Lovely Aiden Byrne, dome-headed genius and youngest British recipient of a Michelin star, is a newby on the Great British Menu. He might have gone from London now but the capital's loss is Cheshire's gain and despite the Scouse chef saying his food is slightly simpler at his pub-cum-restaurant the Church Green in Lymm it still has the same bold flavours, exquisite technique and visual prominence of the cooking that drew plaudits during his time at the Grill Room at the Dorchester. And while it's a shame Aiden (pictured here with an invisible page three model) might not be pushing the envelope as much as he once was, it's good to see a talented chef now cooking near the relative culinary wasteland that is Liverpool.
For those new to the shiny-scalped chef's cooking he's worked at Adlards in Norwich (where he got a star), at the Commons in Dublin, as head chef to Tom Aikens, as head chef at the Oak Room at Danesfield House, as head chef at the Grill Room at London's Dorchester Hotel and now as chef patron at the Church Green pub in Lymm.
Scroll down for a cheeky snippet of his cooking via a recipe.
Aiden Byrne's New Season Asparagus Mousse with Morels and Langoustines
Serves 4
250 g Asparagus
50 ml noilly Pratt
3 Eggs
2 Yolks
200 ml single cream
10 g of chopped chervil
150 g cleaned morels
2 large shallots chopped finely
50 ml Madeira
100 ml white chicken stock
25 ml double cream
12 large langoustine tails
Peel all the green from the asparagus, chop and set aside. Chop the white of the asparagus and sweat in a warm pan with a knob of butter and a pinch of salt until soft. Add the Noilly Prat and reduce until it's almost gone, then add the green of the asparagus and the chopped chervil. Cook for a further minute.
Place in a liquidiser and blend until smooth, then pass through a fine sieve and chill immediately. Mix the puree with the beaten eggs, cream and re-season, pass again and pour into a dish (preferrably a ramekin) that has been lined with soft butter.
Cook at 80C degrees for 10 minutes in a water bath.
Sweat the chopped shallots in butter without any colour, add the morels and sweat for a further minute, then add the Madeira and reduce until dry, then add the white chicken stock, reduce by half, add the double cream and re-boil, then re-season (maybe with a dash of lemon juice for a little bite of acidity).
Simply sauté the langoustines in olive oil and a knob of butter, turn the mousse out onto the plate with the langoustines, and cover with the creamed morels.
Dress with a few sprigs of fresh chervil.
For those who like the look of this, Aiden's book Made in Great Britain came out last year and is in the shops.
| Tweet |
nice to see you Aiden, your dad is no dought proud of you, as we all are, uncle Terry Plymouth.