A sentiment I truly believe in and feel absolutely extends to a team of guns. After all, a day spent with a growling stomach is a miserable one indeed, plus, there really should be something to pad out those sloegasms!
An integral part of any shoot day, it gives guns a chance to survey their mornings shooting, dish out the early mockeries, and just sit back to have a good breather. Allowing the day to be more than just a series of drives all moulding into one long memory.
One of the more slightly indulgent aspects of shooting, the offerings can range from a simple yet hearty pork pie sliced up and dished out alongside a swift tot of sloe gin, to a decadent serving of hors d’oeuvres and a glass of bubbly. Either way, it fills the belly and brightens the soul, so in my eyes, is a most worthy way to spend a portion of time, and definitely a tradition worth clinging on to.
With so many individual elements of a shoot day, it is important that they work in harmony to create the days we all so eagerly anticipate, and each element should complement the other, after all, if your shooting is world-class, but the hospitality lacking, or vice versa, you can leave a day with somewhat of a stale taste and that nagging feeling that you haven’t quite received the value for money and time than you expect.
From the cooking point of view, elevenses provides such a great chance to have fun with food, it doesn’t need to be overfilling, or heavy, it just needs to taste good and look inviting. As such, it is my favourite part of the day to plan for, and the easiest part to make sure there is something for everyone, serving up meats, cheeses, fruits, and pickles, alongside a variety of hors d’oeuvres.
When I first agreed to feed a shoot (as a one-off favour), I fully embraced the party food way of thinking, with cheese and pineapples on sticks, shop-bought sausage rolls, and nibbles, but let’s be honest here, where is the fun in that?! And so when I was asked to continue the catering the journey began. Exploring what flavours worked, what didn’t, what foods would stand being served in a field, and what really wouldn’t! It definitely was a case of trial and error!
As great as the tried and tested party foods are, don’t get me wrong, I love a cheesy pineappley hedgehog, and cold pizza as much as the next person, there is definitely room for a bit more pazazz! And so the haggis and pork sausage rolls were introduced. If university taught me anything, it was how to take something simple, and make it flouncy enough to sound slightly more impressive, ham and eggs? Make it slow-roasted ham hock with poached duck egg. Fish paste on toast? Switch it up for Smoked Mackerel Pate Crostinis. A few adjustments and give it a name as you might see on one of those menus where they don’t show the price and you are set!
The one great obstacle I faced, was that I cannot eat gluten or dairy (you know, those 2 things that build the foundations for all the best foods!). This meant I had to really rely on memory and imagination. A recently developed dish of Crostinis with Caramelised peach, whipped goats cheese, and serrano ham, where sweet, salty, creamy flavours all mix together, was one of these, trying to place the flavour profiles in my mind and working out the ratios purely on guesswork. Thankfully, these went down a storm and have been a regular addition to the table ever since.
One of my favourite starting points is the simple crostini, which can be topped with thousands of different combinations to make a plethora of tantalising, taste-bud tingling, treats!
To make your basic crostini base, just take a couple of long part-bake baguettes and slice them to about 1cm thick rounds. Heat up your oven to about Gas Mark 5 / 350°F/ 177°C . Mix a good amount of British rapeseed oil with a few chopped/dried herbs (I like to use basil, oregano, and parsley), and lay your slices out on a baking tray, brush your oily herby mix all over them.
To make your basic crostini base, just take a couple of long part-bake baguettes and slice them to about 1cm thick rounds. Heat up your oven to about Gas Mark 5 / 350°F/ 177°C . Mix a good amount of British rapeseed oil with a few chopped/dried herbs (I like to use basil, oregano, and parsley), and lay your slices out on a baking tray, brush your oily herby mix all over them.
Pop them in the oven until they are fully crisp and golden at the edges, then remove from the oven, and pop on a cooling rack.
Once you have your little bready joys, you can pick your toppings. A few variations I like to use, are:
‘Cream cheese, pigeon breast and black pudding’,
‘Buffalo mozzarella, basil and slightly grilled cherry tomatoes’
‘Goats cheese, venison and maple candied bacon’
‘Mackerel pate’
‘Brie, cranberry sauce and bacon’
‘Pulled pheasant with mushrooms in a white caper sauce’
But the possibilities really are endless, take food you like, slap it on, and enjoy. A balsamic glaze or sweet & tangy chutney are always a great little addition that can really lift the dish too.
So next time someone says, ‘We may as well skip elevenses’ You say ‘No way Jose’ and whack out some truly scrumptious treats!