O ... what a night.

Having been slapped over the wrists for not posting sooner, my apologies. "O" was a very tasty letter as there were some very good options to choose from. My menu was a 3 course meal, soup for entree, salad for mains and a delicious cake for dessert.

French Onion Soup
This soup was made with a little bit of help from Heston Blumenthal and a little bit of help from Matt Preston. Heston wanted 7 hours of my time and Matt only wanted 1 hour. I compromised and went with 3 hours and shared recipes.

Grapeseed oil
1kg brown onions, peeled and sliced
2 star anise
30g unsalted butter
150g dry white wine
1 litre of beef stock
500g shallots
a slurp of red wine

Croutons
a few slices of sourdough bread
unsalted butter for frying
Dijon mustard
100g gruyere cheese grated
1tbs chopped chives

1. Preheat oven to 90C. 
2. To start, layer a thin layer of oil on the base of a casserole dish over a medium heat. and sweat the onions with the star anise until lightly caramelised (approx 15 min), stirring regularly. 
3. Add the butter and 25g of cold water, stir and put the dish covered in the oven for 3 hours (Heston says 7 hours and Matt says 1 hour. I put it in the oven for 3 hours)
4. After the oven time, remove the star anise and discard. Place the dish over a high heat and deglaze the onions with the wine. Allow to reduce until almost dry.
5. Add the stock and simmer for 20 minutes. Add some red wine if you want at this point and simmer for a further 20 minutes.
6. When ready to serve, fry the slices of sourdough bread in a little melted butter over a medium heat until golden and crisp. Spread each slice with Dijon mustard, then cover them with cheese and sprinkle with chopped chives.
7. Ladle soup into bowls and place slices of cheese topped croutons on top. Place under the grill until the cheese turns golden brown.

For the main course I returned to an old favourite, Orange and Poppy-seed salad with Spanish Pork. You can find the recipe at the following link. http://oitcfood.blogspot.com.au/2012/02/anyone-for-some-orange.html

Olive Oil Chocolate Cake

150 ml regular olive oil (plus more for greasing)
50 grams cocoa
125 ml boiling water
2 teaspoons best vanilla extract
150 g ground almonds (or 125g plain flour / 3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour)
½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 pinch of salt
200 grams caster sugar
3 large eggs

1. Preheat your oven to 170°C. Grease a 22 or 23 cm/ 9inch springform tin with a little oil and line the base with baking parchment.
2. Sift the cocoa into a bowl or jug and whisk in the boiling water until you have a smooth, chocolatey, still runny (but only just) paste. Whisk in the vanilla extract, then set aside to cool a little.
3. In another smallish bowl, combine the ground almonds (or flour) with the bicarbonate of soda and pinch of salt.
4. Put the sugar, olive oil and eggs into the bowl of a mixer and beat together vigorously for about 3 minutes until you have a pale-primrose, aerated and thickened cream.
5. Turn the speed down a little and pour in the cocoa mixture, beating as you go, and when all is scraped in you can slowly tip in the ground almond (or flour) mixture.
6. Scrape down, and stir a little with a spatula, then pour into the prepared tin. 
7. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until the sides are set and the very centre, on top, still looks slightly damp. A cake tester should come up mainly clean.
8. Let it cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack, still in its tin, and then ease the sides of the cake with a small metal spatula and spring it out of the tin. Leave to cool completely or eat while still warm with some ice cream, as a pudding.

Everybody needs good neighbours

I had a surprise visit from one of my neighbours just before dinner time yesterday.  These 'sometimes' neighbours are a lovely older couple who visit here every two months or so for about a week at a time, usually when it gets too hot or cold or boring for them at their home in Toowoomba.   When they're here we have a quick chat as we're coming and going or a cuppa in the afternoon so that they can catch up on the goss of what's been going on around here.  I often take them a jar of jam or some biccies or other things I've recently baked or cooked.  It reminds me of times gone past of dropping in on my grandparents.  Anyway, I digress.  Yesterday, they gave me a cookbook.  Not just any cookbook, rather an Australian classic - Stephanie Alexander's 'The Cook's Companion'.  They saw it a second-hand bookshop and thought I'd like it since I love to cook.  You can imagine how surprised and grateful I was.

Later on when sharing this story, a friend of mine mentioned her love for this book and to definitely look up the pork with prunes.  Now if you aren't already aware of the size of this cookbook, you may be surprised to know that this recipe doesn't appear until pages 566 - 567, and there are more than 200 pages of recipes after that.  It'll take me quite some time to get through this book, so I need your help.  If you have a copy of Stephanie Alexander's book please let me know what your favourite is and what I should be cooking next!

Pork with prunes
12 large prunes, pitted
1 1/2 cups dry white wine
2 pork fillets
flour, seasoned with salt and pepper
olive oil
butter
1 tablespoon redcurrant helly
4 tablespoons thick cream
juice of 1 lemon and zest

1. Soak prunes in wine overnight.
   
2. Cut each pork fillet on the diagonal into 6 pieces.  Flatten each piece a little with the palm of you hand, then dust each piece with seasoned flour.
3. Strain prunes and reserve wine to make the sauce.
4. Heat a little oil and butter in a heavy-based frying pan until butter foams. Cook pork pieces in batches until browned over moderated heat, 3 minutes per side.  Remove cooked pork and cover with foil to keep warm whilst doing the next batch.
5. Wipe out pan with kitchen paper and reheat.  Add wine and allow it to bubble fiercely.
6. Add redcurrant jelly and cream.  Then stir to blend.
7. Return meat to pan and add prunes.  Lower heat a little.  Turn meat in sauce as it reduces.
8. Add a few drops of lemon juice and adjust seasoning as necessary.  The redcurrant jelly can make it quite sweet, so make sure you taste the sauce and keep adjusting with lemon juice, salt etc.  Add some lemon zest too for a little more zing!
9. Keep cooking until the sauce turns toffee-coloured and becomes quite thick.  If too thin, remove meat and boil more fiercely.  If too think, add a few drops of water or an extra tablespoon of wine.
10. Spoon pork medallions onto plates, top with prunes and spoon over sauce.  Serve with green beans, crispy potatos and a beautiful glass of wine.

I did it!

A few weeks back I made polenta and it didn't quite work out to be soft and silky like it should have been.  After seeking your advice, the consensus was to just keep stirring.  And then, even when I thought I should stop, to stir some more.  Those who know me well can understand the irony of me being told to keep stirring!

Sausage, fennel seed and mushroom ragu

Anyway, I'm pleased to say this week I managed to make soft, smooth, velvety polenta - with the help of some butter and parmesan.  This was the base for my Sausage, fennel seed and mushroom ragu with parmesan polenta.  Use the best pork sausages you can find/afford for this ragu. Mine were from the butcher in Noosa Junction (near Coles) and the spices he had in there complemented the fennel and mushrooms beautifully.  Also, don't stick to just swiss brown mushrooms - I used a combination of oyster (kept these whole), shitake (sliced) and swiss browns (sliced).  This adds a few more textures and shapes too.

When I made this I changed the order of cooking things, see my steps below.  The original recipe used 2 pans to cook up the ragu - one with the ragu, and then another to cook off the mushrooms before adding them in. I've changed the order so you only need the one pan.  This also keeps  the mushroom 'juice' and cooked on bits in the ragu, and not down the sink.

The ragu recipe came from my annually anticipated May Delicious magazine, the annual Italian issue.  Even though I'm not Italian, I find myself drawn to the flavour combinations in Italian food wherever I am and whatever mood I'm in.  The fresh herbs, tomatoes, mushrooms, meats and of course the cheese, draw me back in time and time again.  I never get sick of it.

The other dish I cooked this week was an old favourite - Manchego and Chorizo Croquettes.  This recipe came from a cooking class at Noosa Springs, many years ago, with two then, up and coming chefs Justin Miles (now back in Adelaide at his own acclaimed Windy Point Restaurant) and the other, a Noosa local and favourite, Matt Golisnki, then working at Ricky Ricardo's (now Rickys).  I'm sure you all saw on tv the tragic fire which claimed his family last Boxing Day.  The news on Matt is that he is out of hospital and physically on the road to recovery.  It will be a long, slow, painful process - physically and mentally.  Our hearts go out to him.

I have been making these tasty morsels, since doing the cooking class nearly 10 years ago, but apparently never for Andy!  Manchego is a sheep's cheese, from a certain breed of sheep on the side a hill in Spain - or so we were told at the cooking class. At the time, it was hard to get.  Now, my favourite place in Noosa, Belmondos, can usually be relied upon for Manchego, but alas not this time.  I asked for a substitute and was offered a french cheese cured in red wine!  Whilst this sounded interesting, it wasn't quite hard enough and didn't have the flavour I was looking for.  Then I saw the Lamb Chopper - an American Sheeps milk cheese.  Right animal, right texture, right flavour.  It worked into the croquettes beautifully.  The chorizo came from Andy's new favourite shop B-Fresh in Warana.  The chorizo was a beautiful firm, smoky flavour, with just the right amount of spice.  I served these on roasted capsicum and rocket, with a balsamic glaze and Chilli Jam (from Noosa Chilli).

To make a balsamic glaze, just pour a bottle (or half a bottle) of balsamic vingear into a pan and reduce it.  It will thicken as it cools, so don't let it cook till it is completely thickened.  As my sister Sue told me: turn it off and let it cool and if it's not thick enough you can always turn it back on and keep reducing.  Wise words!  Pour what you don't use into a sterilized jar or squeeze bottle, and store for another time.

I've been trying to think of another name for croquette that starts with ch for a completely alliterated (obliterated??) name for these Chopper and Chorizo croquettes.  Leave your suggestions in the comment box.

Chopper and Chorizo Croquettes

Chopper and Chorizo Croquettes (makes heaps!)

2 large potatoes, peeled, chopped, cooked and mashed
4 tbsp butter
4 tbsp plain flour
1/2 cup warm milk
1 cup chorizo - skinned, chopped finely to almost a minced texture
1/2 - 1 cup Lamb Chopper Cheese grated (or Manchego, parmesan or other hard flavoursome cheese)
2 tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley
3 eggs (and a splash of milk)
1 cup flour
2 cups coarse breadcrumbs

1.  Cook and mash potatoes.
2. Make a bechamel - melt butter in small pan, add flour and cook over low heat 2 mins.  Slowly add warm milk (you get a less lumpy sauce!), until thick and smooth.  Cook, stirring, for 5 mins.
3. Fold bechamel through mashed potato, mix well and chill.
4. When cold, work in chorizo, cheese and parsley.  Season with salt and pepper.  Take spoonfuls and turn into barrel shapes.
5. Whisk together eggs and a splash of milk. 
6. Dust 'barrels' in flour, dip in egg wash, roll in crumbs. Try to keep one dry hand (flour and crumbs) and one wet hand (egg wash).
7. Deep/shallow fry a few at a time until crispy and golden.
8. Serve with chilli sauce (or your favourite dipping sauce).

Sausage, fennel seed and mushroom ragu with polenta parmesan (serves 6 - 8)
20g dried porcini mushrooms
1/4 cup (80mL) olive oil
800g pork sausage, casings removed, broken into small pieces
1 onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 rosemary sprig, leaves finely chopped
2 tsp fennel seeds, lightly crushed
1/2 tsp chilli flakes
150mL dry white wine
2 x 400g cans chopped tomatoes
3 fresh bay leaves
450g swiss brown mushrooms, thickly sliced
Chopped flat leaf parsley, to serve

1. Soak porcini in 1 cup (250mL) boiling water for 30 minutes.
2. Cook sausage meat in batches, in LARGE saucepan over medium heat, for 5 - 6 mins, until golden brown.  Remove and set aside. Drain porcini, reserving the liquid.
3. In the same pan, add some oil, add sliced mushrooms.  Cook over high heat for 3 mins until lightly golden. Remove, cover, set aside.
4. In the same pan, cook onion over med-low heat, stirring occasionally, for 10 mins, or until soft and lightly golden.   Add drained porcini, garlic, rosemary, fennel and chilli.  Cook, stirring, 1 - 2 mins.  Add wine and simmer for 2 - 3 mins, until almost evaporated.
5. Return sausage meat to pan, with tomatoes, bay leaves and all but 1 - 2 tsp of porcini liquid (in case there's grit/sediment in the bottom).  Simmer stirring occasionally, for 20 mins, or until ragu is reduced and thickened.
6. Stir mushrooms into ragu, cover and simmer a further 5 mins.  Season.

Parmesan polenta
6 cups (1.5L) chicken stock
1 1/2 cups (250g) instant polenta
50g unsalted butter (the chicken stock takes care of the salt requirement!)
2 cups (160g) finely grated parmesan

1. Bring stock to boil.
2. Reduce heat to low then pour in polenta in a slow steady stream, stirring constantly.
3. Cook, stirring for 5 minutes or until thick.  KEEP STIRRING!
4. Stir in butter and parmesan, then season if necessary.
5. Spoon polenta into bowls or onto plates, then top with mushroom ragu and parsley.

Three Little pigs went to the Market

So it was my turn to make a holiday 3 course meal this week. I had made the decision to do a slow roasted pork belly after reading this months edition of Delicious magazine. This was going to be my "main event" and I needed to have a starter and dessert (pondering, pondering, pondering) then i saw the new "Donna Hay" magazine which had caramel desserts in it so, not being the best caramel chef i thought why not, give it another go. So dessert was planned in the form of a rhubarb Tarte tatin. After further reading of the "Donna Hay" my starter was chosen in the form of Black bean pork and Wombok dumplings.

Thank goodness for holidays. I had all day to prepare and boy did it help LOL.

To start with made the Rhubarb Tarte Tatin. We have worked out that when I do my caramels I have the stove on too high therefore the caramel turn to toffee. (Yay we have finally worked that one out). The Tarte Tatin is very simple to make - Gently dissolve 3/4 cup caster sugar in 1/4 cup of water. Once sugar is dissolved bring temp up to med and bring to boil till light and golden. Add 50g of butter and 2 cinnamon sticks stir till well combined. Pour caramel into into greased tin and arrange rhubarb pieces into caramel. Top with puffy pastry and fold in edges around the rhubarb, cut into top 3 small piercings. Bake for 30-35 minutes. Turn out to serve.

The Pork dumplings were just as easy. Thinly slice a Wombok chinese cabbage and fry up with 2 crushed cloves of garlic till wilted and softened. Allow to cool. Place 400g pork mince, 1 egg white, 2 tbs of black bean paste and chopped chives with cabbage and mix until well combined. Thanks to Rose for the dumpling crimper machine thingy, it made making the dumplings so much easier. Place a gow gee wrapper on crimper thingy and put a teaspoon of pork mixture on and crimp together. To cook the dumplings I put water into bottom of fry pan and steamed the dumpling for 5-7 minutes and then transferred them into another fry pan to crispen one side. To serve the dumplings I put some Chinese Black vinegar and chilli oil onto plate and placed dumplings on top.

The Pork Belly was again simple yet time consuming (only in the baking). Mix 2 cloves of garlic, 2 tbs thyme leaves, 1/2 tsp caraway seeds, 1/2 tsp dried chilli flakes, pinch of ground cloves in a mortar in pestle. Add 1 tbs of lemon juice and 2 tbs of olive oil, mix into a paste. Rub this paste onto the rind of a scored pork belly. Let this stand for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 220 deg. Arrange some onion slices in a roasting pan and sit the pork on top. Roast at 220 deg for 30 minutes then reduce temp to 170deg and roast for 3 hours. Rest pork belly for 20 minutes. I removed the rind and put it under the grill for a few minutes to crispen up the crackling. I served the slow pork with an autumn salad (baby spinach, radichio, pancetta, red onion, swiss brown mushrooms, roasted hazelnuts, dressing honey, red wine vinegar and dijon mustard, olive oil) and pea mash.

This dinner was very simple to make and very nice to eat. We both enjoyed a glass of sav blanc which went down well with each course. The 3 pigs refers to the pork mince, slow roasted pork and the pancetta (thanks Rose). Look out for next week when the structure of our Wednesday night dinner changes. We are going back to our old ways where we choose an ingredient that must be used for the meal. I have chosen Quinoa for Rose. I wonder what she will decide to make - tune in next week to find out.

I'm going to score this 3 course meal 4.5 wooden spoons - just because.

Anyone for some Orange

This past Wednesday night I took inspiration from a request from Rose to cook "that pork with the chilli oranges dish". Our main course was Spanish Pork with Orange and Poppyseed salad, and dessert was Caramelised Oranges with Chocolate Ice-cream.

It always pays to read the recipe ahead of time just in case you need to do something important like marinade for more than a few hours. Lets just say a little quick thinking let me get the marinade happening throughout the day. For the Spanish Pork, you need to marinate for 24 hours. Mine marinated for 9 hours and still tasted great. For the marinade throw 1tsp cumin, 1tbs of smoked paprika, zest and juice on 1 orange, 1/2 cup of tomato sauce, 1/3 cup of maple syrup into a large ziplock bag with 2 pork fillets, and refrigerate. For the orange and poppyseed salad, zest one orange and peel and slice the flesh place into a bowl with 1 de-seeded lebanese cucumber 1/2 cup of coriander and 2 finely sliced chillies. In a separate bowl put 1/3 cup white wine vinegar (i used white balsamic, just as good) 1/2 cup olive oil, 2 tbs caster sugar and 2 tbs of poppyseeds. Whisk ingredients till combined.

Cook the pork on chargrill or BBQ 5-6 minutes each side until cooked or blackened. To dish up place salad on plate and top with sliced pork and drizzle with dressing. This dish was yet another successful main course.

Dessert on the other hand - not quite as successful. I have trouble with some of my desserts, especially ones that involve caramel. First off, take the zest off 3 oranges and blanch 3 times in boiling water. peel and remove the pith from said three oranges and slice, removing any seeds. Place in the bowl with zest. Boil up caster sugar and water till golden and pour over the oranges and let cool. This is where I fail to understand any caramel recipe as mine always turns to toffee.

To serve place into dish and top with a delicious scoop of chocolate Ice-cream. Tonight I cheated and used bought choc ice cream. Colin James Gelato, very nice indeed and to make it better he uses local produce from Maleny. I'm going to give my dessert a thumbs up but gee i wish i could do caramel.

Tonight's scores: Spanish Pork with orange and poppyseed salad 5/5 Tongs

Dessert: Caramelised oranges and choc ice-cream 2.5/5 Tongs

Anything you can do...

After viewing an episode of the current season of My Kitchen Rules (MKR), and watching the contestants completely overwhelm a pork cutlet by topping it with sage and apple and blue cheese and then wrapping it in prosciutto, before serving it up undercooked, I thought I could do better!

The pear, walnut and rocket salad was dressed simply with Balsamic vinegar and Extra Virgin Olive Oil. You might see some polenta hiding behind the pork cutlet. I have a love-hate relationship with polenta. It is so easy to cook, but I haven't yet been able to serve it up 'soft'. Mine always ends up firm. Anyone with tips on how to achieve this please please please comment below and let me know! Because of seeing the MKR contestants serve up underdone pork, I left mine probably a minute too long in the oven, so they weren't as moist as they could be. A little Balsamic over the top of the cutlet helped that out, as did the sweet and juicy pear. Although Andy was more keen for a 'jus'.
Overall, a summery combination of flavours and a nice light dinner. 4/5 wooden spoons.

And now for dessert: Chocolate Chilli Pots with Biscotti

These chocolate pots are one of the easiest desserts you can make. Start with 300mL Pure cream in a small saucepan and add a large dried chilli or a teaspoon or so of chilli flakes. Bring the cream slowly up to just below the boil. Remove from heat, remove dried chilli (leave the flakes if you used them). Add in 200g dark chocolate, broken into pieces. Stir to combine well. Allow to cool slightly. Next, whisk in 3 egg yolks, 2 tablespoons caster sugar and 20g butter. At this point I tasted the mixture and decided it needed more chilli kick, so I added some more chilli flakes - do this to your own level of chilli heat. Remember that when you eat them though you will be eating more than one finger-full at a time so don't throw the whole jar in. Pour into small ramekins (about 100 - 120mL per serve). Cover and chill for an hour, then sprinkle with chilli flakes. Chill for further 4 hours and serve cold with biscotti on the side.
You can make these ahead of time, ie the day before, which gives the chilli more time to infuse and do it's thing. I surprised a couple of friends, by "paying it forward" and giving them their own special serving to take home from work one day - lots of smiles!!! One of my favourite desserts - 5/5 wooden spoons