Cantuccini at The Social's Christmas Market

A little treat I prepared this weekend for the social's Christmas market. Delicious almond and hazelnut cantuccini biscuits. Perfect as an after dinner biscotti with coffee. Yum. We had a really great time this weekend so come along next week where there will be more goodies on sale.

A Birthday Cake For Lovely Emma

Thanks for the lovely photo Nick.

The Social Christmas Market

Please come and join me and a host of lovelies at The Social on Little Portland Street in London every Saturday in December!

Once again this December, The Social presents a weekly market in the upstairs bar each and every Saturday daytime

There will be badges, books, birds, music and maps from Caught By The River, stocking fillers from Pedlars, Andrews of Arcadia and his vintage fishing tackle for the soul and The Empress of Arcadia with selected labels and bespokery. There will also be Christmas stalls from Pete Fowler, Edwyn Collins, Nobrow, The Heavenly Emporium and more.

As well as Christmas gifts, shoppers will be able to enjoy signings, live performances, DJ sets, a fully stocked bar and The Rose Kentish Kitchen featuring her legendary home made sausage and cranberry rolls, mulled wine, hot cider and Dre’s award winning Bloody Marys. Last year's market was the best fun we had all year, from start to slightly sozzled finish.

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Saturdays 3th, 10th and 17th December

Doors 1-6pm – Free entry

Email carl@thesocial.com for more info or press enquiries

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Featuring:

Caught By The River shop

Andrews of Arcadia and the Empress of Acadia

Pedlars

The Heavenly Emporium

Rose Kentish’s homemade cakes and pastries

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3rd Dec:

Acoustic performance: Trevor Moss and Hannah-Lou


Guest artist: Pete Fowler

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10th Dec:

Edwyn Collins stall

Acoustic performances: Edwyn Collins & James Walbourne



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17th Dec:

Guest gallery: Nobrow

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I hope to see you all there!


Rose x

Chicken Liver Pate

I love chicken liver pate. For breakfast on toast with a squeeze of lemon and a twist of black pepper or served in little ramekins as an impresive starter with a teaspoon of lavender jelly and a salad garnish. It looks like hard work but it could not be easier!

This pate also makes delicious canapés presented on little toasts with a touch of loganberry jelly:

250g of chicken livers.

3/4 pat Butter (plus extra for sealing the tops)

2 shots brandy

1 red/white onion, chopped

Sweat the onions down slowly over a low heat in one third of the butter and a little vegetable oil. When soft turn the heat up and add the livers. Fry for 3 minutes then add the brandy and cook for another minute. The livers want to be cooked but still pink-ish in the middle.

Remove from the heat and blitz in a food processor. While the motor is still running add the rest of the butter in knobs and continue to blend until the pate is smooth. Season with black pepper and salt. Make sure the mixture is well salted as it will loose some of its flavour as it cools. For a smoother pate strain the mixture through a fine sieve into a bowl or indervidual ramekins. For a more rustic pate pour straight into your serving dishes. Place the pate in the fridge until cool. Melt a little more butter and pour over the tops to seal the pate. I like to add a bay leaf or parsley sprig and a ground of black pepper on top of the butter as a little garnish. Re-set in the fridge. This pate will keep in the fridge for 1 week (though I have been known to eat a pate a good while after this as long as the butter seal has not been broken and it doesnt seam to have made me ill....)

I sometimes blend in some red onion marmalade or swap the brandy for sweet sherry to change the flavour of the finished pate.

Oriental Buffet & Introducing Jack Chaddock...

This post has been a long time coming and I am slightly ashamed not to have had any time to put up more posts recently but happily I have been extremely busy in the last few months and hope to put up a number of events I have been doing in the next few weeks.

I felt slightly mad agreeing to do this event for a 60th birthday party in Oxfordshire. I am not particularly trained in Chinese food but one of my first kitchen jobs was in a Thai restaurant attached to a lovely pub in my home town so the menu became more of a mixed Asian menu with flavours from Japan, Thailand, China and Vietnam. It felt a little touch and go for a while during the last few minutes of prep but once at the venue it all went so amazingly well and I managed to surprise myself with how much stir fry you can do for 135 people on a small Aga.

I had some amazing help for this event. My mother Anthea; who tirelessly rolled a pile of never ending summer rolls; my father the Kitchen Angel  - also known as Plongeur - who spent 3 hours finely shredding spring onions to make a delicate curly garnish and the wonderful Steph, my second in command!  

Serving help came in the form of three beautiful sisters, Elsie, Anna and Meg.

This is what we served:

Summer Rolls

Meg with Thai Pork Balls 

Chicken Satay Skewers

Teriaki Baked Salmon

Slow Braised Chinese Pork Belly

Sweet & Sour Aubergine and Mixed Peppers
(Shame about that speck of spinach but it was the only photo I had of this dish and it was removed before serving!)

All the mains were served on stir-fried noodles with garlic & ginger wilted spinach and Billo's shredded spring onions.  Served on lovely disposable palm leaf bowls from The Wholeleaf Co.

Passion Fruit Pavlovas with Fresh Mint

Coconut Custard Squares with fresh redcurrants from the hosts own garden. (Recipe adapted by Billo to great success!)

Lime & Lychee Skewers with Stem Ginger Dip

The Beautiful Stephanie Preparing the custard squares.

Lime & Lychee Skewers

This was a recipe I made up when the host suggested she might like some lychee for dessert. It is such a fresh and tasty thing to have after a large meal and really went down very well. To make it all you need is:

1 tinned lychee

1 Lime

1 Jar Stem Ginger

Drain the lychee and reserve the juice. To marinate the lychee pour over the syrup from the stem ginger, grate over the whole lime zest and add half the lime juice. Allow to rest for half an hour. Meanwhile put the reserved lychee juice into a sauce pan and simmer over a low heat until it has reduced by two thirds and you are left with a darker, thicker lychee syrup. Finely dice 3-4 chunks of stem ginger and add to the lychee syrup to make your dipping sauce. Skewer the lychee and serve.

Introducing Jack Chaddock of Marc Fine Wines:

Jack is my brother-in-law and has been working in the wine trade for a number of years. I often work with him and his knowledge of which wines to put with the food I serve has always been invaluable. He made some excellent suggestions for this meal..... Over to you Jack.

Thanks Rose.  Apologies, late for the party as ever.  When we have the combination of quite delicate ingredients and chilli spice, the first thing I would look for is a little sweetness in a wine.  I don't mean a desert wine, and I know that to many people sweet wines are still somewhat of a mystery, but believe me the combination of a nicely chilled, aromatic white that is a little off dry and the chilli dip with the summer rolls will be fantastic.  Sugar and spice is one of the worlds great combinations, most notably as the main ingredients for girls.

The key to an enjoyable sweet wine is acidity; to balance the sugar and prevent the wine from being cloying.  This acidity is another component of matching wine to these dishes.  It will cut through the fat in the Pork Belly, lightening the richness of a slow cooked dish.  Equally it will combine with the dark sticky flavours of the Teriaki and emphasise the Baked Salmon.  Pinots Blanc and Gris make excellent asian food matchers, as do Riesling and Gewurztraminer.  These are grapes very much associated with Alsace in France but good examples are now being made world wide.  Viognier too would work well.

What about Reds?  Less easy, the tannin in reds can be a less happy match, and their dark fruit flavours can swamp the delicate spices Rose spends so long preparing. Tragedy.  Having said that I am a believer in Nebbiolo from Northern Italy as an acompaniment to asian food, but many would disagree.  But they didn't marry Rose's sister, so they aint on this blog.  So there.

Cheers Jack!

Fishy Supper

My Boyfriend and I are staying in my parents house in south Devon for the weekend and have just eaten this on the terrace for our supper:

Mixed Seafood Tagliatelle

Make a rich tomato reduction by lightly frying 3 cloves of chopped garlic and half a chopped chilli in a little oil. Add 2-3 

freshly

 chopped tomato

 (chop into really small cubes unless you can be bothered to peel them first as this will stop the sauce having little curls of tomato skin floating around in it!), a splash of pernod (optional) and a glass of 

white 

wine. Simmer down gently until the sauce is thick and really well reduced. Don't worry about the sauce yet as the seafood will add a lot of liquid when it is added. Season with salt and pepper.

Cook the tagliatelle in some well salted water. While the pasta is cooking bring the tomato reduction up to a fast simmer and add a handful of 

fresh prawns

 (I like to leave the shells on) and some chunks of white fish, here we had Gurnard but Monkfish would work very well. Bubble away with the lid on until the fish is nearly cooked then add 2 tablespoons of crème fraiche and two large handfuls of mussels (scrubbed and cleaned). Continue to cook for anothe 3-5minutes with the lid on until the muscles have opened (discard any unopened muscles!).

Drain the pasta and mix into the seafood sauce. Serve with a sprinkle of parsley, lemon wedges and a good dry white wine!

As a special treat I have also added 6 scallops fried for 30seconds on each side in hot butter and added them to the top of the dish before serving...

A Wedding in Rye

Last weekend my team and I travelled down to East Sussex to cater for a wedding. The wedding was held in a beautiful outdoor location, Chitcombe Farm Organics run by Emma Howitt (check it out here at www.eastsussexweddingvenues.co.uk).

Set within the farm grounds in a large marquee, it was such a beautiful place to work with spectacular views and a wonderfully organised yet relaxed atmosphere. Just off the main marquee we had our own kitchen tent in which to prep the food for the day.

We were to serve two starters followed by a selection of salads to accompany a delicious hog roast which was prepared and cooked on site by the lovely Eric. It was a really lovely occasion to cater for and we all enjoyed ourselves immensely.

Starter

Chilled Spanish Gazpacho Soup

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Mackerel Pate with Fresh Mint & Beetroot Remoulade

Vegetarian Main

Peppers Stuffed with Goats Cheese & Pesto

Couscous with Caramelised Onions, Fresh Herbs & Apricots

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Creamy Potato Salad with Fresh Tarragon

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Seasonal Remoulade

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Mixed Green Salad with Parmesan, Walnuts, Pear & Pomegranite

Fillet Steak with Creamy Mushroom Sauce

The sauce for this is really very simple. I used some of the leftover mushrooms from the recipe in my last post but pre-frying up a few sliced chestnut mushrooms works just fine. Simply simmer a large glass of red wine in a saucepan over a low heat. Add half a beef stock cube and continue to simmer. Add two tablespoons of the mushroom mixture and roughly 100ml of double cream. Season to taste with some salt and black pepper. 

Get the best well hung fillet steak you can find. Allow it to sit out of the fridge for 30 minutes or so to reach room temperature before you start to fry. Pat each steak with a little oil and grind over some black pepper. Get your griddle pan really hot before you start to fry the steaks for 3-4 minutes on each side (medium rare). Allow the steaks to rest for at least half the cooking time. This will relax the meat and make it extra tender. Pour over the sauce and serve. 

Amuse-Bouche Reception

Last weekend I was very pleased to get the chance to trial my first amuse-bouche reception. Larger than a canapé but smaller than a main plate of food, guests get a number of dishes to replace a full meal. This would probably have to be my ideal kind of party food as a guest because you get to sample endless tasty little dishes without having to queue for a buffet or risk missing the tray of canapés as they are whisked around the room, usually because some group of fatties have positioned themselves by the kitchen door gobbling them all as they come out...

The event I was catering for was in a beautiful apartment in Islington. My amazing five-strong serving team and I dished up canapés to the arriving guests who were taking drinks on the roof terrace before going down to a private piano recital. During the interval we served two dishes before serving the main Aperitivo at the end of the recital. Here is the menu and some photos of the food we served:

Canapés

Pear & Pecorino Skewers with Honey

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Chicken Liver Paté with Loganberry Jelly

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Mint & Balsamic Roasted Beetroot with Horseradish Dipping Sauce

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Field Mushroom and Porcini on Toasted Brioche

The mushroom brioche has to be my favourite dish. I had it years ago as a starter in the Brixton Bar & Grill and have been trying to recreate it ever since. The sweet brioche really compliments the creamy, nutty flavour of the mushrooms and although it looks a little dark on the boards I think it was close to perfect.

Recipe:

Take 200g of field mushrooms, 200g chestnut mushrooms chop into small pieces and start to fry in a little butter. Reduce well until the mushrooms start to blacken and crisp up. Add a dash of truffle oil, Worcester sauce and a good pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper. Soak a good handful of dried porcini mushrooms in boiling water. When they have rehydrated slice into strips and add to the pan with a couple of tablespoons of the soaking water. Squeeze over the juice of half a lemon, season again to taste, sprinkle with parsley and serve on slices of toasted brioche. 

Amuse-bouche

Italian Summer Melon Salad with Garlic Bread

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Carpaccio di Manzo

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Chilled Cucumber & Thyme Soup

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Monk fish, Scallop & Prawn Galette

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Caponata with Venison Sausages & Fresh Oregano

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French Trimmed Lamb Cutlet with Salsa Verdi

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Rich Chocolate Tort

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Lemon Possets with Fresh Fruits

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                                                                Prosecco & Elderflower Jelly 

Roasted Butternut Squash

A very simple recipe to make a great side to lots of dishes:

1 butternut squash
parsley
butter

Cut the squash in half and place skin side up on a baking tray. Cook in a hot oven at 180 degrees until the flesh is soft and the skins have browned and blackened in places, (roughly 30-40 minutes). Chop into chunks, skins and all, and mash slightly with a fork. Stir in a little butter, some freshly chopped parsley and sprinkle generously with salt and ground black pepper.

Last night I served it with a Moroccan chicken & almond bastilla that I bought from the deli attached to Flavours Dining on my way home.

Alternatively, crumble over some feta, sprinkle with freshly roasted pine nuts and serve with a green salad as a deliciously light evening meal.

A Beef Carpaccio & A Wild Brown Trout Sashimi with Wild Garlic Pesto & A Salad of Wild Garlic Flowers.

The wild garlic season starts in the winter and continues right through the spring. In the week before Easter my boyfriend Harry and I went for a week camping and fishing in Wales and in the woods surrounding our campsite on the river Usk near Abergavenny there was lots of wild garlic to be found. The weather was amazing and during our stay we had a barbeque of meats and Harry line caught trout accompanied with this beautiful wild herb most evenings.

 With a softer garlicky flavour the leaves can be cooked down with a little butter like spinach and eaten as a great side, or chopped into risottos or salads to add a delicate garlic flavour. The flowers however are quite fiery and add a beautiful kick to a salad.

I decided to take a handful of leaves and flowers home for Easter to make my offering of beef Carpaccio with wild garlic pesto as a little starter for the Saturday evening meal.

The pesto

Take a handful of wild garlic leaves and blend in a food processor with a good glug of light olive oil, ½ a teaspoon of salt, a squeeze of lemon juice, a small handful of walnuts and a pinch of sugar until you have a smooth paste.

I had never tried to make this pesto before and I have to say it didn’t add a great deal to the dish but it had an interesting flavour and the flowers in the salad made a very beautiful and tasty addition.

Beef Carpaccio

For the beef find the best piece of fillet steak you can get your hands on. Slice into thin rounds and place between two sheets of cling film. Using a rolling pin bash and roll the meat until it is wafer thin and removing from the cling film place carefully onto your serving plates and set aside.

While the beef is resting finely dice a shallot and cover with some boiling water. Allow the shallot to blanch in the water for 30 seconds or so before draining well in a sieve. Doing this will take the edge off the onion flavour and soften it a little whilst keeping the crunch.

When you are ready to eat sprinkle the shallot over the beef, drizzle with some good olive oil, a good squeeze of lemon juice and some salt & pepper. Place a handful of salad leaves, lightly dressed in vinaigrette in the centre of each plate and place the garlic flowers on top. Scatter around the pesto and serve.

Wild Brown Trout Sashimi

We had a pescatarian of sorts staying with us for the weekend so I made a fishy alternative for her. This dish also works well with salmon and rainbow trout (Wild, line caught brown trout is not easy to come by unless you have a fishing boyfriend or a posh supermarket on your doorstep) but make sure you know how fresh the fish is... more than 1 or 2 days old and I would not be trying this so buy from a fishmonger or at the fish counter in a supermarket.

 Finely slice the trout and place in a dish. Squeeze over a good amount of lime juice and salt and set aside for roughly 20 minutes. The acid in the lime will start to cook the fish. Lay the fish onto your serving plate and as with the beef scatter with the blanched shallots, some extra lime juice, salt, pepper and olive oil. Top with the salad and drizzle with the pesto.

Chicken Teriyaki with Mixed Salad

I had a real craving for teriyaki chicken the other day so rather than popping down to the local take-away I decided to look up the marinade on line and make it for myself. I found a great recipe here at www.foogkawker.com which I adapted slightly to fit the ingredients in my cupboard.

Mix 2 tbsp of Mirin, 2 tbsp Dark soy and 1 desert spoons of sugar in a bowl. Some recipes add sake to the marinade which sounds lovely, but I didn't have any. Add some sliced chicken breast and marinade for 30 minutes or so. When ready fry on a hot griddle or in a hot frying pan until the chicken starts to crisp on the outside. Pour the marinade liquor over the chicken and bubble away until the chicken is cooked through. Serve with rice and this salad:

The salad is just a mixture of fresh vegetables and herbs with as much or as little as you want of the following: Bean sprouts, peppers, cucumber, fresh mint, fresh coriander,  lettuce leaves, red chili, grated carrots and spring onions.

For the dressing whisk together:

1tbsp of dark soy

1tbsp of water,

the juice of one lime,

1 dsp of sesame oil,

1dsp of thai fish sauce,

1 tsp of sugar

And either 1 hot red chili or a drop or two of Tabasco or hot chili sauce.