The chef at the head of Wales’ ‘best large restaurant’ is sliding open the door on his kitchen secrets in a series of video tutorials.
Jimmy Williams, executive chef at Signatures Restaurant at Aberconwy Resort & Spa, is launching an online, video recipe book, where he gives away some of the tips and tricks that have made his dishes award winners.
This month’s recipe is an impressive weekend breakfast or lunch dish that is deceptively easy to make.
Watch the recipe here.
RECIPE: Bacon, leek and cheese rosti, with crisp black pudding, fried egg and mustard dressing
One of the best things about weekends is the luxury to take a bit more time over meals. Leave the grabbed bowls of cereal and supermarket sandwiches (if you must) to a weekday.
Whether you are eating out or cooking for family and friends, it’s time to slow up the pace and enjoy your food. With that in mind, this month’s recipe is a perfect breakfast, brunch or even lunch dish that is a firm favourite of our customers at Signatures Restaurant. In fact, it’s so popular that every time I’ve taken this recipe off the menu, customers have demanded I put it back. Needless to say it’s now a permanent fixture!
While the rosti is a Swedish dish, this recipe contains many of the ingredients of a great British breakfast. It’s the combination of familiar flavours and textures that, I believe, makes it such a crowd pleaser. This recipe is a synch to make, but it does rely on excellent quality black pudding. At Signatures, we make our own, but any good butcher should be able to provide you with some fantastic black pudding. I’ve used Welsh rapeseed oil to make the dressing, but you can use another oil if you like. As with any vinaigrette the rule is to use three parts oil to one part vinegar.
Ingredients (serves 4)
2 large potatoes (King Edward or other floury potato)
4 tbsps grated cheddar cheese (Welsh Dragon is my choice for this dish)
4 tbsps of melted butter
4 tbsps strips of bacon
4 tbsps Julienne of sliced leek
1 egg (to bind)
2 tsps of coarse grain mustard 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
3 tbsps rapeseed oil
Four thick slices of black pudding
Four eggs
Method
1. Grate the potato into a bowl.
2. Once grated, gather the potato into a ball and squeeze out any moisture. This will help the rosti brown nicely and stay together in the pan.
3. Add the sliced bacon, leeks, melted butter and cheese to the grated potato and mix with your hands.
4. Season the mixture and add an egg to bind all of the ingredients together. The cheese and ham are quite salty, so be careful with the seasoning.
5. Roll half of the mixture into a ball and squeeze into a greased cooking ring. Compact the rosti as this will help it stay together in the pan.
6. Heat some oil in a pan and place the rosti (still in its cooking ring) into it. Leave the rosti to brown and make the dressing.
7. Put white the white wine vinegar and whole grain mustard into a bowl and whisk.
8. Slowly add the rapseed oil, whisking all of the rime. Be warned, adding the oil too quickly can make the mixture split, so take your time. Add some seasoning and your dressing is done.
9. Check your rosti, if it’s brown, turn it over (keeping the cooking ring on).
10. Now it’s time to fry your black pudding. Make sure to get it crispy on the outside.
11. Fry your eggs.
12. To serve, remove the cooked rosti from the ring and put on a pre-warmed plate. Add the black pudding on top of the rosti and then put a fried egg on top. Finally, drizzle some dressing around the plate.
13. Enjoy!
Jimmy Williams is executive chef at Signatures Restaurant, Aberconwy Resort & Spa. Signatures Restaurant was named Best Large Restaurant at the National Tourism Wales Awards in November, www.signaturesrestaurant.co.uk. Find more of Jimmy’s video recipes at: jimmywilliams.co.uk