Photography by Keiko Oikawa
Nicholas Parker’s from The White Horse, Brancaster Staithe, cooks a late winter main course to warm the cockles (or is that mussels?)
(serves 4 as a light supper)
INGREDIENTS
1kg cleaned mussels
200ml dry white wine
50g diced butter
1 medium sized onion finely chopped
1 clove of garlic finely chopped
1 medium sized chilli finely chopped
1 red pepper diced
100g sweetcorn kernels
A pinch of saffron
1 large potato peeled and diced
1 litre fish stock
200ml fresh double cream
Pinch of freshly chopped flat leaf parsley
Seasoning to taste - salt often not required
METHOD
Steam the mussels with wine in a tightly covered pan over a full heat, shaking every 30 seconds, until they are all open, approximately 3 – 5 minutes. When cool, remove the meat from the shells.
Melt the butter in a pre-heated thick-bottomed pan and add the onion, garlic, chilli, red pepper, sweetcorn, saffron and potato. Fry gently over a low-medium heat for ten minutes, add the fish stock and simmer gently for about 40 minutes.
Add the double cream and bring to a simmer, then add the mussel meat, return to the simmer and cook for a further 2-3 minutes to heat them through. Season to taste and finish with the chopped parsley. Serve with freshly baked crusty bread.
The White Horse, Brancaster Staithe
With perhaps the finest view of any coastal pub in East Anglia, the White Horse’s panoramic vista with a backdrop of sea marsh reaching out towards Scolt Head Island as the sun sets on the horizon is consumed with as much gusto as the food from the first floor rear terrace by lucky summer diners. Overlooking the curved grass-topped roof of the bedroom wing, winter sees guests move the other side of the glass-fronted walls in cooler months, bringing the outside in alongwith those magnificent views. Diners could be forgiven for thinking it wasn’t the height of summer on a crisp sun-kissed winter’s day – especially when glass in hand of something dry and chilled and tucking into a hearty plate of local seafood landed just outside. Whatever the weather, the seascapes are no less spectacular, the moody skies, the circling wildfowl, inviting crisp breezy walks before nestling inside.
Perhaps more suited to sunnier days, the wonderful new alfresco front dining area with its own outdoor kitchen, sheltered snugs and parasol heaters makes a superb open air eatery (especially now with the smoking ban in full swing). On the lighter all-day menu (also served inside in the bar) are the likes of Paul Letzer’s smoked prawns with rock salt and lemon; corned beef hash and fried egg on a toasted muffin with caper garlic butter and sauté potatoes or local smoked salmon, cream cheese and rocket baguette.
The restaurant menu best shows Head Chef Nicholas Parker’s culinary talents off to the fore. Describing his style of cooking as “simple and bold comfort food, led by the wonderful ingredients around us”, one can see the flavours and textures shining through. About two thirds based around seafood (virtually all locally landed), carnivores and vegetarians are well catered for too on the his appetising menus, perhaps slow roast rump of English lamb with baby spinach, sweet potatoes, gnocchi and rosemary jus or local goat’s cheese and caramelised onions en croûte respectively.
But it’s the nautical flavours that most guests flock here for, a typical meal might be crispy tempura of Cyril’s Brancaster oysters with chilli dipping sauce followed by a grilled Norfolk plaice with caper butter, finishing with Lorraine’s Lemon Tart (Nicholas’s wife being the pastry chef).
A chic bolthole, there are fifteen spacious contemporary bedrooms, eight outside on the ground floor with outside terraces and seven new ones in the main house, so indulgence doesn’t have to be so ephemeral, make it last the weekend.
The White Horse, Brancaster Staithe, Norfolk
T: 01485 210262 W: whitehorsebrancaster.co.uk
