A Nice Day For A Wedding

This morning I got to work early again, 10:30a.m. for the expected 11:00a.m., so I helped out the breakfast chef again until I had to start. I fried up some more sausages for him, then he told me to help myself to something. So I practiced making a cheese omelette. Here, they make classical French cigar omelettes, instead of the folded ones I am used to, which are a bit trickier, but at least my omelette did not turn out brown and it was certainly tasty. 
Next, I moved on to more prep work for after dinner snacks and canapés for tonight and tomorrow’s weddings. I began by making bacon butties – which essentially involves slathering butter on baguette buns and topping them with slabs of bacon. Sounds classy, right? Well as the chef I was working with said, it doesn’t matter how classy the establishment is, when it is eleven at night and you’ve had a few too many and you already had your fine dining meal, all you want is salty meat and bread. I also prepared the crème fraiche smoked salmon mix for blinis, and smoked chicken, black olive pesto mix for phyllo tarts, as well as the crab mix to stuff into cherry tomatoes. Staff meal was honey roasted chicken, curry fried rice, and potato wedges, which is basically a different take on the exact same lunch as yesterday. Luckily, there was leftover fruit salad and Greek yogurt from breakfast too. 
After prep, I headed over to the marquee, where we were doing the usual wedding dinner preparations. I spent the first good chunk of time wiping grease from the beef plates that had been previously done up and refrigerated, as for some reason the carrot fennel purée ran oil all over the plates. This seems tedious and unnecessary, but in fine dining, your plates must be exact and pristine. Next we heated up soup, baked rolls, heated sauces, cooked the side dishes, etc. Then we plated and dressed appetizers, filled and garnished soup bowls, cleaned sorbet glasses, plated mains, trayed up desserts, and the wedding meal was served!

Rows and rows of delicious chocolate mousse - my favorite wedding dessert!

I really enjoy working weddings. It isn’t too rushed and stressful, and the plating is fun. The menu also changes a lot from wedding to wedding too, yet you always know it is the same process and order. We tend to finish up by 9:00p.m., which isn’t too late, and there are usually leftover meals and desserts we can have – which are of course delicious. I also have just always liked weddings because they are such happy and special days, and I am glad I get to work behind the scenes of so many of them.

Tonight’s menu was:
Starter: Marinated Escalope of Local Chicken with sliced plum tomatoes, mixed leaves, balsamic, and basil pesto.
Soup:  Cream of Celeriac and Smoked Bacon, with truffle oil.
Sorbet: Lemon 
Main Course Option #1 - Meat: Irish Rib-Eye Steak with braised shallot, crushed potatoes with garlic and spinach, carrot and corriander purée, rich red wine jus.
Main Course Option #2 - Fish: Grilled Irish Salmon, salad of fennel marinated in lemon, baby spinach, vierge dressing.
Main Course Option #3 – Vegetarian: Provençal Vegetable Pithivier with Red Pepper Tapenade & Basil Pesto
Side Dishes: Roast Baby Potatoes, and Roast carrots, onions, parsnip, and turnip.
Dessert: Dark Chocolate and Orange Mousse with Praline Ice Cream.

Petits Fours Assortment: madeleines, cranberry white fudge, fruit jellies, flaked white chocolate truffles, Belgian dark chocolate truffles.