My Saturday Gig

[dodgechargerfan]

I did a catering gig with my brother and daughter.
Private, house party - celebrating the husband's 50th.

Appetizers and Tapas
Basically, a 4 hour food parade.

It was lots of fun!

Artisan Canadian Cheeses

Wine and Our wine serving tray

We made that tray and many of the other wood trays you might see in the pics out of 130 year old barn wood from my brother's farm.

More wine.

Getting the soups and chowder base ready.

Kelsey and my brother setting out the Crostini Selection

See that centerpiece? We made that too. the bottom is a stave from an old wine barrel. These barrels were about 20 feet long and came from Bright's Winery here in St. Catharines. My brother got 2 barrels when they closed down years ago.
The top is a piece of oak beam from his barn.

Crostini Selection Served on a Cedar plank

Duck Rillette with Shallots and Flatbreads

It's like a pate but not with liver. Just meat and fat worked into a kind of paste.

Sesame Rare Tuna Skewers and Thai Chicken Phylo bundles

Gin Tomato and Cream of Fennel Soup

Smoked Salmon on Green Pea Billini

Lobster Thermidor

Candied Quail on Wine Risotto with Prosciutto On A Stick

Moroccan Lamb Lollies with Lentils

The last item was a grilled cheese sandwich but I didn't get any pictures..
Seriously. A grilled cheese sangoweege.

We did it on a bread made with rice flour, potato flour, and grape flour.
We used Stilton Cheese, baby lettuce and sliced pear for filling.
Grilled it on a George Foreman grille.
Served on a few pieces of baby lettuce drizzle with ice wine vinegar.

 

[71dusterman]

Thats quite a spread Dave. It would have been tempting for you to sample Nooo. Must of cost a pretty penny, looks delicious.

 

[dodgechargerfan]

That's one good thing about jobs like that: you have to taste everything to make sure it's good.

The duck rillette was tasty!
The quail was awesome.

The guests came back for more lamb before I could get some. My brother did the taste test.

It was a good paying job for my daughter and I.
My brother did up the menu. Did all the shopping and did a lot of the prep work at home. We just showed up to do some of the last minute prep then started cooking, plating, serving and cleanup.
Besides the pay though, my daughter got some good experience.
And we had fun together!

 

[71dusterman]

I would be worried that my waist line would increase and the profits decrease. Good to do something with the kids tho.

 

[Fishy]

Ok that got my mouth watering a bit! Looks like you guys did a great job! Congrats to the chef

 

[thrashingcows]

Well that looks amazing.....[smilie=2:

I could never even imagine combinations like that. Looks like a heck of a spread, and great time spent with the family.

 

[6pkrunner]

Wow - just wow!!! That is an incredible spread. Top drawer all the way. Fantastic presentation. Hats off.

 

[beeper*71]

Very impressive indeed!

 

[dodgechargerfan]

It WAS lots of fun!
The hosts were great people - that made it that much better.
No pissy attitudes anywhere.
Most of the guests were talking to us like we were part of the party - you know how everyone tends to gravitate to the kitchen at a party? It was like that all night.

I don't know the exact details of costs, but I have a rough idea.... it's a pretty damn good business if you can keep busy.
The hostess rented all of the dishes, wine glasses, and cutlery. That was good because all we had to do was rinse them off and put them back in the crates.
We provided everything else.

 

[Fishy]

You can rent dishes? :wtf:

 

[restoman]

Excellent!
Very professional looking. Makes me hungry.

Dave, some of those serving platforms are incredible. I love the dark, inlaid board - did you guys do that?

 

[dodgechargerfan]

You can rent dishes? :wtf:

Yep. Think about any kind of party that's NOT at a banquet hall or restaurant. All the stuff gets rented.

Excellent!
Very professional looking. Makes me hungry.

Dave, some of those serving platforms are incredible. I love the dark, inlaid board - did you guys do that?

Those are all from the Barn and Five Brothers business - except that dark board. It's actually a cutting board that the hostess just bought. We were the first to use it.
It was made from all kinds of exotic woods.