On June 18th we had a welcome return to PACT House from Justin Rowntree and Lee Mangle from the award-winning Silversmiths restaurant in Sheffield.

This time Head Chef Lee Mangan cooked a delicious, quick and healthy lunch for 4 of our PACT families and some of the staff; even better it was a glorious day so everyone could sit outside in the sun to enjoy it. The menu was Pan fried Whitby mackerel with beetroot risotto and glazed samphire followed by rhubarb cheesecake. Lee had plenty of help in the kitchen and the photos below show Emmie, Weijia, Ellie and Sam helping to make and then serve the lunch.

We have printed the recipe here if you want to try it at home.

Pan-fried Whitby mackerel with beetroot risotto and glazed samphire

Ingredients:

6 mackerel filleted
1 onion (finely diced)
1kg Arborio rice
100g butter
75g parmesan cheese
2 packets cooked beetroot
Salt & pepper
Water
Oil
Samphire

Method:

For the risotto; place the onion in a pan and cook on low heat with the oil for approximately 5 minutes. Add the rice and cook for a further 3-4 minutes, then add the water bit by bit until the rice is cooked, approximately 15-20 minutes, season and taste.

For the beetroot; cut off the edges to make a square, then dice into even sized cubes, all the trimmings should be blended then added to the risotto.

For the mackerel; prepare the mackerel (or get your local fishmonger to do this for you), score the skin and season. Heat the pan with small amount of oil, when hot place fish skin side down, cook for approximately 5 minutes until the skin is crispy, turn over, add samphire and remove pan from the heat. The residual heat will finish off the cooking process.

To serve; place the risotto in the middle of the plate, the mackerel on top of that, then the cubes of beetroot and samphire around the plate. Eat and enjoy.

Rhubarb cheesecake

Ingredients:

Rhubarb 12 sticks
100g sugar
100ml water
300g digestive biscuits
75g butter
500g cream cheese
1/4pint double cream
75g icing sugar

Method:

For the rhubarb, cut the rhubarb into 4cm chunks, place in a pan with sugar and water. Cook until the rhubarb is soft, then put into a sieve and save any excess liquid because this is ideal for sorbets or cocktails; blitz then chill.
For the base; crush the biscuits until small then add the melted butter, mix well then place in a flan ring, press down until flat and chill.

For the cheesecake mix; put the cream cheese in a bowl and start whisking, slowly add the cream, icing sugar, mix well then add 1/3 of the cooked rhubarb, stir and spoon into the ring, smooth off with a palette knife and chill well.

For the leather; take 1/3 of the rhubarb puree spread onto a non stick mat and bake @100c for approximately 1 hour, let cool then cut or rip pieces off.

To serve; cut a portion of cheesecake, put on a plate, spoon over puree and place leather on top. You can freeze the excess liquid to make sorbet to serve with this dish.