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...