Top chefs offer a taste of Foodies Festival

Top Yorkshire chefs will be in the Masterclass Theatre at the festival in Roundhay Park, Leeds on July 2, 3 and 4.

Here three of those who will be passing their top tips give examples of some of their mouthwatering recipe for you to try at home.

Rabbit – Fillet and Rack, carrots, pea shoots, barley risotto, game sauce blended with foie gras butter

Tom van Zeller, Chef patron Van Zellers Harrogate

Serves 4

4 Whole rabbits with their livers, kidneys and heart

Ask your butcher to remove the two fillets from the saddle and remove the sinew. French trim the fore ribs to give you two racks and clean up the giblets. The carcass (including the hind legs) can be chopped up to make the sauce.

Game Sauce

2 lg carrots, peeled & chopped

1 lg onion, peeled & chopped

2 sticks of celery, chopped

The white of 1 leek, sliced

3 ripe plum tomatoes on the vine, quartered

1 bulb of garlic, split

1 sprig of thyme, 1 sprig of flat leaf parsley & 2 bay leaves

1 tsp white pepper corns, crushed

1 tsp coriander seeds, crushed

8 juniper berries, crushed

bottle red wine

2 litres of veal stock

2 litres of white chicken stock

Roast the bones in the oven at 150 for about an hour.

Prepare the vegetables. Heat a large thick-bottomed pan. Fry the carrots until they are golden. Add the onions and colour. Then add the leek, celery, garlic and spices. Cook out over a medium heat for five minutes. Add the herbs and tomatoes and cook out for a further five minutes.

Combine the two stocks and heat. When the bones are roasted add them to the vegetables. De-glaze the roasting tray with the wine and scrape the sediment with a wooden spoon or spatula, while reducing the wine by two-thirds. Add this to the pan with the hot stock. Bring to the boil, skim and cook out for 15 minutes. Pass the stock and strain through muslin to remove any small remaining particles. Put into a clean pan and reduce rapidly over a high heat until the sauce coats the back of a spoon. Reserve.

For the Risotto

250g pearl barley

1litre white chicken stock, heated

1 large shallot, chopped into fine dice

50ml Olive Oil

2 dsp Mascarpone

3 large wild garlic leaves, cut into very thin strips

Heat a medium thick-bottomed pan. Add the olive oil and the barley and toast over a high heat until it turns golden brown and smells toasty. Take off the heat and add the chopped shallots. Gradually add the hot chicken stock and cook out over a low heat until tender. Reserve.

For the carrots

300g carrots chopped into very fine dice

80g unsalted butter

Sweat the chopped carrots in a little of the butter in a pan with a lid. Cook until very soft. Transfer to a blender and blitz in the remaining butter until very smooth. Two medium carrots peeled, and then using the peeler work through the carrot carefully to get 20 ribbons. Cook these in an emulsion of butter and water. Reserve. Cook the fillets and racks in a little oil on both sides for a couple of minutes until golden brown. Cover lightly with foil and rest in a warm place. Then cook the giblets in a small pan using oil and a small knob of butter; this should take between 30-45 seconds on each side. Rest alongside the fillets. To finish the risotto; gently warm it through, fold in the mascarpone and wild garlic. Warm the puree and the sauce and roll the ribbons into little cylinders

Place two generous spoons of risotto on each plate. Swipe the carrot puree across the plate twice. Place the rolled ribbons in the gaps. Carve the racks and lean the cutlets against the ribbons. Cut the livers, kidneys and heart in half and place around the plate. Carve the fillets into two lengthways and place on top of the risotto. Garnish with pea shoots. Finally blend a little foie gras butter through the hot sauce and pour over the meat.

Grilled Barnsley Chop with devilled kidneys, nettle and mint sauce

James Mackenzie, Pipe and Glass, Beverley

Serves 4

4 Barnsley Chops

A little chopped thyme

4 lamb kidneys

200ml whipping cream

2 tblsp strong English mustard

4 tblsp white breadcrumbs

Dash of brandy

1 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp chopped parsley

50g butter

4 tblsp nettles – picked / blanched / and rough chopped

4 tblsp mint – roughly chopped

4 tblsp white wine vinegar

4 tblsp olive oil

Season the lamb chops with salt, pepper and a little chopped thyme and place on a greased tray under a hot grill for about 10 minutes. Turn after five minutes and rest in a warm place.

For the devilled kidneys, slice the kidneys in half and cut out the fatty sinew. Heat a little oil in a frying pan and fry the kidneys for about two minutes until golden brown and just cooked. Take the kidneys out and on to an ovenproof dish. Deglaze the pan with a little brandy, add cream and mustard, reduce to sauce consistency and pour over the kidneys. Mix the crumbs, butter, parsley and cayenne together in a bowl. Sprinkle over the kidneys and grill until crumbs are golden brown. To make the sauce, place the nettles, mint, white wine vinegar and olive oil in to a liquidiser and puree, check the seasoning.

Serve chop on a plate with two half kidneys and spoon nettle sauce around. Serve with pickled red cabbage and boulangere potatoes.

Chocolate brownie cheesecake flavoured with cranberry and orange served with a white chocolate sorbet

Ashley McCarthy, Ye Olde Sun Inn, Colton

(serves 12)

400g butter

800g sugar

10 eggs

400g melted chocolate

210g sieved flour

800g cream cheese

1 vanilla pod

150g dried cranberries soaked in orange juice overnight

1 orange

Pinch cinnamon

Cream together butter and 500g sugar, beat in six eggs slowly. Add the melted chocolate. Fold in the sieved flour. In separate bowl, mix together cream cheese, sugar, four eggs, cinnamon and seeds from one vanilla pod

Spread chocolate mix over the bottom of a lined baking tin, reserving a quarter.

Pour cheese mixture over chocolate base, spoon remaining chocolate mix over to ripple effect

Zest the orange over the cheesecake and sprinkle the cranberries (squeeze juice out first) over the top

Bake at 180C until set, cool and portion.

White Chocolate Sorbet

(makes 800ml)

250ml milk

250ml water

65g caster sugar

3 tbsp liquid glucose

3 tbsp cointreau

200g white chocolate

Slowly boil the milk, sugar, water and glucose, stirring until dissolved. Remove from heat and add Cointreau.

Add chocolate pieces to mixture and stir until melted, return to heat and slowly bring back to boil and cook out for two minutes

Cool, then churn in an ice cream machine and freeze until ready to serve.

n Foodies Festival Leeds takes place at Roundhay Park on July 2, 3 and 4. Tickets on sale now from www.foodiesfestival.com or 0871 230 5573. Two-for-one tickets when you buy online by quoting foodies241.