Socially Distanced Suppers

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They say that she who sups with the Devil should have a long spoon- and in these devilishly difficult times, that's sound advice.

But it's summer! We want to entertain and be entertained, to eat, drink and be merry with friends, to share suppers together..

And it can be done- with a little care, a lot of hygiene and a dash of creative catering.

Oh.. and a set of 1970's fondue forks.

I bought these retro classics in 1978 in France- and they remain amongst my treasured possessions.

My beloved fondue forks

Now I know the idea of a fondue pot, where everyone dips in their forks again and again- is pretty abhorrent these days. But a sharing platter can be enjoyed without the perils of the spoon sharers, double-dippers and sauce slurpers.

Take, for example, my Friday Night Aiöli:

Friday Night Aiöli

Give everybody a long fork, an individual dish of Aiöli sauce and a large sharing platter of vegetables, prawns, fish or hard boiled eggs. Guests can spear their choices and load their plates, then dip them as much as they like into their personal dish of creamy, garlicky sauce.

The simplest way to make Aiöli sauce is in the food processor:

Soak a pinch of saffron strands in 1 tbsp of boiling water and 3 tsps of lemon juice
Put 3 crushed fat garlic cloves ( or more if you like), 3 tsps Dijon mustard, 1 tsp salt, good grind of black pepper and 3 egg yolks into the goblet of your food processor and blitz to a creamy paste.
Gradually pour in 300ml of olive oil through the feed tube and keep blitzing until the mixture emulsifies. Finally add the saffron, water and lemon juice and blitz a little more.

Or you can whisk it up by hand if you need the exercise!

Aiöli the hard way!

Spoon the sauce into individual bowls.

Use the same idea ( individual dipping pots, long forks ) to make chocolate fondue for fruit:

Strawberry and Chocolate Fondue

Just put 100g dark chocolate, 1 tsp each of kirsch and icing sugar and a knob of butter in a pretty cup or bowl and microwave for 1 minute.

Or make Toffee Fudge Fondue:

Toffee Fudge Fondue

Melt together 1 tbsp muscovado sugar, 1 tbsp golden syrup and 30 g butter. Stir in 1 tsp vanilla essence and 2 tbsp double cream and serve in indivual pots

Or Ban-iteroles with Fudge Sauce:

Ban-iteroles with Fudge Sauce

(Choux buns filled with cream and sliced banana, threaded on to forks or skewers with individual sauce jugs.)


If you are unlucky enough not to have a set of fondue forks, of course long bamboo skewers would do as well.

Just remember to share with care!