Wednesday 22 June 2011

Its a bit sad really, but its going to start getting darker now.

And the British asparagus season is over, so thats it for another year!

I've just had my final portion, steamed and rolled in the juices of a very fine rib eye steak.
I made a gratin of sliced potatoes, layered with sliced shallots, garlic and cheese.
Each layer was seasoned correctly with salt and pepper and brushed with melted butter.

It was baked for an hour and rested for another half.

 I'm not sure I'd ever say this but it would have been just as nice without the steak!

Although for the impending long dark nights, a couple of plump pork sausages would be a nice garnish!

Anyway, there I was getting all depressed about the end of summer and these bad boys came along!

How wonderful are these going to be on our Summer menu?

I love tomatoes and I wanted to do these ones justice.
And, although perfect,  dressed with the usual suspects of olive oil, Balsamic and basil, I fancied something a little more funky.

Oh, and by the way, tomatoes should never be served fridge cold, always allow them to come to room temperature first. Their taste will improve ten fold.

So after starting with an idea to serve them with some North African seasonings, I moved slightly over to the right and thought about the sub - continent.  Their sweet flesh loves spices, and with a garnish of smoky tomato marmalade, some cooling thick strained yoghurt, mustard and onion seed dressing and dried aubergine crisps, it make a refreshing, colorful starter.

And even one I would eat!

And I'm sorry for all the pictures tonight but from the right angle I think it looks like an amazing landscape somewhere far away!

And I'm not drunk, yet, anyway!

So after feeling a little bit sad today, what with the asparagus season over and too much tennis on television,  I've discovered that some dishes don't always need an 18 oz steak to make them better, that summer is not over yet , and with a little imagination we can create new planets to marvel at.

Brian Cox would be amazed!!

Right thats it, I'm off to enjoy summer, its a hog roast at tomorrow nights wedding at East Lodge so  I might even enjoy a cider as well!

Thursday 16 June 2011

The thing is I love kebabs!

When I was head chef at Odette's, after service on a Saturday night we used to go down to the Edgware Road, where there are lots of Lebanese restaurants, and have a sneaky couple of lamb kebabs.

Just for a late night snack you see, as we had just finished a five hour service, so we needed some food!

I didn't think I could get away with serving up kebabs to our Saturday night wedding guests but it did get me thinking about other popular Saturday night dinners.
So this year I decided to offer a couple of new buffet ideas, dishes from Thailand or India.
And not forgetting our famous "ELFC" - East Lodge Fried Chicken. All we need is some black and gold boxes to serve it in and we'll be sorted! We brine boned, skin on chicken legs for 12 hours, then drain them for another 12. Dredged in our secret blend of herbs and spices and deep fried they really do taste better then the original. And it means I can have my Saturday night fast food fix!

Along with the fried chicken we served a Thai green curry, made with lots of Asian green vegetables, Clay pot rice with sour Thai sausages and tiger prawns and a spicy roast pork belly salad. With the addition of a caramel and tamarind dipping sauce and a red hot birds eye chili relish I think it all looks rather good!
Oh we garnished the pork salad with "son in law" eggs, hard boiled and deep fried I thought they would go well in a wedding buffet!

Eaten all together everything gels together, providing a pleasing range of textures and tastes.

The thing about serving a buffet is that there should be a nice mixture of different cooking methods, meats or fish, salads and textures. And, of course, it should all look appealing.

Thats what I tried to do with our Saturday night Indian delight!

Made up of tikka spiced pork fillet, served with a spicy cucumber and roasted peanut salad, diced lamb cooked with mint and yoghurt and then baked with basmati rice, stir fried cabbage with mustard seeds and finally, butter chicken.


Made with marinated chicken thighs, and then baked in our new ovens at 300 oc they come out nicely charred.
I'm trying to recreate a tandor oven you see.
And its not too bad really.

When mixed in a rich tomato sauce and finished with cream and butter and corriander sprinkled on top you could almost imagine you were in the local curry house!





And the great thing about buffets is that everyone shares, and I love that, getting everyone eating and enjoying themselves.
Its what life is all about!
So you see, all I've done is made sure all of our guests have a proper English Saturday night!

The added bonus is that I get to taste it all as well, so I don't even need my kebab fix on the way home.

Right, thats it.

I'm watching Bear Grylls eat locusts in some rain forest and its got me thinking about next years Saturday night buffets!

Wednesday 8 June 2011

So, as last weeks blog was telling everyone about how fish and chips, could in fact, be good for you I thought I'd share something slightly more, well, bad for you!

Roasted marrow bones are, in my opinion, a fantastic way to start a Sunday evening supper. Scooped out and spread on garlic rubbed sour dough bread, some capers and sea salt it reminds me of my time in Paris when we would eat them prepared the same way, as they were so cheap!

Fergus Henderson, of St John fame, really put them on the map over here though.  I've spent many afternoons at the bar there, supping a few pints of Guinness, munching Welsh Rarebit and enjoying his roasted beef bones on toast. A few ice cold oysters turn a Friday afternoon snack into a feast!

No oysters for me last Sunday, although Sophie did make a wonderful cherry crumble. With lashings of cold vanilla custard it really hit the spot.

We cooked the cherries with some sugar and a splash of brandy, to start releasing the juices. With some corn flour mixed in, its a really quick way to make a fruit compote or pie filling.
Meanwhile butter was rubbed into flour and sugar, spread out on a baking dish and baked in a medium oven.
Allowed to cool down, and then broken up it makes an easy, ready to use crumble topping.
Sometimes I churn it into ice cream for a crumble ice cream, sometimes I just eat it on its own, straight from the oven!
This allows us to keep the topping nice and crisp, and of course, if you have some fruit compote around you are never more than 10 minutes away from pudding!

So, as always, it got me thinking about how I could get cherry crumble on the dessert menu at East Lodge.

As our "Hot Pudding" we made some very thin pastry cases, filled them with hot cherry compote and covered them with our now famous crumble topping.

Garnished with a cherry puree, some griottine cherries, cherry syrup and an Amaretto and pistachio praline ice cream, it proved a summertime winner on Monday night!

And its rather pretty isn't it?



So, there you are,  my Sunday night supper, somehow ended up on the menu at East Lodge, good eh!

Right that's it, I'm off to prepare dinner, curry tonight and I'll tell you about our international buffets next time.

Sophie wants to watch a film about dancing black ducks tonight so I'd better get cracking.

Or should I say quacking!!

Wednesday 1 June 2011

So then, did you all know that fish and chips might, actually, be good for you?
And before you all start thinking I'm talking a load of old cods wallop just hold a minute.
The perfectly cooked fillet of cod in the picture is, in fact, steamed. So therefore its one of the healthiest  things to eat!
Not so sure about the batter, chips and chunky tartare sauce though!
By dipping the lightly floured fillet of fish in a beer batter and plunging into red hot fat,  it creates an air tight seal and so the fish starts releasing moisture, which cannot escape, and so cooks the fish.
What a brilliant idea and when done well is a real treat.
The problem I have with fish and chips is that the batter will start to go soggy, this is because whatever is inside will continue to release steam.
Like anything deep fried it should be served, piping hot, straight from the fryer, so even though fish and chips is great for a lunchtime dish I wanted to find a way of serving this Great British classic to our dinner guests.
So the idea of the soon to be world famous "inside out" fish and chips was born!
I wanted to serve all the elements of the dish but as a starter, and of course, in a lighter more modern way.

So we made a mousse with some lightly salted cod fillet, and steamed some cod fillet at 55 oc for 15 minutes. This will allow me to have big beautiful
translucent flakes of fish. Thinly sliced potatoes were baked in the oven for the "chips".
Disks of sweet confit tomato are topped with baby capers and baby pickled onions as a nod to the tartare sauce.
Pea puree and home made spicy tomato syrup are dotted around the dish to add freshness.

We made a malt vinegar jelly as well, but I think it was too powerful, overpowering the cod, so I'm going to work on a different palette cleanser.
I like a coke or lemonade with my fish supper, so I thought about doing a sweet and salty frozen lemon granita, served in a glass, topped up with soda water.
I think the acidity will really sharpen up the fish and chips and, of course, help it remain true to its roots!

And, finally, the batter.
Its the whole point of the dish you see!
So all I do is fry very thin, light, wafers of beer batter.
I'm going to use beef dripping when it goes on the menu next week.
And you know, the batter will never go soft or soggy.
Guaranteed . Never. I promise!

So, there you are, it will become world famous.
I'm even thinking of going on The Apprentice to show those jokers how to do it!

Right, thats it, I'm off for a bacon sandwich, I'll tell you about Sophie's amazing cherry crumble next time.