Farmers Markets

[welsh wizard]

WOW thanks one and all, some really interesting ones there.

I have as you may know a number of very large paella pans and my mind is going towards possibly part cooking noodles in a paella pan of hot water and then putting in tubs ready for serving. Then cooking up some hot stock with coconut and spices and when required ladeling on a spoon full over the noodles and telling the customers to wait 2 mins before stiring and eating - a posh pot noodle if you will. I think this would be very simple and as long as I made a good stock it should be tasty.

Carlic bread made from Pizza bases is a good idea as well - thanks LD



Comments?????????

Cheers WW

[welsh wizard]

Hi Phil

Pasties would be great but difficult to heat in volume. I dont have any problem in frying as i have a couple of large griddles so veggie burgers etc would be OK but I would like to offer somthing different from the crowd as it were. Could you expand on Spankopita please its a new one to me.

Cheers WW

[wheels]

It's a spinach and cheese pie in a folo pastry. You may have the same problem as with the pasties though.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanakopita

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/datab ... 2400.shtml

Phil

[Oddley]

What about a bean casserole, with spiced chick pea balls, you know, falafel, but spiced to suit the casserole.

[wheels]

Mmm... I like the idea of that one - easy to serve and a one pot meal.

Phil

[captain wassname]

For winter time a root veggie stew with cheese dumplings (made with yeast.)
If your interested I can post a recipe.If not Im not offended.

Jim

[welsh wizard]

Thanks Phil and yes you are correct I think this would be a bit of a nightmare to heat through but thanks anyway for the links.

Hi Oddley - spicy bean casserole is a sure contender and like curry. I copuld make it a couple of days before hand to develop the flavours and then heat it through in my bain marie. It should hold for a few hours.

Hi Jim - yes please ref the post. Not for the Summer do, but I also cater at Ludlow castle during November and that could certainly make its way onto the menu.

http://www.ludlowmedievalchristmas.co.uk/

I have just invested some of my hard earnt into a 60 portion rice kettle so following the curry theme posted earlier I can now provide rice as well!

Many many thanks for all the assistance, cheers WW

[captain wassname]

Hi Dumplings are part of aroot veggie and mushroom stew with cheese dumplings that came from a tesco freebie magazine this is for 4.

you will need:-

2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion cut into 10 wedges
3 carrots diced
1 small swede, peeled and diced
2 parsnips peeled and cut into thick slices
6 whole cloves garlic, skins on
400 ml veg. stock
200 gms chestnut mushrooms
1 tbsp flour

for the dumplings

175 gms plain flour
half tsp sal
2 tsp yeast
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp chopped mixed herbs ( parsley, chives, thyme)
100 ml. milk
2 tsps. sugar
85 gms grated cheddar
method

Heat the oven to 200 c. place all the veg except the mushrooms and the garlic cloves on a baking tray, drizzle with 1 tbsp of oil and roast for about 30 mins until soft and golden, transfer the veg to a large cas. dish and cover with the stock. reduce oven temp to 180 and bake for 30 mins.
Fry the chestnut mushrooms in the rest of the oil sprinke the flour over, gradually pour on 100 mls. of the cas. cooking liquour, stir until thickened, add to the cas. pot and return to the oven.

I have never actually cooked this bit, I have only ever done the dumplings! The dumplings dont rise until they hit the water (or stock), so you can prep them at least a few hours in advance. Or take the dough with you and make up the dumplings on the job!

I whisk the dumplings together in a bowl with a hand held mixer using the dough hooks. Original recipe called for 1 tsp of baking powder and no sugar or yeast.

Jim

[welsh wizard]

Many, many thanks for hthe recipe, I will certainly give it a go

Cheers WW

[Zuckuss]

Hi WW,

I used to work in pubs and we often used to do outside catering events. One of the biggest problems we used to have was the veggie option. The most popular one we did was Chinese Veggie Curry with Noodles. We simply bought in some chinese curry paste from the local chinese superstore (its the secret ingredient all chinese restaurants use) made the big batch and served it up on the old marie. For the noodles we used something like http://www.zesco.com/products.cfm?subCatID=290&PGroupID=030514AZ05 (sorry about the american site, it was just a quick search). We just had a big pot of boiling water sat on a single calor gas burner and cooked the noodles to order. Takes about 2-3 minutes, or if you have a few of these you can rotate them so you have some cooked that just needing reheating.

The other piece of equipment we found invaluable was an overhead hot lamp table - this allowed us keep more solid things hot, such as deep fried food etc. Again with a simple calor gas burner and a big pot of oil intstant deep fat fryer! We picked up most of our bits and pieces on the cheap from http://www.hilditchauctions.co.uk/ so the expense wasnt too bad.

Joe

[Bangermuncher]

I know I mentioned curry and noodles in earlier posts but speaking as a carnivore who would normally head straight for the nearest burger or kebab stall,if a Chinese veg curry with noodles was on offer you would struggle to hold me back and you'll get a lot of the meat eaters going for it.
You might think about a Thai,Vietnamese or Indonesian veg curry as well,all would work well with noodles,maybe even a veg Tom Yum.
If you do go for a curry I'd definitely go with noodles rather than rice,much quicker to cook when you start to run low.
I'd be thinking along the lines of Asian street food and there are tons of recipes on the net.
Though I predominantly make a chicken and prawn curry the best I've had recently was a Nepalese veg curry but I've never been able to beat that Chinese veg curry I used to get years ago,I've tried making it several times but the water chestnuts are never the same and that's what used to make it for me.

[welsh wizard]

Firstly many thanks to all those who wrote to me.

I tried a number of the recipies and all were good to varying degrees. In the end I have decided to go with a veggie paella using artichoke hearts as one of the main ingredients along with three coloured peppers, onions, pease, veggie stock, garlic and thyme.

It is easy to produce in the Paella pan and with careful use of water I can keep it going for a few hours. I will make it / serve it twice a day and with the addition of some home made bean burgers I should be able to keep the non meat eaters happy. As as aside I am also going to do a budget pasta dish with a simple tomato sauce (homemade of course) for the children and knock it out at £1 - £1.50. It really gets to me that when I attend festivals the children do not get catered for so last year I did free range sausage on a stick for £1 and they flew out. Also it brings the parents in as well

Anyway the festival is www.festivalattheedge.org

Cheers and thanks again WW

[Zulululu]

It really gets to me that when I attend festivals the children do not get catered for

Good for you WW. I have been thinking along the same lines very few children can finish a burger or sausage roll and they do enoy something noval sort of made just for them.

[welsh wizard]

Hi Zululznd

Yes you are correct. Its not only the fact that they cant finish it but it is soooo blooming expensive for a family of four. When I did sausage on a stick I am sure I got more parents to eat as well so although I made nothing on the kids food, I more than made up with the parents trade.

Try sausage on a stick, they are brilliant. this is what I do:

Make a 9 inch sausage from free range meat and put into a sheep casing. Thread a 12 inch bamboo skewer up the centre of the sausage and then just place on the grill / bbq. The advantages of this are you keep all the sausages dead straight so you can get more on the grill. The are easy to turn, just turn the stick and I sell them on a stick or in a roll for an extra charge.

Simples - cheers WW (went and bought a 4 foot gas grill last week)

[saucisson]

Excellent idea What sort of grill did you get ?

Dave