RECIPES TO TRY THIS MONTH 



GINGER SEARED SCALLOP WITH CRAB AND CELERIAC REMOULADE

6 scallops

300g white crab meat

2 heads gem lettuce

½  a celeriac

2 Cox’s apples

1 pink grapefruit

2 garlic cloves

An inch of fresh ginger

2 tbsp good mayonnaise

½ fresh red chilli - deseeded

Squeeze of lemon juice

1 tbsp sherry vinegar

3 tbsp hazelnut oil

Black pepper

Paprika

Juice and zest the pink grapefruit. Roughly chop ginger and garlic. Add scallops, to juice, zest, ginger and garlic and put in fridge to marinate (4-24 hours).

Grate celeriac and apple into dish, sprinkle with lemon juice to keep from discolouring. Add paprika, mayonnaise, deseeded chilli finely sliced and salt. Mix well, cover and refrigerate.

Rip lettuce, make dressing with sherry vinegar, hazelnut oil (substitute olive or rapeseed instead) and black pepper. Drizzle over lettuce. Plate spoon of remoulade, add lettuce, arrange crab around remoulade. Heat griddle pan brushed with butter, when smoking add scallops cook for a few seconds each side until golden. Top lettuce with hot seared scallop. Serve immediately. Serves six.


RHUBARB SMOOTHIE

400g rhubarb

1 orange (juice & zest)

3 tbsp caster sugar

1 tbsp oats

6 tbsp greek yogurt

5 ice cubes

Wash and chop rhubarb, put into pan with the orange zest, juice and sugar and cook until rhubarb is soft. Leave to cool. Put rhubarb and syrup into a blender or jug, add oats, yoghurt and ice and pulse blitz until smooth. Pour into glasses and top with a sprinkle of cinnamon.

 

JANUARY NEWS

It’s a quiet month in the events calendar, with just a couple of first nights, a private view and a christening in the diary, but that gives us a chance to catch up on current food trends and start preparing some new ideas for the rest of the year. We hope those who are having events in spring and summer 2011 will reap the benefits of the delicious, seasonal dishes we invent in these few weeks of respite.

FOOD PREDICTIONS

We’ve put our heads together and had a wager on the top 5 food trends for 2011. We’ll see how well we did this time next year.

1.                Artisan products: Small batch, hand-made, often local and raw or unpasteurized, these are most commonly honeys, cheeses and milks but look out for breads, pies and sausages too. Their novelty appeal has a legitimate backstory - fuller more developed flavours, varied taste combinations and new textures. These products need to be hunted out at food fairs, county shows, specialist purveyors and farmers markets.

2.                Sherries: This is building on the Hispanophilia that’s been spreading across the country in the past 5 years. From food to drink we have come to appreciate all things Spanish, and a tipple of Jerez or sherry is now accepted as a drink in its own right. From the pale, dry finos, manzanilla from Sanlucar or the amber palo cortado for pre dinner sipping, to the smooth olorosos and amontillados able to cope with main course flavours, to the legendary pudding sherry Pedro Ximénez over vanilla ice cream. This trend will continue to grow with sherries featuring on both cocktail and dinner menus in wild and wonderful ways.

3.                BYO: Bake your Own, this trend picks up from the crazes for baked goods from macaroons to cupcakes to whoopee pies and brings it home for added fun and creativity. This extends to bread, cakes, cookies and biscuits, embracing our noble scone and crumpet in between. This is fast food for all ages without the guilt.

4.                Classic French cuisine revival: The old techniques and processes are returning and so are many of the great classic dishes, not surprising considering the renewed interest in Julia Childs and Pierre Koffmann’s return to London. Look out for straight English translations of French dishes and slightly tweaked ingredients to make the dishes feel more modern and seasonal. We’ve already embraced the return of îles flottantes, now welcome croque monsieur, cassoulet and coq au vin.

5.                Homespun: Mix and match tableware will be huge in 2011, collected, handed-down, bargained, swapped, purloined and even a hand-made one-off. This is a home and event trend that is another marker of creative individuality and a move towards a more bohemian-looking table. For inspiration visit some of the big antiques markets and fairs and seek out the dedicated crockery and tableware dealers.

CENTRAL EATING

The freezing weather demands a different sort of eating, especially if you are spending time outside. The body is literally burning food as fuel so that’s why we find ourselves with bigger appetites at lower temperatures. Look to the wilds of Scotland, the Rocky Mountains, the Pyrenees and the Alps for food inspiration and fire up your belly with some of the most comforting dishes ever created. Be warned, this a carbohydrate, sugar and dairy filled menu, but consider it seasonal eating and return to normal when the weather does.

HotChocWrap up warm and venture out for long walks along the river, across heaths and commons, through parks and around markets, there you’ll discover the best winter food. For a London Winter Food Tour start the day with ambrosial porridge at Modern Pantry, E1; for elevenses have hot churros at the Brazilian stall at Greenwich market; for lunch head to recently opened Androuet, E1 for a sit-down feast of tartiflette, raclette or fondue; late afternoon sip the best drinking chocolate in London or try the Cocoa tea at Rabot Estate, SE1; and for supper grab some cornbread or pork gypsy buns at Caravan, EC1.

SEASONAL SURPRISES

Don’t be fooled by the bleak skies and empty fields, we still have a lot of good seasonal eating at this time of year with a few surprises thrown in. Now’s the time to pull out the jams, pickles, chutneys and preserves to add some sparkle to the last of the fruits and vegetables. Buy British beetroot, parsnip, sprouts, Jerusalem artichokes, kale and swede.

Try some Highland venison or rabbit and goose and enjoy the fruits of the sea: oysters from West Mersea, Essex; scallops from the Isle of Mull, Scotland; crab from Dartmouth and Brixham; and cod from the North East. If you’re feeling adventurous and fancy being inspired by our geography take a trip to buy your produce locally and enjoy the beautiful, British landscape en route.

Look out too for early forced Rhubarb from the Yorkshire Triangle. This harvest is grown in fascinating circumstances and as well as being a superfood it has been designated a PDO status by the European Union, ranking it alongside Champagne and Parma ham as a delicacy intrinsically linked to its place of origin.

PRODUCT OF THE MONTH

HoneySeggiano Raw orange blossom honey. This orange scented honey has a delicate flavour and set texture that make it super scrumptious spread on toast, dotted on to Greek yoghurt and stirred into warm porridge. It can also be used in salad dressings - try with walnut or sesame oil and orange zest - and glazes for pork or duck. It continues to be harvested in the mountains of Eastern Sicily by the Oliva family as it has been for six generations. The honey has organic accreditation and is cold filtered and unpasturized in limited batches for a true flavour and natural texture.