Roasted lamb saddle, vegetables in season, preserved lemon polenta

Beetroot glazed Sea trout

This is a warm beetroot glazed sea trout fillet with marinated cucumber ravioli, watercress emulsion and sauce Jacqueline.

The glaze for the beetroot is adapted from The Fat duck cookbook.

Here is the recipe.

1.6 kg of red beetroot juice

12g gellan F

2.9g gellan LT

Salt and pepper to taste

Cut the seatrout and place into the fridge to firm up. Have a tray with a cooling rack on top for the glazing. Boil the beetroot juice and gellans together for 1 minute and whizz with a hand blender. Place the seatrout onto the rack and with a 4oz ladle spoon the beetroot juice over the seatrout. Try to cover in one go or you will end up with an uneven glaze. Place into the fridge to firm up for a few minutes. Carefully place the fish into vaccum pack bags and vacuum at 60M bars. On pick up cook the fish in a water bath at 42 - 45C for 25 - 30 mins.

The cucumber is sliced thinly and lightly pickled in white wine vinegar, sugar and dill. Inside is a cucumber and watercress salad.

Sauce Jacqueline is lots of grated carrot, a little onion, coriander seeds, ginger, sweated down in lots of butter for a long time. Adding a little Chardonnay and some orange juice and reduce by half, then add fish stock and cook for 30 minutes. Pass off the stock and finish with double cream and salt and pepper. In this dish i have made a light air out of the stock and a sauce.

Congratulations Mr Hulstone

Congrats to Simon Hulstone for flying the flag for Great Britain at the Bocuse D'or. The chef-patron of the Michelin-starred Elephant Restaurant in Torquay remained calm and focused in a 'pressure cooker environment', under the scrutiny of 20 judges, hundreds of spectators and several TV crews at the contest in the French city of Lyon. A massive achievement. Finishing in 10th place but scoring the highest marks for an English chef speaks volumes.
Scottish beef was used throughout the competition to raise awareness of the fantastic quality produced there.

Here are Simons dishes............

Hulstone's DishesMaritime BritainLoin Of Cod – Loin Of Cod With Scottish Smoked Salmon And Coral MousseRack Of Scallops – Rack Of Scallops Encased In Prawn And Lime With A Cornish Sea Salt And Herb Crumb
Compression Of Welsh Leek – Pressed Terrine Of Leek And Truffle With A Cucumber And Apple Turnover
Fish And Chips – Crisp Wrapped Cod With A Smoked Colchester Oyster Tartar SauceMushy Peas – Light Pea Mousse With A Salted Cod Mash and Fennel Pollen
Rope Grown Mussels – Cream Of Mussel And Fennel With Caviar And Chives
The Beef Of Old EnglandFillet Of Beef 'Henry V' – Fillet Of Beef Stuffed With Braised Ox Cheeks And Marrow Bone, Truffle Crust
Scottish Rib Of Beef – Thyme Roasted Traditional Scottish Fore Rib Of Beef
Yorkshire Finest Pudding – Yorkshire Pudding Filled With Watercress And Celeriac Puree And Garden Vegetables
Somerset Snail Tart – Snail and Onion Tartlet With Roasted Crosnes
Penny Bun and Jerusalem Artichokes – Penny Bun And Duck Liver Mousse On Jerusalem Artichokes And Horseradish Cream
Gravy – Juices Of Roasted Beef With Truffle And Mushrooms
Tea With The Queen – Beef Tea With Oxtail And Mustard Sugar Cubes

Nice one mate!!

Wrestling the pig!!

We get one half of a pig every week at work from a supplier called Wallops farm dairy http://www.wallopswooddairy.co.uk/. The breed is Gloucester old spot and they are kept on a free range system, high on the chalk hills that characterise their farm. They are reared slowly, in keeping with the breeds history and fed on a cereal based diet, supplemented by grass, maize, apple pulp and whatever else they forage from the earth.

At the moment we are receiving one whole lamb per week. One half of a pig per week and one half of an organic Angus cow every two weeks. What an absolute pleasure!! Unfortunately i cannot fit everything onto my menus weekly, so we use the products elsewhere, like our Sunday brunch. I plan to make my own proscuitto from the pig in the near future.

Above are some pictures of the pig as we get it and also the recipe for brining the leg. We honey roast the ham on Sundays for lunch.

Honey roasted ham

1 Green gammon (bone in and tied)

Brine:

16 cups water

1 cup apple juice

4 cups salt

2.5 cups brown sugar

10 bay leaves

Half cup black pepercorns

Big bunch of tyhme

I normally double this recipe. Bring the brine ingredients to a boil to infuse the aromats and dissolve the salt and sugar. Chill and reserve.

Submerge the ham into the brine and leave for 36 hours.

Remove the ham from the brine and soak for 24 hours, changing the water every two hours.

Place the ham into a pot of water with diced carrots, onions, celery, leeks, bay leaves and thyme and bring to a boil. Once boiled, turn down to a steady simmer and cook for approx 40 minutes per Kilo (20 minutes a lb). If over 5Kg (10lb) in weight reduce this to between 30 and 35 minutes per Kilo. 15 -17 minutes a pound.If under 2kg increase to 60 minutes a Kilo.

Let the ham cool in its cooking liquid then drain it, peel off the skin and trim all but 1/2 inch of the fat. Score the fat and stud the x's with cloves.

From here you can use whatever you like....honey and mustard, marmalade, brown sugar, treacle.

Slow bake that badboy through a medium heat oven until caramelised and piping hot. Cover with tin foil if you feel the glaze is perfect, but the ham is not hot enough in the middle.

Love the swine, Cheers!

Lamb loin at 60C

Here is a milk poached loin of lamb with confit leeks, saute cepe mushroom, paprika yoghurt sauce.

The lamb is marinaded in whole milk, bay, rosemary, thyme, garlic, parsley for 6 hours. This is left for 4 hours, then rolled in cling film and vacuum packed. I cooked it at 60C for 30 mins. The meat os so tender and the flavour very clean. The leeks are cooked sous vide also with olive oil and thyme.

The sauce is made by setting yoghurt with gelatin and adding creme fraiche. Then flavouring with smoked paprika.

Steak tartare

This is a beef fillet tartare which is seasoned with onion, capers, brandy, parsley, worcestershire sauce, tobasco, salt and pepper and egg yolk. It is topped with a fried quail egg, and black pepper mustard. The sauce is a bell pepper emulsion.

Warm Idiazabal cheese, poached fruits and berries