MENU THE DAILY POST FOOD AND DRINK GUIDE December 09
Star performer The Kirkby boy who’s at the top of his game
Travelling man Chef brings a world of experience to Wirral
Christmas crackers Top chefs tell you how to have a cool Yule
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DAILY POST Tuesday, December 8, 2009
fresh
try it . . .
Take a gander WHEN it comes to the Christmas roast, turkey is the obvious choice, but this year some of us are getting a bit more adventurous and going for goose. Waitrose has reported a 42% rise in sales of goose from this time last year, suggesting a Victorian-style Christmas dinner for many families. That said, turkey is also seeing unprecedented sales with traditional breeds flying off the shelves. In a poll of 2,400 readers, BBC Good Food Magazine found that turkey is still the most popular centre-piece. Meanwhile, sales of other seasonal meats are also soaring, with British beef sales up 20%, while gammon is on the rise, with one in 10 families tucking into this succulent joint at the dinner table.
■ OH, TO be a fly on the kitchen wall of Beckhingam Palace this Christmas Day as Gordon Ramsay has revealed that he will be cooking dinner for David and Victoria Beckham, right, and their brood of boys. But that doesn’t mean that Victoria will get to put her Louboutin-clad feet up while Gordon does all the work. Ramsay says: “Christmas Day is a big day and we are going to have lunch with David and Victoria. We’ll all be together. The secret about cooking with families together is delegating, so we’ll all be doing something, I’m sure.”
PORT is back in fashion, don’t you know? So make it a feature of your Christmas feast with Fonseca Guimaraens Vintage 1996 (£20.49 from Sainsbury’s) – a medium to full-bodied port, packed full of blackberry fruit flavours with a smooth silky finish.
try it . . .
■ IF YOUR nerves are going at the thought of cooking Christmas dinner, don’t panic because help is at hand from the Turkey Hotline. Hundreds of people ring this freephone SOS number in the lead-up to the big day and it is manned by real live people, not machines, right up until 5pm on Christmas Eve. Stick this on the fridge just in case – 0800 783 9994.
THIS isn’t just any Christmas pudding, it’s an M&S Matured Fruit & Nut Topped Christmas Pudding. Serve with piping hot white sauce or fresh brandy butter. Yum! Priced £9.99.
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DAILY POST Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Chef’s Table
A star in the kitchen
William Leece meets the welltravelled Gordon Campbell, bringing his Michelin-star experience to Thornton Hall, in Wirral
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SK Gordon Campbell for a quick run-down of his career, and a mischievous twinkle creeps into his eye. “Do you really want to know?” asks the recently-appointed head chef at Thornton Hall Hotel, in the Wirral. In the interests of keeping Daily Post readers informed, it is agreed that, yes, we would quite like to know. He doesn’t exactly say “well, you asked for it”, but there is just a hint of it as he gets into his stride. “It’s going to take a while,” he warns. And then he reels off a list of blue-chip dining establishments, many of them names whose fame has spread well outside the world of gastronomy. There’s the Hilton and the Beardmore in his native Glasgow, l’Escargot in Soho in London, and Northcote Manor near Blackburn. A quick breath and the list goes on – the Pink Geranium in Cambridgeshire, the Vineyard near Newbury in Berkshire, with its two Michelin stars, and eventually Rookery Hall, just outside Nantwich, in Cheshire. There are more to come, but he’s made his point: his CV is second to none, and now he’s set up shop in the comfortable surroundings of south Wirral at Thornton Hall, a swish country hotel and spa in the picture-postcard village of Thornton Hough. The main restaurant at Thornton Hall has ben re-branded as The Lawns, and Gordon has been in charge of the kitchens now since July, overseeing a transformation that has now seen the winter menu introduced. If truth be told, he’d probably far rather let his cookery do the talking. It’s with a slight sense of relief that he lets the hotel’s general manager, Geoff Dale, explain just why he has been recruited. “His background is in places with Michelin-starred links,” he explains. “He’s brought a massive amount of expertise and reputation for us to build on, and go in the direction where we want to head.” Like many in the profession, Gordon always wanted to be a chef
A CV packed with blue-chip names – executive head chef Gordon Campbell, from Thornton Hall Hotel
Picture: PAUL HEAPS/ ph261109gthornton-2
Chicken with new potatoes Ingredients 8 chicken breasts 28 partially cooked new potatoes (7 halves per guest) 28 Brussels sprouts (7 halves per guest) 2 packets fine trimmed beans 90g hazelnuts hazelnut oil butter olive oil red wine sauce seasoning Method 1. Season the breasts with a little salt and pepper 2. Heat a little oil in a pan and
from the word go. It wasn’t a family thing, though, although there was always food and an insider’s knowledge around. “My dad was a fishmonger, and I just wanted to be chef,” he says. Catering college followed in Glasgow, followed by spells in Edinburgh and London as he worked his way up to the top dining
seal the chicken breasts, skin side down. Place in a hot oven (220C, Gas Mark 7) for approximately 8-10 minutes 3. Blanch the fine beans 4. Blanch the sprouts, and cut each in half 5. Remove chicken from oven when cooked and turn over so skin faces up, allow to rest 6. Heat a little oil in a pan. Halve new potatoes lengthways and toss in oil. Place in oven to finish cooking until golden brown. 7. Carefully roast hazelnuts until golden brown 8. Reduce red wine sauce to desired consistency
To finish 1. Return chicken breasts to oven to heat through 2. Remove potatoes from oven and keep warm 3. Heat vegetables in boiling water, toss in a little butter and seasoning to taste. 4. Finish sauce with hazelnuts and a few drops of hazelnut oil 5. Slice each chicken breast into three, and arrange in lower centre of plate. 7. Arrange potatoes around the plate 8. Arrange vegetables above the chicken 9. Drizzle sauce over and around the chicken.
establishments where he has made his name and reputation. At Thornton Hall, he is in charge of three kitchens, plus an overall staff of 12 chefs. “The theme is modern British, but we’re looking for something of a classical twist, changing the menus four times a year to follow the seasons.” The winter menu for dining a la
carte at The Lawns ranges from a Ballantine of Scottish Salmon with cucumber noodles and caviare to the splendidly gamey roast pigeon with woodland mushrooms and lettuce with a game jus, plus a vegetarian option – at this time of year, a butternut squash veloute with pumpkin seeds and oil. There’s more than a hint of
Gordon’s Scottish background in the winter mains, encompassing roast pheasant breast stuffed with oatmeal and smoked back, slowcooked Scottish salmon fillet or pan-fried loin of venison with turnip fondant, celeriac puree, baby onion and smoked bacon and chocolate sauce. williamleece@liverpool.com
DAILY POST Tuesday, December 8, 2009
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Cupboard love IF YOU are planning on bringing a bottle to a party this Christmas, then make it this one. GH Mumm’s striking red “dinner jacket” is zipped over a bottle of Cordon Rouge (£26.99, Waitrose), keeping it chilled from fridge to flute. It also comes with a keyring featuring the Mumm coat of arms.
Have yourself Professional cooks whip up Christmas dinner without a second thought. Some of Liverpool’s top chefs share their tips with Emma Johnson 5. Glaze your turkey with honey and butter, and most importantly let it rest for 20 minutes before you carve.
PAUL HEATHCOTE, owner of Simply Heathcotes and The Olive Press ALWAYS make your starter a cold platter to pass around, comprising lots of seasonal ingredients such as figs and cranberry sauce – the sauce goes brilliantly with paté, cold meats and cheese. You will be able to enjoy your guests’ company if this is prepared in advance.
EVER since Sex and the City, Cosmopolitans have been the drink of choice for fashionable gals. So this Crucial Cosmopolitan Kit, from Whisk Hampers, containing everything you need to mix the cocktail, plus two glasses, is a perfect Christmas present. Priced £30.50, from www.whisk hampers.co.uk
ADAM TOWNSLEY, head chef, Malmaison
JOHN O’BRIEN, head chef, The Living Room, Victoria Street 1. TO PREVENT Brussels sprouts from being soggy and to ensure they are evenly cooked, criss-cross the bottom of the core. UNWRAP the taste of Christmas with these festive Artisan Bars, from Rococo Chocolates. These waferthins are topped with gold leaf, and will leave chocoholics yearning for more. Find them at www.rococochocolates.com, priced £15.
2. For a festive twist, heat a pan with olive oil, add some pancetta and chopped chestnuts and sauté, cut the cooked sprouts in half and add to the pan. Season to taste and finish off with freshly chopped parsley. 3. To make your carrots sweeter, add some sugar to the pan of water. COLIN GANNON, head chef at Gusto, Albert Dock 1. ALWAYS use a probe to monitor
Award-winning chef, Paul Heathcote cooking your turkey at 75 degrees C. 2. For great roasties, par-boil potatoes, cut them into big pieces, give them a shake in a strainer to rough them up, then plunge them straight into hot oil. 3. Prep your veg the day before and keep in the fridge, then on Christmas Day just re-heat. 4. Re-heat sprouts in the oven with butter and pancetta.
WE MAKE bread and cranberry sauces for our turkey without even thinking about it, but there is another sauce if you can dare to break the tradition. My nan has been making this little accompaniment for as long as I can remember and what says Christmas more than port and chestnuts? Simply sweat some shallots in a pan and add equal amounts of cooked chestnuts. Cover with a good Tawny Port and turn the heat down low to simmer until the chestnuts have broken down and all the port has been soaked in. Make sure it does not catch on the pan, if it is too dry add some more port. Pulse in the blender to marry the shallots with the chestnuts, add some picked thyme. This will add a real sweet and savoury appeal to your festive table. emma.johnson@liverpool.com
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New Years Eve Dinner Dance - £79.95 Contact our Events Team on 0151 263 0363 for more information
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DAILY POST Tuesday, December 8, 2009
f a perfect Christmas Mulled wine
NIGEL PAUL SMITH, Executive chef, The Maritime Dining Rooms MULLED wine to me always indicates one of the first signs that Christmas is here. I feel there is nothing better than walking around a Christmas market with a warm cup of mulled wine, carol singers and Christmas songs. It’s a great drink before or after a meal, it seems rich but spicy with a velvety-like texture and silky smooth on the palate. THE MARITIME DINING ROOMS’ MULLED WINE Ingredients
Chef Colin Gannon prepares the Christmas menu at Gusto, in the Albert Dock – as seen on the front cover
Picture: PAUL HEAPS/ ph031209fgusto-1
And the vegetarian option is . . . JOHN DOLAN, head chef at The James Monro, Tithebarn Street A NUT roast offers vegetarians something different than the ‘usual’ vegetarian dishes found in many restaurants, and is a tasty replacement for turkey at Christmas. Non-vegetarians are often sceptical about nut roasts, but people seem to be more adventurous this year and ours is proving to be successful with our guests. Vegetarian Nut Roast Ingredients (serves 4) 1 medium onion, very finely chopped. 1–1½ tbs olive oil;. 125g vegetarian Halloumi cheese, thinly sliced. 50g cashews. 50g fresh wholemeal breadcrumbs; 100g walnuts. 50g ground almonds. 150g cooked basmati rice (about 75g uncooked weight), cooled. 1 small red pepper diced small. 75ml hot light stock (3 tsp light stock powder to 75ml water). 2 large free range eggs, beaten.
Salt and pepper to taste. Method: 1. Preheat oven to 180°C / 375°F / gas mark 5. Grease a 450g loaf tin. Line the
base and ends with a single strip of baking paper, leaving an overhang at each end. This will help to ease the loaf out of the tin when cooked. 2. Gently sauté the onion in 1tbs olive oil in a frying pan until soft but not coloured.
Remove from the pan and set aside. Using the remaining ½ tbs olive oil if necessary, turn up the heat and use the same pan to fry the halloumi cheese quickly until brown on both sides. Remove from the pan and set aside to cool, then cut into very small dice (about ½ cm). 3. Grind the cashew nuts with half the walnuts until powdery and add the breadcrumbs. Put the remaining walnuts into a processor and process until very finely chopped. 4. In a large bowl, mix all the nuts together with the onions and halloumi cheese, and all the remaining ingredients except the eggs. Season to taste then add the beaten eggs and beat well. Press the mixture into the prepared loaf tin, with a slightly rounded top surface. Put into the bain marie and bake in the preheated oven for about 40 minutes or until firm. Check after 30 minutes, and if it appears to be browning too fast, cover with foil. 5. When cooked, remove from the oven and leave in the tin for 10 – 20 minutes before turning out. Slice with care using a sharp knife, and wiping the knife clean after each cut.
1 bottle robust red wine 2 cloves 2 blades of mace 2 allspice berries 1 stick cinnamon, broken 6 cardamom pods Finely pared zest of 1 lemon Finely pared zest of 1 orange 100g caster sugar, or to taste Method Put everything but the sugar into a non-corrodible pan over a low heat. Warm to just below boiling. Remove from the heat and serve.
DAILY POST Tuesday, December 8, 2009
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Eating Out
The family’s a bit anxious about cooking for me Top Michelin-starred chef Aiden Byrne talks to Janet Tansley about his Kirkby childhood and his ambitions for the future
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I had never worn a suit in my life and I had to wear a dickie bow
E BECAME the UK’s youngest chef ever to win a Michelin star when he was awarded the culinary Oscar at 22. And, even though, 15 years later, Aiden Byrne has added another two stars to his CV and gained three prestigious AA rosettes for his year-old gastro pub, Church Green, at Lymm, Cheshire, the 37year-old is not ready to rest on his laurels. “You have to stay one step ahead,” says the Kirkby-born chef. “I employ 30 people now so I have a responsibility to keep this place afloat, alive and busy, but I have to build on what I achieved at an early age. I have to deliver on a daily basis.” Family man Aiden has worked hard to get to the top. When he was awarded his first Michelin star, he spent most of the night gazing in awe at the company around him. “My chin was on the floor. I kept nudging my then partner and saying ‘look, there’s Raymond Blanc’, and ‘blimey, Marco Pierre White’. I mean, here I was, fresh from Kirkby, I had never worn a suit in my life and I had to wear a dickie bow!” When Brian Turner said he had achieved something many in the room could only ever dream of, he says it finally hit him. Now, though, people nudge when they see him. Not bad for the former Ruffwood Comprehensive pupil who went into catering to follow his cousin because he didn’t know what else to do. “But, as soon as I went into the kitchen, it was the thing I was best at. “I started working and saw these professional chefs who had such enthusiasm and passion and it rubbed off on me. It was like a whole new world. “I’m not saying I was living in poverty or anything, but growing up on a council estate back in the
As soon as I went into the kitchen, it was the thing I was best at – Michelin-starred chef, Aiden Byrne early eighties, 90% of people were out of work. “I just knew there was something bigger and better. “I knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but I had a desire to do better than what was on offer for me in Kirkby.” Hard work means Aiden has risen to the top of his profession, and now people flock to see him and what he has to offer. “Did I have a natural gift? I don’t
know, for a person to point out his talent . . . well, that’s not my kind of character. “The only control I had over what I was doing was making sure I was first in and last out, and absorb as much information as I could. Anything else has been a bonus. “Maybe I’m too humble. I just wanted to make sure I didn’t lose this opportunity.” Aiden received his first Michelin
star while at Adlard’s in Norwich, his second at The Commons restaurant in Dublin, and his third at the Dorchester in London. “A Michelin star just puts you with the best in your profession. It’s like being a footballer in one of the top four teams of the Premier League, competing with people whose books you read to inspire you, standing shoulder to shoulder with them.” From the North-West, Aiden now
makes it his mission to use as many local ingredients as possible, championing what’s on offer in Liverpool, Manchester and Cheshire. Asked to describe his style of cooking, he says: “The food, I guess, is, to a certain extent, refined. You don’t work in the best restaurants for 20 years and switch it off, you retain the same morals and values. “From making a simple chicken stock to making a fois gras mousse, everything gets carried out with the same integrity. My food is very complex but true to its roots.” Speaking of which, Aiden is returning to his native city “for one night only” to guest at Circo, in Liverpool’s Albert Dock , which this month celebrates its second birthday. He and his team – including his chef brother, will be creating a fivecourse feast for £80 on December 10, with a complimentary and complementary glass of wine for each course. Says Aiden: “This is a chance for me to establish myself in the NorthWest, and for people to enjoy all the lavish luxuries you would expect from a Michelin-starred meal.” While a TV show is not at the forefront of Aiden’s mind, it is not something he would turn down, he says, adding: “I looked at opening a restaurant quite recently in Prestbury, called The White House, and was asked to do a fly-on-thewall documentary but, unfortunately, in these times, the TV company decided to sit tight. Aiden is taking part in a Taste of Christmas convention in London spearheaded by Gordon Ramsay and has many more things in the pipeline. “I set myself goals,” he says. “I would like to have fine dining restaurants and three more Church Greens.” At the moment, though, Aiden is concentrating on getting ready for the festive period. “We will be working flat out. I have got a gala dinner on Christmas Eve here at Church Green and one on new Year’s Eve. I get one day off – Christmas Day, and me and the children, Harrison, five, and Lauren, six, are going to my partner Sarah’s parents on the Wirral. “We have all been allocated a course to take and we have got the starters,” he adds, about he and Sarah, who is pregnant with their third child. “Maybe the family was a bit anxious cooking for me in the past, but they are used to me now. I get what I’m given. “I looking forward to Christmas, having dinner with my family and enjoying a day off.” ■ FOR details of Aiden’s guest appearance at Circo, or to book, call 0151 709 0470. janet.tansley@liverpool.com
DAILY POST Tuesday, December 8, 2009
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DAILY POST Tuesday, December 8, 2009
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