Roast Chestnuts, Glazed Hams, Plum Puddings, Yule Logs, Christmas Cakes, Trifles and Mince Pies are only some of the Traditional Christmas Foods so popular at this time of year. These iconic foods, vital to December menus, while used in various ways at different latitudes are fully ingrained in the culture of the season. Such foods have featured strongly in recent requests from Flight Attendants and Operations personnel ordering inflight supplies.

Glazed Ham, Roast Turkey slices, Cranberry Sauce, Stuffing and Christmas Chutney are the fillings of choice when requests are placed for Open and Closed Sandwiches.

Smoked Salmon, Prawns and Crabmeat always popular foods throughout the year feature even more on our Festive selections of Canapés and Appetisers.

Private aircraft catering

For a Festive 3 course meal on board consider Café Riva’s Wild Mushroom & Chestnut Soup followed by Traditional Turkey & Ham with all the trimmings and complete the meal with a Festive Dessert e.g. Plum Pudding & Brandy Butter or individual Sherry Trifles.

Mince Pies are certainly Café Riva’s most popular Festive Food request. We believe that Christmas really only gets underway when we’ve baked our first batch! Nothing gets you into the festive spirit quite like the taste of buttery, crumbly pastry filled with temptingly spiced and juicy mincemeat served with a good dollop of cream! Café Riva Mince pies are known for their incredibly buttery yet zingy flavour. The filling has an aroma of cinnamon and citrus which compliments the buttery taste of the wonderfully crisp, golden pastry.

Café Riva’s Continental Breakfast Platters contain a selection of Mini Croissants, Danish Pastries, Muffins and Homemade Scones. For the month of December you can request that we also include Café Riva’s Mince Pies.

Café Riva’s Afternoon Tea Platters typically contain Finger and mini Open Sandwiches, Fruit Scones with Clotted Cream & Jam,  Homemade Shortbread and Fresh Fruit Tartlets, but to give a Christmassy feel just ask us to include some delicious Mince Pies, Christmas Cake or Yule Log!

As 2020 has been a year like no other there isn’t a better way to Say ‘Thankyou’ to your Clients than to offer Café Riva’s Mince Pies and Freshly Whipped Cream when they board the Aircraft.

Mincemeat:

  • 150g Raisins
  • 150g Currants
  • 75g Mixed Peel
  • 125ml Brandy
  • 125g Muscovado Sugar
  • 150g Chopped Suet
  • 1 tsp Mixed Spice
  • 1 Apple, peeled, cored and grated
  • 1 Orange, juice & zest
  • 1 Lemon, juice & zest

Pastry:

  • 400g Plain Flour
  • 175g Butter
  • 50g Icing Sugar
  • 1 Orange, zest only
  • 1 Egg Yolk

To Glaze:

  • 1 Egg, beaten
  • 25g Demerara Sugar

Method:

To make mincemeat: place all the ingredients in a large bowl and mix well.  Cover an d leave for up to 24 hours. The Mincemeat can be kept for longer but needs to be stored in sterilised jars and sealed.

To make pastry: sift the flour into a bowl, add the butter and rub in with the fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Sift in the icing sugar and orange zest. Add the egg yolk and approx. 3 tablesp cold water to form a ball. Place, covered in a refrigerator for 30 mins.

Pre-heat the oven to 200⁰C/400⁰F/Gas 4.

Roll pastry on a floured board and cut rounds with a pastry cutter slightly bigger than the size of the holes in the patty tins. Fill each pastry case with mincemeat  and then cut further rounds the size of the holes to make the lids. Brush the rims of the pastry cases with beaten egg and press the lids into position. Brush with beaten egg & sprinkle a little demerara sugar on top. Use a sharp knife to make a little slit on top to allow steam to escape. Bake for 20-25mins. Cool on a wire tray. Serve warm with whipped cream.

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