On the evening of May 19, my friends and I celebrated with a Royal Wedding Supper Club in serious style at the home of our friends Cortlandt and Amy —a host and hostess with unparalleled style and charm. At your next supper club, try this pull-out-all-the-stops, classically British, elegant menu for a dinner your friends will be talking about for years to come.
When we arrived, we took our Pimms Cups on the lawn with my mini beef Wellingtons and the hostess’ smoked salmon on Irish soda bread with chive butter. Pimms No. 1 is a classic herbal infused gin with an amber hue, often served as a Pimms Cup with either ginger beer or lemonade and a salad’s worth of cucumber, citrus, and berries (see recipe below for Amy’s version with Canada Dry’s new Ginger Ale and Lemonade.)
Pimms Cup Cocktail
Ingredients
- Pimms No. 1 liqueur
- vodka
- 2-3 oranges sliced
- 2-3 lemons sliced
- 2-4 English cucumbers cut into sticks
- Ginger beer Amy used Bundaberg
- Ginger ale and/or lemonade Amy used Canada Dry's Ginger Ale and Lemonade
- Ice
Instructions
Six hours, to day prior to serving:
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Fill pitcher with Pimms and vodka (a ½ ounce vodka for every ounce of Pimms).
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Add sliced cucumber, sliced orange and sliced lemon to pitcher of Pimms and vodka mixture.
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Let infuse in refrigerator for at least six hours to overnight
Just before serving:
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Fill another pitcher with one bottle cold ginger beer.
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Add to ginger beer cold ginger ale and lemonade.
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Fill glass halfway with ice.
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Add an ounce to 1.5 ounce infused Pimms vodka mixture
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Fill rest of glass with ginger beer, ginger ale and lemonade mixture
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Garnish with quartered cucumber and slice of orange
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Add more Pimms, ginger beer to taste.
Beef Wellington is a traditional dressing-up of a beef tenderloin, wrapped in mushroom duxelles, pate, and encased in buttery puff pastry. I opted for the much-more finger-food (and budget) friendly appetizer version, best eaten after dunking in a creamy horseradish dill sauce.
At our Royal Wedding Supper Club, Tunes emanated from a record player set up next to a bubbling fountain, as we chatted and laughed and sipped our cocktails.
For our sumptuous feast, we moved to the courtyard to dine. The table was set with silver water goblets, stemware, gleaming gold-rimmed china, and a center runner of magnolia leaves and blossoms. In short, it was stunning.
Our Royal Wedding Supper Club side dishes were classically British, with a few twists. Bria and Chris prepared peas and pancetta and Martha’s homemade mint jelly as an accompaniment to the lamb. The peas were at the same time fresh and rich and salty with pancetta (Italian cured pork belly).
Peas and Pancetta
A delicious, classic British side dish to any grilled meat.
Ingredients
- 2 pounds frozen peas
- 4 ounces diced Pancetta
- 1 cup freshly made breadcrumbs
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- salt and pepper
- chopped parsley
Instructions
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Steam frozen peas until tender (undercook them if you are reheating the dish prior to serving).
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Put chopped pancetta in skillet and cook until fat has rendered and pancetta is crisp.
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Move pancetta to paper to drain, but keep fat in skillet.
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Add breadcrumbs to fat. The breadcrumbs will absorb the fat very quickly, but keep stirring and turning the breadcrumbs for at least 5 minutes. You want the breadcrumbs to be nicely toasted and brown. If you need to add more fat, this is when you would add the olive oil.
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Add the pancetta to the breadcrumbs and add salt and pepper to taste. The pancetta is very salty, but you will need to add quite a bit of pepper. This is the only seasoning for the peas.
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Stir the pancetta/breadcrumb mixture into the peas and pour into your serving dish.
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Finely chop parsley and stir through.
Sarah (the Birthday Girl of the evening) and Cole prepared another British classic with Jamie Oliver’s recipe, Bubble and Squeak–a kind of hash of potatoes and root vegetables (Sarah used Yukon gold potatoes, leeks, turnips, and diced cabbage). Bubble and Squeak gets its moniker from the little noises that emanate from the cabbage in the cooking process. The next time you have a yearning for mashed potatoes, make this instead. It’s comfort food at its finest.
Druhan prepared popovers, or Yorkshire Puddings, which were as light and puffy as air, and tender steamed asparagus with rich Hollandaise. Druhan had a little fun with her sous vide, which she used not only for the Hollandaise (rich perfection) but also the asparagus (sous vide at 185 degrees for 20 minutes, seasoned with butter, salt, and lemon zest).
The main event was Cortlandt’s grilled lamb lollipops. To replicate his main course, buy already frenched rack of lamb and trim the skin. Cut between the bones for individual chops, cover liberally with olive oil and salt and pepper, and grill them until medium rare (about 3-4 minutes per side). They were perfectly tender, juicy, and a dynamite, classic main course.
Our extravagant dinner culminated in a slice of a gorgeous Lemon Elderflower cake fit for a princess, made by the talented artist Allison Steele. I would’ve been pleased with that cake as my own wedding cake, it was that stunning. Lucky Sarah to have it as her birthday cake! Blackberry jam and lemon curd layered pound cake, blanketed in St. Germain icing, and adorned with peonies, candied lemons, elderflowers, and blackberries, it was truly a sight to behold.
Lemon Elderflower Royal Wedding Cake
A take on Meghan and Harry's Royal Wedding cake, with lemon curd and blackberry jam layers, St. Germain buttercream, and pound cake layers, made by my talented friend, Allison Risher.
Ingredients
- 3 8 '' cake layers
- 3 6 '' cake layers
- 6-8 cups powdered sugar
- 1 cup butter 2 sticks, softened
- 1/2 cup whipping cream
- 1/4 cup St. Germain elderflower liqueur plus more for basting
- lemon curd
- blackberry jam
- cake dowels
- candied lemons gold foil, black berries, peonies, and elderflowers (for decoration)
Instructions
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Prepare the buttercream: whip the butter with 2 cups powdered sugar. Add cream. Keep adding powdered sugar and alternate adding St Germain until the buttercream is of spreading consistency. If it's too runny, add more sugar. Too stiff, add more St. Germain. Set aside.
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For bottom layer of cake, level the tops of the 8'' cake layers. Baste each cake layer with St. Germain. Spread blackberry jam between one layer and lemon curd between the other layer. Insert dowels.
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Trim the tops of the 6'' cakes and cut layers in half lengthwise. Allison discarded one layer because of height, but it's your call. Alternate layers with lemon curd and blackberry jam, basting each layer with St. Germain before adding filling. Dowel layers as you build the cake.
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Cover with a thin layer of buttercream (crumb layer) and chill.
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After chilled for an hour or so, finish with another layer of buttercream.
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Decorations: candied lemons, gold foil, black berries, peonies, and elderflowers
The Royal Wedding Feast will go down in history as one of Jubilee Supper Club’s most elegant and unique shindigs. We hope you will use this menu as inspiration to throw a British-inspired feast of your own, royal or not.