Autumn beckons

With the sun blazing outside and the promise of more warm weather to come, thinking about autumn seems as mean as Woolworths putting its "back to school" range in the shop window on the first day of the summer holidays.

However, on one of the hottest days of July TV chef Danny Boome joined forces with the Beautiful Beer campaign to host a tasting which matched some of his own recipes to some great beers

Danny created a menu that looked ahead to the tastes of autumn and winter, with dishes such as rabbit and mushroom risotto and tempura Dover sole with sweet potato and turnip chips.

Each was matched with one or two beers, chosen to complement the flavours of the food. Danny says: "As a chef, I love pairing beer and food: the sheer number of different flavours within the beer category gives it tremendous versatility.

"Whatever food you're eating, there will be at least one beer that works with it. I think it's great that we are as a nation rediscovering beer, our national drink."

Danny is currently looking for a suitable outlet to open a café bar specialising in beer and food matching. "They do it so well on the Continent, and if it's done properly I believe it could be really successful here as well." Pub Food will keep you updated on his progress, but in the meantime here's a chance to try some of the recipes he served up at the Beautiful Beer event.

Tempura Dover sole and sweet potato and turnip chips​​

Serves 6

Serve with: Hall & Woodhouse Blandford Fly, Adnams Explorer

INGREDIENTS​

• eight fillets of Dover sole
• parsley
• one lemon cut into wedges

METHOD​

1. Cut the fillets of sole into strips lengthways. Toss them in the flour, then into the tempura batter mixture

2. Heat a pan with one litre of sunflower oil. Add the strips of fish to the very hot oil and cook on all sides until the batter becomes light crispy and golden brown

3. Transfer to a warm bowl and serve with lemon wedges and sweet potato chips.

Tempura Batter

INGREDIENTS​

• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 2.5 cups sifted flour
• two cups carbonated cold water

METHOD​

Mix flour and baking powder together in a chilled mixing bowl then whisk in the chilled carbonated water and mix all ingredients together.

Sweet potato and turnip chips

INGREDIENTS​

• one large sweet potato, peeled and cut into batons
• two large turnips, peeled and cut into batons

METHOD​

1. Blanch the sweet potato batons in hot water, for two to three minutes so you can release some of the sugar

2. Dry them off and add to a hot pan of oil to cook for between four t0 six minutes

3. When ready carefully take out of the hot oil and pat with kitchen towel. Then serve straight away with tempura fried sole.

Rabbit and Mushroom Risotto​​

Serves 4

Serve with: Greene King Ruddles County, Theakston Old Peculier

INGREDIENTS​

• shredded saddle of rabbit/hare
• 300g chanterelle and oyster mushrooms roughly chopped
• one large red onion, finely diced
• 60ml dry sherry
• 100g butter
• 4tblsp olive oil
• two large shallots, finely chopped
• four cloves of crushed garlic
• 1.2 litres vegetable stock
• 352g arborio rice
• 120ml light dry white wine
• 1/2large butternut squash, finely diced
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• salt and pepper to taste
• 60g grated parmesan cheese
• one head of finely chopped parsley

METHOD​

1. To make the risotto, melt half the butter with half the olive oil

in a heavy-based pan and gently cook off the red onion shallots and garlic on a low heat

2. In a separate pan, bring the stock to the boil

3. Add the rice, white wine and half the parmesan cheese to the shallot mixture, stir well and season. Add the diced butternut squash, followed by one-third of the boiling stock. Stirring constantly, simmer until the all the stock has been absorbed by the rice. This should take about five minutes

4. Repeat the process with another third of boiling stock and finally add the remaining stock. You must stir all the time

5. The rice is cooked when it is soft, with a slightly chewy centre. All the stock should be used up at this point, so add the final third slowly to ensure you don't add too much

6. To finish the risotto, add the remainder of the butter and olive oil to a heated frying pan and fry off the shredded rabbit saddle with the mushrooms. Season with salt, pepper, nutmeg and paprika and finally flash fry with the dry sherry

7. Add the rabbit mixture to the risotto and stir in gently adding any cheese that is left over and chopped parsley to garnish.

Molten Chocolate Baby Cake with Vanilla Mascarpone ​​

Serves 6

INGREDIENTS​

• 50g butter
• 50g flour
• 150g caster sugar
• 350g dark cooking chocolate
• four large eggs
• 250g mascarpone
• 2tsp vanilla extract

METHOD​

1. Pre-heat oven to 200ºC/gas mark 6

2. Using a bain marie, melt the chocolate

3. In a mixing bowl mix cream butter, sugar and vanilla essence together, then add flour and eggs

4. Add the melted chocolate to mixture and continue to mix until the consistency looks smooth

5. Grease a muffin tin or Yorkshire pudding tin, and add a tablespoon of the mixture to each indentation

6. Place in the pre-heated oven for six to eight minutes. When a light crust has formed over the top of the mixture your molten chocolate baby cakes will be ready

7. Take out of the oven and gently remove the baby cakes onto serving plates, add a little mascarpone and a dusting of icing sugar and serve, then watch everybody go mmmmmmmm! and oooooooooh! as the chocolate centre melts onto the plate!