Food and drink

Brasserie’s millionth diner eats FREE for life

By Paul Clerehugh
May 26, 2010

As reported in last month’s food monthly, Paul Clerehugh and London Street Brasserie are celebrating their 10th Anniversary. Hard to imagine Reading’s favourite restaurant is a decade old.

See below for food monthly recipes for duck, rabbit, sole and scallops

The Brasserie will celebrate serving its millionth guest this summer and food monthly will report on the lucky millionth diner – who gets to eat free in Paul’s restaurants for life! However, the biggest birthday initiative undertaken by Paul and his brigade is a complete overhaul of the menu.

VERY difficult changing a menu when you have a winning formula.

Regular guests all have their favourite dishes so it’s nearly impossible to put new ideas on the menu. We’ve taken the core ingredient of our top dishes and refined, refined, refined with imaginative new twists and sensational new accompaniments.

The end result is out of this world.

It was really hard changing 48 dishes, quietly, without shocking the regular guests. We did it over an eight-week period. Easy to put a completely new menu in if you’re a brand new restaurant, or if you have a small menu, or if you’re ultra-bespoke, haute cuisine and not hugely busy; London Street Brasserie serves over 2,000 guests a week. Changing the menu was akin to stopping and turning an ocean oil tanker without anybody noticing.

Veena Stanard is head chef at LSB – she earned her position the hard way, working under me and working her way up the brigade from sous to senior sous to being head chef without the title of head chef.

London Street Brasserie has a secret weapon in the form of Robert Spencer. Robert oversees the operation at LSB and sister restaurant, The Crooked Billet, Stoke Row.

The following food monthly recipes for duck, rabbit, sole and scallops were Robert’s developments.

We have worked together for over a year developing the Stoke Row and Reading operations. Prior to joining me, Robert was head chef at the Michelin-starred New Angel in Devon, head chef at Michelin-starred City Rhodes in London and development chef for Dalesford Organics.

Paul, Robert, Veena and General Manager, James, look forward to welcoming their millionth guest shortly – will it be you?

Stuffed Saddle of Rabbit, Confit Rabbit and Mustard Potato Cake with Tarragon Mustard Cream

I’ve had rabbits as a kid, initially two until mine got friendly with my sister’s – then there were several. I lost Oscar to a pair of Jack Russels arguing over who should have my rabbit. Amazing how long a rabbit can stretch.

I now use farmed rabbits at LSB – for years we used locally shot ones which were great for a stew – and the farmed ones have loads of meat on them. Nothing is wasted with the rabbit– we use the saddle fillet as a main course portion, the belly flap intact is used to wrap around the stuffing and the stuffing is the liver and kidney. The shoulders (front end) are confit cooked, shredded and made into the accompanying potato cake. Back legs go into a wonderful terrine. Carcass and bones are the base of a delicious tarragon mustard sauce.

Rabbit – serves 2

Stuffing:

150g spinach, cooked and chopped
2 shallots (¼in dice cooked until soft)
1tsp tarragon, finely chopped
Liver and kidney from rabbit
1 saddle of rabbit (off bone and flank on)
Parma ham
Crepinette
Seasoning

Combine the spinach, shallots, tarragon, liver and kidney together and season. Stuff the saddle with the spinach and offal mix and fold the flank around. Now wrap the saddle in the sliced Parma ham and then in the crepinette. Tie.

Seal in a hot frying pan and cook in the oven at 200C for approximately 12-15 mins. Rest, de-string and carve.

Sauce:

3kg rabbit bones
6 shallots cut into ½in dice
1 leek cut into ½in dice
½ bunch tarragon
¼ bunch thyme
2 celery sticks cut into ½in dice
500ml cream
4tbsp tarragon mustard

Place bones into a saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil and skim off any impurities. Add the vegetables and herbs and simmer for around two hours.

Pass through a fine sieve and reduce quickly by two thirds. Add cream and bring to the boil. Turn down heat and whisk in the tarragon mustard.

Potato cake:

500g dry plain mashed potato
200g confit rabbit leg cut into small dice
4tbsp wholegrain mustard
2tbsp chopped flat parsley
Salt and pepper
Flour, to fry

Combine all the above ingredients (except the flour) and season. Mould into small potato cakes. Dust lightly with flour and colour in a hot frying pan with a little olive oil. Heat through in the oven once coloured.

Serve rabbit and potato cake with sauce poured over or on the side.

Lemon Sole, Scallops, Lime and Crème Fraiche Spinach, Spiced Tomato and Cumin

This dish is a revelation – light, summery and incredibly delicious. You will notice some spicy elements in the tomato relish and spinach – chilli, star anise, ginger and lime. We’ve always enjoyed an eclectic mix of dishes and cultures on London Street Brasserie’s menu. This sole dish is an LSB classic and proving extremely popular.

Sole and scallops – serves 4

3 medium/large lemon soles, skinned and filleted
12 diver scallops, roe removed
Malden salt
Olive oil

Cut the skinned fillets in half lengthways and wrap each finger of fish around a scallop, securing with cocktail sticks.

To cook, heat a little olive oil in a heavy ceramic non-stick frying pan. Season each roll, pan fry over a moderate heat and seal for 4 minutes, turn and cook for a further 3 minutes.

Dressing

1tsp chopped fresh thyme
½tsp crushed dried chilli
1tsp ground cumin
2 star anise
10 shallots. finely chopped
300ml sesame oil
10tbsp olive oil
8tsp soy sauce
8tsp teriyaki sauce
4tsp Worcestershire sauce
4 drops Tabasco sauce
1tsp chopped ginger
1 garlic clove, crushed
1tsp ground turmeric
½tsp cayenne pepper
½tsp paprika
½tsp mixed spice
2tsp clear honey
Tomato concasse
Chopped coriander

Combine all the above (except tomato and chopped coriander). Bring to boil and skim. Simmer for 20 minutes. Cool. To serve, warm gently and add diced tomato and chopped coriander.

Yoghurt:

100ml yoghurt
100ml sour cream
2 limes, juiced and zested
400g leaf spinach, blanched

Warm yoghurt, sour cream, lime juice and zest in a saucepan over a moderate hob, fold spinach through.

To serve, place a pillow of the soured spinach in the centre of a warmed dinner plate, place three scallop rolls on top. Spoon over the spiced tomato dressing.

Sticky Glazed Honey and Cinnamon Duck Breast

We pink carve the duck breast, serve it with lightly steamed summer vegetables and a wafer thin potato crisp, or ‘galette’ in chef talk. The plate is rippled with massively reduced beetroot syrup, which apart from looking sensational, tastes incredible with the duck. I’m not always a massive fan of pink carved duck breast – chefs so often cook them wrong. The trick is to get the skin caramelised and crisp and the meat cooked perfectly medium rare.

Of course, resting the breast is essential, otherwise they’re tough and rubbery – in fact you could bounce them!

If you’re not confident about pink cooking and duck breast, I suggest you slow roast a whole duck instead. It’s quite forgiving because if you overcook the duck, it’s still a pleasure picking through the tangle of salty skin and sticky flesh.

Serves 4

Spice mix/marinade:

1tbsp mace blades
1 cinnamon quill
1tbsp ground ginger
1tbsp coriander seeds
4tbsp honey
4 Magret duck breasts
Salt

Place all the dried spices into a spice blender and blend until fine. Dust the skin side of the duck and colour lightly in a moderately hot saucepan.

Turn over and seal lightly on flesh side. Drain off any excess oil and pour on the honey. Place into the bottom of 200C oven and cook until pink, basting frequently. Remove and rest.

Beetroot syrup:

2 large raw beetroot
300ml white wine vinegar
300ml water
80g caster sugar

Peel and grate the beetroot and place with all the other ingredients into a stainless steel saucepan. Bring to the boil and skim. Simmer for approximately 20 minutes. Pass through a fine strainer and squeeze really well to extract as much liquid as possible. Discard pulp and place the liquid into a clean stainless steel saucepan. Reduce carefully until syrupy in appearance. Leave to cool and refrigerate.

Potato crisp:

1 Maris piper potato
Clarified butter

Peel and dry the potato. Use a Japanese spaghetti cutter and cut the potato into spaghetti-like strips. Mix with a little warm clarified butter. Arrange on to a baking sheet and cook at 180C until crisp and golden.

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