Come on down for some great food in the park
Top chefs such as Gordon Ramsey and Jamie Oliver are cooking up a feast in Regent's Park, writes Claire Latimer
IT'S not often you can say that a crop, bunch, gaggle or whatever you call a group of top chefs are outside your back door but this weekend Camden has exactly that.
The Regent’s Park Festival runs from today (Thursday) until Sunday the June 18 and is action packed with the likes of Gordon Ramsey and our own local Jamie Oliver showing us all the new tricks of the trade in the food world.
What a Park. One minute you can be wondering among camels, aardvark and giraffes, the next watching kids playing cricket in their whites and then this weekend, have the most wonderful cooking smells wafting around as well.
With all this competition just round the corner this week, I am going to give you two posh‚ recipes to try to encourage you to have a smart summer dinner party.
AVOCADO, SCALLOP AND BACON SALAD
This is a great combination of flavours and an excellent summer dish.
Always try to buy the scallops with their coral as they look much nicer, taste delicious and it then guarantees that they are real scallops!
Serves 8
Ingredients
Eight handfuls of mixed salad leaves, such as oakleaf, lamb’s tongues, curly endive radicchio;
Five rashers back bacon, rind removed;
Two ripe avocados;
Juice of one lemon;
25g butter;
Twenty-four large fresh scallops;
Little walnut or hazelnut oil;
Salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Method
Prepare and wash the salad and place in the middle of each serving plate.
Fry or grill the bacon until very crisp, then chop. Sprinkle over the mixed leaves. Cut the avocados in half, remove the stones, then score the flesh lenghways into five and crossways into six, not cutting through the skin.
Scoop out with a dessertspoon into a bowl, then pour over the lemon juice.
Stir well, making sure the avocado is throughly coated.
Melt the butter in a frying pan, add the scallops and fry over a low heat for three minutes, then turn and fry for a further three minutes or until just cooked right through.
Season then spoon the avocados onto the salad, arrange three scallops on each plate, dribble over the nut oil and serve.
CHICKEN MAJORCA
This is one of my old time favourties and that we made up when living in Majorca.
We served it at a buffet wedding the other day along with Thai beef curry and the guests loved both dishes, so here you are.
Serves 6
Ingredients
One tbsp olive oil;
One onion, peeled and chopped;
Eight chicken quarters;
Two tbsp flour;
200 ml milk;
200 ml white wine;
One teasp oregano;
Salt and freshly ground black pepper;
125g pitted green olives, halved;
One red pepper, cored, deseeded and chopped;
Two oranges, peeled like apple and segmented
Method
Preheat the oven 180C 350F Gas 4. Put the oil in a large casserole, then add the onion.
Fry gently for five minutes, then add the chicken pieces, four at a time, and brown on each side.
Set the chicken aside and stir in the flour into the juices.
Stir in the milk and white wine to make the sauce, then add the oregano, seasoning, olives, pepper and oranges.
Mix well and replace the chicken pieces, making sure they are coated in the sauce. Cover and cook for one hour or until the chicken is done, then keep in a very low oven until ready to serve.
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