Fabulous fun, turned my friends home in to a pop up one night only restaurant for a fund raising event, 46 people booked and with great help from family and friends it was a very successful night in all areas, reminded me of my days running our family restaurant, great atmosphere coming from all the guests in the dinning room and great vibrant atmosphere in the bustling kitchen which the 8 people booked on the Chefs table enjoyed being part in the midst of the action!.
With great organisation and precision planning, (weeks of virtual cooking on paper), we were able to take orders from the table on the night and had served all starters and main meals within 1 hr 25 minutes, this was due the great friends that turned themselves into kitchen assistants, waiters, bar servers and waitresses.
The Menu
A gorgeous classic French menu that gave choices of rich decadant food, following old traditional recipes and methods and using the very best of ingredients like prime organic dry aged beef, organic chicken livers, Welsh outdoor reared lamb along with fresh boquet garnis, 48 hrs marinating and the deepest richest burgundy's, cognac and one bottle of vintage port allowed to breath for a few hours before use, I knew all these flavours would bring these meals to the highest quality and give the deepest of flavours.
The Lounge Restaurant
46 seats booked, along with the Chefs table in the kitchen, I have always want to run a service with a chefs table in the kitchen, in our last restaurant we had an open kitchen so that the regular customers would often pop their head in to say hello and could watch and hear the service, after all without them there would be no service, so this was exciting for me that customers would fully be part of the kitchen and get to feel the energy, passion and love of serving people great food that happens in a commercial kitchen along with enjoying the natural flowing organised chaos and banter that goes with the kitchen.
The kitchen, I turned my friends kitchen in to a commercial set up for the night, having to cook on a AGA cooker for the first time was a baptism in fire and I pulled it off with the help of numerous how to handle an aga books and listening to the owner of the aga and the aga itself, they have a mind of their own and the more you cook the lower they drop their cooking temperature, so this turned out to be a help as I was able to use some of the lower ovens as warming holding stations giving me more control over timings.
Fabulous atmosphere from great people and strangers alike, a truly wonderful experience for everyone and for a great cause, guests started arriving at 7 pm and were greeted in the marque lounge bar with a complementary homemade elderflower champagne, before being asked to take their tables.
Chef's Table in The Kitchen
Really enjoying myself, in mid flow, it was great to run a service again, (I had forgotten how much I love bossing people about through service)! It has been nearly 15 years since I, along with my husband ran our family restaurant, and I do miss the banter, atmosphere and customers, but doing a pop up is a great way to remind myself why my husband and I sold up and focused on being a rustic cook and a small holders and producers of loved and pampered meats, the other end of the chain!
The First Time Cooking on a Aga !
Fabulous experience cooking on this beauty, I now want one ! Hint to husband !!! I read numerous aga cookbooks on how to and helpful hints and this stood me in good grounds, as I had a concern on what to expect as the evening went on, aga's have their own personality and will not follow rules, we got on great together!
Brilliant use of an aga, the whole top of the aga is a variable hot plate that will keep your cup of coffee warm all day, warm your children's clothes on a winters morning, keep second servings of food hot and great for melting 40 ish french camemberts infused with white wine, garlic and thyme.
Fabulous help in the kitchen and this is what made service run so smooth, fabulous organised friends who were great to spend the evening with, I had a efficient chain of three helpers keeping all plates washed up and returned to the plate warmer and keeping all workspace tidy, as well as all leftovers going in the compost bin, along with two gorgeous kitchen assistants who plated up the meals and ensured the plates were immaculate after I handed over the main meat before heading to the pass for service in to the dinning lounge where my husband was running front of house with a great team of waiters and waitress.
Finally The Food
Chicken Liver Parfait
500 g organic chicken livers, 150 ml cognac, 1 small onion finely diced, 2 cloves garlic finely chopped, 100 g butter, another 100 g butter for sealing the jars, 100 ml double cream, sea salt and ground black pepper, 1 tsp fresh thyme, 8 slices of white bread. Marinated the chicken livers in the cognac for a minimum of one hour, drain and reserve the cognac. Melt half of the butter in a pan and gently pan fry the onion and garlic for five minimum keeping them from coloring, add the chicken livers and gently pan fry until three quarters cooked and pink in the center, add the thyme and reserved brandy, simmer for two minutes, take off the heat and leave to cool for a couple of minutes. Place in a blender and blitz until smooth, add the butter and cream and blitz again to incorporate, season with salt and pepper to taste, pour into serving dishes leaving one inch head space, melt the butter reserved for sealing and pour over the top of the pate, chill in the fridge until needed.
Seared Grass Feed Welsh Rack of Lamb
To cook the perfect rack of lamb, served juicy pink. chefs pink medium rare, season the rack of lamb with a dash of olive oil, sea salt and fresh ground pepper, pre-heat your oven to 180 degrees, heat a non stick pan to a high heat, sear the lamb for approx 30 seconds on each side until you have a lovely crust, place on a flat baking tray in your oven for 17 minutes, this is crucial, not a second more! Remove from the oven and cover with a tea towel and allow to rest of up to five minutes, now serve your perfect pink and succulently juicy lamb.
Dauphinois Potatoes
Finely sliced potatoes, as thin as you dare, soaked in a large bowl of whipping or double cream, layer in a deep roasting tin and season each layer, (several layers), with a tiny pinch of sea salt, black pepper, nutmeg and grated gruyere cheese, finish off the top with extra gruyere and bake in your oven for 1 hr 40 minuets, covering after 30 minutes or when the top is a lovely light golden brown,
Traditional Boeuf Bourguignon
A most decedant sumptuous boeuf bourguignon, first roughly dice the meat,1.5kg and place in a deep bowl along with one bottle of top quality deep red burgundy wine, fresh bouget garni (3 cloves garlic, 2 bay leaves, hand full parsley stalks, pinch thyme), leave for 24hrs to infuse, drain the meat, reserving the marinade. Heat some butter, (generous amount) in a pan and gently pan fry some diced onion, carrot, celery and leek along with another fresh bouquet garni, cook for a few minutes then remove from the pan and reserve to a casserole dish, add some more butter to the pan, add the meat, brown off in batches and add to the casserole dish, add the reserved marinade to the pan and bring to a simmer to de glaze the pan then add to the casserole dish along with enough burgundy to almost cover the beef, add some beef stock, bring the casserole dish up to almost just a simmer and leave to tick over gently for 3-4 hours until the meat is so tender it can only just hold itself together but really wants to break apart, but you do not want it to, so no excitable stirring!
Second Layering
In a pan heat some butter and place a generous hand full of silverskin onions, mushrooms and diced pancetta and cook until the silverskin onions are softened but not browned and the mushrooms are just softened and the pancetta has released all its gorgeous flavours into the mix, fold into the finished bourguignon and leave to infuse for 10 minutes before serving.
Tart au Citreon
New York Baked Cheesecake
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