Caviar and Chips: four Easter menus that will knock your socks off!

As wedding caterers, Caviar and Chips know a thing or two about creating celebratory meals. They are an award-winning, bespoke catering company catering for weddings and events all over the UK - making event planning simple.

Their menus are often created based on three special things…where the happy couple met, where they fell in love and their absolute favourite food and drink.  

With Easter just around the corner, Caviar and Chips came up with some of the most romantic celebratory menus they could think of, to knock your socks off. 

Their Head Chef, Mike Scott, has crafted four delicious menus that are just perfect for an Easter feast with the one you love.  

Starter course:

• Smoked Pheasant
• Jerusalem artichoke Purée
• King Oyster Mushroom
• Blue Cheese Beignets
• Black Pudding & Apple

We’re so lucky that Britain has some of the best produce in the world.  The seasons provide us with their bounty to enjoy again and again. There are two courses here where the main focus is Game.

For the starter course, a beautifully smoked Pheasant roasted on the bone before being basted in herb butter. I’ve paired it with an earthy purée of Jerusalem Artichokes (one of my favourite root vegetables) and meaty King Oyster Mushrooms. Alongside is a rich black pudding to add some texture and bulk to the plate. To balance the dish, I’ve added a salty, creamy Stilton and plenty of crisp fresh apples.

Next up is the main course and for this dish, I’m going to be tender with a delicious pan-roasted Duck.

Main course:

• Pan-Roasted Duck Breast
• Duck Leg & Chocolate Roulade
• Spinach
• Heritage Carrots
• Cherry Chocolate Jus

Crispy skin, soft meat, and a roulade of braised leg meat and dark chocolate - what’s not to love?! Game and chocolate work really well together, be it Pigeon, Venison, or in this case, Duck - it just goes beautifully. However, the pairing of rich Duck meat and rich chocolate needs managing. So I’ve added some spinach for fresh greens flavour and sweet anise-infused heritage carrots to level the playing field. To cut through the flavours, cherries are a wonderful option - especially with Duck.

After these two hearty dishes, I imagine you’ll both want to lighten things up for the dessert, so here is a British classic for you, Lemon Meringue Pie!

Dessert:

• Lemon Meringue Pie
• Chambord Cream & Raspberry Coulis

Zingy lemon curd, crispy, flaky pastry, lighter-than-air, sweet meringue….what more do you want? This pie features an Italian meringue, set over the curd filling before being lightly baked and then torched to bring out a multitude of flavours and textures.

This really is a great way to round off this 'Best of British' meal before you snuggle up on the sofa with a glass of something special.

Asian cuisine includes the most fantastic aromatics, always over-delivering on scent and flavour, and also lends itself wonderfully to meat, fish, and vegetables alike. A menu to light up your senses is exactly what we want to stir up some passion.

Starter Course:

• Seared King Scallops
• Mango Chilli Salsa

This is simple, light, and incredibly fresh. Mango chilli salsa is one of my favourite garnishes and works beautifully with the sweet scallops here. Diced ripe mango is combined with cucumber, red onion, red chilli, coriander, lime juice and a little oil. The dish itself is literally just scallops and the salsa - again a wonderful pairing. For me, it really doesn’t need anything else. The ingredients on the plate sing together and that’s all they need to do.

Main Course:

• Monkfish Curry
• Fine Beans & Coriander
• Jasmine Rice

Next up is a vibrant Red Curry, utilising some of the amazing ingredients that feature in Thai Cuisine.  Red and green chilli, lemongrass, Thai basil, fish sauce, coconut milk and ginger.

I cook the fish in a pan, to begin with, in order to develop some golden brown colour and texture.  Then poach it the rest of the way in the sauce, allowing both elements to share the flavour with each other. I do the same with the beans, tossed quickly in the juices from the Monkfish before being finished together in the sauce. If you’ve ever eaten Thai street food, you’ll know there is usually a selection of toppings to complete your dish, and this is the case here. I recommend some micro coriander - for some punch to bring out the existing coriander in the curry.  Thinly sliced red and green chilli and spring onion. I’d leave it there personally but you can add chopped roasted peanuts or chilli flakes if you want to start getting carried away!

Dessert:

• Matcha & White Chocolate Mousse
• Hazelnut Sponge & Cherry Compote

For dessert, chocolate and cherry is a match made in heaven. However, between the sweet, creamy chocolate flavour and the more tart cherry, there is room for the matcha to stand up to some of that richness. Hazelnut is a personal favourite of mine and gives another dimension to the flavour and texture.  A rochelle of mousse over some white chocolate crumb, the cherry compote and fresh cherries dotted around, and torn pieces of sponge filling in the gaps…mmmm!

The interest and variety in plant-based food has come on so much in recent years and it's fantastic to see this embraced.  Dietary alternatives certainly shouldn’t be an afterthought and I know many vegans and vegetarians who are very bored by the thought of risotto followed by melon! 

Here I’ve written a menu comprised of dishes that highlight the progress of plant-based ingredients, but not purely for the sake of using them. These tasty, colourful delights will bring a spark to your romantic evening with your loved one, and I really hope you enjoy them.

Starter Course:

• Three-Way Beetroot

• Tomato Salad

To start things off, I’ve got a Beetroot and Tomato Salad. With simple ingredients comes the need to bring the best out of them, and to create a combination of flavours and textures to amuse and satisfy the palate. Starting with the beetroot, I’m presenting it in three ways - roasted, pickled and powdered. The roasted beetroot is earthy and provides the depth of flavour the dish needs, while the pickled version brings acidity - it’s also raw so provides bite.

The powder nicely coats elements on the dish, allowing the beetroot flavour to permeate through each mouthful. For the Tomatoes, I’m using Heirloom Tomatoes, bringing subtle differences in flavour, as well as an amazing contrast of colours. They’ve been marinated in salt, sugar and a little balsamic vinegar, to bring out their natural sweetness and to fuse with the flavour of the beetroot.

Main Course:

• Stuffed Courgette
• Herb Crumb
• Tenderstem & Spinach Salad

This main course is a little lighter but full of flavour and texture. Roasted whole courgettes are opened up and stuffed with an intense, reduced Mediterranean vegetable salsa, before being topped with a crisp herb crumb. I then pack them full of parsley, tarragon, chives, mint and seasoning. This adds crunch to each mouthful, contrasting with the softened courgette and the jewelled salsa. The spinach and tenderstem salad provides some levity, texture again, and the sweetness from the broccoli really compliments the other vegetables.

Dessert:

• Chocolate & Raspberry

Now you’re in for a real treat with this dessert. Chocolate and raspberry are my absolute favourite flavour combination in a chocolate dessert, and here I’ve combined the two in a number of ways. Firstly, we’ll start with the base, made from a shortbread and raspberry crumb. I’m using crispy raspberries that have been freeze-dried as they provide a nice crunch and have an insane raspberry flavour! Secondly, there is a tart raspberry sorbet.  This icy addition makes the dish more playful by contrasting the temperatures you experience when eating. Some fresh raspberries and a raspberry jelly round up the fruit.  Now we require the chocolate elements to balance. Straight away I’ve gone with a rich, creamy, dark chocolate ganache to provide a deep, bitter dimension. I’ve also added some crispy biscuit pearls, coated in chocolate. Finally, the theatrical showpiece of the dessert - the sphere. A dark chocolate sphere, filled with a chocolate mousse, a little Raspberry coulis and some light chocolate sponge. All hidden within the sphere, you can both have some fun smashing it open to reveal the tasty filling.

When it comes to the language Love, the French have historically been top of their game, especially where food is concerned. Rich meats, butter and cream - they certainly know how to put on a spread and create an ambience. Anyone who’s ever had a romantic meal in the close atmosphere of a French Bistro will attest to the fact that the feeling is in a league of its own. This menu features some French classics, but the feel of the menu is decadent and luxurious. Lobster, Beef Fillet, Chocolate - it’s all the good stuff in one tasty menu!

Starter Course:

• Lobster Soufflé

• Samphire

• Lobster Bisque

The Soufflé is perhaps one of the most revered dishes in the culinary world. Many a chef is terrified of the cooking process, fraught with danger at almost every turn! Seriously though, there are some pitfalls during the cooking process, but by sticking to the rules and being patient (don’t open the oven!) They’re very simple. This Lobster Soufflé is obviously savoury, and savoury ones are typically a little more robust and hold their shape once cooked. Nevertheless, make sure you tuck straight in once they come out of the oven! I’ve garnished with some buttery, salty, crunchy samphire to help season and provide texture, and a rich, thick Lobster Bisque to finish the dish.

Main Course:

• Fillet of Beef
• Braised Ox Cheek
• Boulangère Potato with Port Reduction

Next up, we have a rich-yet-delicate beef dish, combining both premium and affordable cuts of beef.  Served alongside flavoursome potatoes, and a sticky, punchy jus. The beef cuts used are fillet - the highest grade of the meat, lean and buttery-soft to eat. And then Ox Cheek (remember it’s the year of the Ox!) A well-worked muscle that requires slow, gentle cooking to make it fall apart in your mouth. These two cuts of meat are a serious and evocative flavour combination.

The Boulangère Potatoes are simply sliced and layered before being cooked in beef stock, and so provide a further hit of beefy goodness. Baby carrots are light and sweet, and so help balance with the richness of the dish, and spinach helps to lighten everything up and give texture. Finally, the Port reduction is sticky, a little sweet, and very powerful, so only requires to be used sparingly. This isn’t the largest of courses, purely due to how intense the flavours are. I wouldn’t want you to peak too soon and particularly before dessert!

Dessert:

• A Symphony of Chocolate

This is the ultimate chocolate showstopper. A classic French delice - somewhere between a Ganache and a Mousse. Topped with chocolate-coated cocoa nibs and popping candy for a little fun. It’s served alongside (now prepare yourself…) a dark chocolate ganache, milk chocolate, caramel-flavoured chocolate cylinder, caramelised white chocolate mousse, white chocolate sauce, milk chocolate ice cream, brioche croutons and a drizzle of honey. An absolute winner for chocolate lovers everywhere!

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