Light Collective

©Sanna Fisher Payne

For a recent dinner commissioned by Light Collective for the launch of a range of high-quality LEDs with amazing colour rendering, made by Xicato. We served a five course tasting menu for thirty guests held at the mighty Castle Gibson in Stoke Newington (see Bees & Honey).

The dinner, based around the spectrum of primary colours, was preceded by amazing colour-changing cocktails, made by Robin Fegen of The Robin Collective, and served from a bar within the beautiful and dilapidated house/set adjacent to Castle Gibson.

Below are a few phone pictures from the kitchen during prep and service, followed by some much better images of the plates as they were sent out to the guests, taken by
Sanna Fisher-Payne

Prep
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Red Legged Partridges awaiting their dissection.

Salt-Curing Gilthead Bream, to be served with Beet Spray and Microherbs.

Wild Blueberries, foraged by Amy in the summer. They were destined for a Blueberry Whipped Cream.

Roasting Partridge legs and thighs before slow-braising.

An attempt to make a sheet of Broccoli stem by freezing overlapping slices. In the end they were too thick to adhere to one another.

Grading Viola Flowers for the purple dessert.

The Drinks
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The Robin Collective, and their array of colour-changing drinks. The PH Values of the cocktail ingredients were manipulated to add a magical twist to Margaritas with their "Bizarregarita' and Citron Pressé.

The Courses
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Gilthead Bream cured for ten hours in Rock Salt and Sugar, garnished with Apple Blossom and Amaranth (Scarlet Cress) Leaves. At the table a sauce of Beetroot and Cider Vinegar was  misted onto the plate from an atomiser.

For those not having fish, Flash-Pickled Beetroot and Dawn Apple Slices with garnishes as above.

Roasted Butternut Squash with Saffron infused Yoghurt, Lemon Pudding, Dehydrated Squash Crisps and Freeze-dried Yoghurt Powder.

Partridge breasts cooked en sous-vide with Cavolo Nero Purée and Partridge Jus, and Braised Leg and Thigh meat with blanched Broccoli and Cavolo Nero Tempura.

7 Hr Pork Belly, cooked en sous-vide and seared, with Mashed Blue Potatoes, Alkali-dyed Radishes, Mousseron and Chestnut Mushrooms and Medlar Purée.

Bitter Chocolate and Beetroot Torte with Wild Blueberry Whipped Cream, Viola Flowers and Parma Violet Powder.

The Menu
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(Vegetarian alternative)

  Colour-changing Cocktails
'Bizarregaritas' and Citron Pressé
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  Gilthead Bream | Beetroot | Microleaves
  Dawn Apple | Beetroot | Microleaves
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  Butternut Squash | Yoghurt | Saffron
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  Red-Legged Partridge | Cavolo Nero | Broccoli
   Jerusalem Artichoke | Chervil Root | Broccoli
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  Pork Belly | Blue Potatoes | Radish | Wild Mushroom | Medlar
  Hedgehog Mushroom | Blue Potatoes | Radish | Medlar
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  Bitter Chocolate | Beetroot | Viola

 Suppliers
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Fish
  Moxon's, Dulwich

Vegetables, Fruit, Mushrooms
  Pretty Traditional, Dulwich
  Franklin's Farmshop, Dulwich
  The National Fruit Collection at Brogdale, Kent

Microleaves
  Wild Harvest, New Covent Garden Market

Meat
  William Rose Butchers, Dulwich

Edible Flowers
  First Leaf, Pembrokeshire

Steve Wilson (The People's Kitchen) Josh Pollen, Mike Knowlden (Blanch & Shock)

Twitter
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  @blanchandshock
  @lightcollective
  @RobinRadio
  @castlegibson
  @sannafp

A winter Canape Menu..

 

As London begins to freeze we are preparing for a small private event at which we will make canapés and cook a main course for 30 guests. Inspired by the onset of winter and some of the esoteric british ingredients that are still bountiful despite the cold, we shall prepare a tasting menu in miniature, as follows:

Scallops with 'Belle de Jour' Apples

Cured Mackerel with Sea Buckthorn and Sea Aster

Beetroot, Butternut Squash and Wigmore Cheese

Jerusalem Artichoke with Black Truffles

Beef with Horseradish and Cavolo Nero

Smoked Venison with Celeriac and Sourdough Toast

Malt Meringue with Whipped Chestnut

After the small bites, there will follow:

Lamb Noisette with Chervil Root, Baby Carrots and their Tops

Gilthead Bream with Parsley Root, Brussel Sprouts

Kitchen Notes, Early March, three jobs imminent

New Hypodermic Syringe in action.

Pork Belly cooked en sous vide with Rosemary, then fried.

Pork Belly, English Mustard wrapped in Beetroot Gel Sheets

Raw Salmon, Fried Salmon Skin, Bergamot Lemon, Coriander

Dehydrated Carrot Purée

Powdered Carrot

Oxtail, Bay Leaf and Bitter Chocolate Stew

Clementine Purée

Testing our Values

Hibiscus, Pomegranate, Ginger Jellies

Eat Your Heart Out Development Day

A day of testing recipes for the Kindle Theatre Company's upcoming performance of 'Eat Your Heart Out' at Bitesize Festival at Warwick Arts Centre on March 6th, 2010. For more information and to buy tickets, click here

`Dried Bonga Fish' from Brixton

 

Dried Bonito Flakes

 

'Fish Floss'

 

Dried Seafood Platter

  

Taiwanese Dried Tuna

  

Blackened Bonito Flakes 

  

Dehydrated Sesame / Tuna / Bonito / Puffed rice

  

Blood Station

  

Blood Samples (Violet Syrup, Red Colouring, Arrowroot)

   

Guilty

  

Furtive Chopstick Use 

 

Roasting Rice Cakes

 

Rendering fat from Pancetta Afumicata

Charred Rice Cake

The best Pork Scratchings EVER.

 

Powdered Pancetta fat 'bonemeal'

Staying

Testing Baked Beetroots

Drying Candied Chilli Pieces for Garnish

Some of the 125 variations

Tweezering the canapés and garnishes into the boxes

Mike standing guard over boxed bites until service

Detail of boxes showing edible printed excerpts from Staying text

Boxes showing bites. At this stage the contents of the boxes were beginning to suffer from the heat of the lights above. They stood strong until service began and throughout !

The audience were talked through the boxes and their contents at the table, some removing the food with their fingers, others braving the whole package.

The Menu

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Any of:

  Pomegranate Jelly

  Bitter Chocolate Truffle

  Butter-poached Carrot

  Baked Beetroot

  Raw Pear

Garnished with any of:

  Candied Chilli

  Powdered Salt Caramel

  Dried Lavender Flowers

  Stem Ginger

  Orange Zest

Sitting on leaves of:

 Mint

 Coriander

 Flat-Leaf Parsley

 Rocket

 Basil