Honey Mustard Glazed Ham

Each year we cater at the most exclusive Christmas Parties so you can rest assured that we knows a thing or two about indulgent winter recipes. Here is one of our most popular recipes, honey mustard glazed ham. It's the perfect dish for your next dinner party.

Give it a go and let us know what you think at @Createfood We'd love to see what you make!

Ingredients

100g honey

100g of wholegrain mustard

20 cloves

2 tbsp of olive oil

6 peppercorns

2 halved onions

2 bay leaves

1 carrot

1 stick of celery

1 bulb of garlic, cut in half

Method

For the honey mustard glazed ham, soak the gammon in a large bucket or pan of cold water overnight, this will help to reduce the salt content. The next day remove the gammon and discard the soaking water

Place the gammon in a large pan and cover with fresh water, then bring to the boil. Once the water is boiling drain and then refill the pan with cold water

Add the peeled and halved onions, whole peeled carrot, celery, halved garlic bulb, peppercorns and the bay leaves to the water. Bring to a slow simmer and leave simmering for 2.5 hours

Top up with boiling water if needed. Skim any scum off the top during the cooking process

Leave to cool for an hour in the liquid

Place the ham in a roasting tray. Remove the skin, ensuring you leave a thin layer of fat, then score in a criss-cross pattern. Stud with cloves in each square. Set the oven to 180ºC

To make the glaze – mix the oil, honey and mustard in a mixing bowl. With a spoon smear some of the glaze over the ham and bake in the oven for 10 minutes

After 10 minutes baste with more of the glaze and juices that have dripped off the ham. Repeat the basting process again every 10 minutes for the next 30 minutes (total cooking time in oven is 40 minutes)

Ensure the ham is golden all over. 

Once golden rest for 10 minutes and then its ready to carve!

Parsley Sauce

425ml milk

20g plain flour

40g butter

4 heaped tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley

1 tbsp single cream

1 tsp lemon juice

salt and black pepper

Method

Place the butter into a small pan and melt slowly over a medium heat.

Add the flour and using a wooden spoon stir the two together to form a paste

Turn the heat down and allow the flour to cook out (this is called a ‘Roux’) – the mixture will become lighter in colour

In small measures, add the cold milk to the Roux and using a balloon whisk stir vigorously. Don’t add any further milk until the original amount has been incorporated. Continue to whisk until the mixture is thick and glossy.

Add the chopped parsley and season

Turn the heat down to its lowest setting and let the sauce cook gently for a couple of minutes, stirring from time to time.

Add the cream and lemon juice and serve in a warm jug.

Eat the Seasons

Create's delicious homemade marmalade recipe

January and February is the season for the fabulous bitter Seville orange, the finest marmalade fruit of all - so we thought we would share with you our secrets to make your own batch of the delicious stuff.

What you need

1kg Seville oranges

1 lemon

2kg granulated sugar

1 piece of large muslin

2 litres of water
 Makes 3 x 700g Jars

Method

STEP 1.

 Using a potato peeler, thinly peel oranges and remove as much white pith fromt the peel as possible.

Cut peel to desired thickness.

 

STEP 2.

 Line a sieve with a large piece of muslin and place over a 3 litre pan.

STEP 3.

Cut your peeled oranges and the lemon in half and squeeze their juice into the muslin.
 

STEP 4.  

Add the remainder of the orange flesh, including pith and pips into the muslin and tie with string. Place in pan with juice.

TIP 1. 

We only use half the pith as it tends to make the marmalade very bitter, but do use all the pips as this will help the marmalade to set!

STEP 5.

Add the peel and water to the pan and bring to a soft rolling boil for 1.5 hours until the peel is soft.

TIP 2. 

At this stage you can add some star anise and cinnamon in a small muslin bag (to save them from breaking up in your marmalade) - this will add a spicy depth to your preserve.

STEP 6. 

Remove the muslin bag with your oranges, pith and pips in from the pan and squeeze off any excess liquid using tongs. Reduce heat and ad the sugar. Stir gently until dissolved.

STEP 7.

Bring to the boil for 20 minutes and do a setting test.

SETTING TEST:

If you have a sugar thermometer your marmalade should have reached 116 degrees centigrade. If not, pre-place a saucer in the freezer for 15 minutes and drop a small spoonful of the marmalade on the cold saucer. If it wrinkles (when you run your finger through it) then the marmalade is ready and will set, if not, continue to boil and keep trying the setting test.

TIP 3.

You can buy preserve sugar which is a fail-safe to ensure it sets! Make sure to follow the specific jam sugar timings.

STEP 8.

Sterilise jars by washing thoroughly and placing in a low heat oven dry.

STEP 9.

Using your funnel, decant the marmalade while hot into jars, top with parchement paper and seal.

Create at the NHM Ice Rink

create are proudly delivering the catering offer at The Natural History Museum's Ice Rink café this season. The café is available for corporate and private hire and create's designers have enjoyed  designing and delivering  some delicious alpine themed menus over the past few weeks. The café serves a range of winter warming refreshments for those wanting to put their feet up and treat themselves after an energetic skate. 

We wanted to share one corporate hospitality party that took the alpine theme to the next level.

Our menu creator designed a standing starter course for 180 guests that included beautifully decorated soup stalls, a raclette station and passed around charcuterie boards.

winter spinach and roasted garlic soup

with a frogs leg lollipop

leek and potato soup

with parsley and garlic buttered l’escargot

 

Classic french raclette was served from a station dressed with baskets of ficelle breads, kilner jars of cornichons and baby onions in homemade pickle.

The cheese was carved straight form the wheel in front of guests into rustic tapas dishes onto hot new potatoes, home pickled baby onions and cornichons and a selection of toppings including crispy lardons, truffle oil and crispy shallots for guests to help themselves to.

Of course, an alpine themed party wouldn't be right without plenty of Glühwein and hot apple cider...

 

Call us on 020 8944 4900 to speak to our NHM Ice Rink team about corporate and private hospitality in the fabulous café.

April 'Create the Seasons'

April marks the culinary gateway to Spring, and without being too ambitious, Summer, which should be just around the corner (perhaps with a few April showers in-between to be expected).

Cold hands we can handle, but when the recent weather has been threatening to affect the English asparagus season, enough is enough! With the weather a little warmer now, English asparagus is slowly making it's way into our kitchen, we just need a few more warm days to really get the ultimate spring treat in abundance. In the meantime, how about enjoying a day out at the market to get your hands on a few other bits and pieces April has to offer...

Spring Lamb: not just for Easter!  

Lamb is such a forgiving meat, it works well paired up with robust spices, anchovies and classic provencal herbs. 

However, to show off it's true colours, try it with some best of British flavours like a wild garlic and hazelnut stuffing or a heather honey and lavender crust.

 

Wild Pickings: there is such thing as a free meal! 

Follow your nose and go foraging for wild garlic, battle the elements and scour the cliff tops for sea beet, or rummage through the undergrowth for wild mushrooms. Spring means juicy little shoots; some of which are on your doorstep. Just make sure you know what you are picking and who you are picking it from! 

Coastline Crab: get cracking

Our crab comes from the fishing town of Salcombe in Devon, famous for it's crustational catch. The fisherman swear by a secret "sweet spot" which produces some of the most delicious meat. Although it is a closely guarded secret in the crabbing community, it is the location of the catch which makes all the difference in the meat. The fishermen avoid "crabbing" along the coastline and head out to deeper waters, where the undercurrant encourages the crab to grow strong muscles, making the meat even more delicious!

Sadly the majority of British crab ends up on the European markets, so get cracking (sorry bad pun again) and buy British crab.

Dinner for our 180 guests is served...

Quick look up at the ceiling whilst you have the chance, in a few minutes time you will not want to look away from your plate. Painted by Reubens and installed onto the ceiling in 1636 it is the last remaining in-situ ceiling painting. It depicts The Union of the Crowns, The Apotheosis of James I and The Peaceful Reign of James I.

 Have you seen the waitresses and waiters in their masks? This is our nod to the Masque's, a type of play written as court entertainment and often performed at Banqueting House. What's in front of you though, what's in the little kilner jar, it looks exciting? Un-hinge the lid and breath in deeply..... can you smell and see the smoke? This is your amuse of smoked salmon tartare. Smoking has been a common method of preserving meat and fish for centuries, this salmon has smoked over oak wood chips.

It must be time for the main course, those trumpets can only mean one thing. 

How Regal, a three bird roast of goose, duck and chicken encapsulating pistachio and winter herb force meat stuffing. Make sure you get a glimpse of Adam Byatt and our chefs carving in front of the throne. It's not all about the meat though, don't those vegetables look amazing parsley mash, confit thyme roasted sand carrots and braised red cabbage with apples and pears. Dig in and help yourselves there is plenty to go around. Just save room for dessert, trust us, it is seriously worth waiting for.

Adam Byatt and Alan Lucas, Executive Chef

Who says Valentines Day has to be all about chocolates and flowers

To the create kitchen, Valentine's Day is all about cooking the food we love for people who love our food; although chocolates and flowers are obviously appreciated too!

Rather than big pink cupcakes, lollies, marshmallow hearts and strawberries dipped in chocolate, try adding touches of pink to your dishes like pink rhubarb, sour cherries or perfectly pink lamb. We think this year we're all about avoiding the Valentines overkill (although we won't deny, we do still like the big pink cupcakes, marshmallow hearts and strawberries dipped in chocolate!) 

Here's what has been coming out of our tasting room love nest recently...

dark chocolate and salted caramel verrine

poached scottish salmon 

with lightly pickled ribbons of cucumber and pink rhubarb

wasabi pea crusted rack of lack

chargrilled quail with pickled rapsberries and pear

juniper seared duck with sour cherries and rosemary

Happy Valentines Day to all!

Quintessentially Create

Last night create teamed up with one of our brand new venues,
29 Portland Place, Quintessentialy Events and Tom Parker-Bowles
for a Burns Night bonanza.

Tom kindly donated some of his delicious canapé recipes to go alongside create's tailor made menu, full of handpicked Scottish produce and some Scottish classics re-invented for the occasion.

The evening kicked off with some tasty canapés...

little cups of cullen skink

whisky cured salmon with a mustard sauce served on oatcakes

scotch rarebit

create's (now infamous) pint of scottish prawns

Followed swiftly by a traditional haggis with neeps and tatties

A magnificent main course of...

rare roasted fillet of buccleuch beef

with potato topped scotch pie filled with confit beef cheek, wilted spinach, scottish girolles mushrooms and mcewans ale reduction

Finished off with...

tipsy laird

free form vanilla sponge, scottish raspberry jelly, heather honey macaroons and a drambuie chantilly cream

New Year, New Food, New Trends

The create kitchen predicts what's hot 
and what's not for 2013 

(and a few trends we are going to push this year!)

Street Food
Back in October when we ate our way through the launch of KERB, the new street food market sensation at Kings Cross Boulevard, it got us thinking...so expect big things from the create 'streat' movement this Summer!

Recipe resurrections making the classics cool
History has given us some amazing recipes which have long been forgotten and we think it's about time people remembered them; our menus are going be crammed full of sippets, flummeries and heritage varieties of vegetables.

Making sweet savoury
Just like fashion, food follows trends. Some are good and some are terrible and some are just plain strange, but if you are clever and can combine the good and the strange we think, you have an excellent recipe for success. 

Our star dish of Autumn/Winter 2012 was a sirloin of beef with cashel blue and chard bread and butter pudding, and looking forward, we are thinking duck and hot cherry and beetroot summer pudding is a must. 

A few more to look out for:
Trash food - the gourmet junk food.
Gourmet grilling - spit roast cow and vertical bbqs both a spectacle in their own right and here at create, we are masters at both.
Sharing platters - the new tapas!
Eating your greens- foraged herbs and baby cress have made greens cool again.

Create's Exciting Partnership with Adam Byatt

As Chef Patron of Trinity and Bistro Union restaurants in Clapham, Adam Byatt has won over the likes of London's most ruthless critics. Giles Coren of The Times regarded his experience at Trinity as, 'As close to an absolutely perfect experience of eating out as it is possible to have.' Trinity was named 'London Restaurant of the Year' at the AA Hospitality Awards in 2008.

Adam has joined forces with create in an exciting new relationship. Adam is exclusively available to create, designing a range of seasonal menus whilst offering his culinary expertise and presence at a selection of tastings and events. Caroline Gardiner, Managing Director of create said "This exciting partnership adds a new dimension to create, with a celebrated consultant chef on board whose love of food design and sourcing of great British suppliers has a close synergy with create's food ethos. We are delighted to be working with Adam". 
 
Adam's first book How to Eat In was published by Random House in April 2010 and is full of enduring recipes that take classic heritage cooking techniques into the modern era. As one of Britain's leading chefs and culinary experts, Adam's skills can also be seen on top-rated BBC 1 programme Saturday Kitchen, on which he regularly features as a guest presenter.

"As someone who is passionate about locally sourced food & using the best in British produce, I look forward to working with create, whose approach to delicious food is based on sound traditional kitchen practices & is totally in line with my way of thinking. The way create offer apprenticeships to local people really appeals to me too, they are a fantastic company to be associated with & I look forward to getting started!"
Adam Byatt

A lunch to remember on the 5th of November

Monday's promotional lunch at Plaisterers' Hall couldn't have fallen on a better date; we love all things toasted, caramelised and topped with crackle candy, so writing a menu for bonfire night appealed to all of our senses.

Here is a sneak peak at some of the bonfire beauties.

canapés

smoked salmon galette

with horseradish pannacotta and toasted dill seeds

worcestershire parma ham and brioche soldiers

with hollandaise dip

beetroot millefeuille

with rosemary scented goats cheese

main course

fillet of british beef

with chard and cashel blue bread and butter pudding, buttered spinach, glazed baby beetroot and carrots and a roasted garlic cream

and (the very tweeted) dessert

bonfire sundae

with baked apple ice cream, beetroot chocolate brownie, pumpkin marshmallow, caramelised nuts, cinder toffee sauce and fondant flames

The afternoon was finished off with our bonfire pick & mix to take-away; hot toddy jellies, sweet potato and maple pecan marshmallow lollipops, spiced orange brownies and treacle toffee.

Damsons and Damsels

The Great British Damson is beautifully ripe by mid September, so we took the opportunity to make some deliciously fruity damson gin. Here is how we did it...

step 1

Take a trolley full of gin, an orchards worth of British damsons, a sackful of caster sugar and two gainful create employees (who by the end of the process will not like gin as much as they used to!) and several very large containers...

step 2

Pour approximately 1/3 of a containers worth of damsons, another 1/3 of sugar and a 1/3 of gin into your chosen vessel.

step 3

Mix with all your might; crushing, squishing and bruising the damsons as much as you can. Seal with an air-tight lid.

Stir every three days to release the rich juices from the fruit and coax the sugar to completely dissolve.

To be continued...

Out and about with the create kitchen

We decided recently to give some of our chefs a camera to document a week in their chef shoes...

We have left out the blurry shots and all the (very artistic) self portraits, and here is a selection...

Monday
Ladies who like to lunch with a view, at OXO2 
salcombe bay crab, chilli beignet & butternut squash bisque | chocolate and passionfruit parfait

 Tuesday  
 Antipasti platters at the Levi's Launch Party

Wednesday

Awards Dinner for 600 at Old Billingsgate 

spiced guinea fowl & cauliflower terrine | blood orange soufflé with cornflake ice cream

Thursday
Canapés for 200 guests at One Marylebone
roasted chicken and bread sauce beignet | cassis macaroon with freeze dried brambles

Friday
Cooking in the dark with the Crown Jewels at HM Tower of London
fig with goats cheese panna cotta and black fig wafer

Saturday
Wedding food stations
beetroot cured salmon and potted crab station | petit fours pick & mix station