Midsummer House, Oxford

 

we went for the market menu

before we went there, I thought we would be able to taste winning chicken dish at the great british menu. but it was taken off the menu :(

Started off with - Cashel Blue, Broccoli and pear

a chef then came out with a black celeriac - slowly cooked for yearssss in open coal.

He chopped it in half and cut out a piece out with a spoon. 

poor it over with hamhock stock and served with picked celery..

sprinkled with powdered celeriac skin

very pretty plate of fish

this was one of my favourite course

the pepper is stuffed with squid

Venison loin, Suet pudding with roasted parsley root

Seasoned with pine which I have never tasted pine before,  it's actually very fragrant

I'm surprised why pine leaves isn't used in cooking more often

Apple crumble with baked yogurt

Raspberry and tarragon roulade

It looks very pretty but doesn't taste that good.

I'm not sure about the flavour combination plus those raspberry discs were chewy ..

On the whole, the food was good but the service wasn't as great as I expected for a 2 star restaurant.
They forgot to serve us chocolate with the coffee until I asked them when I get the bill :p
Biggest mistake ever :p

Nikumen Bun

- recipe from cookingwithdog youtube channel

 

steamed then fried :)

Cream cheese and smoked salmon Ravioli

 

carefully drop an egg yolk into the little well of cream cheese with smoked salmon

 

 

the egg yolk pour out as well as it is cut opened.

Gilbert Scott

New Marcus Wareing restaurant at St Pancras station! 

The newly renovated hotel.  It looks stunning both inside and outside

The bar

Pork Terrine with hazelnut gem salad 

Mackeral tartare  - with gooseberry, pickled cucumber and elderflower

It was not as exciting as it sounds 

I couldn't taste any elderflower in it. 

Rump of veal - soooooo soft 

I wish they do seconds :p

It was our friend's bday :) 

Mrs Beeton's snow egg 

- basically "floating island" - soft meringue with custard and almond crunches

what's so special about it is that when you cut through the centre, there are slices of candied orange inside it :p

nice but the custard was a tad too sweet

Peanut butter icecream with caramel sauce..

really like it :)

you can tell by how happy he is :p

  

There was also the option of 27 quid 3 course roast lunch.

The pork belly my friend had looks tasted really good (I had a bite :p ) 

Bruschetta

been working from home lately
What's better than having a freshly made lunch by hubby :)

Left: Fig, mozzarella basil and honey - we fell in love with this combination after trying that out at Pizza east!

Right: Smoked salmon with mozzarella

Scotch Egg

Home made scotch egg is soooooo much nicer than ready made ones

Keith made some that are runny in the middle.
He followed Heston's recipes - with some slight alterations with the seasonings..


1. Soft boiled egg
- Boil for 4.5minutes for runny scotch egg

2. season some sausage meat  - as you like
- with herbs/ salt & peper/

3.wrap the egg with a thin layer of sausage

4. Coat it with egg, flour, breadcrumbs and cumin seeds
    Deep fried them at 190oC  till Golden - for 2 minutes

 5. Bake at 190oC for 10minutes and tadaaaa

Reference : http://www.waitrose.com/content/waitrose/en/home/recipes/recipe_directory/h/heston_s_scotch_eggs.html

Honey glazed duck breast with couscous

Based on Marco Pierre White's recipe at Knorr's website

http://www.knorr.co.uk/Recipes/Game-Recipe/Honey-glazed-Duck-Breasts-with-Apple-Sauce.aspx

115g runny honey

2tsps coriander seeds, dry-fried and roughly crushed

4 star anise

4 duck breast fillets, skin on (200g each)

A sprinkle of Knorr Chicken Granules

Olive oil

4–5 sprigs of fresh thyme

1. Place the honey, coriander and star anise in a small pan. Bring to the boil and cook uncovered (taking care it doesn’t boil over), stirring often until reduced by around a half.

2. sprinkle the Knorr Chicken granules (we just used salt and pepper_ over both sides of the duck breasts to season them. Add a little olive oil and spread evenly over the duck breasts, coating the breasts thoroughly in the seasoning mixture. Add the thyme sprigs. Set aside for 5–10 minutes.

3.    While the duck is marinating, pre-heat a good quality, thick griddle pan. Add the duck breasts skin side down to the pan and cook over a low to medium heat for 10–15 minutes, turning over halfway through.

4.    After 12 minutes cooking, turn off the heat under the duck breasts and leave them in the pan to cook in the residual heat left in the griddle pan. 

5.    Brush the honey glaze over the skin side of the duck breasts, topping each breast with a star anise as decoration.  Garnish with fresh coriander sprigs.