Foodbloggers unite (again) at the 2006 Henley Royal Regatta

(From left to right: Nick, Jeanne, Andrew, myself, Shana, Xochitl, Jenni, (gatecrasher in the background), June and Claire.
With the weather much better than the year before, I left the house in good spirits that first Saturday in July. Not even the heavy traffic I encountered in the motorway and the bumper-to-bumper ride between said motorway and beautiful Henley Upon Thames could dishearten me. After all, I was looking forward to our second Foodblogger picnic, organised once again by Jeanne, the Cooksister!.
As befits our trade, we were spoiling the Royal Henley Regatta with a picnic spread that made all those "beautiful" people parking on the riverfront look like amateurs, despite their silver cutlery, crystal champagne glasses and butlers serving food out of Fortnum & Mason hampers and M&S cooling bags (if not prepared on the spot by a personal chef, that is). This year saw a new line-up of foodbloggers, with the usual suspects providing some continuity. Sadly, no representation from overseas this time, but we welcomed Jenni, Xochitl with driver (err, husband) and friend Claire, June as well as Jeanne's husband Nick (proving, as last year, a valuable source for information about the event, even though most of us were paying more attention to tha food than anything else) as well as their friend Cecil.
We had some crudités for which I made a smoked salmon and a gorgonzola & pecan dip (recipes below), two versions of home-made stuffed bread, both utterly delicious, a variety of salads (recipes for my cold meat salad with peppers, cheese and spring onion, as well as my potato salad with chives and crispy bacon bits to follow soon-ish), Jeanne's regular contribution of feta cheese & peppadew muffins, a feta, spinach & bacon quiche, chicken with preserved lemon & coriander and lemon & herb-marinated olives. The food was obviously suffering in the blazing heat (no inch of shade to be found on our side of the river) and one passerby even made a curiously misplaced comment voicing his concern about salmonella (we didn't offer him anything, of course), but we managed to get by with cooling bags and icecubes... and of course by just devouring as much as we could in as little time possible.
Contentedly stuffed, we spent the rest of the afternoon dangling our feet in the cold Thames water, watching some very trim men and women in lycra paddle by (yes, there was some rowing, too) and nibbling on a generous selection of cakes and sweet nibbles. Andrew, Xochitl and Jeanne had all brought their versions of a bakewell tart, resulting in a bit of a "mine's better than yours"... after three versions, you'd think that there was hardly enough space for cantuccini and fruit cake, but we managed to eat our way through all of them, if only in little bites.
And who would have thought, as the day was drawing to a close and the sun was finally showing some mercy, a few of us sneakily finished off the bread and olives and had a second, third or fourth helping of just about everything...

Salmon paté

200 g smoked salmon
250 g cream cheese (eg philadelphia)
2 tbsp crème fraîche
2 tbsp lemon juice
4 tbsp whipping cream
pepper
1 handful chopped dill

Finely chop the salmon in a food processor, add the remaining ingredients (except the dill) and work into a smooth paste.
The quantities given are for a paté, if you want more of a dip, add crème fraîche to achieve the desired consistency.
Fold in the chopped dill, reserving some to decorate before serving.

Gorgonzola & pecan dip

100 g gorgonzola
100 g whipping cream
250 g cream cheese (eg philadelphia)
50 g pecans

Work the gorgonzola with a hand mixer until smooth and creamy. Add the cream and cream cheese and combine to a thick paste. Chop and toast the pecans in a pan until fragrant and starting to brown. Fold into the dip just before serving, sprinkling some on top.

Enjoy the dips with raw vegetables - peppers, baby corn, carrots, cucumber, radishes work well, even partially cooked or grilled vegetables like broccoli or asparagus are lovely. Adjust the consistency of the dips to the firmness of your vegetables.

Comments

[angelika]

Oh I think I have to move to London. So many perfect events, so many kind foodbloggers to meet... Go on like that and maybe I will manage one day again. All the best to all of you !

[Tanna]

Food looks beautiful. I do believe you are the queen of small bites. I love your small bites!!!

[Andrew]

Twaz indeed a fine day....

[linda]

the food looks good! u must be a great cook..i am taggin u on my links. :)

[Rachael]

What fun!

The recipe looks great too...Thanks!

[Amelia]

Can you find a way of including those of us who can't cook on these days? I'll knit eggcozy's or something for everyone! It sounds like such a lovely day.

[Jeanne]

Sigh, happy memories. It is one of my favourite annual events. Great food, great company, great time had by all. :-)

[Jeanne]

Oh, and forgot to mention - that smoked salmon dip was DIVINE!