caramelised carrot soup

Inspired by the famous French dish Consommé de Boeuf Royale I substituted the components with Modernist Cuisine’s mega flavoured caramelised carrot soup with a coconut cream custard island topped with gently sauteed carrot ribbons, toasted coconut strands, roasted black sesame seeds and fresh tarragon.

A classic dish now with an Asian twist!

For the coconut cream islands:

Take 3 egg yolks and 1 whole egg and 1 cup of coconut cream - mix well and pour into greased dariole moulds. Place the moulds side by side into a baking dish and pour in enough boiling water to come half way up the sides of the moulds and bake for one hour at 130C fan forced. Turn out onto serving dishes when slightly cooled.

With the custards in place gently pour in the soup - not too much as it is very rich. Top the custards with the garnishes listed above and serve.

Turkish bread

Don't go on a diet and then decide you can't live without Turkish bread – it's not Moorish for nothing. When you're all back to your slicey self bake a batch and never mind the calories. It's a bit messy forming into ovals so you might curse me at this stage but otherwise it's a simple bread with no kneading involved. You will need an electric mixer - don't attempt it otherwise.

Ingredients:

375ml warm water

2 teaspoons dried active yeast

½ teaspoon sugar

125ml extra virgin olive oil

5 tablespoons plain yoghurt (at room temperature)

562g plain white flour

2 teaspoons salt

½ teaspoon cumin seeds

1tsp sea salt

1 teaspoon nigella seeds or black sesame seeds

Method:

Use the bowl of a mixer like a Kitchen Aid or Kenwood or similar. Place the water in the bowl of the machine and stir in the sugar then sprinkle the yeast over the top. Leave to activate for five minutes. When it starts to foam and you see a little movement on the surface it will be ready.

Add the flour, yoghurt, oil and salt (in this order). Mix on a low speed for six minutes.

Cover the bowl with a clean tea towel and leave it in a warm place for two hours to double in size.

Preheat the oven to 190C.

Line two baking sheets with baking paper.

Turn the dough out onto a floored board and punch down. Divide in two portions. Smooth a portion onto each tray to form ovals approximately of 33cm x 13 cm. Drizzle with a little extra virgin olive oil, sprinkle over the seeds and salt.

Bake the bread in the oven for 23 minutes. Remove (from the oven) the bread tray from the top shelf. Swap the bottom shelf bread tray up to the top shelf. Bake for a further two minutes. Return the first tray to the oven, to the lower shelf and bake both for a further five minutes.

Remove both trays from the oven and slip them off the paper onto a wire rack to cool.

I find two loaves is too much for us so I cut and freeze one as soon as it is cold enough. I love it split and toasted for lunch and it's excellent sliced very thin and used to serve with dips – especially ones like broad bead, carrot and chick pea.

Note:

Three things kill yeast: cold, heat and salt.

Make sure the water is warm and not hot or cold.

The salt is added last during the mixing stage so it does not come into direct contact with the yeast.

recipes on the Food Vine - at a glance!

Cakes and Biscuits

Bastilla

Fig & Walnut Palmiers

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Bastilla

Chantilly Cream with Smoked Duck Breast

Lovin’ Spoonfuls

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Goat’s Cheese with Leek & Red Peppers- A Christmassy Affair
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Smoked Salmon Tartines

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Fennel & Oyster Soup

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Verjuice

Techniques

Crush & Dice (garlic & onion)

How to Chiffonade

How to Julienne

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Seasoning the pan

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Christmas Terrine

Duck Liver Parfait in Glazed Blood Orange Aspic

Vegetable Dishes

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George’s Onion & Feta Tart
Goat's Cheese & Beetroot Log

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The green kumato

©Cheryl Stevns 2008-2010

making the most of citrus

Our orchard is heavy with blood oranges, lemons, limes and orange blossom - all crying out to be picked and dealt with in some fancy way. Not wanting to miss this opportunity I made up the following: Two bottles of limoncello two batches of glazed limes and blood oranges and 750ml of orange blossom cordial. I also zested and juiced a lot of excess fruit and froze it in ice-block trays for that rainy day when the fruit is scarce and the heady perfume of our orchard can come flooding back to me.

It really is a good idea to juice excess citrus. If you don't have an orchard buy lots when it's cheap this saves time by guaranteeing measurement and gives you a plentiful supply at any given moment. My ice-block trays hold 30ml a slot speeding up cooking times for future recipes. Blood oranges only have a very short season and are so worth capitalizing on in this time frame. There is nothing quite like their taste and flavour. I freeze all citrus zest but I blanch it three times from cold water starts before doing so. This takes away the bitter taste while softening it at the same time. Once the contents of the trays are frozen either wrap them in cling film or remove the blocks and place them in plastic bags for easier storage.

Glazed Blood Oranges

250ml water

250ml granulated sugar

6-8 medium sizd blood oranges

Use a 30cm (12 inch) frying pan and melt the sugar and water slowly over a low heat. Stir until boiling point then lower heat to a simmer and add the fruit, carefully. Don't worry about the pips and take the risk of damaging the fruit - they pop out during the cooking and can be removed with tongs - if you miss a few it doesn't matter. Cook until the fruit is sticky and the liquid has almost evaporated. Allow to cool and place each slice carefully into an airtight container and refrigerate. Substitute: limes but use about 10. Use either glazed fruit as a garnish for desserts, sliced pates or in drinks.

Orange Blossom Cordial (if this link breaks use the search option above)

In addition to my previously published recipe I strained the cordial and flowers through muslin before pouring into the sterilize bottle. I used 2 cups of sugar and 2 cups of water and it was quite tart. Add a little more sugar if you have a sweet tooth. Delicious either way. I only had borage flowers for my ice-blocks - multicoloured edible flowers look wonderful. Yield this time: 700ml