Hospitality’s Big Friendly Giant Chefs Inspire My Cooking

A first for me after invited guests struggled to find child-minders. So we decamped to their house and produced the meal from their kitchen.

I had already planned and shared the menu below with them so the only surprise would be whether I managed to get everything right on the night with unfamiliar equipment. All I’ll say is that I wasn’t disappointed with my efforts - and everyone was most convincing with their endeavours to be complimentary.

BFG Chefs (others are available!)
Helen Everitt-Matthias included as the doyenne of British restaurants’ front of house.

“Standing on the shoulders of giants” is a nice, if full-blown, concept but the elements of this menu relied, as ever, on the skills and wisdom of some of cooking’s finest exponents.

Here are the ‘giants’ who were referenced for the meal which I planned - with links to some of the recipes which you might be tempted to try out in your kitchen.

Nigella Lawson - ‘Bar Nuts’

Thomas Keller - ‘Bacon and Eggs’

David Everitt-Matthias - ‘Bar Nuts’ (the outtakes!), Ras-el-hanout mix, Prune pre-dessert (Recipe in chef’s ‘dessert’ - BUY IT!), Dessert (Recipe in chef’s first cookbook, ‘essence’ - another must-buy!), Petits fours - Salted caramel and peanut truffles, White chocolate and preserved lemon fudge, Mulled wine pastilles

Richard Bainbridge - Fish course

Catherine Fulvio - Main

Yotam Ottolenghi - his recipe for Olive Oil Crackers* was adapted for my ras-el-hanout cracker
* the recipe is more or less here - but discard the sesame seeds and the author’s ignorance of Ottolenghi’s first book, ‘Ottolenghi, The Cookbook’ from 2008 in which the recipe appears!

George Blogg - No recipe used BUT the booklet from his ‘Chef’s Masterclass’ given when Gravetye Manor was closed for the new restaurant build is the starting point and inspiration for planning many of my own more developed menus.

Coffee as always is ordered from HASBEAN

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Union Square Cafe's Bar Nuts, Bacon and egg, Pain d'épices with smoked mackerel and horseradish

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Spicy parsnip soup, ras-el-hanout cracker

Our fish starter is tried and trusted. Please don’t @ me over the appearance of that haddock. This photo was taken in my kitchen hours before the meal with a ’cushion’ of raw fish. Eat your heart out food stylists!

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Poached haddock with stewed leeks, soy-cured egg yolk and curry dressing

A lovely, celebratory dish for our main. Prep pics plus the only photograph taken on the night itself.

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Pheasant breast with wild mushrooms and parmesan polenta

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Chocolate and cardamom yoghurt, Armagnac prune purée and grue de cacao

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Millas cake with liquorice bramble compôte and lemon verbena ice cream

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White chocolate and preserved lemon fudge, Salted caramel and peanut truffles, Mulled wine pastilles

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Sensible menu.
Added nonsense with no extra charge.

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Recipes, menus, matching food to wine, catering for larger groups… preparation and inspiration to become a better cook

essence

This post is a bit of a magnum opus which I suggest you attempt to take in at more than one sitting.

Here I’m giving myself the job of rounding up most of the recipes which I have so far managed to cook from the three books written by world-renowned chef David Everitt-Matthias. ‘World-renowned’ is the correct description. It does not mean that he is known by the majority of Earth’s population. But there are people worldwide with an understanding of David’s contribution to cooking and his training and development of chefs. And every one of them is in unavoidable awe of his achievements and the inspiration he provides.

Recipes from his restaurant Le Champignon Sauvage remain approachable for the keen home cook. I used to love making Airfix and Revell model kits as a youngster. I look on my efforts in the kitchen as an application of the same skills and processes. I am still not an intuitive cook and rely on the help of good, clear instructions. But I do accept the challenge of recipes which some would avoid as too adventurous. That is only because practice has given me confidence to know my limits. Having said that, I have cooked for long enough to introduce a little of my own flair and modifications. I don’t make huge culinary advances - but I am pretty good at going off slightly sideways fairly regularly.

You will soon see that I have been heavily attracted by dessert recipes. Puddings are not generally on the weekly menus for Mrs Cheoff and me. Instead they appear as the finale to meals for invited family and friends. Mrs C has a host of well-known and oft-requested dishes. Those are always delicious and satisfying but I insist on mucking about considerably more to create my offerings. An Everitt-Matthias recipe gives me ample opportunity for that. They also give anyone the chance to pick out one or two elements only and still make something interesting and tasty.

I have detailed some of these dishes in my blog before. If you reference this post and it encourages you to try out some of the ideas my job is done. My new mantra is ‘Don’t just look - COOK!’

With a few exceptions, each recipe title below will link to a gallery of photographs of my results. Some were not captured and a few are still uncatalogued and waiting to be found on old hard drives. I will update where I can.

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apricot sorbet
‘beyond essence’ p. 144
Sharply sweet? Sweetly sharp? Either way - just as it should be.

basil mojito sorbet
Mrs Cheoff chose the ‘lemon meringue tart’ (coming up below) on our first visit to Le Champignon Sauvage in 2010. Chef served it with this basil mojito sorbet. Six years later I asked for the recipe and got it. You don’t, I’m afraid. I have respected chef’s request not to share this particular one - but I would be very pleased to make some for you if you are passing this way! It’s a stand-alone stunner as far as I am concerned. Good enough for concentrated enjoyment in the pre-dessert I chose to make.
I give it some more companions in my ‘lemon and basil’ further down this page.

beetroot and bubblegum pastille
A recipe from David Everitt-Matthias’ Great British Chefs pages here
My excitement at juicing beetroot for the first time turned to surprise at the good yield of liquid. Four large beets gave just more than needed.
These are a great addition to a petit four selection. Raised eyebrows and discussion will almost certainly accompany the initial visual shock but should precede enjoyment of a treat which eats very well.

bitter chocolate fudge
‘essence’ p. 172
Pistachio and raisin added to this one as per the recipe. Helen Everitt-Matthias is rather partial to this one. As the perfect host she will even suppress her glare should you dare to take it for yourself from the petits fours on offer with coffee!*

*The generous variety of the petits fours made at the restaurant also inspire me to have a good selection ready for guests at our home.

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blackcurrant and liquorice jelly
‘dessert’ p. 141
Plenty of flavour here but I didn’t bring things right up to temperature for a more solid jelly. The ‘wrong’ soft set was still good enough after rolling in sugar.

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braised blade of beef
‘essence’ p. 122
A main course!
No nettle risotto. Instead I went for a mustard mash, caramelised shallots and star anise carrots. Rich rewards here from the long cooking of the meat.

brandade
‘beyond essence’ p. 32
Salty, garlicky and creamy with a gently bitter tang from fried onions. Still no iSi gun at Cheoff Towers to deliver whipped foams. A trip to a well-known health food store for lecithin granules to be ground to powder was chef’s successful suggestion for the garlic froth.
I served this as an amuse and at least three of our guests admitted that their reservations about ingredients had been completely squashed by its rich but balanced flavours.
Pierre Koffmann judged the version which David cooked for him as one of the finest he had tasted.

caramel-poached pineapple, coconut gel, pineapple and lemon verbena sorbet
‘beyond essence’ p. 142
Apart from the too firm consistency of the coconut cream gel this was a bit of a dazzler. Worth the work spread over a couple of days. Even sweeter than the old-style tinned stuff, the pineapple is perfectly matched by that wonderful zingy sorbet.

chausson of elderberry & bramley with vanilla ice cream
‘beyond essence’ p. 146
The crunch and lightness of the duck fat pastry gives enough pleasure even before the filling reveals itself. This is a fruit turnover raised from the commonplace to special status.

chocolate and star anise truffle cake with fennel ice cream
‘essence’ p. 150
Food really should linger longer on the tongue for full appreciation. This sticks to the roof of your mouth and delays things before the swallowing.
The cake was made but I used vanilla ice cream and segmented oranges on my plate.

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chocolate, orange, liquorice
(adapted from/inspired by bergamot parfait, orange jelly, liquorice cream - ‘beyond essence’ p. 139)
After eating the original dish at Le Champignon Sauvage I used similar flavours for two plates.
The first has a caramel ice cream robed with dark chocolate and some cocoa nib tuiles. Poached mandarins, orange jelly and candied peel complete.
The Gary Jones/Raymond Blanc recipe for liquorice ice cream replaces chocolate and caramel in the second version. Chocolate soil and hazelnut tuiles join in.

cinnamon-spiced doughnuts
‘dessert’ p. 105
(no photos available)
These were made as an alternative to the fried ‘bugnes’ which accompany Diana Henry’s Skier’s Chocolate drink recipe.
I froze some of the ‘cherries’ of dough and successfully fried them a few weeks later.

crab apple parfait with green apple and haw sorbet
‘essence’ p. 154
The tree in our neighbour’s garden at the end of the street has gloriously red crab apples which give my parfait a shade of pink lovely enough to grace an Edwardian baby boy’s dress.
My first effort was served with a wild plum sorbet and some crumbly flapjack.
The version made only last month (September 2020) followed much closer to the recipe. Rose petals were added to flavour the apple sorbet and I sugared and lightly roasted some more to crumble over the top of the parfait.
Fragrance, freshness, sweetness and sharpness all make a dessert beautiful enough to discard the word ‘pudding’.

duck confit
‘essence’ p. 16
A wonderful store cupboard standby. Make sure at least a few are heated, crisped and eaten as they are. The shredded meat layered into potato dauphinoise or added to breads (try brioche) are just a couple of further ways to use it.

lemon and basil
This pulls together various elements and ideas from the ‘essence’ cookbooks. A lemon parfait, some vanilla ice cream and that splendid basil mojito sorbet are the trio of main players. Strips of candied orange peel and a fennel granola add texture and some home grown Thai basil gave wonderful sweet aniseed notes through leaves and flowers.

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lemon meringue tart
‘dessert’ p. 66
Angelica and lemon sorbet and jelly were substituted here by my raspberry sorbet and some lemon verbena jelly. The sweet pastry recipe David devised for the National Chef of the Year (which he won!) makes a wonderfully reliable base to the tart here.

lemon verbena jelly
‘dessert’ p. 68
As seen in the recipe above. With the irresistible zing and tingle of sherbet lemons.

pickled apples
‘essence’ p. 21
(no photos available)
Another good one for the store cupboard. To combat fattiness of oily fish, game and terrines.

pickled green elderberries
’beyond essence’ p. 14
Made recently as I missed the opportunity to pickle wild garlic flower buds. Panic nearly set in as the elder only appeared to show dark, ripe berries. On closer inspection the foliage was hiding still green berries as well. White balsamic gives these a gentle sweet pickling.

pistachio and olive oil cake with roasted strawberries and rhubarb sorbet
‘essence’ p. 156
Changes here were poached apricots and apricot sorbet instead of the red fruits of the original.

prune and honey cake with pressed apples and mahlab cherry stone ice cream
‘dessert’ p. 62
(no photos available)
No substitutions when I made this one. Which involved one of my first forays into ‘speciality’ ingredients and a wait for the mahlab cherry stones.
Oh - this uses ‘marinated prunes in armagnac’ from page 16 of the same book. In full agreement with chef that you should make some to top a creamy rice pudding.

ras el hanout
‘essence’ p. 41
Many uses for this spice mix. Strong suspicion that it flavoured Mrs Cheoff’s lamb pastilla on our first visit to Cheltenham.

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raspberry jelly
(adapted from strawberry and hibiscus jelly with lemon verbena custard and blackcurrant sorbet - ‘dessert’ p. 48)
The cover of ‘dessert’ shows the recipe I’ve adapted and presented in the same way as a pre-dessert. The jelly had a little Chambord raspberry liqueur added and is topped with a sweet amaretto whipped cream. Toasted spiced bread batons and crumbs for crunch.

roasted acorns
acorn panna cotta
‘essence’ p.166
Photographs for this one (I just made the acorn panna cotta) are mislaid. One property we visit in France has an oak tree with a ripe harvest. They are roasted on our return and ground. I love the Caramac or Dime Bar flavour this adds to cakes and custards.

salted caramel and peanut truffles
‘beyond essence’ p. 176
Yum. Just make them. (Snickers in disguise!)

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salted lemons
‘essence’ p. 18

semifreddo of macadamia nuts with passion fruit and star anise sorbet
‘dessert’ p. 33
Our Boxing Day dessert a few Christmases ago. One of those dishes where guests can be seen silently thinking that I should abandon plating up portions for individuals and allow a free-for-all with large spoons back in the kitchen.

sorrel ice cream
‘dessert’ p. 119
I like this. Mrs Cheoff not keen. The distinct vegetable matter taste is almost bound to divide opinion.

spiced bread
‘essence’ p. 22
So many uses, both sweet and savoury. Crouton crunch for soups and salads and I’ve recently used the fine crumbs to line raspberry soufflé dishes. Mentioning it here reminds me to fulfil my long-standing promise to fry batons of this bread in lashings of butter and serve up with candied peel or confit fruits.

sweetcorn and smoked bacon muffins
‘beyond essence’ p. 29
These always go down just as well fresh or reheated. A bag of them is often to be found in our freezer.

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sweetcorn cream with caramel and popcorn ice cream
‘dessert’ p. 82
One of the recipes I approached early on. As did son James who has been singing the praises of sweetcorn cream ever since.

tartare sauce
’essence’ p. 33
Taken from the recipe to go with crispy pig’s ears. I failed to get them cooked correctly - twice! But this sauce is regularly made for fish finger wraps and the haddock goujons in my album picture. If our tarragon plant outside has given up I’ll chop some salted lemons to add the same brightness.

tomato confit with lemon
‘essence’ p. 17
(no photos available)
Acidity and pulled back sweet fruit of tomato make for a tempting tracklement (not used that word for ages). Really good on a cube of hard cheese for starters. Well - for canapés I guess.

white chocolate and salted lemon fudge
‘dessert’ p. 140
One of the few recipes I’ll make with white chocolate. The salted lemon stops the ‘lazy’ cloying sweetness and makes you wonder if just one more might not be a bad idea.

That’s it. For now. If I come back to add future efforts (after pushing the DeLorean up to 88 mph?) my only dilemma will be whether to tag them on the end here or go full pedant and insert new entries in their alphabetical place.

So. The end. If you are still here - thank you and well done!

Beetroot and bubblegum pastilles

I have wanted to make these for a long time and finally made use of the ‘interesting’ Monin syrup which I put on my Christmas wishlist for exactly that purpose.

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Beetroot juiced unexpectedly well with a good yield. We have some growing in one of our raised beds but I stayed their execution and bought larger ones from a lovely new fruit and vegetable venture which has opened in our village.

Instead of simply admiring the intense purple velvet hue, this is the time to watch out for any splashes which could leave colourful evidence of your activities all around the kitchen.

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More careful supervision is needed as you bring juice and sugars to the boil. This had to be the last picture I took before paying full attention to pushing things up to 110 degrees without burning.

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I’ve tried moulds with hot, quickly setting jellies but seem to get things in a mess before filling them properly and successfully. So a lined tray is my go-to place for creating a slab of sweetness. Once firm, cutting this into shape with a knife is fine but you are restricted to straight-sided variations. So my trusty cork borers come into play. Cylinders are the immediate option but a larger ring can be sliced to make half moons.

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Time for the coating which brings a more playful side to these treats than are usually seen in a petit four.

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So glad I made these. There is a definite ‘childhood’ element here. No harm in that - a little nostalgia creating guilt-free pleasures really should be included in our eating. The flavour and chew are both there but I did miss the collectors picture card. Maybe draw some of your own!

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A few processes here before achieving the final result but you end up with a fine, slightly quirky reward. Obviously, for copyright reasons, I can’t say that yours will also be ‘Bubblicious’. I’ll just alert you to a fuller gallery of pictures here to encourage you to have a go.

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caramel-poached pineapple, coconut gel, pineapple and lemon verbena sorbet

Three days of preparation for this one. Travelling ‘beyond essence’ is almost certainly a faster process for the creator of this recipe but I can please myself as far as my cooking timetable goes before deciding it’s time to please guests. I remain in awe of David Everitt-Matthias and his team’s ability to do this sort of thing and much more for hundreds of customers so regularly and so perfectly.

This is a fairly developed recipe but I was able to reproduce it at home without the help of any snazzy kitchen equipment. Which means that I’m assuming you have some form of ice cream churner, a stick blender and an effective liquidiser. Agar agar is available in supermarkets and I survived the lack of drug dealer accurate scales by weighing out quadruple quantities of fiddly amounts and then dividing back to the very small quartered amount needed. (#cheofftip ™️)

The collage below shows some of the work and plating involved. There is a fuller, captioned gallery of photos here.

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Not all elements appear in the recipe title. Orange powder makes a secure base for the sorbet and adds a vibrant fizz of extra citrus. That undercarriage of molasses gel would be too rich and indulgent on its own but is balanced by fresher, cleaner flavours. Having said that, I did allow several small spoonfuls to pass my lips for quality control during the process. My pineapple crisps are clunky things compared with chef’s examples but I think his kitchen might run to the expense of a dehydrator. They did still taste deliciously fruity even if more chewy than crunchy.

Two days into my prep I was messaged on Facebook by an ex-pupil. She has discovered adventurous cooking at an earlier age than ever I did and has just bought ‘dessert’. She is making the ‘sweetcorn cream, popcorn ice cream, caramel and popcorn craquant’ for friends this weekend. They are in for a treat, of course. My contribution was simply a confirmation of timescale for make-ahead elements and best storage options. What struck me as truly great was the knowledge that another person is being inspired by the work of one of our finest professional chefs. A chef who makes his work accessible with clear, friendly instructions and advice for tackling the challenges involved and producing successful results. I’ll continue to do the same in my capacity as a keen amateur and tell anyone and everyone that cooking somewhere near to this standard is achievable.

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I’ll admit that it’s unlikely I’ll ever be the finished article as a human being. Instead I’ll take the far easier and more pleasant coward’s path of looking for perfection in the kitchen. Of course I’m not there yet - that coconut gel texture is all wrong, you’ll agree! Mind you, all four of us at dinner last night were perfectly happy eating this. And I’m perfectly happy to suggest that tackling such a recipe will bring a few failures which will then be far outweighed by the satisfaction of producing something approaching perfection. Enjoy getting closer to culinary nirvana by buying the aforementioned recipe books or accessing a few free ones here.

I must, however, point out that perfection is deliciously unattainable!

Black Grape & Pedro Ximenez Sherry Pastilles

This is my adaptation of a recipe from the Cheltenham chef whose mushrooms are wild but whose cooking is magic. I had wanted to increase the number of petits fours which I might offer after meals. When, after a short trip back to his parental home, our son left us with nothing but fond farewells and a considerably large bunch of black grapes I had something to work with.

500g black grape purée/juice

100g Pedro Ximenez sherry

500g caster sugar

100g liquid glucose

20g pectin powder

7g tartaric acid

to coat: 200g granulated sugar

The grapes were zizzed with a hand blender and then passed through a sieve. This leaves something with a little more substance… between a juice and a purée.

Combine that with 50g of the sherry, 450g of the caster sugar and the glucose in a large pan. Bring to the boil, stirring all the time. Cook up to 102°C, stirring enough to stop any sticking or burning.

Mix the rest of the caster sugar with the pectin powder, combining thoroughly. Whisk that mixture into the syrup when it reaches 102°C. Carefully... it's hot! Keep heating and make sure to stir until up to 110°C. Whisk in the tartaric acid and the other 50g of sherry. Strain into a tray lined with baking parchment to a depth of 1cm and leave to cool.

You can then cut into squares, strips or rectangles or use a small circular cutter. A silicone mould gives you the option of getting a more familiar rounded pastille shape. Toss the pieces in the granulated sugar and place in layers separated by baking paper in an airtight container.

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My first batch had less pectin and tartaric content and produced a very sticky set. All was not lost as I picked off lumps to roll into balls with lightly wet hands and fingers. Once tossed into the sugar these sunk to a flatter but pleasing domed mound. Even more pleasing is the taste. Some fruit jellies benefit from a teaspoon of citric acid in the sugar coating but these shouldn't be pulled back from their sweet, sticky indulgence.

Here they are joining others from my current home-made selection:
Soft amaretti (Mrs Cheoff's work) 
Damson 'cheese'
White chocolate and salted lemon fudge
Bitter chocolate fudge with pistachios and raisins
And... Black grape and Pedro Ximenez jellies!

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Liquorice, Chocolate, Orange

A trio of sure-fire flavour pals. Ah, yes… that liquorice element is going to be questioned by a few of you, I’m guessing. The contentious ice cream has a light touch and is closer to cool liquorice caramel so I’m leaving it there and asking you to try the full combination at least once. Oh, there are a few nuts included which only EpiPen® carriers can leave out.

This dessert came about when we invited two pairs of good friends on separate evenings this week. The various elements had been floating around in my head since last October when I was given the sumptuous 'Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons' book as a gift. In it are details of Gary Jones' Magnum liquorice ice cream recipe. The book has perhaps the slightly more accessible version... along with countless other delights.

The orange jelly is taken from this recipe. You just know it will deliver when you see that it's from the kitchen of David Everitt-Matthias.

Tuiles were a variation of Scott Barnard's in this MasterChef offering which I made and discussed in a previous post. Sprinkle roasted and chopped hazelnuts over the sieved tuile mixture before putting in the oven.

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First version

Chocolate in my first effort was the same as that which is used to coat Gary Jones' 'Magnum' petits fours. As you see, the finish is not as great as might be hoped for. Start with flavour combinations and refine presentation later. That's my cop out advice here! In my defence, I did forget to include the loosening addition of a spoonful of cocoa butter or grapeseed oil. The second version relied on the chocolate crumble from Scott Barnard's dessert. 

Both offerings were completed with segmented orange pieces. I dipped them in a butter caramel for the final one. I reduced orange juice to dab over the plate and other orange elements came from jars of this February's marmalades. The peel was dried in a low oven until lightly candied and my Seville Orange marmalade was heated enough to provide a tangy gel. This worked really well to offset sweetness elsewhere.

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Plating practice before last-minute ice cream placement (which was a definite improvement on those paper strips!)

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Ice cream and tuiles in place... Second version

All photos were taken before guests arrived. I am finally getting sufficiently organised to avoid the cardinal sin of neglecting invited friends.

You can play around with the proportions and presentation here. But hang on to the three flavours of the title. They work so well together. After serving this I was a little concerned to see one of our friends with his head bowed and eyes closed. On asking after his well-being he simply said, "I'm sorry... but this is so, so good."

That was good enough for me.

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A Special Dessert - Supplemental

I did a bad thing in my last post. Talking about the generosity of another chef and then being all clever and stupid at the same time by refusing to give you fuller recipe details. I should have remembered that stupid always beats clever and doesn't really reflect too well on the perpetrator.

So, in an attempt to drag myself from a self-imposed puddle of shame, may I present to you the whereabouts of the fabulous (yes, I've upgraded its status!) dessert  with which I teased you.

You do still need to buy ALL the David Everitt-Matthias books. You also need to pre-order any future publication of his as soon as it is announced. They are, and will remain, classics. But if you wish to make a start with that pudding you simply need to make 'dessert' your first purchase and turn to page 82.

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There; let's draw a veil under my silliness. No... forget the veil. Just grab the ingredients for the sweetcorn cream. Popcorn and caramel probably grabbed you right away but the cream is one element of the recipe which isn't immediately so familiar as an idea. It is a revelation of texture and flavour and you will kick yourself if you don't make it. Tell me if you're procrastinating and I'll come and give you a helpful foot prod as well.

Right - apology delivered. I'm off to prepare a post which will try to describe why this trilogy of books is such a wonderful addition to the worktop of all us amateur cooks. I will agonise about getting that one as convincingly right as possible first time.