black food

[judy]

13th. august is the last black friday in this millenium. My staff want a black dinner so they can dress gothic and keep the punters on edge. We will run old silent scary films instead of music but I am stuck on the food, truffles are a bit over the top as we are an historic country pub. any help on ideas forthcoming

[Pete]

Do some squid ink pasta or risotto. You can also make sauces almost black by using just the gills from portobello mushrooms. Cut them from the rest of the mushroom and use them as you would the mushrooms. You will end up with a relativly black sauce.

wrap fish or meat in nori seaweed sheets goes black when soft or slice it fine when dry to garnish plates
roll food in peppercorns or make a poppyseed crust
use black olives to make tapenade lots of uses there i.e tapenade crust good on fish
there is always black eye beans to make salsa soups etc
aubergines are good charred keep black,the baby ones make good pickles
hope that helps!!!!!!

black rice... although sometimes hard to find. Chinese black vinegar sauces...

Try this soup recipe - Smoked Greenshell Mussels with Cumin Scented Black Beans and Jalapeno Spoon Bread from www.discovernz.com
The mussel shells are very dark green but look black. The only thing that's not black is the bread .

[ChefRon]

What about old fashioned black bean soup? You can dress it up with a brunoise dice of tomatoe concasse flavored with cilantro and spiral thinned sour cream from a squeeze bottle on top. I love the squid ink idea and black rice. I especially adore the tapenade concept. Could you "blacken" a filet of fish or chops somehow?

Say, please excuse my ignorance, but whatever is a "Black Friday" anyway? I don't seem to get out much.

[ChefRon]

Nevermind that. It's Friday the 13th, right? Duh. Hooked-on Phonics worked for me...

[Pete]

Also try thai purple sticky rice. Its a very dark purple-almost black

[judy]

Thanks for all your help.I will post the menu I decide on when I get it together.I must point out that I am situated in
western australia, 400k. from
Perth.I have very little contact with other professionals in our trade so this page, which I stumbled on by accident, is a great place to visit.
ChefRon, you may have been confused by Black Friday, but here we celebrate Christmas in July.cheers.