Month: September 2011

by Ben Reade. Bottarga is a form of preserving fish eggs with salt. Its a delicacy all over the Mediterranean and has a very ancient history. The great thing about it is, that it turns the fish eggs into a chewy salty speciality and means they can be kept for long periods of time. Our italian friend and colleague Giulio di Sabato used herring eggs with a technique he’d seen in Sardinia. The herring eggs are something we see a lot of here, and essentially a by-product, but one which can be used to make these optimum little treats. If you see the eggs in there when you open up a fresh fish, take them out, keeping the membrane attached. Leave the eggs in a saturated water salt solution 37% salt, over night. the next day remove them and roll them in salt, as much as will stick to it. keep ’em … Read more

by Ben Reade. This wild plant can be found in local forests during the summer. It grows in abundance. We collect large quantities of it and use it for a plethora of different recipes. When its first picked it doesn’t have much aroma, but during the drying process the distinctive smell of coumarin, the signature aroma of the exotic tonka bean really comes out strong. It can be kept dry in jars or vacuum bags and used when needed. Here it is often used in purée such as that of pea or asparagus, but it really finds it’s natural home with beetroot, where the earthy flavour of the beets and the woodruff really have an opportunity to get intimate. It can also be used in sweets, try using it in the place of vanilla, to infuse a custard or cream.