mushroom soup

the mighty mushroom lends itself to many dishes and is particularly wonderful as a soup

I like to use a variety of mushrooms for this dish but if you have access to just one variety that's okay, too. The addition of rice is optional here but helps in the thickening process and the cream gives it a lovely smooth velvety texture. Make a statement: create an island in the centre of each bowl with a little mound of cooked spinach topped with a cooked quail leg and carefully spoon the soup around the outside. Eat the quail leg in the fingers and spoon the spinach through the thick soup. Serves: 4

Ingredients:

500g mushrooms

2 medium onions, chopped

50g butter

2 tablespoons plain flour

1L chicken stock

1-tablespoon long grain rice

1 bay leaf

3 tablespoons thick cream

Method:

Wipe the mushrooms carefully to remove any grit or soil. Cut the stalks level with the mushroom caps and chop them up. Peel the mushrooms, save the peel and slice the mushrooms thinly. Set aside.

Place 25g butter in a saucepan, add the mushrooms, peelings, stalks and chopped onion and cover with a cartouche (a piece of baking paper cut into a circle to fit the saucepan size). Press the cartouche down over the mushrooms and place the lid back on the saucepan. Cook on a low heat for five minutes, shaking the pan every now and then. Remove from the heat and discard the cartouche. Add the remaining 25g butter, sprinkle the flour over the top and stir to blend in. Add the stock, season and stir until boiling. Add the rice and the bay leaf, lower the heat to a simmer and cook for 15-20 minutes. Remove the bay leaf, add the cream and blend the soup until you have a smooth, rich finish. Serve immediately.

mushroom soup printable recipe: 

 https://sites.google.com/site/foodvineprintablerecipes/home/mushroom-soup

salmon escabeche with black garlic

Escabeche is a wonderful meal and one that suits these hot summer days, when it's 43C and rising! I used salmon instead of swordfish or tuna and found it almost better, but it is a very 'rich' dish. The black garlic, my new addition to this pre-published recipe, offset the pink flesh of the salmon and complimented the flavour beautifully. Click here for my escabeche recipe and for information on black garlic

kangaroo, kumara & macadamia galettes with wild pepper berry sauce

Coming up with something out of the ordinary for Australia Day on 26th January is no simple matter. Although sweet potato is readily available worldwide, I always think of it as very much an Australian vegetable, where a roast dinner would not be the same without it. Kangaroo, native pepper berries and Macadamia nuts on the other hand are most definitely Australian and the combination of all four make this dish a truly Australian meal and certainly one not in the least bit ordinary!

Kumara is a variety of sweet potato and native pepper berries grow wild along the eastern coastline and in Tasmania. Substitute green peppercorns for these if necessary. Pine nuts can replace Macadamias. Exported kangaroo meat is available in some countries otherwise use venison.

Oven to 220˚C

Ingredients:

1 x 250g Kumara (sweet potato)

½ red onion, finely sliced

1 egg

25g plain flour

1 tablespoons parsley, finely chopped

1 tablespoons mint, finely chopped

Pinch nutmeg

100g macadamia nuts, roughly chopped and lightly toasted

Salt and pepper to taste

2-3 (550g) kangaroo fillets marinated in 20ml olive oil (for one hour before cooking)

Method:

Peel and grate the kumara into a large bowl and mix in the other ingredients.

Grease six egg rings with olive oil, place them on an oiled griddle or in a lightly greased frying pan and fill each one with the kumara mixture.  Cook on a moderate heat until the mixture in each ring is set, carefully remove the rings and turn the galettes over. Turn again if necessary or until they are nicely browned and cooked through.

Serves: makes 6 galettes

Kangaroo is lean and must be cooked very quickly on a high heat, then rested for the same amount of time it was cooked.

Heat a heavy based pan on high to smoking point, sear the kangaroo fillets for 65 seconds first side then 75 seconds second side. Reduce the oven to 200ºC; place the seared fillets in the oven for five minutes. Transfer to a clean, hot plate and keep warm.

The Sauce (use the same pan, unwashed)

1-tablespoon pepper berries drained, rinsed and dried

Splash of sherry

50ml cream

100ml veal stock

Method:

Heat the pan, add the berries and heat them through for a minute or two, tossing them in the process so they do not burn. Add the sherry and set it alight. When the flames subside, add the stock and simmer until reduced by half and slightly thickened. Add the cream and keep the sauce warm.

Slice the kangaroo fillets on an angle. Place a spoonful of sauce on each place; place a galette in the centre of each pool of sauce. Place two or three slices of kangaroo on top of each galette. Garnish with a little parsley.

Adapted from a Cordon Bleu recipe.

seared kangaroo on kumara and macadamia galettes with wild pepper berry sauce 

https://sites.google.com/site/foodvineprintablerecipes/home/seared-kangaroo-on-kumara-macadamia-galettes-with-wild-pepper-berry-sauce

cured salmon with star anise and white burgundy

For a special occasion, cured salmon makes an elegant first course. Delicately perfumed with star anise and flavoured with dry white wine and a touch of sweetness this dish is delicious and very simple to prepare. Give yourself a two day head start otherwise it’s plain sailing!

Ingredients:

2 x400g-1kg fillets of salmon, skin on

(Do not remove pin bones from the fish until it is ready to slice – this keeps the fillets tightly intact and gives a better slicing result)

2 tablespoons finely chopped chives or a few chervil sprigs, to garnish

For the court bouillon:

500ml dry white: Burgundy, Chardonnay or Chablis

500ml water

20g sea salt flakes

1 teaspoon cracked pepper

2 level teaspoons sugar

1 carrot, peeled and cut into 3mm slices

1 small leek, white part only, cut into 3mm slices

1 fresh bay leaf

1 clove garlic, skin left on and mashed

1 clove

2 star anise, smashed into pieces with a pestle and mortar

Sherry Vinaigrette

100ml extra virgin olive oil

2 teaspoons walnut oil

2-3 teaspoons aged sherry vinegar

Salt and ground white pepper

Serves: 8-10

Method:

Place all the court-bouillon ingredients into a 3-litre non-aluminium saucepan and bring slowly to the boil, skim froth and simmer for 20 minutes on a low heat. Allow to cool completely to room temperature.

Select a non-aluminium pan dish deep enough so the salmon lies flat and submerged by the liquid – it should be a snug fit. Sterilize the dish with boiling water then allow the dish to cool completely before placing the salmon into it – skin side down first but turn once a day after sealing well with cling film and refrigerate for 48 hours.

Make up the sherry vinaigrette by whisking together the ingredients, adding salt and pepper to taste.

Remove the fish and discard the court-bouillon. Remove the pin bones and thinly slice the salmon, beginning at the tail/or narrowest end, with the knife at a 30c angle. Arrange the slices on a serving platter and moisten with the vinaigrette. Garnish with chopped chives or/and chervil and serve with lightly toasted unbuttered bread cut into triangles.

Note:

Reduce the fish by half for less serves but use the same liquid measurements. Reduce the proportions in the vinaigrette too in this case but use only a tiny amount in any event as it is there to simply moisten the fish not to change its delicate flavour.

This recipe is from the region of Burgundy in France – the above is adapted from Damien Pignolet’s fabulous book: French.


cured salmon with star anise and white burgundy printer friendly version:
 https://sites.google.com/site/foodvineprintablerecipes/cured-salmon-with-star-anise-and-white-burgundy

Black Garlic - the new wonder!

Black garlic is a new and exciting product that has finally found its way around the world. Once only used in high-end cuisine it is now readily available if you know where to find it. I bought mine on the web through Oliveria.com in Melbourne but there are plenty of stockists, worldwide.  Sometimes referred to as fermented garlic it has a taste reminiscent of sweet balsamic vinegar and tamarind. Uniquely individual and setting itself apart but nothing at all like the garlic we all know and love. It has a multitude of uses and would no doubt be a very lucrative thing to produce if you are a garlic grower with plenty of time on your hands! Growers should read this link to ehow  if they are interested in fermenting their own ‘Black Gold’.

For me it is very exciting as I love to make terrines and I love truffles but rarely get my hands on one. In a funny way sort of way, it is almost a substitute (for me) - imagine black garlic running through a pink salmon terrine, It would look stunning. I have my one and only remaining bulb under lock and key but had great fun trying the first one with scrambled eggs and fresh salmon as you can see in the two photographs. The recipe I used for the salmon came from the  blackgarlic web site - check it out!

kingfish sashimi with honey & lime vinaigrette

This is an elegant first course to serve on Christmas day. Not only beautiful to look at but light enough not to spoil the large main course to follow.  

Ingredients:

Serves: 4

400gm sashimi grade kingfish

100ml grapeseed oil

2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

1 tablespoon honey

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

½ teaspoon soy sauce

Pinch salt

Pinch white pepper

Microherbs or shiso leaves, chopped chives and ground black pepper to garnish

Method:

Mix all the ingredients for the dressing together and shake well. Slice the kingfish into long thin pieces with a very sharp knife and lay them side by side on each plate. Spoon a little dressing over the top and scatter the plates with herbs and a few grindings of cracked pepper.

Kingfish Sashimi printable recipe, click here:

https://sites.google.com/site/foodvineprintablerecipes/kingfish-sashimi

cartouche

There are many meanings for the word ‘cartouche’ but in cooking terms it describes a round piece of paper, usually greaseproof (baking paper), waxed or parchment used to cover the surface of a pot.

The placement of a cartouche on the surface of food, under a saucepan lid, keeps the components submerged, reduces evaporation during the cooking process and is vital in the prevention of a skin forming on top of a sauce.

Method:

1. Tear off a large piece of paper from a carton, twice the surface of your pot
2. With the short end facing you, fold it in half (bottom to top)
3. Fold in half again, right to left
4. Fold in half again, right to left
5. There is now a sharp point at one end
6. Place the pointed end in the centre of your pan to measure the distance from the centre to the edge and tear or cut off any paper that extends over the edge of the pan.
7. Unravel and place the circle of paper over the surface of the pan

If the purpose of your cartouche is to keep a skin from forming on top of a sauce, wet the cartouche with water before placing it on the surface of the sauce.

I use foil from time to time too, as illustrated above, but it is not so effective. Paper absorbs water (moisture from the pan) thereby creating a suction giving a better result.

The great juggling act of the year comes into its own at Christmas when practically every saucepan in the kitchen comes into play at the same time. The use of a simple cartouche over a pre-prepared sauce can be a real lifesaver and you’ll be amazed what it does for chicken, stews, casseroles and the like!

Cartouche making - printable version, click here:

https://sites.google.com/site/foodvineprintablerecipes/home/cartouche-making

borlotti beans (fagioli scritti)

Critical point time is the choice of saucepan when cooking borlotti beans, this way. Make sure the saucepan is not too big and the beans come half way up the sides – they must be a tight, snug fit. The red stripes on fresh borlotti disappear during the cooking process, sadly. Their beautiful uncooked look is NOT the cooked look!

Oven: 180C

Ingredients:

2 kg fresh borlotti beans or 4oogm dried, soaked overnight in cold water

2-3 whole tomatoes

1 whole head of garlic split in half

1 handful each fresh sage and parsley leaves

12oml extra virgin olive oil

Sea salt and ground black pepper – add before seasoning

Method:
Place the beans in a saucepan and add all the ingredients except the seasoning and oil. Cover with enough cold water to ensure the level is 1cm over the top of the beans. Slowly pour on the olive oil to form a slick on top of the water. Seal the pan with a piece of foil, pierce a hole in the top of it and bake for one hour.

Remove when creamy, soft and cooked. Season generously and add a little extra olive oil to serve.

Serves: 6
Note:

Do not put salt in the water during the cooking process, this will toughen the beans – best to season them just before serving. This is adapted from a River Café recipe.

Borlotti Beans printable recipe, click here:

https://sites.google.com/site/foodvineprintablerecipes/home/borlotti-beans