Last Night's Feast Night Formal Hall 10/11

 Last night's dinner began with olive tapanade and sun-blushed tomatos on toasted ciabatta, this quick amuse bouche is from the Pure Vegetarian cookbook.
We continued the Italian theme with a warming Minestrone soup topped with large croutons and freshly grated Parmesan cheese. Due to its unique origins and the absence of a fixed recipe, minestrone is not particularly similar across Italy: it varies depending on traditional cooking times, ingredients, and season. Minestrone ranges from a thick and dense texture with very boiled-down vegetables, to a more brothy soup with large quantities of diced and lightly cooked vegetables that may include meats. Our version was vegetarian, containing beans as opposed to pasta.

Next up, we chose a very Mediterranean dish from Gordon Ramsey's Passion for Flavour. Char-grilled Sea Bream with artichokes, basil pesto, peas and herbs; this wonderful dish would feel at home on any discerning Italian's dinner table, and is equally as good for you, as it's pretty to look at!

 Our vegetarian friends were served honey roasted vegetables with cumin and fig couscous, and a black olive sauce.

 For dessert, we served Gordon's trio of cassonades (custards) from Passion for Flavour. Coffee, vanilla and sarriette (wild thyme) were the three flavours we chose to serve, each of which was topped with caramelised sugar.

Bon Appetite!