Wine Tasting, Platters & Essential Summer Drinks

Wine Tasting, Platters & Essential Summer Drinks

One of the perks of searching out the best eco-friendly cuisine is that, as you might expect, wine is often involved. Now, as we’re sure you know, wine is much more than just a drink – for Sonya and her team it's absolutely vital and a huge part of making the occasion come alive. Get the wine right and you set a great tone for the evening each and every time (not to mention wine is also welcome during the few breaks where Sonya and co get to relax, but I think you probably guessed that part!).

Wine matching is exactly what Eco Cuisine were doing last week for the gastro dinner coming up on the 21^st July. The chosen wines were light French varieties, followed by a Spanish red. And not just any Spanish red...but a special one made by the owner of the small organic wine business where all the wine was sourced. The event was finished off nicely with a sweet white wine from Provence. Just right to accompany an individual pavlova topped with fresh clotted cream and summer strawberries.

The Thursday night after that, it was time for the Imperial Innovations Summer Party. Here it was all about mixing eclectic tastes with complimentary flavours – on the menu were lovely platters of free-range Devon hand dried chorizo, salami and peppered salami too. Alongside these beauties were Cornish brie cheese and organic cheddar straight out of Somerset! All this was eaten with crusty bread, as cheese and salami should be.

Of course, cheese is wonderful but for variety, you need to think big. So, to make the flavours as diverse as possible, canapés were served up – think sweetcorn pancakes served with chilli sauce, courgette and halloumi cheese and marinated chicken skewers. Completing this irresistible line-up was mini duck pancakes and extra-special plum sauce!

As you can see, the menu was already pretty packed, but there were still a few other things which Sonya and co wanted to add to make the event complete. One idea Sonya came up with was a hot section, and to make it great Eco Cuisine decided to bring in Chef Ness to serve Aberdeen Angus steak burgers with white or wholemeal rolls! And a DIY choice of lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber and organic ketchup. This, plus HP or dijon mustard, meant that all tastes were catered for.

Lastly, you can't have a great event like this without some fantastic drinks to go with it. For this event, Eco Cuisine brought Pimms with cucumber & mint along, and to ensure everyone was looked after, Mario served Organic Italian Pinot Grigio and Chianti...along with deliciously smooth organic Freedom lagers. Mmm...

Another successful time had. It was fair to say everyone went home satisfied and full!

After this event, and a brief rest to gather energy, Sonya and co went on to cater for a small lunch of 12 for Wastewatch. On the menu this time was a generous platter of rolls and wraps, with fresh fruit to finish it off, and organic carrot and banana cake for those who fancied something a little different.

This week it's all go as Eco Cuisine take on some more tastings, and this week also sees the final week before the School of Economic Science break for the summer period.

Back soon with more!