Week beginning May 12th - Bubbleberries & Carrot and lemon marmalade

This week’s menu introduces a new ingredient that has featured in the media heavily the last 2 weeks, bubbleberries. There are only 2 companies that have the rights to sell these jewelled fruits, one being Waitrose the other our fresh produce supplier 4 degrees. Bubbleberries have the appearance of deep red miniature strawberries but have the aroma and flavour of bubblegum, random but true. This week we will be popping these berries into one of our salads with Gorgonzola, toasted sesame and coconut, polenta balls with a Kahlua dressing. 

Our recipe challenge this week will be our famous carrot and lemon marmalade. I first came across this jam in the Sahara desert, made by a Bedouin woman. At the time I was working on a film set that demanded the dramatic landscape of a great red-hot land, which is the reason for us being there. Ramadan fell in the middle of the shoot and many of our workers were locals. It also happened to be the peak of summer where temperatures would rise above 50 degrees Celsius. The days were very long, more so for the local helpers who had to endure a fast and work in extreme conditions. Often I would find several of our workers hiding/sleeping behind the portable air conditioning units in the middle of the afternoon, who could blame them?

So I could grasp their discipline during their religious yearly event, I challenged myself to a day of fasting in the same conditions as our Moroccan workers. This was a great novelty to the locals; most of them predicted I wouldn't last the day or even 2 hours. They were right, I made it to the 6th hour before I succumbed to water and temperatures reached a record 58 degrees that day. Though I failed miserably the locals let me join them in their breakfast, which is what they eat when the sun sets. It involves their version of porridge, Moroccan pancakes, along with many different condiments. During Moroccan breakfast I was first introduced to carrot marmalade, at first the woman who made it wanted me to guess what it was made of, I went through the usual orange fruit like oranges and mango, I gave up after these 2. After a day of nagging what was in the vibrant jam it was revealed the secret ingredient was carrot.

The origins and inspiration for our signature marmalade comes from North Africa, what follows is the recipe I came up with when I arrived back in the UK after the production was done.

Carrot and Lemon Marmalade

1 kg peeled and grated carrots

3 un-waxed lemons

1 kg granulated sugar

METHOD:

Place the carrots and whole lemons into a large pot with a heavy base and fill with warm water until the ingredients are just covered. Put the pot over a high heat and bring to a simmer, cook until the carrots are just tender, this can take up to 40 minutes.

Drain the liquid and leave to cool for 20 minutes. The next step is to grate the carrots and place back into the same pot. Slice the soft lemons in half and scoop out the seeds, then finely slice the lemons into thin strips and add to carrots.

Next place the pot over a medium heat and warm up the carrots and lemons, once they begin to steam pour in the sugar and gently stir until the sugar has dissolved. Turn the heat up high and leave the marmalade to bubble and simmer for 15minutes.

During this time place a saucer in the fridge to get cold. To test if the jam is ready put a teaspoon of marmalade onto the cold saucer and leave in the fridge for 1 minute to cool, then run your finger through the middle. If the liquid part of the marmalade doesn’t merge back together it is ready. Leave the marmalade to sit for 15 minutes on a cool bench top before pouring into sterilised jam jars, seal with a lid tightly and store in a dark cool place until ready to consume. 

It is a delicious marmalade, made even better when you tell your friends or family what is in it.

Please enjoy this weeks menu, as we will enjoy bringing it to you.

Jared Bryant

Lead Chef

@redjar50

Traditional bircher muesli with rhubarb and raspberry compote 3.60 (V)

Granola muesli with pomegranate molasses and rhubarb and raspberry compote 3.60 (V)
Fruit salad (pineapple, mango, strawberries, grapes, passion fruit) 3.70 (GF, V)
Ciabatta roll with omelette, pancetta, rocket and tomato salsa 4.90
Ciabatta roll with courgette omelette, rocket and tomato salsa 4.90
Croissant with Italian roast ham, talleggio cheese, spinach & plum tomatoes 4.90
Seven seed bakery bloomer toast with home made preserves 1.90
Pumpkin seed and apricot fruit toast 2.40
Banana bread 2.40

Pastries by Seven Seed bakery
French butter croissant 1.90
Pain au chocolat 2.50
Almond croissant 2.80

Baked Treats
Sweet Muffin: Peach and raspberry 2.40
Savoury Scone: Curried peas and soft cheese 2.40
Buckthorn and white chocolate friands 2.40 (GF)
Super moist chocolate brownies 2.40
White chocolate blondies 2.40
Portuguese tarts 2.00
ANZAC cookies 2.00
Melting moments biscuits 2.00

Lunch

French retro baguettes 5.00
Ham with glazed nectarines, camembert, red onion, basil and rocket
Roasted butternut, saute mushrooms, tarragon, dijon, cheddar and spinach (V)

Foccacias 5.30

Pancetta, avocado, tomato, mango mayonaise and spinach
Broad bean pate with roasted red onions, oregano, spicy feta spread and rocket (V)

Salads: 5.50/6.90

Hot smoked salmon with pickled rainbow radish, candied almonds and a paprika yoghurt dressing (GF)

Bubblegum berries with gorgonzola, polenta balls, toasted sesame seeds and coconut with a kahlua dressing (V)

Roasted sweet potatoes with saute rainbow chard and tapenade dressing (GF)

Tart: 4.40 or 7.90 with salad
Open tart with mornay Devon Crab and passionfruit dressing