Venison two ways

Here's a dish I made for the restaurant as a starter last night, a ramiken of the chilli with the wild salad and smoked venison ... its really good ! The chilli was made from a leg of venison I'd left to slow roast in the oven for the afternoon in an oven tray wrapped in clingfilm (to keep it moist).

Smoked Venison with wild salad

• Venison loin
• Salad
• Fresh berries
• Beetroot
• Oak chips for smoker
• sugar

Smoke Venison for 10-15 minutes in hot smoker till it is partially cooked and the colour of oak ... chill in fridge
Clean berries, heat with a little water and sugar to taste, then sieve to make a sauce
Peel and slice beetroot before frying slices till cooked through
Cut beetroot into matchstick sized pieces

Assemble on bed of wild salad, slices of venison with beetroot, then drizzle a little berry sauce over to taste, serve.

Venison Chilli

• 400g Slow roasted venison
• 10 Vine tomatoes
• Balsamic vinegar
• Olive oil
• 100g 70% Chocolate
• 1 espresso coffee
• 2 Chillies finely sliced

Drizzle balsamic and oil over tomatoes, roast in hot oven for 20min till just starting to blacken, blend and sieve to make a roast tomato passata. Make more of this as a base for pasta dishes or soups
Flake roast venison meat into small pieces with two forks (or use blender but don't over blitz ! )
Mix chillies, meat, passata, chocolate and coffee together and heat together slowly, it will make a glossy, hot chilli which is delicious on its own with a few crackers or tortilla chips. It doesn't need to cook overly so keep at a gentle heat. Add more or less chillies, espresso and chocolate to taste.

New Plates for the restaurant ...

We had asked Marnie (who made our lovely tables) to try her hand at plates and after a couple of samples we now have the most amazing wooden plates for the restaurant. They'll be used for crab and starters ... how cool are they !?

Simple fruit puff pastry tart

This is a very simple tart to make and tastes great.

Stage one is get some good quality puff pastry, preferably butter pastry which also means the dish can be vegetarian. Roll it out onto a tray which is floured, or covered in silicon sheet.

Bake for 5 minutes at 180 till starting to rise and very slightly browned to allow the fruit to sit on the pastry without soaking it or making the pastry mushy

Cover partially cooked pastry in fruit and other toppings, I used nectarines with ginger and golden syrup

Bake for another 10-15 minutes till fruit is cooked and pastry is browned, slice and serve with cream or ice cream.

Easy and delicious ... try as a savoury tart too, make a great brunch dish with eggs and bacon.

Festivals, recipes and update

The restaurant continues to absorb most of my time, we are having a great time and rapidly improving in most areas, front of house, food and decor. Sorry for lack of posts but will write some soon, hopefully this weekend when I'm away at a lovely food festival in county Durham ... do come if you live anywhere nearby and say hi.

http://www.theglutton.co.uk/

I also plan to be at Hatfield House in a couple of weeks, just north of London, on the Saturday

http://www.hatfield-house.co.uk/countryshow/

The other festival that is coming (and slightly scary !) are the Good Food Birmingham and London where Masterchef will be featured hugely with a new re branding by the beeb, very few details of what is expected of me at this stage but will be great to meet up with some of the other winners and have some fun, both festivals details are here http://www.bbcgoodfoodshow.com/

Thanks everyone for comments on the restaurant, most have been positive and constructive and these do get a lot of attention and thought. I think we are addressing most of the areas where we agree with your concerns and, yes,  there are some things which we won't change, the type of food, the style of the restaurant and our commitment to creating a customer experience. Apologies to those who haven't been able to get in yet for dinner but we have space lunchtimes with a few days notice and will have more space in the winter months and look forward to seeing you then, there are many other great places to eat if you are down our way for holidays, hopefully you can stop in for lunch at least while you are down in lovely West Dorset.

So a longer more detailed post on opening and several recipes to come ... soon I hope !