Kicking off

December is here and the streets are hustling and bustling full of shoppers trying to buy that special gift for their loved ones.........................Did that in November!!

Heres some plates...

Pan roasted loin of venison, Valrhona chocolate and raspberry ganache, warm leek terrine, poached salsify, port sauce

Loch Duart salmon and Jon Dory mosaic, pink grapefruit, fennel, ginger, Bormano olive oil

Merry Christmas everyone : ))

Valrhona and raspberry vinegar ganache

200ml good quality raspberry vinegar (reduced to 50ml)

60g butter

50g 70% chocolate

Over a double boiler, add the vinegar. Melt the butter into the vinegar reduction until fully incorperated. gradually add the chocolate until fully incorperated. Control the heat to make sure it does not get too hot. Pour into a container and chill.

French onion soup??

To recreate a classic bistro dish and give it a little VIP treatment for 2010,you need to re-think the elements and refine them a little. Heres my cheeky French Onion soup.

Roasted onion consomme, Waterloo cheese tortellini, crisp bread

Crisp potato galette, roasted vegetables, Eldren cheese, pesto cream, balsamic

Here is a vegetarian dish i have recently designed for the bistro menu. It is an easy pick up for that service demand and is also very tasty and hits the mark for a non meat eater as it is non of the usual suspect dishes that you find everywhere you go.

So far great respaonce from the vegetable massive!

Some recent plates

Hi,

Here are some pictures of dishes from the past couple of weeks.

Warm cranberry and goats cheese sphere with crisp ham

Wild partridge wrapped in potato, seared foie gras, slow cooked leg, salami jus, garlic milk

Lasagna of seafood, squid ink pasta, langoustine nage, fresh dill

Wild New Forest mallard, le puy lentils, pancetta, roasted baby beets,

Pedro Ximinez vinegar butter emulsion

Cherwell cheese with fig carpaccio and fruit bread

Bursting with flavour

Here is a dish recently from a du jour menu when i was covering in the restaurant. It is a fun cool, colourul presentation with a twist. The vinaigrette is inside the orb! I saw this dressing idea a while ago(although i cant remember where), and wanted to try it. I do like the fact that the guest will observe the plate and think "WTF" and then burst the ball and season the dish.

The dish is a New forest partridge salad with French beans, beetroot dusted with beetroot, smoked maple syrup, pickled apple vinaigrette.

This is me plating the main course from that week. Beef fillet en croute, roasted vegetables, and trio of red wine sauces.

Selling like hock cakes!!

Here are a couple of dishes iv'e done recently. The dish above is a buttermilk and thyme poached torchon of organic Hyden farm chicken (63C for 35 mins). It is glazed with a foie gras butter. There is a royale of Trompette and Girolle mushrooms. simple glazed seasonal vegetables and a gremolata of sorts made from dried trompette mushroom, parsley, malden sea salt and roasted chicken skin. The chicken skin is not there for show, it is there to add a roasted flavour element to the dish without taking away from the delicate poached chicken.

The plate below is a ham hock dish just released on our bistro menu. The ham hock is soaked for 24 hours to remove the salty taste from

the brine. I touch of butter and a sage leaf and re heated for service in hot water. The garnish is a saute hash of butternut squash, apple and leek which sits underneath. The sauce is made by reducing the cooking stock until you reach the desired flavour. Making a veloute with this and finishing with fresh sage and grain mustard. Further enhance,ents are crisp sage leaves, candied walnut and grilled spring onion.

The dish below is a buttermilk and thyme poached torchon of organic Hyden farm chicken (63C for 35 mins). It is glazed with a foie gras butter. There is a royale of Trompette and Girolle mushrooms. simple glazed seasonal vegetables and a gremolata of sorts made from dried trompette mushroom, parsley, malden sea salt and roasted chicken skin. The chicken skin is not there for show, it is there to add a roasted flavour element to the dish without taking away from the delicate poached chicken.

T

Finding the time

Hi all,

My time as restaurant chef has ended. My replacement started this week. Welcome Matt and Cinthia from New York!! Here's a couple of dishes i managed to squeeze in.

Roasted loin and confit belly of pork,

multiple potato preperations, blackcurrants, light foie gras sauce

( gauphrette, mousseline, aligot beignet, potato agnolotti)

Sous vide wild sea trout (12 mins @ 50C)

horseradish sour cream, red beetroot caviar