New Spring Summer Menus

At Rocket, our menus are dictated by the seasons and driven by our culinary philosophy of thinking global and sourcing local. Our menus for spring and summer celebrate the abundance of seasonal British produce available this time of year, such as English white peaches, asparagus from the Wye Valley, and the most delicious English summer berries. Rocket Co-Founder Caroline Hall talks us through some of her favourite dishes from the new menus. 

My new favourite canapé this season has to be pea pods with coconut yoghurt. It looks beautifully simple, but it is in fact quite deliberate. The peas are removed from their pods, blanched, then put back into the pod with a bit of coconut yoghurt, pea purée and seasoning. It’s delicate, crunchy, and spring in a bite, a true reflection of the incredible produce that’s available this time of year. It also happens to be vegan which is something our clients are requesting more and more.

I also love our coronation chicken canapé, which was conceived in celebration of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee this year. It’s the familiar flavours of coronation chicken but elevated in the usual Rocket way. Marinated chicken is wrapped in a crispy filo tube, topped with apricot ketchup, smoked almonds and fresh herbs. It’s a refined take on a classic and the perfect canapé for any summer party.

For a starter, I love the burrata because La Latteria is such a fantastic product. In the prime of summer when English white peaches are in season, they lend a complex fruitiness that combined with green beans, smoked almonds and the creamy burrata, makes this such a brilliant and unique dish that is a total crowd-pleaser.

Asparagus for me epitomises English summer as it’s the first vegetable to appear from the Wye valley in March. The endive and orange dressing is a little bitter, and this cuts through the whipped Berkswell, a strong and delicious British cheese made with ewe’s milk. It has a gentle and complex sweetness and a slightly granular texture and proves local English cheese can rival Europe’s finest.

The Garden Salad with Quails’ Eggs was inspired by Jeremy Lee of Quo Vadis who we worked with at an event earlier this year. It’s vegetables at their finest and proves that to make a beautiful dish, you don’t need to overcomplicate, you can just use incredible ingredients in their prime. A poached Norfolk quail’s egg lends a bit of richness to the salad, which is cut through beautifully by the classic English salad cream. It’s a stunning first course.

The Barbary duck is a really beautiful plate of food. The richness of the duck is balanced with the acidity of the miso-glazed aubergine and the sticky rice, which is crispy on the outside and unctuous on the inside. The pickled kohlrabi and bok choi add a lightness to the dish and it’s finished with the most luxurious Szechuan jus.

Nothing reflects a shift to warmer weather like a beautiful and light fish dish. This halibut has won me over for its gorgeous spring colours and inviting contrast of flavours and textures. The halibut skin is pan-fried until crisp while the caviar-dotted smoked hay beurre blanc provides a richness that’s balanced by salty samphire and succulent white fish.

The cannelloni is a quintessentially Rocket dish and shows how spectacular and refined vegan dishes can be. I love the vivid green colours from the fresh peas and broad beans combined with the toasted artichokes and preserved lemon.

I love an alternative to a classic chocolate pudding and the Paris-Brest not only looks beautiful and ornate, it’s deliciously crisp and nutty with a coffee sauce that’s a perfect pick me up after dinner, cut through by a rich and tangy crème fraîche ice cream. 

You cannot go wrong with the Summer Berries Macaron, a dish that celebrates the English summer. The vividly-coloured and delicate macaron is filled with a summer berry compote, white chocolate ganache, and finished with rose and lemon veil, gold leaf and mint cress. It’s a total crowd-pleaser and the perfect ending to a summer meal.

The chocolate and passion fruit opera is a beautiful marriage of flavours and textures thanks to the luxurious Valrhona chocolate, sweet and tart passion fruit, crispy feuillantine, and creamy salted caramel ice cream.

To view our full menus or chat through your party or event in more detail, please email parties@rocketfood.com or call us on 020 7622 2320