Cauliflower Soup

Ingredients

15g butter
600g cauliflower, cut into florets.
1 onion, sliced.
2 sticks celery, sliced.
150ml chicken stock.
300ml milk.
125ml cream.
1 bay leaf.
1 sprig thyme.

Method

Over low heat, soften onion and celery with butter.
Add cauliflower, stock, milk and herbs, bring to the boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes.
Puree mixture, and force through a sieve or food mill.
Return puree to pan, stir through cream and warm soup without boiling.
Season with salt and white pepper.

Bolognese Sauce

Ingredients

500g beef mince.
400g passata.
150ml white wine.
150ml beef stock.
1 onion, finely chopped.
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped.

Method

Brown mince over low heat in a deep pan, without butter or oil.
Continue to cook mince until all fluids have cooked off.
Add win and continue to simmer until all liquid is cooked off or absorbed.
Add garlic and onion, simmer until soft.
Add beef stock, simmer until liquid reduced by half.
Add passata, reduce heat further and simmer for 15 - 20 minutes.

Garlic Snails

Ingredients

Canned snails.
Pernod.
Herb butter.

Method

Cook snails in can liquid with a large dash of Pernod over medium heat for 5 minutes.
Drain liquid, return snails to pan and toss though a generous helping of herb butter.
Simmer until butter and snails are hot.
Serve with sourdough baguette.

Herb Butter

Ingredients

125g butter, room temperature.
20g garlic, very finely chopped.
20g eschallots, very finely chopped.
30g parsley, finely chopped.
5ml Pernod.
2 dashes Tabasco.

Method

Combine ingredients, except butter, well.
Massage ingredients into butter.
Season well.
Roll butter into tube of cling-film and seal.
Freeze for ½ hour, or until use.

Broccoli Soup

Ingredients

Broccoli, stalked and chopped.
Crème fraîche.
Pine nuts, coarsely chopped.
Nutmeg.

Method

Toast pine nuts in a pan with butter for one minute or until browned.
Blanch broccoli for 3 minutes in fiercely boiling salted water, in batches if necessary.
Reserve water.
Process broccoli until smooth.
Continuing to process, add braising water to broccoli, until soup reaches correct consistency.
Season.
Serve with crème fraîche, toasted pine nuts, and a pinch of nutmeg.

Beer Battered Fish and Chips

Ingredients

Fillets of good quality white fish, room temperature.
Chips.
Salad with simple dressing.
Tartare sauce.
Lemon wedges.

(For the batter)
200g self-raising flour, finely sifted.
250ml flavoursome real ale.
125ml soda water.
Salt, pepper and paprika.

Method

Whisk together flour, beer and water, seasoning with a generous pinch of salt, pepper and paprika.
Rest batter for at least 1 hour before use.
Preheat oil in saucepan (it will need to be at least 3 inches deep) to 180°C. Use a thermometer to check that the oil temperature is not dropping too much when you add the fish.
Dip fish fillets in batter, and allow excess batter to drip off fish.
Place each fillet carefully in oil, cooking until batter is golden brown—about 3 minutes.
Rest on absorbent paper, season, and serve with chips, tartare sauce, green salad leaves with a simple dressing, and lemon wedges.

Simple Dressing

Combine two parts white wine vinegar to one part olive oil, whisk well, then season with salt and pepper.

Tartare Sauce

Ingredients

1 egg yolk.
100ml grape-seed oil.
50ml olive oil.
2 eschallots, finely diced.
1 tblsp cornichons, finely diced.
1 tblsp parsley, finely chopped.
1 tblsp tarragon, finely chopped.
1 tblsp chives, finely chopped.
1 tsp capers, finely chopped.
1 tsp Dijon mustard.
Dash white wine vinegar.

Method

Whish egg yolk and mustard in a large bowl.
Combine oils, then gradually add oil mixture to egg yolk, whisking constantly to emulsify.
When all oil is added, season well with salt, pepper and white wine vinegar.
Stir through remaining ingredients.
Rest covered for 1 hour, then check seasoning before serving.

Sushi Rice

Cook a bowl of sushi rice and serve it with a raw egg yolk, diced tuna, salmon roe, seaweed salad, bonito flakes, pickled ginger, and finely-chopped chives.

Teriyaki

Ingredients

150ml dark soy sauce.
100ml mirin.
100ml sake.
120g Demerara sugar.

Chicken, meat or robust fish.
Shallots.

Method

Combine soy, mirin, sake and sugar in a saucepan over low heat and reduce by half.
Let sauce mixture cool, then marinate meat for several hours before barbequing over high heat, and serving with diced eschallots.

Steak Dianne

Ingredients

Rib-eye steak fillets, 2 ½ - 3 inch thick.
2 garlic cloves, very finely sliced.
60ml cognac.
45ml Worcestershire sauce.
30 cream.
60g butter.
1 tsp parsley, finely copped.

Mash.

Method

Start with steaks at room temperature.
Truss steaks, and season well before cooking.
Melt 15g butter in pan on a hot stove.
Place steak in pan. Turn only once.
Cook around 3 min each side for medium-rare, 4 minutes for medium.
(Rare – internal temp 60°C; Medium – internal temp 70°C).
During the last minute of cooking, add garlic.
Remove steaks and rest.
De-glaze pan with cognac, reduce temperature and reduce cognac by ½.
Stir in Worcestershire sauce, remaining butter and reduce.
Stir in cream, season well.
Serve sauce over steaks on warm plates with mash.

Mashed Potato

Ingredients

Equal quantities of desireé and Pontiac potatoes.
30g of butter, soft, per 500g potatoes.
30ml milk, per 500g potatoes.

Method

Peel potatoes carefully, removing any blemishes from surface.
Chop into cubes no more than 1 inch diameter.
Steam over boiling salted water until a skewer passes through potatoes cleanly, about 10 – 15 min.
Remove from steamer.
Warm milk.
Mash potato with a masher (or food mill) until smooth.
Work in butter and milk in stages, whisking with spoon until fluffy.
Season well with additional salt and white pepper.

A Romantic Valentine's Dinner

Drink some champagne, and begin with fresh oysters, then some gravalax salmon.

Crack open a bottle of white, and have some tomato essence followed by lobster themador accompanied by green veges.

Finish the wine with a cheese plate, then have berries and Coer à la Crème over a desert wine.

Coer à la Crème

Ingredients

Raspberry coulis.
A mix of fresh berries.
125g cream cheese.
125g full-cream ricotta cheese.
50g icing sugar.
The seeds of ½ vanilla bean.
100ml double cream.

Method

Combine cheeses, sugar and vanilla and mix well.
Stir in cream, mixing well.
Separate mixture into four portions.
Wrap each portion in muslin to form small balls.
Hang in refrigerator for at least 24 hours, discarding the whey.
Remove muslin, and serve with fresh berries and coulis.

Raspberry Coulis

Ingredients

125g raspberries.
30gm icing sugar.
30ml Cointreau.

Method

Process ingredients until smooth, then force through a fine sieve.

Cheese plate

Allow cheese to warm to room temperature—ideally for 2 or more hours—then serve with dried muscatels and figs, quince paste, and an assortment of breads and biscuits.

Blanched Green Vegetables

Plunge vegetables into a large pot of boiling water with a handful of salt. Boil for 2 minutes (1 ½ minutes for snow peas). Remove and toss through a dob of butter, seasoning well.

Lobster Thermidor

Ingredients

Live lobster.
Court bouillon.
125ml fish stock.
125ml milk.
1 tblsp white wine.
1 tblsp chervil, finely chopped.
1 tblsp tarragon, finely chopped.
1 tsp Dijon mustard.
45g butter.
45g flour.
35g parmesan cheese, finely grated.

Method

Keep the lobster in the freezer for one hour before cooking.
Bring a large pot of court bouillon to the boil.
Plunge lobster into boiling water.
Cooking time: 4 min for the first 450g weight, and an additional 2 ½ min for each further 450g.
Plunge into iced water immediately after cooking.
Allow to cool, then cut lengthways and remove meat.
Set aside each half of the tail for serving.
Dice meat into ½ inch square pieces, and set aside.
Combine fish stock, white wine, chervil and tarragon and reduce by ½ over low heat.
Allow stock mixture to cool and combine with milk.
In a heavy based saucepan over low heat, melt butter and stir in flour and mustard to make roux.
Cook for 1 minute stirring continuously, without allowing to brown.
Remove from heat.
Slowly add stock and milk mixture, stirring continuously.
Return to heat, bring to the boil, then reduce heat and simmer until thick.
Stir in ½ the parmesan cheese, season well, and set aside.
Melt a touch of butter in a frypan and sauté the lobster meat, for 1 – 2 minutes, lightly browned.
In each lobster tail piece, drizzle some sauce, fill with sautéed lobster, and top with further sauce, then grated parmesan.
Cook under salamander until lightly browned.

Court Bouillon

Ingredients

2.5 ltr water.
700ml white wine.
250ml white wine vinegar.
2 carrots, chopped.
2 onions, chopped.
Bouquet garni.
1 tblsp salt.
1 tblsp black peppercorns.

Method

Combine all ingredients except vinegar in stock-pot.
Bring to the boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
Add vinegar and simmer for a further five minutes.

Tomato “Essence”

Ingredients

Tomatoes.
Chervil.
Bay leaves.
Parsley.
Black peppercorns.

Method

Bake tomatoes and herbs in a deep tray at 100°C for 5 hours.
Hang baked tomatoes, herbs, and baking juices in fine muslin overnight, reserving juices.
Discard tomatoes, herbs and muslin.
Gently reheat juices, seasoning with salt and pepper if necessary.
Serve with a pinch of finely chopped chervil.

Gravalax Salmon

Ingredients

Salmon fillet, skin on.
Dill, finely chopped.
Salt.
White pepper.
White sugar.

(For the sauce):
1 egg yolk.
75ml olive oil.
3 tsp Dijon mustard.
3 tblsp wholegrain mustard.
1 tblsp honey.

Method

Ensure there are no small bones in the salmon fillet.
Cover the inside of the salmon fillet liberally (at least 3mm thick) with sugar, salt and white pepper.
Cover the salt, etc., with a further, very liberal, coating of the dill.
Cover fillet with baking paper and rest a heavy weight on the dill-side of the salmon.
Rest in refrigerator, weighted, for at least two days, draining any juices regularly.

(For the sauce):
Whisk together egg yolk and 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard.
Gradually whisk in oil, to emulsify.
Whisk in remaining Dijon, wholegrain mustard, and honey.
Season well.

Remove skin, and thinly slice salmon before serving with sauce.

Fresh Oysters

Shuck oysters and serve them on crushed ice with salt, pepper, lemon and a vinaigrette on the side.

Red Wine Vinaigrette

Ingredients

1 or 2 eschallots (depending on size), very finely diced.
120ml red wine vinegar.
Extra dash red wine vinegar.
Dash olive oil.
½ bay leaf.
Small sprig thyme.
2 – 3 parsley leaves.

Method

Combine red wine vinegar and herbs and, over low heat, reduce by half.
Let cool.
Combine with eschallots, dash fresh vinegar, dash of olive oil.
Season and whisk well.
Rest for an hour or two before serving.

Caesar Salad

Ingredients

Baby cos lettuce.
Stale bread, cubed into 1cm pieces.
Bacon, chopped into batons.
Olive oil and vegetable oil for frying.

(For the dressing)
Two anchovy fillets.
1 garlic clove.
1 tsp Dijon mustard.
1 egg yolk.
1 tblsp Worcestershire sauce.
50ml olive oil.
100ml grape-seed oil.
White wine vinegar.

Method

Fill a small saucepan 1 inch deep with ½ olive oil and ½ vegetable oil.
Heat oil to 190°C.
Shallow fry bread cubes in batches, till golden and crispy.
Set aside on absorbent paper.
Shallow fry bacon batons until crispy.
Set aside on absorbent paper.
Grind anchovies and garlic, and place in deep bowl with mustard, and egg yolk.
Whisk well.
Gradually add grape-seed and olive oil, continuing to whisk, to emulsify.
Add Worcestershire, continuing to whisk.
Season with salt, white pepper and white wine vinegar.
If dressing is too thick, add a touch of water.Toss dressing through cos leaves, bacon and croutons

Italian Meatballs with Tomato Sauce

Ingredients

600g beef, very finely ground.
1 egg.
2 tblsp fresh bread crumbs.
2 tblsp pine nuts, finely ground.
½ onion, very finely chopped.
2 cloves garlic, very finely chopped.
2 tblsp ricotta.
2 tblsp finely grated ricotta.
Italian tomato sauce.

Method

Preheat oven to 350°C.
Combine ingredients well, season, and roll into small balls, about the size of golf balls.
Place on a baking tray and bake for 45 minutes, turning once.
Serve with warm tomato sauce.

Roast Potatoes with Rosemary

Ingredients

Pontiac potatoes.
Rosemary, chopped.
Garlic, chopped.
Goose or duck fat.

Method

Heat oven to 220°C.
Fill deep baking tray with ½ inch vegetable oil and a few heaped spoon-fulls of duck or goose fat.
Heat oil in oven.
Peel potatoes and dice into ½ inch cubes.
Blanche in batches for 2 minutes in salted boiling water.
Drain pan, return potatoes to pan, cover, and shake vigorously. This should roughen the potato surface.
Add potatoes, garlic and rosemary to pan and oil, tossing several times.
Roast for 1 hour, turning regularly, until golden brown.
Remove potatoes from oil and toss in lots of salt, plus some pepper and freshly chopped rosemary.

Sausage and Lentil Stew

Ingredients

850g good quality Italian sausages.
1 onion, sliced.
3 garlic cloves, chopped.
1 tblsp rosemary, chopped.
2 tblsp juniper berries, crushed.
1 dried chilli, chopped.
1 bay leaf.
Pinch ground nutmeg.
200ml red wine.
100g puy lentils.

Method

Brown sausages in a dash of olive oil in large saucepan.
Remove sausages, reduce heat.
Soften garlic and onions in same saucepan.
Add tomato, rosemary and bring to boil, then reduce heat.
Reduce tomato.
Add wine, herbs and spices, and 400ml water.
Bring to boil.
Add sausages, lentils.
Reduce to simmer.
Cover, simmer for 45 min.
Remove lid, increase heat and reduce to thick mixture.
Season.

Italian Tomato Sauce

Ingredients

½ onion, finely chopped.
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped.
400g canned diced tomatoes.

4 tblsp tomato paste.
Dash red wine vinegar.
6 basil leaves, finely chopped.
1 teaspoon oregano, finely chopped.

Method

Soften onion and garlic with a touch of olive oil over low heat.
Stir in tomatoes, paste, vinegar, and herbs.
Reduce.
Season.

French Onion Soup

Ingredients

25 g butter.
1 garlic clove, chopped.
400g onions, finely sliced.
1ltr beef or veal stock.
125m white wine.
Stale baguette, sliced 5mm thick.
Gruyere, finely grated.
Bouquet garni.

Method

Over very gentle heat, brown garlic, onions, and butter for 30mins. Stir regularly, and cover when not stirring. Onions should finish a deep caramel.
Add bouquet garni.
Mix wine and stock.
Continuing to stir, add stock mixture one ladle at a time, reducing.
Preheat oven to 220°C.
After all stock is added (about one hour), serve into individual bowls, and top with baguette slices and gruyere.
Bake in oven for 5 – 10 minutes, until cheese melted.

Figs with Prosciutto and Gorgonzola

Ingredients

Figs.
Gorgonzola Piccante.
Prosciutto de Parma, finely shaved.

Method

Heat oven to 180°C.
Half each fig and stuff with a ball of gorgonzola.
Wrap with a slice of Prosciutto.
Bake for 30 min.
Drizzle with olive oil and roasting juices.

Pasta with Pesto and Fresh Cheese

Cook pasta and stir through a generous helping of pesto and fresh cow or goat’s cheese.

Garden Salad

Ingredients

Cherry tomatoes, halved.
Cucumber, sliced.
Mixed baby leaves.
French dressing.

Method

Toss in a bowl with a dash of dressing.
Serve in fresh plate.

Veal Holstein

Ingredients

Veal steaks, tenderised.
Eggs.
Breadcrumbs, seasoned well with salt and pepper.
Spinach.
Butter.
Garlic.
Quail eggs.
Marinated anchovies.
Béarnaise Sauce.
Lemon wedges.
Parley, finely chopped.

Method

Prepare Béarnaise sauce and keep warm in bain-marie.
Beat eggs.
Lightly season veal steaks with salt and pepper.
Crumb veal steaks by dipping in beaten egg and then rolling in seasoned breadcrumbs.
Lightly fry two quail eggs per veal steak, and set aside.
Fry crumbs steaks with butter and a touch of garlic.
Rest for one minute on absorbent paper.
Meanwhile, sauté spinach with butter and a touch of garlic.
Place two quail eggs on each veal steak, placing an anchovy across each egg.
Sprinkle with parsley.
Serve steaks with spinach, lemon wedges and Béarnaise sauce on side of place.

Béarnaise Sauce

Ingredients

150g butter.
2 egg yolks.
1 eschallot, finely chopped.
2 tblsp tarragon, finely chopped.
1 tblsp chervil, finely copped.
2 tblsp tarragon vinegar.
½ bay leaf.
Paprika.

Method

Combine vinegar, eschallot, chervil, bay leaf, and ½ the tarragon with 1 tblsp water and a few twist of black pepper in a small saucepan.
Over low heat, reduce by 2/3.
Let cool.
Melt butter.
In a bain-marie on very low heat, combine reduction with egg yolks.
Whisk well.
Continuing to whisk in bain-marie, gradually add melted butter, to form an emulsion.
Add remaining tarragon.
Season with salt, pepper, paprika and additional tarragon vinegar.

Tomato and Goat's Curd Tartlets

Ingredients

Puff pastry.
Fresh goat’s curd or other fresh cheese.
Cherry tomatoes, halved.

Method

Heat oven to 350°C.
Cut pastry into small diamonds.
Place a dollop of cheese on each portion.
Top each portion with half a cherry tomato.
Season with pepper.
Drizzle with olive oil.
Bake for 25 min.
Season with pepper, and salt if needed.

Fench Dressing

Ingredients

40ml olive oil.
20ml tarragon.
Teaspoon garlic.
½ clove garlic.
Pinch tarragon, finely chopped.
Pinch parsley, finely chopped.

Method

Add all ingredients to a jar and shake briefly.
Remove garlic clove and season.
Shake well.