River Cottage

Anyone who knows me would vouch that I am a ‘frustrated chef'.  Over the last few years my passion for cooking and playing around with ingredients, in order to come up with something truly different has increased.  I have dreamt of running my own little restaurant where I can use local produce and my own recipes over the years but not really done to much about it. . . till now

As I have mentioned before I live in the middle of an organic farm their speciality is their beef and the steak is beyond any other I have tried.  Just over the road is a pub which years ago were known for their good food. Over recent years it has changed hands more times than Hugh has changed his socks! And as a result the punters are lacking with the menu reduced to some soggy chips and a rubbery sausage, if you're lucky!!

Over the last month or so and now that the children are a little older I have decided to follow my idea of catering in some way, shape, or form.  I am going to run dinner parties in peoples homes and have had new cards printed and door magnets for my car with the company name ‘Fusion' which I think just about sums up my style of cooking.  I approached a few eateries in the area to see if they would like to add my Panna Cottas to their menu which had stirred some interest, as I started selling them in our local village store. 

The pub over the road had been taken over, yet again, by two ladies and one morning I knocked on the door, introducing myself as their neighbour and presented a couple of pots of my Panna Cotta, one lavender and one ginger and lemongrass for them to try. They thanked me and that was that.

After a couple of days I popped over the pub for a drink with the family.  I spoke to the lady behind the bar and she said that she really liked the samples I had left and would I be interested in doing a ‘Fusion Night' there? I jumped at the chance, as feel the pub is so well appointed being right next door the farm and have always felt they should do an organic menu.

I have gone for a 3 course set menu with choice of starters, mains and desserts. I have incorporated the farms steaks, rosemary marinated sirloin being the one on the set menu, but for a supplement they can choose the ‘Hungry Lion Platter' which has 3 steaks, the sirloin, fillet and rib-eye! I will be doing a choice of sauces to go with them, peppercorn, béarnaise and mustard. I have also included a veggie option which is a wild mushroom and thyme risotto and a chicken dish with wine and herb sauce. Instead of chips I will be roasting new potatoes with mixed garden herbs and garlic.

The pub have recently added a small upright piano so to make full use of this and add to the ambience of days gone by when every pub had a piano, I plan to get a pianist to come for the evening to play some back ground music as people eat. I am going to advertise the position locally ( I hope that an elderly person will apply who has some experience in stringing along to a request, as they used to in the old days).

I am a little nervous as I am planning on catering for 30 people! I am sure it will go ok, and I hope that it will tempt people to use the organic farms fabulous meat and veggies.

I will keep you posted on the run up to the event and also how well it went on the night. I am planning on doing it sometime in September. 

Wish me luck!

Bx