Cail Bruich & Odfjell wines.

Cail Bruich & Odfjell wines tasting menu. 

I've previously written about Cail Bruich and their Madklubben food evening and how well they put on a good night with great food, this time it was all about the wine and matching the food to the Chilean wine. Our hosts were Dan Odfjell from Odfjell wines and of course, the ever friendly Cail Bruich team. I'm a massive wine fan but I have to confess that if its not french then it rarely gets a look in but for a cheap £50 you can't complain. We got a 5 course tasting menu with matching wines, some chit chat from Dan about the grapes and the usual wine talk. To be honest, I learnt a few things about chile and its good climate for grapes and that its always raining. The food & drink menu is here for you to have a look over. 

We forgot to take pictures of the first few dishes as we were having such a good time but heres what we managed to get.   

Venison tartare. 

Octopus. 

Ox cheek. 

If you've not been before then I'd recommend it, good food, good wine and its has friendly great service thats relaxed yet professional. Plus, it's where the chefs like to eat so you know your onto a winner. 

Wood pigeon, pomme dauphine, roasted beets, chicory & pigeon jus.

Wood pigeon, pomme dauphine, roasted beets, chicory & pigeon jus. 

Pigeon: 

1 pigeon crown

3g thyme

Salt

Olive oil

Stuff the crown with thyme and seal off all sides and roast in the oven at 180*c for 3 minutes and leave to rest and carve once ready. 

Pomme dauphine:

125g water

50g butter

Pinch of salt

100g flour

1 egg

1 egg yolk

600g pomme puree

Boil the water and butter, add the salt and sieve the flour in. Cook out the flour for 2 minutes then place dough into mixer with the paddle, add the egg one at a time then add the pomme puree, place into the fridge. Shape into desired shape when really cold then deep fry at 180*c until golden brown. 

6 beetroot

Salt

Cut the top & bottom off the beet, season slightly and wrap in foil. Place onto a try covered in salt and bake at 165*c for one hour. Leave to cool naturally and peel once cold. Reheat by roasting in a pan with a little oil. Butter is optional but its not needed unless your looking for that nutty butter flavour.  

1 chicory

20g butter

1/2 orange juiced

Pinch sugar

Pinch salt

Slighty cook the chicory in everything for 20 seconds just to wilt a little. 

Pigeon jus:

Pigeon bones

1 carrot

3 shallots

1 stick celery

5g thyme

1/4 garlic bulb

1 tbl tomato puree

Dash sherry vinegar

1 litre chicken jus

Dash Madeira 

Roast the veg and bones in a pan, add the garlic & thyme and cook for another few moments. Add the puree and cook out. Deglaze with a little sherry vinegar and add the chicken jus. Reduce by half and finish with a little dash of Madeira, check the seasoning and add the left over juice from the roasted crown. 

To garnish

Red amaranth

Celery hearts

Scrabster Cod, Ratte potato, Mussels & Shellfish velouté.

Scrabster Cod, Ratte potato, Mussels & Shellfish velouté. 

I currently have this dish on for lunch and it's a popular little number made using outstanding Cod from Scrabster, nutty ratte potatoes from France & west coast shellfish. 

Recipe:

1 Cod Fillet

1/4 lemon juiced

Salt

A simple pan fried cod finished with a dash of lemon juice. 

Crushed Ratte potato:

100g Ratte potatoes

5g Dill

10g Butter

Salt

Steam the potatoes for 50 minutes at 100*c, crush into a sauce pan and add the butter & salt, then the dill. 

Mussels:

100ml White wine

10 Mussels

Steam the mussels in the wine & their own juice, let them cool and take them out the shells. Make sure you take the beards off the meat. Retain the juice and use it in the shellfish velouté. 

Garnish:

Chervil 

Shellfish velouté:

6 shallots

3 clove garlic

100g butter

5g tomato puree

100ml sherry

200ml white wine

500ml shellfish stock

200ml cream

1 lemon juiced

Sauté the shallot & garlic in the butter, add the tomato puree and cook for 5 minutes. Deglaze with the sherry then add the white wine. Reduce by half. Add the shellfish stock

And reduce by half again. Add the cream & lemon juice. Bring to the boil, blend and pass. If your making this at home then you can buy lobster fumet online and use a tablespoon of it with some fish stock if you don't have any shellfish stock. Check for seasoning and keep at 62*c for the perfect foaming temperature. 

Quick recipe time!

Parmesan risotto, hazelnut & white truffle dressing. 

Risotto:

250g arborio rice

3 shallots

3 clove garlic

50ml white wine

500 nage

70g butter

Salt

100g parmesan

Dressing:

200ml olive oil

45ml white wine vinegar

10ml truffle oil

Salt

Garnish:

Roasted hazelnuts

Chervil

Basic recipe: Meringue.

Basic recipe: Meringue.

300g Egg White

300g Caster Sugar

300g Icing Sugar

It's that simple! 

Whisk the egg whites until starting to peak, slowly add the caster sugar and leave to mix for 5 minutes. Turn off the mixer and fold in the icing sugar. Place into a piping bag and pipe immediately. This mix holds but only for a few hours.  Pipe to desired shape and size, mine are 5cm wide and 5cm high. Everyone likes their meringues different, some soft, some hard. If you want then soft & chewy then bake at 100*c for 1 hour, if you want them hard then bake at 60*c for 8 hours. I tend to leave them on pilot light in the oven over night and take them out in the morning if I'm making them hard. 

Serve with a little passionfruit, chocolate & chopped hazelnuts or Strawberries and cream. 

Classic time... Shellfish Bisque with Lobster Tortellini

Classic time... Shellfish Bisque with Lobster Tortellini. 

A few years back when La Valle Blanche was in full swing, we had this dish on as our alternative soup, we went through so much shellfish that I was going home stinking of the stuff; my girlfriend wasn't best pleased. On a plus note tho, I got to have a bowl every so often for my lunch. I'm always a fan of our top Scottish produce and we got some very special lobster & crabs delivered from Skye 6 days a week. If you can get your hands on anything from the west coast of Scotland, then snap it up straight away as it really is the best about. 

Anyway, less of the rambling and more of the cooking... My recipe takes a fair few hours to produce the bisque but don't let it put you off. 

Bisque:

1kg Shellfish bones 

5 tbl olive oil

1/2tsp fennel seeds

1/2tsp coriander seeds

5 black peppercorn

2 carrots

1/2 fennel

1/2 leek

1 onion

1/2 celery

1 potato

4 tomatoes 

1 tbl tomato puree

100ml sherry

300ml white wine

2 ltr fish stock

200ml double cream

50g butter

50ml lemon juice

Pasta dough:

4 eggs

6 egg yolks

550g flour

15ml olive oil

15ml saffron water

Salt

Tortellini filling:

1/2 pasta dough

150g dry pomme puree

40ml reduced shellfish stock (reduced to a paste)

200g chopped lobster meat

2 orange zest

10g chopped tarragon

Bisque:

Roast the Shellfish bones in the oven for 40 mins at 180*c. I use lobster, langoustine & crab bones. In a large heavy bottom pot, brown the carrot, onion, celery, leek & fennel in the olive oil then add the aromats and cook for a few moments. Add the potato, tomato & tomato puree and cook out for another 5 minutes. Add the shellfish bones & the sherry and reduce by half. And the wine and reduce by half then add the fish stock and simmer for 2 hours. Blend everything with a stick blender and pass through a muslin cloth. Place back on to the heat and reduce by half again. The decant and chill. Take 1/5 of the liquid and reduce to a paste so that you can add to the tortellini filling. 

To turn the sauce into a soup, add the cream, butter and lemon juice to the stock and bring to the boil. Blend with a stick blender to foam and serve when needed. 

Pasta dough: 

Mix the eggs, saffron water, oil & salt together until bound and add to the flour. Work either by hand or in a mixer until a crumble stage and kneed for a few moments. Clingfilm and leave to rest in the fridge for an hour. 

Tortellini filling:

Mix everything together lightly, check for seasoning and shape the mix into 10g balls. 

Tortellini:

Roll out pasta dough until you get to number 2 on the machine and cut with a size 80 circular cutter. If you cover a chopping board in clingfilm and place the circles onto it and clingfilm again then the disc's won't dry out, you'll be able to work quicker this way. Place the 10g ball into the centre of the disc, fold in half pressing all the air out before sealing to create a half moon shape. Fold in half again so the two corners over lap each other and stick them together with a tiny amount of water. Store on a little semolina flour or polenta if your using them within a few hours. If you want them to last a little longer you can blanche them for 1 minute in boiling water and refresh in ice. They can be stored in the freezer for a rainy day also. If your cooking to order then place into salted boiling water for 3min 30sec and place directly into the middle of the dish and top with foamy bisque. 

Enjoy!