Comber Earlies, Natural Smoked Cheddar, Sort Herbs, Double Cream & Dressed Summer Leaves

An Old Inn favourite and a family recipe from our breakfast chef Dermot, the traditional fruit brack is a moist, tea-soaked loaf filled with dried fruit and mild spice. Served as part of breakfast and our indulgent afternoon tea, it’s comforting slice of home-baked goodness. 

Ingredients

• 1x 900g Loaf
• 250g Soft Plain flour
• 15g Baking powder
• 125g  Soft brown Sugar
• 3 Eggs
• 250ml  Cold tea
• 250g dried fruit of your liking
• 50 g  Mixed peel
• ½ tsp Mixed spice
• Honey to brush the top of the loaf

Method

1. Start your loaf the night before, by soaking the dried fruit and peel in the cold tea, and place in a fridge to soften.
2. Pre-heat you oven to 150c
3. With a bowl and flour Sieve, pass your flour, baking powder and spice together, this makes sure that they are thoroughly mixed but also adds air to the flour which helps the rise. Add the sugar, and mix together.
4. Add the beaten eggs and then the soaked fruits, the mix is very wet almost like a batter.
5. Pour into a lined loaf tin and Bake for approx. 1 hour , remove oven allow to cool for 15 mins and then turn out on to baking wire. When cool brush with warm honey and if you like roll in Demerara sugar
6. Serve with cold salted butter and a hot cup of tea!

Ingredients For 4 portions

• 6-700g halibut fillet or any meaty fish you prefer, cut in to 4 portions
• 30g Sea purslane
• 12 leaves Sea beet
• 40g Samphire
• 10g chervil
• 10g chives

Crushed comber earlies

• 600g Cumber earlies
• 150g Salted butter
• 100g crème fresh
• 20 ml white wine vinegar
• Salt and pepper

Wash the potatoes, and boil in salted water until soft (approx. 15 mins), drain and break them with the back of a fork, add the salted butter, cream and vinegar, mix together until you have a soft crushed potato and season to taste, keep warm.

Brown shrimp

• 120g salted butter
• Lemon cut into segment and juice
• Parsley
• 150g Brown shrimp

Pickled Dulse

• 200 ml distilled white vinegar
• 50g sugar
• 10g salt
• 1 small bag dulse

Bring the vinegar, salt and sugar up to the boil, allow to cool and drop in the dulse allow to sit for 1 hour before using

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C.
2. Heat a non-stick pan until smoking. Season the fish, add a splash of oil to the pan and place the fish in. Cook for one minute on each side to get a nice colour.
3. Transfer the fish to the oven and roast for approximately 4 minutes.
4. Once out of the oven, move the fish to a warm tray.
5. In a separate pan, add the salted butter and let it cook until golden brown. Add the shrimp, parsley, and lemon, then remove from the heat.
6. To plate up, place the warm crushed potatoes in the centre of the plate, gently lay the fish on top, spoon over the shrimp butter, and finish with sea herbs and pickled dulse.

This is a classic for the Spring season; fresh duck eggs, finely shaved smoked duck, and duck fat-fried bread, finished with a sweet apple vinegar to cut through it all.

Dressing

• Ingredients: 100ml Chardonnay Vinegar, 200ml Pomace Oil, 2 Cloves Garlic, 1 Shallot , 2 Sprigs Tarragon, Salt & Pepper
• Method: Mix all together and allow to sit for 24hours before use.

Mayonnaise

• Ingredients: 4 Egg Yolks, 50ml White Wine Vinegar, 50ml Dijon Mustard, 250ml Neutral Rapeseed Oil, Salt, Smoked Paprika, Cayenne Pepper
• Method: Whisk the yolks, vinegar, mustard together, drizzle in the oil and emulsify, season to taste.

Onions

• Ingredients: 2 Large Spanish Onions, 100ml White Wine Vinegar, 100ml White Wine, 25 ml Dijon Mustard, 25ml Horseradish Cream, 100ml Crème Fraîche
• Method: Finely dice the onions, cover with the white wine and the vinegar and reduce until the pan is dry, cool. When the onions are cold mix in the mustard, horseradish and crème Fresh and season.

Fried Bread

• Ingredients: Brioche loaf, Duck fat
• Method: Break the brioche into small pieces, and fry in duck fat until golden

Apple Balsamic Gel

• Ingredients: 250ml Apple balsamic, 60g sugar, 30g Ultratex
• Method: Whisk all together and allow the Ultratex to thicken the vinegar until golden.

Method for plating:

1. For the plate you’ll need 4 duck eggs, 2 medium sized red onions, mayonnaise, dressing, fried brioche, smoked duck, celery salt, herbs and pea shoot to garnish

2. Bring a medium sized pan of water up to the boil

3. Meanwhile peel and cut your onions in half-length ways.

4. When your water is boiling, gentle drop in the duck eggs and onions, allow to simmer for 7mins & 30secs

5. When cooked refresh the eggs in iced water to stop them cooking any further.

6. The onion, remove and allow to drain but do not let it go cold, season with the celery salt and dress while still hot with the dressing.

7. Peal your duck eggs and cut in half the yolk should still be soft, season with the celery salt

Now to dress the plate:

1. Spoon a little of the onion in the bottom of the bowl arrange the eggs and red onions on top

2. Add a few dots of mayonnaise and apple balsamic vinegar

3. Arrange the shaved smoked duck and crispy fried bread around the plate

4. Finish with the herbs and pea shoots.

The Old Inn’s Head Chef Andrew Turner spent his childhood growing up in Weymouth, Dorset, where Cream Teas are a big thing. Plain or fruit? Cream on first or jam on first? Someone always has an opinion and normally isn’t afraid to share it with you. We say eat the scones as you prefer, with whatever and however you like.

Here’s the recipe we use at The Old Inn. It’s light, a little sweet, and always a treat.

Preheat your oven to 160c

• 600g Self-rising flour
• 17g Baking powder
• 135g Butter
• 75g Sugar
• 295ml Buttermilk
• 1Tsp Vanilla essence
• 1 egg

Additional for Fruit Scones

• 170g Sultanas
• 10 g Additional flour

For the plain scone

• Sieve all the dry ingredients together, rub in soft butter to the dry mix, then add the buttermilk and vanilla essence.
• Mix as little as possible until the ingredients have come together, roll out to about 4 cm thick and cut out using a pastry cutter of the desired size.
• Take the egg and beat with a fork, brush the top of each scone, being careful not to let any run down the side as this will stop the scone rising evenly.
• Cook until golden brown approx. 15/20 mins

For the fruit scones

• Shake the fruit and the 10g of flour together and mix into the dry ingredients then continue as above.