Holidays, apologies, the written word. Oh and a dish with lamb and carrots

Summer has been and gone, a much needed holiday in Cornwall was very welcome from the whole family and now we are back, re-charged and rearing to go.

Kind of...... sandy beaches........great surf.........

Sorry, sorry & thrice sorry. Body has returned, but the brain is taking a little longer.

Apologies for lack of posts, something which we will be addressing as our season warms up, lots of new ideas, thoughts and projects happening over the next few months so should become a more interesting read.

Now for the central piece of this posts heading, I have had a number of comments about the blog through the blog and also on Twitter regarding the food, and none negative, I thank you. however reading between the lines of a few comments probably the best I have had for the written word is 'interesting' and here I feel the need to explain a little about myself.

I left school not the most academic pupil, social life had taken a complete hold on me and the only thing that mattered was Friday and Saturday nights, consequently my grading was unclassified in English language, a well deserved mark for my efforts (or lack thereof). this I am sure is reflected in what I do on here. I have very little writing experience, but am quite well read and have a vague eloquence with the language of my birth. However I am open to constructive suggestion for improvements, after all I am writing this from my experiences and it is for you the reader, If I am not fulfilling the culinary aspect then you will depart, so help me fulfil the written role, should I not be clear on something, or digress too far then tell me, so as I can improve, so will your experience here, and perhaps you will all spend a little more time here. Thank you.

Finally and the reason you clicked your way here in the first place is a dish I conceived a few weeks ago, I wanted to do a simple lamb and carrot dish for a while, but had no clue where I wanted to go with it. The first port of call is usually to look at the main ingredient and see how many different ways it can be cooked and presented, then I had a though to do this with the main garnish.

so whilst the lamb, is a lovely sample of the animal from (ironically(ish)) Cornwall

the carrots are broken down into:

Carrot puffs

Carrot puree

Clear carrot jelly

Warm 'old school' carrot terrine

And a carrot 'anything' fondant

The puffs are pure juice, whipped with methyl cellulose and finished in a dehydrator, similar to a profiterole and could be filled if required

The puree is a traditional one, cooked in clarified butter, as the carotene does not appear to be soluble in the fat so the puree is a purer flavour, with a more vibrant colour.

The carrot jelly is a seasoned juice, agar filtered and set.

For the terrine, I cooked a selection of naturally coloured carrots (not the modified Dutch thingies we all know as carrot), these I set with standard carrot juice with a little agar-agar and gelatin

Finally the anything fondant, a recipe I am still not quite ready to give away.

The dish ate beautifully and with the small addition of a little (totally out of season) asparagus for a break in colour and a simple lamb jus, finished the plate off well I feel, and it seems my guests agreed as it sold very well for it's short 2 week lifespan on our menu.

Ah well that post turned out to be much, much longer than I anticipated, sorry about that. I will stop apologising now and get on with working on the new dishes. See you soon

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?????

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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