Lemon Sorbet

One of my fondest memories of the Italian exchange (way back in my school days) was eating gelato with friends almost every day. If we were on a trip somewhere we would find a gelateria, and if we were spending a day in the local town, then there was a gelateria beside the river that we would all descend upon. Ever since then I have had a love of lemon sorbet.
I was delighted to discover how simple it is to make lemon sorbet - provided you have a few hours to interrupt regularly or an ice-cream machine! Alas this is one of the kitchen gadgets I lack so it was time to become well acquainted with our freezer!

Recipe:

• 200g sugar
• 350ml water
• 6 unwaxed lemons

Add the sugar to half the water until the sugar dissolvesr. Zest the lemons and juice. Mix everything together and chill. If you have an ice-cream machine use it now. For the rest of us, put all the ingredients in a glass bowl and sit it in the freezer. Once it starts to freeze stir it every 15 minutes. If it seems a bit coarse blend it until smooth again. And you're done!

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Salmon Gravlax with Sourdough

Jenny and I first encountered gravlax whilst on honeymoon in Scotland. We decided to treat ourselves to dinner out at a nice pub and, being near Aviemore, wound up at The Old Bridge Inn. Being  indecisive we got a starter to share and, having never had gravlax, we decided to try it. Having thoroughly enjoyed our dinner I wanted to learn more about how it was made. The finished dish is rather akin to smoked salmon but without the smoke.

Upon returning home to the joys of google, I was intrigued to discover that gravlax required only store cupboard ingredients, dill, salmon and a fridge (ticking some of my "like to cure / preserve traditionally" boxes). I have now made this a few times and it is one I like to pull out as a starter - British salmon that I have cured myself is very satisfying.
In my opinion, cured salmon sits wonderfully on a good solid loaf. Rather than just bake a wholemeal loaf, I decided on a fresh sourdough starter to bake a loaf with more tang. For those who haven't come across sourdough before, it's a loaf baked with natural yeast and bacteria, in this case out of the air (some people use grape skins that have collected the natural yeast on the outside).  It makes a slower-rising loaf that has lots of tangy flavour. One word of warning - you need 48 hours to make this dish!

Recipe:

• 1 quantity sourdough starter
• 400g wholemeal bread flour
• water
• 1 side of salmon (about 600g)
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp pepper
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp juniper berries
• 1 small bunch of dill plus a sprig for the dressing
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 2 tsp salad oil
• 2 tsp cider vinegar
• a pinch of lecethin or other emulsifier (optional)
• Salad

For the sourdough, mix the starter with 1/2 the flour and enough water to make a wet dough. Leave this overnight to sponge. Knead in the remaining flour to form a nice dough and leave to rise in a covered bowl for an hour. Knock back and allow to rise (I have taken to using a well-floured basket to give a nice texture). Bake the bread at 200C for 45 minutes, with a tin of boiling water on the shelf underneath. Allow to cool.

For the gravlax - grind up the salt and pepper coarsely, add the juniper berries and crush lightly before mixing in the sugar. Sprinkle this over the side of salmon and add the coarsely-chopped dill. Wrap the salmon up tight and leave in the bottom of the fridge for 36-48 hours, depending on thickness, turning regularly to ensure the cure is worked in. 

Once cured, rinse well, pat dry with kitchen towel and slice thinly with a very sharp knife - cured salmon gets very sticky.

To make the dressing, grind the mustard with a little salt and add the remaining dill, grinding to a paste. Add the vinegar, oil and lecethin and mix to a smooth consistency (so I got lazy adding the emulsifier - I just happened to have some around as I was making apple foam).

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The Birthday Dinner

For some crazy reason, this year I decided to cook a dinner in honour of my birthday. "Why not?" I foolishly thought. So after many weeks of head-scratching and much practice, the menu was pinned down as follows:

Gravlax and Sourdough

Traditionally cured salmon served on fresh sourdough, with a leafy salad and a dill mustard sauce

Lemon Sorbet

Haggis Ravioli

Fresh Ravioli filled with haggis and served with a whisky cream sauce

Baby Plum Tomatoes and Pesto Topping

Baked Hake

Hake baked whole on-the-bone, served with a butterbean puree and crispy bacon

Apple Foam

Triple Beef Pie

Slowly-cooked brisket, chuck and shin of local beef served in a suet pie with mashed potato

Rosebud Tea Granita

Profiteroles

A trio of flavoured profiteroles, berries, white chocolate and caramel

Caramel Macchiato Panna Cotta

Coffee and Chocolate Terrine

A dark chocolate terrine served with fruit coulis

Six full dishes, 5 smaller between course things. To add to my burden I thought I would try and record it all for your reading pleasure. I was hampered by a combination of forgetting to take photos at key stages and a flat battery half way through service so I might fail on my original plan of writing up every dish, but expect to see more posts over the next few weeks!

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