Win a BBQ Package for two on Sunday 24th July

Food, Friends and Fire!

This summer Ascot is giving you the opportunity to experience a new concept of outdoor dining. The Paddock Bar and Grill is situated on the Grundy and Bustino Lawn and allows racegoers to cook and eat at their very own unique BBQ table. Each customer chooses from a delicious menu and sits, tongs at the ready, to cook their own food according to their taste.
The menu includes: Free-range Sirloin Steak and Rib-eye Beef, British Venison, Line-caught Tuna, Diver Scallops and Black Tail Tiger Prawns. A comprehensive wine list as well as a wide range of spirits and draught drinks are all served directly to the tables by a dedicated team of waiters.

Package includes:
Arrival drink (Pimm’s, Bucks Fizz or orange juice)
3 course a la carte menu
Half a bottle of wine per person

For your chance to win this package for two people on Sunday 24th July plus Grandstand Admission tickets just answer the question on our Facebook page and we’ll select a winner at random.

If you’re not so lucky then this package is available for £65pp, which is bookable in advance or on a first come, first served basis on the day. Please email hospitality@ascot.co.uk or call our sales team on 0870 727 4321 for bookings and further information.

Terms and Conditions
1. Competition closes at 12pm on Friday 22nd July.

2. Offer only open to followers of @AscotInsider on Twitter http://twitter.com/AscotInsider and Fans of Ascot Racecourse on Facebook.

3. No cash alternative is available and all prizes are non-transferable and non-refundable. Tickets are not for resale and cannot be used for commercial use or use in further promotions.

4. The winner will be chosen at random and informed by 2pm on Friday 22ndJuly.

5. Tickets will be available to collect on Sunday 24th July from Ticket Office East.
6. Please note that your table maybe shared with other people.Promoter: Ascot Racecourse, Ascot, Berkshire. SL5 7JX.

Can You Pick a Winner from The Stalls? Introducing the ‘Ascot Festival of Food Award’

The 5th Ascot Festival of Food Raceday: Saturday 3rd September 2011In celebration of its tercentenary, Ascot Racecourse is launching a new Festival of Food Award, presented to the stallholder with the best local produce as voted for by the estimated 12,000 racegoers attending the Ascot Festival of Food raceday on Saturday 3rd September. The Gold Award winner will receive a table for four at Royal Ascot 2012 (worth over £4,000) and a trophy presented by Her Majesty’s Representative, Johnny Weatherby, before the final race.
The Fifth Ascot Festival of Food takes place in association with the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Local Food Group and Hampshire Fare. Racegoers are able to race and shop, purchasing locally produced items from county suppliers. Over 30 stalls will be located around the Parade Ring selling cheeses, speciality breads, cakes, ciders, real ales, pasta, preserves, flowers, game and much more. To entertain racegoers, there is also a cookery demonstration by Ascot’s leading Chefs.

If you are a supplier, fear not, there are still a limited number of stalls available, so you too could be in with a chance of winning the first Festival of Food Gold Award!
Vicky Paton, Marketing Manager at Ascot Racecourse, commented: “The Festival of Food has grown over the last few years to become a recognised regional gastronomic festival and the introduction of the awards is the next step in the evolution of the event.”

Tickets for the Ascot Festival of Food raceday start from £17. Children aged 17 and under are admitted free. To book, or for further information, visit ascot.co.uk or call 0870 727 1234.
For further information contact:
Vicky Paton, Marketing Manager: Tel: 01344 878523 or email: vicky.paton@ascot.co.uk

Exhibitors can contact Vicky Paton at vicky.paton@ascot.co.uk for an application form; please note a small fee of £35 applies to cover the cost of the pitch and an umbrella.

Win Afternoon Tea for Two at The Savoy, London

Fairmont Hotels and Resorts are delighted to announce their sponsorship of the Royal Ascot Fashion Show in the Bessborough Restaurant in conjunction with Longines, Piper Heidsieck and the British Fashion Council.

(The Savoy, A Fairmont Managed Hotel - London)

The Fairmont Trilogy Hotels (The Savoy, London, The Plaza, New York and the Peace Hotel, Shanghai) have designed an exclusive afternoon tea offer for guests in the Bessborough Restaurant and if you can guess which hotel provided the inspiration for each part of the menu then you could be in with a chance to win afternoon tea for two at the Savoy!

Afternoon Tea

Sandwiches
Smoked Salmon with Horseradish Cream Cheese
Organic Egg and Mustard Cress Salad
Hoisin Chicken and Mango Chutney

French Pastries
Valrhona Chocolate and Walnut Brownie
Raspberry and Ginger Macaroons

Raisin Scones
Devonshire Clotted Cream
Strawberry Jam

Selection of Infused Teas

To win simply answer the question below and email your answers along with your name and telephone number to hospitality@ascot.co.uk. The winner will be drawn at random on Monday 20th June.

Which hotel provided the inspiration for each part of the Afternoon Tea menu?

Steve Golding's Millefeuille of raspberry and fraise des bois with vanilla cream

Steve Golding, Executive Chef at Ascot Hospitality, has opened up his recipe book exclusively for the Ascot blog. The last of his creations we reveal is Millefeuille of raspberry and fraise des bois with vanilla cream (Serves 8).

Ingredients
150g Icing Sugar
1 Sheet of Puff Pastry
88 Fresh Raspberries
24 Fraise de Bois (Wild Strawberries)
40 Small Pale Pink Rose Petals
8 Chocolate Match Makers

Meringues
85g Merri-white Mix
570ml Cold Water
1kg Caster Sugar

Rose Jelly
100g Rose Flavoured Turkish Delight

Vanilla Cream
600ml Double Cream
2 Vanilla Pod
3 Egg Yolk
1 Whole Egg
80g Caster Sugar

Mille Feuille
Roll out a large puff pastry sheet to half its original thickness.
Dust with icing and bake in oven with a tray on top at 160ºc for 15 minutes.
Remove from oven and leave to cool.
Cut into strips 8cm by 3cm and dust heavily with Icing Sugar (2 bars per serving).

Meringues
Mix together 570ml water and Merri-white on a mixer with whisk.
Slowly stream in sugar until soft peaks are formed.
Place in a piping bag and pipe small dots onto a tray.
Place in hot cupboard or oven set at 65ºc to dry out.
Leave for 12 hours

Vanilla Cream
Separate three eggs yolks, add vanilla and caster sugar and whisk until light in colour.
Heat 400ml double cream until boiling remove from heat and add to the egg mix.
When mixed place back on the heat and cook until thick.
Take off heat and chill.
Whisk 200ml double cream to soft peaks are formed then fold through the vanilla cream base and whisk again until it holds its peaks.
Set to one side until you are ready to plate up.

To serve
Pipe some cream onto plate and place piece of pastry on top.
Quenelle 4 teaspoons of vanilla cream onto pastry leaving gaps for 2 raspberries in each gap so you will use 6 for each one
Pace top sheet pastry at an angle to show off filling.
Quenelle 3 teaspoons of vanilla cream on the plate and scatter meringues and rose jelly.
Place 3 more raspberries and 3 fraise de bois on the plate.
Garnish with rose petals and a chocolate matchmaker.

Steve Golding's Aged Pecorino and Honey Panacotta Recipe

Steve Golding, Executive Chef at Ascot Hospitality, has opened up his recipe book exclusively for the Ascot blog. The 2nd of his creations we reveal is Aged Pecorino and Honey Panacotta, Poached English AsparagusAvocado, Lime and Shallot Salsa, Pea Purée and Beetroot Crisps(serves 4).





Ingredients

700ml Double Cream
150g Frozen Petit Pois (100g for pea cream, and 100g for plate)
200g Aged Pecorino
2 teaspoons Honey
10g Powdered Gelatine
16 Spears English Asparagus (Cut off 1 and ½ inches of the bottom)
150g Shallots (Finely chopped)
1 Clove of Garlic (Crushed)
1 Plum Tomato (Blanched, peeled cut into quarters de seed and diced)
100g Unsalted Butter
1 Avocado (Peeled)
1 Lime (Juiced)
150g Beetroot (Peeled, sliced thinly and dried out in a low heat oven)
1 Sweet Red Pepper (Cleaned and chopped)
Olive Oil


To make the pannacotta


Melt 50g of butter in a saucepan
Add 50g shallots and ½ the crushed garlic and cook until soft but not coloured
Add 200g of aged pecorino and 575ml of double cream
Bring to the boil and then turn down heat and simmer for 5 minutes
Take off heat and put into a blender, blend until smooth and add honey
Pour out of the blender into a clean pan
Soak gelatine in a little cold water until soft
Put the mix back on to the heat
Then add gelatine and stir until the gelatine has dissolved
Pour into moulds and place into the fridge to chill for 2 hours
Turn out using warm water to dip

To make the pea cream


Melt 50g of butter in a saucepan
Add 50g shallots and ½ the crushed garlic cook until soft but not coloured
Add 30g peas and 125ml of double cream bring to boil then turn down heat and simmer for 5 minutes
Take of heat and put in to blender,
Blend until smooth then pass to one side ready for dressing plate


To cook the asparagus


Put on pan of water with a pinch of salt
Bring to the boil then add asparagus
Cook for 2 minutes
Drain and run under cold water until chilled

To make the avocado salsa

Put avocado, lime juice, diced shallot and blend
Blitz red pepper with a little oil then pass through a fine chinois to make the dressing

To serve


Place the pannacotta in the middle of plate
Place 3 sticks of asparagus each side
Place the tomato around the bass of the pannacotta
Dress the asparagus with pea cream
Put the beetroot crisp on top of the pannacotta
Place 2 teaspoons of the salsa each side Dress around the plate with the red pepper dressing

Steve Golding’s Textures of Lamb Recipe

Steve Golding, Executive Chef at Ascot Hospitality, has opened up his recipe book exclusively for the Ascot blog. The first of his creations we reveal is Textures of Lamb (serves 8).

Ingredients

1 x 8 Bone Rack of Lamb (Trimmed and cut into cutlets)

8 x 150gm Neck Fillet of Lamb

8 x Baby Shank of Lamb

3 x Baking Potatoes (Peeled)

16 Baby Carrots (Peeled)

500g Samphire

1 x Whole Garlic

16 x Dried Morels (Place in water overnight)

2kg Plum Tomatoes

200g Shallots

1 Head of Celeriac (Peeled)

100g Butter

6 pints Beef Stock

2 large Onions (Peeled)

2 large Carrots (Peeled)

2 Leeks (Cleaned and washed)

Meat prep
· Seal lamb cutlets in a hot pan and set to one side then cook in oven on 180ºc for 8 mins just before serving
· Trim neck fillet and seal
· Place in an oven dish ready to braise
· Dice 1 onion, leek and large carrot and put over the top of the neck fillets
· Trim lamb shanks and seal
· Place in a separate oven dish ready to braise
· Dice 1 onion, leek and large carrot and put over the top of the of the lamb shanks
· Put 3 pints of beef stock in each dish and cover with foil

To cook the neck fillet and shanks place in the oven on 160ºc and cook for about 1 hour until soft. When cooked remove from oven and drain each dish and set to one side keeping them hot. Then reduce the stock from both dishes until thick, ready to use as your sauce.

Vegetable Prep
· Take the peeled potatoes and cut into 8 round discs about 2cm thick and 4cm wide, seal in pan and cook in oven until soft
· Blanch plum tomatoes and peel
· Dice 200g shallots and the tomatoes, and chop 2 cloves of garlic
· Place the shallots garlic and tomatoes in to a pan and cook over a low heat for about 20mins until it looks like a chutney then take off the heat
· Take the peeled celeriac and chop
· Place on the stove and boil until soft
· Take off the heat and drain
· Mash in to a purée with a little butter, salt and pepper
· Wash samphire and cook in a little butter in a pan until soft but still green add a bit of pepper
· Blanch baby carrots in water until cooked
· Drain the morels and heat in a little of the sauce

To Serve
· Use a rectangular plate (12inches in diameter)
· Plate round potato first
· Place a small amount of Samphire
· Next to that place a small amount of the tomato chutney
· Place the cutlet on top of the potato, the neck fillet on top of the samphire and the shank on top of the tomato
· Each side of the neck fillet place a baby carrot and a morel mushroom
· Then on top of the neck fillet place the celeriac purée
· To finish pour over a little sauce