Bream Team cook for The Point People

 A week after our first Bream Team dining extravaganza, one of our brilliant dinner guests, Cassie Robinson approached us to cook and host a working dinner for the Point People, a group of intelligent, creative people working for various organisations and projects, and interested in the grey spaces of collaboration. We were chuffed to bits that not was someone asking for us to cook for them, but that they were actually willing to hire us for the job! Last thursday, we hosted said dinner at the Deptford Project, an amazing place whose centre point is an old rail car-turned-cafe. Compared to our rather extravagant first dinner, this time around we created a paired down, picnic-inspired menu in the hopes of rustling up some summer spirit as rain and wind pelted the windows of the converted rail car that was our dining room.

To get the Point People's working dinner off on the right foot, we served up a 2x4 of hors d'oeuvres - melon wrapped in prosciutto with agave nectar and black pepper, and sauteed halloumi with fresh sage and warm apple, finished with a squirt of lime for them to nibble as they got down to business.

Compared to our last dinner, which consisted of five courses in which nearly everything needed to be prepared moments before serving, we made our job a lot more manageable for a weekday meal by creating a mainly cold main, which was mostly prepared before we arrived (this turned out to be a good call, as it actually freed us up to sit and chat with our diners, instead of roasting away in the kitchen). 

Tom working the double sautee

Flower pot bread

So after a bit of oven time for our last bits of the main course, we were ready to plate up -

teacups of gazpacho

a duck, pork, and pistachio terrine with pistachio pesto, apple, and caperberries

watercress salad with lemon mustard vinaigrette

honey roasted ham

a spinach and smoked salmon tartlet

malted flower pot bread loaves

and for the vegetarian and wheat-free of the group, a summer vegetable gratin.

As we hurried the remnants of the main course away, we prepared for our extra special dessert. Why extra special? Well, Tom is currently working on a project called Meet Market - a project aimed to help train young people in the art of entrepreneurship through creating and running their own market stalls. One of the young people currently working with them is an especially talented young woman named Rav, who is in the midst of setting up her own cupcake business. We asked her to supply the main part of our dessert, and boy did she deliver (I highly recommend her to anyone looking for cupcakes in East London)! 

Aren't these stunning!?

To go along with Rav's beautiful and delectable cakes (of course we had to test a couple earlier in the day...), we made homemade peach and lavender ice cream and rose salt meringues, all of which went down a treat. 

It was a tremendous first venture into some type of catering, and the response we got was pretty overwhelming. A huge thanks to Cassie for giving us a chance. 

The more of this I do, the bigger a buzz I feel from each one, not to mention the bubbling anticipation to plan the next one. 

Speaking of next ones, what are you doing the last weekend in July?.... 

A Night to Remember

Prep time (all photos courtesy of the talented Barry Craig)

Apologies for the delay in finishing my supper club story, the time to contemplate, mull over, and basque in the glowing feeling that it brought hasn't made itself available until now. 

So, where was I? Prep - I don't wish to bore you with the intricacies of slicing paper thin pieces of beetroot to save them from a nearly untimely end, or the countless scales that Tom scraped off our lovely namesake, but needless to say there was plenty of chopping, boiling, rolling, filet-ing, and raucous laughter during those few hours before our guests arrived. Barry snapped plenty of shots of our prep time, so here's a smattering of action shots for your viewing pleasure...

Every good chef needs a glass of wine and an
iphone in their hand...

Hard at work frying things (I think)

I may or may not have arranged everything on the
counter by ingredient and course order...

The moments flew by and before we knew it, our first guests were arriving. They were greeted with a hug and a teacup cocktail of Bison Grass vodka, sparkling elderflower and cucumber and the sounds of the evening's soundtrack. Mingling in the entrance and watching us cook was somewhat daunting, so we soon pulled back the curtains to reveal their dining area for the night... 

Our found wood, mismatched chairs, cutlery and china came together thanks to some brilliant photo studio lighting by our guardian angel Barry. With a centrepiece of strewn ropes, fresh flowers, and candle filled jars, we did our best to set the makeshift mood for the night's culinary antics. 

The room filled, our guests chow down

The Menu

A little hand-drawn pictogram menu by yours truly

Right, enough faffing about, let's get down to the grub. The kitchen was a different world to the dining room, as Tom and I whirled around the space in a sort of pas de deux, cranking out five courses at what felt like warp speed (and helped by a shot or two of Bison Grass vodka along the way...). Miraculously, there were no major faux pas, the food came out relatively on time, and we even managed to make it look decent (although sadly don't have any pictures of the food itself - definitely a lesson for next time!). With five courses on the table, our guests scarfed down on:

First

Seared scallops with roasted beetroot and asparagus, crispy bacon and basil pesto

Second

Pan fried sea bream with sauteed shaved fennel and grilled oranges

Main

Duck three ways - confit, honey roasted and ravioli, with roasted butternut squash puree, sauteed kale and wild garlic, and a lingonberry jus

Dessert

Almond and fresh fig tartlets with honey and clotted cream

Surprise

Home smoked cheese with red onion marmalade and buttermilk rye bread

I'm not sure how we did it, but for the first time, we delivered 5 courses to 14 people with only a little bit of spilled duck fat along the way (our kitchen became a veritable ice rink half way through...). 

During the cheese course, we were able to sit down briefly with our guests, raise a glass and thank them profusely for being our first guinea pigs in this whole supper club experience. We also asked them to nominate someone they thought deserved a feast, and the nominee will be invited to a future dinner to celebrate them being a great person!

As the guests left and clean up began, the buzz of the evening set in and by the time we wandered home at half past 1am, my legs barely able to carry my body anymore, I still managed to feel like I was floating. The whole experience was even more exhilarating than I anticipated - it was the feeling you get when you've exerted yourself beyond the point you thought yourself capable of, beyond the ability to think, until your muscles and memory simply take over (sorry, I'm getting over-zealous...). Needless to say, the whole thing was brilliant and well worth the severe exhaustion I felt for the next few days afterwards. 

We definitely learned some things from this first supper club - we will probably go for slightly simpler menus in the future, avoid having to lug a huge piece of wood up four flights of stairs, and interact with our guests better (we lost ourselves in the kitchen this time), but I'm still amazed that we managed to turn a chance idea into a real-life, successful supper club in just over 2 weeks. 

The best bit? This appears to be the first supper club of many. We've already been asked to host a dinner party for our of our guests (!!!), and we have plenty of crack pot ideas for future dinners. So watch this space, it seems The Bream Team are only just getting started...