Emma Alumni dinner hosted by Gary Maclean, MasterChef: The Professionals 2016 Winner and National Chef of Scotland
On Wednesday we joined an excited room of diners to enjoy a four-course meal created and cooked by alumni of the City of Glasgow College.
The menu consisted of dishes from former students, including a pioneer of the very first series of MasterChef: The Professionals to the winner of BBC’s Crème de la Crème, and all hosted by National Chef of Scotland, Gary Maclean.
Menu
Starter – Murray McDavid
Murray was part of the college culinary team which won the prestigious Nestle Toque d’Or.
To begin our meal we had new season Scottish asparagus, crispy hen egg, smoked paprika mayonnaise with a pancetta and hazelnut crumb.
Asparagus and egg are a marriage made in heaven and I do love a good Scotch egg. Add in a bit of spicy mayo and nom. 😍 Will be trying this at home!
Fish course – Mark Heirs
Whilst studying at the college Mark worked in one of the city’s most prestigious hotels, One Devonshire Gardens and then moved onto Bray to work in the 3 Michelin star Fat Duck.
This course was Cured Scottish salmon, charred and pickled cucumber with an oyster emulsion. Another exceedingly tasty dish and perfect for the weather. Light, flavoursome and another on my list to try and make at home.
Main course – Nikola PIhakova
Nikola was part of the team which won the Nestle Toque d’Or. Nikola held a full-time job at the Hilton Glasgow whilst studying at the College. Nikola recently became the Sodexo Scottish Chef of the Year.
The dish consisted of venison loin, venison bridie, colcannon with Arran mustard, celeriac purée, pickled mushrooms and dark chocolate sauce.
😍😍 Loved the Venison and pastry – I’ve never eaten a bridie so quickly! Beautiful pastry and I really liked the celeriac purée and pickled mushrooms.
Dessert – Helen Vass
Helen is an award-winning pastry chef based in Glasgow who now runs her own bespoke patisserie and consultancy business, Dulce. Helen was the winner of the Callebaut Patisserie Chef of the Year 2017 at the CIS Excellence awards. In May 2016, Helen was part of the winning team on BBC’s Bake Off Crème de la Crème hosted by Tom Kerridge.
And so to finish our meal we ate a forest fruit, pistachio and mascarpone entremet.
We ❤ Helen, she’s a lovely lass who makes a darn good dessert! This did not disappoint. Various layers, flavours and textures encased in a fruity glaze with a pipette of Chambord raspberry liqueur. How it all held together is a mystery to us mere mortals!
What an extremely tasty night and a pleasure to see past City of Glasgow College students who have went on achieve so much.
Gary Maclean has other events later this year at the college, take a look here:
https://www.cityofglasgowcollege.ac.uk/about-us/events-with-gary-maclean
