Paula's Menu
Paula Pearson's dishes included spinach soup and smoked salmon:
Spinach soup/Amuse Bouche
Ingredients
250g baby leaf spinach
2 shallots
1 garlic clove
400ml milk
300ml cream
Wash spinach roughly. Blanch spinach for 20 seconds in boiling salted water. Place in ice water to refresh. Strain and dry. Reduce milk by half. Infuse cream with shallots and garlic. Put spinach and cream in liquidiser and slowly add the milk. Once smooth, pass through a sieve and season with salt, pepper and a little nutmeg.
Amuse Bouche recipe courtesy of the Blanche House Hotel, Brighton (Tel 01273 603 504).
Smoked Salmon with various breads
Ingredients
1 packet of smoked salmon
Bread
Butter
Take smoked salmon and put on to plate in good portions. Cut up some bread and apply butter.
Chicken wrapped in Prosciutto and blue cheese
Ingredients
5 chicken breasts
12 slices Prosciutto ham
8 cubes of blue cheese
Cut the cheese into slices and place on the individual chicken breasts. Wrap pieces of ham around the cheese and chicken. Pre-heat oven to 190 degrees. Cook breasts in oven for 30 minutes. Serve immediately.
Creme Brulee
Serves 4
Ingredients
600ml double cream
1 vanilla pod, split lengthways
3 strips of lemon rind
5 egg yolks
2 tablespoons caster sugar, plus extra to caramelise
In a small pan, heat the cream with the vanilla pod and lemon rind until just below boiling point. Remove from the heat. Beat the egg yolks and sugar together in a bowl. Remove the vanilla pod and lemon strips from the cream. Gradually mix the hot cream into the eggs. Strain through a sieve, then return the vanilla and lemon rind to the mix.
Heat the cream mix in a clean pan, over a medium heat, stirring gently for 3-5 minutes to form a custard thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Don't boil. Pour the custard into a clean bowl and leave to cool, stirring frequently to prevent a skin forming.
Once cool, scrape the vanilla seeds out of the pod and stir into the custard. Discard the empty pod and the lemon rind. Ladle the custard into 4 individual bowls or heatproof glasses. Chill overnight until completely set. Just before serving, preheat the grill to hot. Sprinkle the surface of the custard with a thin, even layer of sugar. Grill until the sugar caramelises. Leave for a few minutes to set, and then serve.
Recipe courtesy of Waitrose. Visit any Waitrose store or www.waitrose.com for more delicious recipes and ideas.
Mini chocolate pots
Ingredients
300g Dark chocolate
25g unsalted butter
20floz cream
20floz milk
8 egg yolks
1 orange zest
1dsp grand Marnier
75g caster sugar
Preheat oven to110oc/230f. Bring to boil orange zest, cream and milk. Place in a bowl the chocolate and the butter and melt over a pan of hot water. Whisk together eggs, sugar and the grand Marnier. Pour hot liquid over chocolate mix then whisk together with eggs and sugar Place in small ramekins then place in a water bath making sure there is 1/3 of warm water in the bath and that the bath is a little taller than the ramekins.
Cover with foil and place in the oven. Check after thirty minutes. The mix when ready should have a slight wobble. When ready leave to cool in tray and then place in fridge for approx 3 to 4 hours.
Recipe courtesy of the Blanche House Hotel, Brighton (Tel 01273 603 504).
Dinner Party 4: Nathalie Clarke
Ingredients
250g baby leaf spinach
2 shallots
1 garlic clove
400ml milk
300ml cream
Wash spinach roughly. Blanch spinach for 20 seconds in boiling salted water. Place in ice water to refresh. Strain and dry. Reduce milk by half. Infuse cream with shallots and garlic. Put spinach and cream in liquidiser and slowly add the milk. Once smooth, pass through a sieve and season with salt, pepper and a little nutmeg.
Amuse Bouche recipe courtesy of the Blanche House Hotel, Brighton (Tel 01273 603 504).
Smoked Salmon with various breads
Ingredients
1 packet of smoked salmon
Bread
Butter
Take smoked salmon and put on to plate in good portions. Cut up some bread and apply butter.
Chicken wrapped in Prosciutto and blue cheese
Ingredients
5 chicken breasts
12 slices Prosciutto ham
8 cubes of blue cheese
Cut the cheese into slices and place on the individual chicken breasts. Wrap pieces of ham around the cheese and chicken. Pre-heat oven to 190 degrees. Cook breasts in oven for 30 minutes. Serve immediately.
Creme Brulee
Serves 4
Ingredients
600ml double cream
1 vanilla pod, split lengthways
3 strips of lemon rind
5 egg yolks
2 tablespoons caster sugar, plus extra to caramelise
In a small pan, heat the cream with the vanilla pod and lemon rind until just below boiling point. Remove from the heat. Beat the egg yolks and sugar together in a bowl. Remove the vanilla pod and lemon strips from the cream. Gradually mix the hot cream into the eggs. Strain through a sieve, then return the vanilla and lemon rind to the mix.
Heat the cream mix in a clean pan, over a medium heat, stirring gently for 3-5 minutes to form a custard thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Don't boil. Pour the custard into a clean bowl and leave to cool, stirring frequently to prevent a skin forming.
Once cool, scrape the vanilla seeds out of the pod and stir into the custard. Discard the empty pod and the lemon rind. Ladle the custard into 4 individual bowls or heatproof glasses. Chill overnight until completely set. Just before serving, preheat the grill to hot. Sprinkle the surface of the custard with a thin, even layer of sugar. Grill until the sugar caramelises. Leave for a few minutes to set, and then serve.
Recipe courtesy of Waitrose. Visit any Waitrose store or www.waitrose.com for more delicious recipes and ideas.
Mini chocolate pots
Ingredients
300g Dark chocolate
25g unsalted butter
20floz cream
20floz milk
8 egg yolks
1 orange zest
1dsp grand Marnier
75g caster sugar
Preheat oven to110oc/230f. Bring to boil orange zest, cream and milk. Place in a bowl the chocolate and the butter and melt over a pan of hot water. Whisk together eggs, sugar and the grand Marnier. Pour hot liquid over chocolate mix then whisk together with eggs and sugar Place in small ramekins then place in a water bath making sure there is 1/3 of warm water in the bath and that the bath is a little taller than the ramekins.
Cover with foil and place in the oven. Check after thirty minutes. The mix when ready should have a slight wobble. When ready leave to cool in tray and then place in fridge for approx 3 to 4 hours.
Recipe courtesy of the Blanche House Hotel, Brighton (Tel 01273 603 504).
Dinner Party 4: Nathalie Clarke