Celeriac Soup with a Quenelle of Mushroom Duxelle and Shaved Truffle (Serves 4)

Ingredients 1 celeriac, peeled and chopped 1 onion, peeled and chopped 50 g butter 6 cm piece of kelp 1 litre vegetable stock 250 ml cream 1 dessertspoon truffle oil Pinch nutmeg Fresh truffle shavings Micro Cress For the duxelle 1 shallot, peeled and diced 1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed 10 g butter 6 Portobello mushrooms, diced Maldon salt and black pepper

Method Sweat the onion in the butter for about 5 minutes until it is soft and translucent; add the celeriac and coat with the buttery onion. Cook off for 2-3 minutes and pour in the vegetable stock and toss in the kelp. Bring to the boil and simmer for about 20 minutes until the celeriac is soft.

Remove the kelp from the soup and add the cream, truffle oil, nutmeg and some seasoning and blend the soup until its smooth. Keep soup hot until ready to serve. To make the duxelle, fry the shallots and garlic in the butter for a couple of minutes until they are soft. Stir in the Portobello mushrooms and cook until you have a rough pâté consistency and season to taste. Make a quenelle or oval shape with the duxelle using two teaspoons and place the quenelle at the bottom of a warm soup bowl. Arrange 3-4 truffle shavings around it and garnish with some micro cress.

To serve, pour the soup into a warm jug and place the jug and soup bowl on a plate with a slice of walnut bread.

 

Cider Poached Clare Island Salmon, Apple & Fennel Salad dressed with Calvados (Serves 6)

Ingredients ½ side of Clare Island organic salmon, boned and skinned 200 g caster sugar 200 g salt 500 g Llewellyn’s cider Maldon salt and freshly ground black pepper For the crème frâiche garnish 200 g crème frâiche ½ lemon, zest only 1 tablespoon chopped chervil Edible apple perfume (optional) Dill leaves For the apple salad 1 bulb fennel 1 Granny Smith apple, peeled and cored 25 ml Calvados 15 ml white wine vinegar 1 tablespoon lemon juice Large pinch caster sugar For the apple purée 2 Granny Smith apples, peeled and cored 2 tablespoons Calvados 1 tablespoon caster sugar For the Court Bouillon 4 stalks celery, roughly chopped 2 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped 1 leek, rinsed and sliced 1 onion, peeled and chopped 1 fennel, roughly chopped 500 ml Llewellyn’s cider 1½ litre water

Method First cure the fish by putting the salmon on top of a large piece of Clingfilm. Sprinkle the flesh with salt and sugar evenly. Pour the cider on top, wrap in Clingfilm and leave to cure in the fridge overnight (or for at least 4 hours) When the fish is cured, wash off the curing solution with cold water and pat dry with kitchen paper and then cut the salmon into 5 centimetre fillets.

Put the crème frâiche in a bowl, stir in the lemon zest, some seasoning and chopped chervil and chill until service.

For the salad, slice the apple and fennel very thinly and put in a bowl (use a Mandolin for this if you have one). Make the dressing by whisking the Calvados with the lemon juice, white wine vinegar and the sugar until it emulsifies.

To make the apple purée, put the caster sugar and Calvados in a saucepan and heat until the sugar has dissolved. Place the apple in the liquid and bring to just under a boil and then simmer until the apple is soft. Put the apple and liquid into a food processor and blend until very smooth and put it in a squeezy bottle.

Next make the court bouillon by placing all the vegetables in the cider and water and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and put the fillets of salmon in the poaching liquid for 3-4 minutes. Remove the fish carefully when done and drain on some kitchen paper.

To serve, place some crème frâiche on a rectangular plate and sit the poached salmon on top. Arrange some dressed apple and fennel salad on the other side of the plate. Garnish the salmon with some apple slices and dill and drizzle the apple purée around the plate and sprinkle some diced fresh apple on the plate.

 

Pan-fried Hake with a Smokey Chorizo, Kelp & Tomato sauce and a Fragrant Vanilla Mash (Serves 6)

Ingredients 160 g x 6 hake fillet, skin on 1 tablespoon oil 50 ml good quality white wine For the chorizo sauce 4 tomatoes 2 red peppers 1 onion, peeled and diced 1 tablespoon oil 6 inches smokey chorizo, diced 1 teaspoon tomato puree 6 centimetre piece of kelp For the vanilla mash 6 large potatoes 50 g butter 50 ml cream 3 vanilla pods, seeds only Maldon salt and black pepper

Method First make the chorizo sauce. Place the tomatoes in boiling water for one minute, then use a knife to remove the skin and then finely chop them. Put the peppers under a hot grill, turning regularly until all the skin is charred, remove the skin and remove the seeds and stalk and finely chop the pepper flesh.

In a pan, sweat off the onion and garlic in a little oil until they are soft. Add the tomatoes and red peppers and the chorizo and continue to cook for 10 minutes or until the chorizo is soft. Stir in the tomato puree and kelp cook on a low heat for another 5 minutes. Remove the kelp and put everything else into a blender, season well and pulse until the sauce is smooth (you can add some olive oil while blending for a better consistency) Set aside until service.

For the mash, peel and chop the potatoes and boil in some salted water until they are soft and tender and strain. Mash them until smooth and then beat in the butter, cream and the vanilla seeds and season to taste.

Season the hake fillets and put a pan on a medium heat. Pan-fry the hake skin side down for 3-4 minutes then add some butter to the pan and flip it over for another 2-3 minutes to finish cooking.

To serve, put some vanilla mash on the dish. Place the hake fillet on top and garnish with the smokey chorizo sauce.

 

Leg and Loin of Rabbit with a Chartreuse sauce and Barley and Buttermilk Orzotto (Serves 4)

Ingredients 2 rabbits (or 4 x rabbit legs and 2 x rabbit loins) 20 g butter 3 carrots, peeled and chopped 1 onion, peeled and chopped 2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed 6 stalks celery, chopped 1 bay leaf 3 sprigs thyme 3 sprigs rosemary 1½ litres chicken stock 12 baby carrots, peeled and tips kept For the barley orzotto 75 g smoked bacon, sliced into lardons 50 g butter 1 shallot, peeled and diced 1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed 200 g barley (soaked overnight) 25 ml buttermilk 20 g Desmond cheese grated 1 tablespoon chopped chives For the Chartreuse sauce 1 shallot, peeled and finely diced 10 g butter 3 sprigs thyme, leaves only 1 dessertspoon chopped flat leaf parsley 1 tablespoon Chartreuse green liqueur 1 tablespoon Buttermilk 20 ml double cream Maldon salt and black pepper

Method Heat the butter in a frying pan and sear the rabbit legs quickly to brown the skin. Put the chopped carrots, onions, garlic and celery in an ovenproof tray and place the rabbit legs on top. Toss in the bay leaf, thyme and rosemary and pour in the chicken stock, this should almost, but not completely, cover the ingredients.

Bring the liquid to the boil on the hob and then cover the tray with foil and cook in the oven for one hour at 150ºC (Or you can cook it on the hob over a low-medium heat) When the rabbit is firm but cooked through, its ready. Remove the meat from the tray and reserve the poaching liquid for the orzotto.

To make the barley orzotto, first cook the bacon lardons off in a hot frying pan until they are crispy and remove with a slotted spoon and drain on some kitchen paper and set aside.

Next heat the butter in a sauté pan and stir in the diced shallot and sauté gently until it is soft and translucent, then add the garlic and cook for another minute. Stir in the pre-soaked pearl barley and sauté for 1-2 minutes until the barley is coated in the butter and onion mixture. Ladle in the rabbit poaching liquid gradually, making sure that the liquid has been absorbed before adding the next ladleful. This should take about 15-20 minutes. When the barley is cooked add the buttermilk and stir until it is absorbed. Reduce the heat and add the grated cheese, crispy lardons, chopped chives and seasoning and keep warm until ready to serve.

To make the Chartreuse sauce, sauté the shallot in some butter and add about 50 ml of the reserved poaching stock. Stir in the thyme, chopped parsley, Chartreuse and buttermilk to combine the flavours and add the double cream. Cook for 4-5 minutes over a low heat, season to taste and blend the mixture until smooth in a food processor.

Blanche the baby carrots in boiling salted water until they are tender and sauté quickly with some butter in a frying pan. In the same pan, brown the leg of lamb in butter to give it a nice glaze and quickly fry the rabbit loin on all sides for about 2-3 minutes. Season and divide each loin into 6 pieces.

To serve, put some barley orzotto in the centre of a warm dish. Place the leg of rabbit on top. Arrange the loin alongside and drizzled everything with the Chartreuse sauce and garnish with the carrots.

 

 

Blackberry Soup with Liquorice Ice Cream (Serves 8)

Ingredients 150 g caster sugar 500 ml water 250 ml Chianti Classico red wine 50 ml Madeira 80 g green and black dark chocolate 250 g blackberries 1 un-waxed lemon, zest and juice For the ice cream 4 free-range eggs yolks 100 g golden caster sugar 300 ml full fat milk 300 ml double cream 1 tablespoon of liquorice powder (or 6 x15 cm liquorice sticks)

Method To make the soup, put the sugar in a pot with the water and heat gently until the sugar dissolves. Then add the wine and the Madeira and bring back to the boil. Add the blackberries and simmer everything for 2-3 minutes. Set aside to cool and then add the lemon zest and juice. Remove the fruit seeds by pushing the mixture through a fine sieve and place the soup in fridge to chill until service. Whisk egg yolks and sugar until frothy and gently heat milk and cream – don’t boil – just to simmering stage. Slowly add it to the egg mixture stirring constantly. Return to the pot and heat gently stirring all the time until it has thickened to pouring constituency (back of spoon). Stir in the liquorice powder and leave to cool. Then pour into an ice cream machine and churn until frozen. (If using the liquorice sticks, cut them into small pieces and heat slowly in some of the milk until they have melted completely, then sieve them and when cool add to the ice cream mixture) To serve, pour the blackberry soup into a shallow bowl, about 1 centimetre deep. Place one scoop of the liquorice ice cream in the centre and serve immediately.