Birthday Treat

Scrambled Eggs in Smoked Salmon

Ingredients for 2

4 Slices of Long Sliced Smoked Salmon.
2 Slices of Either White or Wholemeal Bread.
4 Free Range Eggs.
25grms Butter.
30ml Double Cream.
Salt.
Freshly Ground White Pepper.

Method

Cut 2 large circles from each slice of bread. Melt half the butter in a shallow frying pan and gently fry the bread on both sides until brown and crisp.

Crack the eggs in to bowl and whisk lightly.

Melt the remaining butter in a heavy based sauce pan, add the eggs and stir gently with a wooden spoon or spatula.

Continue to cook the eggs until thick and creamy. Do not allow it to look like a chopped up omelette.

Once the eggs are cooked add the double cream this will stop the eggs from cooking any further, season with salt and  pepper.

Place the croutes onto 2 plates, arrange the smoked salmon on top with half the salmon hanging over the edge.

Top the salmon croutes with the scrambled eggs and fold over the salmon to form parcels, serve immediately with a glass of chilled Champagne.

Sticky Braised Belly Pork

Sticky braised belly pork with a Granny Smith apple puree and a black pudding fritter.

Ingredients for 4 persons

800grms belly pork, boned and rind removed
400grms in total of roughly copped onion, carrot, leek and celery
1 sprig of thyme
4 cloves of garlic
6 star anise
8 cardamom pods
8 peppercorns
2cm of fresh root ginger
100ml of dry white wine
1 litre of chicken stock

Method

Put all the ingredients into a heavy based casserole dish that has a tight fitting lid.

Bring to the boil and place in a pre heated oven at 120oC for 2 ½ -3 hours.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

Remove the pork from the cooking liquor and place on a tray lined with a piece of greaseproof paper, place another piece of greaseproof paper on top, then another tray and weigh down with a heavy weight. Leave in the fridge over night.

Strain the cooking liquor and reduce down with a large tablespoon of honey and a tablespoon of soy sauce until to have a thick glaze.

Apple Puree

3 Granny smith apples
250ml apple juice
1 teaspoon of caster sugar

Method

Chop the apples without peeling and place in a sauce pan with the juice and the sugar. When the apples are cooked pass through a sieve.

Black pudding fritter

110ml milk
28grms butter
50grms strong flour
1 egg
50grms black pudding
4 sage leaves, chopped
salt and pepper

Method

Cut the black pudding into 1cm pieces and fry in hot oil until crisp, drain on absorbent kitchen paper.

Put the milk and butter into a heavy based pan and bring to the boil.

When the milk and butter is boiling, add the flour and beat in fast to avoid lumps.

Allow the paste to cook out over the heat for 1 minute then remove from the heat.

Add the egg and beat in. Season with salt and pepper and then fold in the black pudding and the chopped sage.

Mould the fritter mix between 2 spoons to form a quenelle and cook in a fryer or a pan filled with sunflower oil for 2-3 minutes until golden brown.

To Serve

Cut the belly pork into 4 even pieces and place on a tray lined with greaseproof paper. Sprinkle with a little water and heat gently in the oven. With a pastry brush, brush the top of the pork with the glaze every few minutes until the pork is golden brown. Place a spoonful of the chilled apple puree on the plates, top with the belly pork and the fritter and garnish with some cracking and chervil leaves.

Muesli

Swiss Style Muesli

Part of my early training was at the five star Atlantis Hotel, in Zurich Switzerland. The Swiss are famous for their cold buffet work, mouth watering chocolates and distinctively flavoured stringy cheese that gives the Swiss fondue its unique taste and texture.  The culinary traditions of Switzerland have not changed since I worked there in the 1980’s. In fact, when I Captained the Welsh Culinary Team to gold at the World Championships in 1998, the same dishes I was trained to cook were still on the menu’s in the restaurants!  Dishes such as  Raclette (melted cheese served with new potatoes and pickles) Bratwurst mit Rosti, (veal sausage and potato cake)  and Engadiner Nusstorte  (walnut and honey tart), were proudly displayed. However, one recipe I did bring back and continue to use  is Birchermuesli, a Swiss style muesli vastly different from the dried, saw dust type we can buy here. The Swiss eat their muesli at any time of day and when you have tried it you will understand why. The recipe contains fresh fruit, berries, and nuts which are laced with double cream. All the ingredients are left to stand over night to allow the ingredients to release their flavours.

Ingredients

100grms Oats
25grms Caster Sugar
25grms Sultanas
25grms Chopped Mixed Nuts
50grms Chopped Dried Apricots
300ml Milk
300ml Cream or Yogurt
2 Grated Apples Skin On
2 Grated Pears Skin On
100ml Orange Juice

Any soft fruit, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, bananas, plums, peaches etc.

Method

Place all the ingredients into a bowl and leave overnight in the fridge.

Next Day add the soft fruits.

Mussel Recipe

Ingredients for 4 People

2 Kg of Mussels
2 Large Shallots
1 Clove of Garlic
100ml Dry White Wine
200ml Double Cream
25grms Chopped Fresh Parsley

Method

1. Clean the mussels by removing all the barnacles and the beards from the outside of the shells in plenty of cold running water.

2. Discard any mussels that are damaged or ones that are fully open and don’t close if you give them a squeeze.

3. Peel and finely chop the shallots and garlic clove.

4. Heat a heavy based sauce pan that has a tight fitting lid.

5. Add the mussels, shallots, garlic and the white wine to the pan, cover with the lid and cook until the mussels open. This should take only 2-3 minutes.

6. When the mussels are open remove from the pan with a slotted spoon.

7. Reduce the cooking liquor by half then add the double cream.

8. Bring the sauce back to the boil and add the chopped parsley.

9. Drop the mussels back into the sauce to re-heat.

10. Season with freshly ground black pepper and serve with crusty white bread.

Conwy Mussels

At one minute past midnight on the third Thursday of each November and from little villages and towns, over a million cases of Beaujolais Nouveau begin their journey through a sleeping France to Paris for immediate shipment to all parts of the world. Banners proclaim the good news: Le Beaujolais Nouveau est arrivé! "The New Beaujolais has arrived!" One of the most frivolous and animated rituals in the wine world has begun. By the time it is over, over 65 million bottles, nearly half of the region's total annual production, will be distributed and drunk around the world. It has become a worldwide race to be the first to serve to this new wine of the harvest. In doing so, it will be carried by motorcycle, balloon, truck, helicopter, Concorde jet, elephant, runners and rickshaws to get it to its final destination. It is amazing to realize that just weeks before this wine was a cluster of grapes in a growers vineyard. But by an expeditious harvest, a rapid fermentation, and a speedy bottling, all is ready at the midnight hour.

Here in Conwy we celebrate our own arrival: Le Moule est arrivé! Its Conwy’s oldest industry and unlike the Beaujolais it does not arrive on a set date. The weather plays an important role in the timescale for the harvesting of mussels. Mussels have been gathered in the Conwy estuary since Roman times. They were primarily collected for their pearls and Conwy was once one of the most important pearl fisheries in the country. In the 19th Century over 4 kilos of pearls collected from Conwy mussels were sent each week to jewellers in London. Nowadays the mussels are collected in considerable quantities for human consumption, they are a popular delicacy but the season for gathering them only lasts during the winter months when the tourists have gone! Mussels grow in clusters, attaching themselves by means of a “byssus” which are numerous threads, produced by the mussel its self that allows the mussel to cling to rocks or other supports such as jetties, pier’s and gravel beaches.

Trevor Jones and his “musselmen” use 25ft long rakes to trawl the mussel beds and once harvested the mussels are put into purification tanks for 2 days before they are sold to restaurants and hotels all over Wales and the UK.

Every year I look forward to the start of the Conwy mussel season. I never use any other mussels and I’m sure once you have tried them for your self you will agree they are the best.

Pan seared scallops with a butternut squash risotto and parmesan crackling

• 12 Scallops Cleaned
• 1 Medium Butternut Squash
• 250 grms Risotto Rice
• 1 Large Shallot Finely Chopped
• 1 Clove Garlic Crushed
• 600 ml Chicken Stock
• 50 grms Butter
• 50 ml Double Cream
• 60 grms Grated Fresh Parmesan
• Salt
• Pepper
• Nutmeg
  
• Micro Greens
• Basil Oil

Method

1. Peel the butternut squash and cut out 16 cubes. Roughly chop the remaining squash and cook separately in salted water.
2. Refresh the cubes in cold water and keep to one side.
3. Drain the roughly chopped squash in a colander and place in a food processor with a good knob of butter and puree. Season with salt pepper and nutmeg.
4. Sprinkle half of the grated parmesan into small circles on a non stick baking sheet and bake in the oven for 4-5 minutes until crisp.
5. Sweat the shallot in a little butter with the garlic until soft, add the rice and cook for a further 2 minutes.
6. Slowly add the hot stock a little at a time letting the rice absorb it before adding more, keep adding the stock until the rice is almost cooked.
7. Add the butter, the remaining parmesan, double cream and some of the squash puree. Season with salt and pepper.
8. Heat a cast iron or non stick frying pan and lightly rub with a little oil, pan fry the scallops on both sides for 2-3 minutes.

To Serve

Place the risotto onto the plates and dress with a little puree and some squash cubes. Place the scallops on top of the risotto and garnish with the parmesan crisps and some micro cress and basil oil.