Febuary 9th du jour menu

Scallop and rosemary brochette

orange scented crosnes, rye crumble, Jerusalem artichoke veloute

Pressed leeks "a la ficelle" and king prawn

saffron marinated mussels, razor clam, mussel vinaigrette

Sous vide pork loin

cipollini and roscoff onion, french beans, chestnut tuille, sloe gin sauce, smoked bacon froth

Trio of English cheese

Winchester with its rind jelly, Cerney and beetroot, Tunworth with dried fruit and whiskey

Some dishes from this week.........

Strawberry gazpacho, seared scallop, crayfish and sushi rice

This was an amuse bouche, that was very refrshing and light.

Duck egg souffle, grilled puffa mushroom, tomato fondue, soya cream

With the egg we whipped the whites and placed the egg yolk into the centre. Wrapped in climg film, then steamed. The puffa mushrooms grow wild on the estate, they are like a huge ball, have a mild taste and soft texture. The soya cream is reduced soy sauce, sugar and double cream.

Cured mackerel, pink grapefruit, spiced bread, basil cous cous, red veined sorrel

We had some top quailty mackerel this week. Lightly cured in sugar and salt, baked with olive oil.

Assiette of Saddle back pork, caramelised Dogmersfield orchard apples, potato mousseline

The assiette is crispy ears, roasted loin, apple jelly glazed belly, braised cheek croquette.

This weeks du jour menu

Warm beetroot soup with sour cream and saffron floating island

Hampshire Brown crab cocktail, roasted seeds and nuts, marie rose sorbet

Teriyaki glazed pork belly, seared scallop, poached mushrooms, shallot and ginger confit

Elderflower parfait, frozen olive oil emulsion

(Dessert courtesy of Dale over at http://thecomponents.wordpress.com/)

Teriyaki marinade

100ml Mirin

100ml Kikoman soy sauce

100g Sugar

500ml Water

Grilled mirepoix

25g Carrot

25g Celery

25g Onion

5g Ginger

20g Pineapple

50g Beef trimming

In a hot pan, add the mirin and flambé. Once the alcohol has burned off, add the soy sauce, sugar and water. Bring to a boil and add the mierpoix. Simmer until reduced by half. Strain through a fine chinois and thicken with corn starch.

Tomato sorbet

Water 292g

Dextrose 153g

Peeled tomato flesh(good quality) 1093g

Salt 6g

Stab (neutrose) 8g

Tabasco 1g

Basil 4g

Tomato paste 110g

Mix together the dextrose, and stabiliser. Boil the water and add the two powders, mix well and boil for 1 minute. Transfer to a container and rest overnight.

Blend the fresh tomato, tabasco, basil, tomato paste and salt into the syrup until completely smooth. Pass through a conical strainer and pour into paco jet containers and freeze completely.

Puree when needed.

Scallop ceviche with ginger, lime, spearmint and black sesame

Roaming around the herb garden at work the other day i came across spearmint and immediately thought Wrigleys chewing gum. Now thats what i associate spearmint with, sad i know. I pondered where i could use the mint to showcase its unique flavour.
This is a ceviche which i have been working on. The scallops are sliced raw and put onto the plate. The ceviche marinade went as follows.
Lime juice
Lime leaf
Ginger
Lemongrass
Thai fish sauce
Soy sauce
Spearmint stalks
Sugar
Infused over heat for 30mins, then chilled.

The marinade is brushed genorously over the scallops and drizzled onto the plate. Spearmint is strong so i added just one jullienne of spearmint per scallop.
The plate is garnished with confit baby tomatoes and scallop meat tuilles which are made with...
Scallop meat
Egg white
Flour
Soft butter
Black sesame

sprinkled around the plate is sesame and scallop roe crumbles, which in another crack at this great tasting ceviche i would like to put a finer scallop roe powder onto the scallops.