Fine dining made easy by Tom McNeeney

Tom McNeeney, from The Lancashire Hospitality Co, shares his latest cookery masterclass...

Call it date night. Call it pushing the boat out. Call it what you want, but we’ve been locked down a little too long and it’s about time we did something different. So here’s my foolproof three course menu that can’t fail to impress and at the very least kills a little time!

Smoked Salmon & Mackerel Terrine

The work, if you can call it that, in this is all done ahead. It’s a lovely little starter which looks wildly impressive but takes minutes and requires zero cooking. Minimal stress.

Ingredients:

200g smoked salmon

200g peppered smoked mackerel

50g butter (soft)

1/2 a bunch of parsley

1 teaspoon of horseradish

1 cooked beetroot

2 pickled silverskin onions

rye bread

Method:

So, into a mixing bowl flake up your mackerel, keep an eye out for any small bones, chuck away the skins. Mix in your softened butter, horseradish and parsley, if you’re not using peppered mackerel then put a little pepper in too. Give it a good mix together.

Line a little loaf tin or a steep sided bowl with clingfilm, place a layer of smoked salmon on the bottom then some of your mackerel butter, then salmon again, repeat the whole process a few times ending with a top layer of salmon.

Cover over with clingfilm then leave in the fridge till you want to serve it up.

Make your beetroot puree by microwaving the cooked beetroot for a minute, then lob it in a blender with the pickled onions, then blend until silky smooth.

To serve, just cut off a slice the terrine, pop on a plate with your beetroot puree and some rye bread. Magnificent.

Pork belly with barley & butternut squash

Right. Now this does look ridiculously fancy but each individual element is super easy, it’s a case of bringing all of these simple things together into something brilliant. You’ll impress yourself (and everyone else).

Ingredients:

400g boned belly pork

4 pork cheeks (ask your local butcher)

1 stick of celery (diced)

1 white onion (diced)

1 carrot (diced)

1 litre of bovril

100g barley white pepper

few sprigs of thyme

1 butternut squash

20g butter

1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika

1 tablespoon ketchup

1 tablespoon runny honey

1 tablespoon bbq sauce

Method:

Ok, first things first, start by heating a little oil in a pan and frying your pork cheeks off on both sides over a medium heat, chuck in your vegetables and give the whole thing a little shimmy and transfer to a steep sided baking tray.

Pour over your bovril, pull the leaves off a few springs of thyme and add them in then a good pinch of white pepper. Cover the lot in tinfoil and pop into the oven on 180ºc. I’d have a wine at this point, catch up on Strictly.

After two and a half hours, season your pork belly all over and pop on a tray in the oven.

Half an hour later, cut your squash in half and scoop out the seeds. Cut four, 1 inch thick slices out of one half of squash, cut the peel off the slices and lob them on a baking tray with the rest of the squash, season well, give a little drizzle of olive oil and pop the tray in the oven.

Now, take the foiled tray out, carefully lift the pork cheeks out and put to one side. Then, add the barley to the bovril and pork stock, give it a stir, recover and pop back in the oven for another hour.

Check it every now and then, give it a stir, make sure it’s not too dry - you’re after a risotto-y consistency.

Once your hour is up, pull out the pork belly to rest for five minutes then cut into cubes.

Scoop the squash out of its skin and into a blender with the butter and paprika and blend till smooth.

Pour the juices from the pork into a little pan with your ketchup, honey and bbq sauce, pop in your cheeks and gently heat.

Now onto each plate you want a good spoonful of your barley, a few artistic splodges of your squash puree, two nice cubes of pork, your roasted squash slice, one sticky cheek and some of the sauce.

Shrug off how impressive it looks. I put some parsley on it on the photo but that’s because I can’t leave well enough alone.

Classic Plum Tart

There’s something really wintery about this dessert; it’s one I always come back to time and time again because it’s so simple and it’s just stuff from the cupboard really.

Ingredients:

6 plums

100g butter

100g caster sugar

pinch of cinnamon

1 sheet of puff pastry

150ml custard ice cream & granola (optional)

Method:

This one is really straightforward. Chuck the oven on 200ºC and get yourself a frying pan that can go in the oven.

Melt your butter in the pan over a medium heat, add in the sugar and cinnamon, give it a little stir.

Cut your plums in half and remove the stones. Carefully place them flesh side down in your pan in one layer.

Let it all caramelise for a few minutes then take the pan off the heat and lay your pastry over the top of the fruit, tucking it in at the sides. Pop the pan in the oven for 15 minutes until the pastry is golden and risen.

Be really careful when you take the pan out of the oven, place it somewhere to cool for ten minutes then turn the tart out onto a plate.

I like to serve it with warm custard and a dollop of ice cream on top along with a little bit of granola for some texture.

Couldn’t be easier!