Ideas for summer - Summer lovin'
As the temperature rises, it's time to add a lighter touch to your menu. PubChef looks at some summer menu ideas.
Ice cream's an ice dream The George & Lobster in Fleet, Hampshire, doubles its ice cream order in the summer to meet demand. The pub stocks True Taste from Wall's Carte d'Or with flavours including coffee, dark chocolate, strawberry caramel and rum and raisin. The range also includes four fruit sorbets - lemon, pineapple, blackcurrant and mango. Among desserts on offer at the pub are a Mille Feuille of True Taste banana ice cream with sautéed bananas and a caramel and crème anglaise sauce and True Taste Trio - caramel ice cream in a chocolate cup with a chocolate swirl, blackcurrant sorbet on a meringue garnished with mint and lime sorbet on griddled pineapple. Also available is Lemon Fizz, which is made from scoops of lemon sorbet, whizzed with natural yoghurt and finished with a garnish of lemon zest to make a a really refreshing smoothie.
At the Jolly Frog in Leintwardine, Shropshire, the pub's chefs make all its ice cream and its summer flavours will predominantly be fruit. "We can use whatever's growing," says owner Martin Emsen. "Strawberries, loganberries, raspberries and rhubarb are all grown in our garden and so will feature heavily, as will winberries that the local kids collect and bring in to us." Customers can also buy the ice-cream to take away. "This is very popular with people ordering ice cream for dinner parties or other special occasions," Martin says. "We ask for a week's notice and can supply the ice cream either in half or one-litre thermal containers. People ask for flavours that they've eaten here months before."
Gourmet ice cream producer Hill Station has given its range a new look with redesigned packaging. This features rustic signposts set against beautiful open skies and aims to conjure up fond memories of exotic adventures off the beaten track. Among the flavours that Hill Station produces are banana muscovado, which is made with real banana purée and unrefined dark muscovado sugar for a lovely toffee flavour, and a hint of cinnamon. Also on offer is cardamom, which is good for cleansing the palate after a spicy meal. Other flavours include coconut and rum, dark roast coffee, mango & lime and stem ginger. The products are available in four-litre catering packs. For a recipe leaflet with ice-cream tips and advice call 01249 816596 or email vasb@uvyyfgngvba.pb.hx
For something different, hosts could include Scholler's Movenpick Ice Cream of the Year, ricotta peach, on their menu. Scholler is currently offering 15 free ice-cream menus, worth £35, when pubs buy a case of five flavours featured on the menu. For more information contact 01483 205500.
Yorvale Real Dairy Ice Cream offers an innovative range including raspberry jubilee - a vanilla ice cream flavoured with raspberry purée - and Maple Nut Crunch, a maple syrupflavoured ice cream with caramelised nuts. Other flavours include English butter toffee, tiramisu, raspberry cheesecake and Turkish delight. The company, based in Acaster Malbis, near York, also makes a range of sorbets including Mediterranean lemon, lime, pink grapefruit, passion fruit, mango and Champagne. For more information phone 01904 706702 or email vprpernz@lbeinyr.pb.hx
A snack in the market The warm weather and long evenings mean pubs with outdoor areas are set to be particularly busy. At this time of year, customers enjoy socialising after work, giving pubs a great opportunity for further profits if they provide the right kind of food - and this, according to a study, means snack-type meals. Through consumer research, McCain found customers visiting bars from 4pm to 7pm weren't interested in full sit-down meals, but wanted more of a snack that would enhance the sociability of the occasion. They wanted a variety of small, bite-sized, easy-to-eat foods with different flavours, textures and ingredients that would fill a gap but not interfere with their conversations.
The research also revealed that, though not intending to eat, hunger can drive customers to leave and take their potential spend with them. McCain recently launched Tapas UK, a range of products for light snacking which include Aromatic Thai Corn, Fiery Vegetable Fingers, Piri Piri Wedges, Tortilla Bites and Spicy Wedges. The products can be combined with other ingredients such as salads, dips, bread and garnishes to create a variety of platters. Try mixing Bombay Bites, Spicy Spirals, Garlic & Oregano naan bread in strips, with a cucumber & onion raita dip with Spicy Tandoori zipperback prawns and a lime twist to create Bollywood Bites.
Salad daze Salads are a simple but sexy addition to any menu - particularly when they make the most of seasonal produce. Although an important part of your menu year round, now is the time when you should be really stepping up your offering, for when the sun is shining your customers are looking for lighter dishes. With a good range of salad leaves and produce available in the UK, there is certainly no need to limit yourself to the uninspired offerings of shrivelled lettuce, dried up cucumber and tomatoes. Produce such as asparagus, watercress, sweetcorn, peas, peppers, lettuce and cucumber are now all readily available and should be well-priced due to their seasonality. Buying whatever is in season is certainly going to be the most profitable way of making a success of your salad offering.
Why not offer interesting salad leaves such as lamb's lettuce, rocket, red chard, spinach, watercress and herbs such as parsley, to add interest to your offering. Also include local cheeses, nuts, olives, bacon, chicken, prawns and fruit such as mangoes. Using hot ingredients in your salad such as melted goat's cheese, bacon and chicken will also help your salads seem more substantial, and make your customer's feel they are being offered a more substantial dish.
Why not try salads such as Mexican bean salad, Caesar salad, bacon, chicken and avocado, and roasted Mediterranean vegetable salad. Artichokes, olives, nuts and sun-dried tomato can also help perk up your offering. Make your own sun-dried tomatoes for salads by sprinkling equal amounts of caster sugar and salt over halved tomatoes. Place them cut side up on a baking sheet and cook in the oven on a low heat for two-and-a-half hours, until most of the liquid has dried out, then cool and serve. Salads are an ideal way of using up any left-over or spare ingredients and, if you are clever, you really can be looking at making some decent cash on your leafy offerings this summer.
A right roasting Hog roasts can be good money-spinners for pubs. They offer that all-important point of difference, are simple to cook and are a costeffective way of catering for crowds. And with punters keen to make the most of the sunshine, it's no surprise that hog roasts have soared in popularity over the past couple of years. Tony Goodger, the British Pig Executive's foodservice trade manager, says hog roasts are a great choice: "When it comes to preparing cost-effective, delicious food for a large number of people who enjoy eating outside with a great atmosphere, a hog roast offers the perfect solution. "For the publican, hog roasts are also a great means of increasing profit, as they maximise use of the entire carcase." They also reduce time spent in the kitchen, he adds, as they can be bought pre-prepared from a butcher and are simple to cook.
At the Gin Trap in Hunstanton, Norfolk, head chef Andrew Bruce is keen to reap the rewards from hog roasts which, along with barbecues, he sees as great ways to attract people during the summer. "I think that hog roasts in particular have a great novelty factor and my customers would really enjoy one," he says. "It will also be a good way to take pressure off the k
