UberGrub

2010-08-21T14:28:00.000+01:00

Honey panna cotta, raspberries and mango

New food.. New Ideas.. New Clean Look...

2010-05-12T20:17:00.002+01:00

For a fresher cleaner look I have decided to concentrate on moving ubergrub to wordpress for now, please follow this link, all feedback greatly appreciated..

http://ubergrub.wordpress.com

Indian Ocean...

2010-05-10T18:54:00.001+01:00

Coming home, that’s how it feels stepping onto the sand of the staff beach as we get off the boat..

This island is paradise on earth and coming back feels so right, leaving 18 months ago there have been a few

changes, but with familiar faces it’s great to see some old friends. After the volcano saga we finally stepped onto the island on Monday 26th April, we settled in and had a day to rest.

It was Wednesday morning 7am back into the kitchen, things have changed, the place has had a well needed refurbishment and looking very welcome indeed, can’t wait to get stuck in.

Not knowing where to start and so much to do, a very full 11 days have passed since then, it has been 16 hour days, everyday and we really are flying there is so much already to put into this blog.

I am going to start the updates on a daily basis now, our kitchen compliment went from 15 to 12 within 48 hours of my arrival, it seems like we are going to be needing more staff then I originally thought, so any chefs out there drop me a line if you want to be in a kitchen that is going to earn a huge reputation this year.

In the first 24 hours I started taking steps to cementing our updated Food Philosophy, Exec Sous and I took a couple of buckets and headed down to the sea, we collected 24 litres of sea water and brought it back to the kitchen, passed through muslin and passed again into a boiling pot to start production of our own Indian Ocean Sea Salt. This is our starting point, our first little experiment and it has proved fantastic so far. The SALT is one of the elements which will be included in our unique food we are creating here. From the 24 litres, we managed to achieve a yield of 400gms, we tasted through the process and the taste profile was amazing changing along the way, we are going to be use the salt in so many different forms, before it completely dries and dehydrates it is a very subtle light flavour, getting sharper and slightly sweet before the final product is achieved.

We are now in the process of building a boiling pot and trough so we can make at least 1 -2 kg a day, we are going to use this in our curing, in all of our food for seasoning, even the spa are now after it from us for their scrubs, in this week we are going to refine the process and looking into flavouring the salt in the cooking process before drying..

There is far too much to write here on what has happened so far but I am going to be updating on a regular basis, we are building a state of the art new kitchen, changing and updating all the standards, the food philosophy is written and will become apparent over the next couple of posts. We are in the garden again, a trial hydroponics bed arrives in the next couple of weeks, the new updated smoker is being built now, the new dehydrator for fruits and also to make our salt beds is in the process as well, so much to tell you about, just not enough time..

Little Delay..

2010-04-21T12:52:00.001+01:00

This 'cloud' has caused a major delay for us this week!

I'm sure there is no need to write about the volcanic ash cloud as it has been sprawled across all international news networks around the world, but the day before we were due to depart, British Airspace was closed and for 6 days we have been waiting to see what is going to happen.

Like many others, we now have our travel plans re organised and thankfully we will be heading to the island to start a little later than expected and due to arrive on Monday 26th April!
Can't wait to finally get started again, so looking forward to getting stuck into the kitchen and island life, watch this space...

Future of Ubergrub..

2010-04-13T18:03:00.000+01:00

I have been blogging here for quite some time now and am looking at which format is going to be best for me with the future blog, so I am now running http://ubergrub.wordpress.com alongside as to get a feel for the site and a specific look all feedback greatly appreciated... thanks.. and chefs.. read my last post and please send contact to me with cv's to info@ubergrub.co.uk

Calling all chefs!!!! Paradise awaits.......

2010-04-09T14:58:00.002+01:00

In November 2008 I started this Blog whilst working in the Seychelles on a private island as Executive Chef.

Those of you who know me have no doubt heard lots of stories of the Island and how beautiful it was/is even. Well a surprise to most and probably most of all to myself, we are going back!

We are returning to the very beautiful North Island in just over a week to continue what was started back then in 2008 and very very much looking forward to it. North gives you a sense of piece and a sense of how beautiful natural things in the world can be.

I have so many ideas I need to write about, to cook, to photograph, I will have the pleasure of meeting members of my new team, but also working with a couple of very special chefs who have stayed and kept the amazing food standards alive.

This will also give me more opportunity to document all as it happens with the blog, this I am greatly looking forward to, I already have some great plans which will go into the place as soon as I take the reigns once again.

We are going to create in an environment second to none on the earth, we have the freshest fish delivered daily on the beach, we have our own tropical garden, we have some of the best spices available to us, what more could you wish for, well, 32' all day every day, that just adds to the perfect place to create perfect food.

Our dining concept revolves around the guest, you arrive on the island and you will meet me and we will talk about your likes, dislikes, your home comfort, what you would like to try, so many options, the menu is an 'Any menu' 'Any venue' 'Any time' scenario, challenging this is, but exciting all the same, for a chef what can be more on the edge of creating...

This leads me to my first post of my new regime back on North.

www.north-island.com

I need chefs, if you think you have what it takes and would be interested then please mail me or contact me, look forward to hearing from anyone who thinks they are up for it!

Scallops..

2010-01-11T15:54:00.002Z

Three ways..

Continuing with Japanese flavours and with scallops, here is a simple yet light dish with a deep fried scallop in gyoza on soba noodle broth, seared sesame on nori/shiso and matcha steamed on green kosho

Toys.. Fantastic ingredients to play with, the first matcha....

it translates to mean ground and is the base ingredient for the traditional Japanese Tea Ceremony. The tencha plant is grown slowly which produces a higher amount of chlorophyll and then finely ground or rubbed and the result is matcha, this is the tea you will see in Japan which is whisked to a light frothy broth..

The light sweet flavour is a perfect balance for steaming scallops, just dust them before steaming, these are served on the second of my favourite taste extravaganza.. Kosho

I love Kosho, this one green, it gives you that unforgettable experience, like the first time you taste.. galangal or kaffir lime leaf, I think everyone remembers there first real authentic taste of Thailand, where flavours just seemingly unrecognised before to your palate explode into senses and enliven your taste buds.

Well, you are in for a real surprise when you taste Kosho for the first time, it is a paste made from Yuzu zest, yuzu to me is an amazing ingredient, it can be either yellow or green and is a citrus fruit which is a hybrid of a sour mandarin and a Ichang Papeda (which is a kind of chinese lemon) This fruit looks like a grapefruit but tastes like nothing else. The kosho is made from the zest and the colour relates to that with the addition of green or red chillies and salt..

Here the two contrasting flavours are a delight..

Sesame.. The scallop is pressed into the tan on one side and the black seeds on the other, mixing the 2 different seeds with lightly smoked sea salt, they each gives the textured crunch and the flavour profile of gomashio which is a powder used for sticky rice in japan, I love to grind this into a paste with shiso leaves to create a tahini like texture.. great to paste over beef tataki or alike, but thats for another post..

Just to continue that bite and crunch of flavour as well, I take the micro leaves of daikon and tempura them, delicate yet full of flavour..

Last post I used hontsuyu, again this noodle soup base I used but reduced it to intensify the flavour, a nest of soba noodles just for the scallop to sit on. I shredded gyoza wrapper and the mixed that through with a pinch of kosho, a generous helping of shichimi and hijiki seaweed and then literally just kept moulding it around then scallop, there is enough natural dampness on the scallop to make it stick together, I first tried adding egg white to make sure, but that really isn't necessary.. so just mould it around the scallop and then into a pan drop in and deep fry, it doesn't need need long, the flavours that you achieve from the kosho stay with it but the spice and deep notes of mandarin and poppy seed from the shichimi just bring it to life wonderfully... The crisp gyoza gives a fantastic crunch which turns the whole thing into a taste explosion!! As you bite into it, the whole thing crunches into the mouth.. fantastic!!

The shichimi also adds that little bite you need to bring the noodles alive, often found in japan sprinkled on top of soups and noodles alike, on the side I finished the dish with a red miso sauce, the rich earthy flavour is a nice accompaniment for the sweet scallop and the salty addition of a little ikura (salmon roe)

Hotatagei

2010-01-05T13:22:00.003Z

Scallops...
Barely cooked... Sashimi... In the shell.. So many options..

We all love Scallops, I have been playing with Japanese flavours recently.. and over the next few weeks will be posting some simple yet uncompromising asian influenced dishes

Here simply flash fried fresh hand picked divers, start in a smoking pan of rapeseed oil, crisping nicely on the exposed flesh and the a knob of butter before turning.

These are set aside and the pan is then finished with a touch of garlic, ginger, a dash of yuzu juice, hontsuyu (Hon Tsuyu is basically extracted bonito and japanese niboshi sardine oil mixed with soy sauce. It's used as a soup base for noodles such as Udon) and fresh chilli. I love adding a touch of hontsuyu to the scallops as they start to caramelize it just helps the process along and adds a depth and intensity of flavour with umami found in the garum of sardines. Garum was a fish sauce similar to the fish sauces used in Asian cuisines, which are equally ancient (if the Roman Empire had not toppled, we’d most likely be using garum in Western cuisine today).

Garnish..

I have a lot to post about garnish, in plating Japanese food, simple yet beautifully aesthetic garnish which eats with the dish is a key to achieving perfect balance and flavour...

Benriner Mandolin - Fresh seasonal beetroot, the earthy sweet flavor is a perfect marriage for scallops...

The dish here has alternating beds of beetroot and mooli for each plump scallop to sit on and that little touch of nigella shoots and daikon cress livens the mouth with each fresh bite

Year 2

2009-11-18T10:22:00.000Z

One year has passed since starting the blog!

A lot has happened, most recently I have not been updating here because of a transitional period of getting together a restaurant idea.

I have collected so much information and so many ideas, yet to be put into practice, but I want to start again by slowly unraveling those ideas here, thank you to those who sent me a few messages asking me to start posting again. Well watch this space, Year 2 I promise to keep the blog going and flowing with ideas, thoughts and progress of everything I think about food.. glad to be back!

I sketch my food all the time when not able to get it either cooked for photos or having the camera ready so here are a couple of pictures...

More to come.. Year 2, what will it hold on this blog and for the future.. all very exciting!

Still Here!!

2009-06-06T09:10:00.003+01:00

I am still here!! Time has just flown by and haven't posted for a while..

Things are moving so far with the possibility of the restaurant my feet can hardly touch the ground!!

Busy working away 24-7 on figures and presentation alike!!

Will be back soon with some food, I can't wait to get cooking some dishes for the restaurant and get them on here...

Watch this space!

Best of British!

2009-04-25T13:45:00.016+01:00

Crab, Asparagus, Jersey & Garden Salad..

The joyful season of spring is coming to an end and summer is very nearly here and this makes available some of England's finest natural finds which should be brought to the table more often. What better a day than St. George's for me to be shopping for ingredients and finding fresh Crab from Selsey, beautiful Asparagus picked that morning to inspire this dish of the lightest garden salad with warm jersey royals scented with soft garden mint....

Selsey is known throughout the south east of England for its outstanding crab and very happy I was to find this beauty, found in a St. Georges day market I chatted with the vendor for a while, he lives in Selsey and fishes his own small boat daily. Coming to different markets throughout the south and bringing with him beautiful fish and shellfish still to be found off the coast, the market was full of all types of small food businesses very much bringing back the provenance to our towns which is missed and celebrating our patrons day, lets not forget about being British..

The fisherman had landed his catch late the night before and they had cooked their crabs before heading off to markets, seeing it there on the ice I couldn't resist, managing to beat him down on price, this started my afternoon of searching for ingredients for our simple salad for dinner. Arriving home and cracking open the monster brought back early memories of working on the crustacea bar in London and the daily picking of the crab meat..

Asparagus, truly you can not find anywhere better than England for great asparagus and what a find picked that very morning from a Hampshire farm not more than 30 minutes away, the season appears to be starting a little early usually the first signs are the first week in may, the season runs for only 8 short weeks, so you need to make the most of it while you can! Officially 5 days to go, but look out now because you'll find some gems like these..

To peel or not to peel that is the question?.. I am always drawn between the choices, here I choose just to keep it simple throughout the whole dish, the best of British ingredients, letting the flavours speak for themselves, so naturally not peeled and just snapped off at their breaking point, I love the snapping sound, no need to cut, boiling salted water and dropped in 3-4 minutes, dressed in butter, perfect..

In all of the gardens across the country their are natural flowers and leaves we take for granted everyday, we tend to forget they have been eaten for years and used in cooking for generations preceding us, everyday we find our at the supermarkets 10-12 different lettuce varieties which have not originated or never seen English soil. Remember what you have which also grows free in our own gardens and as cooks to revisit the likes of pansies, violets, lilacs, dandelions, daises, garden mint, chives, shoots of radishes, not only flowers but also leaves brings back all the things we so often look abroad for, there are great things in this country of ours which are overlooked everyday, these flowers to me are exotic in their own right in flavour and appearance but all the time under your feet..

My favourite Pentland Javelin potatoes would be fantastic for this and are due in season after jerseys, they are often forgotten about for their excellent flavour which could easily match their rivals. For this though I used Jersey Royals we all know and love, they are at their best coming up over the next few weeks again, I chose the little ones for not only their look but also the firm earthy texture here, cooking them with fresh garden mint allowing it to infuse and keeping them the under side of crisp, I love to be able to bite heartily into them..

Cox apples, on their way out now, but I managed to find a beautiful ruby red one, the flavour is rich, honeyed and aromatic. The flesh is fine-textured, firm and juicy. The overall eating experience is exceptional, sliced thinly on a mandolin and then cut into julienne strips, dressed with a little lemon juice and pinch of salt it really enhances the sweet tones of the flaky white crab meat and gives an almost palate cleansing taste with each mouthful, adding a delightful lightness to the salad with the rich dark crab meat..

Handmade mayonnaise.. Crab meat is just not the same without it, I like to use a mix of half a light Olive Oil and half rapeseed oil, spoonful of fantastic English mustard and a splash of cider vinegar, salt. pepper, lovely..

So, all ingredients brought together and ready to use, time to assemble into a light crab and asparagus best of British garden salad, first the mashed dark crab meat mixed with a little fresh mayonnaise, seasoned squeeze of lemon juice and representative of the earth in our dish, with its rich earthly flavour..

Our next additions, the warm mint scented new potatoes and cox apple laying down the textures into the base of the salad, the apple with the dark crab meat to lighten the rich intense flavour and potatoes offering a crisp earthy texture..

Next our delicate white flaky flesh, the true soul of the dish, the beautiful meat brings together all the elements and is so light in flavour it helps to marry together the fragrant leaves and the rich hearty characteristics of potatoes..

To bind and dress from the inside of the salad, our handmade mayonnaise..

A little bit of tang and bite, the flavours of the natural garden with crisp green spring onions and the still warm crisp earthy flesh of the asparagus, the flavour of this asparagus was second to none..

Sweet and light and offering just a little crispness to the salad comes the natural sprouts of radishes and used here alfalfa as well, lightens the whole mouth feel and brings genuine garden flavours to the dish..

And to finish all the best from the natural garden, the leaves and flowers of everything available in our own back yard, picked for dinner while the salad was being prepared you just can't get fresher or more fragrant. There are so many natural flowers here which add lots of tones and delicate flavours to the dish, not only the flowers but also the leaves, I used, pansies, violets, lilacs, dandelions, daises, chives, go out and search in the garden and remind yourself of the natural resources that are there, in these times of recession be thankful for what we have in our own back yards, this was made on St.Georges day, so consider it a tribute to the best of British..

In getting ready for and looking for the premises for the restaurant these are my thoughts of the food I would love to be able to create on a daily basis to serve there, soon we will hopefully be in a position to start the ball rolling and hopefully cook simply like this everyday..

The Search is on.....

2009-04-13T22:10:00.002+01:00

Recently I have been very busy working on an opening project, it has been a fantastic experience and once again convinced me that the time is now right to open a restaurant, so I am now spending all of my time and efforts working on this goal.

Watch this space..

Progress..

2009-03-16T09:01:00.002Z

To be a good blogger, we must keep up the posts no matter what, unfortunately recently I haven't been a good blogger!

There are many reasons, which shall soon come to light, I have been very busy with pre-opening a restaurant for someone, 12 days to go!!

Also some exciting news for us, I will be back soon to reveal all!

Simplicity... Rose Petal Brulee, Apricot & Saffron Jam, Glazed Shammali

2009-02-24T15:08:00.007Z

Simplicity is something we all forget, how and where we started what we do today, I for one have extremes in my food play, sometimes over complicated, sometimes keeping it simple, here I opt for the simple approach in appearance but deep in flavour to finish off my time of playing with these middle eastern flavours

Rich Brulee lifted with light and delicate flavours of rose petals steeped in the cream, they are fundamental to Persian and north African dishes and not forgetting Turkish delight, so using their delicate flavours to help the vanilla is a perfect balance here with that solid caramel topping. I flavoured my caramel with fenugreek which becomes intensely bitter, from the already natural bittersweet flavour obtained from the small pods, roasted ground and boiled into the caramel its pungent aromatic taste a bit like lovage

The elements of the dish represent a breakfast, a sunset breakfast dessert, in the past making a fruit taffy or leather on the side to bring in other possibilities which were representing "bacon" of a breakfast, but this is about simplicity. So the 3 elements are the egg, shammali "soldiers" & jam, the smooth texture of the brulee is perfect for taking the edge of the slightly over sweet apricot, saffron & vanilla jam, eating with fun, dipping the soldiers into the brulee spooning on the jam..

Shammali.. A Turkish-Cypriot cake of semolina, almonds and yoghurt, to be representative of the flavours I added a pinch of cardamon, which I have to adopt as my new favourite ingredient the beautiful aromas from ground cardamon powder I can never seem to get enough of now, joining the realms of my love for vanilla it excites the palate no end. The Shammali when baked and still warm is drenched a slightly sweet syrup and allowed to steep, then cut and gentle glazed in a hot pan, those crystallised crusty edges remind me of pain perdue in a Paris cafe early in the morning

There are other elements that could have been included here to lift the dish and make it more "breakfast" like, but this again would risk over complicating things for what gain? I find its simplicity satisfying and its in depth surprising flavour elements really do invoke the saying the.. the proof is in the pudding..

Now from one extreme to the other, Martin Lersch of http://khymos.org/ has set the new TGRWT#15 which is smoked salmon and dark chocolate, Mexmix is hosting this round and you can get the details at http://mexmix.blogspot.com/2009/02/tgrwt-15-dark-chocolate-and-smoked.html this is the food blogging event that has us put together seemingly strange pairs of ingredients that share a certain number of chemical components, thus, making them "compatible". Could be interesting!

Banana & Clove Won Ton, Golden Raisin Consomme, Vanilla Straw, Saffron, Rose Ice Cream

2009-02-10T14:47:00.009Z

It has been far too long since my last post, I have been looking for that next bit of inspiration, yet too find it, so rather than wait any longer, here is a recent dessertEveryone who knows me, knows I love Vanilla....

You can use vanilla in so many applications, one of the worlds most expensive ingredients along with saffron also used in the dish, because of my love of vanilla I like to use all of it. I love to make vanilla straws, for this they are used to sip the warm flavours of the golden raisin consomme which is so light and delicate sipping through the straw adds that little bit of depth to deeply flavour the clear soup. I find with vanilla that there can be a fine balance when used in cooking going from balancing a flavour to completely overpowering in just a slight adjustment either way, this is a way of giving that subtle hint without the use of it in cooking it too much into the dish. Cut the ends off of a vanilla pod and with a bamboo skewer push out all the seeds, you'll need to do it several times, save the seeds, leave the pod on the bamboo skewer and dry out until hard..

Golden Raisin Consomme.. its fantastic just warm, I like to use a Rooibos tea base and blend the raisins making it into the clarification. I made this whole dessert while I was working with the middle eastern flavours, years ago I used to make a rum & raisin consomme with banana gnocchi & mincemeat ice cream, a real christmas dish, which I'll go back to around christmas again and play with the flavours although with the temperature here last week it would have been good then. To the base tea stock I added extra anise flavour, later adding a few raisins to the consomme to serve which had been soaked in a saffron solution I later used for the syrup..

TGRWT11.. Banana & Clove, I know this combination is old to a few of you, to some others maybe new http://blog.khymos.org/2008/10/02/tgrwt-11-banana-and-cloves/ anyway banana & clove won tons, I baked the bananas in their skins studded with cloves and removed the flesh, added a touch of cardamon powder for me it just lifted it a little. The mix was wrapped in phyllo I added a very delicate flavoured clove syrup between the layers....

The won tons baked and drizzled with a saffron and honey rich syrup, I wanted a thick syrup rather than soaking the whole thing and making a baklava..

There we have it, I just added a little rose syrup to the ice cream, brings all the flavours together..

Sumac Spiced Lamb, Preserved Lemon Puree, Arrugas Potatoes

2009-01-16T23:04:00.017Z

I have been wanting to post this since I made it, I kept putting it off wanting to do it justice, taking my time to write a really in depth, but I love the photos and the look of the dish so much I have finally decided to put it on with just pictures really, the original idea started when in the seychelles with my favourite 3 chefs. We made a spiced lamb loin dish with a red capsicum muffin, filled with candied olive and babaganoush ice cream, plated with a puree of preserved lemons, it has developed into this and carries on a little bit more with the middle eastern flavours

England has a big thing about boiling Brussel Sprouts, always strong tasting and overcooked, I say just touch them in the pan

Fresh Madjhool dates, beautiful, a friend of mine hates them, using too many when working in Dubai, but peeled and take out the strings, great natural puree

Preserved lemons, a wicked spiced ingredient, but how about using them as a base for a cold sauce, remoulade like, soak them in ice cold water, puree and use as your base, add a tiny touch of vanilla sugar, takes the salty edge off

Babaganoush, nutty earthy flavours, flame roasted whole aubergines, tahini, pinch ras el hanout, confit garlic, blend, arab style is a little chunky rustic but I love mine smooth

Arrugas potatoes, I have come across several recently but have made mine the old way, almost rosti like with, pureed flame roasted red pepper, smoked paprika and pinch of cayenne

Loin of Lamb, welsh salt marsh lamb for me every time, there is no better flavour than this, you can taste it all way through the flesh. Sumac, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumac my new found favourite ingredient, its buds are dried and ground into a powder in the middle east to add a lemony zesty falvour to meats, try it, its fantastic, part of the poison ivy family! Marinade your meat in the dried mix for an hour or two and cook.

And there we have it, plate it all up and I loved this dish from start to finish all comes together so well for me.

Little bit of sweet stuff next post, hopefully it won't take so long for me to get off my arse and get on with it. Our 3 friends will remember this and keep cooking guys, we'll be cooking together again soon!

Harissa Seared Beef Carpaccio, Kumara, Goji & Apricot Salsa

2009-01-10T19:38:00.012Z

Carrying on the Middle Eastern theme, for this and the next few posts is this Beef Carpaccio, I love carpaccio as a gentle start, but find its always prepared the same way, don't get me wrong with some Parmigiano-Reggiano and rocket who wouldn't love it! Not all the time though and playing with the tastes of Africa, you need to trim a barrel of fillet, make sure you get the best aged fillet you can, I wasn't so fortunate for my dish, but sometimes you have to use the best you can get. If I had time I would choose Buccleuch http://www.buccleuch.com/ I love the way it melts in the mouth, they have been producing for something like 300 years, another favourite being Glen Fyne brought to the market by Loch Fyne http://www.lochfyne.com/ they also have the most fantastic oysters, I'll leave that for another day though.

Once the barrel is nicely trimmed, marinate in harissa paste for a good couple of hours, preferably overnight though. I like to make Harissa and keep it for when needed I use as a base dried red chili peppers, confit garlic, salt, rapeseed oil, ground coriander seed, ground caraway seed, ground cloves, ground cumin seed, cardamon powder, lemon juice and rose petal ghulkhand ground in pestle and mortar and keep in air tight container. When ready sear off the beef.
As said earlier, I am fed up of eating Carpaccio the same way, so I wanted to roll it and stuff it, its stuffed with an Apricots (fresh & dried) Kumara, Goji Berry, Thyme & Coriander Salsa. This is brought together with the flavours of ras el hanout mentioned last post, fantastic flavour, in fact add roasted peanuts and these ingredients make a fantastic vegetarian curry. Goji berries famed by the celebrity lot now as their favourite nibble etc are fantastic, as well as the Middle Eastern stuff, over the past year I have been working with superfoods and planning a diet around them with a selection of different dishes, they are reported to contain up to 21 trace minerals (the main ones being zinc, iron, copper, calcium, germanium, selenium, and phosphorus) and are the richest source of carotenoids, including beta-carotene (more beta carotene than carrots), of all known foods or plants on earth! The Goji berry is a deep-red, dried fruit about the same size as a raisin. It's very sweet and tastes something like a cross between a cranberry and a cherry. You find people using the normal ways in muesli etc, for the salsa I reconstitute them in some warm chai tea and the toasted ras el hanout spices.

When the beef is cooled the best way to get the thinest slices for the carpaccio is to freeze or semi freeze it. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and tie up sausage like. When its chilled down or frozen, on a sheet of plastic wrap, the thinly sliced and layered beef is topped with the salsa and rolled up again sausage like.

I have this shape in my head which if you look back over previous posts you will recognise in the plating long rectangles or batons or whatever you call them and circles, I find myself drawing these shapes all the time when doodling and thinking about plating my food, just the same shape over and over again, I think when I am happy with it I will move on, hopefully anyway! So back to the sweet potato (kumara) discs, to cut a long story short they go well with the barrel, there is the smallest amount of kumara in the salsa so it needs just a little more for the plate, I poached the discs in a court bouillion, just slight (you only need a drop) of rose water in there as well.

Dusting the plate with toasted and ground ras el hanout, just adds a little more spice.

I also like to add a little cardamon powder to the plate as and where the food eats with the few drops of coriander oil, I love cardamon its beautiful floral scent and mouth exciting taste, is something I have loved using recently reminding of old recipes of cardamon ice cream and fenugreek, I love spice and what it can do to the overall meal if planned correctly.

Thyme is the herb that features mainly throughout the dish, giving the earthy flavour it needs, bringing it all back together, its also a major ingredient in the mix Za'atar so finally finishing off the middle eastern tastes I have tried to achieve.

Mackerel Hashwah, Rocket, Puy & Shallot Salad, Pistachio Pesto, Barberry

2009-01-06T18:38:00.011Z

I thought I would miss the fresh Indian Ocean fish, but there is all the benefit of Cornish Mackerel being at home, gorgeous..

After scraping the scales, washing, filleting & pin-boning, dry the fillets well and dust with Taouk seasoning, normally used for a chicken shish, its a nice and light dry seasoning mix made up of cumin, pepper, cayenne, smoked paprika, ground coriander, clove, I like to add a little turmeric and vanilla salt, I find the vanilla justs smoothes the combination together, set aside to pan fry later and top the haswah

A hashwah is where I took my inspiration for this dish, although this doesn't exactly lend itself to a plated dish, I have a sushi press in my kitchen which if you combine the elements of a hashwah and pressed nigiri sushi then you can create something ideal for plating. The mould should be lined with cling film, first.

In Saudi there are two traditional fish dishes. "Hubul" a fried mackerel roe, served with rice or salad, is one, another is "Muhashsha" an elaborate rice and fish dish preferably prepared with fried kan'ad, mackerel. To start, onions are browned and spices are added to make the hashwah where the dish gets its name. The fried fish is laid atop the hashwah in a pot. Rice is prepared and piled on the fish and pressed down, and the pot is turned out onto a serving dish so that the fish and hashwah form the top.

After the rice is ready, dust the mackerel fillet in flour and Taouk seasoning again and pan fry in a little oil, making sure to hold down the fish so it doesn't curl, allow to cool and press for a few hours

I love crispy onions/shallots (especially that fairground smell) of cooking them, crisp onion layered together for garnish

With a hashwah in the middle east, the serve rocket and onion salad, I added puy lentils tossed just to give the salad a little body and some ground pistachios in a light pesto

The dish needs a little acid just to cut through the flavours and a citrus flavour dressing from barberries also add a little sweetness almost sweet n sour

The dishes I have been playing with recently, using middle eastern ingredients has been a great learning curve on using different foods and finding different ways of cooking I want to learn more about the ayurvedic philosophy attached to food, they use alot of the same ingredients and finding a way to use the two together will be great to experiment with.

The Ayurvedic cooking is more a philosophy of cooking based on developing wonderful flavours without the use of onions and garlic or fats to give body and “mouthfeel” using herbs and roots instead.

All of the recent pictures we have been taking are with the use of a lightbox I was given back in June after working with a great bunch of people. This is the first time I had started to use it and as we went through this menu the pictures became better all the time. I think some of them are fantastic, there is not nearly enoguh space to put them all on here, my favourite was the Lamb dish used in the title coming up in the next couple of days.

Za'tar Spiced Sea Bass, Tomato Dill Sauce, Cauli & Quinoa

2009-01-03T19:44:00.011Z

I was about to embark on working with Middle Eastern Spices for a project and when researching I looked at http://playingwithfireandwater.com/ and Linda was using Ras el Hanout for Christmas, bit of a coincedence thats another spice I am using with a dish of harissa rolled beef carpaccio, apricot & goji berry.

Back to the Sea Bass though, the fillet is dusted lightly with semolina and Za'atar and pan fried until crisp. I love the light fragrant taste, if you have used Sumac you will know what I mean, zesty citrus flavours, well Za'atar (zaatar) is a mixture of sumac, sesame seed and herbs frequently used in the Middle East and Mediterranean.

I paired the Sea Bass with a nice and light riceless Caulifower and Quinoa Risotto, which I have made before but had found it missing something, I love the way the fish eats with the delicate nutty flavours of Quinoa and making the risotto out of the cauliflower as the rice grains.

On reading and researching fish is cooked in Saudi and surrounding areas with a dill tomato sauce, I made a harissa, tomato and dill puree and served it cold with a confit tomato, the whole thing finished with a Kebseh foam, Kebseh is a lebanese black pepper based spice used for Kebabs and shawarmas.

A touch of Olive Powder provides that little saltiness and coriander as used all the time throughout Arabic cooking.

Happy New Year!!!

2009-01-01T19:17:00.003Z

One of many new dishes coming from the 3rd!!

Coffee & Chocolate..

2008-12-07T15:32:00.002Z

I have been missing for a while as most of you know, well there is an explanantion.. have decided to move on.. But, I want to continue with the blog and hope people still take a look, in the interim whilst I am waiting for a proper internet connection I wanted to post something to keep the blog going, so here is coffee and chocolate, a beautiful dessert made before things changed, keep looking an interesting update coming soon, I should by all rights be heading to arkansas in a week for a couple of days. I have never been so it should be very intersting to see what the food is like there... for now though coffee and chocolate, a little too much for one but you would if you could wouldnt you!

Belly Pork, Sweet Potato, Bilimbi, Chilli & Chocolate

2008-11-23T17:14:00.005Z

Braised Pork belly, sweet potato mash, chocolate leather, cauliflower puree, chili tuille, baby carrots, sauce vigneronne & bilimbi..

Absolutely delicious, although a little sweet, that's where the bilimbi comes in, a little fruit from the Seychelles, also found across Asia and in Caribbean, it's very sour and dry, actually from the same family as the carambola (starfruit)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/bilimbi

It also has some good medicinal uses as well. Here the locals blend it with fresh chili to add to their food, they like it really hot, so it acts as a really good carrier.

What else have we used bilimbi with recently, we pickle it, marinate fish with it, we have made salsas, I'm thinking bilimbi ice cream, no sorbet, with sweet chili sauce..

actually a dry rubbed curried bonito, bilimbi ice cream, palm sugar jelly, coriander foam, holy basil risotto.. mmm nice new creole dish there

Red & White

2008-11-20T16:23:00.006Z

Red Snapper & White Chocolate

We have been oddly busy the last few days, occupancy has been lower but we haven taken the chance to get ahead with prep and lots of it, having a any menu any venue any time concept for your work is a little strange and challenging to say the least, but, we do well most of the time.

So, we have been busy getting ahead for the strange requests we get, making purees, turning herbs into beautiful herb oils, its fantastic when you see all the mis en place building up and gets the creative side of all of us thinking.

We have had everything going on, one sous chef on holiday, another sick had to get a chopper off the island, a new chef started and today he left, a 1 week wonder! A steward leaving on the boat to the dentist, what it seems like non stop rain, 2009 budget meeting, a visit with a hydroponics expert, made a japanese 6 course dinner, made a "desperate dan" style pie, five course Asian dinner for spa girls, England beat Germany 2-1 in the footie, "big man" my star kitchen steward cleaned the gator (buggy), foie gras terrines, non stop thai curry for one guest, today I have been piping beetroot meringue to look like antique picture frames, we recieved some nice red snapper, vara vara, jobfish from Mahe, that and more all in the last 3 days!

What to do with beautiful fresh red snapper, well we pan fried it, nice and simple fresh flavour, along with some truffle pomme puree, sliced truffle, vanilla salt, asparagus we feature it alot because its one of our best ingredients, white chocolate veloute, red wine syrup just to cut through the whole thing, the vanilla salt is great with the white chocolate TGRWT, another nice little treat is a white chocolate jelly wrapped around the asparagus and a light grating of the choc as well, all comes together as what we like to do with red snapper.

You Decide...

2008-11-17T17:13:00.005Z

Tropical Fruit Garden... A nougat base with mango, papaya, kiwi, pineapple, gooseberries, blueberries, candied hibiscus flower, grenadine glass, pistachio glass, vanilla panna cotta, pistachio petals, raspberry jelly, papaya parfait, lychee sorbet, pineapple sorbet, rose petals, mint & fleure be blue, a ttropical fruit garden idea

Crayfish & Lamb... Butter poached lemongrass lamb loin, grilled crayfish tail, arrugas ppotatoes, quince puree jelly, goosberry, lemongrass caviar, coconut veloute, pepper syrup, lamb crackling & thai basil

I couldn't decide which photo to put on, half of us said Lamb, half of us said fruit, so never one to stand in the way, here are both for you to decide which one should be here, my own personal thought was the fruit garden..

From the Garden

2008-11-16T04:41:00.004Z

One of the first things I started on the Island was talking to Gregg the Landscape Manager, he had started a rehabilitation on the Vegetable Garden before I arrived, so I wanted to get stuck in and see what we could do with the vegetables we had and what else we could possibly plant.

Our first discussion involved lots of different possibilities with what was possible to plant in the quite hard soil, obviously Cherry Tom's were one of them, now several months down the line we are now seeing the fruits of the labour, they are beautiful! There is nothing like the smell of fresh tomatoes, I can't believe how wonderfule they look growing on the vine as well, so above are a few shots of the first batch of cherry tom's, we can only hope the other new crops are going to come as good.

We are about to get onto the new planting after this week, looking at a hydroponic watering system, we are talking with an expert who is over to help us along the way. Very exciting to see what we can grow and how, my first thoughts are growing lots and lots of micro shoots, I miss not being able to use nice little beetroot shoots or onion cress, when we try and get these locally its very difficult, although we have managed a few times and our delivery system is now about too take a huge leap in the right direction.

I have been talking to Tarak, they supply the best produce in Mahe, they can get ingredients for us from all over the world and he is my best connection with food here for produce. We are about to start transporting our food in a fantastic way, electronic temperature control probes will record the temp of all goods transported on the boat, inside new fantastic rubberised sealed poly boxes, this is a huge leap and basically with the ice packs placed in the boxes means we keep the temperature with no break in the cold chain!

Chocolate Coral... a local inspiration

2008-11-14T12:27:00.011Z

How much can one person produce? Well it seems endless amounts, we discussed a bit of local inspiration, something which started as a crayfish dish play about one night, thinking it could look like under the sea, then a few days later... "I used to make chocolate coral before"

..How?

..Well pour over crushed ice, let it set and watch the ice melt, turn it over, then instant coral!!

Ok, then we moved onto lots of thoughts of what we could use as different aspects of living coral, thinking of the movement and realism. Strawberry octopus came and went and then we decided lets stick to black and white.. Chocolate!

Popcorn for sand, jahlebi & churros for the long coral strands, tapioca, we love using tapioca recently, its just amazing to look at, looks like underwater, lychee anenome.. what a great idea, one of the best things on there, white poppyseeds on the chocolate run outs, lots of unseen things, the white chocolate veloute hidden under the sand, when mixed with the popcorn sand eats beautifully, the little bit of salt in with the sand covering the white chocolate TGRWT. Chocolate mousse holding everything together, coconut living coral flowers, grated fresh toasted coconut everywhere. Shell macaroons, the tiniest detail, starfish macaroons, the list is endless, I need to go and check all has been mentioned here.

Well this was our first attempt, I really like it, I am not always a fan of the end product, I can always see room for improvement on the whole thing, not sure where we should go with this to make it better, like I said though one person made all of this for service and we didn't use all of the options for plating as well, there is so many ways and choices of putting it together, thats definately what makes this so much fun, I love making up coral, each plate is different, each one individual, just what each plate, each dish should be about.

Dark , white & milk chocolate coral, tapioca, salted chocolate popcorn coral, coral runouts, chocolate mousse, chocolate marquise, milk chocolate parfait, churros, honeycomb coral, jahlebi, star & shell macaroons, lychee anenome, white chocolate veloute, popcorn sand, I think these are all the elements but will update it!

Health Inspector!

2008-11-13T09:08:00.002Z

We had a visitor this morning

North Islands Chief Taster and oldest living resident... Brutus

estimated to be well over 100, accordingly to Linda he is a great advert for viagra, always at it! He has over 20 girlfriends to choose from as well.

He came by the back of the kitchen for a morning visit, had a bite to eat, some breadfruit, papaya and his favourite mango and off again.

Wahoo & Fennel 3 ways, not forgetting smoked korsol

2008-11-12T18:00:00.004Z

The Seared Wahoo eats in 3 elements on the plate each with fennel, 1 with braised fennel (mirabelle style ) with cinnamon and just a touch of cardamon powder.

Another with shaved fennel and citrus jelly agar based, a pinch of vanilla salt on the jelly to help and coriander, brings it all together.

Then a new discovery, when we smoked the sour sop we had no idea what the flavour was going to be like with the fennel, it completely changes the flavour profile, I am not the biggest aniseed fan in the world, never have been, but with any of the elements it was fantastic it really smoothed the flavour, giving it almost a fruit taste and we added a fennel veloute to go with just to finish, eats really good.

I think it could be part of the new TGRWT ideas, I think Khymos and the others were up to No.10, the last one being white chocolate & caviar.

Tomorrow we are using some fantastic little vine cherry tomatoes we have grown, they were the first things to be planted since we arrived and now we are starting to see the fruits.

SMOKING...

2008-11-12T15:59:00.010Z

We used the Smoker today, the first week I arrived I asked the maintenance guys to build me a smoker, we get an abundance of fish and its not always used, so, solution.. a smoker. I spoke to Phillip and he had the guys take an old oil barrel, mount it on a Weber base and we have been smoking stuff on and off ever since.

Some stuff has come out great, others not so great, the trouble has been getting the fire right, but we have mastered it now, so we can cold and hot smoke. Lieanna, prepared it all and got stuck in using the smoker for the first time... We smoked Palm Heart today along with Sour Sop in creole (korsol) as well as peanut butter, tempura batter, garlic, ginger, oysters & cinnamon. The korsol we used in tonights dinner dish, see the picture in the post above.

Fresh Ingredients...

2008-11-11T16:32:00.002Z

They don't get much fresher than this!!

We are now about to have this guy get us fresh coconuts on a daily basis, he is going top the nuts, drain out the water sieve it so we can bottle it everyday. I love it and could drink it all the time, we can also make our own fresh coconut milk instead of buying, finishes a curry off so much better.

I am using all of the husks as well, we are using them for our smoker I had built when I first got here. I mix the husks with the chips from the Takamaka & Casarina trees on the Island which Gregg's guys get ready for us, we also add some tonka beans to the smoking mix, adds a nice flavour.

We are smoking tomorrow, so will post the results in the afternoon, after a trip to the vegetable garden today we've got some great things to put in..

Sesame dipped Yellow Fin and Panko Froglegs

2008-11-10T16:16:00.002Z

Another Tuna from the same batch, we are into cubes at the moment hence all the Yellow Fin is cut into them, Frogs Legs I got from a recent visiit to Mahe and they were the only 2 boxes on the Island, so I grabbed them and brought them back to North.

The mandarin jelly is made with Agar, which was our first attempt at the time, hiding inside is a peeled segment, goes really well with the honey foam, the watercress puree is scented with vanilla.

Tuna Nicoise

2008-11-10T15:46:00.003Z

Sweet vinaigrette & balsamic agar sheet with seared yellow fin on top. Rolled spanish pickled anchovy, crushed potato tian and tapenade, shallot rings. Soft boiled quaills egg, confit tomatoes, local green beans, candied olives, olive powder, lime sherbet & smoked balsamic syrup.

We had a guy go fishing the other day and he brought back 37 fish, he brought back for us all this Yellow fin, Rainbow Runner, Wahoo, Dorado, Bonito, Sailfish, Jobfish & Snapper, we have been cooking it for him for the last week, in all different ways.

Yellow Fin

2008-11-10T15:41:00.003Z