Catching up

by theshedlikesfood

I am a wee behind with this whole blogging thing, disorganised shrike that I am, so you’ll have to excuse the lack of chronology, flow, or meaning. This post is about pancake day, but there is also a small snippet of What We Ate On Valentine’s Day to come, when I get my arse in gear and upload the photo* on to my computer.
*completely non-dodgy, worry not.

I love pancakes, but was sadly unable to do proper justice to the ones we served up for our Shrove Tuesday shindig. I sliced off a teeny-tiny-weeny piece of my index finger at 7:10pm, with 10 guests due to arrive a mere 50 minutes later. Epic host-fail. I was furiously [carelessly] chopping chives ready to fry 44 savoury pancakes when the misdemeanour occurred, but rather than schlep off to Homerton hospital (yuck) I carried on, finger temporarily bandaged and held above heart level. Thank you guests for putting up with my moaning, and especially to Matt who came straight over with bandages, camera (see the photos! how artful!), and an admiral readiness to pitch in. Legend.

Buckwheat Blinis, Forman’s Smoked Salmon, Creme Fraiche, Capers and Shallots

Savoury Pancakes baked with Gruyere, Artichokes, Ricotta, Leeks and Spinach, served with Balsamic Dressed Rocket

Sweet Pancakes with any combination of; homemade toffee sauce, bananas, lemon wedges, sugar, Belgian chocolate or double cream

The first and last courses were lovely, though – shamefully, considering my day job – could have done with a smidge more salmon, duly noted for next time. Buckwheat blinis are an almighty faff to make, demanding two separate ‘rests’ totalling nearly four hours – but worth it as they were dead good; click here for the recipe.

The main course was nice enough, though due to my last minute medical slip up didn’t have the creamy cheese sauce it was supposed to, and was instead weighed down with a ballast of pure, unadulterated Gruyere. Almost, but not quite. Oh well.

But – great company as always, reasonable food, all for the modest sum of £8 (though everyone very kindly gave us a tenner, thank you!). If you want to come to a future event, email theshedlikesfood@googlemail.com and I’ll stick you on the mailing list.

P.S. to anyone who cares, and has managed to get this far without dropping or wandering off; the finger is fine – it really was only a miniscule piece, mainly “nail bed”. After blithely assuming that the first aiders at work could deal with it the next day, I was sent to aforementioned hospital where offending finger was furnished with a comically large bandage, and after several days in captivity, realised into the wild and has even started typing again.