Translate
Total Pageviews
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Maggie's Chocolate Pavlova with Raspberries
Monday, July 27, 2009
Aspic Eggs with Jamon Iberico
1 veal knuckle (including meaty section) cut in two or three pieces, 2 pig's trotters split in two or 1 calf's foot boiled from a cold water start for 5 minutes, 500g chicken wing-tips, water to cover.
Place the meat and bones onto the rack if using and fill pot with enough water to cover by a good 4 to 5cm. Heat slowly taking about an hour to get to boiling point. Do not start to remove the forming scum until just before boiling when it is very easy to do so. As soon as you skim the first lot of scum off add a glass of cold water to the pot and wait until it almost reaches boiling point again and repeat the process again and again until there is not grey scum visible only a little white froth.
600ml of (the jelled) stock melted gently with 3 tablespoons port or sherry, decorative pieces, e.g. leaf of tarragon, half an olive, tiny piece red pepper, 6 very lightly poached eggs: cooled , cut into neat circles and trimmed of excess whites.
Rinse six moulds/ramekins out with cold water. Pour in a tablespoon of stock to just cover the bottom of the mould and add the decorative pieces. Place in refrigerator to set. Add a little more stock, set it, add the eggs but turn them upside down in the moulds so when they are upturned they are the right way up, add a little more stock and set again. Add a slice of ham cut to fit each ramekin, I used jamon Iberico (pata negra) .... as I just happened to have some in the kitchen BECAUSE our good friends from Spain gave us a WHOLE HAM recently - blowing us completely away ........SO I JUST HADE TO USE IT - the most fantastic ham in the world world. Lastly top up the moulds with stock if there is any room left and reset in the refrigerator.
Unmould by running the tip of a knife round the top of each mould, turn upside down and jar against your hand. If they don't budge dip the bottom of the mould in hot water for a brief second then try again. The aspic eggs would be nice served on a bed of small leaves or with a mousse or as I have done, with dressed cucumber rounds.
With my leftover jellied stock every two days I gently reheated it then reduced it for 15 minutes, cooled it rapidly and put it back uncovered in the refrigerator. Now, some time later I have wonderful glace de viande which I am successfully using in other sauces. Voila! I should point that my version is not quite the real thing but it still works and tastes great.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Sublime Tomato Salad
Friday, July 24, 2009
Cep Omlette
Rich, bright yellow eggs streaked to perfection, big strong ceps, home grown garlic and a pinch or two of salt all rolled into a creamy, moving mass of mouthwatering flavours. Served with a plate of pommes frites, a simple green salad, some bread and a pichet of wine - you're in taste bud heaven.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Chantilly Cream with Smoked Duck Breast
Monday, July 13, 2009
Octopus
Octopus (Pulpo in Spanish) is one of my favourite things and something I look forward to on our trips to San Sebastian's tapas bars. It's one of those things I dream about when we're twelve thousand miles away but unfortunately it's always the most expensive tapa on the menu. Needing a good Pulpo fix recently and wanting to make up for lost time I put the following recipe together so we could have the same treat at home for a fraction of the price:
Wash about a kilo of Octopus under cold running water then place it in a saucepan and add the following:
a splash of white wine vinegar, a couple of smashed whole garlic cloves, two bay leaves, a few whole black peppercorns and a few sprigs of fresh thyme.
Cover with cold water, bring very slowly to the boil then simmer it on a very low heat for about an hour to an hour and a quarter. It's cooked when it feels tender when pierced with the point of a sharp knife. Strain, discarding everything except the cooked Octopus then wash it again in cold water to remove any excess skin and leave on the side to come to room temperature then slice it into fat chunky rings.
Prepare a dressing of olive oil, garlic, paprika, lemon juice and parsley and pour over the Octopus. Serves 6 - 8 as one of several tapas with drinks.
Click link for printer friendly version of this recipe:
https://sites.google.com/site/foodvineprintablerecipes/home/octopus