A few weeks has past now but here’s a quick recap of what we served at our American Diner small plates event earlier this month. If we’re completely honest we had so many unused recipes from our ‘Filth’ events for Leeds Indie Food we thought we’d just put on a whole new event! We channelled inspiration from the like’s of Duck and Waffle, Spuntino and Jamie’s America.
This was a lunchtime event so we felt there was no better way to start this daytime dinner than with a lethal cocktail! This came in the form of our ‘Cherry Cola’ which was actual cherry coke reduced down to a syrup and spiked with salt, more sugar, vanilla and cider vinegar (bizarrely). The booze was a concoction of whisky, vodka, Campari and crème de cacao! As well as lethal this was also very sweet – one to have in small quantities!
For canapés we offered mini jacket potatoes, which had a lovey smoky and spicy coating and came topped with sour cream, chives and crispy bacon. Also served up was a mini piece of toasted sourdough, grilled cheese, spiced ox cheek and pickled fennel – a very complex array of ingredients for such a small morsel!
The small plates then started properly with a salad American style – Waldorf Salad… lightly dressed leaves spiked with grapes, walnuts and blue cheese. Knowing that we had a number of rich dishes to follow, this was a nice dish to break our guests in with! This was then followed by a slider with a difference – a lambwich slider! Succulent lamb mince was mixed with fennel, rosemary and chilli. Popped in a rich milk bun with lots of spicy tomato sauce and pickled cucumber, this was a messy treat indeed!
Next up was our mac ‘n’ cheese course, as you can’t do American without some form of the mac! A rich, creamy, gruyere filled mac ‘n’ cheese was topped with a deep fried softshell crab, which is our new favourite ingredient at the Manor. These crabs you can eat whole as they have shed their shells as they grow. By being able to eat everything, it has a lovely bisquey flavour…a perfect accompaniment for a bowl of mac ‘n’ cheese in my view!
Our final savoury offering was pig and grits. 12 hour slow roasted barbecued pulled pork, atop cheesy grits and spiked with jalepenos. Sweet, smoky, spicy and creamy – all the delicious things in one comforting mouthful. A true taste of America!
After such a light meal we felt pudding would be best served as pie – pecan pie to be precise with a filthy salted caramel ice cream! A rich, dark, nutty pie and decadent ice cream…Safe to say this pretty much finished off some of our guests.
And finally, if that wasn’t enough, our petit fours were homemade Reese’s peanut butter cups. We knew we’d broken our guests when so many of these were left uneaten – all the more for us to eat!
It’s great to keep seeing so many new faces at the Manor. Next time we’ll be welcoming people in for an Eastern inspired Afternoon Tea in September, see you soon!
Dinner at the Manor 