Latest Food & Drink articles

• A Passion to Inspire 2012

  

  A Passion to Inspire 2012 saw 10 college chef and front-of-house teams battle it out with Bethany Jemison and Dylan Massey Ryan of Colchester Institute taking the title. Amanda Afiya reports

• Seasonal Recipe of the Week – Turbot with English asparagus and courgette fritters, by Andrew Nutter

  

  Slice the courgette into 1/2 cm lozenges, season with salt and pepper and a pinch of curry powder. Toss the courgette in flour, then into the egg and finally into the breadcrumbs to get a nice even coating. Deep-fry in hot oil at 180°C for 2 minutes until it is a light golden colour. Keep hot.

• Chef Revelations – Stephanie Moon

  

  What was your first job? Walking the cows down for milking on the farm for my dad; What was your first job in catering? Washing up at the Plough Inn, Wigglesworth; What do you do to relax? Nothing beats walking in the Yorkshire Dales or out on the moors.

• Book review - Nathan Outlaw's British Seafood

  

  It always amuses me to find that those responsible for creating the most delicate dishes are often huge, burly chefs. Nathan Outlaw is a prime example of this incongruity and this colossal guy creates some of the most sumptuous seafood imaginable.

• Nathan Outlaw's British Seafood

  

  Nathan Outlaw, whose restaurants are based at the St Enodoc hotel in Rock, has published his first cookbook, Nathan Outlaw's British Seafood, with photographs by David Loftus. Here, the two-Michelin-starred chef shares some recipes and offers Caterer and Hotelkeeper readers the chance to pick up one of five free copies.

• Red mullet baked with rosemary and wild garlic, by Nathan Outlaw

  

  This is my favourite way to eat red mullet. To me, roasting any fish on the bone makes all the difference to the flavour. Traditionally, whole red mullet are cooked with their innards intact, but I prefer to gut the fish and cook the livers separately - seasoned nicely and wrapped in wild garlic to protect them.

• Pan-fried bream with spring vegetable nage, by Nathan Outlaw

  

  Vegetable nage was on the opening menu at my first restaurant, Black Pig in Rock. I would throw in any veg I could get my hands on and the herbs were freshly picked from our herb patch. Topped with a fillet of wild black bream it became a signature dish. You can vary it with the seasons, making it simple or complex.

• Watercress soup with Porthilly oysters and smoked oil, by Nathan Outlaw

  

  Watercress and oysters work so well together and here smoked oil adds another amazing taste dimension. If you haven't time to prepare the oil, then use a good-quality olive oil or even my lemon oil (see page 227 of the book). You can also use rocket in place of watercress.

• Chocolate cake, by Tom Kerridge

  

  Melt the chocolate, and warm together half the cream, the espresso and the glucose. Whisk the yolks and sugar over a heat, then finish in a Kenwood or similar with a whisk attachment to a sabayon consistency. Combine the chocolate, cream mix and sabayon, then add the 650g of double cream.

• Loin of venison with ox tongue, asparagus and prickly ash, by Tom Kerridge

  

  Cook the venison in a bath at 60°C for 15 minutes, remove and then sear in foaming butter. Fry the king oyster mushroom in oil and butter and then cover in the topping. Cook the asparagus in a butter and water emulsion and add the gem leaves.

• Crispy pig’s head, by Tom Kerridge

  

  Place the pig's head in a large pan and cover with water. Bring to the boil. Pass off and refresh with cold water. Repeat twice, then cover with water and the braising ingredients. Bring to the boil and cover with tin foil. Place the pan in an oven at 130˚C for 6-8 hours until it's cooked.

• Parsley soup, by Tom Kerridge

  

  In boiling salted water, blanch the parsley leaves until soft and refresh into iced water. Squeeze out any excess water from the parsley and run a knife through it. Keep it to one side. In a pan, sweat down the celery, one of the onions and the potato with the butter.