Monday 28 November 2011

Christmas Dinner Special


CHRISTMAS MENU SPECIAL 2011

This year I am doing a Christmas menu with a twist. Christmas is festive, traditional and a warming joyful experience, so this year I am preparing a bespoke traditional menu with a twist.


STARTERS
 
Pan Fried Scallops Served On A Pea & Mint Puree Drizzled With Lemon Oil And Topped With Fresh Pea Shoots
Beef Fillet Carpaccio & Fresh Strawberries, Rocket, Crushed Pepper, & Parmesan Shavings
 Potted Chicken Liver Parfait, Homemade Poppy And Caraway Crackers
Trio of Beetroot & Ricotta Ravioli with Basil Oil & Parmesan Crisp

Palate Cleanser

Raspberry Fizz Sorbet

Mains

Wild Duck, Pomme Fondant, Peach Melba & Almond Jus Gras, Cranberry Jam Pot
Loin of Venison in a Sloe Gin and Blackberry Glaze, Celeriac & Potato Rosti, Sautéed Brussels Sprouts with Roasted Garlic
Pumpkin, Smoked Garlic and Baby Spinach Cannelloni
Free Range Corn Fed Chicken Breast Stuffed With Roasted Chestnuts, Accompanied By Sweet Parsnip, Glazed Baby Carrots And Pan Fried Curly Kale, Bubble And Squeak With A Tarragon And Shallot Butter

Dessert

Mini Christmas Pudding Soaked In Brandy, Warm Crème Anglaise, Cherries
Chocolate Fondant, Espresso Ice Cream
Baked Lemon Cheese Cake Slice, Poached Clementine Segments, Fresh Cranberries
Traditional Cheese Board, Homemade Oat Meal Crackers, Fresh Seasonal Fruit

Finale

Organic Mince Pies

 

Thursday 10 November 2011

Chocolate mousse and crème brûlée cake

Chocolate mousse and crème brûlée cake


Ingredients

 
For the crème brûlée:
·         4 egg yolks
·         75g caster sugar
·         500ml double cream
·         1 vanilla pod, split
For the chocolate mousse:
·         250 g dark chocolate, 70% cocoa solids coarsely chopped
·         500ml whipping cream
For the chocolate sponge:
·         2 chocolate sponge cake, with a diameter of 20cm and a depth of 5mm. You can use any traditional chocolate sponge recipe.
For the ganache:
·         125g cream
·         125 g dark chocolate, 70% cocoa solids coarsely chopped
·         25g unsalted butter

Wednesday 2 November 2011

Cranberry Chutney and Cranberry Jam Recipes

Cranberry Chutney and Cranberry Jam Recipes


Keeping in line with what's in Season, I thought I'd share these two recipes with you. One's for a Cranberry Chutney and the other is for a Cranberry Jam. 


Cranberry Chutney

Ingredients

250g red onions, peeled and finely chopped
40ml olive oil
250g white onions
5g mustard seeds
5g cayenne pepper
1kg cranberries
450g light brown sugar
2.5g salt
250g date paste
600ml malt vinegar

Method

Gently cook the onions in the olive oil with the mustard seeds and cayenne pepper until soft. Add the cranberries, sugar and salt and cook on a medium heat for about 15 minutes. Stir in the date paste and vinegar and continue to simmer until most of the liquid has evaporated.

 
Cranberry Jam


INGREDIENTS
1kg cranberry
1kg sugar

Method

Layer the cranberries and sugar in a bowl and leave in the fridge overnight.
Place into a heavy based pan and slowly bring to the boil.  Ensure to wash down the sides of the pan whilst cooking to prevent any sugar crystallizing.
Skim off any scum from the top and simmer until heavy syrup is achieved. (Test in the fridge)





Home Cooking-Steak and Kidney Pudding

Steak and Kidney Pudding
Serves 4-6

Although steak and kidney pudding could have provenance anywhere in the country, London is probably the place it fits into as a clubby and old fashioned restaurant kind of dish. In the old days when oysters were cheap, they would be added to supplement the meat, but a nice thing to do would be to cook an oyster or two per person in a little of the gravy and serve it on top of the pudding just before the pudding is ready,  as an hour and a half cooking time would cremate the oyster.

Ingredients-
700g braising beef, preferably flank, skirt or shin, cut into rough 3cm cubes
150ml of good red wine
300g ox kidney, cleaned and cut into rough 3cm chunks
3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
2tbls chopped thyme
4 bay leaves
Vegetable oil for frying
2 Tbsp plain flour
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
30g butter
1 medium onions, peeled and finely chopped
2 Tbsp tomato purée
150ml Brown Chicken Stock or Beef Stock
15ml Worcestershire sauce

For the suet pastry-
250g self-raising flour
125g shredded beef suet
150ml milk

Method
Heat the vegetable oil in a heavy frying pan, season and lightly flour the meat with ½  tablespoon of the flour, and fry the meat in 2 or 3 batches over a high heat until nicely browned. Do the same with the kidneys and keep separately.
Heat the butter in a large heavy-based saucepan and gently fry the onion for a few minutes until soft. Add the remaining flour and tomato purée, and stir over a low heat for a minute. Slowly add the wine, stirring constantly to avoid lumps forming. Bring to the boil and simmer until it has reduced by half.

Add the stock and the pieces of beef, bring back to the boil, cover with a lid and simmer gently for about 2 hours, or until the meat is tender. It's difficult to put an exact time on braising or stewing meats, sometimes an extra half an hour may be needed depending on the cut. The best way to check is by tasting the meat. When the meat is cooked, the sauce should have thickened to a gravy-like consistency. If not, mix a little cornflour to a paste with some water, stir into the sauce and simmer for a few minutes. Add the kidneys and let the mixture cool down.

Meanwhile make the pastry: Mix the flour and suet together in a bowl, then gradually mix in the milk to form a dough. The dough should be soft but firm enough to roll out into a circle large enough to line a 1.5 liter pudding basin, or individual ones. Cut a quarter out of the circle for the lid.

Butter the pudding basin well, drop the pastry into it and join up the edges where the quarter was removed. Remould the pastry for the top and roll it out to the correct size. Spoon the filling into the pudding molds and lay the pastry on top and press the edges together so that the filling is sealed in. Cut a piece of foil big enough to fit over the top of the basin and come halfway down the sides, making a pleat down the middle to allow for expansion. Tie it in place with some string, making a string handle so it can be lifted when topping up with water.

Bring a pan half-filled with water to the boil, or use a pressure cooker and lower the pudding into it. The water must be boiling and come about halfway up the side of the basin. Cover and leave simmering for 2 hours. If the water level gets low, lift the basin and top up with more boiling water.

Friday 28 October 2011

Salt Baked Sea Bass

In the spirit of seasonality, and with Sea Bass coming into season in November, which is just around the corner, here's a recipe you can try out, and please let me know what you think.

Serves two
This recipe can also be used for firm fleshed fish like snapper, grouper, sea bream etc. For ease of serving once the salt is finally removed, ask your fishmonger to scale and bone the fish from the underside, but leaving the 2 fillets attached, head on and removing the central pin bones running down the center of the fillets. The fish ends up looking a bit like a kipper, but once stuffed with some whole herbs and folded back over its back to its normal shape

1 x 1.2 kg sea bass, prepared as above
350g coarse sea salt
350g table salt
A few sprigs of dill, parsley and thyme with the stalks on

The day before, mix the 2 salts with about 200ml of water and leave in a covered bowl at room temperature.
Preheat the oven to 220°C/gas mark 7.
Put the herbs inside the fish and fold over to it’s original shape. Put the fish onto a baking tray, drain the excess water from the salt mixture and mold it over and around the fish as compact as possible. Bake the fish for 35-40 minutes. To check if it’s cooked insert a metal skewer or roasting fork through the salt into the center of the fish, if it’s hot it is cooked.
To serve, break the salt with the back of a knife and scrape away from the fish. Divide the fish into two removing the head and serve with a butter based sauce such as a beurre blanc. This can be done by simply whisking some cold cubes of butter into a couple tablespoons of heated white wine and seasoning with salt and pepper and adding some chopped dill.

Pan fried cherry tomatoes and asparagus go really well with this dish as well.  
Bon Appétit

Tips for this dish - 5 ways to choose your fish and check it's quality and freshness

  1. Look at the eyes. Very fresh fish have clear eyes, which are bulging. Older fish have cloudy eyes that are sagging inwards. Saggy, is not good.
  2. Smell the fish. Fish that smells fishy is old. Fish that smells like the sea (briny) is fresh.
  3. The body should be covered in a kind of "slime". Now, normally we don't think of slime as a good thing when selecting our dinner, but fish that sit around on ice for a while, dry up and loose their sea coating.
  4. The fish should feel plump and firm. Press in on the body of the fish; the flesh should bounce back. If your finger leaves an indentation mark that stays, then the fish is older.
  5. Open up the gills. Gills that are bright and dark in coloration are a sign of fresher fish. As the fish ages, the gills get more pale in color, browner.

 

Thursday 27 October 2011

Sample Menu

Our menus can consist of as many courses as you want for you event. Here are a couple of menu ideas for you to look through.


Starters
Lemon and tea smoked seared Scallops on a pea and mint puree served with lemon infused oil and pea shoots
OR
Trio of Oysters - Tequila Oyster Shot, Tabasco Oyster in the shell, and Baked Breaded Oyster

Mains
Pan seared Wild duck breast on a truffle mash, sautéed Brussels sprouts with smoked garlic on a celeriac puree, dressed with a brandy and cranberry jus
OR
Braised Beef Cheek on a bed on soft polenta dressed with a beef jus and mixed stoned olives

Desserts

Individual Apply and rhubarb crumble with crème anglaise 
OR
Sticky chocolate fondant with homemade vanilla pod ice cream




Eclectic Catering is born




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What we offer -  
No matter the size of your event we offer tailored menus suited to your event

Menus are put together with the client, taking into consideration not only what the client requests, but seasonality and locality of ingredients.

We believe in trying to use as many British ingredients as possible within each menu.