Back to School!!

Well after the six week break we are finally back into the swing of things! We officially started last thursday but the way it works we only had ten for lunch and dinner! With that in mind and the fact that they are new boys, what better lunch than macaroni cheese with side salad and home made garlic bread! Always a winner with staff and students alike. Last year was a bit of a journey for us all, with the introduction of the vac pack chamber and the more restaurant style plates of food who knows what will happen this year!! Ive got loads of new special days coming up and different techniques for excecuting the dishes we are going to do, so watch this space!!!

Easy Tempura

You'd think that being a chef in a school has massive holiday benefits right?? On the whole this is true but in my case I get to go to some of our other lovely kitchens and cook with them for a while. To be honest I quite like moving about, it gives me chance to see what other chefs are doing and how I can change it to make it work in my kitchen.

With that in mind I was mucking about with tempura batter today and came up with this!

1 egg
1 cup plain flour
1 cup ice water
Very hot oil

I used this batter for vegetables but works well on anything so give it a go!

It's Roasting!!!

Ok so its been the hottest day so far and what did I put in the menu last week for today??? Roast chicken!! Luckily im allowed to change the menu so I turned it into a roasted chicken salad. Topped with carrot and courgette spaghetti, vacuumed cucumber ribbons and a dressing I made using balsamic vinegar, olive oil, stock from the chicken and xantham gum! Not really a product you will find in a normal school kitchen but hey!! I'll be doing more with this as time goes on i'll show you the results and recipes.

Enjoy

That Sucks!!!!

Ok so I recently acquired a vacuum chamber and, after all the paperwork and health & safety I finally had the chance to give it a go! Heres our first offering, Watermelon! I heard that if you vac pack it the the flavour is enhanced. Not only that but also the colour is so much more vibrant and the structure changes too!! Ill be using it on other things obviously and post about those too! And its not just about flavours, I have been advised by our local E.H.O that vacuum packed products have a chilled storage life of 10 days rather than the 3 we normally allow. So remember that bit of roast turkey you had??? Whack it in a bag and vac it!!! Im not gonna lie professional versions ain't cheap but worth every penny! Check out Mike Bass and his gear!! Heres some pics. See if you can guess which ones are not under vacuum?

leavers dinner

As its nearing the last day of school for the year 13 boarders we thought it would be good to give them a special meal, historically its been a BBQ, but with the weather being terrible I thought it would be nice to give a proper 3 course meal. So with my starter inspired by my love of Indian food, the main a poshed up steak and chips and every chef pudding nemesis the chocolate fondant the night went better than expected!!

Here's the menu and pics.

Starter

Tandoori chicken ravioli with Dahl mint yoghurt, micro coriander and truffle oil

Massive thanks to Nisha Katona my new twitter buddy for inspiring the pasta!!!

Main

Sous vide steak with pomme neuf balsamic roasted cherry tomatoes and a horse radish cream.

Dessert

Chocolate fondant with cardamom infused ice cream.

Again massive thanks to all the staff involved in making it a night to remember.

I'd also just like thank you all for helping make our state run boarding school "outstanding" by ofsted standards, the food we produce on our budget and the standards we set ourselves are nothing short of amazing and the hard work you all put in doesn't go unnoticed. 

Starter dough

Ok so heres the recipe I used to.make this loaf.

500g plain flour
1 1/2 cups starter dough
300ml water
Splash of oil

I really didnt expect this to turn out half as good as it did and the flavour is amazing. Well worth the 3 days prep time!! Saying that now its done the starter will only take a couple of hours to feed then use again.

Starter doughs

Ok well as you can see ive not been blogging for ages!! Two reasons 1. Things have been super busy for me lately and 2. I lost my way a bit and drew a blank on what to tell you all. Crap excuses I know but thats what im sticking to!! So here we are with starter doughs. A starter dough is basically growing your own strain of yeast using the wild yeast that is in the air all around us. Why? I hear you ask! Well my dry goods supplier called to tell me he had yeast issues. (after telling him to see a doctor not a chef I realised he might not be able to get any) so I investigated different ways of making the bread that kicked off the whole way we do things at the school, and found a recipe on google for a sour dough starter. Ive only started to grow it today so will be letting you know how it goes and if its actually worth the hassle!

Heres how to start.

2 cups flour
2 cups warm water
1 table spoon sugar

Mix them all together in a deep mixing bowl preferably glass but never steel. Cover losely with a clean cloth. The starter needs to breathe so cling film is no good. Stir 2 to 3 times a day for 3 days. This is only for the first batch of starter all you need to do then is reserve a cup full and add 2 cups water and 2 cups flour. Ill keep you posted and chuck in some pics too!!