January 29

Tasty Bites..

January

This month we had a lovely canape event in Belgravia it was for 50 guests, the occasion was a 50th birthday party and Tom was tasked to put together a selection of tasty hot and cold canapes.

Tom says “Canapes are all about a hit of taste in a small mouthful, so I had to make sure that these bitesize pieces packed a punch. It’s all in the detail!”

What they ate..

Chicken liver parfait, pickled fig chutney, sauternes jelly on toasted brioche

Honey & thyme marinated beetroot, rag stone goats cheese on pine nut sable

Stone Bass ceviche, palm hearts, soy & yuzu dressing

Dry aged Hereford sirloin steak & chips, béarnaise sauce & fresh truffle

Sicilian tomato arancini, arrabiata sauce

Rosemary & sea salt Sardinian music bread, oven dried tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella & basil pistou

‘Fish fingers’ Arbroath smokie croquettes, tartar sauce

How Tom made these little taste sensations:

For the chicken liver parfait – soak livers in milk overnight. Make a reduction of shallots, garlic, thyme, port, brandy & Madeira. Remove livers & discard milk. Blitz livers with reduction, eggs & melted butter till smooth. Season with beetroot powder, salt & pepper. Cook in bain-marie @ 120 degrees for 1 ½ – 2 hours, core temperature should read 60-65 degrees

For the beetroot – thinly slice beetroot, marinade in olive oil, honey, chardonnay vinegar & fresh thyme leaves overnight in vacuum bag. Using baby beetroot, bake in tin foil with thyme & sea salt until soft. Once cooled cut into small pieces. Make a puree with all the trimmings. Serve with whipped Ragstone goats cheese onhomemade pine nut sable. (A lactic goat’s cheese, with a bright acidity reminiscent of crème fraiche. The texture is smooth yet dense)

For the Stone bass – carefully dice stone bass into very small pieces & marinade in yuzu juice. Dice palm hearts, dust with icing sugar & caramelise with a blow touch. Mix stone bass with yuzu zest & chilli. Dress with soy yuzu dressing & baby coriander cress (yuzu – Japanese citrus fruit, highly fragrant zest, both tart & acidic)

For the steak & chips – cut the chippers choice potato into 3cm dice, blanche in boiling water till soft (tip: use a drop of white wine vinegar in water, acidity helps keep shape) and allow to cool. Fry the chips in duck fat @ 150 degrees, allow them to cool and repeat on higher temp @ 190 degrees. Using a 200g dry aged Hereford ribeye steak season with sea salt & pepper, brush with olive oil, place on a hot griddle cook for 2 mins each side and allow to rest. Finally cut into 2cm cubes, serve on a skewer with a duck fat chip & béarnaise sauce!

For the fish fingers – poach the Arbroath smokies in milk, infuse with parsley & dill stalks, lemon zest, onion, cloves & garlic for 10 -12 mins.  Carefully flake meat away from bones, reserve poaching liquor to make a thick béchamel, allow to cool slightly before adding picked meat, diced gruyere cheese, parsley, dill, lemon zest & chopped capers. Once chilled spread into 1inch shallow tray, then freeze, once frozen I cut out into small fingers & pane twice with panko breadcrumbs. Finally, deep fry till golden brown and serve with homemade tartar sauce. (The fishwives originally smoked the fish in halved barrels with fires underneath, trapping the smoke under layers of hessian sacking. At the start of the 20th century the first Auchmithie fisher-folk began moving to Arbroath, and the process soon became known as the Arbroath Smokie, as we know it today)