Lobster Thermidore Pizza

So as part of our street food week I thought it would be a good idea to make a gourmet pizza, little did I know that I would be acquiring a couple of beautiful lobsters from Kingfisher in Brixham. So as I only got 2 lobster to serve 85 I made a really nice cheese and lobster sauce to top my pizza and garnished with a slice of their amazing smoked salmon. Classic street food! Take something that shouldn't be there and make it work!! Have a go!!

Thai Style Duck Salad

OK so during the half term holiday I've been in deep thought about what I can do different next and came up with this! Sounds expensive and looks a bit cheffy but really easy and surprisingly cheap.

Here's what I did.

For the duck.

To prepare the legs I got a roasting tin and chucked in about 8 sticks of lemon grass, on top of that stick your legs, its best to stab them a few times with a fork this let's the fat out and makes the duck more tender. Bang it in the oven on 200c for 30 mins. When its done let it cool and take off as much meat as humanly possible.

The salad

I used French mixed salad but use whatever floats your boat, I also roasted off some yellow cherry tomatoes with spring onion, grated carrot and chilli flakes with dark soy sauce and sweet chilli.
I really wanted to give a bit of crunch and at one point considered knocking up some croutons but that's pretty standard and not really out there enough for me so then my thoughts turned to prawn crackers, now do I chuck them on the side or lightly crunch them up and bang them on?? Neither! I found a pack of spring roll pastry sheets in the freezer chopped them into strips and fried them off. Top those off with a sprinkle of micro beetroot shoots and a squirt of sweet chilli sauce and you've got yourself a posh looking plate of really tasty food. 30 duck legs got me just over 100 portions loads came back for seconds and a few thirds!

Easy Pancake Recipe

So with Shrove Tuesday looming I thought it would be a good time to give you my Easy Pancake Recipe!

 1 cup flour.
 1 cup milk.
 1 egg.

Whack them in a blender. Job done! Makes 8 decent pancakes. My boy likes them with Nutella and banana but as always you can chuck on what you like. Get tossing!

Cheesy Jalapeno Bread

I don't need to tell you how cold its been, but I do need to tell you about todays lunch! So Chilli Pasta Bake ( done it before I know ) but this time I was looking to serve it with something other than garlic bread. What else do you serve with chilli? Cheesy Jalapeno Bread thats what. Admittedly at first I thought I had over Jalapenoed but as it turns out it was the star of the show! I also forgot to add a key ingredient to the dough and it still came out better than normal.

Here's how I did it.

500g Plain Flour
7g Dried Yeast
A good handful of Jalapeno Peppers
300ml warm warm water

Mix all the dry ingredients and slowly add the water until the dough comes clean off the bowl.
leave until doubled in size then roll out like pastry  to about an inch thick.
Top with grated cheese and slap it in the oven on 150c for 10 to 15 mins.
Job Done!!!

Did you notice no fat in the recipe? You won't in the end result either. Have a go!

Pulled Pork Bap

OK so back to school this week after a lovely 2 week break!! As always thought I'd try them with something new to our menu.

So with Pulled Pork being "in" at the moment I decided to give it my twist, and I couldn't just stop at the pork so made a chilli bread roll lemon and black pepper green beans and garlic roasted new potatoes to go with it. Oh and a choice of home made spiced apple sauce or mustard mayo to go with it.

Here's how I did it.

For the Pork

In a roasting tin pop in your pork shoulder ( I used 10 kilo but I'm feeding 90 ).

With this I chucked in 10 cloves of garlic a couple of sliced onions some Chinese 5 spice and white wine vinegar ( just enough to cover the bottom of the tin this helps tenderise the pork ).

Cover with parchment paper then foil and bang it in the oven on 180c for 3 hours, then take off the foil and paper and cook for another hour. I know its a long time to cook but its a hard working piece of meat so needs it. 

When its get 2 forks and pull it apart so its like strands of meat. 

In a pan chuck in a couple of glugs of oil, add some sliced onion chilli flakes a sprinkle of sugar Chinese 5 spice and honey.

Fry them off till the onion has softened then lob in that pork you just pulled apart.

Season to taste.

OK so that's the hard bit, its a bit cheffy and does tasks a while but the end result is so worth it!

For the bread

Same as my previous bread mix with the addition of chilli flakes 

For the sides

Chuck your new potatoes straight in the oven with some garlic butter.

After you have cooked your green beans drain and whack on some olive oil lemon juice and cracked black pepper to taste. 

Not the greatest pics I'm afraid!

Have a crack yourself!!!

Easy Melba Toast

OK so Melba toast is a notorious pain in the bum but my way is so much easier and looks better.

Normally you would toast your bread then cut the crusts off slice it in half so you have 2 really thin slices rub the now untoasted sides on the work surface to smooth it out then grill again! How much hassle is that?

My way

Preheat oven to 100c

Toast your bread

With a rolling pin flatten to your desired thickness

Cut crusts off and cut into triangles

Whack them in the oven until dried out ( about 15 mins ).

Job done!!

Boarders Christmas Dinner

Its the time of year all the boarders look forward to! The Christmas dinner. Last year was my first in the boarding house and with the menu already done and all the food ordered I had no input, this year was completely mine. Historically the menu has always been the standard Soup Main and Xmas pud, you can understand my concerns about my menu! Here it is!

Starter

Tomato and Basil Soup

Or

Chicken Liver Pate with Home made Melba Toast

Main

Roast Turkey

Or

Feta Cheese and Spinach Parcel

With 

Roast Potatoes (in duck fat for the carnivores)

Baton Carrots

Honey Roast Parsnips

Brussels sprouts

Pigs in Blankets

Sage and Onion Stuffing 

Rich Gravy

Dessert

Spiced Apple Slice with Home made Christmas Pudding Ice cream

Or

Lemon Tart

Admittedly not entirely ground breaking or too outrageous the very idea of a choice of starter and dessert and the fact that Christmas pudding as it should be didn't feature on the menu was enough to raise eyebrows with a majority of the boys and staff alike! 

With service out of the way it became clear that the night was a massive success and with comments like "best Christmas dinner in the school ever" ( from staff and boys!!!) I was happy! 

As always though I couldn't have pulled it off without the support and willingness to work even harder than they normally do from my team. Thanks guys!!

Here's a couple of pics of the Pate and Desserts and one of some bloke trying to look busy!!

Thanks again and have a very merry Christmas!!