Help me plan a 7 course meal

[DcD]

Hi all,

I'm cooking a seven course meal as a celebration - I won't be eating or entertaining, so I'll be locked in the kitchen and giving my undivided attention to the food. Money is not an issue, and I have a friend coming along to act as cocktail maker (he's a barman) and wait on the guests (there will be 6 dining in total).

I have nailed down some ideas already for a few courses, but i'm still looking around for ideas for the missing ones. Any ideas would be swell and some feedback on the dishes I've decided on would be welcome.

One of the guests has allergies to gluten and lactose. Dishes marked with G or L respectively for gluten and lactose, show where there are problems. S denotes that the dish is easily solvable with ingredients changes, and then noted. If they are not solvable like the dessert idea, then a single portion alternative is required (obviously that's gluten and lactose free).

1st - Cocktails & hors d'oeuvre

• Bacon-wrapped king prawns on rosemary skewer with lemon-olive oil dip.
• Asian crab salad croustades. G (Pastry/Flour) S - Gluten-free flour
• Olive and pistachio bruschetta. G (Bread) S - Gluten-free baguette
• Bacon and sweet potato rosti. L (Creme Fraiche)

2nd - Consomme.

• Chicken consomme with sage crusted melba toast.

3rd - Salad

• Tuna salade Niçoise.

4th - Fish

• Grilled sea bass with marsh samphire, beetroot relish on spiced yellow pepper purée.

5th - Sorbet

• Champagne & pink grapefruit sorbet.

6th - Meat

• Rack of New Zealand lamb with fondant potatoes, balsamic cherry tomatoes and pea puree.

7th - Dessert

• Lemongrass & white chocolate panna cotta with raspberry coulis. L (Cream, Milk etc)

Ingredients
£145.54

Equip.
£92.18

Total
£237.72

Per Head Food
£24.26

Per Head Total
£39.62

 

[DcD]

Cheers for the feedback fellas.

@Satchef - I did look into certain lactose-free ingredients, but for something like the panna cotta, I'd have to replace the entire lot really. Not worth it when the person with the allergy will be perfectly happy and grateful with a replacement.

The soup is gone. I was in two minds already with it but as you guys have reinforced my doubts I've ditched it. Need some ideas to replace it, I'd quite like to try something a little Heston Blumenthal-like - something that's relatively small but is visually stunning.

@glitch Cheers for the advice. The sorbet will be staying as it's been specially requested that I make it. There's a lot of recipes online that claim to get around the freezing problem of alcohol. The common concensus is to heat the liquid before freezing to burn off the majority of the alcohol, just leaving the taste. I'll be making this nearly a week in advance and freezing it so no problem if it goes horribly wrong, I'll have a contingency plan.

The sorbet coming in at 4th course did seem a little strange to me, actually. But as I Googled common 7 course plans, they always came here. Must be a very standard template that bares no thought to the dishes - I'll move it to after the fish. After further research, it appears French 7 course meals the sorbets comes after the fish.

Just found a rather neat looking recipe for grilled sea bass, beetroot relish, yellow pepper puree and samphire. I think this will be pretty cool for the fish course.

 

[DcD]

You can make a panna cotta with lactose-free ingredients if you really want to.

Coconut milk/cream is a great ingredient to use, if you want that flavour, but there's plenty of lactose-free alternatives to the usual milk and cream and you won't really notice the difference.

Desserts are an intensely personal thing, but one of my current favourites is a 'tasting plate' of chocolate. It's a quenelle of chocolate mousse, a chocolate macaron and a cube of flourless chocolate cake served on a chocolate sand/soil with a few other touches here and there.

I guess it could work for someone with allergies to gluten and lactose, but it doesn't sound like it fits in with the ethos of your menu.

You could do a little tasting plate of strawberries with various foams, jellies, mousses, gels and meringues dotted around the plate amongst the fresh fruit?

A crystal-clear consommé would be an ideal replacement here as it satisfied both the lightness and visual requirements perfectly.

I'm thinking along the lines of a little half-sphere of mousse in the middle of the bowl, studded with enoki mushrooms and decorated with something like an edible lichen - you can then pour the consommé into the bowls as it is served.

Very Heston-like and not altogether complicated to make, although it will take a fair bit of effort.

Sorry, I didn't mean to say I didn't like the idea of the sorbet - I've just never had much luck with champagne in that regard!

It's actually just the thing I'd like to be served during a long-course menu and a very clever and welcome addition.

That sounds very nice indeed.

Can you explain what form the salad course will be taking? I think that's the one that the three of us that have pitched in thus far are most intrigued by - I know I am!

I really haven't decided on the salad course yet. I'm to be honest, very stumped.

 

[DcD]

Added Tuna Steak Salade Nicoise and Chicken consomme with sage crusted melba toast.

Also added total per head etc.

Thoughts guys? The equipment costs are for new porcelain plates and metallic moulds for the panna cotta - I don't have nice white square plates and really want some for better presentation.