Tuesday 28 April 2009

Canneloni of Dorset snails, parsley and nut crumble, garlic veloute



We got 1 kg of snails which are farmed in Dorset the other day. I have known of this product for a littlewhile. finally we got some in and what a treat they were, although very expensive. Snails traditionally pair well with parsley, garlic, bacon, almond, red wine, shallot. The snails are purged and then blanched when they come in so they just have to be finished slowly in a court bouillion for approimately 2 hours until tender.
For the canneloni we made a light chicken mousse, enriched with creme fraiche and flavoured with parmesan, parsley, snails, sweated shallot and garlic and white wine. Then the mousse is rolled and poached. The pasta sheets are blanched and cut to size. Brushed with becamel, the mousse is layed down and then rolled up. They are reheated in the steamer and brushed with clarified butter and sprinkled with the crumble. The garlic veloute is served at the table as you can see and ....Voila!

Sunday 26 April 2009

Beetroot cured salmon, scallop tar tare and cracker, citrus salad


With this dish i cured the salmon with salt, sugar, beetroot, apple, horseradish and thyme leaves, for 24 hours. It is then wrapped in leek. The scallops are seasoned with lemon, olive oil and topped with a pickled apple juice. The tuille is made with scallop, egg white, butter and flour and dusted with roasted orange powder. The tubular gel is beetroot and apple and the citrus segments are marinated with olive oil and Malden sea salt. The herb is budding chives picked fresh from our herb garden. It also has some horseradish cream and marinated Cheltenam beetroot as a garnish.

Saturday 25 April 2009

Potato, vanilla, asparagus, parsley and truffle granola, Compte


Here is a vegetarian amuse bouche from the other evening. On the bottom is a potato mousseline flavoured with Madagascar vanilla and Compte cheese. Next an asparagus puree. Then a granola made with walnuts, pistachio nuts, hazlenuts, pine nuts, linseed, pumpkin seed, sunflower seed, truffle, parsley, black sesame seed, malden sea salt and honey. The crisp garnish is a thin slice of Compte baked through the oven until caramelised.

Monday 20 April 2009

Duck with blackberries

Here is a Gressingham duck breast which is slowly pan cooked. The blackberries are lightly pickled in grape juice and red wine vinegar. The vegetables are glazed with orange butter. The roulade at the back is a feuille de bric roll filled with a chicken liver and foie gras mousse, confit duck leg, orange scented carrots and caramelised roscoff onions. The jus is flavoured with the pickle juices.

Sunday 12 April 2009

Fillet of organic Angus beef from Laverstoke Park, watercress oatmeal, pine nut and bacon vinaigrette


Pan seared Jon Dory, English clams, herbed potatoes, baby leeks

Just launched this dish on the a la carte.

Marinated sardines, semolina cake, crunchy fennel salad, red pepper fool

A mordern twist on a mediteranean classic!

Happy Easter

And thank god its over. It must be nice if you are off like most of my neighbours. At the hotel, we are ram jammed for 3 days solid. Everybody hauling ass getting the food out on time. Went well though, all organisation really!
This is a pan roasted fillet of Gurnard, sitting atop squid ink tagliolini, confit tomatoes and a trio of mussels. The mussels are steamed, wrapped in potato and breaded.

Tuesday 7 April 2009

Flower Marie cheese with grape and almond

Flower Marie cheese is a lovely, soft, creamy, slightly acidic cheese from Greenacres farm near Sussex. It is unpasteurised with a soft unobtrusive rind. The garnish here is in three textures.
Honey poached grapes rolled in almond, grape jelly, grape espuma, small pieces of cracker are present on the plate as i didn't want to serve crackers with the dish as sometimes cheese doesn't need biscuits when there is much more to explore on the plate.

Amuse bouche

This is an amuse bouche from this evening. Liquid salt cod bon bon, crushed and creamed peas, smoked milk

Raw is good!!

Here we have a sashimi of organic Scottish salmon and shetland Island scallops. It is finished with, fresh and fried scallions, black sesame, chilli, croutons, micro coriander, ginger, lime jelly.
The fish is brushed with a lime and lemongrass dressing before adding the garnish.

Thursday 2 April 2009

Red Mullet and Calamari


This dish is a gently cooked red mullet fillet topped with slowly olive oil poached calamari flavoured with guinea pepper. Jerusalem artichoke puree and blood orange syrup.