I Survived Operation Wedding.

pina colada espuma

I can’t remember ever smiling so much over one weekend! My favourite couple got married and being part of their celebration, ceremony and the traditions was really magical. From us girls ‘extorting money’ from the groom and his band of brothers, the serving of tea to the solemnization of their marriage in the church sanctuary; the wedding was beautiful, and it was a great and funny love story of two great friends.

Cooking for the party on the other hand was a real LABOUR of love. I love these two to bits, but I had to resist screaming and kicking them for changing the guest list every other week, and to my horror, they did so again 45 minutes to the dinner party, so the already burgeoning guest list extended itself again. Nonetheless, we had enough the feed the hungry, unfortunately I forgot my camera and so asked a friend to take the photos for me, but he was a little too busy munching away that he forgot to snap!

So after a month of experimenting and debating about what should be served, and if it was feasible, this is the menu for the dinner party.

Nibbles to prevent gastric while waiting for the late comers
Chips and Dips
Bruchetta
Quail’s eggs steeped in a dark sweet sauce
Assorted gourmet sausages with red cabbage
White Chocolate with Caviar

Vegetables
Aubergines with garlic, mint and chili
Vegetarian rice paper rolls
Sambal kangkong with goats cheese wantons

Seafood
Salmon tartare with wasabi aioli, tobikko and nori

Meat
New Style Beef Sashimi with sesame dressing

Refresher
Pomelo Salad
Pina Colada Espuma

Carbohydrates
Linguine with crab, garlic, chili, prawns and garlic chips

Sugar High
Chocolate tart with strawberry ice cream

I felt a little like the surreal gourmet and his traveling toaster mobile, since I practically brought half my kitchen along with me, my giant microwave, knives, serving plates, shot glasses, mixing bowls, tupperwares of prepped food, baking dishes, graters and all the bits and pieces since I was cooking at the couple’s new house and rather naked kitchen.

Once the people started streaming in and the alcoholic punch bowl level started dipping, I had to start churning some food to feed the hungry. The salmon tartare was probably the crowd pleaser. The fresh salmon against the creamy and zingy aioli and the tobikko left many wanting for more, but I only made enough for 18 portions. This is great because the tobikko adds crunch and fun to the dish with the tiny bubbles of roe bursting in your mouth.

My personal favourite was the pina colada espuma, simply because since I purchased my ISI profi whip, I haven’t had a chance to use it yet, and so I was simply dying to put it into action. It’s great for parties too because you can make everything in advance and just give it a little shake and a squeeze when needed. The pina colada was great too, as the cold foam acted as it’s a shot of light cold goodness.

I’m rather proud of my semi-cheesy cliché dessert course. I tried to play on the theme of love (since it was a celebration of the union of two people), and so I wanted to have chocolate, strawberries and champagne in the dessert course. Hence, this is what I pieced together, dark chocolate tart served with a side of strawberry ice cream and sticks of chocolate and strawberry pocky and a little glass of champagne. A little toast to the couple and we rounded off our meal.

Operation wedding in my opinion was a success, YAY! (over and out!)