Recently, we had the pleasure of private chef David Gillot jointly hosting this edition of the London Cooking Club with a Best of British Menu. Being early Summer, he created a fab menu using the most of seasonal produce.
It is not usual that the chef or cook book author turns up for one of our cooking clubs, so this was a real treat. David was on hand to help us finish our dishes and offered his professional experience in putting everything together.
The evening began with lots of bubbly and copious amounts of canapés, namely mini yorkshire puddings with roast beef made by Gina and rillette of salmon with melba toast made by Liz and Hugh.
We then sat down to the traditional potted shrimps that I made (see recipe below) and delicious Watercress Soup. This dish was the easiest I have ever made for any of the cooking clubs. It took about 10 minutes to put the dish together, just long enough to melt a lot of butter and warm the shrimps through. One tip, if you do try to do this, brown shrimps are not easy to find. I managed to get some at a local fishmongers and had to supplement the recipe with some small frozen prawns, defrosted of course. I will definitely make this again.
Rosemary and Libbie put together the decadent Dressed Crab. Though simple, this was a stunning dish and we were truly spoilt.
Liz and Hugh then served seasonal asparagus with a very impressive home made hollandaise sauce.
The mains kicked off with a very impressive Beef Wellington made by Luiz and Gerald. It looked sensational, was perfectly cooked and so delicious.
Su Lin contributed her English Garden Salad which was a glorious concoction of summer vegetables and was a great accompaniment to other dishes.
The next course was a Jerusalem Artichoke Pithivier (a sort of tart) which Hana had cooked with much precision. It was unanimously agreed that this was a great way to cook Jerusalem arthichokes.
The last savoury dish of the evening was a Smoked Haddock Kedgeree which Libbie made. Rich and unctuous and totally moreish.
After a reasonable break, we had Jo’s Baked Egg and Vanilla Custard.
To end the evening with a sophisticated flourish, David showcased his stunning take on molecular gastronomy, a rhubarb fool with lemongrass and white chocolate.
David is a private chef and is opening his own cooking school in Surrey and you can contact him via http://www.davidprivatechef.co.uk/
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