Hogmanay Special, dinner with friends.

Starter - black truffle risotto.

Mains - seabass coponata containing tomatoes, peppers, capers, golden raisins and aubergine, finished with pine nuts, balsamic and parsnip crisps.

Pudding -  chocolate whisky and orange mousse with home made Drambuie ice cream and an hibiscus and blood red orange syrup.

Sea Bass with fennel veloute, potato fondant, sweet potato and garlic crisps, spinach purée, carrots, ginger, leeks

With a little care, it is possible to fillet most fish without gutting the fish first, which is what I did below. Just be careful to leave the guts in tack around the belly. Give it a go!  

To cook the garlic chips, place the fine slices in milk and bring to boil, then drain and discard the milk. Do this three times before frying, this helps retain the sweetness of the garlic. 

To get really vibrant green vegetables such as the below spinach purée there are a few essential tips.  Use a large pan of very salted water.  The pan should be much larger than needed for the quantity of vegetables to ensure that the water temperature does not drop when you place the veg in.  If you reduce the temperature below boiling, the colour will leach out.  Then once cooked (and don't over cook), immediately place the veg into iced water to reserve the colour. 

 Chocolate Grenache Ravioli - hip bustingly deep fried.

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.

Seabass with Curried Veloute and Coconut Peas

I do love seabass and I hardly ever cooked fish two years ago. How things have changed. This was in a curried veloute but not too overpowering.

Sea Bass with a herb veloute, peppered spinach, boulangere potatoes and leaks

The veloute really made this dish, I used a mixture of herbs from my garden especially lemon thyme, a small amount of marjoram and sage. Boulangere potatoes were cooked in fish stock for about 50 mins.

Sea Bass with Aubergine Caponata

Complex dish, but worth the effort. Even filleted the fish myself for this one. Aubergine, peppers, celery, nage, paprika, mini capers, golden raisins and toasted pine kernels.

Pan Fried Sea Bass in Bengali Broth and Curried Potatoes

Getting the skin on a fillet of fish takes a bit or practice, the secret is to dry the skin well first then rub with corn flower.

This is a subtle spiced broth using mustard seeds, onions, garlic, turmeric, chilli, coriander, and tomato paste, cook with fish stock then strain the liquid for a clear broth. Cook the potatoes in spiced water with lots of turmeric to give them that lovely yellow colour.