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| Raymond Blanc |
WORLD- RENOWNED chef and restaurateur Raymond Blanc has joined forces with Garden Organic, the UK's leading organic growing charity, to launch Go Organic - an initiative designed to encourage more people to grow, cook and eat organic food.
You can take part by hosting a sponsored meal for friends and family where the menu is made up, in part, of organic ingredients. Guests will then be encouraged to make a donation to Garden Organic to fund the work of its Heritage Seed Library, a unique collection, which aims to protect traditional varieties of vegetables under threat of extinction.
To date, Garden Organic's Heritage Seed Library has saved 800 varieties of vegetable from the verge of extinction, but with experts claiming 98 per cent of vegetable varieties have vanished over the last 100 years, more needs to be done to conserve threatened varieties from around the world.
Blanc, who grows and serves vegetables from Garden Organic's HSL collection at his Michelin-starred restaurant, Le Manoir, has devised a series of exclusive recipes for those taking part
in the scheme.
"I am delighted to be able to support the Go Organic initiative and I hope it will encourage the nation to be inspired to get into the kitchen and garden, and to produce healthy, home-grown, and home-cooked organic food," he said.
"It's always a pleasure to enjoy great food and company, and when it's for an important cause such as Garden Organic, then there is no better excuse."
"Not only will it help raise much-needed funds to support the work of the charity but people can also share with their friends and family just how tasty organic food really is."
Check out the Blanc recipes below or for additional recipes, growing advice or to register for Go Organic visit the website link below.
Steamed Asparagus with a Lemon Sabayon - Serves 4
Le Manoir always follow seasonality using British asparagus, which is at its best in May. A steamer will ensure the fastest cooking time to enhance texture, flavour, and of course retention of nutrients. The lemon sabayon is a technique Raymond Blanc developed many years ago, which yields three times more than a classic hollandaise and five times less fat.
2 asparagus bunches (you could replace the asparagus with bite-size florets of purple sprouting broccoli, about 150g per person, or serve the two together)
4 egg yolks, medium organic
50ml water
70g butter, unsalted melted
4g sea salt
1g cayenne pepper
10ml lemon juice
Trim asparagus and steam or cook in lightly salted boiling water for 3-4 minutes.
In a large bowl whisk the egg yolks and water to a frothy consistency. (Whisking the eggs will create more volume and not only give you more sauce but make it a lot lighter).
Place the bowl over a pan of boiling water and continue to whisk until it becomes thicker.
When the eggs are at a mayonnaise consistency, remove from the heat and continue to slowly whisk in the butter, followed by the rest of the seasonings.
Pass through a muslin cloth and serve.
Strawberry and Rhubarb Crumble - Serves 4
For the almond crumble topping:
15g flaked almonds
70g plain flour
25g ground almonds
40g caster sugar
Pinch of ground cinnamon
40g unsalted butter
For the rhubarb:
300g rhubarb, washed and cut into 2cm batons and marinated in 125m of caster sugar 2 hours
125g water
5g lemon juice
For the strawberries:
25g unsalted butter
25g caster sugar
480g strawberries, cut in half
20ml Kirsch (optional)
5ml Lemon juice
Preheat oven to 190C. In a large bowl mix together flour, ground almonds, sugar and ground cinnamon. With your fingertips rub the softened butter into the mixture until it forms a light breadcrumb texture, add flaked almonds. Spread out on a large ovenproof tray and cook in pre-heated oven for 8 minutes until golden brown, allow to cool.
Meanwhile cook rhubarb by mixing the water, caster sugar and lemon juice in a medium saucepan. Bring to boil, add rhubarb and simmer 3-5 minutes. Drain through a sieve into a small saucepan and reserve the rhubarb on a tray.
For strawberries, melt sugar and butter over medium heat in a stainless steel saucepan. Cook 4-5 minutes until sugar and butter turn to a rich brown caramel and the first wave of smoke is seen. Stir in the berries, lemon juice and Kirsch. Cook for 30 seconds just until the first bubble breaks the surface and remove from the heat.
Finally spoon 50g of the warm strawberries and 50g of the rhubarb into the bottom of 4 ovenproof gratin dishes. Sprinkle over the crumble topping and place under a hot grill to lightly colour the crumble topping.
1:10pm Monday 28th April 2008
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