Here are a few recipes for you to try at home
Pan-fried sirloin steak with roasted shallot and balsamic vinaigrette
Ingredients - Serves 4
4 x 175g sirloin steaks
225ml olive oil
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
Salt & pepper
Method
Prepare the vinaigrette - place the shallots and 175ml olive oil in a small ovenproof pan and cover tightly. Bake at 350°f/180°c/ gas 4 for one hour. Or until the shallots are soft, let the shallots cool in the olive oil and then remove reserving the oil.
Julienne the shallots and put them in a bowl, added the balsamic vinegar and slowly whisk in the reserved olive oil.
Add the chopped chives and season to taste with salt and pepper.
Cooking the Beef
Pre-heat the oven to 450°f/232°c/gas 8
Place some vegetable oil in a large frying pan and seal off the steaks until they are golden brown. Season with salt and pepper, place on a baking tray and cook in the oven for 2 minutes for medium rare, remove from the oven and allow to rest for 5 minutes before carving.
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Warm pigeon salad with beetroot, orange, celeriac and a red wine dressing
Ingredients - Serves 4
4 pigeon breasts - use the rest of the birds for stock
1 orange - zest into strips and orange segmented
110g celeriac & lentils
A small selection of salad leaves
2 medium beetroots
Grape seed oil
Celeriac sautéed with lentils and walnut oil
1-tablespoon olive oil
½ onion finely chopped
½ carrot, finely chopped
1 clove garlic finely chopped
1 bay leaf
150g brown lentils, washed
½ celeriac, peeled and cut into 1 cm cubes
227ml chicken or pigeon stock or water
2 tablespoon freshly chopped chives
1 tablespoon walnut oil
Salt & pepper
Method
Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and sauté onion, carrots, garlic and bay leaf for few minutes. Tip in the lentils and celeriac and add salt. Pour in stock and bring to a boil, Cook over a medium heat stirring frequently for about 20 minutes. Stir in the herbs, walnut oil and pepper to taste - set aside.
Beetroot Confit
2 beetroot, medium sized
55ml olive oil
Cook the beetroots whole on a bed of rock salt in the oven for 2 hours at
160c°c/ 325°/gas 3
Red wine orange dressing
½ bottle of red wine, reduced by half. Place the juice of 1 orange and zest in a pan and reduce by half, add the red wine and reduce by half again set aside and allow to cool. Whisk the grape seed oil into the mixture. Season to taste.
Method
Season the pigeon breast and pan-fry gently for 3 minutes. Remove from heat and rest.
Arrange the celeriac and lentils in the centre of a plate with the salad leaves. Carve the pigeon breasts and place on top of the salad, add the juices to the vinaigrette.
Pour a little vinaigrette over the pigeon breasts and around the salad and serve.
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Chocolate tart with pear and caramel sauce
Serves 8
Pate Sablee (shortbread dough)
Ingredients
200g unsalted butter
Pinch of salt
100g icing sugar
2 egg yolks
250g plain flour
1 drop of vanilla or lemon essence
Method
In a food processor combine the butter and salt and sugar and blitz quickly add the vanilla and eggs and blitz again then lastly add the flour. Turn the dough on to a board and wrap in cling film and chill and refrigerate for about 1 hour.
Transfer the dough to a sheet of waxed paper and with your hands gently form the dough into a ball and flatten it into a circle and then carefully roll the dough out to form a circle to fit the tin. Transfer it to the prepared tart pan.
Generously prick the dough lining the bottom of the tart pan and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or up to 24 hours.
Pre-heat the oven to 375°f / 190°c / gas 5
Remove the tart shell from the refrigerator, place on a baking sheet in the centre of the oven. Bake the pastry for 10 to 15 minutes. Cool the pastry case for at least ½ hour before filling with the chocolate mixture.
Filling Mixture
180ml double cream
90ml milk
175g dark chocolate
1 large egg, slightly beaten
Method
Pre-heat oven to 190°c/375ºf/gas 5
In a medium saucepan combine the cream and milk and bring to a simmer over a moderate heat. Remove the pan from the heat, pass through a sieve into a clean bowl add the chocolate and stir until the chocolate is thoroughly melted and the mixture is well blended. Set aside to cool to lukewarm.
When cooled add the egg and whisk until thoroughly blended.
Pour the mixture into the prepared pastry shell. Place in the centre of the oven and bake for about 15 minutes until the filling is slightly firm but still trembling in the centre.
Remove from the oven and place on a rack to cool.
Serve warm at room temperature.
Pear and caramel sauce
115g sugar 50ml orange juice - hot
55g unsalted butter
50ml double cream
3 x pears, peeled, cored and cut into ½ inch dice
Pulp of ½ vanilla bean
Cook over a medium heat for 10 minutes or until golden brown and caramelised. Add the orange juice and stir until combined. Add the butter, vanilla bean pulp, cream, and pear pieces and cook for 10 minutes or until the sauce comes together.