New year, new dishes, new tech, new doodles

1st week back at work.............Done!

Now we are unpacked, stale culinary cobwebs dusted away, mojo found and put in a safe place, resolution to keep a better eye on it. Ideas scribbled on every available piece of paper, new menu written and mis en place begun.

As I was compiling thoughts for our new menu starting next week I thought it was time to get my little felt pens out and start the KP nightmare of colouring in plates as I started by seeing if the elements would fit into the dish.

Then I thought where my pens might be I stumbled across a great little app for the pad, a simple one allowing me to sketch dishes and doodles with a huge array of features for the princely sum of £1.79 (sketchbook pro), Almost the only complaint I have with it is it doesn't make me draw any better, a huge downside for a non pencil artistic person such as myself, but hey let's give it a go anyway, so ideas a plenty and learning as I go I came up with the following sketch which then translated into the dish below it.

I am very content with the fact that It can help me visualise dishes but labour wise, don't think it will see the death of the pen on plate, sorry to my KP's simply because if I am trying to get an idea of what a plate of food is going to look like on the train then the pad is the way forward, but usually it's in the kitchen, not enough time at my disposal, and a quick throw down just to see if it remotely works will do.

Either way, this is a huge amount of fun nonetheless.








Crisp lemon sole, herb tagliatelle, pickled vegetables, sauce soubise, onion glass

And now the real McCoy, Salmon and Lamb

Tricky week, 1 chef on holiday and business has doubled, fun fun fun

So this week I had to actually work, hmm no sympathy? Ok fair enough

The doodles did make it into dishes, happy enough with both of them, well received by my guests which is the most important aspect, however i feel they are missing a little je ne ce quas. So a little more playing required

Anyway the Salmon, as I said in the previous post would explain why the loin and belly, I hadn't really given it any thought before until I read This. As to why do we not consider a side of fish for different cuts, after all we would never quick roast a side of lamb and expect it to tick all the boxes, there is a huge variety in texture and tastes from each region of the animal, but whilst this does not ring true in fish, there are certain qualities we should perhaps not ignore when planning our menus

I took the side and separated the loin from the belly, and whilst I didn't give it the activa treatment they did, I did trim the shape and roll the belly tight to get a somewhat cylindrical shape. This I then cooked sous-vide at 48C for 8 minutes, and chilled down ready for service.

Whilst the loin piece is roasting, I just simply drop a piece into some seaoned lobster butter which sits on the passe at 50C for about 5 minutes.

The rest of the dish consists of some braised fennel, wilted spinach, confit fingerling carrots and an orange & fennel fluid gel, it ticks all the right boxes as far as a 'dish' goes, but as I said.... Missing a little I don't know what!!

Then the Lamb, not quite the visual food porn I was hoping for, but to eat takes comforting food to a new level, would love to be able to do this dish with lamb loin for the menu, but then I would sell none due to the supplement I would have to charge

'Tis a very simple affair, the lamb leg is Denham Castle lamb, with production like this I do not need to mess around with anything, the rearing has given all the flavour I need, to cook it all I did was to double bag each leg, with a few sprigs of thyme, rosemary and a little olive oil, this was then cooked for 24 hours at 55C, this produces a perfect medium rare throughout, I chilled the legs briefly and scorched the outer fat with a blowtorch which gives a wonderful roasted not to the flavour without over-cooking any of the meat.

The mash is scented with the smoked garlic I made a couple of weeks ago, which we pureed and stored under vacuum, grilled aubergine, and a fine ratatouille.

Will have a couple of desserts next week, but the pictures are over exposed (still trying to get the hang of my camera)

Time to start thinking towards the new menu, where did I leave that mojo?????

Follow us on Twitter

Salmon and lamb, this weeks doodles

Hee hee, this is fun

glad I never discoved this as a kid, my mum would have done her nut, drawing on plates, really brings the kid out in me, and the look of shock from my daughter and wife yesterday as I grabbed a plate from my kitchen and a pile of marker pens and doodled away.

They didn't think they were dry wipe and I forgot (kind of) to tell 'em

ah well the look on their faces was priceless, but anyway enough of my childish amusement, just thought I would share a couple of doodles with you ahead of my menu change tomorrow.

first: Salmon

Currently going to be roasted loin, confit belly (will explain more when the dish is finished), confit carrots, roast fennel, orange fluid gel, and a couple of other bits not worked out yet

next: Lamb

Slow roast Denham castle lamb leg, sous vide at 55C for 24 hours, smoked garlic mash, baked aubergine, fine ratatouille, the purple thing should be the sauce but not sure yet, the designs are bound to change before they get served.

best get cracking with the prep, later

Menu change, 16th April 2010 a new blog item

I was thinking today about what to write about next, have had fun lately with some nice ideas translating into some equally nice dishes, however as you may be aware these can be sometimes spread apart, but I tweak my menu weekly generally, and we photograph EVERYTHING, much to our waiting staffs annoyance, they have to wait around whilst 3 chefs get cameras and phones out to catalogue our dishes.

So I though I would include a somewhat regular slot of some of the more interesting tweaks we do to our menu as and when it happens, not every change though as sometimes the dishes are quite simple, or we simply do not have the time to take any decent photographs.

Lets start with 'Coquille Saint Jaques'

my commmis Tom has been running away with dish ideas over the last few months with a great emphasis on foaming and jellying and losing touch with the basics that make a dish great, so I set him the challenge of recreating this classic dish. I was first concerned that I hadn't shortened the leash enough when I started seeing tuilles being made out of breadcrumbs and balls ready for spherification in his mis-en-place.

Thankfully on this occasion he pulled it off and the dish is pretty as a picture and eating quality is excellent

scallop, button mushroom, duchesse potato, bread tuille, vin blanc spherification

the sphere itself is great fun, just warm enough to burst on the plate with just the right amount of sauce, the lemon puree adds acidity against the vin blanc and the duchesse.

the spheres waiting for an order

up close and personal

Next, I gave Ricardo, my sous chef, a similar goal to recreate something a little more classical and he chose a traditional portugese meat platter, translating this down was quite a task but, like Tom, pulled off only what can be described as a fantastic dish, has everything going for it, balance of flavour, texture and whilst it is a handsome portion, still leaves you wanting more at the end of it. Well done.

Poached chicken

sausage meat with choizo and black pudding

crisp pig ear

beef fillet

carrot puree

potato

turnip

chorizo oil

(and missing from this shot) Savoy cabbage

drizzle of jus and micro parsley

Herb wrapped balotine of salmon, wye valley asparagus, new potatoes

does exactly what it says on the box, the only tweak is glueing the salmon together with activa, other than that it is designed to show off new season English asparagus (and from Monday, Jersey royals) to their very best, simplicity is key to this dish.

Sea bream, fricasse of vegetables, sweetcorn veloute, popcorn cream and chicken popcorn

The bream is simply steamed, vegetables warmed in the veloute then a splash of popcorn bubbles and for texture a few pieces of popping corn I have popped in chicken fat and seasoned whilst hot. straightforward and nice and light for this lovely weather.

Last (but in no way least) G has produced ANOTHER Rhubarb and custard variation, the versatility of this combination and how it can be presented is incredible. With this incarnation he has introduced a little bitterness in the form of a yogurt coral cake and yogurt ice cream. Oldie but goldie and our guest do not tire of it any more than we do not tire of showing off this great combination in anyway our imagination takes us.

Anyway, hope this will help keep this blog more interesting to read, we will continue with the random other things we post about, but this should lessen the occasional drought of posts that we are guilty of having more than we really should.

Thanks to the guys this week for making my life much easier by coming up with such great dishes.

PEAS one of my favourite foods

I quite simply love peas

versatiliy in a small green skin, I can,'t think of a food that will not accept the humble pea as a garnish in one of it's numerous guises. Mushy peas with fish, smooth puree with steaks, plain and simple with butter and mint for lamb, not forgetting soups and sauces, I cannot think of any vegetable that is quite so capable.

here is one of the dishes we did recently

scallop, peas, bacon and whisky sour

The dish concept is as old as the hills but the ways in which we are able to revisit and re-invent it each and every time is usually down to the manipulation of this fantastic bastion of spherical clorophyl.

same dish not so arty

talking of classic combinations, reminds me of something a few weeks ago, hmmm onto the next post. until then a quick recipe for the pea gel sheets

to make 20 sheets

1. 
   
   500gm frozen peas
   
   
   
2. 
   
   300gm  cold water (plus water to boil the peas)
   
   
   
3. 
   
   25gm vegetable gel (sosa brand)
   
   
   
4. 
   
   salt
   
   
   

bring the water to the boil, add the peas and cook at a rapid boil for 5-6 minutes, strain the peas and refresh in iced water. blitz in a blender until smooth with the cold water, and pass through a fine sieve, the season to taste with salt only.

using an immersion blender, blend the gel into the cold liquid and then transfer to a pan and bring to the boil as quickly as possible. At 90 degrees C the gel hydrates and is ready to use, pour quickly onto a gastronorm tray and very quickly pour any residual pea liquor off into the pan, you only have seconds to do this as the gel sets almost immediately and can take a little practice.

once the gel has cooled it can be cut to your required size and stored in the fridge, separated by silicone sheets, for up to 3 days. place on plate as required and warm with a blowtorch or salamander as your recipe requires, it is heat resistant up to 82C

cutting the sheet

getting ready to store

'Fillet' steaks my first soap box and some thought

The concept of a fillet has had me thinking for a while, we all know the fillet steak is a cylindrical non working muscle from just within the rib cage of a given animal, sometimes referred to as 'underfillet' or tenderloin. This depends on which animal you are talking about.

but what is with Salmon fillet? an almost cuboid piece of fish, working muscle, although tender doesnt look like fillet to me, also chicken fillet is often referred to in many restaurants accross the land from high cuisine to more questionable fast food outlets undercover of a sesame topped flour 'bun' I use this term loosely as often resembles a happy shopper bathroom sponge. Anyway I digress back to the 'fillet' soapbox'.

soapbox is quite unfair, we are grown ups, and are fully capable of making the distinction of 'fillet' due to our upbringing and learning and also it ticks all the texture boxes, I could ponder now on why every fish there is has a 'fillet' but feel i may be near exhausting this topic.

anyway, the key reason for starting this is to show 2 things I have been playing with, one old (the salmon) and one new (err.. that would be the chicken), I have done the chicken before, but only recently worked out how to hold the skin on perfectly.

chicken 'fillet'

salmon fillet, poached with teryaki gel glaze, bok choi, diced coriander potato

lemongrass, chilli and plum fluid gel

roasting 'fillet'. now just need garnish for this

now finished with fillets, will post the how to very soon, but next up from me will be a post in homage for my love of peas

Alex