge, fruit jellies, chocolate pieces.

The dessert for the wedding tonight - also one of my favirte things in the world to eat, and after a ten hour day, boy did I enjoy a leftover!

We endured a twenty minute break between the entrée and the dessert in order for some wedding guests to do some crazy loud Italian singing or something. You would think we would be glad to have a minute to regroup or take a breath, but honestly, once service begins it is much easier just to keep going and be done with it. The singing was, however, entertaining and unusual, and I am wondering how drunk they all were.
 We finished up service around 9:00, which means drinking and smoking and socializing time, although I only partake in the socializing part, and eating any food if there is some left (especially the brownie). Chef always makes sure I get to try the foods, and he drove me back to the lodge as well.