Brrrrrrrrhhhh, it's cold out there today, and all grey and windy and raining, and all the snows gone.

But I don't care because I'm all nice and toasty in here, nice cup of tea, and a purring cat getting in the way of the computer.

And talking of toast, which I am, I thought I'd brighten everyone's day up with a nice, colourful, starter we did last week on the tasting menu.

But this isn't it!

It's some finely chopped smoked salmon with compressed cucumbers, grated lemon zest and horseradish, caviar, sliced radishes and chervil.

I just thought it looked pretty, so you're all getting a bonus picture today!


Well, two actually, as I'm sneaking in another course, which are these scallops.

Everyone loves scallops, and we were garnishing these beauties with Jerusalem artichokes, some Penny Bun mushrooms that were cooked slowly in duck fat and chopped toasted hazelnuts.




So, nice fat sweet scallops with nutty artichokes, earthy, meaty mushrooms and some toasty, crunchy hazelnuts.

But, now back to the point of today's blog, and that's toast.

A little bit of toast.

Cos theres brown bread, white bread, all sorts of wholemeal bread, it comes in funny packages with writing on the side.

See, there's even a song written about it! Two actually but I'll tell you the other one later.

Right, lets get to work.

Ok, for those of you that have actually bothered to read and remember any of my preachings, you will, no doubt, recall how I explained what brioche was, and how great it is to have in your life!

In the great French tradition we have paired it, toasted, of course, with some duck livers that were poached and then rolled, into a ballotine.

Now, this is a rich starter, what with the smooth duck livers and the buttery brioche so we need to balance that out.

And what can be better than lovely, local (ish!), seasonal, pink Yorkshire rhubarb.

It will be perfect fruity delight, and see, gives January some much needed colour.

We poach ours, very gently, as I don't want it to break down, and rhubarb gives off loads of liquid as well, but that's no problem, as I intend to keep it and set it with some agar, blend it, and then we can all start swooshing away!

You see, that's what I love doing, getting really luxurious foods, and putting them all together to make something fabulous, eh Ben!

The poached rhubarb was mixed with some warm, caramelised salsify, and a few chopped pistachios were sprinkled down the plate as well.

It's just some pate and toast really, with a sort of sweet and slightly sour fruit chutney, and it means that now I can tell you about another dish, that is, in fact, exactly the same.

Well, sort of!

The toasted brioche is the link.

This time, another great classic, no humble foods here!

Some of the finest Derbyshire beef fillet, that was just simply fried in a hot copper pan, and loads of foaming butter, to baste it with.

I mean, can you imagine how good it was going to be?

Rossini.

That was his name, and this dish was named after him, and what a way to be remembered.


So a slice of toasted brioche sits under the fillet steak.

It could also have been fried, but I think it can end up a bit greasy so just left it toasted.

A fat slice of duck liver is needed now, to go on top of the beef, so that's what I did!

Scored lightly, seasoned heavily with salt and pepper, and seared in a hot pan, it's one of my favourite things to eat.

Some black truffles are what's needed next, to be chopped up and put into a Madeira sauce.

I still wanted some sharpness to cut through all that richness, so I braised some endives, and then glazed them with a pinch of sugar and a dash of sherry vinegar.

I also added some spinach as well, and a light thyme foam.

It's basically a very upmarket open sandwich!

And this is all showing just how useful toast is.

Now, toast is just bread that's been, well toasted.

So, on that basis I wanted to use a slightly bigger piece of toast to go with our Sunday dinner last week.

It's actually known as a "Trencher", and all it is, or was, is a piece of stale or hard bread that could be used as a plate, and then eaten after, when all the meat juices and fat have soaked into it.

Now does that sound good, or what!

And we're off!

One, large, dry aged rib of beef should do.

I've taken it out of the fridge a good couple of hours before I'm going to cook it, so I won't have to cook it for as long.

Then I started the Trencher, it 's quite simple really, strong white bread flour, salt, sugar, yeast and some warmed milk and cream.


I put some picked thyme in mine as well.

Oh, you need to rub in some beef dripping as well.


Kneaded to a nice smooth dough, all I had to with that now was leave it to prove for an hour or two.





Meanwhile I wanted to be hit with a piquant shallot element, so I very finely chopped some, covered them with a mixture of white wine and white wine vinegar, and left them to reduce.

This is the basis of a good butter sauce or a hollandaise, but I was going to add some cracked black peppercorns, chopped tarragon and beurre noisette to make a funky bearnaise marmalade, as one of the three sauce I intended to serve with that handsome looking piece of beef.

A split a whole head of rose garlic in half and was going to slow roast a few small onions as well.

The beetroot had already been baked and peeled.

Down at Morrison's I saw this, and just had to have it.

A curly endive, but just check out how much white there is on it!

That's the best one I've seen in ages. It great in a salad with lardons of smoked bacon, croutons and a soft poached egg on top.

The secret is to fry the lardons, save all of their hot fat, deglaze with some good wine vinegar, and hey presto, a fantastic warm dressing!

See, I planned to do the same, but without the egg and croutons.

And I knew it would be brilliant with some horseradish and that soft Trencher.

But not as good as this!

I was, am still am, absolutely in love with this "sweetheart" cabbage.





It was a revelation, soft, juicy and sweet, I'm using it at East Lodge now with our lamb dish.




Cut into wedges and blanched in boiling, salted water, I'm wondering how I can use it as a course on it's own, it's that nice!

The beef is seasoned, notice how much salt and pepper I'm using, as I want a good crust to form, and trust me, it won't taste over seasoned.




See, so the usual Sunday night carry on, red hot pan, fire alarms going off, cat going mental, but the beef looks good!

And now back to the Trencher, or sort of toast.

I rolled out the dough and cooked it in a hot oven, let it cool down, and then sliced a thin layer of it's top off.

It was put back in the oven, with a few morsels of beef fat and dripping, just to lightly toast it.

The rib of beef was placed on top, just like the Rossini dish, and it's juices would be seasoning the bread, and also the beef would rest as well.

So we have, dripping roasted potatoes, sorry forgot to mention them, baked beetroot, whole onion and garlic, sweetheart cabbage, curly endive and bacon salad, bearnaise marmalade, hot horseradish sauce and I made a little bit of red wine sauce as well.

And, finally the Trencher.

It was superb!

All that fat and juice from the beef, some very crunchy potatoes, all the traditional garnishes, and a salad.

Oh, and a very good bottle of Burgundy.

Although, if I'm going to be completely honest I think the focaccia I made a few weeks ago would have been better, as it has a more open, softer texture.

Right who want's to come to my house for tea?

And, just to finish off, a nice simple chocolate delice we are serving at East Lodge at the moment, it's ever so simple, thin chocolate pastry at the bottom, then a ginger and chocolate truffle, a crunchy caramel layer, and then a light chocolate mousse, topped with a dark chocolate glaze, gold leaf, a sprig of mint, a spoon of creme Chantilly and a caramel dipped hazelnut.

I think it shows off my food philosophy perfectly!

Which is, by the way, the same as E.M.P, just to "Make It Nice".


Right that's it!

I'm off to work out the difference between rabbit and rarebit.
and if the 'roc really rocks.





Tonights music recommendation The Sugarhill Gang "Rapper's   Delight" - it's all about the toast, you see!

Jonny, can I just say something?
No, £@$%^ off, it;s pointless!