For those of you unfamiliar with Glynn Purnell's food, it's culinary embodiment of the idea that you are what you cook. As much as Jamie Oliver's food is simple, friendly, media savvy nosh, or Bruce Poole's warm, appealing, big-hearted grub, Purnell's stuff is playful, mischievous, Brummie fare from a man as Birmingham-centric as Friday night curry vomit.
After sneaking through to the final with a strawberry dessert last year Purnell (pictured here enjoying a choc-ice with his pal after successfully retaking his maths GCSE) is back again. This year he's up against Daniel Clifford from Midsummer House in Cambridge in a Midlands heat and he's got a lot to live up to after not only becoming not only the first chef to pick up a perfect score for a dish on last year's dessert but also gaining the arguably-somewhat-better accolade of a Michelin star this January at his eponymous Birmingham restaurant, set up in 2007 after he left his position as head chef at Birmingham's Jessica's restaurant (where he also gained a star).
Anyho, this is first and foremost a food blog, so scroll down for a recipe of Glynn that is, just maybe, one of my favourite dishes I've eaten. It's definitely the only one to have made me smile while I'm eating it. Which is more than Purnell's joke has ever done: Q: What do you say to a man with no arms when you want to know the time? A: Do you have the time on you cock?
Glynn Purnell's tail of fillet of beef classically roasted with a salad of peas, malt vinegar and black pepper, liquorice charcoal and purple potatoes
Ingredients
1 tail fillet of beef, on the bone
Ginger powder
Rock salt
For the glaze
100g malt vinegar
100g sugar
20 black peppercorns
Freshly ground black pepper
For the pea salad
150g of peas(frozen petits pois are best)
1/2 shallot, finely diced
1tbs majoram, chopped
Olive oil
Salt
For the purple potatoes and liquorice charcoal
8 purple potatoes
2tbs of cooked peas
100ml marjoram oil
4 liquorice sticks
Liquorice powder
For the liquorice purée
10 Pontefract cakes
A splash of water
Method
Make a malt vinegar and black pepper glaze by boiling the sugar and the peppercorns to a thick syrup. Pass through a chinois and add four big turns of pepper to season.
For the pea salad: place all the ingredients into a blender and "pulse" to a coarse consistency adding a splash of olive oil. Season.
For the purple potatoes: cook the potatoes with the skin on in salted water. Cool, then finely dice. They will be warmed up with the marjoram oil to dress the plate.
For the liquorice charcoal: break up the liquorice sticks and dry them out in the oven. Once dry, place in a pan and use a blow-torch to burn them. Pass through a chinois and add a couple of tablespoons of liquorice powder to taste.
To make the liquorice purée, melt down the Pontefract cakes with a splash of water and put in a piping bag.
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