FOOD & DRINK: A fantasy menu for you to recreate
Gourmands from some of the finest Smith hotels share their special-occasion recipes and indulgences
Food-loving hotelier Les Scott, fromage king of Strattons Hotel in Norfolk, takes us to cheese heaven
My dream cheeseboard would made up entirely of cheeses from the British Isles – ideally it would all be from Norfolk, but historically there has been a dearth of cheesemakers here. Let's start with the mildest, St Tola, a goat’s milk cheese from County Clare with a creamy, open texture that makes it stick to the roof of your mouth – it's almost fluffy! Its delicate, yeasty, earthy flavour is at its best when the rind is crinkled and slipping off. Norfolk White Lady would follow. A local sheep’s cheese, this would have to be just ripe enough to be running under its perfect white rind, giving it a sweet lactic and slightly earthy flavour with hints of caramel. I might be tempted to pop the odd raisin in with each taster for maximum intensity.
Next, a Jersey cow’s milk soft cheese from Totnes called Elmhirst. With its incredibly rich buttercup yellow colour and thick-cream consistency, its dairy flavours are tempered by a vegetal bitterness and, sometimtes, a cauliflower aftertaste. A poppyseed cracker would add crunchy texture without interfering with the flavour. Wissington, the sister to the White Lady, would follow. This is a harder cheese, with a firm, nutty texture. The sweet, milky flavour has an earthiness that always reminds me of warm animal skin.
'Stinking Bishop is a dream-cheeseboard essential, if only as a talking point. It's a 'love it or hate it' kind of cheese; I have known friends to throw it away before they get it home' – Lee Scott, Strattons Hotel and Restaurant (above)
Stinking Bishop is essential for a dream cheeseboard, if only as a talking point. It’s a ‘love it or hate it’ kind of cheese; I have known friends to throw it away before they get it home. Its pungency is all-pervasive, but it doesn’t taste anything like it smells. The rind, which takes on a pinky orange hue after being washed with pear cider, has a good hoppy bitterness, providing a foil to the sweet, creamy, almost eggy richness of the interior. The whole is tied together by an acetic overtaste.
To round things off, two blue cheeses: Binham Blue from Norfolk is fudgy in texture and salty, with a rich dairy flavour, but finishes with a velvety, almost inky bitterness – a real twang; and Harbourne, from Totnes, a rare goat’s milk blue. This unusual cheese is sometimes moist, sharp, salty and tangy, and sometimes drier, with wild mushroom flavours – but it's always spicy. These last two I would have with a glass of Recioto from Valpolicella, which, not unlike port, gives an incredibly rich, sweet mouthful of elderberry and meat extracts; the fat from the cheese will coat the mouth and intensify the fruit flavours of the wine deliciously.
recipes
Melon soup with crispy pancetta
Elisha Carter, the brand spanking new chef at the Restaurant at Charlton House (pictured) in Somerset, offers a recipe for a very special starter: 'Melon with parma ham is such a classic starter; the flavours are so beautiful together. This soup is inspired by that – it's a fresh and exciting way to enjoy that combination.'
(Serves four)
1 small block frozen pancetta
3 Chanterais melon
200ml stock syrup (100g sugar dissolved in 100ml simmering water)
1 lemon, squeezed
crème fraîche
4 basil leaves, cut into fine strips (chiffonade)
Thinly slice the pancetta – use a slicer to get it really thin – and lay it on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper. Cook in low-temperature oven until very crispy, but not burnt. Once cooked, set aside on a plate lined with kitchen paper.
Cut eight perfectly square, large cubes of melon. Peel and de-seed the remaining melon and place into a blender with the stock syrup; blend to a smooth consistency. Pass this soup through a strainer, then add a touch of freshly squeezed lemon juice to taste.
Place two of the melons cubes side by side in each soup bowl.
Finally
Garnish with a small quenelle of crème fraîche and chiffonade of basil.
Smith tip
For the perfect chiffonade, stack good-sized fresh basil leaves on top of one another, starting with the largest at the bottom; roll the stack up lengthwise (like a mini cigar). Slice across the width of the roll using a very sharp knife to create ultra-fine strips.
Marinated rack of organic lamb with mint croûte, aubergine caviar, sauté of polenta and Provençal olive oil
Jimmy Desrivières, the young chef at the seafront Westover Hall Hotel (pictured) in Hampshire, has created a rich, indulgent dish: 'I think the combination of the lamb and the mint croûte is really beautiful. The aubergine and the polenta add some Mediterranean style, which I like, and all elements of the dish work very well together. The most important thing to bear in mind is the quality of the lamb: that’s why I choose organic.'
(Serves two)
For the lamb and its jus
1 rack of organic lamb (about 600g), in a marinade of: olive oil; half an onion, chopped; half a clove of garlic, crushed; sprigs of thyme; sprigs of rosemary; mint leaves; bay leaf
250g diced lamb
50g chopped onion
2 garlic cloves
25g chopped carrot
10g chopped celery
1 sprig of thyme
1 bay leaf
Generous splash of Cognac
100ml Madeira
250ml red wine
1 litre water
To make the jus, pan-fry and colour the diced lamb in butter and olive oil, then add the onion, garlic, carrot, celery, thyme and bay. Flambé with the Cognac, add the red wine and Madeira, then reduce. Add the water and reduce to at least half the amount. Pour through chinois. Mix with 20cl extra virgin olive oil.
For the mint croûte
200g fresh white breadcrumbs
25ml olive oil
50g butter
Half a bunch of fresh mint (with a few extra leaves reserved to finish cooking the lamb with)
Salt and pepper
Mix all ingredients together in a blender.
For the aubergine caviar
1 aubergine
1 garlic clove
Extra virgin olive oil
Chopped thyme
Salt and pepper
Slice the aubergine in half, put all other ingredients on top, wrap everything in aluminium foil and cook in a medium-hot oven for 25 to 30 minutes. Peel and chop the aubergine and mix it back together with the cooked garlic (now puréed), olive oil, chopped thyme, salt and pepper.
For the sauté of polenta
50g fine polenta
100ml milk
50ml water
25g butter
25g grated parmesan
20g of marinated black olives, puréed
salt and pepper
Boil the milk and water with the butter and stir in the polenta; finish with parmesan and olive purée, and set aside to cool. When it’s cold, slice the polenta into cubes and fry in a hot pan for one minute.
Finishing the lamb
Pan-fry the marinated lamb rack in an equal mix of olive oil and butter, with a little chopped mint, to seal the meat. Cook the rack in the oven for 8 minutes at 150ºC. Press the mint croûte into the top of the lamb, and finish under the grill.
To serve
Place three quenelles of the aubergine caviar on each plate with the pan-fried polenta cubes. Fan out a couple of sliced black olives to one side. Divide the lamb into two portions. Finish with the jus.
Banana soufflé with popcorn ice-cream
Whatley Manor's head chef Martin Burge (pictured below) has a deeply indulgent dessert for us: 'This dish has everything: the tastes and textures are wonderful, it’s unique, and it looks fabulous. It took me about two weeks to come up with the correct consistency for the ice-cream, but the result was well worth all the effort.'
(Serves four)
For the banana soufflé
100g banana purée (see below for details)
125g crème patisserie (see below for details)
3.5g banana essence
120g egg whites
30g sugar
50g soft butter for the soufflé moulds
Butter four soufflé moulds and refrigerate. Whisk the egg whites with the sugar; this meringue mixture should form medium-to-firm peaks. In a large bowl, whisk the banana purée, crème patisserie and banana essence together to form a smooth paste.
Whisk a small amount of the meringue mixture into the banana purée paste, to soften the mixture. Gently fold the remaining meringue into this softened mixture.
Fill the chilled moulds evenly with the soufflé mixture and bake in a pre-heated oven at 180ºC for about 20 minutes, or until risen and golden on top.
For the banana purée
250g banana flesh
25g soft butter
20g caster sugar
Line a baking tray with silicon paper. Place the banana flesh on the tray, brush with the butter and sprinkle on the sugar. Bake in a preheated oven at 200ºC for about 20 minutes, until the banana flesh takes on a deep caramel colour.
Purée the roasted banana flesh in a food blender until smooth. Place the purée in a bowl, cover with cling film and cool down quickly over ice.
For the crème patisserie
125g whole milk
2 egg yolks
50g sugar
1 tbsp corn flour
1 tbsp plain flour
In a saucepan, bring the milk up to the boil. In a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar and flours. Pour the hot milk over the mixture and whisk until smooth.
Return this mixture to the pan and cook for 10 minutes, until thickened. Remove from the heat and strain through a chinois. Cool down ready for use.
200g whole milk
200g whipping cream
150g sweetcorn
1 large egg yolk (80g)
Small pinch salt (1g)
100g popcorn powder (see below for details)
In a saucepan, bring the cream, milk and sweetcorn up to the boil. In a bowl, whisk together the yolks and sugar until smooth. Pour in the milk, cream and sweetcorn, and whisk.
Return the mixture to the pan and cook over a medium heat until the mixture reaches 84ºC. Do not allow the mixture to boil. Strain through a chinois into a bowl, and cool the mixture as fast as possible. Churn the ice-cream. Once churned, add 100g of your popcorn powder, and the salt, and mix well. Keep in the freezer ready for serving.
For the popcorn powder
200g caster sugar
100g butter
60g fresh popcorn
Melt the sugar in a pan to form a caramel. Add the butter to the caramel until it dissolves. Coat your popcorn with the caramel. Pour onto silicon paper and separate the popcorn. Allow to cool down and set hard.
Using a hand blender, make a powder out of the hard popcorn. Store ready for use.
To serve
Serve the soufflés straight from the oven, garnished with the popcorn ice-cream.
drink
Tasting notes: wine
Wine connoisseur Brigitte Lurton from La Maison Bord’eaux tells us about some of the finest offerings from the hotel's cellar, and reveals her ideal cheese companion…
The way we drink wine has changed a lot over the past few years. Whatever the occasion, people now don't drink old wines: we are getting rid of complicated meals and complicated wines. Most of us are looking for less woody, fresher wines. Our list here offers only wines from Bordeaux (apart from the champagnes, of course). I have offered wines from other regions in the past, but they proved to be far less popular…
The best-loved wine at La Maison Bord'eaux is the Château Brane-Cantenac, which is mainly composed of Cabernet-Sauvignon. It’s a beautiful dark colour, the nose still fruity and raspberryish, and the wood is discernible. It’s fleshy, well-balanced and very long on the palate.
'The best-loved wine here is Château Brane-Cantenac, which is mainly composed of Cabernet-Sauvignon. It's a beautiful dark colour, the nose still fruity and rasberryish, and the wood is discernible' – Brigitte Lurton, La Maison Bord'eaux (above)
For a cheese menu, though, La Tour de Bessan, produced just one kilometre from Château Brane-Cantenac, is perfect: it’s made to be drunk easily: the wood is present, but lightly, only to add body and structure. The aromas are fresh and delicate. We also have a wonderful dessert wine on our list, Château Climens, but I prefer to serve it as an aperitif, perhaps with a fresh white peach and a mint leaf.
For myself, my own most beloved wine depends on the season, the people I'm with, how I feel, and so on. I can imagine that I am on an island, surrounded by the sea… I would drink champagne. I love it. Why not a Salon 1990?
Brigitte Lurton was born into a family of wine-makers, and has worked in the wine business for 15 years. She and her brother Henri are responsible for the wines at La Maison Bord’eaux La Maison Bord’eaux.
