Our Christmas Dinner with a Twist!!

As you all know by now im not one for all the traditional goings on and christmas is no exception!!

Last year we only really broke from tradition by changing the dessert. this year we had a complete overhaul, and to be honest I wasnt sure how it would be received myself!!

Planning the menu took a good few weeks, just to get my head around what it is I wanted to do with it. And with inspiration from Mark Taylor at Premier Foods Service for the main (Turkey Wellington with something called Paxo inside!) I was well away!!

Heres the menu.

 

Starter

 

 

Homemade Duck Spring Rolls

 

 

 

Main

 

Turkey Wellington

(Turkey Escalope coated in Paxo and filled with homemade cranberry Sauce)

Honey Roast Parsnips

Baton Carrots

Roast Potatoes

Turkey Gravy

 

 

 

Dessert

 

Festive Cheesecake

(Homemade Orange Shortbread base topped with a Christmas Pudding inspired cheesecake and garnished with Cherry Brandy Sauce and Mango Coulis)

 

 

 

 

 

Massive thanks to all my team and the staff at the school for helping out to make this night such a massive and unexpected success!!

 

Also special thanks to my boss Janet Brown for letting me do what I do and Danny Wallace and the guys at Sheringhams for their exceptional quality vegetables and service.

 

 

 

Cheers guys its been wicked.

 



Authentic Dhal

Alot of you might not know that im blessed to be part of a punjabi family, so when I went to visit a couple of weeks ago I took the opportunity to nick this fantastic recipe.

Now when you taste proper indian food its worlds apart from what we might get from a takeaway!!

This recipe for dhal is in 2 parts, the lentils and the Turka. The Turka gives amazing flavour and depth and can be used in any dish you might want to make.

So for the lentils

1 full cup of green lentils

1/2 cup black lentils

5 cups water

1 1/2 tsp fresh ginger

1/2 tsp tumeric

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cumin powder

1/2 tsp garam masala ( punjabi is best )

Cook altogether until lentils are soft.

While thats cooking make your Turka

In 2 tbsp oil fry

1/2 tsp cumin seed

1 chopped onion

Brown these then add

8 cloves garlic

1 chopped green chilli

1 tsp fresh ginger

1/2 tsp masala

1/2 tsp cumin powder

Chuck this into your soften lentils and season to taste.

Thanks for letting me take your recipe Pinks!! You are a star

Enjoy!!

Micro herbs in a school???

Just wanted to say a bit about micro herbs and why I use them in a school!!

Micro herbs/Sakura cress are more commonly found in your high end fine dining restaurants and I think that has put chefs in my position off the idea of using them.

Yes the price might seem extravagant but the flavour and colours you get from them are amazing!!

A tray of Sakura cress costs me around £13. Don't get me wrong it is alot for just a garnish but a box will last me for 2 services so around 180 plates.

Now it sounds better, right??

Not only that but it really enhances the look of the dish. As chefs we are always taught you eat with your eyes first.

If you get chance to get some of these bad boys grab them!! Its not as expensive as you think!!

More Awards Ceremonies!!!

Well it was our annual company conference Friday 15th November which gives us employees chance to catch up with old friends and make new ones. Along with it is the awards, from manager of the year to the new addition this year of "comedy moment". Our company awards night has always been a good evening, and this year was no exception.

So my team picked up a silver award for our in house audits and I picked up a special recognition award.

Massive thanks to everyone involved in making the night a good one for us all and welldone to everyone that picked up a highly sort after award!!

Almost forgot we are in the educatering magazine this month page 62!!

Halloween Night

Ok so not quite halloween yet but with it happening during half term we had ours early.

On the menu

Hellfire chicken wings ( we are quite close to the caves )

Nightmare noodles ( with samphire garnish )

Devils chocolate cake ( chocolate and chilli )

As usual the food was amazing!

We also like a bit of a show so I didn't just want to use candles in our pumpkins, so what better theatrics than a bit of dry ice chucked into the mix!

I don't know if some of the ideas I have are either insane or genius! What other school would you find dry ice in the kitchen?

Either way the students and teachers loved it with comments like "best night ever!" and "Oh My God, thats amazing" I must be doing something right!

Just want to say a big thanks to boss for letting me use -70c ice around the boys and my staff for putting in extra effort!

Bonfire Night next!!!

Back to the Food!!!

So im guessing you are probably bored of hearing about awards and nights out, so heres todays lunch.

Slow Roasted Belly Pork

Ok so I took 12 kilos of boned belly pork and slapped it in the oven on 150c for a good 4 hrs.

Because the belly is fatty it needs time to render out the fat making the meat more tender.

After it was cooked I squashed it flat with another tin and a very large can of beans and let it cool. We have a blast chill so its cold in less than 90 mins. This makes the belly more even.

I then cut it up to about 85 decent portions. 45 mins before service I smacked the oven up to 200c to crisp up the skin and heat up the meat. It only takes about 30 mins but I wanted 15 mins resting time.

All that was left to do was slice potatoes and onions and cook off some veggies.

Job done and less than £1 a plate

Enjoy!!

Eucatering Excellence Awards

So the company I work for was shortlisted for an Educatering Excellence Award at The Royal Garden Hotel on Monday Night.

I was gutted when I found out I couldnt attend but my luck soon turned when my boss called to say she couldn't go!!! After a while and a bit of talking to the powers that be i was finally given the go ahead to get my tux ready again!!!

Needless to say it was another amazing night. Fantastic food, fine wine and great company!

We all enjoyed the final of Schools Got Talent and loved the Twitter Wall, made some good contacts and hopefully new friends.

Our company didnt pick up an award but the night was so good it didnt really matter.

Massive thanks to everyone invloved in making the night so great and a big welldone to all the winners and everyone shortlisted.

I look forward to the next event!!!