Author: Creative Steam

Valentine’s night is nearly upon us. Why not treat someone you love to a romantic dinner by cooking this simple yet impressive dish for them.

Ingredients

1 chicken breast (butterflied and thinned with a meat hammer)

7 basil leaves

60g mozzarella

6 rashers pancetta

For the warm salad

1 small courgette

5 leaves mint (sliced thinly)

1 small red chilli (finely diced)

Zest of a small lemon

Rapeseed oil

Method

Lay five of the six pancetta rashers lengthways on a sheet of cling film and place the chicken breast on top.  Season the chicken then slice the mozzarella thinly and lay on top to cover all the chicken.

Lay the basil leaves on top of the mozzarella then roll the whole thing up using the cling film as a rolling mat.

When rolled up completely cover the chicken with the cling film and twist the ends. On a work surface roll the chicken, 5 or 6 times, holding the two ends of the cling film so as to tighten.

Wrap in tin foil as you did with the cling film, twist the ends and tighten.

Bake at 200 degrees centigrade for 15 minutes then rest for five minutes.

Place a griddle pan on a high heat then thinly slice the courgette length ways and cover in a tbsp of rapeseed oil.  Char the courgette slices flat on the griddle for a couple of minutes until cooked.

When ready place into a bowl, season and add the lemon zest followed by the mint and chilli, add a little rapeseed oil and keep warm.

Cut the chicken into five slices and fan out on a warm plate, place the salad beside the chicken and finish with a shard of crispy grilled pancetta.

Turkey and Sweet Leek Muffin Tin Pies

One thing you can guarantee at Christmas is plenty of leftovers. In the words of our very own Granny Spear: “waste not want not”! And there’s nothing better than a comforting pie in the winter months. So here’s one of our favourites for using up the leftover turkey. Enjoy!

 

Ingredients (makes four small pies)
For the pastry

200g flour

100g butter

Pinch salt

Enough water to bind

For the filling

100g cooked turkey

½ leek (sliced)

25g butter

25g flour

300ml warm milk roughly

tsp English mustard

1 clove garlic finely chopped

Salt and pepper

Method

Work the butter into the flour with fingertips until it resembles breadcrumbs, add the salt and mix. Add the water a little at a time until it forms a dough. Wrap in cling film and leave to rest in the fridge whilst making the filling.

Melt the butter in a frying pan, add the leeks and garlic, cooking until soft and then add the flour and cook out for 2-3 minutes.  Warm the milk in a separate pan and then add gradually to the leeks.  The sauce needs to be fairly thick so don’t add all the milk if not required.  Add the turkey and finish with the mustard and seasoning to taste.

Take the pastry from the fridge and roll out to the thickness of a pound coin. Cut out four circles with a large pie/pastry cutter and place into buttered muffin tins (or individual pie tins if you have them). Cut out four lids with a small cutter.

Fill the pie cases with the turkey mixture, egg wash one side of the lids and place on top of the pies.  Egg wash the tops of the pies and pierce to allow air to escape.

Cook at 200 degrees centigrade for 20/25 minutes

Even if you’re still full from the feast of the day before, savour and enjoy. They’re only dinky little pies after all!

With the festive season nearly upon us, this delicious dish is ideal when entertaining friends and family

Recipe serves 2

Ingredients

Salmon

2 x 150g portions salmon

100g Cornish sea salt

100g caster sugar

2 tbsp. oak chippings

Celeriac puree

100g celeriac (diced)

Thumbnail ginger (finely diced)

1 clove garlic (minced)

1 shallot (diced)

Knob of butter

400ml homemade fish stock

Beetroot

2 small cooked beetroot (diced)

1 tsp fresh thyme

1 lime zested

Arancini

100g pearl barley

1  x small onion (finely diced)

30g Cornish blue cheese

50g fennel (finely diced)

30ml Noilly Pratt

500ml homemade fish stock

 Method

Firstly cover the salmon in the salt and sugar and leave for an hour.

To make the arancini, sweat the onion and fennel in a little oil and butter and cook until soft. Add the pearl barley and cook until slightly coloured. Deglaze the pan with Noilly Pratt and reduce by half. Gradually add the stock a little at a time until the barley is soft to the bite. Melt in the blue cheese, season and leave to cool. When cool, shape into 40g balls and pane (coat first in flour then beaten egg and finally breadcrumbs).

To make the celeriac puree, place all the ingredients in the butter with a little oil and cook for a few minutes until starting to brown. Add the stock and cook until the celeriac is soft. Liquidize and season. Set aside and keep warm

Rinse the salmon and pat dry. Place in a hot smoker with your chippings and cook for roughly 8 minutes (depending on the size of you fish)

Whilst the fish is cooking, pan fry the beetroot in a little oil until starting to brown. Add the lime zest and oregano, season and set to one side

Deep fry your arancini for roughly 4 minutes until golden brown

To plate up, place a line of celeriac on a large white plate and top with the arancini. Parallel to this place a line of beetroot with the salmon on top.

Finish with sprigs of fennel, herb and chilli salsa and beetroot reduction

The game season has begun and as we love nothing more at Philleigh Way than making the most of seasonal produce, why not give this delicious  recipe a try.

Ingredients

2 partridge (breasts and legs removed)

2 tbsp. oak chippings

50g salt

50g sugar

200ml rapeseed oil

Warm salad

1 beetroot (boiled and quartered – skin can be left on)

50g kale (sliced)

15g walnuts

1 x small leek (sliced)

Zest of 1 lemon

Parsnip puree

1 large parsnip (diced)

1 small onion (diced)

100ml whipping cream

125ml white wine

50g butter

Method

Firstly place the legs in a small baking tray and cover with the oil. Place in an oven at 120 degrees centigrade and cook for 1 hour (the meat should be tender)

Mix the salt and sugar together, cover the breasts and allow to cure for 1 hour

Cook the onion for the parsnip puree in the butter with a little oil for a few minutes. Add the parsnip and cook for a further few minutes. Add the wine, reduce by half then add the cream and allow the parsnip to cook until very tender (add a little water if the cream reduces too much). When tender blend in a liquidizer until smooth and season. Keep warm

For the salad cook the beetroot in a little oil until slightly coloured. Add the leek and cook until slightly soft. Add the kale and walnuts and cook until the kale is wilted. Season, add the lemon zest then keep warm

To smoke the partridge breast, rinse off the cure mix and pat dry. Place the chippings in a frying pan that has a tight-fitting lid and has been lined with foil. Turn onto a high heat. Place the breasts on a trivet and place over the chippings. When the chippings begin to smoke, place the lid on the pan and cook for 6 minutes then turn off the heat

To plate up, place a spoonful of puree on two warm plates, halve the breasts and place on top of the puree. Split the salad between the two plates and top with the confit legs. Finish with some game jus and coriander pesto

 

Focaccia with Rosemary and Cornish Sea Salt

Our Cornish Italian and our Beginner Bread courses cover this delectable bread and we’re treating you to the recipe! The substitution of rapeseed oil for olive oil gives the bread a distinctive floral flavour.

 

Ingredients

500g Strong White Flour

325mls Tepid Water

30mls Cornish Rapeseed Oil

20g Fresh Yeast (10gms if using dried)

10g Salt

Fresh Rosemary and Sea Salt (Cornish if possible) for decoration

Method

Mix the salt with the flour in a large mixing bowl, dissolve the yeast into the water, add the rapeseed oil to the mixing bowl, add the yeast and water and mix to a rough dough with a wooden spoon. When the dough appears easy to handle knead for ten minutes until smooth and elastic (keep hands lubricated with oil to avoid sticking).

Place onto a well-oiled baking tray (20cm x 30cm) and flatten into a rectangle, cover with cling film and rest for ½ an hour.

Fold into thirds, turn, fold into thirds again and flatten again into a rectangle, cover and rest again for ½ hour.

Push the dough into the corners of the tray and rest again for ½ hour.

Make small wells in the dough and add a sprinkling of Cornish sea salt, fresh rosemary and a splash of rapeseed oil.

Bake at 200 degrees centigrade for 20 minutes.

 Allow to cool on a rack – resist the temptation to eat before it has cooled!

 

 

Beetroot Tarte Tatin (serves 1 as a main course)

Ingredients

• 3 or 4 small heads of cooked beetroot
• 20g butter
• 20g brown sugar
• 30ml red wine vinegar
• Enough cold water to bind

For the pastry

• 100g strong flour
• 50g cold butter (diced)
• Pinch of salt

Method

• Add the butter to the flour and mix until the butter is completely covered (leaving lumps of butter)
• Add the salt then enough water to form a dough. Knead until smooth then wrap in cling film and rest the pastry in the fridge ideally for at least half an hour
• Place the butter, red wine vinegar and sugar in a small metal saucepan (suitable for going in the oven) 15cm pan and bring to the boil
• Add the beetroot in halves (or in smaller uniformed shapes if larger heads) and simmer for a couple of minutes
• Roll out the pastry to roughly the thickness of a pound coin and 15cm in diameter
• Place on top of the beetroot and bake at 200 degrees centigrade for about 20 minutes
• Remove carefully, place a plate on top of the pan and then turn upside down so that the tarte is the correct way up
• Serve with a green salad

Salmon with Stuffed Tortellini and Brown Butter

 

Serves 2

Ingredients

Pasta

• 200g pasta flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 eggs beaten
• 1 tblsp olive oil

Pasta filling

• 3 scallops (roe removed)
• 100ml double cream
• 300g fresh salmon
• 1 tblsp coriander
• 1 tblsp lime zest

Everything else

• 2 x 150g fresh salmon fillets
• 100g spinach
• 30g butter
• Juice of ½ lemon
• Mixture of herbs from the garden

Method

• To make the pasta dough gradually add the beaten eggs to the flour and salt until a dough is formed, add the oil and knead for 5 minutes. Wrap and rest in the fridge for about half an hour
• For the filling, blend the scallops in a food processer and gradually and the cream until smooth. Add the salmon and pulse until a course mixture is produced. Put into a bowl, add the lime zest and season. Cover and put in the fridge for an hour to firm up
• Roll out the pasta to number 8 on the pasta machine and shape 10 tortellini. To cook, have a pan of water on the boil, a pan on for frying the fish and a baking tray ready. Put the oven on to 200 degrees centigrade
• Seal the salmon for a minute on each side in the frying pan, season and place on a baking tray and roast for 4 to 5 minutes. At the same time, put the tortellini into boil for 5minutes
• Wilt the spinach in the same pan you sealed the fish in then set aside to keep warm
• Melt the butter in the same pan again and cook until a nut brown colour. Take off the heat and stop it cooking by adding the lemon juice
• Serve the salmon on the spinach, place the tortellini alongside and season with salt and black pepper and olive oil. Decorate with fresh herbs and drizzle on the butter

Summer is upon us and this recipe is perfect for both picnics and light lunches. If you have never smoked your own foods before, why not come along to our ‘Hot Smoking at Home’ taster course and learn all about it.

 

Serves 2

Ingredients

Chicken

• 100g salt
• 100g caster sugar
• Tbsp. honey
• Tbsp. soy sauce
• 2 chicken breast
• Handful of oak chippings

Potato salad

• 300g new potatoes (boiled until tender)
• 3 sprigs of spring onion
• 2 tsp. whole grain mustard
• 1 egg yolk
• 100ml rapeseed oil
• 1 tsp white wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp. roughly chopped coriander

Method

• Mix the salt and sugar together and rub over the chicken fillets and cure for 1 hour in the fridge
• Rinse the cure off thoroughly, pat dry then place on a metal rack. Slightly warm and mix the soy and honey and brush all over the breasts. Sit the rack over the chippings within the hot smoker.  Put the smoker on a high heat, when the chippings start to smoke put the lid on, turn down to a medium heat and cook for 12 to 15 minutes
• Whilst cooking prepare the salad. Make the mayonnaise by whisking the egg yolk, vinegar and mustard together then gradually whisk in the oil until a thick consistency is achieved
• Dice the potatoes, finely chop the onions and add this to the mayonnaise with the coriander and season
• When the chicken is cooked, rest for five minutes, slice thinly and present with the potato salad decorated with a little fresh coriander , sliced red chilli and chilli infused rapeseed oil

We are always keen to champion tried and tested family recipes handed down through the generations and so to celebrate British  Tomato Week, why not have a go at making this family favourite that we think cannot be beaten when British tomatoes are in season, the classic tomato soup.

 

 

Ingredients

• 1 kilo tomatoes (over ripe are best)
• 3 cloves of garlic (crushed)
• 2 medium onions (sliced)
• 1 small leek (halved and sliced)
• 2 sticks celery (peeled and sliced)
• 2 small carrots (washed and diced)
• 1 tblsp Rapeseed oil
• 100g butter
• 100ml red wine
• 45 ml red wine vinegar
• 45 ml dark brown sugar
• 2 litres vegetable stock
• Chopped parsley

Method

• Heat the oil and butter then sweat the onion and garlic until translucent. Add the leeks, celery and carrots and cook for about five minutes to gain a little  colour
• Deglaze the pan with the wine and reduce until nearly all the liquid is gone, then add the tomatoes and cook until they start to break down
• Add the vinegar and sugar and cook for a couple of minutes then add the stock and simmer for 45 minutes or until the carrots are nice and soft
• Blend with a stick blender or in a liquidiser and finish with the parsley
• The soup is great served with some pan fried chorizo and granary bread

May is National Asparagus month and so for our recipe this month we have chosen this delicious vegetarian tart which is perfect for picnics and light lunches. Asparagus is a wonderfully versatile ingredient which is quick to prepare and full of goodness.

 

Ingredients

Pastry

• 125g strong plain flour
• 65g butter
• Pinch of salt
• Water to bind

Filling

• 4 spears of asparagus
• 100g spinach
• 4 eggs
• 100ml double or whipping cream
• 50ml milk
• 100g Cornish blue (diced)
• Salt and pepper

Method

• Rub the butter into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs
• Add the salt and then enough water for the pastry to form a dough. Rest the pastry for about an hour.
• Mix together the milk, cream and eggs and then season
• Wilt the spinach in a little oil and place on some kitchen roll to absorb any moisture
• Blanch the asparagus for about 30 seconds in boiling water then plunge into iced water briefly and drain
• Grease and line the base of a 24cm tart tin with silicone paper. Roll out the pastry until it is about the thickness of a one pound coin. Line the tin with the pastry leaving some overhanging the edges.
• Line with cling film and fill with baking beans and bake at 180 degrees centigrade for 20 minutes. Remove the baking beans and prick the base of the pastry then bake for a further ten minutes.
• Fill the pastry shell firstly with the spinach, then dot around the asparagus and blue cheese. Season to taste then cover with the egg mix
• Bake for about 20 minutes or until the egg has set.  Can be served hot or cold

We are always keen to teach our students new ways to cook with fish and this delicious recipe using hake has proved a real hit. Why not try it for yourself. The pearl barley makes an interesting change from traditional risotto rice.

Ingredients

• 4 x 80g hake fillets (skin on)
• 100g Cornish sea salt
• 2 banana shallots
• 2 sticks celery
• 2 cloves garlic
• ½ stick leek
• 50g butter
• 200g pearl barley (rinsed)
• 1 litre fish stock
• Glass of white wine
• 50g parmesan cheese (finely grated)

Method

• Cover the hake with the salt and refrigerate for half an hour. Rinse well, pat dry and place back in the fridge wrapped tightly in cling film
• Finely chop the shallot, celery, leek and garlic and sweat in the butter and a little oil for about five minutes without allowing to colour
• Add the pearl barley and cook for a further three minutes
• Turn up the heat, add the white wine and reduce
• Gradually add the stock until the barley is cooked through. It should still have a bite to it. This should take about 8-10 minutes
• Add half the parmesan cheese and set aside
• To make the parmesan crisps, place the cheese thinly in a desired shape on baking parchment & bake at 200 degrees centigrade until golden brown (about five minutes). Cool.
• To cook the fish place it skin side down in a hot pan with a little oil until the skin is charred and crispy. Turn it over and bake for three to four minutes at 200 degrees centigrade
• To serve place a little risotto on a plate, top with the fish, a shard of parmesan crisp, salsa verde and fresh dill or fennel

Salsa Verde

Ingredients

• Handful of mixed, fresh herbs (parsley, mint, basil)
• Clove of garlic
• Splash of lemon juice
• 100ml rapeseed oil
• 5 anchovy fillets
• Salt and pepper

Method

• Place all ingredients into a liquidizer and blend until smooth

To celebrate British Pie Week, why not have a go at this traditional Cornish favourite, Stargazy Pie. Traditionally made using pilchards, the unique feature of the pie  is fish heads, and sometimes tails, protruding up through the crust giving the appearance of gazing skyward.

 

Ingredients

Pastry

• 250g strong flour
• 65g lard (cold and diced)
• 65g margarine (cold and diced)
• Pinch of salt
• Enough cold water to bind (about 100ml)

Filling

• 4 fillets smoked mackerel (pin boned and diced) tails reserved for decoration (optional)
• 1 banana shallot (finely diced)
• Clove of garlic (crushed)
• 2 rashers smoked streaky bacon (diced)
• 50g hogs pudding (diced)
• 30g butter
• Splash of rapeseed oil
• 30g flour
• 150ml fish stock
• 50ml rattler cider (if rattler not available, substitute for another brand)
• 1 egg (boiled and sliced)
• Chopped dill or fennel
• 1 egg (beaten for egg wash)

Method

• To make the pastry mix the fat, salt and flour together until bread crumbs are produced. Gradually add the water to bind, knead until smooth then refrigerate while you make the filling
• Melt the butter with the oil and sweat the shallot, bacon and garlic for a couple of minutes. Add the hogs pudding followed by the flour and cook out so as the flour is not grainy
• Gradually add the stock followed by the cider until a fairly thick sauce consistency is reached
• Season and finish with the herbs and the mackerel
• Roll out the pastry with 4 bases to line a muffin tin (leave a little overhang) and 4 lids to cover
• Grease the muffin tin with butter and line 4 moulds. Place some of the mixture in each one (do not over fill) then place a couple of slices of egg on each one.
• Egg wash the edges of the pastry bases, place the lids on top and crimp to seal
• Place a decent size steam whole in each lid and bake at 200 degrees centigrade for 20 minutes
• Remove from the oven, place half a tail in each steam hole and bake for a further 5 minutes
• If you would prefer to make one large pie instead of individual ones, substitute the muffin tins for one large 10″ pie dish.

It’s Bramley apple week this week so why not have a go at making this delicious dessert. An ideal way to use up blackberries frozen from last season, you could make it for a special Valentine’s dinner next weekend and really impress a loved one!

 

Ingredients

Parfait

• 6 egg yolks
• 150 g sugar
• 75ml water
• 300g blackberry puree (last season’s frozen berries are ideal)
• 150ml whipping cream (whipped until soft peaks are formed)

Apple and almond cake

• 330ml rattler cider
• 300g plain flour
• 2tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1 tsp mixed spice
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• Pinch of nutmeg
• 3 bramley apples (pureed)
• 150g dark brown sugar
• 150g soft butter
• 3 eggs
• 100g ground almonds

Blackberry stock syrup

• 20 fresh blackberries
• 100g sugar
• 50ml water

Method

• To make the blackberry stock syrup bring the sugar and water to the boil and simmer for a couple of minutes, add the berries and leave to cool
• To make the parfait boil the sugar and water until it reaches 120 degrees centigrade. Meanwhile whisk the egg yolks until light and fluffy then carefully add the sugar syrup in a steady stream whilst continuously whisking and carry on until the mix is cold
• Fold in the blackberry puree followed by the cream and freeze in 7cm metal rings
• To make the apple cake start by reducing the cider by 1/3. Sift the flour, spices, and bicarb into a bowl
• Mix the butter and sugar until pale, then gradually add the eggs, fold in the flour mix and almonds then add the cider (add a little more cider if too stiff) then fold in the grated apple
• Bake on a lined baking tray with the mixture about 5mm thick for about 15 minutes
• Cool on a wire rack and cut into triangles about 2cm thick
• To serve unmould the parfait and place on a line of ground almonds. Place 3 blackberries on the plate and lean your apple cake up against them. Finish the plate with honeycomb, crème fraiche and some blackberry syrup

 

Celebrate Bramley apple week by have a go at making this delicious variation on the classic bavarois

Ingredients

Bavarois

• 400g squash (diced)
• 185ml double cream
• 185ml milk
• 3 egg yolks
• 100g caster sugar
• 3 leaves of gelatine (soaked in cold water for 5 minutes)

Kiwi sorbet

• 100g caster sugar
• 50ml water
• 4 kiwi fruit (peeled and quartered)
• 1 tbsp lime juice

Apple puree

• 2 brambly apples (peeled and diced)
• 1 tbsp caster sugar
• 2 tbsp water

Method

• To make the bavarois, roast the butternut squash at 180 degrees centigrade for about 20/30 minutes until soft and leave to cool. Meanwhile, heat the milk and cream then add the gelatine followed by the squash then liquidize and pass through a sieve
• Whisk the egg yolks and sugar together then gradually poor onto the squash mixture. Put into a clean pan and cook slowly, stirring all the time so it does not catch, until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon
• Pour the mixture into 7cm circular moulds and leave in the fridge until set
• To make the kiwi sorbet, blitz the lime juice and kiwi fruit until smooth. Mix the water and sugar in a pan and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the kiwi mix to the sugar syrup, leave to cool then place in an ice cream machine, churn until thick and freeze
• For the apple puree, place all ingredients into a pan, simmer until the fruit begins to collapse and blend in a liquidizer. Leave to cool
• To serve, spoon a smear of apple puree in the centre of a large plate. Remove the bavarois from the mould and place on top. Place a few crushed nuts next to this, pistachios are good, then put a ball of sorbet on top.

With the game season well underway here is a recipe which will make use of any game that ends up on your kitchen table.

 

Ingredients

• 300g diced game meat (whatever is available)
• 250g minced pork shoulder
• 100g liver
• 1 egg
• Parsley
• Rosemary
• 3 juniper berries (crushed)
• 1 clove garlic
• Splash of brandy
• Salt and pepper
• 8 rashers streaky bacon

Method

• Line a 1lb loaf tin with the bacon leaving a little overhanging to cover the top
• Mix the pork, liver, egg, parsley, rosemary, juniper berries, garlic and brandy together
• Brown the game meat in a frying pan with a little oil
• Season all the meat and then layer them in the tin starting with the pork and finishing with the pork
• Cover the top of the terrine with the bacon, wrap in tin foil and bake in a bain marie at 160 degrees centigrade for 90 minutes

Ever made your own croissants?  If not, you’re missing out. There is something about making them yourself that just takes those buttery flavours to the next level!

Ingredients

• 250g strong white flour
• 1.5 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 10g yeast
• 125ml warm water
• 150g butter (left out the fridge for 30 minutes)
• 1 egg to glaze

Method

• Place flour, sugar, salt in a bowl. Dissolve the yeast in the water and mix with the dry ingredients
• Knead for ten minutes, cover and refrigerate overnight
• Knock back the dough and shape into a square shape (about 12cm)
• Flatten the butter until half the size of the dough and lay it diagonally across it
• Fold the sides over the butter followed by the two ends, stretching if you need to, so it is completely covered
• Roll out the dough until you have a long rectangle, folds facing up, then fold the top into the middle then the bottom over that so you are left with a square, three tiers high. This is your first turn, make 1 thumb print so as to remember this. Refrigerate for 20 minutes
• Repeat the previous stage twice more, making thumb prints to remember what stage you’re on, then refrigerate for 40 minutes
• Roll out the dough into a rectangle roughly 25cm x 38cm and cut into 8 or 9 long thin triangles
• Brush the tip of the triangle with egg wash then roll it up from the base of the triangle
• Prove for about an hour, egg wash and bake for 15 minutes at 200 degrees centigrade

Try this delicious combination, great for quick supper served with a chilled crisp white wine.  It may however leave you wishing you had bought more scallops….

Pan griddles scallops, red onion jam, deep fried basil and rapeseed oil

Serves four as a starter or two as a main

Ingredients

12 Cornish scallops (roe left on)

3 red onions (finely sliced)

250mls red wine

50mls red wine vinegar

60gms dark brown sugar

2 bay leaves

12 large leaves of basil

Rapeseed oil

½ pint vegetable oil

Method

• If buying shell on scallops slide a knife into the hinge of the scallop and twist to release it. Then run the knife along the flat shell to cut away the scallop. Get a spoon and scoop everything out the rounded shell. You want to be left with the white scallop meat and roe, removing the small mussel on the side.
• Now place the onions, red wine, vinegar, sugar and bay leaves in a small pan and cook on a medium heat for roughly 30 minutes. You want a nice sticky consistency.
• While this is cooking heat about half a pint of vegetable oil in a pan until it reaches 140 degrees centigrade.  Then place the basil leaves in the oil for a couple of minutes or until they stop bubbling. (Be careful as they will spit.) Remove and place on a dry tea towel and lightly salt.
• Place a griddle pan on a high heat. Rub the scallops with rapeseed oil and season them with salt and cracked black pepper.  Place the scallops in the pan when it is smoking hot and cook them for roughly  one minute each side, they are better eaten under than over done!
• To serve place 3 scallops on a warm plate along with three spoons of the red onion jam, garnish with the basil leaves and drizzle the plate with rapeseed oil.

Ingredients:

• 1-1.5kg live mussels
• Rapeseed oil
• 1 banana shallot, sliced into half moons
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed under a knife then finely sliced
• 250ml medium dry cider
• 100ml whipped cream
• 4 springs tarragon
• Sea salt
• Sourdough bread, to serve

Method:

• Prep the mussels by washing, removing beards and checking they are all still alive
• Heat a splash of rapeseed oil in a pan, add the shallot and garlic and fry over a medium heat until softened but not browned.
• Add the mussels and cook until just starting to open
• Add the cider and turn up to a high heat with the lid on.
• Once the liquid has come to a rapid boil and there is plenty of steam stir once, cover the pan again and cook for 2-3 minutes until the mussels open.
• Add the tarragon sprigs and stir the mussels to check that the majority have opened – discard any that have not opened.
• Divide the mussels between two bowls with a slotted spoon. Taste the liquor and add salt if required.  Ladle the liquor over the mussels and tuck in.
• Use the sourdough bread to mop up the liquor.