Ribeye steak, wedges, peppercorn sauce and steamed sugarsnaps

Mushroom Ravioli with Salmon stirfry and lemon foam

For starters: Avacado with cottage cheese

Avacado, cottage cheese, rock salt and a squeeze of lime - it's the simple things!

For main:

For the Ravioli:

100g 00 Flour
1 Egg

Filling

4 mushrooms diced
1/2 a sesame seed bagel, toasted and diced
Genrous Lemon Juice to taste
1tbsp Cream cheese

Saute the mushrooms, throw in the bagel cubes and cook for a few more mins.  Remove from heat and add cream cheese and lemon juice.  Leave to cool before making the Ravioli

Stirfry:

2 fillets skinless Salmon, cubed
4 baby courgettes quarted lengthways
1 baby cabbage finely shredded
Handful of corriander leaves chopped
2 tbsp single cream
0.5tsp Manuka honey

Fry cubes of salmon, add courgettes then cabbage.  Add honey and cream.  Season to taste

Lemon foam:

1/8 cup lemon juice
1/8 cup water
1 tsp Lecithin

Mix together and whisk to make foam.

Munchies

Garlic Sausage, sweet crunchy salsa, Cream crackers and a selection of mini cheeses!

Char sui pork, chicken spiced rice, mushroom and med style roasted veg

Strawberry Spheres

I received a molecular cooking kit for my birthday, here's my first attempts at spherification.  Look out for mango spaghetti coming to a blog near you soon.

To serve: Single cream, white chocolate stars & red glitter sugar

For the bath:

2g Sodium Alginate

400ml bottled water

Mix together and put in fridge – add slowly, try to minimise air bubbles - takes some beating!

For the Spheres:

200g strawberries

0.5 tsp manuka honey

6g Calcium Lactate

Blend Strawberries and honey, pass through sieve.  Mix in Lactate (again add slowly and mix like a demon!)

Leave all to stand 1+hour(s) to let any air bubbles out – skim puree if needed just before using.  Can leave overnight if required.

Drop Strawberries into bath.

‘Cook’ for 4-5mins

Put in clean plain water bath till ready to serve.

Serving suggestion: 0.5tsp lemon juice
in bottom of glass, strawberry sphere
& sprinkle of red gliter sugar

Slow cooked BBQ ribs

Ingredients

3 tbsp hoisin

2 tbsp Soy sauce

1 tbsp Rice wine

2 tsp brown sugar

0.25 tsp Dave's insanity chilli sauce

Pinch of 5 spice

Method

1. Marinade ribs overnight
2. Lightly dust in flour and sear is a hot pan
3. Slow cook with remainder of marinade for 4 hours on high

Points/Notes

I had to add a little water to the marinade to make it go further, this diluted the flavour and so did the the flour, so they weren't as zingy as I would have liked.  I rescued the leftovers by drizzling a honey/chilli/soy mix over them before reheating in a low oven (covered in foil which was removed 5 mins before the end), but for the future I would increase the volume of marinade and go for a bolder flavour with it.

Sweet potato cake, with cherry, ginger and almonds

Ingredients

   2 1/2 cups plain flour
    2 teaspoons baking soda
    2 teaspoons baking powder
    1/4 teaspoon salt
    2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
    2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
    1 cup sugar
    1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) margarine
    1 cup brown sugar
    3 large eggs
    1 tablespoon vanilla extract
    2 1/2 cups mashed cooked sweet potatoes
    1/2 cup crushed pineapple, drained
    *1/2 cup glace cherries (rinsed thoroughly and chopped)
    *1/2 cup crystallised ginger (rinsed thoroughly and chopped)
    *1/2 cup roughly chopped toasted almonds (skin removed)
*mix these three together, use 1 cup of the mix, lightly dusted in flour to stop them sinking, in the cake and retain the remaining half cup for the topping

Icing

140g/5oz butter, softened
280g/10oz icing sugar
1-2 tbsp milk

Instructions

Preheat oven to 175c
Grease and line a cake tin

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and granulated sugar. Set aside.

In the bowl of a mixer, cream margarine and brown sugar on low speed, and then increase speed to medium and beat until well-combined.

Gradually add the dry ingredients that you set aside and beat on low speed until just incorporated.

Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each egg and scraping down the sides of the bowl after the addition of each egg. Add vanilla, sweet potatoes, pineapple, cherries, ginger and almonds and blend on low speed until thoroughly mixed.

Bake for around 70 mins, till a skewer comes out clean and cool before icing.

Smoked salmon scrambled egg breakfast bagel

Serves 2

1 Bagel, sliced into 16 discs (quarter, then quarter each quarter!)
2 eggs
50g Cream Cheese
50ml Milk
4 slices of smoked salmon, sliced in strips
15g Butter
Salt to taste

Generously spread a thick layer of butter on an ovenproof dish, lay out discs of bagel and sprinkle with salt.  Bake for 8 mins or so in hot oven (about 220c), till golden brown.  Flip half way through to ensure even cooking.

Place cooking rings in centre of serving plates and place 8 bagel slices around each.  Keep warm while you make the scrambled eggs.

Gently mix eggs and milk in jug.

On low temp place salmon strips in frying pan and gently cook, add egg mixture and stir gently till almost firm.  Remove from heat and add cream cheese, use a wooden spoon to scramble the mixture.

Place scrambled egg mixture in cooking ring, remove ring and serve immediately