Owner/licensees: Ben Jones and Sean Hope
Tenure: Freehold
Head chef: Sean Hope, chef proprietor
Turnover: £1.1m
Covers: 48, plus 24 outside
Covers per week: 700
Wet:dry split:30:70
Best-selling dishes: Tempura-battered tiger prawns, sweet chilli sauce (£7.75); Olive Branch fish & chips, tomato sauce & minted peas (£12.50); roast loin of venison (Corby Glen), chestnut mash, stir-fried Brussels sprouts and bacon, (£22.50).
On the menu: Olive Branch Bresaola, celeriac remoulade; oven-baked sardines, soused aubergine; stuffed fillet of Dover sole, crab and scallop mousse; game casserole, rosemary gratin, juniper dumplings; rice pudding, crab-apple jelly.
New for 2008: Plans for small recycling site to be used by pub, customers and villagers, and a possible smallholding in the paddock opposite the pub.
Best business idea in 2007: Our own cookery book.
Chef's favourite ingredients: Inspired by whatever is in season and local - at the moment, quinces, crab apples, local game (venison and hare), sloes.
Three things that make your pub stand out from the crowd: Friendly, knowledgeable and informative staff, a relaxed and enjoyable atmosphere and a passion for the product.
Best-selling beer and wine: Olive Oil House Bitter, £2.50; Domain du Laballe house white, £14.50; mulled wine, £2.50 a glass.
Extras: A pub shop list (a list of pub-made and local produce available to buy from the pub) and take-away wine list; a house across the road (Beech House) with three small suites and three bedrooms, with breakfast served in the barn at the Olive Branch; we have written and published our own small cookbook; we offer an at-home dinner-party service providing chefs and waiting staff; seasonal cookery demonstrations.
Recipe
Shallot Tatin - Serves 4 people
Ingredients:
8 medium sized banana style shallots (approx weight =45 gm each)
For the braising stock:
50 ml white balsamic vinegar (cider vinegar will suffice)
1 tea spoon of pink peppercorns
50 ml olive oil
20 gm dark soft brown sugar
300 ml of chicken stock (or 1 stock cube)
2 pinches of salt
2 pinches ground black pepper
1 sprig of thyme
1 sprig of sage
Method:
Peel the shallots and place into a saucepan with the above ingredients , bring to the boil then simmer for approx 15 mins or until soft, then allow to cool and remove shallots and pat dry.
(NB- use a 10 cm diameter round cooking tin and smear with a knob of unsalted butter/splash of the braising stock and half a teaspoon of caster sugar).
Puff pastry- use 4 x 16 gm of rolled out puff pastry 3mm thick in 10 cm diameter
Assembly and cooking:
Place the shallots into the prepared tatin tin, lay the rolled pastry over the shallots and mould the pastry around the shallot.
Bake in a preheated oven at 210 degrees celscius for approx 8-10 mins
When cooked to golden brown remove from the oven ,turn out and allow to cool slightly,
Serving suggestions:
Dress a little mixed salad leaves in a bowl with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper and place on the plate.
Take a thin slice of good quality stilton (I prefer colston bassett) and grill on top of the tatin.
Place tart on the dressed salad leaves with a little seasoning and serve whilst still warm.
Olive Branch Main Street, Clipsham, Rutland, LE15 7SH 01780 410355 www.theolivebranchpub.com