Just a Family Affair (53 page)

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Authors: Veronica Henry

Tags: #Literary, #General, #Fiction

BOOK: Just a Family Affair
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My own wedding was short but sweet. I didn’t even want to go there with a seating plan. I had major generals at one end of the social scale and art school drop-outs at the other, a potentially explosive mix. We held the ceremony in the church round the corner from my parents’, followed by Pimm’s and canapés in their garden. A friend of ours who is a whizz with a camera wandered round taking pictures, and we left at five in our vintage A35, when everyone was feeling nicely mellow. Job done. It helped, of course, that it was a glorious hot day - there is nothing more pleasurable than getting quietly sozzled in an English country garden - but people even twenty years later say that it was the best wedding they have ever been to.
 
It’s not about penny-pinching and scrimping. It’s about spending money on the things that are important, and not bothering with the things that aren’t. What matters is getting the people who are important to you together, for them to enjoy your union, and then buggering off before drunken oblivion or total boredom set in. What doesn’t matter is a phalanx of overdressed bridesmaids, wedding favours for the guests and an official master of ceremonies in full regalia. Fine if that’s what you’ve set your heart on, but there is no need to feel pressurised into all the bells and whistles.
 
So with the help of the Liddiards I have put together a guide to a short but sweet and stylish wedding. And never be afraid to enlist the help of friends - amongst them will be keen cooks, photographers, florists, all eager to help. Their contribution would be a much more welcome present than a set of matching saucepans.
 
I recommend a two o’clock ceremony followed by tea and cocktails. All done and dusted by five so the bride and groom can escape and be alone together . . .
Mickey Liddiard’s Wedding Cocktails
No one knows better than Mickey the importance of alcohol at a social function. Two or three of any of these concoctions will make sure your reception goes with a swing. But remember - have plenty of water and non-alcoholic alternatives available so the aged aunts don’t start a handbag war after one too many.
BLUSHING BRIDE
70ml champagne
30ml lychee juice
A few drops of grenadine
Combine the champagne and lychee juice. Add the grenadine gradually so the colour spreads through like a blush.
 
MAID OF HONOUR
40ml gin
20ml rhubarb puree
15ml elderflower cordial
10ml syrup from a jar of stem ginger
25ml cranberry juice
50ml soda
Whizz it all up in shaker with crushed ice and pour into a glass.
BEST MAN
40ml vodka
1 freshly squeezed lime
4 basil leaves
2 teaspoons sugar
Soda
Muddle the basil leaves and sugar as if making a mojito. Fill the glass with crushed ice, then add the vodka and lime juice. Top up with soda and garnish with a basil leaf.
 
WEDDING VEIL
25ml gin
20ml fresh lemon juice
10ml sugar syrup
Blackberry liqueur
Mix the gin, lemon juice and sugar syrup together in a glass with crushed ice, then slowly drizzle liqueur into the mix until it sinks to the bottom. Garnish with fresh blackberries.
 
TILL DEATH US DO PART
50ml Grand Marnier
Prosecco
Cranberry juice
Mix all the ingredients and chill well.
 
The standard pub measure for spirits is 25ml. Please drink responsibly.
Lucy Liddiard’s English Country Garden Tea
The most important thing is to keep the food plentiful and keep it coming so no one is necking back the cocktails on an empty stomach. Most people will have access to obliging teenagers eager to earn twenty quid - get a small team together and give them instructions to keep the food circulating so no one goes hungry.
 
Kick off with the traditional sandwiches - smoked salmon, cucumber and egg are popular - together with some savoury bites. Use a variety of white, wholemeal and granary bread. Follow with some substantial buttered tea bread, then finish with scones with cream and jam, biscuits and cakes. Here are a few of Lucy’s favourite recipes to inspire you.
CHICKEN AND ALMOND SANDWICHES
Mix finely chopped chicken fillets with thinly sliced celery and flaked almonds. Bind together with mayonnaise. Make sandwich fingers with best thin white bread, cutting off the crusts of course!
 
PESTO PASTRY HEARTS
2 sheets puff pastry
2 tablespoons pesto - one red, one green
30g butter
40g grated parmesan
Divide the butter between two bowls then mash one with green and one with red pesto. Spread on to the pastry sheets and cut out hearts with a shaped pastry cutter. Place on lightly oiled baking trays and bake in a medium oven for 10 minutes until puffy and golden.
 
ROAST BEEF CROSTINI
1 thin French stick
Mayonnaise
Wafer thin slices of rare roast beef
Horseradish
Slice loaf into thin slices and place on an oven tray. Bake in a medium hot oven for 15 minutes, turning once - be careful not to burn, you want them gold not black! When cool, spread with mayonnaise, top with a slice of beef, and garnish with horseradish.
You can also do these with smoked salmon topped with a little horseradish mixed with crème fraîche, Parma ham garnished with a slice of fresh fig, or pesto and a slice of goat’s cheese finished off with a basil leaf.
 
CARAMELISED ONION AND FETA TARTLETS
2 large sliced onions
Butter
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
30g feta cheese
Jar of sun-blush tomatoes
2 packets ready prepared croustades - available from good supermarkets or delis.
Cook the onion gently in the butter until soft and golden - at least 30 minutes. Add the sugar and vinegar and a tablespoon of water, stirring carefully so the onions caramelise but don’t burn. When cool, fill the croustades with a teaspoon of onion mixture, then top with crumbled feta and a snip of sun-blush tomato.
 
TEA BREAD
1½ cups best mixed dried fruit
1 tablespoon glace cherries
½ tablespoon brown sugar
½ pint cold tea -nothing fancy, just builders’ tea.
1 egg
2 tablespoons of thick-cut marmalade
2 cups self-raising flour
A pinch of mixed spice
Soak the fruit and sugar in the tea in a large mixing bowl overnight until plump and juicy. Add the flour, beaten egg, marmalade, salt and spices and mix together thoroughly. Pour into a greased loaf tin and bake in a medium hot oven for 1½ hours. When cool, serve thickly sliced and spread with cold best butter.
 
PERFECT SCONES
350g self-raising flour
100g caster sugar
85g butter
175ml plain yoghurt
Rub the butter in with the flour and sugar until it resembles breadcrumbs (as if making pastry). Tip in the yoghurt, mixing with a knife until you have a smooth dough. Knead the dough lightly on a floured surface, then roll out to about an inch thick. Stamp out tiny rounds with your smallest cutter, then repeat until all the dough is used. Place the scones on a baking tray and bake for 10-12 minutes in a medium oven until they are golden.
Split and serve filled with cream and jam - strawberry is traditional, but ring the changes with damson, boysenberry, raspberry or apricot. Lucy gets her jams from the WI in the farmers’ market.
 
PANSY CAKES
These pretty cakes are bedecked with sugar-frosted pansies from Lucy’s garden. You can use any edible flowers - just brush them with egg white and sprinkle with caster sugar - or buy sugar flowers if this all seems too time-consuming!
100g butter
175g self-raising flour
175g caster sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 eggs
½ cup of milk
Zest of one lemon
Juice of one lemon
100g caster sugar
Put the butter, flour, baking powder, sugar, eggs, milk and lemon zest in a food processor and whizz until glossy and smooth (you could do this with a wooden spoon but it will be an arduous task!). Pour into a greased and lined square cake tin. Bake for 35 minutes in a low oven until golden and firm.
Mix together the extra sugar and the lemon juice, then drizzle this over the cake while it is still warm so it soaks in. When cool, cut into bite-sized squares and top with the frosted flowers.
 
CROQUEMBOUCHE
A towering cone of profiteroles, a croquembouche makes a spectacular centre piece for a wedding, and is stunning when studded with silver almond dragées and miniature sparklers. Lucy makes hers with a lemon cream filling and dips them in white chocolate. Both Delia and Nigella have reliable profiterole recipes.
 
LEMON CREAM
4 egg yolks
3oz caster sugar
2 lemons - zested and juiced
2oz butter
½ pint double cream
.
 
Cook the egg, sugar and lemons gently in a pan for five minutes until thick. Remove from heat and beat in the butter. Chill in the fridge. When ready to fill the profiteroles, whip the cream and then fold into the lemon mixture.
 
Fill an icing bag with the lemon cream and use to fill the profiteroles, then dip them in best white chocolate.
 
Lucy makes baby meringues with the remaining egg whites.
Mandy Sherwyn’s Alternative Wedding Presents
When most people get married these days, they have usually lived together and built up a home, so they already have most of the things necessary for starting married life. And there is nothing duller and more prosaic than a department store wedding list, especially when you get to it late and there is only a gravy boat left. So with Mandy’s help here are a few suggestions for a more imaginative present list.
BUILD A LIBRARY
Look up a list of the nation’s top one hundred books on the internet, replacing any you already have or don’t fancy with choices of your own. Guests can buy a single book, or the complete works of Dickens/Harry Potter/Jane Austen. Also add to the list bookshelves, reading lamps and a set of library steps. You will have years of pleasure curled up on a sofa or lolling in a hammock and working your way through your list.
 
BUILD A MUSIC LIBRARY
This is great if you have a lot of young guests who don’t necessarily have a lot to spend on a present. Build up a list of every album, every track you have ever loved and all the ones you think you should listen to, which your guests can then purchase online for you. Every time you play one of these songs you will remember your friends and family. Add to this his and hers iPods, a docking station and top quality speakers for the wealthier guests!
 
PLANT A GARDEN
Employ the services of a landscape gardener and get them to help you draw up a planting plan. Guests can then purchase plants or bulbs either through a website or a local garden centre. Add outdoor seating, pots and lighting to the list and enjoy the months after your wedding watching your garden come to life.
 
START A WINE CELLAR
A local wine merchant will be only too delighted to create a list for you - from light fresh wines for summer drinking to heavy, robust winter reds. Throw in some sparkling fizz and a couple of bottles of serious port and you will have the perfect drink for every social occasion in your cellar. Guests could also purchase crystal glasses, decanters, corkscrews or even a wine fridge!
 
BUY A WORK OF ART
Choose a stunning painting together that can be your future legacy. Divide the picture into square inches (not literally!) - guests can purchase as many as they like. Hang the painting over your fireplace and enjoy for the rest of your life - choose well and it will be a wise investment.
Patrck’s Wedding Night Suggestions
Not everyone has the time or the money for a romantic honeymoon in the Maldives or Tahiti. But a special first night with your bride is a must - every couple needs some time out together after all the frenetic planning, preferably in unashamed luxury. Here is a selection of hotels to suit all tastes.
SOHO HOTEL
Understated townhouse chic in the heart of London. Enjoy a trip to the theatre or some serious shopping, then hang out for cocktails before slipping into the Egyptian cotton sheets.
 
LYGON ARMS
Quintessential Cotswold charm. Slip in some antiques shopping or peruse the estate agents for your own chocolate-box cottage before tucking into champagne and amuse-bouches in front of a roaring log fire.
 
WATERGATE BAY
For the outdoor type - try an afternoon’s kiteboarding or surfing or just a walk on the stunning beach, then book a table at Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen restaurant and enjoy local fish.
 
ROYAL CRESCENT, BATH
Roam historic Bath and while away the afternoon in the amazing Thermae Bath Spa, Britain’s only natural thermal spa, before enjoying dinner at this classically elegant hotel.
 
LE MANOIR AUX QUAT’ SAISONS
A must for gourmands, this beautiful house set in a walled 17th-century garden is the perfect foil for Raymond Blanc’s magnificent cooking, largely supplied by the hotel’s own herb and vegetable gardens.
 
POOL HOUSE
Start your married life in this passionate and windswept setting in the Scottish Highlands on the banks of Loch Ewe. Breathtaking scenery combined with witty and imaginative décor and warm hospitality will make it an unforgettable experience.

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