Eating out is back, and at The Red House Hotel, Coupar Angus, you can enjoy Head Chef Nigel Liston’s delicious desserts – all the favourites are there, such as Crème brûlée and hot chocolate fondant.
The hotel, which also has the Dalmore Inn and Number 31, both in Blairgowrie, in its portfolio, is delighted to be open once more, and is making the most of available outside space at all three venues.
Red House has a large beer garden to the front of the building, while Dalmore Inn has some outside seating on its lawned areas. Number 31 now has an upstairs outside terrace with covered tables.
Owner, Alan Bannerman said: “Although people can dine inside now and have alcohol, we know that there are some guests that may still want to sit outside. We’ve covered all the bases.
“It’s great to get out for a meal now, and we are seeing guests enjoy themselves with tasty food. As a hotelier, we exist to look after guests, it’s what we enjoy doing most, and we missed our regulars very much over the last lockdown.
“We’re looking forward to a busy staycation year,” “We’re getting a lot of bookings from people in big cities keen to come to a more rural environment.”
Head chef, Nigel Liston, who has a great deal of experience in pastry making, is often asked for his recipes, so here are two to make at home:
Crème brûlée
Recipe for brûlée
500ml double cream
7 large egg yolks
70gr caster auger
Popcorn essence (this can be ordered from Amazon)
Method
In a heavy based pan add the cream on a low heat, combine the yolks and sugar and whisk till creamy, when the cream comes to a boil remove from the heat, add half the cream to the egg mix, combine then return the mix to the pan, cook out the custard mix slowly over a low heat, if you cook too hard you will end up with scrambled eggs.
When the mixture thickens to that when you stir it swirls from 12 o’clock to 6 o’clock the custard mix is ready, remove from the heat, sieve the mixture into a jug, add the popcorn essence to taste, pour in to ramekins and leave to set over night in the fridge,
When serving dust the brûlée with sugar and caramelise using a blow torch. At the hotel the chef serves them with honeycomb ice cream and fresh popcorn.
Dark chocolate fondant with spun sugar and vanilla ice cream
Ingredients:
Serves 6
5 whole eggs
5 egg yolks
125g caster sugar
250g salted butter
250g good quality dark chocolate
80g plain flour – sieved
Method
Place eggs, yolks, and sugar in a large bowl, whisk together until light and fluffy. Best to use an electric mixer as it can take about 10 minutes.
Melt butter and chocolate over a bain-marie in a large bowl. Don’t let the bowl touch the water or cook the mixture as the chocolate will go grainy.
Off the heat, fold in the chocolate mix to the fluffy eggs.
Then gently fold in the sieved flour, making sure the mix is well incorporated.
Butter and flour 6 small pudding tins and preheat your oven to 180 degrees.
Bake for 12 mins. The inside should be lovely and gooey. Serve with a large scoop of vanilla ice cream and optional spun sugar decoration.
Then enjoy at home or take a trip to Coupar Angus to find out how it should taste.
