Thursday 31 January 2013

February 'Create the Seasons'


We admit this time of year is pretty gloomy, so why not cook yourself into a good mood, as there are an abundance of seasonal fruit, vegetables and other British produce to perk you up.

Seville Oranges
Marmalade was invented in Scotland in the late 18th Century by a savvy shopkeeper who unknowingly bought a cargo of bitter oranges. In a desperate plea to get his money's worth his wife turned it into jam; it seems that behind every successful man there is a quick thinking woman! This weekend, venture to your local market and buy yourself some Seville or blood oranges and cook up a batch of marmalade. A pretty sticky affair but definitely worth the effort.


Yorkshire Rhubarb
Yorkshire rhubarb or forced rhubarb is at it's pinkest at this time of year. The rhubarb is grown in pitch black sheds in a 9 square mile triangle in West Yorkshire, deprived of natural light and picked by candle light to keep it sweet and pink. Rhubarb is technically a vegetable, however you decide to eat it, it is delicious especially with homemade custard!



create's humble pink rhubarb and elderflower custard tart
with ginger bread cream, poached rhubarb and rhubarb curd


Mussels
The general rule with shellfish is to only eat them in months that include the letter "R", but at this time of year they are at their best. Mussels are not the most beautiful shellfish, but are packed with the flavour of the sea, and the shells make the most perfect natural canapé spoon.


create's sustainably rope grown mussels 
with parsley and shallot salsa

Friday 25 January 2013

Quintessentially Create

Last night create teamed up with one of our brand new venues,
29 Portland PlaceQuintessentialy Events and Tom Parker-Bowles
for a Burns Night bonanza.

Tom kindly donated some of his delicious canapé recipes to go alongside create's tailor made menu, full of handpicked Scottish produce and some Scottish classics re-invented for the occasion.

The evening kicked off with some tasty canapés...
little cups of cullen skink
whisky cured salmon with a mustard sauce served on oatcakes
scotch rarebit
create's (now infamous) pint of scottish prawns

Followed swiftly by a traditional haggis with neeps and tatties

A magnificent main course of...
rare roasted fillet of buccleuch beef
with potato topped scotch pie filled with confit beef cheek, wilted spinach, scottish girolles mushrooms and mcewans ale reduction

Finished off with...
tipsy laird
free form vanilla sponge, scottish raspberry jelly, heather honey macaroons and a drambuie chantilly cream

Monday 14 January 2013

Adam Byatt on Saturday Kitchen

There's not a single person at create food and party design who won't be attempting Adam Byatt's 'Coq au vin with parsley mash' as seen on Saturday Kitchen this weekend. Deliciously hearty, packed full of seasonal ingredients and a certain winter warmer in this cold weather spell. Give it a go too, with the recipe below...




Thursday 10 January 2013

Raymond Blanc at Adam Byatt's Trinity Restaurant

A legend of the culinary world, Raymond Blanc, visited create's Consultant Chef's Trinity Restaurant recently, regarding his experience there as "exceptional" on his blog. Here at create, we have long been fans of Trinity and indeed Adam Byatt and are delighted to be in partnership with him, offering our corporate and private clients the opportunity to enjoy Adam Byatt's exclusively designed British menus and presence at tastings and events.

We agree with Raymond in his blog post below, if you haven't been to Trinity, you must go!

Raymond said, "Yesterday I was treated to lunch by my good friend James Steen. He took me to Trinity, a restaurant in Clapham, London, to which I hadn't been before. What an exceptional lunch, full of seasonal ingredients, beautifully cooked and beautifully presented in a lovely and comfortable environment.

Here is a young British chef, Adam Byatt, cooking with great verve and flair. It is wonderful to see young and talented chefs observing the guidelines of sustainability, the best ingredients and offering great value too. Trinity is a lovely restaurant with very much its own style. I loved the way the food was presented, at one with its surroundings: hare and partridge served on a beautiful amber-coloured piece of burnished wood. A truffle from Perigord - the very essence of the season - allowed to speak (I should say to sing!) for itself. 

I will post the whole menu later, but for now I must say thank you to James for a wonderful lunch and to Adam and his team! I can only urge you all to go yourselves."

If you would like a 'create with Adam Byatt' menu at your event, perhaps the celebrated Chef himself at your tasting or awards dinner, call our sales team on 020 8944 4900 to discuss create's exciting new partnership.

Read Raymond's full blog post here

Friday 4 January 2013

New Year, New Food, New Trends

The create kitchen predicts what's hot 
and what's not for 2013 
(and a few trends we are going to push this year!)

Street Food
Back in October when we ate our way through the launch of KERB, the new street food market sensation at Kings Cross Boulevard, it got us thinking...so expect big things from the create 'streat' movement this Summer!

Recipe resurrections making the classics cool
History has given us some amazing recipes which have long been forgotten and we think it's about time people remembered them; our menus are going be crammed full of sippets, flummeries and heritage varieties of vegetables.

Making sweet savoury
Just like fashion, food follows trends. Some are good and some are terrible and some are just plain strange, but if you are clever and can combine the good and the strange we think, you have an excellent recipe for success. 

Our star dish of Autumn/Winter 2012 was a sirloin of beef with cashel blue and chard bread and butter pudding, and looking forward, we are thinking duck and hot cherry and beetroot summer pudding is a must. 

A few more to look out for:
Trash food - the gourmet junk food.
Gourmet grilling - spit roast cow and vertical bbqs both a spectacle in their own right and here at create, we are masters at both.
Sharing platters - the new tapas!
Eating your greens- foraged herbs and baby cress have made greens cool again.