Restaurant style cuisine to make at home
FOOD & WINE
BLUEBELL RESTAURANT
SCALLOPS
WITH HONEY ROAST PORK BELLY
Impress your friends with this dish from The Bluebell Restaurant, Chigwell. Head Chef Gavin Maguire shows us how …
PREPARATION 1. HONEY GASTRIC Heat 500ml red wine vinegar, 500g honey, 1 cinnamon stick and 1 star anise. Reduce by half, pass through a fine strainer & set aside. 2. PORK BELLY Season with salt, pepper and 5-spice. Marinate for 4 hours, then cover with a mixture of half orange juice half water and 100ml of balsamic vinegar, add thyme, rosemary and garlic & bring to the boil. Cover with tin foil & place in the oven at 150 degrees for 3 hours or until tender and tears apart easily. Allow to cool in the liquid then refrigerate for 24 hours. Finally cut in to 2 inch squares ready to use. 3. APPLE PUREE
Peel Granny Smith apples & cover with water, add a nob of butter, handful of sugar, juice of 2 limes and 2 lemons then cover with cling-film and microwave until soft. Blend until smooth, then cool. 4. DRIED PARMA HAM place some thin slices on silicone paper with a little oil above your stove or somewhere warm and allow drying until crisp. 5. Slice some apples and keep in a little water with a squeeze of lemon juice to prevent discolouring. METHOD 6. Heat 4 pieces of pork belly with a generous amount of the honey gastric until they are dark and sticky, and then leave somewhere warm.
7. Warm the apple puree gently. 8. Drain 4 large scallops with no roe on a cloth, pan fry in a very hot pan with the large flat side first to get a nice golden colour, then turn the scallops & allow another 30 seconds, add a nob of butter and a squeeze of lime juice for a nice buttery nutty flavour, then drain on a cloth. 9. Place a line of the apple puree down the middle of the plate then alternate with scallop, sliced apple and pork belly along the line of puree. 10. Top with fresh Pea shoots( washed & drained), crisp pieces of Parma ham and finish with a squeeze of lime juice.
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A take on the brilliantly matched combination of pork and seafood, this dish gives an interesting combination of flavours that require some thought. The Alsace region of eastern France is famous for its beautiful scenery, its notably food-friendly wines, and its fine cuisine. Pinot Gris produced here is quite unlike its ubiquitous Italian cousin, fuller and more complex, and it is acknowledged for its affinity with dishes that combine richness and delicacy. Bruno & Renée Sorg founded their domaine here in 1965. Their 2010 Pinot Gris has a lovely pale, green-tinted colour, and offers us bright, gently rich aromas of white flowers and honey. Full and intense in the mouth, with a gorgeous combination of roundness and acidity, and with fine persistence, it will provide a perfect foil to the complex flavours of the Bluebell’ s dish. Toby Webster 2010 Pinot Gris, Bruno Sorg is available from Black Dog Wines of North Weald, £ 15.20 per bottle, or £ 13.95 when 6 bottles purchased. www. blackdogwines. co. uk
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