Summer melon, kiwi soup & mojito granita

Summer Melon, kiwi soup & mojito granita.

Summer is in full swing in Scotland, it almost feels like we've had a month of spanish weather. We've made a little summer pre dessert to clean the palette or just to have as a little nibble in this warm weather with fruit that is bang in season at the moment.

1 Galia melon
10 kiwi
6 limes
20g mint
200g sugar
500ml water
500ml soda water
150ml gin

Mojito granita:

500ml soda water
100g sugar
20g mint
150ml gin

Heat the soda water & sugar and add the mint, let it cool naturally then add the gin. Pass out the mint and add the juice of 3 limes. Freeze and use when ready.

Melon:

Dice the melon and vac pac on a tray 3 times to change the cellular structure of the melon. This basically breaks down the chewiness of the melon to make it very palatable and soft yet unchanged in shape. It sounds a little weird but if its good enough for Heston then its good enough for everyone else.


Kiwi soup:

Boil the 500ml water and 100g sugar then chill. Blend with the kiwi and pass twice to make sure the pulp & seeds are not in the soup. Add the juice of the remaining 3 limes and taste to make sure its balanced well.

Its fairly simple to assemble the dish, place the melon in the bottom of the bowl, add the soup then top with the granita.

Duck, Girolles & Shallots.

Duck, Girolles & Shallots.

Its not quite Duck season but another 6 weeks and or so and the hunters will be out shooting them for supper. I've got a little duck dish I made last year to show you. 

Duck breast, duck leg bonbon, braised shallot, shallot puree, sauté girolles and a little duck jus. 

The duck will need to be butchered down once its been hung for a couple of days. Firstly take the breast and legs off. With the carcass, roast it with a mirepoix until golden brown and then place into a large pot. Add a splash of sherry vinegar then 1 ltr of good red wine and 500ml of port. Reduce but 2/3 and add 1 ltr of Veal or Game stock. Bring to a simmer and reduce until the right consistency. Check the seasoning, add 2 tbl of honey and a handful of thyme and leave to sit off the heat for 30 mins. Pass and chill. 

Duck leg bonbon:

2 duck legs

1kg duck fat

100g maldon salt

10g thyme

5 juniper berries

5 black peppercorn

1 star anise

Mix all the dry ingredients together in the blender and add the salt. Salt the duck legs for 12 hours and then wash off. Confit in the duck fat for 10 hours at 90*c until flaky and the meat falls off the bone. Chill it down and add a little duck jus that you've just made to moisten the meat and add a little more

Flavour. Roll into little balls and chill. Once cold enough, panne in bread crumbs and place back into the fridge until needed. 

Shallot puree:

6 shallots

1 clove garlic

50g butter

50ml Madeira

100ml cream

Salt

Sweat the shallot and garlic in the butter and some salt until golden brown, deglaze the pan with madeira then add the cream. Bring to the point and simmer gently for 5 minutes. Puree in a Thermomix or blender and pass. Check for seasoning and chill. 

Braised shallots:

4 shallots

50g butter

200ml chicken stock

Salt

Peel the shallot and cut in half, place in a pan with the outside facing up, add a splash of oil & caramelise, add chicken stick and simmer until soft. Gently lift them out the pan and chill. 

Duck Breast:

1 ltr brine

2 duck breast

Brine the duck breasts for 2 hours in a basic brine solution, and wash in cold water once ready. Pat dry and blow torch the skin to get a browned effect, this will give the duck a bbq flavour. Vac-pac and place into a 52*c water bath for 20 minutes. Once ready, take it out the bag and render the fan in a pan. Take out and allow it to rest while you assemble the other components. 

Heat up the puree, the shallots and sauté the girolles. Fry the bonbon until golden brown, and heat up the jus. 

 

Pipe some puree on the plate, scatter the girolles & shallots. Place on your bonbon, carve you duck in half length ways and finish with jus. I add a little tarragon velouté to add a bit of depth to the dish, this is only optional.  It's a very simple dish but simplicity is always the hardest things to master so keep tasting as you go along. 

Enjoy. 

POP-UP AT HOUSE FOR AN ART LOVER

POP-UP RESTAURANT WITH THE CHEFS LARDER AT HOUSE FOR AN ART LOVER

After months of hard work we are proud to announce that we are holding a Pop Up evening at Glasgow's very own House for an Art lover. We will be showcasing what Glasgow has to offer on a plate plus a few extra's on Wednesday 22nd October at one of Glasgow's finest buildings. 20% of our ticket sales will go towards The Mackintosh Building fire fund which has been gathering great momentum since that tragic day. Hopefully we can help in the repair and rebuilding of the famous Art School.

Our menu for the evening is:

A sorrel Gimlet (Scottish Celtic Caorunn gin & lime)

Fresh Oysters from Scrabster with apple granita.

 Velouté of sweetcorn with crayfish & argyle girolles.

Orkney crab with Avocado.

Rump of Scottish Lamb, grelot onion, shallot puree, cavalo nero, pomme souffle &  Lamb Jus.

Epoisse cheese, country oatcake & onion chutney

Poached Perthshire pear, pear cremaux, caramel granita & lemon curd.

White chocolate Fudge & wild bramble pate de fruit.

Priced at £65pp plus matching wines.

Bookings:  http://tinyurl.com/opxrk8a

Pineapple, coconut & lime.

Pineapple, coconut & lime.

A light and refreshing dessert of pineapple cooked in the bag with white wine and a little pinch of salt, a smooth coconut sorbet, knockraich creme fraiche, mango curd, a small vanilla pannacotta and fresh lime zest.

Firstly you need to prepare your coconut sorbet a day in advance, this is the usual pacojet recipe but you can make it to suit your equipment like we have previously done with the ice cream.

Coconut sorbet.

1 tin coconut milk
200g sugar
300ml water
1 tbl glucose

Bring everything to the boil, pass and freeze in paco canister. Churn when needed.

Pineapple.

1 ripe pineapple
200ml muscat
10g maldon salt

Prep your pineapple into rectangles and place them in a vacpac bag with a little pinch of maldon salt and some muscat dessert wine. Vac and poach at 60*c for 1 hour and refresh in ice cold water. Once chilled then grill on a plancha and set aside.

Vanilla pannacotta.

1 ltr cream
150g sugar
1 vanilla pod
4 gelatine

Bring the cream, vanilla & sugar to the boil, add bloomed gelatine and pass. Chill down over ice moving continuously until think to suspend vanilla and then set in tray.

Cut when set or spoon onto plate to save cutting.

To assemble the dish, place the pannacotta on the plate, add the pineapple, a little chopped hazelnut to rest the sorbet on. At this point churn your sorbet so its perfect. Pipe on some mango curd, creme fraiche and place on the sorbet. Freshly zest a little lime over the top and finish with either micro coriander or red vein sorrel. This dish can be produced throughout the year as we can get our hands on these ingredients every day.

Warm salad of summer girolles, broad bean & pea.

Warm salad of summer girolles, broad bean & pea.

A classic little dish that could be used to garnish some turbot, a bit of lamb, some duck or just as a little side to a meal. Either way, its packed full of flavour.

These little beauties are just coming into season in Scotland so its only right that we show you how easy they are to cook and how cheap we can get them for. Personally I like to forage for girolles but thats only because I have a few locations throughout Glasgow and Argyle, not that I'll be telling you lot where they are. I had to sacrifice a lot just to get the grid references, however if your willing to trade some fine wine then I might be persuaded.

Anyway, back to the dish... Here's the recipe.

100g girolles
80g broad beans
80g green peas
80ml white wine
100ml water
20g butter
15ml garlic oil
Salt
White pepper

Garlic oil:
100ml olive oil
3 cloves of garlic
1/2 sprig of thyme
1/2 sprig of tarragon

Firstly you'll need to brush and peel your girolles, I use a small pastry brush to clean the mushrooms of all the dirt and peel the stems with a small paring knife. You only want to scrape the blade down the stem at a 90* angle just to take the outer layer off. Once you've finished with the mushrooms then its time to shell the broad beans. Pop the broad bean shells and inside you have individual beans, blanch them in boiling water for 2 minutes and refresh in ice cold water. Once cold, pop the shells by squeezing gently and keep the green bean. Discard the milky coloured shells.

For the garlic oil, place everything in a saucepan and bring to 80*c and take off the heat, let infuse for 20 minutes and strain

In a warm saucepan, add a squeeze of garlic oil, the girolles and a pinch of salt. Saute for 30 seconds then add the butter, then the wine. Reduce it down by half then add the water, beans & peas. Place a lid on the pan and let boil for 1 minute.

Take the lid off, add the rest of the butter and  check the seasoning.

Serve immediately and garnish with a few pea shoots.

Lemongrass cured salmon, avocado puree & citrus dressing

Lemongrass cured salmon, avocado puree & citrus dressing. 

Simple & easy to prepare

Cure

500g salt
500g sugar
4 lemongrass sticks
3 tbl coriander seeds
1 tbl black peppercorns
1kg salmon fillet

Blend everything together, skin & bone the salmon fillet and cover the salmon with the cure for 12 hours remembering to turn over after 6 hours. Once cured, wash off the cure in cold water and pat dry. Slice to order.

Avocado puree

4 ripe avocado
3 limes
1 tsp fructose
70ml white wine
1/2 tbl glucose
Salt

Bring the wine to the boil, add he glucose and chill it. Blend the avocado with the juice of 3 limes and some of the wine liquid. Add more if needs be. Check for balance of flavour and seasoning, you may need to add a little more fructose or salt. Store in an airtight container or a piping bag.

Citrus dressing

100ml olive oil
25ml lemon juice
1 tbl honey
Salt

Mix altogether and place in a bottle.

Garnish

Sliced fennel
Crab meat
Micro coriander
Red amaranth
Smoked herring caviar

Thinly slice the salmon and place on plate, pipe avocado puree, dress with herbs, crab and fennel. Finish with the caviar and a small amount of the citrus dressing.


@TheChefsLarder

West coast Hake, lemon risotto nero with cucumber & citrus dressing

West coast Hake, lemon risotto nero & cucumber citrus dressing. 

This little dish is a take on a dish that we produced regularly during my time at One Devonshire gardens, it's rather versatile and can be matched with most fish as the citrus & squid ink compliment almost every fish. We matched it with Salmon, Monk fish, Halibut, Hake & Bass. As you may have guessed, I'm into the food that's not often found in your local eatery so I've decided to use the cheapest lesser known Hake which comes from the same order as the Cod Family, its not as meaty however it is a well rounded fish that stands up for its self when matched with bold flavours. If you've not tried it before then you should get onto your local fishmonger and get them to order some.

The fish itself is quite fragile with a weird bone structure so it can be a little fiddly when filleting so if your not quite sure what your doing then again, get on to your fish monger to sort it for you.

Recipe:

Hake:

1 200g fillet of Hake
Salt
Olive oil

Risotto:

500g Carnaroli super fino rice
2 diced shallots
2 clove Garlic
100g Butter
100ml white wine
2 litre nage (Veg stock)
10g squid ink
20g french butter
30g parmesan cheese
5g lemon zest

Cucumber & Citrus dressing:

1 cucumber
3 tomatoes
5g chive
100ml olive oil
25ml lemon juice
20g honey
Salt