Sole roulades with saffron risotto, mussel broth and french beans wrapped in pancetta served near Cirencester

From a 50th birthday we served in the middle of June for a family from the States staying near Cirencester on the Cotswolds leg of their UK trip. They were so overjoyed with everything we served (this was preceded by a soufflé starter and followed by a trio of desserts and this was after their delivery meal we made for them the day before).  

 It's always good to be part of that special moment for people's birthdays!

There's a sole mousse which binds these together with the herbs picked from outside my kitchen window.

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Salt beef with french bean and red onion salad & sherry dressing

"That's the best thing I've seen come from this kitchen since I started" Sean said on Saturday.

It helps when you get to know the farmers. I called them up Monday night after getting back from a delivery to see if they had any brisket to make this - it needed to be marinaded that night in time for the weekend. There's no time to waste.

So I went over, and rather than just give me the brisket they actually marinaded it as well - with the same secret recipe they use for their amazing bacon. Vacuum packed it marinades so much faster.

Then it goes in cold water with carrots, onions, leek, parsley stalks, coriander seeds, mustard seeds, cumin seeds and peppercorns. Left in the oven between 3 and 7am it was ready just in time for a ton of bacon and sausages to go in the oven for a breakfast delivery - 24 hour kitchen.

French bean salad - french beans, red onion, artichoke, ceaser style dressing with Maille sherry vinegar.

Blurry blackberry photo of it being plated up:

Didn't finish there though. As Sean was packing up at the venue the host had spied a bit of the beef left over and asked to keep it for the next day. Must have been good!

Edit 25th February 2012

Pickled veg on 25 Feb - cauliflower, carrot, celariac, onions, okra. As this party was having french beans with the main course I changed the starter slightly - and came up with something quite good (well I thought so. Actually they must have as well - completely empty plates, always a good sign).

25 Feb pickled vegetables (as above) plate up with celariac remoulade. Only one thing missing of course - the salt beef. That was keeping warm on the stove as the guests were moving through to the dining room. Suddenly they were sitting down and I leapt into carving action. As I was also serving that party, somewhere along the line, forgot to take a photo of the finished and used all the salt beef - c'est la vie of a busy chef.......,.

Dec 2013 at Temple Guiting Manor

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1001 Kitchen Tips #51 - Why have my green beans gone brown?

When it comes to french beans (everyone's favourite) they like fast cooking - here's a few simple rules:

• Bring the water to the boil first then drop your beans in. If you put the beans in cold water and bring the pan to the boil they will cook far too long, and all the colour leaches out into the water so the beans turn grey/ brown.
  


• Your boiling water should taste, as John Williams might say (though that depends at times on your meaning of the word 'say') like the sea - i.e. plenty of salt. I still routinely taste the water to check each time. If there isn't enough salt you can see the colour leaching out.



• Once you add the beans the pan should be brought back to boil rapidly. The slower it is the more colour you lose. A smaller pan of water obviously comes back to the boil quicker, so if you are cooking them for a larger quantity of people it is better to cook them in batches. Put the lid on the pan - easy to forget.



• Once they have come back to the boil they only take 2 - 3 minutes till they are al dente.



• Another point to consider when buying your french beans in the first place is how old they look. They should look fresh, like you have just cut them from your bean plant. Sometimes they look can look old, tired, and sometimes the edges can be turning bad. If they look like this they have been kept for too long and when you cook them the colour fades away and they are not as appetising.
  
  
• How many french beans for one portion? I work on 50g raw french beans per person. I have found this works perfectly.

Related posts:

1001 Kitchen Tips #20 - Quick way to trim french beans

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Kitchen tips # 20 - Easy trim beans

How often do you resort to those ready trimmed beans? It might save chopping time for those evenings when you have had a long busy day, but how long do they stay fresh? They seem to be cut and left in warehouses for a few days before being distributed, then held in the shops' warehouse, so by the time you take them off the shelf the ends are brown already - not very apppetising.

Stick with the un-trimmed beans. This is the almost instant way to cut them.

1. Leave them in the packet. Tap them on the board lightly so all of the ends are together.

2. Trim the ends through the sellophane. I use the razor sharp pastry knife for this.

3. Turn round and repeat with the other end.

4. Cut them in the middle.

Then you can cook them and mix them with Jerusalem artichokes as seen in February.

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