Bill's Menu
Bill Buckley's dishes included prawn and cucumber mousse and spiced orange chocolate cheesecake:
Prawn and cucumber mousse with toast and caviar
Serves 6-8
Ingredients
1/2 cucumber, peeled, wet seedy centre scooped out and discarded and diced
Good sprinkling of salt
3 tbsp white wine vinegar (or cider vinegar)
350g cream cheese
125 ml double cream
175 ml mayonnaise
Few drops of hot pepper sauce
Freshly ground black pepper
2 tbsp chopped chives
15g gelatine
50ml hot water
225g small peeled cooked prawns
Put the cucumber in a colander and sprinkle with salt and vinegar. Leave for 1 hour. Press to remove any liquid. Beat the cheese until soft and cream. Fold in the cream and mayo, then the hot pepper sauce, black pepper and chives.
Dissolve the gelatine in the water and mix into the cheese mixture. Fold in the prawns and cucumber.
Pour into 6-8 oiled ramekins or dariole moulds. Chill until set (allow 4 hours minimum). Run a knife around each mousse then turn out onto individual plates. Garnish anyway you like. I add a couple of pastry cases filled with a sliver of leftover cream cheese and topped with a blob of mock caviar, ie lumpfish row. A wedge of lemon and/or lime on the plate is a useful addition for squeezing over the mouse.
Serve with a constant supply of thin warm toast.
This recipe is adapted from one in 1000 Recipe Cook Book by Isabelle Barrett and Jane Harrop published by Octopus.
Skate with roast asparagus, butter bean mash and lime and caper butter sauce
Serves 6
Ingredients
6 small skate wings (large ones can be cut in half to serve 2)
3 x 15oz cans butter beans
2 large onions
4 cloves garlic
5 oz butter
2 fl oz double cream
36 medium-thick spears of asparagus
4 limes
Small jar of capers, drained
Handful of flat-leaf parsley
Splash of white wine
Smear of olive oil
Peel and chop the onions. Peel and finely chop the garlic. Melt 1 oz of the butter in a large pan. Very slowly cook the onions and garlic over the lowest possible heat until completely soft but not coloured: if your hob goes down low enough, this could take as long as an hour: the slower the better.
Drain the tinned beans. Rinse them thoroughly and drain again. Put them into a food processor. Season and add the cream. Tip in the onion/garlic sludge with any remaining butter from the pan. Process until you have a smooth paste. You will probably have to do all this in two or more batches. You might want to push it all through a sieve to ensure silky smoothness, or you might prefer the odd rustic lump.
Tip the mash into a large pan and heat very slowly and gently until piping hot. Cut the thick stalks off the parsley, reserving the leaves. Arrange the skate wings in a single layer in a baking tray or trays. Tuck in the parsley stalks. Cut one of the limes into 6 or 8 segments and tuck those around too. Splash over the wine. Season with a little salt and freshly ground black pepper. Cover with foil. Bake at 180C for 15-20 minutes until the flesh is white all the way through.
Meanwhile, dribble a little olive oil into another baking tray. Cut the hard ends off the asparagus spears. Season. Tip the spears into the oiled tray and mix with your hands to get them coated in the oil. Bake in the same oven as the asparagus for about the same amount of time.
Grate the rind from the remaining limes and squeeze the juice. Heat the remaining butter until it melts. Add half the rind and juice, and the capers and taste. If it needs more sharpening up, add more rind and juice. Finely chop the reserved parsley heads at the last possibly moment and stir them in too.
Put a dollop of hot mash in the centre of each plate. Lay half a dozen asparagus spears across the top. Drain the skate wings briefly and balance one on top (If the mash looks too thick, let it down slightly using the delicious liquor from the fish tray but remember it must bear the weight of the asparagus and skate).
Cut the remaining lime into six and add a segment to each plate. Spoon the lime and caper sauce over and around the fish.
Spiced orange chocolate cheesecake
Serves 10-12
Ingredients
100g dark chocolate digestive biscuits
50g melted butter
2 x 200g bars of Green and Black's organic Maya Gold (spiced orange) chocolate
426ml double cream
250g full-fat soft cheese
250g mascarpone
Slug of Cointreau or Grand Marnier
2 oranges
A little caster or icing sugar
Whizz the biscuits in a food processor until they resemble breadcrumbs. Pour in the melted butter and whizz again to amalgamate. Grease a 20cm springform baking tin. Press the biscuit mixture down firmly to evenly cover the base. Refrigerate while you make the topping.
Break the chocolate into small pieces in a bowl. Put it over a pan of barely simmering water until it starts to melt. Take it off and set it aside until it melts completely. You can stir it once or twice to help the process, but be gentle and don't overdo it. Cool slightly.
Gently beat 2/3 (284ml) of the cream, the cheese and mascarpone in a bowl until well combined. Stir in the melted chocolate. Spoon over the base and refrigerate for at least three hours, preferably overnight. Whip the remaining cream. Stir in the liquor.
Zest the oranges. Mix the threads of zest with a little sugar. Peel and segment the oranges. Run a knife round the edge of the cheesecake, release the springform tin. Cut thin wedges of cheesecake and serve each one with a blob of cream topped with a few shreds of the candied zest and two or three orange segments on the side.
Dinner Party 4: Jacqueline Gill >
Serves 6-8
Ingredients
1/2 cucumber, peeled, wet seedy centre scooped out and discarded and diced
Good sprinkling of salt
3 tbsp white wine vinegar (or cider vinegar)
350g cream cheese
125 ml double cream
175 ml mayonnaise
Few drops of hot pepper sauce
Freshly ground black pepper
2 tbsp chopped chives
15g gelatine
50ml hot water
225g small peeled cooked prawns
Put the cucumber in a colander and sprinkle with salt and vinegar. Leave for 1 hour. Press to remove any liquid. Beat the cheese until soft and cream. Fold in the cream and mayo, then the hot pepper sauce, black pepper and chives.
Dissolve the gelatine in the water and mix into the cheese mixture. Fold in the prawns and cucumber.
Pour into 6-8 oiled ramekins or dariole moulds. Chill until set (allow 4 hours minimum). Run a knife around each mousse then turn out onto individual plates. Garnish anyway you like. I add a couple of pastry cases filled with a sliver of leftover cream cheese and topped with a blob of mock caviar, ie lumpfish row. A wedge of lemon and/or lime on the plate is a useful addition for squeezing over the mouse.
Serve with a constant supply of thin warm toast.
This recipe is adapted from one in 1000 Recipe Cook Book by Isabelle Barrett and Jane Harrop published by Octopus.
Skate with roast asparagus, butter bean mash and lime and caper butter sauce
Serves 6
Ingredients
6 small skate wings (large ones can be cut in half to serve 2)
3 x 15oz cans butter beans
2 large onions
4 cloves garlic
5 oz butter
2 fl oz double cream
36 medium-thick spears of asparagus
4 limes
Small jar of capers, drained
Handful of flat-leaf parsley
Splash of white wine
Smear of olive oil
Peel and chop the onions. Peel and finely chop the garlic. Melt 1 oz of the butter in a large pan. Very slowly cook the onions and garlic over the lowest possible heat until completely soft but not coloured: if your hob goes down low enough, this could take as long as an hour: the slower the better.
Drain the tinned beans. Rinse them thoroughly and drain again. Put them into a food processor. Season and add the cream. Tip in the onion/garlic sludge with any remaining butter from the pan. Process until you have a smooth paste. You will probably have to do all this in two or more batches. You might want to push it all through a sieve to ensure silky smoothness, or you might prefer the odd rustic lump.
Tip the mash into a large pan and heat very slowly and gently until piping hot. Cut the thick stalks off the parsley, reserving the leaves. Arrange the skate wings in a single layer in a baking tray or trays. Tuck in the parsley stalks. Cut one of the limes into 6 or 8 segments and tuck those around too. Splash over the wine. Season with a little salt and freshly ground black pepper. Cover with foil. Bake at 180C for 15-20 minutes until the flesh is white all the way through.
Meanwhile, dribble a little olive oil into another baking tray. Cut the hard ends off the asparagus spears. Season. Tip the spears into the oiled tray and mix with your hands to get them coated in the oil. Bake in the same oven as the asparagus for about the same amount of time.
Grate the rind from the remaining limes and squeeze the juice. Heat the remaining butter until it melts. Add half the rind and juice, and the capers and taste. If it needs more sharpening up, add more rind and juice. Finely chop the reserved parsley heads at the last possibly moment and stir them in too.
Put a dollop of hot mash in the centre of each plate. Lay half a dozen asparagus spears across the top. Drain the skate wings briefly and balance one on top (If the mash looks too thick, let it down slightly using the delicious liquor from the fish tray but remember it must bear the weight of the asparagus and skate).
Cut the remaining lime into six and add a segment to each plate. Spoon the lime and caper sauce over and around the fish.
Spiced orange chocolate cheesecake
Serves 10-12
Ingredients
100g dark chocolate digestive biscuits
50g melted butter
2 x 200g bars of Green and Black's organic Maya Gold (spiced orange) chocolate
426ml double cream
250g full-fat soft cheese
250g mascarpone
Slug of Cointreau or Grand Marnier
2 oranges
A little caster or icing sugar
Whizz the biscuits in a food processor until they resemble breadcrumbs. Pour in the melted butter and whizz again to amalgamate. Grease a 20cm springform baking tin. Press the biscuit mixture down firmly to evenly cover the base. Refrigerate while you make the topping.
Break the chocolate into small pieces in a bowl. Put it over a pan of barely simmering water until it starts to melt. Take it off and set it aside until it melts completely. You can stir it once or twice to help the process, but be gentle and don't overdo it. Cool slightly.
Gently beat 2/3 (284ml) of the cream, the cheese and mascarpone in a bowl until well combined. Stir in the melted chocolate. Spoon over the base and refrigerate for at least three hours, preferably overnight. Whip the remaining cream. Stir in the liquor.
Zest the oranges. Mix the threads of zest with a little sugar. Peel and segment the oranges. Run a knife round the edge of the cheesecake, release the springform tin. Cut thin wedges of cheesecake and serve each one with a blob of cream topped with a few shreds of the candied zest and two or three orange segments on the side.
Dinner Party 4: Jacqueline Gill >