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Good food we serve at the restaurant


Delta!

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A black sesame crusted Scottish Salmon served with creme fraiche, fruit salsa a shortcrust pastry disc and red wine reduction.

post-15332-0-63843400-1298758163_thumb.jpg

 

wow, beautiful!

 

Do you get to nibble on the smoked salmon for free?

 

:D

 

gogo

 

Thanx! :drinks:

Well when we get the Salmon fillets in and Howard portions them, there's always little pieces from the tail end left, he will cook it and give it to me, and in exchange he gets Ice cream or sorbet(if he brings me off cut fillet or lamb pieces! :hugs: very fair trade I think!

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Some more of the older menu pictures! ;)

 

Smoked salmon and asparagus with Hollandaise sauce.

post-15332-0-60647900-1299165735_thumb.jpg

 

Chicken, Wild mushroom and goji berry phyllo parcel (a glorified chicken and mushroom pie but very delicious!) served with sorrel sauce.

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Duo of quail:

Quail wrapped in parma ham and spinach, grilled.

Quail stuffed with apple, pistachio nuts, hint of garlic and chicken, served with pomme puree and a calvados sauce.

post-15332-0-97956500-1299166029_thumb.jpg

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Ahh, quails are another target for barding/larding. Remembered the larding discussion from another thread.

I have to cut apart a 5 year old boar in evening when the results from the veterian arrived: check for parasites, illnesses. Hit by a car yesterday evening and I had to shoot it. A 5 year old grown out boar is probably not used in fine cuisine at restaurants. It will probably end as dried and cold smoked boar sausage and Sauerbraten: pork marinated in selfmade fruit wine (elderberries, forest strawberries, ...), fruit vinegar and spices for half a week to get rid of the strong boar taste and soften the flesh.

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Ahh, quails are another target for barding/larding. Remembered the larding discussion from another thread.

I have to cut apart a 5 year old boar in evening when the results from the veterian arrived: check for parasites, illnesses. Hit by a car yesterday evening and I had to shoot it. A 5 year old grown out boar is probably not used in fine cuisine at restaurants. It will probably end as dried and cold smoked boar sausage and Sauerbraten: pork marinated in selfmade fruit wine (elderberries, forest strawberries, ...), fruit vinegar and spices for half a week to get rid of the strong boar taste and soften the flesh.

 

Yip, quail does tend to dry out rather fast and benefits from barding, it is such a small bird that there is not too much space for fat reserves to build up.

That Sauerbraten sounds interesting and I can only imagine a 5year old full grown boar will have tough flesh. That is why my dad doesn't eat warthog, because the meat is to tough and he is too impatient too wait. but I've tasted warthog piglet meat! very tender and got a bit of a game taste, but not overpowering.

 

Some more food we serve at the restaurant.

 

Every guest gets "amuse bouche" and bread when they order, amuse bouche/pre starter/appetizer is small one bite portions and changes every night. I don't always have time to take photos but this is what was served tonight.

Pan fried Gnocchi with thyme and lemon buerre noisette

post-15332-0-59477100-1299187272_thumb.jpg

 

 

We have 2 Degaustation/tasting menus, a five course or seven course comprising of half portions of normal starters/main courses/cheese platter/dessert

tonight 2 people had 7course and the last dessert was a chocolate fondant with peanut brittle, home made peanut butter ice cream with a brandy snap, and a dark chocolate truffle, served with a port.

post-15332-0-14276200-1299187536_thumb.jpg

post-15332-0-86865400-1299187580_thumb.jpg

 

 

And this didn't happen tonight, but it is one of the hazards of being a chef, at least it was a very sharp knife, and the cut was clean and straight through!

post-15332-0-16615000-1299187666_thumb.jpg

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Outch, the old trick to cut close to your fingernails for savety is not working at multilayer or rat-teeth kitchen knives, they are just too sharp?

 

After an accident which nearly robbed my right eye I use a chain glove when I use my:


  •  
  • Ausbeinmesser= boning knives for pork and beef, stiff and robust blade, so you can do some force if necessary
  • Filiermesser= boning-knife with a thin, long and very flexible blade from multilayer damast steel, mainly used for fish
  • Okuliermesser= budding knife which is used to bring different fruit types on a single tree. It is a very very sharp knife to do clean cuts so no infection can enter the tree. I often also stand on a ladder, the logs are flexible, wind blowing, so with a not so good 3-dimensional eye-sight: savety first

 

I hope I got the english names nearly correct, I was a bit puzzled that the dictionary did both, the Filiermesser and the Ausbeinmesser, as boning knives.

After repairing the wooden patchwork of the barn, we started to grew espaliers at the weather side some years ago. Juicy pears won't get ripe in our climate. So it is an old trick to use escaliers: so the sun is reflected by the wall of the barn. We also did storm shelters from connected small trees. So a lot of usage for the budding knife. I hope that the pear trees someday looks like this.

 

spalierobst_birne_240.jpg

 

Espaliers are something you have to plan a generation in advance at least. So the barn will some day be a guest house when our kids will arrive with their future families.

 

Edit:

I don't know how the Rattenzahn (=rat-tooth) knife technology is called in english. One side of the knife is hard as diamond the other is steel. So it behaves like a rat-tooth, self sharpening.

http://www.nesmuk.de/nesmuk-diamor/en/index.php?autorun=1

 

A friend allowed me to try some cutting with one, extremely sharp beast.

 

Do you call this a chain glove?

 

raptor.jpg

Edited by chattius
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Outch, the old trick to cut close to your fingernails for savety is not working at multilayer or rat-teeth kitchen knives, they are just too sharp?

 

After an accident which nearly robbed my right eye I use a chain glove when I use my:


  •  
  • Ausbeinmesser= boning knives for pork and beef, stiff and robust blade, so you can do some force if necessary
  • Filiermesser= boning-knife with a thin, long and very flexible blade from multilayer damast steel, mainly used for fish
  • Okuliermesser= budding knife which is used to bring different fruit types on a single tree. It is a very very sharp knife to do clean cuts so no infection can enter the tree. I often also stand on a ladder, the logs are flexible, wind blowing, so with a not so good 3-dimensional eye-sight: savety first

 

I hope I got the english names nearly correct, I was a bit puzzled that the dictionary did both, the Filiermesser and the Ausbeinmesser, as boning knives.

After repairing the wooden patchwork of the barn, we started to grew espaliers at the weather side some years ago. Juicy pears won't get ripe in our climate. So it is an old trick to use escaliers: so the sun is reflected by the wall of the barn. We also did storm shelters from connected small trees. So a lot of usage for the budding knife. I hope that the pear trees someday looks like this.

 

spalierobst_birne_240.jpg

 

Espaliers are something you have to plan a generation in advance at least. So the barn will some day be a guest house when our kids will arrive with their future families.

 

Edit:

I don't know how the Rattenzahn (=rat-tooth) knife technology is called in english. One side of the knife is hard as diamond the other is steel. So it behaves like a rat-tooth, self sharpening.

http://www.nesmuk.de/nesmuk-diamor/en/index.php?autorun=1

 

A friend allowed me to try some cutting with one, extremely sharp beast.

 

Do you call this a chain glove?

 

raptor.jpg

 

Awesome glove!

It looks like something a medieval knight might wear! :paladin: but I don't think it will be practical wearing it in the kitchen all the time. I know ausbeinmesser and filiermesser. Boning Knife and Filleting Knife are some of the knives that might become obsolete(or that's what a few chefs reckons) because hotels/restaurants don't have butchers/fishmongers? any more, everything is ordered in already portioned.

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ahaaaaaaaaaaaaaa lol the Chain glove! :bounce: One of my friends got a summer job as a butcher at metro and he got to wear the chain glove. Brought it out to show us all one day,just fantastic. Who wouldn't want one!

 

:)

 

gogo

 

p.s. Word of the day today.. Barding! I have some cool pix to show you guys on another thread I'll put up today. I love it when the price is right :dance:

 

gogo

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Some more food pictures.

 

Starter:

Goats cheese souffle with a micro-herb salad marinated beetroot, beetroot puree, apple jelly, apple sorbet, deep fried capers and red wine reduction.

post-15332-0-00238700-1299535168_thumb.jpg

 

Main courses:

160g Beef fillet, with sauteed green beans, french fries and a wild mushroom sauce(FECAL MATTER!ake, shemji, and Himalayan black truffles)

post-15332-0-01471900-1299535368_thumb.jpg

 

 

Game study:

A rabbit and prune pie, with a sauteed baby carrot, ostrich fillet with spinach polenta, and a stuffed quail, served with a brandy demi glace sauce

post-15332-0-48520500-1299535591_thumb.jpg

Edited by Delta!
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I like the look and word, rabbit prune pie. Why do they call it micro herb salad? I've seen that thrown around a few times on Top Chef

 

:)

 

gogo

 

 

The rabbit pie is really really delicious!

It is called micro herbs because the plants are planted in really small containers constricting their growth, and they are just very tiny little leaves. but they do deliver a big punch, they are packed with flavour. micro herb salads are just 3 or more herbs mixed together and we usually add sprouts as well

 

Oh and the wild mushroom sauce gets shiitake mushrooms! not FECAL MATTER!ake mushrooms.

 

:whistle:

Delta!

Edited by Delta!
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That explanation is awesome, and to restrict the leaves' growth... this is pretty creative. I'm astonished that someone thought of going this way to change our concept of what a "salad" is. Does the fact that their size is changed also concentrate the flavor?

 

:)

 

gogo

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I don't think it concentrates the flavour, but the plants are still very young, usually between 10-25 days from germination, so the flavour is still pure herb, no pesticides are used, and the plants are still very very tender, the whole thing can be eaten.

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About the difference of sprouts and micro-greens: http://www.freshorigins.com/microgreens.html

 

I visited a microgreen factory in netherlands 2 years back. The plants there never saw earth or sun. The seeds were layed on meshes forming plates. The mesh was lowered into a fertilizing liquid. When roots were appearing the mesh was lifted above the liquid level so only the roots were still in the liquid. At harvest the whole plate was put out of the liquid and a big knife cut along the root side of the mesh. So no cleaning needed.

 

Probably I grew up with the feeling that plants need earth and sun which affected my taste at a unconscious level or that there was really a difference: I liked the herbs from a garden more. Young plants taste fantastic. But outdoor plants need a lot of cleaning, or you have to boil them.

 

One of my favourites in spring is what we call Wissegemois in Hessen (state in germany I live), it would translate into german as Wiesengemüse or field herbs in english. Take a walk with your kids and collect the young plants of:

 

Löwenzahn - dandelion (which is just french for lion's tooth, which is the german meaning) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taraxacum_officinale

Beinwell - comfrey - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comfrey

Giersch - ground-elder - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground-elder

Sauerampfer - sorrel - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sorrel

Brennnesseln - nettle - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nettle

 

2 pounds of the mixed herbs: cleaned, boiled and put in a meat grinder.

Roast some fine cut fatback till lard is liquid and the remains are cross, add a fine cut onion and roast.

Add 1-2 table spoons flour and some of the water used to boil the herbs, so the heat reduces a bit.

Add the herbs and wait till it boils again. Add some salt and pepper to your taste. Serve with egg and potatoe in skin (remove skin if it is not nice).

220px-Pellkartoffeln%2C_frisch_gekocht.jpg220px-Brennnesselspinat.jpg

 

Young sorrels have far less oxal acid than older plants, rest is pour good tasting medicine. You walk and collect the herbs and it are all healthy ones. Walking in fresh air, sun shine, .... century year old recipes to fight the all the illnesses you got in winter.

 

Other winter and spring recipes use Winterpilze you collect while walking the forest: winter mushrooms- which are more known in their cultivated form as Enokitake. Again I like the self collected ones more. A bit later in year Bärlauch - bear garlic - will be ready, another old herb which found its way back into cooking.

 

I think collecting the herbs while walking with your kids and preparing the food with whole family also adds to the taste - at an unconscious level.

 

And speaking about micro-herbs, micro-greens: google says that town-folk can now order micro nettle, micro-sorrel, ... Microgreens seem to fit very well with the fact that nettle, dandelion and other herbs have to be eaten young.

 

So instead being forced to collect them while doing a walk at nature and listen to the annoying alarm chirps of birds--- you can relax and listen to good music at full power while driving to the supermarket...

Instead walking and loosing all the fat from all the too much calories you got in winter,--- you can order online and keep your weight at its normal level.

Instead answering questions from your kids about all the animals they saw while collecting the herbs, --- you can talk about the new car type you saw when driving home

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Probably I grew up with the feeling that plants need earth and sun which affected my taste at a unconscious level or that there was really a difference: I liked the herbs from a garden more. Young plants taste fantastic. But outdoor plants need a lot of cleaning, or you have to boil them.

 

 

 

This is one of the things that...is kind of annoying for me lol.. the rigorous cleaning needed for vegetables. Sand, grit, earth, rocks... and spinach leaves can be especially hard with life forms o_O

 

Why do you say boil though?

 

:)

 

gogo

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I am not knowing where in the world darkmatters is read. Some place may have no risc in eating self-collected herbs, others have a high risc. So for myself:

Reasons for boiling are parasites. Even carefully washing sometimes isn't removing all the eggs from a Fuchsbandwurm (fox-bandworm, Echinococcus multilocularis). Only read the wiki page if you have a strong stomach. Each dead fox in our district is examined and we have an infection rate of 7%. There were only 559 cases of infected poeple in whole europe from 1982 till 2000 but the number of infected foxes jumped a lot with free travel in europe now. Add that an infection in a human body stays undetected for 10-20 years--- noone knows how many infections are really there. So better save than sorry.

 

International car travel spreads all kind of parasites really quickly here in germany. Most of the north-south and west-east travel in europe is using german autobahns. The biggest west-east and north-south autobahns cross only a dozen kilometres away from our area. Most people who do holidays with dogs use a resting place at this crossing for a walk,... So all these nice parasites from the more tropical holiday places are brought there. I use only fresh wild herbs if I am sure that it isn't fox or badger territory. But as long people don't know --- boiling/heating self collected forest herbs is a save way: 80+ Celcius kills the eggs. And these are parasites we are used too, but I have no experience with all the other little bugs from all over the world. And nowadays foxes, badgers, weasels, raccoons are no longer limited to countryside. they found a way to survive even in big cities.

 

For salades from garden: we use the outer leaves as animal food right away and wash the rest. Normally all eggs are on outer leaves.

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I am not knowing where in the world darkmatters is read. Some place may have no risc in eating self-collected herbs, others have a high risc. So for myself:

Reasons for boiling are parasites. Even carefully washing sometimes isn't removing all the eggs from a Fuchsbandwurm (fox-bandworm, Echinococcus multilocularis). Only read the wiki page if you have a strong stomach. Each dead fox in our district is examined and we have an infection rate of 7%. There were only 559 cases of infected poeple in whole europe from 1982 till 2000 but the number of infected foxes jumped a lot with free travel in europe now. Add that an infection in a human body stays undetected for 10-20 years--- noone knows how many infections are really there. So better save than sorry.

 

International car travel spreads all kind of parasites really quickly here in germany. Most of the north-south and west-east travel in europe is using german autobahns. The biggest west-east and north-south autobahns cross only a dozen kilometres away from our area. Most people who do holidays with dogs use a resting place at this crossing for a walk,... So all these nice parasites from the more tropical holiday places are brought there. I use only fresh wild herbs if I am sure that it isn't fox or badger territory. But as long people don't know --- boiling/heating self collected forest herbs is a save way: 80+ Celcius kills the eggs. And these are parasites we are used too, but I have no experience with all the other little bugs from all over the world. And nowadays foxes, badgers, weasels, raccoons are no longer limited to countryside. they found a way to survive even in big cities.

 

For salades from garden: we use the outer leaves as animal food right away and wash the rest. Normally all eggs are on outer leaves.

 

EEEEEK! :oooo: that is kinda scary stuff! we get most of our leafy produce like lettuce and cabbage already washed, but we rinse it a second time, just to be safe as well. we pick our own herbs fresh from our herb garden, where there are no dogs, or other animals allowed, but they also get washed very thoroughly!

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Some more restaurant pictures.

 

A starter we currently have on special.

Pan seared Gnocchi, Gorgonzola wrapped in red pepper, wild mushroom foam, basil oil, and balsamic reduction.

post-15332-0-23701700-1300109949_thumb.jpg

 

 

And plenty of our guests have "special occasions" like birthdays, or anniversaries, or what ever else, and then they get their mignardise/friandise on a chocolate written plate.

post-15332-0-03936400-1300110052_thumb.jpg

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  • 2 months later...

One of the new desserts.

 

Crepes suzette, served with cinnamon ice cream and vanilla syrup orange segments.

post-15332-0-46851700-1305838900_thumb.jpg

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One of the new desserts.

 

Crepes suzette, served with cinnamon ice cream and vanilla syrup orange segments.

19052011382.jpg

 

Ah ha.. this is where my cinnamon ice cream went to!

 

I'm up for seconds, the crepes look fantastic

 

:)

 

gogo

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  • 4 weeks later...

Last weekend we had a wedding at the restuarant, the bride wanted a chocolate mousse cake, so we made 70 small cakes, that was the dessert and one bigger cake that was for cutting and putting up a show.

post-15332-0-93566100-1308320175_thumb.jpg

 

And on Sunday we have a fathersday menu, for all the dads, (bulltwang since my dad won't be close and I won't even be able to go to them since we have to work)

The menu is as follows: Amuse bouche

starters: carpaccio, topped with sundried tomato, celery, parmesan shavings, and micro herb salad.

or Butternut soup with a gorgonzola crostini

 

Sorbet: pineapple and mint sorbet

 

Mains: beef fillet with onion tarte tatin, pan fried potato and a bordelaise sauce

or line fish with quinoa, fruit jelly, brocoli and a safron sauce

or pissaladiere with thyme ice cream and a baby rocket salad

 

dessert: vanilla pod creme brulee with spun sugar

or apple tart served with a tuille and cinnamon ice cream

These apple tarts are still raw, and on their way to the freezer, it has to baked from frozen otherwise all the apple mousse leaks out

post-15332-0-79023300-1308320723_thumb.jpg

 

Mignardise: home made chocolate treats.

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Delta, have I ever told you that I love your work. :drool:

 

Can I ask what you are charging for that menu? It'd be interesting to compare it to some of the slop that is offered around here for "special days" / menus.

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Delta, have I ever told you that I love your work. :drool:

 

Can I ask what you are charging for that menu? It'd be interesting to compare it to some of the slop that is offered around here for "special days" / menus.

 

 

I know I also love my work, I do get very frustrated with certain situations sometimes though.

 

We are Charging R 285-00. per person and it includes a welcome drink of Kir Royale as well. We never NEVER do buffet at the restaurant and I love that. We also prepare most things from scratch as opposed to buying everything in already prepped.

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Here is the photos from our Fathersday menu.

 

Amuse bouche: melon and parmaham

post-15332-0-13943800-1308507210_thumb.jpg

 

Starters the guests could choose between 2.

Springbok Carpacio with salad, parmesan shavings, sundried tomato and celery

post-15332-0-81960300-1308507951_thumb.jpg

 

Or

Butternut soup with a Gorgonzola crostini

post-15332-0-60415200-1308508066_thumb.jpg

 

Refresher: pineapple and mint Sorbet

 

Mains the gusest could choose between 3

 

Pictures follow in the next post

 

...

 

Delta!

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...

 

Beef fillet, served with green beans, an onion tarte tatin, bone marrow and a bordelaise sauce.

post-15332-0-23219400-1308508756_thumb.jpg

 

 

Linefish(kingklip) served with quinoa, broccoli, fruit jelly and a saffron sauce.

post-15332-0-85489400-1308508707_thumb.jpg

 

Desserts they could choose between 2

 

Vanilla pod creme brulee with spun sugar

post-15332-0-83413400-1308509107_thumb.jpg

 

Apple tart, glazed with honey butter sauce served with a tuille and home cinnamon made ice cream.

post-15332-0-52015700-1308509245_thumb.jpg

 

Mignardise, chocolate covered candied orange peel and vanilla madeleins.

post-15332-0-40049900-1308509274_thumb.jpg

 

 

The menu was R 285-00 (South African Rand) and included a welcome drink of Kir Royale

 

Delta!

Edited by Delta!
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