Fillet of Red Poll Beef with Lentil Du Puy

– Serves 4 people

Ingredients

4 x 6-8oz Fillets of Beef
3-4 spoonfuls of Oil
150g of Lentil Du Puy
2 Sprigs of Fresh Thyme
2 Bay Leaves
1 Carrot
½ Celeriac
1 Leek
2 Celery Sticks
30g of Pancetta or Smoked Bacon
2-3 Cloves of Garlic
Salt & Pepper
Knob of Butter
Optional – Gratin, Fondant or Roast Potatoes, Red Wine Sauce

Method

• Cook the Lentils in boiling water with 1 Garlic Clove, 1 Sprig of Thyme, and 1 Bay Leaf until soft, which should take approximately 10-15 minutes, then strain.
• Cut the Carrot, Celeriac, Celery & Leek into Cubes, and the Pancetta into Lardons.
• Season the Beef Fillets with Salt, heat a heavy based non stick frying pan until hot, brown each side of the Beef for 3-5 minutes, add a little Butter and rest.
• Heat a Saucepan and sauté the Pancetta, then the Lentils. Add a little Garlic and picked Thyme. Season well and cook until lightly browned.
• Spoon the Lentils into the centre of a plate and place the Fillets on top of the Lentils.  Serve with either Gratin, Fondant or Roast Potatoes and Red Wine Sauce as an optional extra.

Shaun’s Famous Stuffing Recipe

• 300gms Whole Chestnuts
• 60 gms Whole dried Apricots
• a tblspn of fresh Parsley
• 1 sprig of Thyme
• The zest and Juice of a lemon

  Blend all these together, and then mix well with 500g good pork sausage meat.
  Either use to stuff the turkey or rolled joint in the usual way, or make into balls and bake for 10 to15 mins in a hot oven.

  Makes an incredibly tasty stuffing -  as served in the Orchard Café!

Bubble & Squeak

• Mash all your left over vegetables, either by hand or with a blender.
• Add a splash of tabasco sauce, seasoning and gently saute in olive oil until slightly crispy on the outside
• Serve with a fresh poached egg OR a selection of cold meats and a good chutney

Winter Root Vegetable soup

• Using a blender, puree any leftover vegetables and put into saucepan
• Add 1 pint of vegetable stock and half a teaspoon of garlic puree, bring to boil
• Season to taste with cracked black pepper and sea salt
• Serve with a swirl of cream
• Diced turkey or ham, or crispy smoked bacon can be added if required

3 Cheese & Pinenut Tart

• Using either homemade or ready made pastry, line a flan tin with shortcrust pastry
• Blind bake the tart case putting baking parchment and baking beans in the centre of case to ensure that the pastry doesn’t ‘bubble’.  This will take approx 15 mins
• Use any odd bits of cheese you may have left in your fridge, doesn’t matter if they are hard soft or blue (in fact this makes the tart tastier!) – dice the cheeses and place on top of pastry
• Toast some pinenuts and scatter on top of cheeses
• Mix together 6 eggs and half a pint of double cream.  Pour this over tart.
• Bake for approx 20 mins at 180c (or until light brown all over)
• Allow to cool, serve slightly warm with mixed green leaves

New Year Risotto

• Chop onion, celery and garlic and gently sauté in olive oil and 1 knob of butter
• Add 400g risotto rice, stirring constantly.  Alow to cook through for approx 15 mins
• Add 2 glasses of white wine or vermouth – keep stirring until wine cooked into rice
• Turn down the pan to simmer and add 1 ladle of stock and pinch of salt – stir through and then add another ladle and so on.
• Very important to allow each ladle of stock to be absorbed into the rice before adding the next.  Taste rice to check cooked.
• Remove pan from heat, add any left over cheese, mushrooms, vegetables, meat (just one or mix and match!) and stir into rice with a knob of butter. Place lid on pan and ‘rest’ pan for 2/3 mins allowing ingredients to ooze into each other and serve with green salad.

BRIXHAM’S CATCH OF THE DAY WITH ENDIVE MARMALADE

2 heads of Belgian endive    Juice of 2 lemons            1 tbsp of sugar
1 tbsp of salt            1 tbsp of thyme leaves        50g unsalted butter

1. Boil the lemon juice, sugar, salt and thyme together.
2. Add the diced endive and cook until soft
3. Monter with the butter

CAPRICORN GOAT CHEESE FINE TART WITH COURGETTE AND TOMATO

Serves 4

puff pastry                6 tomatoes on the vine, sliced
2 courgettes, blanched        2 Capricorn goat cheese
1 bunch of rocket            vinaigrette

Cut out 4 discs of pastry. Glaze and place in the fridge for 20 minutes. Cook between 2 baking sheets for 8-10 minutes until golden.
Place the sliced tomatoes, courgettes and goat cheese in an orderly manner. Put in the oven for 2-3 minutes. Transfer on warm plates and garnish with a bunch of rocket tossed in vinaigrette.

ROASTED LOIN OF WILTSHIRE HORN LAMB, SAVOY CABBAGE & SHEPHERD’S PIE

Serves 4

200ml red wine        1 bay leaf            50g unsalted butter
4 shallots            1 litre veal stock        200ml double cream
1 tbsp oil            300g pancetta, diced        4 individual short pastry tarts
200g hot mashed potatoes
800g diced carrot, celeriac, parsnips
4 X 150g loin of lamb
500g lamb mince
1 savoy or spring cabbage cut in thin strips

1. Preheat the oven to 200?C.
2. First prepare the sauce. Reduce the red wine with 4 sliced shallots and a bay leaf. Add the veal stock and reduce down to 200 ml. Strain through a sieve and put to one side.
3. Gently sauté the diced vegetables and pancetta in the butter until golden brown. Remove from the pan and set aside. Add the cabbage to the pan and cook for 3-4 minutes. Drain off the butter, add the cream and reduce to a thick consistency. Stir in the cooked vegetables and pancetta. Season to taste and keep warm.
4. Season the lamb loin, heat the oil in a pan and sear the lamb on all sides until well sealed. Place the loins in the oven for 3-4 minutes then set aside to rest. The meat should be brown on the outside and pink in the middle.
5. For the shepherd’s pie, braise the lamb mince and spoon into the pastry tarts. Pipe hot mashed potato on top.
6. To serve, spoon the cabbage onto one side of the plate. Place the shepherd’s pie on the other side. Coat the meat with the sauce.

RED POLL RIBEYE STEAK WITH ONION SPRING MASH

4 ribeye steaks        1 small bunch spring onions, sliced
300g mashed potato        1 bunch of watercress, picked
2 handful wilted spinach    300g Chantenay carrots, cooked

1. Rub each steak with oil. Heat a heavy non-stick pan. Season and cook to desired texture. Remove the steaks from the pan and leave to rest.
2. Warm-up mashed potato and add the sliced spring onion.
3. Cook the watercress leaves and spinach in a hot pan with butter. Season.
4. Heat up the cooked carrots.
5. Pipe your mashed potato on warm plates and place the sliced ribeye on top. Spread around the spinach, watercress and carrots.

CHOCOLATE TART

sweet pastry
150g butter        30g dark chocolate        6 tbsp cacao powder
3 eggs            250g caster sugar        2 tbsp double cream
2 tbsp coffee extract (optional)

1. Precook the tart case.
2. Melt the butter, cacao powder and dark chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a bain-marie.
3. Whisk egg and sugar together to a pale and ribbon stage. Add the double cream.
4. Add the chocolate to the egg mixture. Pour into the pre-cooked tart case and bake for 35-40 minutes at 180?C.