Are you planning on hosting the ultimate foodies’ night in? Looking to impress but don’t quite know how to bowl over your guests from start(er) to finish?

There are countless easy smoked salmon recipes available online. Many are excellent. Some are less so. In order to help you get the most from your three courses we’ve created our very own menu – and one that everyone at John Ross Jr, from our Master Smoker to the Chairman, would give the seal of approval on.

Starter

We’ve named this dish Royal Smoked Salmon as it was created for John Ross Jr as part of the Coronation Festival – a celebration of the ‘Best of British’ Royal Warrant Holders in the gardens of Buckingham Palace in 2013 – by one of our favourite Executive Chefs, Paul Bates of InterContinental London Park Lane.

It’s simple to make and will guarantee to get your guests’ taste buds going from the outset.

Serves 4

Ingredients

100g John Ross Jr Traditional Smoked Salmon (thinly sliced)
50g Cornish claw crabmeat
200g frozen peas
100ml vegetable stock
Pea shoots
Fresh coriander (a handful)
Lemon juice (2 x teaspoons)
Mayonnaise (2 x tablespoons)
Chili flakes
2 whole red chillies
100ml olive oil

Preparation

Turn on the oven to 140 degrees Celsius. When at temperature, place the chili inside and dry for about 20 minutes. Take out and leave to cool.

Warm the olive oil, making sure you don’t boil it, then add a ¼ of the chili with seeds. Blend until red in colour and chill.

Julienne the remaining chili, discarding the remaining seeds.

Bring the vegetable stock to the boil and add the frozen peas. Cook, blend into a puree then chill.

Mix the Cornish Claw crabmeat with the lemon juice and Mayonnaise.

Lay the smoked salmon on the plate.

Serve up per the image, placing the pea puree around the place and using the peashoots as the garnish.

 

Main Course

Let’s face it. You can have too much of a good thing. So, whilst it may come as a surprise that smoked salmon doesn’t feature on our main course menu, you won’t be disappointed with our choice.

Beef Wellington

John Ross Jr’s Aberdeen Angus Beef Fillet (approx. 1kg)
3 x tablespoons olive oil
3 x shallots, finely chopped
250g mushrooms (mixed varieties will make the dish more flavoursome)
50g butter
A large sprig of fresh thyme
12 slices of parma ham
125ml Madeira wine
3 tbsp double cream
500g puff pastry
2 eggs (beaten) with a dash of water

500g new potatoes – mashed with plenty of butter, salt and a touch of pepper.
Greens (of your choice) – enough for four people

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Place the mushrooms in boiling water for 20 minutes. Take quote, squeeze and then finely chop.

Melt the butter, add the shallots and cook until their a lovely golden colour and nice and soft. Add the mushrooms and the thyme and cook lightly for around 5 minutes.

Poor in the wine, increase the heat and reduce the mixture until it’s thick. Once done, remove just over half the mixture and place in a bowl before mixing in the cream.

Choose a pan that can take your fillet, heat on high, add the oil and then, when hot, sear the fillet on both sides. Season very well with generous sprinklings of salt and pepper and set aside to cool.

Roll out the pastry to a rectangle shape, making sure that it will comfortably cover your fillet. Brush with the egg before evenly spreading the shallot, wine and cream mixture. Then carefully lay the parma ham slices along the pastry, slightly overlapping each slice, so that it’s well-placed to cover the fillet when its rolled.

Roll the fillet in the pastry, tuck in the edges and brush the outside with the remaining egg.

Place on a baking sheet set inside of a tray and cook until golden brown. Whilst this is cooking boil and mash your potatoes and prepare your greens.

When the wellington is cooked to your desired colour take out and set aside to cool for 5 minutes.

When all cooked simply serve with a glass of good quality Bordeaux and you’re good to go.

 

Dessert

James Martin’s Sticky Toffee Pudding

There’s nothing quite like sticky toffee pudding and everyone at John Ross Jr agrees. Now, we came across this fantastic recipe by James Martin on the BBC website so if you follow this we guarantee that you won’t be disappointed.

If you go for our menu please let us know. We’d love to know what you think. Simply email us at johnrossjr@johnrossjr.com.