Party time!

As the nation prepares for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, help customers celebrate in style

As the nation plans to celebrate the Queen’s 70 years on the throne, be prepared with all customers need to party. The Platinum Jubilee weekend is a bumper four days, offering plenty of potential for sales.

All British

Why not create a best of British menu to run across the bank holiday weekend? Adapt it depending on your venue, so it could be a threecourse menu, a cake menu – Brits’ favourites include lemon drizzle, chocolate fudge and coffee and walnut – or a drinks menu.

Think roast beef, fish and chips, full English breakfasts, pie and mash, Cornish pasties, Eton mess, Victoria sponge and scones. Partner with English wine, gin and beer, whisky and traditional soft drinks, such as Britvic’s R Whites Premium Lemonade and Lipton Iced Tea, plus premium drinks, such as Aqua Libra and The London Essence Co. range of mixers.

For a showstopping dessert, try the Philly lemon baked Windsor (recipe on p19). This Philly Platinum Pudding has been developed exclusively by Aaron Watson, NACC Care Chef of the Year 2021, in partnership with Philadelphia. The dessert is served with a gin and Dubonnet jelly – the Queen’s tipple of choice.

At their best

Showcasing all-British ingredients in your dishes is a profitable way to mark the occasion as customers will pay a premium for locally sourced food.

Use in-season ingredients too where you can to further increase appeal and show your sustainability credentials, plus it will benefit your bottom line as it can be cheaper because you’re buying it when it’s plentiful and hasn’t travelled a long way. Seasonal foods are fresher too, which reflects in the flavour.

May is all about asparagus, Jersey Royal new potatoes, peas and rhubarb. In June comes strawberries, cherries, runner beans, tomatoes, beetroot and lamb. Often the meat of choice at Easter, the best pasture-raised and new-season lamb is in its prime in the summer months when the lambs are older.

Take it away

You’d hope the June holiday weekend will be filled with warm sunshine, so takeaway picnic boxes will be the go-to for customers. Fill cardboard boxes with salad, sandwiches and wraps, mini filled rolls, pork pies, Scotch eggs, sausage rolls, crisps, a slice of cake and a piece of traybake, such as tiffin or brownie.

And you can’t go wrong with a proper ploughman’s lunch of fresh, crusty bread, cooked meats, a selection of cheese, pork pie, pickles and an apple! Add in a soft drink, such as Schweppes Lemonade or Canada Dry Ginger Ale.

Raise your sandwich game with these delicious filling duos:

» chicken and pesto

» blue cheese and avocado

» pastrami and mozzarella

» beetroot and goat’s cheese

» falafel and yogurt

» sweet potato and bean.

It wouldn’t be a traditional British celebration without afternoon tea. Go with classic British bites, such as smoked salmon, coronation chicken and egg and cress finger sandwiches, mini Victoria sponges, scones with jam and clotted cream, and shortbread. Upgrade with a bottle of English sparkling wine or premixed cans of Pimm’s. For a twist on the classics, why not add in some nostalgic British flavours, such as a rhubarb & custard sponge, or retro desserts such as a pineapple upside-down cake, trifle or knickerbocker glory?

Put the flags out!

Catch the eye of passing trade and show you’re celebrating by putting Union Jack bunting up inside and out. Carry the red, white and blue colour theme through your venue. And finishing touches such as Union Jack mini flags in cakes and red, white and blue iced cakes and fairy cakes will draw customers in.

CORNISH PASTY

SERVES 4

»PREP: 15 MINS

»COOK: 55 MINS

INGREDIENTS

FOR THE PASTRY: 125g chilled and diced butter; 125g lard; 500g plain flour; pinch of salt; 1 egg, beaten

FOR THE FILLING: 350g beef skirt or chuck steak, finely chopped; 1 large onion, finely chopped; 2 potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced; 175g swede, peeled and finely diced; 1 tbsp black pepper; 1 tsp salt

METHOD

1. Rub the butter and lard into the flour with a pinch of salt using your fingertips or a food processor, then blend in 6 tbsp cold water to make a firm dough. Cut equally into 4, then chill for 20 minutes.

2. Preheat oven to 220˚C/ 200˚C fan/gas 7. Mix together the filling ingredients.

3. Roll out each piece of pastry on a lightly floured surface until large enough to make a round about 23cm across – use a plate to trim it to shape. Firmly pack a quarter of the filling along the centre of each round, leaving a margin at each end. Brush the pastry all the way round the edge with beaten egg, carefully draw up both sides so that they meet at the top, then pinch them together to seal. Lift on to a non-stick baking tray and brush with the remaining egg to glaze.

4. Bake for 10 minutes, then lower oven temperature to 180 degrees C/ 160 degrees C fan/ gas 4 and cook for 45 minutes more until golden.

PHILLY LEMON BAKED WINDSOR

SERVES 6

»PREP: 1 HR 10 MINS

»COOK: 1 HR 55 MINS

INGREDIENTS

FOR THE CAKE: 170g butter; 170g caster sugar; 3 eggs; 225g self-raising flour; 2 tbsp milk; zest of 1 lemon

FOR THE FILLING: 340g Philadelphia cream cheese; 100ml double cream; 90g icing sugar; zest of 1 lemon; 60g lemon curd

FOR THE SWISS MERINGUE: 8 egg whites

200g caster sugar pinch of salt FOR THE JELLY 4 sheets gelatine 200ml Dubonnet 100ml London dry gin 110g caster sugar FOR THE MERINGUE SHARDS 4 egg whites 150g caster sugar 150g icing sugar, sifted zest of 1 lemon raspberries and micro lemon balm, to garnish

METHOD

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C/ 160 degrees C fan/ gas 4. Grease an 18cm round tin and line base with baking paper.

2. For cake, cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat eggs in one at a time. Sift flour and fold into mix, then fold in milk and lemon zest.

3. Spoon mix into tin and bake for 30-35 mins, until a skewer inserted in centre comes out clean.

4. Remove from oven and leave in tin for 10 mins, then turn out on to a wire rack until completely cooled. Slice in half horizontally and cut out 6 circles with a food ring.

5. For filling, put Philadelphia cream cheese, cream, icing sugar and lemon zest into a mixing bowl and whisk until incorporated and thick.

6. Transfer to a freezer-safe tub and gently mix in the lemon curd to make ripples. Freeze until ice cream-like in texture.

7. For Swiss meringue, put egg whites, sugar and salt in a metal bowl and place over a pan of simmering water. Whisk continually until sugar has dissolved and temperature reaches 80 degrees C – use a temperature probe – this will take about 10 mins.

8. Remove from heat and transfer mix to a stand mixer with whisk attachment and whisk on medium-high speed until egg whites turn into a thick, glossy Swiss meringue. Transfer meringue into a piping bag with nozzle attached.

9. For jelly, bloom gelatine by soaking in cold water for 5 mins. Place Dubonnet, gin and sugar in a pan and gently bring to the boil while whisking to dissolve sugar. Reduce heat to a simmer just as it starts to boil.

10. Remove gelatine and squeeze out any excess moisture, then add to pan and whisk for 1-2 mins on the heat until fully dissolved.

11. Pour mixture into desired container and leave to set in the fridge. (I use a 10cm-deep rectangular tray and line it with clingfilm so I can turn it out and dice the jelly into cubes.).

12. For the meringue shards, preheat oven to 90 degrees C. Place egg whites into a stand mixer bowl with whisk attachment and add sugar, icing sugar and lemon zest, then whisk for 5 mins or until meringue holds stiff peaks when the whisk is lifted out of the meringue mixture.

13. Spread meringue out in a thin layer on a silicone baking mat or a tray lined with baking paper and cook for 1 hour and 10 mins until meringue is crisp on top but not coloured. Leave to cool on tray, then snap off into shards.

14. To serve, take a circle of sponge and top with an ice cream scoop of the lemon cream cheese filling and then pipe Swiss meringue around the entire pudding until fully covered. At this point, either place the baked Windsor in the freezer until needed or blowtorch until meringue is golden, garnish with the jelly, meringue shards, fresh raspberries and micro herbs and serve straight away.