Category: All

Curry Base ingredients:
2 large onions (finely sliced)
6 garlic cloves (peeled and grated)
1 green medium heat chilli (sliced with the seeds left in)
1 thumb sized piece of ginger (peeled and grated)
1 banana shallot (peeled and sliced finely)
1 sliced preserved lemon

Spice Base ingredients:
2 teaspoons of turmeric
Pinch of celery salt
2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons of toasted mustard seeds
12 cherry tomatoes
2 teaspoons of medium curry powder

Garnish:
Toasted flaked almonds

The recipe…

• To begin place 250 grams of green lentils into a medium saucepan and cover with cold water, season at the end of the cooking process, as before can make the lentils go hard and distort the texture.
• Cook your lentils until they al dente, as they will carry on cooking in the curry after they have been drained.
• For your curry base, in a medium sized saucepan place a glug of olive oil into the pan, once the saucepan is up to temperature add your curry base vegetables and cook out with no colour.
• Grating the ginger and garlic over the pan releases the natural oils and perfumes of the aromats which are usually lost when you grate onto the chopping board.
• Next, once your vegetables are all cooked down add your cherry tomatoes, as they act as little flavour bombs, deglazing the saucepan and releasing all of the cooked on flavour from the bottom of the saucepan.
• Once the pan is deglazed and ready add your spice base and ensure that you cook out the spice mix.
• At this point begin to prepare your cauliflower and sweet potatoes to give the curry an authentic taste.
• Slice your sweet potatoes into bite size pieces (half-moons) and roast until golden brown, in the oven at 250 degrees, season with a little olive oil and black pepper.
• Do the same with your cauliflower and roast until lightly golden, don’t worry if the cuts catch a little, as this will give the curry a smokiness which is normally created when cooking authentically in a brick built oven.
• Next add a pinch of natural sea salt to your base along with your 250 grams of red split lentils and again just carry on cooking low and slow.
• Add a dash of cold water to cook the lentils and steam, add around 100ml as you don’t want your curry to be runny.
• Next add your green lentils, along with your roasted vegetables.
• Add a dash of olive oil and little more water if needed, now turn the heat up to high to moderate, warming through the rest of elements.
• Once ready wash half a bag of British Kale and Spinach, add this to your curry along with the gratings of whole nutmeg, this will give the curry a warming lift. Stir to wilt and incorporate.
• Next, for your rice add your ginger peel from earlier along with 2 crushed cardamom pods, once the water has reached the boil add two large cups of rice (as this will serve 4 people). Cook until all of the water has been absorbed.

Serve into a pre-warmed fire-earthed bowl along with a sprinkle of flaked almonds and a little coriander leaf for garnish.

This curry serves 8 people, for this recipe you can keep half the batch back, in the fridge or in a zipper freezer bag as this can last up to 3 months in the freezer.

Naan Bread ingredients:
3 heaped tablespoons of fat free natural yoghurt
250 grams of strong bread flour
45g of unsalted butter (for the dough and cooking)
1 tablespoon of black onion seeds
7 grams dried yeast
125 ml of luke warm water
Fortnum and Mason charred chilli honey (a special addition)

• To begin, pour 125ml of luke warm water into a glass bowl , add your 7 grams of dried yeast and lastly two teaspoons of your F AND M charred chilli honey.
• Leave in a warm area until the mixture has doubled in size and is light and airy. As this is what the yeast needs to feed off sugars and a warm environment.
• Next, in a large mixing bowl add your flour, along with a pinch of natural pink sea salt, make a well, into this add your tablespoon of melted butter, along with 3 heaped tablespoons of natural fat free yoghurt.
• Next add your foamy yeast mixture.
• Bring the dough together, once the dough has come together leave to prove in a warm place for 90 minutes, until the doubled in size.
• Knock the dough back and form into 6 equal pieces these will form your naan breads.
• To cook warm a large frying pan with a knob of butter, once the butter is foaming and golden, add your naans to cook on both sides until golden and light.

These are best served piping hot out of the pan, to accompany your sweet potato and roasted cauliflower curry.

The Gourmet Gent

Focaccia ingredients: 

1 KG plain flour
640 ml water
100 ml of olive oil
20 grams of natural yeast
20 grams of sea salt

1. To begin in a large mixing bowl, pour your water, olive oil and natural yeast into the base of the bowl.
2. Either using a wooden spoon (or your hands), lightly stir to incorporate the water, oil and yeast together.
3. Next add your 1Kg of plain bread flour and lastly your sea salt.
4. Mix using a bread mixer or with just your hands until you have a glossy dough, which doesn’t stick to the bowl.
5. Allow to prove in a warm place for at least 30 minutes until the dough has doubled in size, as this is the yeast beginning to work.
6. Whilst your dough is proving pre-heat your oven to gas mark 6 and then prepare your toppings for this loaf. I decided to chiffonade some sage leaves, with freshly picked rosemary and lastly juliennes of banana shallots.
7. Incorporate together with a pinch of natural pink sea salt, as this releases the natural oils out of the herbs and a little moisture out of the shallots.
8. Once the dough has risen, add some brunoised rosemary to run through the dough, as this helps to perfume the dough, but also helps to elevate the other herbs.
9. Knock the dough back and lightly oil two large non-stick baking trays, place into the oven for at least 45 minutes with a dash of cold water (as this helps to develop the crumb)
10. To check that your focaccia is cooked all the way through, the dough should be light golden brown, crisp on the bottom and light and airy.

Roasted Vine Tomato soup ingredients:

1 Green chilli sliced (with the seeds left in)
1 red chilli sliced (with the seeds left in)
1 shallot (peeled and sliced)
2 garlic cloves (crushed)
1 Large onion (sliced)
Organic tomatoes
2 bruised bay leaves
2  pricked rosemary sprigs

1. To begin your roasted tomato soup, keep your British organic tomatoes on their vine as this helps to perfume both the cooking oil and soup giving it a wonderful greenhouse aroma.
2. Lightly oil and season your tomatoes with a pinch of pink sea salt and black pepper.
3. Roast on a high oven for 30 minutes until popped and light blackened as this will help to impart a smoky note to the soup.
4. For your base slice 1 large green and 1 red chilli (with the seeds left in), 1 large shallot sliced, 1 large onion sliced and 2 cloves of garlic crushed.
5. Add these to the pan along with a glug of olive oil, cooking out on a light heat until you have a Lyonnais texture, as this is the base of your soup where you can lay your flavour foundations.
6. Once ready add your tomatoes (still with the vines attached) along with two large bruised bay leaves and two picked sprigs of rosemary.
7. Add your tomatoes and allow to cook away on a low heat, enabling the flavours to merge.
8. To finish this soup add the juice of one lemon, and blitz, as this is a no wastage soup I kept all of the vines, rosemary and bay leaves in the soup and just blended the soup using a high powder hand blender. As this is where the minerals and vitamins of the vegetables are locked in.
9. If you like a silky smooth soup you can pass your soup through a fine chinois
10. To garnish in a frying pan lightly fry off some sage leaves once fried remove from the oil and lay onto a piece of j cloth and hit with a little sea salt.

This is a great winter warmer of a soup as it is vegan, gluten and diary free.
This soup freezes in vac pac bags or your normal freezer zipper bags – the perfect  healthy quick lunch or dinner on hand when you haven’t got the time.

Ingredients

• 150 grams raw Devonshire beetroot
• 100 grams of carrot peeled and grated (on a fine grater)
• 80 grams of rolled oats
• ½ of pack finely chopped parsley
• ½ of pack of finely chopped dill
• Salt
• Black pepper
• Sunflower oil to cook the burgers

1. Pre-heat your oven to 180 degrees.
2. To begin add your ingredients into a large bowl, mix with your hands, adjust the seasoning of the burger mix.
3. Shape into small balls
4. Lightly flour the outside
5. Allow to set in the fridge along with the flour this helps to ensure that your burgers don’t break up.
6. Place a large saucepan onto a medium heat, once the pan begins to lightly smoke add a dash of vegetable oil and allow to warm through.
7. Add your patties allow to colour on both sides until lightly golden brown and crisp place onto a lined baking tray.
8. Now place in the oven for 20 minutes until warmed through.
9. These burgers are a great healthy meal which are high in minerals and low in fat and most importantly VEGAN.

If you fancy something creamy to top it off…
Try my beer wholegrain mustard mayo:

Ingredients:

• 6 egg yolks
• A squeeze of lemon
• Cap of white wine vinegar
• 200 ml of cold pressed olive oil
• 200 ml of vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon of beer whole grain mustard

1. To begin separate your eggs into a large glass pyrex bowl, next add your lemon and white wine vinegar and a touch of sea salt, whisk to combine.
2. Next into a large jug add your olive oil and vegetable oil, whisk to combine again.
3. Now add this mixture into your eggs in a steady stream or otherwise you will oversaturate your yolks – if the mayonnaise becomes too thick either add some more lemon juice or ideally a little touch ofwater.
4. Taste and correct seasoning to your liking.
5. Decant into a clean jar and reserve in the fridge for up to three days if not for immediate use.

Proteins:

Free Range Chicken

1. Cut into sauté (a classical French cut for poultry made of 8 pieces) – leg, thigh, breast, wing, winglet x2 and French trim this means exposing the bone.
2. Place a large frying pan onto a medium heat, once the pan has began to lightly smoke add a little low flavoured oil.
3. Place your chicken into the pan away from you, I usually begin with the legs and thighs. Cook until golden brown and crispy, once at this point lay your chicken into a pre-prepared resting tray with fresh thyme and crushed garlic.
4. Repeat until you have coloured off your chicken pieces. For the breast, add a little crushed garlic and thyme, baste with foaming butter, once done lay under the breast to infuse and act as a trivet.
5. Place into the oven at 180 degrees and cook for 10 – 15 minutes, until cooked all of the way through and tender.

Roast chicken butter sauce:

1. To begin this sauce place your crown and under of the chicken into a baking tray, drizzle with a little low flavour oil and a touch of sea salt.
2. Roast on 180 degrees until golden brown and crispy, this is a great sauce to make use of the items which would otherwise go to waste.
3. Remove from the tray and place into a large saucepan. Deglaze the baking tray with a little white wine, once deglazed, add to the rest of the chicken into the saucepan.
4. Ensure that you cook off the wine or otherwise the wine will just take-over the sauce.
5. Once deglazed and ready, pass through a fine muslin and reserve in the fridge until you are just about to serve.
6. Reheat in a saucepan and emulsify with a little butter like you would as making a Beurre Blanc.

Pickled shallots:

1. In a small saucepan toast off 2 star anise and a teaspoon of mustard seeds. Once lightly toasted place into a pestle and mortar and crush lightly to release the essential oils.
2. Place this into 150 ml of white wine vinegar and bring to the boil, once at this stage add your peeled and sliced half moon shallots into the pickling liquor.
3. Cook until pickled and al dente.
4. Reserve in a sterilised jar until required later on at plating.

IPA braised shallot halves:

1. To begin this garnish sliced your shallots in half leaving the skin and root attached.
2. Place a large frying pan onto a medium heat once the pan has began to lightly smoke add a little low flavoured oil.
3. Next place your shallots cut side down and roast until lightly golden and brown.
4. Once at this point add half a bottle of IPA a reduce to glaze place a lid over the pan to create a little steam which in turn cooks your shallots.
5. Once ready remove the pan from the heat and bast over the reduced glaze.
6. Remove from the pan and place onto a large dinner plate to cool.

Braised Fennel Bulbs:

1. To begin slice two large fennel bulbs into 8
2. Place into a large baking tray and add sliced lemons, a little white wine, along with a little cold water.
3. Cook for 30 minutes with foil on top, until al dente or can be pricked with a paring knife. Once at this point remove the foil from the top and place in a hotter oven of 190 degrees to lightly colour until a little golden on the ends.
4. Reserve in the pan until required later on in the process.

Pescatarain option:
For the protein, re-place the chicken with sustainable sea bass

1. To prepare your fish using a sharp knife make small cuts along the back of the fish as this helps to impart heat and flavour ensuring you achieve the perfect crispy skin.
2. Place a large frying pan onto a medium – high heat, once lightly smoking and up to temperature add a little oil and place into the frying pan away from you (so that you don’t get splashed)
3. Cook until lightly golden and crispy (around 70 % of the cooking time)
4. Once cooked flip and baste with thyme infused butter.
5. Remove and place onto a piece of J –cloth as this helps to absorb any excess cooking oils or butter.

To plate:

1. Onto pre-warmed artisan plates lay your fennel to the left of the plate
2. Next add your IPA braised shallot and then lastly your perfectly pan seared fillet of sea bass.
3. For your chicken carve with the grain and lay onto the right of the plate, to finish add your chicken butter sauce and serve.
4. Offer your guests some bread as that butter sauce is just to0 good. GG
5. Serve with a cold crisp bottle of Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc.