Edible flowers and wild mushrooms

I am a massive fan of edible flowers and wild mushrooms. They are right up there in my top five.

Right now I am getting loads of flowers in from my suppliers and I have been thinking of things to do with the ones that look great but lack a little in the taste department. Mainly things like marigold, pansies and daylilies. 

One of my chef friends told me about a restaurant where they pickle rose petals, which I thought was a great idea or there is dehydrating the petals and using them like a floral confetti, but then you loose the summer fresh look.

 

Borage is one of the flowers that I really love. Some people say it tastes like a mild cucumber but I think it tastes more like an oyster and it looks stunning on the plate. 

Lavender is another great one probably a more common one that most people would know. I have a lavender panacotta and honey jelly on the menu at the moment that is popular.

A new one for me is the wild poppy. 

The bulb part has small holes in the top that can act like a natural pepper shaker effect that we finish a summer squash risotto with.

Back when I worked in Scotland I did some foraging with my sous chef for chanterelle mushrooms. If I had more time in my life I would love to get more involved in the foraging side of things. I love it. 

There are a few of these fellas around at the moment the yellow ones are chanterelle or girolle as some people call them and the dark caped one is a boletus. Very tasty served with a cote de boeuf, you could die right there and you would die happy my friend.

Photography by Carla Grassy

Wild Night Number 3

 The plan was an interesting dinner where the menu had a cocktail theme all done without  sex on the beach. Sadly.

The Menu

Mojito- frozen apple mojito, elderflower mojito powder, edible paper

Bloody Mary- beef tomato tartar (blushed beef tomato petals marinated in horseradish vodka with tartar style dressing) yellow tomato and celery "yolk"

Dirty Martini- blow torched vermouth cured mackerel, char-grilled gin compressed cucumber, olive oil powder, martini sorbet

Blood and Sand- sous vide duck breast, duck neck cannelloni, cherry's done 3 ways, fluid gel, compote and confit, fondant potato and baby carrots

Margarita- bell pepper spaghetti (using agar) bell pepper confetti, margarita foam, salt and borage

Port cobbler- tunworth cheese reverse spherification, port and cracker powder

Amalfi- wild fennel limoncello, cupcake with curd filling and a meringue icing, sparkling cello pipette, shot

This was such a good night to work on and plan. The interpretation that someone can have of something that can be turned into food is amazing, some of the conversations we had in the kitchen about this night were mad and lots of fun.

Can't wait for the next one - earth, wind and fire. More info coming soon. 

Photography by Carla Grassy

Compressed cucumber

Cucumbers can be a bit like that friend that everyone knows who doesn't offend, little bit boring, always hanging around the salad bar.

I have been working on compressing things for a while now. To compress something you vacuum seal it to draw out the oxygen. That intensifies the flavour of whatever it is you are using in this case cucumber but we also use tomato petals.

                      I started working on this dish and it is going to be on the specials next week-

         Home cured duck ham, Hendricks compressed cucumber, summer fruit and nitro sorbet.

Whilst doing this dish I started thinking about how to incorporate cucumber in a hot dish. I have heard about butter poacher cucumber some say it tastes like banana (not sure about that one),but tried chargrilling it and it tasted fantastic. So I might bring that to the table on the next wild night.

I also had a moment of madness during all this and made sparkling tomatoes using CO2 but that needs a bit more work, it had mixed reviews from the staff, it's a hard one to get your head around.

Photography by Carla Grassy

Beetroot

Such a striking vegetable with an amazing taste that can be used in so many different ways, including desserts. 

So we all know the good old common beetroot, pickled and served with stovie's (Scottish dish a real winner) or in a risotto.

All very nice but the vegetable can be used for so much more than just that, you can do a carpaccio, jelly, cure fish in it, make ice cream. It goes well with meat, fish, and chocolate. On the hotter days we serve it with mackerel and oysters, when it gets cooler, whipped goat cheese, ginger bread and walnut dressing.

There is also more interesting types out there, at the restaurant we use golden, chioggia also known as candy, Cheltenham and baby beetroot.

Beetroot is right in season at the moment so its a good chance to play around with it. I will keep you posted.

Souffle

Souffle's can be a nightmare if you get them wrong. I would know.

Working in kitchens you start at the bottom and work your way up the ranks , and I went down the pastry road. I soon learned that souffles were not easy, it's that point when you have the head pastry chef screaming at you, you open the oven door, your heart sinks, you really want to die, the other desserts are ready and you f***ed the souffle. I went through a bad patch with souffle's- they were my enemy.

Now I am a bit older and wiser some say confident, I really enjoy doing them. There is just a few rules to souffle's that I wish I had learned sooner.

1- Always have your moulds well buttered and sugared.
2- Whites at room temperature are best.
3- Don't over whisk the whites (they will get that separated look) throw them out and start again.
4-Work fast and clean (sounds obvious but you will be amazed to how much of a pickle you can get in)
5- Test one before service (the most important one)

I still get that fear and panic feeling when I have a big job on though, 20+ souffles in the oven the first glance to see how they are getting on, gives me goosebumps just thinking about it.

The recipe I use now is different from the old school creme pat style made to order. This one can be made before service and last all the way through.

The recipe holds so well that you can do a double souffle like blackberry and apple, one half deep purple and the other half white looks very cool and tastes great

Souffle recipe 

(makes 12 large ramekins)

Base:

2kg fruit puree

500g sugar

9 tbsp cornflour mixed with a splash of water

 Mix the puree and sugar together, bring to the boil, add cornflour liquid and cook till very thick like a jam, allow to cool.

 Souffle:

   600g base

300g egg white (about 10)

100g sugar

Whisk egg whites and sugar to peaks, take 1/4 of the egg white and beat it into the base, next fold in the rest of the egg white gently. Fill ramekins, tap them on the work surface to ensure you get rid of all gaps, then run over them with a palette knife to make sure they are completely flat, go around the edges with thumb, store til needed and then bake at 200 Degrees for 8 minutes to see how it is doing, they should take about 12 minutes but that is just a guideline. 

ENJOY!!

Photography by Carla Grassy