Mar 12, 2020 | Main Course, Seafood & Fish, Starters & Small Plates
Thai Style Mussels These days the majority of mussels are rope grown and are available pretty much all year round. They are plentiful, cheap by comparison and take a damn good photo. Although strictly speaking they are farmed, it’s really more a case of...
Dec 9, 2019 | Seafood & Fish, Starters & Small Plates
Tea Blackened Salmon with Orange Pickled Fennel This recipe delivers results that far exceed the level of effort required, which might I add, is about as minimal as it can get and yet it produces something far greater than the sum of its ingredients....
Sep 2, 2019 | Pickles & Preserves, Seafood & Fish, Starters & Small Plates
Mackerel with a Cucumber, Radish and Red Onion Pickled Salad This recipe works well as both a fresh, summery starter or a lighter lunch dish, served with a good sourdough and well chilled bottle of dry white. Spanking fresh mackerel needs little...
Jun 15, 2019 | Main Course, Starters & Small Plates
Courgette, Pancetta, Potato and Smoked Cheese Frittata Frittata is often referred to as an Italian omelette, but I’m not so sure. To me a frittata is more like a Spanish tortilla; deep filled, with plenty of substance (preferably potato) and interesting...
Mar 29, 2019 | Seafood & Fish, Starters & Small Plates
Avocado Mousse, Cucumber Ceviche and Isle of Wight Crab This is a reworking of an old recipe I used to serve at the bistro, one I used to call avocado panna cotta, a concept that was possibly a step too far at the time; now I sling in a whipped egg white...
Jan 18, 2019 | Starters & Small Plates
Bresaola with Rocket, Goats Cheese and Balsamic Sultanas This is a simple starter with easy to find ingredients at any time of year. It reads Italian and it looks Italian, with a striking depth of red, lush green rocket and the brilliant white of goats...
Dec 10, 2018 | Main Course, Seafood & Fish, Starters & Small Plates
Mussels with Chorizo, Garlic, Sherry and Parsley Mussels are far more user friendly these days now most of them are farmed; just a quick rinse and you’re off, whereas the wild ones can be high maintenance and for no extra gain. In truth, farmed mussels have had...
Nov 20, 2018 | Seafood & Fish, Starters & Small Plates
Although this is a relatively new dish on the menu, the flavour combinations are as old as the hills. Generally speaking I prefer a tart to be softly set with eggs and cream, generously filled to the brim and ram-packed full of choice ingredients. As luck would have...
Nov 15, 2018 | Starters & Small Plates
Soups are a surprisingly popular choice on the menu, surprising because I would never choose a soup to start and can’t imagine why anyone would. Still, they do, and so I’ll pop one on the menu from time to time….my gift to the people. The rule is then that if a soup...
Nov 14, 2018 | Starters & Small Plates
This is not so much a recipe, more a collection of things that go together, just presented in a slightly less obvious fashion. I’ve always despaired of recipes which call for unnecessarily obscure ingredients and I suppose for many of us wild garlic leaves will fall...
Nov 12, 2018 | Starters & Small Plates
This soup is a hybrid, borne from mismatching the image I had in mind with the recipe I thought I was looking up. It’s a cross between the classic Spanish almond soup ajo blanco, and the French number tourin d’ail. Unlike ajo blanco and its modern Mediterranean...
Nov 12, 2018 | Seafood & Fish, Starters & Small Plates
There have been several workings of this little salad on the menu over the years and it’s always popular – it reads like it tastes and does exactly what it says on the tin. Full of big flavours and zippy ingredients, it’s fresh, crisp and exciting to eat; lime,...
Nov 9, 2018 | Starters & Small Plates
Griddling isn’t as popular on the domestic cooking scene as it is with chefs, which for a nation that has seemingly adopted barbecuing as all but a civil right, it’s a surprising observation; there are whole aisles dedicated to barbecuing in supermarkets and garden...
Nov 8, 2018 | Starters & Small Plates
This is a new entry on the menu this week; served with ham hock, pea shoots, soft boiled quails’ eggs and a proper home-made mayonnaise piqued with English mustard. The recipe here is solely for the potato terrine, although it’s not really intended to be eaten by...
Nov 5, 2018 | Starters & Small Plates
And there you have it, Spain on toast. There’s a lot going on here, I’ll grant you that, but each element serves a purpose; the tomatoes, although they’re slow roast still retain their juices and act as lubrication, the chorizo crumb provides texture as do the red...
Oct 29, 2018 | Sides & Sauces, Starters & Small Plates
This is one of those alluring recipes with few ingredients that should be filed under ‘food alchemy’; the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Quite. It’s made in pretty much the same way as hummous, but with soft, smoky aubergine replacing the chickpeas...
Oct 4, 2018 | Seafood & Fish, Starters & Small Plates
Although this is a relatively new dish on the menu, the flavour combinations are as old as the hills. Generally speaking I prefer a tart to be softly set with eggs and cream, generously filled to the brim and ram-packed full of choice ingredients. As luck would...
Aug 30, 2018 | Sides & Sauces, Starters & Small Plates
This is my favourite way to eat lentils; the green Puy version being the lentil of choice. I’ve tried them on the menu several times over the years, usually as a starter served with Parma ham and eggs, ham hock or black pudding even, but it’s not exactly a...
