Dinner with royalty, lunch menus and new ideas?

 An unusually quiet Tuesday saw me sneak a rather cheeky ½ day.  Home for 5!  I’m almost part time these days!  And what better way to spend my time out of the kitchen than to read a cookbook or two?  I’m absolutely loving "Quay".  It's hard not to just look at the pictures.  Every plate is so beautiful with such great attention to detail.  But it’s not just pretty plates.
It's food you want to eat!   

Reading always makes me hungry, and Anna had arrived home starving.  So it was to the King William for a bite to eat.  They have never failed to fill me up.  Pint of guest ale (whose name I can’t remember) while reading the menu.  Pint gone and to the bar.
"Fish and chips for Anna and the teal for me please.
Oh, and another pint, of course!"

Fantastic food.  Teal perfectly cooked, served with pate on toast and a side of beautifully cooked (and SEASONED) vegetables.  And for Anna it looked like they’d battered Moby Dick in a rather special beer batter.  The best chips I've ever eaten! a lovely tartar sauce as well!

My Chocolate

Pudding: I had to have my normal sticky toffee and Anna had the hot chocolate pot.  Again, all lovely stuff although I’m really not sure about apple ice cream with chocolate...tasty nevertheless.  Another pint and we were done.
So full!  Lovely stuff!!

Back to work Wednesday.  It was all about the new lunch menu.  Quail galantine rolled in chopped candied hazelnuts, served with pease pudding, crispy ham and apple salad. These little bird are ace.  Tim is doing a great job with them.  

Charlie delivered us some beautiful smoked garlic which made our veg store smell amazing. We then turned this garlic into a puree, to flavour mashed potatoes.  Not bad at all!

Phil B delivered his normal standard of amazing fish, including some great line-caught Pollack.  Our young leeks were washed, blanched and split down the middle, and slowly caramelised in chicken fat.  They taste amazing!  Then we’ve got a little bit of garlic mashed potatoes and pollack roasted in beurre noisette and sitting on some kale.  It's simple early winter on a plate

Roland and Emma have finshed the menu nicely with a some lovely puddings.  I managed a quick sample of the pineapple tarte tatin, coconut parfait and pineapple sorbet.  Food's far too tasty sometimes! 

.

I got talking to guest a few days ago.  He explained his love of hare and how rarely he finds it on a menu.  It got me thinking.  I’ve only eaten hare once, at Arbutus and it was really good.  And I’d only cooked hare once, with Shaun Hill at Gidleigh on a guest-chef dinner.
So Steve at Chef Direct has put our name on two hare.  Tomorrow morning it’s “Hear Hare Here” on my chopping board.  'can’t wait! 

But what to serve it with?  We’ll see...

Organic Mud, Basic Maths and Wedding Bells

The big day for the Big man was fast approaching, and I still had to write my speech!  But no time to worry about that!  It was Wednesday.  We had a MC function with 72 booked for lunch the next day, and Douglas was picking me up at 9 to show me around his farm. 

Douglas was on time. Quick cup of tea while I was introduced to Pip the super friendly Border collie and then away in an Audi estate... not sure this makes for the ideal farm vehicle? He must have been an estate agent in a former life.     10 or so minutes later and we arrived at his plot.  He quickly apologised for the weeds. He has one large tunnel and 6 acres of open beds.  In the tunnel he has little micro leaves, Mizuna, roquette, etc etc.Then out side he has all his lettuces, kales, cabbages, broccoli, beetroots, baby turnips, carrots, etc and also the baby purple kale leaves that I love so much. 

Although Pip helps out by ratting the odd kohl rabi, Douglas works alone.  You can image his task is never ending, with weeding being the biggest challenge. What he grows is fantastic and it really is a labour of love. If it’s not good enough, he won’t sell it.  He has no storage facilities at present, so all of the vegetables are picked/dug then delivered straightaway by him. 

I like the fact that a few weeks ago we were buying beet & turnip leaves, the plants are now mature and the leaves too big to eat, so now we’ll be buying baby beetroot & turnips instead.  That’s how it’s meant to be!! Douglas is just starting out and it seems to me like one almighty challenge!  Already after only 6 months he has what looks like a great base, but he’s not happy.  Everything’s behind.  His peas failed.  And the sprouts don’t look as if they’ll be big enough in time for the C word.  He’s confident that next year will be a great year.  I’m looking forward to it.  
I had to be back for lunch service.  Douglas kindly dropped me back and I set about cleaning the mud off my Birkenstocks.  Wellies next time methinks! 

Clogs cleaned and back in the kitchen.  Craig had the butternut squashes slowly roasting in the oven ready to be turned into a veloute.  The Daquoise had been glazed and the beef shoulders were being portioned.  Each feather blade had been rolled and braised the day before, then cooled and then rolled tight, and then left to set overnight.  We had 10, at least I thought we had 10.  

    “How many should I get out of each blade” says Jauca.
    “Between 9 and 10” says me.
    “I got 8 out of the first one!!”
    “That’s fine!  It’s still 80 portions.”
                                              “NO, I’ve got 9 blades here that’s 72!!”

A quick search confirmed it... someone can’t count!!  72 for 72, I didn’t like those odds!!  So it was a quick prayer to the Party Room's god (re-reading the function sheet) and there they were 4 vegetarians! A recount confirmed we had 6 spare.  Job's a gooden!!!
So we were set. 

Roast Butternut squash veloute, truffle & cumin.  Braised shoulder of beef, wild mushroom ragout and horseradish mashed potato.  And for the Veggies, Open lasagne of celeriac wild mushrooms, Cep sauce. Pudding: a Milk chocolate and hazelnut daquoise, White chocolate ice cream.   

MC arrived at around 1030 and was on great form.  Blades were in the bath and the soup was in the pan. 72 beautiful plates of food left the pass in a one smooth constant flow, followed by pudding in a similar fashion.  Chef and I did the rounds in the restaurant, and then 72 happy guests were heading home.  Easy!? 

A strange afternoon then followed.  Champagne, photo shoots and interviews with journalists.  Is this the life of the modern day chef?  To be honest, I’d of preferred a box of mousseron  to prep.  It was 5.00 and we were setting up for dinner.  Where had the day gone?  We did 40, so not bad for a Thursday, Winky assembled a rather lovely looking terrine of  poached chicken legs, black trompette and leek, ready for the next day’s lunch.  He finished the service and I headed home to write my speech.

Friday came.  The speech was written.  We were on our way up North.  Kirk was getting married.  I had worked with Kirk during my Gidleigh Park days, and we’ve been great mates ever since.  A lovely day and a lovely couple!  The meal was ace and with the hearty northern portions I nearly struggled to finish my sticky toffee pudding.  I love sticky toffee pudding!  Few beers, speech out of the way, and a few more beers.  A fantastic day was had.  

 
Back in the Kitchen for a very busy Sunday lunch, and as quickly as it started the week was over.  Next week’s lunch menu’s looking a bit special.  I spotted some rather beautiful young leeks on Douglas’ farm. We’ll serve with some Brixham Pollack.  Galantines of quail will be rolled in toasted hazel nuts then served with apples and pease pudding.  The good-old woodland belly pork are braising in oven as I write!!!  

Onwards!

_________

Past and Times

Sunday was my first day off in two weeks.  I needed to get on the bank.  Craig and I were trying to catch those impossible barbel down at Claverton Weir but all was quiet and the fish were definitely not biting. What to do? Where are those fish?  Then my mobile broke the morning's silence...

MC was calling! On a Sunday! Something was up!

The Sunday Times had released their top 200 UK restaurants and Chef was ringing with congratulations.

   “Sam, Bath Priory came in 39^th, that’s two in the top 50 !!!!”

The night before I was congratulating Chef with Gidleigh's first place.  The next morning Chef is congratulating us.  3^rd best in the West.  Not bad.

So Craig's and my spirits were lifted.  A fish or two seemed like a sure thing... but no, cook and cook well we can, but catch a fish?  Well we'll see, there’s always next time!

Straight back to it again and with a busy MC lunch on Thursday, there's no time to dwell on awards won or fish lost.  There is a small mountain of wild mushrooms to prep, shoulders of beef to braise and milk chocolate Daquoise to assemble. 

LOVE IT!