French Night At The Nook On The Square

It's that time of year again when love is in the air!
It did make me smile as I walked into Tesco last Saturday morning and watched several men frantically buying bunches of roses and flowers at the entrance. It's totally commercial and thousands are spent by the public each February 14th.
With this in mind, our supper club this month at The Nook had a French theme and was moved from the beginning of the month to February 13th, Valentine's Eve!
Once again hard work, a sell out AND a great success with several compliments on the food.
So here's a few photos from the evening.

 The back room in The Nook looked very romantic with soft lighting and roses on the tables.

 

 

A little look at the front room. 

 

Here's the menu  

 

 

Starters 

 

French onion pate served with gruyere pastry biscuits.

I was really impressed with the pate. I caramelised the onions for over an hour to get a beautiful sweet flavour before blending with cream cheese and beef stock. I also made a vegetarian version with vegetable stock

 

 

Mixed salad with pancetta, croutons and poached egg.

 

 

 

 

French Lavender, Red Onion, Goats Cheese Tart.  

 

 

 

Mains

 

Beef Cheek Bourguignon

Beautiful melt in the mouth beef that was marinated and treated for 3 days prior to the event and tasted out of this world.

 

                   Chicken Supreme served in Wholegrain Mustard and    Tarragon Cream Sauce

 

 

Ratatouille Tart Tartin

 

 

 

                                                                      Desserts

                                                                  Apple Roses

Great tutorial for this very easy puff pastry and apple dish can be found HERE on Cooking With Manuela.

Mixed Berry Clafoutis

This is a traditional baked French dessert with fruit, usually cherries but I used mixed berries, covered with a thick, flan like batter. I used a Julia Childs recipe and boy what a lovely dessert.

Baked French Chocolate Tart

 

We're popping to Mexico in March and already fully booked !!

 

Linking up this week at:

 

Foodie Fridays and Everything Else

Sweet and Simple Fridays

 

 

 

Broad Bean And Basil Pate

It's a short harvesting season for Broad Beans, also known as Fava Beans, I learnt this evening, spanning from late May to early September.
Known as King of all beans they have a flavour smoother, sweeter and richer than all beans. According to Hannibal Lecter they are eaten well with liver and a nice bottle of Chianti!




Broad Beans, also known as Fava Beans.

 

 

 

Here at The Nook we like to work with seasonal food on the weekly menu.
This week I sought inspiration to use these fine beans for a dish and attempted a new pate, and boy the result was lovely.  

Broad Bean and Basil Pate accompanied by Mushroom Pate, Humus and Various selection of breads.

As with my mushroom pate I sweated some onion and garlic with butter in a pan then added some boiled broad beans. Unlike Hannibal Lecter I didn't reach for the chianti, instead I poured some pinot grigio in the pan with some basil leaves and allowed it to reduce down.
After allowing it to cool a little I placed the mixture into the processor with some cream cheese and seasoning and whizzed together.
I left to set overnight and it turned into a lovely smooth paste and soooo tasty.

Broad bean and basil pate on todays menu

The pate served up nicely in a bowl and accompanied on a rustic board with my chestnut mushroom pate, hummus and salad. On the side I served pitta bread, toasted focaccia and baked shortcrust pastry biscuits.
A big winner on the menu this week, I definitely recommend giving it a try .    

Broad Bean and Basil Pate

Linking up this week with:

Tasty Tuesday

Veggie Wednesday 

Foodie Friday and Everything Else

Mushroom, Feta and Roasted Pepper Pate

I had a bit of a busman's holiday this week on my days off and went for tea and cake at a local café.
Looking at their specials board I noticed they had Mushroom and Stilton Pate on their lunch menu. Sounded lovely.
I often make mushroom pate at The Nook but never thought of adding cheese.
I had feta left over in the fridge this week so thought I would adapt my usual pate recipe and include it.

I chopped some mushrooms and pan fried them in lots of butter.

Sauté Mushrooms in Lots Of Butter 

 

 

 

Then I crumbled the feta in and cooked until melted. 

Mushrooms and Feta

I had some roasted peppers in the fridge and had a brainwave to throw them into the mixture. It seemed to be drying out in the pan so I added some cream and seasoned.
The mixture looked gorgeous and, if you didn't want to blitz into a pate, it would have been equally as gorgeous to stir through some pasta.
But for this recipe I put all the mixture into the food processor and blitzed until smooth, then refrigerated.

Mushrooms, Feta, Roasted Red Pepper and Cream

And here is the finished product!
 Feedback from our customers was very positive. Great to have another vegetarian option on the menu.

Mushroom, Feta and Roasted Pepper Pate served with Rhubarb, Fig and Ginger Chutney, toasted breads and salad.

I served it with my Rhubarb, Fig and Ginger chutney, toasted red onion focaccia from The Revel Bakery, and my own Lemon and Poppy Seed bread.

Mushroom, Feta and Roasted Red Pepper Pate.

Linking up this week with:
Tasty Tuesday
Veggie Wednesday
Foodie Friday and Everything Else.

National Vegetarian Week 2015

Best thing about working at The Nook is the freedom to change the menu each week and highlight all varieties and traditions of food.
This week is National Vegetarian Week which is all about sharing and enjoying delicious veggie food with your friends, family, colleagues, neighbours and community.
It’s a great way to connect with those around you and explore tasty meat-free food together.

Below are just a few of the many vegetarian dishes that have appeared on The Nook's lunchtime menu in the past few months. Always tasty and a lovely alternative to meat. Give them a go!

Parsnip & Horseradish Pate -  Recipe Here.

Parsnip and Horseradish Pate

 

 

 

The Greek Omelette - Containing Feta, Olives, Tomato & Onion

The Greek Omelette

Caprese Style Portobello Mushrooms filled with mozzarella, tomato and basil and served on toasted sourdough and rocket.

Caprese Style Portobello Mushroom

Roasted Squash, Beetroot and Feta Salad - written about HERE

Roasted Squash, Beetroot and Feta Salad

 

 

 

Our famous quiches always have a vegetarian option. This month we have English Asparagus and Gruyere Cheese served with celeriac and apple slaw and fresh salad.

 

Asparagus and Gruyere quiche

Linking up with Tasty Tuesdays 

Foodie Friday & Everything Else

 

Rhubarb & Apple Chutney Served With Smoked Mackerel Pate

The sun is still shining at The Nook On The Square this week and our fine lady gardener informed me that there was Rhubarb at the end of the garden if I could use it for anything.
Cooking is certainly a passion, but to actually cut produce grown in your own garden and create a recipe for the public to eat and enjoy certainly takes passion to the next level.

Rhubarb In The Nook Garden

 

 

Always up for the challenge, I immediately got onto google for ideas and found a few recipes that put rhubarb and smoked mackerel together. Sounded lovely!
Straight away I got some smoked mackerel in and got Eli, my super assistant, to make pate whilst I attempted a chutney to accompany it.
I chopped about 4 sticks of rhubarb and put in a pan with some light brown sugar (about 75g), big handful sultanas, finely chopped red onion, 1 inch grated ginger, salt, pepper, zest and juice of an orange and 5 tbsp white wine vinegar and put on the stove.
I left all ingredients to come to the boil, then let simmer.
If I'm honest I didn't measure the vinegar and put a little too much in and the rhubarb seemed saturated which is where I had the idea to skin, core and chop a couple of apples and add to the pan.

Fresh Chopped Rhubarb

 

As the mixture reduced I removed from the stove and put in small dishes to accompany the pate.
Served on our rustic wooden boards with toasted sourdough this dish has proved to be another winner on the menu this week.

Smoked Mackerel Pate served with Rhubarb & Apple Chutney and Toasted Sourdough

Linking up with Foodie Friday And Everything Else Party  and have also just discovered Tasty Tuesday to join in with.

Parsnip And Horseradish Pate

During the 80s If I dined out, and had a starter, I would always look for chicken liver pate on the menu as it was my firm favourite.
Chicken livers cooked in heaps of butter and an alcoholic beverage, such as sherry, and compact into a tight mold to eat with warm toasted breads was my idea of heaven.
Over the past 3 or 4 years as my interest in food has developed I have moved on from the traditional meat pate to other vegetable and fish varieties.
It was at The Old Red Lion that I first made mushroom pate to go on the main menu. So easy and quick to make and so tasty.





Mushroom Pate, Onion Chutney and Toast

 

 

I can remember during my interview for the head chef position at The Nook On The Square I witnessed Eli whizzing together her own recipe for salmon pate. Frequently on the menu it is a huge hit with the customers as a light bite.



Eli's Smoked Salmon Pate with Cucumber, Cress and Celery salad and Toasted Breads

This week I thought I would try something new. Amongst our vegetables I had a couple of parsnips and a horseradish that had been bought in for another dish but not used.
I used a similar concept to the mushroom pate recipe and fried off some chopped shallots and garlic in a pan in a rather generous helping of butter!
I peeled and grated the parsnip and added to the pan with some salt and pepper. Not really knowing how much horseradish to put in, as I hadn't used it in it's raw form before, I grated 2 heaped tablespoons and added to my mixture in the pan. Adding more butter, so that the parsnip didn't burn, I left to cook until soft. This was probably about 10 minutes.
I transferred the mixture to the food processor and added a small tub of cream cheese and whizzed to a smooth paste.
The taste was lovely, although I did add a teaspoon of horseradish cream from a jar as it needed just a little more taste.
I served the pate on a bed of roasted, mixed veg and toasted sourdough.




Parsnip and Horseradish Pate served on a bed of roasted vegetables with toasted sourdough

And the verdict?
The customers loved it!
I was surprised how many people ordered it but so pleased with the feedback.
Would definitely recommend you try this one!
I have now made 2 batches and they have flown out of the kitchen .