It’s time to pop on your pinny and get your pot and pans at the ready as we bring you a 3 – course menu from 3 award-winning West Country chefs.
To celebrate the arrival of the FOODIES FESTIVAL which is being in held in Bath’s Royal Victoria Park this June, we asked Chris Cleghorn of Michelin-starred The Olive Tree, James Harris of Bib Gourmand-awarded Beckford Bottle Shop, and Henry Scott of Michelin-listed Henry’s Restaurant to create Somerset Life readers a bespoke and seasonal 3 course meal.
Once you've enjoyed creating these dishes at home, you can then meet and greet the chefs at the FOODIES FESTIVAL where they will be partaking in live cooking demonstrations alongside other TV celebrities and chefs from MasterChef, Great British Bake Off and the Great British Menu. The whole event will be showcasing the best of Bath and many of our region’s most highly acclaimed Michelin and multi-award winning chefs will be cooking with locally-sourced produce. Provenance is key.
Throughout the 3-day foodie weekend you can enjoy masterclasses at the Chefs Theatre, learn new tips and tricks at the Cake & Desserts Theatre or join the younger members of the family as they head to the Kids Cookery School to prepare and eat their own delicious dishes.
Enjoy the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party, fire pit BBQ sessions and thrill-seekers may wish to spend time at the fairground before challenging fellow festival goers to a chilli eating competition. And last but not least, don’t forget your dancing shoes as live music from chart-topping music stars including Blue and the Symphonic Ibiza Orchestra will be playing throughout the weekend.
The Bath FOODIES FESTIVAL is on June 7,8,9 and tickets are available from foodiesfestival.com
FOR STARTER
Roast Cornish hake with smoke potato, mussels, crispy skin and mushroom recipe
By Henry Scott, Henry's Restaurant.
(Serves 4)
INGREDIENTS
1kg fresh Hake filet (skin on)
500g mussels (cleaned)
1kg button mushrooms
3 cloves garlic
50ml cream
X4 large baking potato’s
10ml smoked oil
120g butter
100ml milk
X1 lemon
100ml white wine
Sea herbs (if not available watercress or rocket are good alternatives)
Salt & pepper
METHOD
Start with the fish, remove the skin by sliding a thin knife blade between the skin and flesh pulling on the skin at one end and sawing the blade to separate the two, you should be left with a single piece of skin intact. Set the skin aside.
Bring a small pan of salted water to the boil and a bowl of ice water next to it, drop the skin in the boiling water for six seconds then quickly remove it with tongs into the ice water to stop cooking. Pat dry and place the cooked skin onto a wire rack to dry overnight at room temperature. When ready they should be completely hard and crack.
Hake is a delicious but soft flesh. To help firm and cook the fish we always salt it first, cover both sides with coarse sea salt and leave in the fridge for twenty minutes, then wash the salt of pat dry, portion the filet into four generous servings.
For the smoked potato, oil the baking potatoes and season with salt and pepper and bake at 180 for 30-45 minutes until cooked through. Cut the potatoes in half and scoop the inside into a potato ricer or you can use a fine sieve pushing the flesh through for a smooth consistency. Melt the butter and incorporate this into the potato with the smoked oil, season with salt pepper. Set aside for later.
For the mussels, wash them and remove the beards, some will garnish; the rest we make into puree. Cover the base of a pan with oil and bring to a high heat, add the mussels with a pinch of salt and start to cook them in the oil for about 1 minute.
Add the wine and juice of one lemon, cover the pan for roughly 3-4 minutes until all the shells open and mussels are cooked. Remove the meat and keep all the cooking juices. Keep about six large mussels for garnish per serving. The rest blend with the cooking juice into a puree and set aside for later.
The mushroom puree is made by slicing 1kg of button mushrooms, 3 garlic cloves.
Pan frying them in vegetable oil till golden brown. Once golden add the cream and simmer for 2-3 minutes. Transfer this into an upright blender and process into a smooth mushroom puree.
ASSEMBLY
Deep fry the fish skin in vegetable oil at 190 deg C. It will puff and expand into a light fish skin cracker. (Be careful with hot oil here! use tongs to drop the skin
Pan fry the fish till golden brown on one side and flip add the mussels to heat them through in the same pan.
Heat the potato in a separate pan, then you can plate up onto hot plates. Start with the smoked potato using a ring as a guide press down to produce a circle of smoked potato on the plate.
Next the mushroom puree, this can be room temperature drop 3-4 half tablespoons worth on the plate, Then arrange the cooked mussels in between.
Then 2-3 shots of the mussel puree and the fish skin crackers on top pointing up to create some height to the dish.
Finally place the cooked hake on the ring of smoked potato and finish with sea herbs, pinch of salt and zest of lemon.
henrysrestaurantbath.com
FOR MAIN
Woolley Park Farm Duck, Onion, Truffle, Madeira Sauce recipe
By Chris Cleghorn, The Olive Tree
(Serves 4)
INGREDIENTS
Duck:
1 Whole Duck (approx. 1.6 kg bird)
1 Tbsp. Duck Fat
Table salt
Cornish Sea salt (for finishing)
White Onion Puree:
250g White Skin Onions
30g Unsalted Butter
1 Sprig thyme
100g Ivy House Semi skimmed Milk
95g Whipping Cream
150g Chicken Stock
Table salt to taste
Duck Sauce – Base
1 kg Duck carcasses or use the legs (chopped small)
50g Duck Fat
1 large onions (cut into 1cm rings)
1 Small head of garlic (cut in half)
5g fresh thyme
5g Fresh tarragon
5g white peppercorns
5g Chinese five spice
2g salt
50g cream
750g chicken stock
50g Xeres vinegar
Duck Sauce – to finish:
250g Duck Sauce base
25g Madeira – we use a 20 year old, but substitute to your budget
Red baby onions:
100g Baby red onions
To finish the dish:
8g Black Truffle - available fresh or in Jars ( You can subculture for sliced raw button mushrooms)
METHOD
White onion Puree.
Peel the skin off the onions and thinly slice. In a thick bottom pan, melt the butter. Add the onions, thyme and pinch of salt, and cook out on a low heat for with no colour for 5 minutes.
Add the Milk, cream and chicken stock. Bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes.
Once the onions are soft, remove the thyme and then blend in a blender till smooth.
Pass the puree through a sieve and chill in the fridge until needed. This can be made a day before.
Duck Sauce.
Pre-heat the oven to 200C.Cut the leg meat to approx. 2cm cubes.Place a deep tray in the oven with 50g duck fat and the chopped duck leg meat.
Place into the oven and roast for 20 minutes, then carefully stir. Continue roasting for 5 – 10 minutes more until golden brown.
Now add the butter. Dust with the Chinese five spice and roast for 2 minutes. Add the onion rings cook for 5mins
Remove the tray from the oven, add the Xeres vinegar, and stir. Place the tray on a medium heat or transfer into a pot. (If you transfer to a pot , make sure you de-glaze the tray with a little water and add the juices to the sauce)
Add the garlic, peppercorns, salt, tarragon, and thyme, cream and chicken stock to the bones.
Bring to the boil and then simmer for 30 minutes. After this strain through a colander and then through a sieve. Reduce the sauce on a medium heat, till it just coats the back of a spoon.
Reserve hot and serve, or this can be made in advance and bring back to the boil before serving.
Onions: Peal the baby onions and cut into quarters. Bring a small pan of water to the boil;
Add a tsp of table salt. Add the onions to the water and cook for 1 minutes. Strain through a sieve and serve
Duck breast: Pre-heat the oven to 200C. Where possible place the duck breast on a plate with the fat side up, and allow to air dry in the fridge for a day or two. Warm a non-stick frying pan on medium heat, add a tbsp. of duck fat. Lightly season the duck breast meat with table salt, and slowly place fat side down into the pan. Cook on a medium heat for 3 minutes, once golden brown, turn and colour the meat evenly for 2 minutes on each side. After 6 minutes, place back with the fat side down in the pan. If the pan can go in the oven, roast in a pre-heated oven for 4 minutes. If you have a meat probe, probe the flesh to 61C. Place on a wire rack and allow resting for 4 minutes. Serve straight away.
ASSEMBLY:
Place the puree on the place; add the onions and thyme sprigs. Slice the duck breast and season with Cornish sea salt. Bring the weighed sauce to the boil and then add the Madeira. Remove from heat and serve. Finish with sliced or chopped truffle or sliced raw button mushroom.
olivetreebath.co.uk
FOR DESSERT
Somerset berries, spruce tip and mascarpone recipe
By James Harris, Beckford Bottle Shop
INGREDIENTS
For this dish we will be using a mixture of Somerset's finest strawberries, blueberries and raspberries, as well as some foraged ingredients.
Mascarpone Cream
30g egg yolk
150ml double cream
2 Tbsp mascarpone
3 Tbsp icing sugar
1/2 Tbsp Amaretto (We make ours in-house with Black Cow Vodka)
Mix the above until fully incorporated. Pour into a cream charger and give it 2 charges. Leave to rest in the fridge for 4 hours before use.
Strawberry 'Soup'
1kg defrosted strawberries
220g caster sugar
1 vanilla pod
METHOD
Combine the ingredients into a bowl, cling-film the top of the bowl and put onto a low heat bain-marie for 90 minutes. Check the water levels regularly to prevent the pan boiling dry.
After the the fruit has macerated and cooked, blend it until smooth and pass through a fine sieve. Cool over ice.
Spruce Tip Powder
The spruce tips are a by-product of us making spruce tip vinegar; the tips are dehydrated and blitzed into a powder giving this incredibly intense lemon and lime zest flavour.
(if you don't have spruce tip powder, a little zest of lemon, lime and grapefruit will work)
ASSEMBLY
With all fruit washed and dried, cut the berries into random shapes. The varying sizes bring texture and mouth-feel. Once the fruit is cut into the desired shapes, take a small pinch of spruce tip powder and toss the fruits and powder until evenly coated.
Spoon the fruit into the bottom of a bowl, pour about 50-70ml of strawberry soup on top of the berries. Carefully pull the trigger on the cream whipper and give yourself a Mr.Whippy style cream for decoration! Lastly, drizzle a little bit of soup over said 'Whippy'
beckfordbottleshop.com
