Friday 25 November 2011

Delicious.


Derbyshire.


December.


Delight.






It all started with 70's disco.

I was listening to a Ministry of Sound disco mix when the song "September" came on.

And it got me thinking. Again!

Could I do a dessert named after a month?

Yes, as it turned out. And as its not long to go, I came up with this. Its everything one would expect to find in a kitchen around December, and now I'm going to tell you what's on it.

I had to have some sort of mince pie on it, but as I'm not a great lover of mince pies, I tried to come up with something a bit less cloying.

So, fitting for Christmas, mincemeat sorbet was born!

I blended mincemeat with a sherry and orange syrup, tipped it into the thermomix and let rip.

Strained, cooled and churned ( sounds a bit like my disco dancing!) it really is delicious.

Grated sweet pastry is the "pie" element.

So, what else then?

We all love a glass of mulled wine, right Lisa! So some pears are poached in mulled wine, made the correct way with cloves, orange zest, cinnamon, brown sugar and brandy. Chilled and compressed, they are like little bursts of December on the plate.
A very light brandy sabayon is made using eggs yolks, sugar and, yes more, brandy. Whisked over a pan of simmering water, until thick, a small amount of melted unsalted butter is whisked in. This will help keep the sauce stable, and of course, make it rich and lovely!
We made a snowball ice cream, using Warnick's advocaat, which really is rather good!
Rolled in crushed meringue, dried orange zest and ground pistachios, it looks a bit like a snowball too!
Our East Lodge apple curd and some marinated apples add a clean note, as do some segments of satsuma.

So, it's December on a plate.

However, I still think it needs some more work doing on it, perhaps more textures, thats why it won't be on the menu just yet.

This one is though.

Another divine December dish!

Using pheasant, we made a mousse with some breast meat. Blended with cream and then passed through a fine sieve, rolled and poached, it's a classic way of making a mousse.

Sometimes served as it is, we cooled it down, sliced it and fried it on the plancha. It gets a nice crust, and its just lovely warm, soft and crisp at the same time.

Right, so what other goodies does December bring?

Port and Stilton are two that spring to my mind. And as the French do a version of this mousse using chicken and the slightly inferior Roquefort, I thought this would work just as well, using produce from Derbyshire!


So, a slice of warm pheasant mousse is served with a piece of cured and smoked pheasant breast, a dice of Colton Bassett Stilton, grated chestnuts, a celeriac condiment, wrapped in a fine pastry cylinder, some Port soaked ripe pears, celery leaves and finally, some parsley cress, oh yes, and some festive slices of red radish!

So, there you are, December on two plates.

And, still on the subject of music, which I am, I'm having some piano paper for my dinner tonight.

Matt would be very pleased!  Its actually Sardinian flat bread, rolled very thinly, that I will serve with some ham, as a little starter.

But, just one last thing.

They have arrived. And they look amazing. Unbelievable. Out of this world. I just cannot wait.

All the way from Argentina.

My new tight, black tango trousers!

No, only joking, two sixteen ounce rib eye steaks. THE DON PEDRO.

Right, thats it, Christmas, it seems has come early in Shottle, so I'll tell you all about it next time!







Thursday 17 November 2011

Bonsoir.

"Qu'ils mangent de la brioche"

So now you know!

Let them eat cake.

Often, wrongly, attributed to Marie Antoinette, it seems that any number of French princess's could have used this phrase.

Also incorrect in it's use of the word cake, when it should be brioche.

It was when the peasants ran out of money for bread, so they thought they should eat brioche. Although if they had access to my new afternoon tea delights at East Lodge, then I'm sure there would have been no revolution, just lots of happy frogs!

Although, just over the Channel, we were discovering the delights of pies.

 Specifically steak and oyster. Amazing, I'm sure, but I just wanted to show this new 2011 version we've done on the tasting menu up at East Lodge. Using sea bass, wrapped in chard leaves, with a celery puree, with a sauce made with reduced beef roasting juices, caviar and bone marrow.

 So, it is sort of, well, a tiny bit, related to the old English pie!

GIVE ME BUTTER, GIVE ME MORE BUTTER, KEEP ON GIVING ME BUTTER!

Another, less famous, but no less important French quote, by the legend that was Fernand Point.

One of the first, and probably, the most important, lessons I learnt in French classical cooking.

In France we used to make brioche with the same amount of butter as flour, resulting in a delicious, rich, buttery loaf.

This one was made with just half the amount of butter to flour, but it still tastes beautiful, packed with chopped pistachios, dried apricots and sultanas.

It will be served , toasted with our autumn rolled game ballotines, that we have been busy preparing.

Using a mixture of pheasant, partridge, pork shoulder, chicken, back fat and bacon.

I minced it twice, and then marinated it with Port and brandy, garlic, thyme and parsley, rolled it in thinly sliced bacon, and cooked it in the water bath. It really need lots of seasoning, and there is no point in being tight about this, lots and lots of  fat.

Pork is best.

And when preparing a cooked terrine the fat is very important.

You don't want to be eating a dry terrine, now, do you?

And it improves it keeping quality, so it will taste better as it matures.

So, a nice simple terrine, ready for next Sunday's lunch menu.  However, over on the dinner menu, we have this rather sexy looking starter, which, finally Tom and myself have got just about right.

Made with slow cooked Goosnargh duck breast and confit fattened duck livers, it is a different style of terrine, where the components are cooked
separately, and then pressed.

In this case, eight perfect layers are served, with a sweet chicory puree, duck juice and sherry vinegar dressing, and a little salad with grated cracked peppercorn honeycomb, giving a nice sweet crunch.  We also serve a brace of little duck pies, just as a little garnish.

So, anyway, back to the brioche, and just one more use for it. As a bread and butter pudding, of course!

With lots of DE4 apples and cream, it shows just how many uses a loaf of brioche has!

And, if you were wondering what my new, revolution preventing cakes were, they are, chocolate and pistachio cup cakes, apple and blackberry crumble tartlets, little 'Bakewell" sponges with almond butter cream with raspberry jam injected into them, scones, of course, and finally, little lemon meringue pies.

Right, that's it!

Off to Italy tonight, where I'm going to try doing a coal miners risotto, and then a chicken, roasted, nice and simple with some rosemary and garlic. With some toasted sour dough, a grilled little gem lettuce and garlic mayonnaise, its a nice easy dinner.


No history lesson next week, although I am going to tell you how my amazing chef de parties have managed to change a Yorkshire pudding into this incredible gluten free carrot and coconut cake.

Bonkers!

Friday 11 November 2011

I was really excited,  when after spending far too much at Majestic wine, I popped into M and S, next door, just to get some witches toes.

It was halloween, by the way.

Anyway, I was soon distracted by their dine in
for a tenner offer.

I'm sure you all know the score, main course, side, pudding and a bottle of wine.

All for ten English pounds.

So, what do think, good eh!

Well I didn't. It was just all a bit average, and there wasn't enough either.

So yesterday I popped up to Highfield House Farm, and for a lot less money I got this little beauty.

So, feeling rather creative, I got home, raided my larder, and ended up making a meal that could have fed six people, easy!

The thing about getting a whole plump chicken is that you get all the other bits and bobs.

So, first thing, after opening a bottle of wine, was to joint the bird.
I took off the legs, skinned and boned them, and then marinated them in a mixture of rice wine, soy sauce and sesame oil. They will be stir fried, in beef dripping, at the last minute. Mixed with peanuts and greens, and with a corn flour thickened sauce,  made with garlic, ginger and red chili paste, it will be one of the five dishes I made out of one chicken.

The breasts were removed, but left on the bone, and poached with some ginger, spring onions and peppercorns. The broth will be served at the end of the banquet, as a palate cleanser.  One of the breasts will be taken off the bone, shredded and served with a cold rice noodle salad, cucumber and mange tout. Dressed with a spicy "bang bang" sauce, made with sesame and peanut paste, Jazzed up with spring onions, red chillies and black vinegar, it makes a nice light start to my celebration of chicken!

The other breast will be chopped up, still on the bone, and be eaten will steamed rice and a tangy salty dipping sauce.

So, I've still got a couple of wings , waiting to be cooked with something. As you can see, an aubergine is sliced, along with a couple of white onions. Stir fried together and with a spoonful of fermented black bean sauce and some garlic, it makes a nice rich satisfying side dish.

Ok, nearly there. I finally managed to get my hands on some tofu. Morrison's didn't have any, so Waitrose was the answer. It will be braised with dried shitake mushrooms and some sliced Chinese sausages.

Right, thats it.

One chicken, five dishes, no problem!

And plenty left over for when I get home from work tomorrow.

Oh, and there was a bit for Agness as well, so everyone was happy.

And, see it you can guess what I got with the money I saved.

Look good don't they! Fried up for my lunch, and with a fantastic loaf of sourdough, some butter and brown sauce, its all I need for my midday snack!

So, you see, we can all dine in for a tenner, it just takes a little bit of chopping, cooking and drinking.

French history lesson next time, so au revoir!  I'm off to tuck into some unpasteurized brie now, spread onto the crusts of that delicious bread.









Sunday 6 November 2011

So, its here then.

At last!

Charlie and Ben brought me this beauty last week, so I carved it into this hideous halloween horror for our guests dining on the chef's table on Monday evening.

And I mean autumn, by the way.

Summer took much longer to finish than usual, which was nice.

But as a cook, I was really looking forward to getting my hands on some lovely, fat, heavy pumpkins, to turn into all sorts of warming, golden dishes to enjoy, now that the nights are getting a little chillier!

So, anyway, I wanted to use them in a couple of dishes on the new dinner menu, and wondered what to do with them.

A few years ago, one of the most popular ways of using butternut squash and pumpkins was in a risotto with Gorgonzola, sage and chestnuts. And, when done well, it's a fantastic dish.

But, I wanted to use my plump pumpkins as a garnish for a main course. The squash will take centre stage, as a dessert, as you will see later.

So, we start with putting the halved pumpkins in a hot oven, with rosemary, garlic and olive oil. Roasted until just charred around the edges, these could be eaten as they are, with some Parmesan grated over, some good sour dough and smoked bacon.

I, of course, have to ponce around a bit more, and so we puree the pumpkins with some butter and grated Parmesan. This adds a salty tang, which I think will marry perfectly with the sweet pigs cheek, rich meaty turbot, slightly bitter, earthy black cabbage, and some fat juicy ceps. Rolled in garlic butter!

Look, its autumn on a plate!

You see, thats why I love autumn, all those colours, and rich flavors, on the same plate, just crying out for a piece of char grilled, garlic rubbed, bread to mop up all the juices. So thats all I'm doing you see, putting together things that are in season at the same time, and turning them into a proper Derbyshire main course!

Just like this one.

Thanksgiving.

As our friends, across the pond,  celebrate Thanksgiving in November, each year, by eating pumpkin pie, I'm pretty sure I can use butternut squash, as a pudding.

So I did!

Poaching the squash in a thyme scented stock syrup, and then compressing, at maximum pressure, we can create a squash fondant.

Going back to the tried and trusted gourd and cheese combination, we add some fromage blanc cream. baked diced beetroot, glazed with an orange and thyme caramel are the other garnishes. Buttery shortbread is placed under the compressed squash, as, remember, it is based on a pumpkin pie!

All it needs then is a swoosh of sweetened beetroot puree and a spoonful of that other great autumn flavor - blackberry. Served as a sorbet, it all comes together as a really original pudding.

Tastes alright too!

And, so finally, the colors of autumn.

The new apple dessert.

See what I mean, its just what I see every day, on my drive to work along the A6.



All those golds, reds, and browns.

And I'm just putting them together on a plate again.

With a big fat slice of caramelised brioche pudding, as a garnish.

And some rum and vanilla syrup.

I'll tell you about the importance of brioche next time,  but I'm off to India now.

Those "Spicentice" curry kits again  - rogan josh and jalfrezi tonight.

Good job I didn't eat too many roast potatoes today at East Lodge!

Right that's it! Another trip around the culinary world, all going on in my little mind!