Sea Urchin Soup

Sea Urchin Soup, looks great but it was just a little bit fishy for me.  I did feel sorry for the poor little blighter when I cut it open.  It's rather hit or miss with urchins, some and quite big when you cut them open others aren't.  This one was tiny. Cooked it with garlic and cream with a little fennel.  You can eat them raw, I might try that next time, if there is a next time??

Monkfish and truffle risotto with peppers and broccoli purée

Baked monkfish with truffle risotto made with my home made fish stock.  I've never really had truffle before, this was one brought back from Brussels by my wife and the risotto was finished off with truffle butter. I use yellow and orange peppers, grilling the skin to burnt and blistered then putting them in a bowl covered with cling film to cool, before removing the skins. I also added some caramelised onions and salsify to the centre of the broccoli purée (but that picture didn't come out well).

40th Birthday Dinner

I finally reached 40 and I decided to roll-out the red carpet for some of the family. Below is my menu from 10th Sept 2010.

Home cured Gravlax infused with coriander

& ginger with a Hovmästarås dressing

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Sea Bass fillet with boulangere potatoes

arrowleaf spinach & a herb velouté

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Elderflower ginger strawberry

amuse bouche

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Galloway venison fillet with potato &

sweet potato mash in a red wine sauce

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Mint and Strawberry Ying & Yang sorbets

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I cured the Gravlax at home and used ginger and coriander as well as dill and served it with a Swedish sauce.

The Seabass herb velouté and potatoes were made with my own fish stock which I made after popping into Eddies Seafood Market in Marchmont, Edinburgh. They gave me the bones of five or six lemon sole which I boiled up with some onion, fennel and thyme. The herbs all came from my little garden.

The venison I bought on line from Blackface.co.uk, it arrived in one long sliver loin fillet and it was gorgeous meat. It went down very well and was served pink.

The sorbets were a bit of a giggle, rather psychedelic but a bit of fun. I just broke up the mixes in the freezer with a fork. They didn't exactly come out very smooth so since then I have bought my own ice cream machine.

Oddly enough the amuse bouche almost stole the show. I used the St Germain Elderflower liqueur, with ginger beer and frozen mashed strawberry ice droplets.

As for my birthday presents, all cooking (food or drink) related; some new kitchen knives, a tamis, mondolin, chinois, a Martin Wishart cooking lesson, a pestle and morter, silicone spatulas, magic and thanks all.