Pat McDonald's Summer Dining & Picnic Ideas.

Buy a beautiful piece of salmon at Food Inc and the staff will direct you to fruit and veg, where they might suggest you take chicory, some Roma tomatoes and spring onions to make a lovely salad. Or show you a lemon which, if you run your nail over it, releases a gorgeous citrus aroma. The philosophy is about selecting lovely fresh ingredients and enhancing them with confidence.

 “The essence of good food is simplicity. If you’re in a restaurant, the chef will have started with salmon and then created a dish, and that’s the liberated approach we want to help shoppers with here,” says Patrick McDonald.

“If you buy some meat at The Butcher and Grill here, you’re within 15 metres of top quality fruit and veg, a bakery with specialist and classic artisan breads baked on the premises, and an abundance of 100-plus lovely cheeses. Shopping at Food Inc is a pit-stop that is affordable, accessible, but above all, allows you to be inspired.”

…and to take advice. Pat’s team are passionate about pleasing the palate. They also want to share their restaurant-background knowledge to spice up the average shopper’s culinary repertoire. Pat suggests we imagine a supermarket. “Everyone pushes their trolley around in the same direction, like zombies in a line. There’s little room to get off the track or away from that thought of ‘oh I’d better get this or we’re out of that’. At Food Inc, we want to create a 3-D shopping angle, to let people roam and breathe and have ideas.”

Pat’s brilliant Michelin-starred chef’s brain is there to be picked – so why not? What would he suggest for a Summer Dinner party?
 
On a tour of the fresh food stalls, Pat shows how simple it is to conjure the ingredients. He suggests a starter of chilled vine tomato & red pepper soup, finished with creme fraiche and basil, then some Food Inc. lemon oil drizzled over the top. For a main course, he points towards the fishmonger and suggests pan-seared organic salmon fillet, with garden pea & broad bean risotto, served with a little salad of asparagus, red chicory lettuce, fresh baby pea shoots and warm poached duck egg.
 
And for pudding? “Individual fresh cherry and almond tarts served warm with clotted cream, made by Jason our Head Chef and his team,” says Pat.
 
Ask what he’d recommend for a family weekend picnic – and the mouth is watering.
 
“Starting with an array of cured meats/hams and salamis/olives, I’d choose:

• Capocollo, cured neck of pork with aromatic fennel seeds (Italian)
• Jabugo Ham, Iberico ham from free roaming pigs (Spanish)
• Joselito Gran Reserva, hand-carved, bellota-acorn-fed free-roaming Iberico pigs.. the king of cured ham! (Spanish)
• Wild Boar Prosciutto salami,  intense and rich (Italian)
• Alejandro Picante Chorizo,  Not over spiced yet moist and packed with flavour (Spanish)
• Petit Lucques Olives, delightful fresh green olives
• Gaeta Olives, little purple black olives from Lazio

For cold fish:

• Two Dozen fresh Rock Oysters, fresh lemon and tabasco
• Dressed Crabs, dijon Mayonnaise
• A side of Inverawe Smoked Salmon, with mini capers

Then, several slices of:

• Norfolk Rabbit, White Bean, Bacon & Mustard Pie
• Leek, Gloucester Old Spot Bacon and Mrs Temples Binham Blue Cheese savoury Tart
• Butternut Squash, Rosemary, Thyme and Roast Garlic Quiche

Then for the open fire:

• Fresh Razor Clams and Skewered Sea Scallops, brushed with Food Inc. extra virgin olive oil and sea salt

Breads:

• Freshly baked Wild Garlic Sour Dough Bread
• Green Olive and Fennel Fougasse Bread
• Lescure Butter

Salad:

• Salad Leaves dressed with Food Inc salad dressing
• Cherry Tomatoes on the vine, Sea Salt
• Fresh Basil Pesto Dressing
• Food Inc. mayonnaise

Finally the cheese:

• Quickes Mature Cheddar
• Oxford Blue
• Langres du plateaux
• 18mth extra mature Gouda
• Organic Fuentillezjos Manchego DOP

He would round off with some fresh figs…

To follow soon will be a wonderful traiteur counter, where you can buy chef-prepared braised shin of beef  in red wine sauce and rosemary jus, or braised shoulder of lamb or belly of pork. “Just good cuts of meat that work well when taken home to re-heat. That’s where our restaurant approach is critical. You won’t find dessicated, pre-cooked breaded veal escalopes here, the kind you might as well peel off the sole of your shoe. We’ll be sticking to delicious wet dishes that are excellent for re-heating.

Watch this space for a full resumé next month.

---

Click to share this story on your favourite Social Networking site.