News & Recipes
News & Recipes
News at Swinton Park - the 2008 programme has been unveiled!
2008 sees the arrival of our Head Chef Simon Crannage at the cookery school,
running his own themed day courses, some of them with the addition of
a guest chef for a master class. Simon has run courses before at Charlton
House in Somerset and is bursting with new ideas and recipes! Rosemary
Shrager will be running her two day courses, with her right hand "man",
Gilly Robinson, running her day courses.
For further details on the course programme please go to the 2008 page.
Ladettes to Ladies
ITV came up with a real winner here. Casting Rosemary as the vice principal
and cookery teacher of a finishing school with a difference. In this school
the pupils werehardened, beer-swilling ladettes, and the challenge was
to take these etiquette-challenged good time girls and turn them into
polite young gels. As you can imagine, things didn't always work out for
our would-be debutantes, but one thing's for certain, they didn'tget much
change out of Rosemary. This was a triumph of must-see TV with the first
series on air in June 2005, a second series in September 2006, and a third
series due to be broadcast in September 2007..
Rosemary's New Show
Filming of the new show took place this summer here at Swinton Park and the show is due to be broadcast in the Autumn of 2007. The series follows the format of Masterchef with contenders battling it out to win an opportunity to work in some of the best restaurants in the country.
Kitchen Showdown with Rosemary Shrager
This was a new UKTV Food show for 2006, where a selection of families
(who rely on ready-meals and takeaways, spending little or no time preparing
meals from scratch) were taken back into the kitchen for an intensive
cookery course at Swinton Park. Each episode followed two families as
they are brought to the cookery school as they go back to basics in the
kitchen. At the end of two grueling days, the families competed against
one another in a climactic cook off, each producing a two course meal
to impress Rosemary and a panel of expert food judges.
Recipes
This is one of Rosemary's hearty winter classics for you to try at home :
Breast of Guinea Fowl with Fennel and Red Pepper Mousse on a Polenta Galette with Spinach
Serves 4
Ingredients:
4 breasts of guinea fowl, skin intact
½ bulb fennel, very finely chopped
½ red pepper, very finely chopped
30g butter
150g chicken breast
1 small egg-white
150ml double cream
For the sauce:
2 guinea fowl carcasses
1 large onion, chopped
2 sticks celery, chopped
3 small carrots, chopped
10 cloves garlic, chopped
a handful of herbs, roughly chopped
400ml white grape juice
150ml good strong chicken stock
50g butter
1tbs flour
200ml double cream
100ml dry Madeira
500g spinach
Oven: 200°C / 400°F / Gas 6
Method:
Start with the mousse. Soften the fennel in 30g butter for about a quarter
of an hour. Drain, cool and add the red pepper.
Process the raw chicken breast with the egg-white and add the double cream
very carefully. You will be in trouble if you over process this cream
so use the pulse button carefully. Put the mixture into a bowl and fold
in the pepper and fennel mixture.
Remove the skin of the guinea fowl, put between two sheets of cling wrap, bash into a rectangle, then take a clean sheet of cling wrap, place onto it the guinea fowl and on top of that the mousse, then roll up lightly into a sausage shape. Put it into the fridge and prepare the sauce.
Soften all the other vegetables and garlic together in a heavy-bottomed
dish over a gentle heat in a little olive oil. Put it in the oven with
guinea fowl carcasses for about 45 minutes to roast. Remove from oven
add the chicken stock and grape juice and let it simmer and reduce on
top of the stove for another five minutes.
While that is happening mix the butter and flour together, then strain the vegetables and discard them. Stir the floury butter into the juice in a clean saucepan. Bring it to the boil again, stirring continuously, then add the cream and the Madeira. Bring it back to the boil and then let it cool and leave it aside until the last minute.
Steam-cook the guinea fowl breasts on a low heat for about 25 minutes.
Polenta Galette
Serves 4
Ingredients:
175g Polenta meal
750g chicken stock
handful of sage leaves, chopped
oil
Method:
Pour the Polenta meal into the boiling chicken stock. Over a low heat
add salt and the sage and continue to stir vigorously until the mixture
is very thick. Remove it from the heat and spread it flat on a swiss roll
tin (or similar), lined with cling wrap. Leave it to cool.
Once the Polenta is cool enough to handle, cut into any shapes you like
and fry it briskly in hot oil until it is crip.
Hotel of the
Year 2004. White Rose Outstanding Customer Service Award 2006.
With 4 AA Red Stars and 3 AA Rosettes, Swinton Park is one of the highest rated hotels in Yorkshire and Cumbria