I’m a bit late to the party
I know I’m a bit late to the party, but better late than never. Having had a week over Christmas without cooking for you lovely customers, has given me time to ponder what to offer going forward. I know most, if not all of you are passionate about food and have really enjoyed our food journey through 2020. So inspired by Rick Stein and other chefs ‘finish at home’ concept, I’m going to develop that, but additionally try to find great ingredients, which I know you will like, or at least be interested in trying. The kind of things you can’t easily access yourselves in the supermarkets. Gurnard, bream, lemon sole, halibut, brill, cuttlefish, red mullet, venison liver, lambs hearts, greylag geese etc. We did our first ‘finish at home’ last week of course and I’m dying to know how it went with all the people who ordered.
I like to think we’re here to inspire rather than just offer you a ‘get out of jail card’ on a Friday night. So we’ll be sharing inspiring dishes from recently acquired cook books by Fergus Henderson and Tom Kerridge. We’ll smash out a couple of pop ups as soon as we’re out of tier three. Hell, we might even open a restaurant to celebrate the success of the vaccine and a return to normal life later this year.
In the meantime, don’t knock it, we do ‘get out of jail’ really well, so slip over to our frozen section on the website and feast on a load of lovely dishes designed to bring you hope and joy.
This week however, we have the fresh, finish at home supper. The smoked mackerel is a starter, although to be honest, it did me for a light lunch when we tried it out a few days ago. Naturally it’s home-made and I love playing around, balancing the lemon with the cream cheese, with the mackerel. It comes with sliced sourdough which you just pop in the toaster and add butter, or not.
Fresh fish is still limited at this time of year but we’ve manged to bag some Sea Bream fillets which are an absolute delight. We are marinading them in olive oil, lemon, rosemary, thyme and black pepper. All you need to do is follow the instructions and stick them under a hot grill for about 8 minutes to cook..
On New Year’s Eve, a friend invited us over for an early, outdoor BBQ, where he cooked lamb chump on an open fire, in his orchard, in the moonlight and in minus 5 degrees of heavy frost. We had layered up really well, so after a few champagne cocktails, were impervious. It was absolutely divine. We’re tossing it in a lovely marinade for 24 hours and inviting you to pan fry, baste and roast it at home. The process only takes about 15 minutes, plus 10 minutes to rest the meat, from opening the pack to tucking in.
The ratatouille we’ve sweetened with caster sugar and balsamic, reducing it down until it’s a bit sticky and unctuous. It is a bit of a 70’s dish, you’re right, but done well it transports you all the way to the Mediterranean. The dish is a perfect accompaniment to both the fish and the meat, with lots of chopped thyme and basil, your five a day in one dish.
I think the light posset pudding finishes off both main courses really well. The idea comes from Diana Henry’s book, ‘Simple’ ‘St Clements & rosemary posset with blackberries’. Obviously blackberries are a bit ‘over’ at the moment, but blood oranges are dynamite.
SMOKED MACKEREL PATE, SOURDOUGH £4.00
MARINATED SEA BREAM £7.00
MARINATED LAMB CHUMP £9.00
THE BEST RATATOUILLE £4.50
BLOOD ORANGE AND ROSEMARY POSSET £5.00