Breakfast delivery - english breakfast

Ideal for a weekend breakfast in the Cotswolds. This one was for a business weekend retreat at Meadowbank in Chipping Campden for whom we looked after all the food - at the same time as doing the barbecue birthday at Wellacres and another party at Rectory Park.

This was our traditional english breakfast which can be either delivered raw for you to cook or cooked and chilled so all you have to do is heat it up - less washing up for you (and who really wants to wash up on holiday?).

Bacon

Both the bacon and sausages are from Home Farm in Bredons Norton where they rear Berkshire/ Gloucester old spot pigs which make the best tasting bacon and sausages. When I serve them at Upper Court they only travel 3 miles from the farm to the table.





Sausages

Mushrooms

I always get so many good comments about the mushrooms - so much more flavour than regular supermarket mushrooms. They are organic field mushrooms from Oakfield Organics near Evesham.

Tomatoes

I picked these up at Hayles Fruit Farm while I was buying other things there. They just go in the oven as they are for 10 - 15 minutes.

Hash Browns

As we were delivering breakfast 2 days running I alternated the potatoes - one day doing the hash browns (left) and the other day potato rosti (below).

Eggs
Photo is from a delivery earlier in the year (hence the date on the box). I first fell in love with the Clarence Court eggs when they sold them in Collins butchers in Broadway - it's hard to find a better tasting eggs. Now the company became so popular they only sell to supermarkets (their delivery lorries are often parked outside here overnight), but they remain as good as they were.



Fruit plate












Related posts

Continental style breakfast delivery

Breakfast menu
Brunch menu

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Greek style baked field mushrooms with tabbouleh and pesto

Amazing what you can make from left overs in your fridge. Feta, sun dried tomato, olives and lemon thyme and, of course, olive oil topped Oakfield organic portobello mushrooms in a quick lunch dish on bread making day.

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Individual fillet of beef en croute (beef wellington) and seabass for Valentine's Day

Beef en croute

Last year I was asked to make beef wellington for a special birthday meal which they wanted to cook and serve themselves. 4 out of the 6 guests were vegetarian, so it seemed most sensible to make just 2 individual beef wellingtons (aka beef en croute). Such was the glowing response the Monday after that I had had it in mind to prepare again - it does make the perfect english dish for a celebration. And what better day to celebrate than St. Valentine's Day?Fillet steaks are cut from the centre of the fillet so they are small in diameter, but thick in depth. I seal these on the bar grill - so you get the grilled taste on the outside, but the inside is left raw - that cooks when you put the finished beef en croute in the oven.

For the duxelle mushroom I use Oakfield organic portobello mushrooms. Because of the water content in mushrooms, these are cooked for around 30 - 45 minutes on a low heat to reduce as much of that water content as possible and then chilled. If this were not done that water would turn to steam while the beef en croute cooked in the oven - and that would break the pastry apart, it would burst and be ruined.

Beef is put on a disc of puff pastry, mushrooms on top. It is egg washed around the bottom to so it attaches to the lid.

Another disc is cut slightly larger than the bottom. This is place on top, crimped and trimmed. On Valentine's Day it was finished with - what else? - a pastry heart shape in the middle.


Fillet of seabass and mussell paella
If the beef en croute is one dish fit for a celebration, the other certainly has to be paella. You know how closely you are held in regard of my grandmother if you have been invited for paella. Few have - and those few are lucky I can tell you. Hidden deep in her recipe drawer is a dusty and splattered authentic recipe taken down from her spanish friends over 50 years ago who had served it for her, and she was instantly taken.

It's a recipe I'm still working on - the most important change being I use arborio rice - close to spanish rice - now rather than the long grain rice.

This particular time I had reduced chicken stock made from the bones left from the grilled chicken a couple of days before. The mussells I cooked with white wine, onion, garlic and a little cream. This liquor was also added to the cooking paella, adding a depth of flavour.

To accompany this I made some more of the salsa verde - it makes a light accompanying sauce.

Strawberry and mango cheesecake

A delivery version of the cheesecake seen last year. Strawberry coulis and candied orange zest was also provided.

Trio of chcolate desserts

The only part of the chocolate trio that was snapped during the rush that was Valentine's Day was the white chocolate sauce.

Other elements have been seen before though:

Chocolate tart with gold leaf (part of - for this trio)

Shotglass of espresso and chocolate tirimisu

Related posts:

Valentine's Day 2008

Roast vegetables en croute

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Beef And Cotswold Way Ale Pie - Something between the beers

Frozen meals version of beef pie

It's all in a name. I stumbled accross Cotswold Way ale in the supermarket last year while I was looking for a good beer for my beef pie. Maybe it was because just a few months earlier I had walked the Cotswold Way (from Chipping Campden to Bath), or maybe it was just name association, but I tried it out and it worked very well. Being a mild pale ale Cotswold Way ale adds a malty-brown-sugary hint to the beef pie without being overpowering which you get with stronger darker bitters.

Bistro delivery version of beef pie

The top 5 ways to make a good beef pie

1 - Use the best quality Ingredients. Get your beef direct from your local farm. Shin is the best cut for slow cooking - it has the most amazing texture and flavour. I got this from Home Farm in Bredons Norton, where they had a whole piece hanging up in their cold store. They will cut it for you, but I like doing that myself. I also use Kites Nest Farm in Broadway. The colour of the meat is slighty dark which shows it has been matured - which is why supermarket meat looks so bright red.

The mushrooms I use for this are Oakfield organic portobello mushrooms, and the thyme often comes from my garden.The award winning Cotswold Way ale:
2 - Get a good seal on the beef. For this you want a large pan, and very hot. Leave some space in the pan -if you crowd the beef there is nowhere for the steam to go, and it will stew rather than caramelise. The caramelisation gives you the depth of flavour in your beef pie. Close your kitchen door or you may set off the smoke alarm in your house.3 - Deglazing. When you have lifted out your sealed beef in to your casserole dish, add a little more oil and cook the onions till the start to caramelise. As they caramelise they will lift the sediment from the beef you sealed before. Cook the mushrooms afterwards in the same pan, and again, you want them to have space in the pan so they colour on the outside rather than steaming. This colour will give you a richer flavour. Once they are well coloured and transferred to the casserole dish, add a litte of the ale in to the pan to lift off any sediment - deglazing - and add this to your casserole. This is the way you maximise your flavours.


4 - Use a holey baking tin.
Once your beef is cooked (between 4 and 7 hours for shin. The most I ever cooked it for was 9 hours and it melted) and cool, you are ready to make your pie. A perforated tin such as the one above allows the bottom of the pie to cook properly so the pastry doesn't sweat - crispy instead of soggy: the perfect pie. It is also easy to undo as the base lifts out - saving you from breaking it.

5a - Make sure your gravy you put in the pie is very thick (with extra cornflour to thicken if neccessary). This means less steam, so the pastry will hold together without bursting.

5b - Seal it wth an egg. Before putting the lid on, brush the top of the pastry that forms the base with beaten egg. Put the lid on squeezing the two layers together in your fingers. Refrigerate for 20 minutes to half an hour so the join seals. This is much stronger, and less likely to burst open when cooking.

Al moderne


You could cut out a square or oval of shortcrust or puff pastry, egg wash it and cook it for 15 - 20 minutes and place it on top of your beef once cooked such as the below. This is more ideal for your guests who like pastry but not too much of it to fit in with their diets.

Related posts

The best beef pie pastry
How do I stop the edges of my pie burning?
Shepherds pie
Beef olive

Bistro menu

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Wedding at Upper Court, Saturday 22 September

Specially requested main course of coq au vin (free-range organically reared chicken, Oakfield organic portobello mushrooms, Home farm Bredons Norton bacon) with dauphinoise potato, french beans and baby carrots


Coq au vin sauce

The free-range chicken for the coq au vin is taken off the bone before sealing and adding to the tray with onions, the portobello mushrooms, fresh thyme and a couple of bottles of red wine . The bones are then roasted and made into stock - boiling for 6 hours. This is reduced, then seived and the bones put back into the pan, covered with water (refreshed) and boiled for a second time - so you are maximising the flavour. When the chicken is cooked this is seprated and chilled. Later the two stocks are added to the sauce which is then adjusted for flavour & seasoning, a drop of port added and it is thickened.

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Barbeque

Chicken poached in cherry wine wrapped in parma ham
Skewer of salmon and basil
Sirloin steak marinaded in barbeque sauce
garlic Oakfield organic fied mushroom

Served with an array of dressings and salads. More information on our barbeque menu can be seen on our website: http://www.bensonofbroadway.co.uk/summer_barbecues.html

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