What To Eat On Wedding Eve?

Tonight’s party menu, a recipe for chilled courgette and mint soup, plus this week’s market haul

Angus and Olivia on the day they got engaged last year.

Good morning, friends. A quick in-and-out today, as this afternoon we have a big party in the garden for everyone arriving for Angus and Olivia’s wedding tomorrow. I’ve been smothering legs of lamb in harissa and yoghurt, roasting vegetables, making meringues, poaching peaches, and transforming yesterday’s croissants into marmalade and dark chocolate bread-and-butter pudding. My nails are shocking and I still need to sew a ribbon on a hat.

I must go and iron tablecloths, but I wanted to give you this recipe for the chilled courgette and mint soup we’re going to give people as they arrive – very useful when I know so many of you have courgette plants that are producing in abundance right now – plus this week’s market haul, of course. I will drop in later this weekend to share more happy pictures and stories, but I just wanted to say hello and share the rest of tonight’s menu with you.

Angus and Olivia’s Wedding Eve Dinner In The Garden

Chilled courgette and mint soup

Charcuterie, olives, Charentais melon, CRISPS
Oysters with lemon, mignonette, Tabasco

Paella
Slow cooked harissa legs of lamb

Roast cauliflower, Medjool date and preserved lemon salad
Green bean and tomato salad with tarragon
Roast aubergine salad with saffron yoghurt and pomegranate (this is an Ottolenghi recipe)

Cheese: Comté, Roquefort, truffled Brie, Chaource, Tomme des fleurs

Fruit and nuts

Honeyed peach pavlova
Marmalade and chocolate bread-and-butter pudding (to use up the yolks from the egg whites used in the pavlova)

Soupe courgette et menthe

Courgette and mint soup

When you’re shopping for courgettes, try to find small- to medium-sized ones and swerve those that are like mini-marrows. They tend to be woolly inside, which isn’t what I want from a vegetable, personally.

Serves 6-8, or 24 or so if served in shot glasses as an amuse bouche

3 tbsp olive oil, plus a little more for serving
1kg courgettes, ends trimmed, cut into 5mm slices
2 shallots, about 90g total weight, halved and thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, halved, any green germ removed, thinly sliced
600ml chicken or vegetable stock
100g crème fraiche, plus more for serving
Juice of a small lemon, about 3 tbsp
A small handful of mint leaves, roughly chopped, plus a few more whole leaves for serving

For the croûtons (optional)
Some olive oil
Some slightly stale white bread, cut into 2cm cubes
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Warm the olive oil in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over a medium heat. Add the courgettes and shallots and a decent pinch of salt. Sauté, stirring from time to time, until the courgettes are soft and just starting to become golden in places. This will take about 7-10 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté for a further minute.

Pour in the stock and simmer for 10 minutes then remove from the heat. Stir in the crème fraîche and stir to combine, then stir in the lemon juice. Leave to cool completely. Taste and season with salt and pepper – generally speaking, cold soup needs more seasoning than hot soup.

Stir in the chopped mint then blend the soup until very smooth, either in a food processor or with a stick blender. Tip into a large, covered container and chill in the fridge for at least 3 hours. You can make it a day or two before you want to eat it, just keep it covered and chilled in the fridge.

If you’re making the croûtons, warm a decent glub of olive oil in a frying pan over a medium-high heat and sauté the bread cubes until just golden, turning them frequently. Turn them out onto kitchen paper to drain and season them with salt and pepper. Once cooled, they will keep well in a sealed container for a week or so.

Serve in chilled bowls or glasses, with a little crème fraîche, a trickle of oil and a mint leaf or two on top, and a few croutons if you have them.

Market haul, 20 August 2024

Today’s market haul comprises: tomatoes, blue cheese, little St Marcellin cheeses for goat’s cheese salads, morbier cheese, peaches, courgettes, garlic, simiane red onion, spring onions, bread, pains au chocolat, croissants, two dozen eggs, lettuce, coriander, aubergines, Charantais melon, and a Pillivuyt platter hand-painted with vines I bought at a vide grenier (it means, literally, empty attic, sort of like a garage sale) for €20.