The Titanic Dinner Party, a recap

The dinner party was an enormous success, THANK YOU Angela, Gordon and the Stewards, Evan and David. It went off without a hitch (not that we could see anyway, and that is what counts!). The boys did an amazing job with serving and cleaning up the table. Conversation was lively and we all had a great time!

The food was great and we couldn’t stop from finishing everything on our plates. My contribution of three (for recipes click here, here and here) of the ten courses were also well received. The table was beautifully set with the hand made branded napkins, the branded chargers and Angela’s wedding china and Silverware. I can’t speak for anyone else, but I certainly felt like I was on an opulent vessel being served a Michelin Five-Star meal! And we didn’t sink, which was a real bonus.

We dined for 5 hours, enjoying every last morsel and libation. The party went on until one o’clock in the morning, at which time, we thanked our hosts and drove silently home, pondering the forthcoming events of that fateful evening one hundred years ago.

Here is a quick recap of the evening, and that is likely the last you’ll have to endure Titanic mania at least until next year (there is talk to have this event yearly! ;-))

A quick recap of the invitations.

It looks real, doesn’t it?

I blurred out the names for privacy reasons!

I suppose this was directed toward the Gentlemen, as the Ladies were likely not invited into the casino!

I created memento booklets for the event. It had our menu, the guest list and some titillating trivia about the grand vessel.

Here is the entire booklet: MomentoBooklet_BlogNew

The welcome flags of the Titanic First Class Passengers

Our charming and generous hosts

Our fastidious Stewards, Evan and David, who kept the dinner moving efficiently and gracefully

The setting: First Class Dining Room

Hand made Napkin by Angela

The Cast of ladies (from left to right): Denise, Éva, Renata, Angela and Ginger

The cast of gentlemen (from left to right): Eric, Gordon, Richard, Philip and John

The party was certainly a hit!

Please ask for permission if you wish to download any of these photos as not all of them belong to me!

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Titanic Hors D’œuvres: Chicken Liver Pâté

As you know my dear friend Angela is hosting a Titanic Anniversary party on April 14; it’s the Centenary Anniversary and she is going all out for 8 of her most fortunate friends. JT and I are very happy to be included and I have embraced her enthusiasm and jumped on the band wagon, as any good friend would do (well, I’m no saint, the reasons are purely selfish, I just LOVE this kind of stuff), thank you Angela for allowing me to share in your excitement and to help with some of the food and the embellishments! I really do LOVE this stuff.

Many of my wonderful, gentle readers have been so generous with supportive comments and enthusiasm for this fun event, we thank you sincerely. My new found friend, Charlie Louie from Australia (I really do wish we were neighbours!) gave me a link to one of her very first posts on her lovely blog, Hotly Spiced that gave us a recipe for Duck Liver Pâté from a book she received as a gift from her son (she made her recipe with chicken livers, YUM). I remembered I had a couple of chicken livers in the freezer, so I thought, why not? Plus I needed a little appi for a friend coming over for drinks on Friday! We’ve had such a mild winter, and it warmed up to close to 20°C so we had to indulge and sit on the back patio for drinks after work. We still needed a sweater, but who cares, it was March 16 for crying out loud. I ain’t complaining!

The photo was taken last fall with the foliage in all its glory! Sadly the herbs have seen better days.

I don’t think Angela is including this recipe in her dinner, but I am totally into the mood, so I wanted to try it anyway (update, Angela has kindly given me the opportunity to make this appetizer as well, so I’m really pumped about it). I have to admit, it sounded a little bland when I first read it, but I wanted to keep it true so I didn’t change it up at all. The flavours were subtle yet it was very tasty. The liver really shined with the dash of rosemary. I used a square form that I was able to push the set paté out onto a plate, Charlie plated her’s in ramekins which also looked beautiful. I had to cut the recipe down because I didn’t have enough chicken livers (plus there were only three of us) but you can click here, for Charlie’s recipe. Note, as is my usual fashion, I cut down the butter and used milk instead of cream. I didn’t feel the taste suffered because of my changes.

Serves 4-6, depending on how hungry you are!

Chicken Liver Pâté on the back deck on March 16. Who would'a thunk it!

Ingredients:

• 113 g Chicken Livers
• 25 g melted butter
• 13 mL milk
• 1/4 tsp brandy (I actually cheated and added about a tablespoon)
• 1/4 tsp chopped rosemary
• crackers

Directions:

1. Heat 15 g of the butter in a saucepan, add the livers and cook gently for 3-4 minutes. The livers should be cooked on the outside but a little pink on the inside.
2. When the livers are cooked, place them into a processor and process until smooth.
3. Add the brandy and rosemary to the saucepan then heat gently, scraping up the residue of the livers.
4. Add the heated brandy and rosemary to the liver in the processor, together with milk and seasoning. Process until smooth.
5. Pack the paté into a form (mine was square) and pour the remaining melted butter over the top of the pate to seal, cover and place in the fridge to chill. This should be made in advance so that the flavours have a chance to really pop.

Thanks again, Charlie, I look forward to making this for April 14th (I’ll likely do your proportions at that time!)

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Titanic Dessert: Peaches in Chartreuse Jelly

Continuing on with my short series of First Class Titanic dishes for my good friend Angela’s party, I am tackling a simple dessert of Peaches in Chartreuse Jelly. Now to my modern sensibility I read this dessert title and thought, “What the heck? Jello for dessert in First Class?” Let’s rewind to the early 1900’s to clarify: this was well before the advent of instant gelatin, making gelatin based desserts was labour intensive and time-consuming (let’s just say that there are tendons, ligaments and connective tissues involved, click here if you must know). Serving a gelatin based dessert to your guests meant that the meal was a truly special one.

What doesn't go well with whipped cream?

The description on this recipe says at it combines the sweetness of peaches poached in sugar syrup with the potent herbal essences of Chartreuse Liqueur. Chartreuse is a digestive, sweet with strong herbal flavours (I taste grass), not one of my favourites, I must say, but it did pair nicely with the peaches. Note that the peaches in Toronto are by no way in season at this time; I found it nearly impossible to peel the skin off as per the recipe, I have my fingers crossed that they will behave for the special evening! For the test, I made 1/4 of this recipe which worked out well for two of us. We were both impressed at how tasty it actually was, even though it’s green!

Peaches in Chartreuse Jelly

Makes 6 servings

Recipe developed by Mrs. Beeton (the mother of British cuisine)

Ingredients for the Chartreuse Jelly:

• 5 tsp powdered flavourless gelatin
• 2 cups water
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup Chartreuse

Directions for the Chartreuse Jelly:

1. Dissolve the gelatin in 1 cup of water.
2. In a small pot, bring the remaining cup to a boil. Add the sugar and stir until it is entirely dissolved. Remove from heat and allow to cool for about 20 minutes. Add the Chartreuse and the gelatin and stir to combine.
3. Pour into a 9″ x 13″ glass baking dish lined with waxed paper; refrigerate until completely set.

Ingredients for the Peaches:

• 3 large clingstone peaches
• 4 cups water
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 3 whole cloves
• Fresh lemon balm leaves or edible flowers (I will do this for the real dessert, I just didn’t want to buy a box of flowers for just the two testers!)

Tender poached peaches and green jelly. Can you say YUM?

 

Directions for the Peaches:

1. Cut the peaches in half and remove the stones. Immerse the peaches in a large pot of boiling water for about 30 seconds; then transfer them to ice water. Slip off the skins.
2. In a large pot, combine the water and sugar; cook over medium heat stirring gently until sugar is dissolved. Bring to a boil and cook for one minute or until syrup is clear.
3. Add lemon juice, cinnamon stick and cloves.
4. Add the prepared peaches making sure they are entirely immersed; cut a piece of parchment slightly smaller than the pot and place over the top of the peaches to make sure the remain submerged.
5. Bring the syrup to a boil and reduce the heat to medium-low and poach the peaches gently for 6 minutes or until soft (they should be easy to cut into with a spoon). Allow the peaches to cool in the syrup. This may be stored for 24 hours in the refrigerator. The syrup that the peaches were poached in are not required for the recipe, but you may reserve it for something else!
6. To serve, turn out the jelly onto a cutting board and cut half into even little squares; the remaining half should be cut into decorative shapes using a cookie cutter.
7. The instructions indicate that you are to plate the cut squares onto the centre of a flat plate, arranging the jelly shapes around the edges, but I have special permission to plate in the way I photographed. I think it is a more sophisticated look.
8. Slice peaches from one end to almost the other, and fan it out onto a bed of jelly. Garnish with edible flowers or lemon balm leaves.

Even though the recipe was not as labour intensive as it would have been in 1914, it will still impress your discerning guests; but then again, after 10 course dinner…there is always room for Jell-O!

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Titanic Hors d’œuvres: Canapés à l’Amiral

My friend Angela is having a Titanic Anniversary Party (April 14 is the 100 year Anniversary of its sinking) and she is going all out. We will all come in period clothing (hopefully I will have photos!) and I will provide some of my heirloom silverware and serving dishes and some crystal (I inherited many lovely things of that time period from my MIL, fortunately for me, my SIL is not much into cooking or entertaining!). It sounds like it’s going to be a real blast.
I wanted in on the fun, so I asked Angela if I could help out and she kindly offered an hors d’œuvres and a dessert, both of which sound really fun to make. Of course, I needed to practice and test our the recipe so I will blog about my contribution to this momentous affair!

Canapés à l’Amiral are little toasts covered in a “shrimp butter” with a butter sautéed shrimp on top (oops, I forgot the roe as finishing, I shan’t do that for your evening, Angela!). The “shrimp butter” was delicious, and JT bought a beautiful whole wheat baguette with sesame seeds from Cobs near our home – the seeds just added the right amount of texture to the toasts! And the sweet shrimp on top was a wonderful bite with the creamy “shrimp butter”. The roe would have been a nice little burst of texture and saltiness…darn, I wish I had remembered because I do have some in the fridge!

Please help yourself to an hors d'œuvres.

Canapés à l’Amiral

Makes 20 canapés

Ingredients:

• 1/2 thin baguette
• 1 tsp lime juice
• 10 small shrimp, halved lengthwise and sautéed in butter
• Fresh Italian flat-leaf parsley
• 2 tbsp flying fish roe

Ingredients Shrimp Butter:

• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 large shallot, minced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 8 oz shrimp in shells
• 1/4 cup brand
• 4 oz cream cheese, softened
• 2 tbsp butter, softened
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1″ vanilla bean pod, cut lengthwise (dash of vanilla)

That martini is MINE! Hands off.

Directions Shrimp Butter:

1. In a skillet, heat oil over medium heat; add shallots and garlic; cook stirring often for about 5 minutes or until softened.
2. Increase heat to high and add shrimp in shells and sauté, stirring 3 to 4 minutes or until shells are opaque.
3. Transfer this mixture to a food processor. Return pan to stove and pour in the brandy, add the vanilla bean pod; cook stirring for about 30 seconds or until brandy is reduced to a glaze. Remove the vanilla bean pod and scrape into shrimp mixture in the processor.
4. Process the shrimp mixture until finely chopped. (YES, the shells are still in there! It’s about the flavour). Add the softened cream cheese, butter, tomato paste, salt and pepper and process until smooth. Press through a fine sieve and set aside.
5. Slice baguette into 20 thin slices (about 6mm or 1/4″) and toast under broiler for about 1 minute per side or until lightly golden. Set aside.
6. Melt butter in previously used skillet and cook shrimp halves until opaque. Drizzle lime juice over shrimp halves and reserve.
7. Place shrimp butter in a piping bag (or just slather on like I did) and pipe onto toasts equally. Top each one with a cooked shrimp half, a parsley leaf (or cut parsley, like I did) and top each canapé with an equal amount of fish roe (which I forgot to do).

Are you doing anything special for April 14th?

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