I must confess I didn’t get over-excited about the Royal Wedding but I was interested in what the guests were given to eat. The Queen gave a lunchtime reception at Buckingham Palace for 650 guests who were served a selection from about 10,000 canapés which had been prepared by a team of 21 chefs led by Royal Chef, Mark Flanagan. As you might expect the list of canapés is long and highly varied but a few particular examples stood out to me as interesting variations on classic British themes:

Pressed Confit of Pork Belly with Crayfish and Crackling –the crackling sounds difficult to eat gracefully but the pressed confit of pork belly sounds luscious.

Grain Mustard and honey-glazed Chipolatas – ahhh, good old British bangers even though they are dressed up for the occasion with a mustard and honey glaze. I expect they looked good though and tasted even better.

Miniature Yorkshire Pudding with Roast Fillet of Beef and Horseradish Mousse – now that’s about as perfectly British as you can get. And making a mousse out of the horseradish sauce gives it a nice modern touch.

Bubble and Squeak with Confit Shoulder of Lamb – bubble and squeak is the traditional way to use up leftover vegetables from a Sunday roast dinner. It seems a little austere for the Royal Wedding but maybe that’s a sign of the times.

Cornish Crab Salad on Lemon Blini – blini are more classic Russian than classic British but lemon blini with Cornish crab sounds like a marriage made in heaven (much like the main event if you were to ask the Archbishop).

Smoked Haddock Fishcake with Pea Guacamole – I think Chef Flanagan is having a little joke here. This sounds like he’s playing with a fish and chip shop offering but with the mushy peas cunningly disguised as “guacamole”. Still, full marks for ingenuity.

Wild Mushroom and Celeriac Chausson – OK Chef, you got me here. I had to look up “chausson” but, guess what? It’s a little pasty (and, curiously, the name of a camper van). To keep with the British theme there had to be some sort of pie on the menu, even if it does have a French name, and this veggie offering does the job nicely.

And to finish….

Chocolate Biscuit Cake – created by the Mcvitie’s Cake Company using a Royal Family recipe.