Welcome to the ok50 Kitchen. We hope you will find inspiration and new ideas to add to your culinary repertoire. Whether you are cooking for yourself, preparing a romantic meal with a loved one, or even organising a special dinner party, there is something here for everyone! Don't forget to check back regularly for updates.

ok50 resident chef, Peter Osborne, has created a menu based on simplicity and ease, without sacrificing any of the sheer pleasure to be had from good home cooking.

Try the following delicious dishes, created specially for early Spring dining...

Twin Pear Salad with tarragon dressing

• 6 tablespoons grape seed oil
• 100g pecan nut halves
• ½ iceberg lettuce
• 2 medium size ripe avocados
• 3 large ripe comice or conference pears
• Zest and juice of 1 lime
• 20g fresh tarragon
• 125g Dolcelatte, crumbled
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Heat one tablespoon of the oil in a small frying pan over a low heat and cook the nuts for 5 minutes. Stir often until lightly coloured. Transfer the nuts onto kitchen roll and allow to drain.

Rinse and dry the lettuce and tear into bite size pieces.Place into a large bowl.

Stone the avocados peel and thinly slice. Peel and core the pears and slice thinly & place into the bowl with the lettuce. For the dressing; whisk the remaining oil with the lime zest and juice and season to taste.

Reserve 4 sprigs of tarragon then chop the remainder and add to the dressing. To serve; pour the dressing over the bowl and lightly toss with the lettuce, pear and avocado slices.

Divide into four plates and sprinkle the nuts and blue cheese on top and garnish with a sprig of tarragon and serve.

Serves 4

Duck Breasts with a Hot Strawberry Sauce

This sauce also works well with venison. If you want to cook the duck quicker you can pan fry it, but cooking it in the oven does allow the meat to cook slower and therefore it is more tender.

• 4 duck breasts, trimmed of excess fat on the underside
• 1 orange
• 1 small punnet of strawberries
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons duck fat
• 1 shallot, chopped
• 1 bunch spring onions, cut into large pieces
• 1 oz (25 g) flour
• about 1/4 pint (150 ml) chicken stock
• dash of gravy browning- if require
• 3 small pak choi per person
  

Prick the duck skin. Cut the orange into four slices. Line a small roasting tin with foil. Arrange the breasts on the foil with a piece of orange under each one. Season.

Roast at the top of the oven for about 30 minutes, until brown.

Cover with foil, turn the oven down to 350°F(180°C/) gas mark 4 and move the tin to a lower position in the oven. Cook for about another 40 minutes or until the duck is tender.

Strain off the liquid. Keep duck warm in oven, uncovered.

Put a saucepan of lightly salted water on to boil, for the pak choi.

Make the sauce. Spoon off 2 tablespoons duck fat from the roasting tin into a small saucepan, add the shallot and fry until tender, then add the spring onions. Stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute. Make the skimmed juices up to 1/2 pint (300 ml) with stock and gradually add to the shallot, spring onion and flour.

Put the pak choi into the boiling water, they only need 3 minutes to cook. Then drain

Bring the sauce to the boil, stirring until thickened. Add the strawberries, seasoning and a dash of gravy browning, if required.

Serve on top of Pac Choi with the sauce poured over.

Serves 4

Super Quick Rice Pudding

Put 2 mugs of short-grain rice in a pan with four mugs full fat milk, together with 2-4 tbsp sugar and a vanilla pod. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer gently until the rice is tender and has absorbed all the milk. Add more sugar to taste if you want to, and serve with strawberry jam or poached fruit such as plums or pears or apples.

Serves 4

You can e-mail your questions or suggestions to Peter at: peter@thebigchef.com

April Recipes
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January Recipes