Whipped cream and kedgeree

I’ve posted about kedgeree before, but this time I’ve tried something a little different, this time I added a little garnish of savoury whipped cream to the final dish, yes whipped cream, the heat from the curry-fishy-rice melts the cream into its crevices and makes a heavenly sauce. It is a little odd at first look to see a quenelle of cream perched upon a very savoury dish slowly melting and mingling flavours, fresh lemon zest and parsley folded into the salted whipped cream does a great job of brightening the whole dish, and it doesn’t take long for your brain to get over thinking cream equals sweet.

Serves 2, with a little leftover for lunch.

2 eggs
6-8 cherry tomatoes, sliced into quarters
1 cup of rice, Basmati is good
1 tbsp of good curry powder or paste
Half a red onion, finely diced
1 red chilli, seeds removed and finely sliced
500g smoked fish, flaked into large chunks
1 lemon, zest and juice
1 tbsp butter
100–150 ml cream
Parsley
Salt

Put the eggs in a pot and cover with cold water, bring the boil and cook for 5 minutes, drain and run over cold water, set aside. One egg is diced and tossed through the rice, the other is sliced into quarters for garnish.

Cook the rice until it’s just barely cooked, we don’t want it too well done as it will turn to mush when stirred later. When cooked, spread out on a sheet pan and leave to cool.


Take a bunch of parsley (leave some for garnish) and chiffonade. Whip the cream with a good pinch of salt to soft peaks and fold through the lemon zest and parsley, place in a container and let it sit in the fridge while the rest of the dish is made.

Sauté the onion and and chilli in the butter until softened and the onion is translucent. Add the curry and cook until fragrant, be careful not to burn it. Toss the rice into the pan and carefully stir through making sure to evenly coat the rice, add the fish, tomatoes, lemon juice and diced egg and gently mix until everything is heated through.

Serve a generous amount in a shallow bowl with a couple of the egg quarters and spoon on a quenelle of the cream.

Onion Tart

This recipe was originally created for Urban Harvest, do go check out their website for some great produce and other recipe ideas.

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The key to this tart is taking your time with slowly, and I mean slowly caramelising the sliced onions over a low temperature, it’s not something that can be rushed, well unless you want to cheat, which I have to admit I did by using a pressure cooker, but it can be achieved in large pan on a stove on a very low flame and occasional stirring. For those who are curious and own a pressure cooker, it’s as simple as dumping the sliced onions, thyme and butter in the pot, bringing it up to high pressure and letting it cook for about 60 minutes, vent the pressure, remove the lid and then cook over a medium-low heat to evaporate off the liquid and enrich the caramelisation.

Caramelised Onions
1 kg red onions
Bunch of thyme
50 g Butter
Salt and pepper

Peel and cut the onions in half and then slice thinly, a mandoline is invaluable for this and will make quick work of it. Melt the butter in the pan over a low heat and add the onions and thyme, cover with a lid and cook very slowly, stirring occasionally. When the onions have melted down and started to colour remove the lid to allow the water to evaporate off. this could take up to an hour. Season and set aside to cool down.

An alternative method is to dump the the lot into a pressure cooker and cook on high pressure for 60 minutes, release the pressure manually. There will be a lot more liquid in the pot using this method so you will have to transfer it to a large pan (more surface area the better) and cook on a medium low heat until the water has evaporated. As above season and let cool.

Pastry
500 g white flour
250 g butter (unsalted), cubed
1/2 tsp Salt
Cold Water

It’s best to work with cold butter and work quickly when making the pastry. In a blender blitz together the flour, butter, and salt. When it forms a breadcrumb texture it is done. Tip the mix into a bowl and add about a tablespoon of cold water and start kneading it together to form a ball of dough, you may need to add more water. Wrap in cling-film and place in the fridge for at least half an hour.

Custard
4 eggs
500 ml of yoghurt
salt and white pepper

You want to mix this together right at the last minute, just after you have blind baked the pastry as you will need to steal a little egg white from the mix. Thoroughly mix together the egg and yoghurt, but take care not to incorporate too much air, season with salt and white pepper.


Assembling
Roll out the pastry to about 3mm thickness. Line a quiche tin with the pastry and trim off any excess. Place the tin in the freezer for about 15 minutes, this helps the butter to firm up and will help prevent shrinkage.

Preheat the oven to 200ºC. Remove the tin from the freezer and line the pastry with tin foil and fill up with rice (sacrificial rice sad to say, as you won't be able to eat it, but do store it so you can use it again to blind bake), cook for about 20 minutes.

Remove from the oven, and carefully remove the tin foil and rice, brush with a little egg white to seal. Place back in the oven for a couple of minutes to dry the egg white.

Remove the tin from the oven and reduce the temperature to 170ºC. Carefully make a layer of the caramelised onions and gently pour over the custard. Place back into the cooler oven and cook for 30–40 minutes, when it just starts to puff slightly near the center it is cook, it should still have a slight jiggle. Let the tart rest on the bench for 10 minutes or so, great served up with some greens dressed simply with lemon juice.

Potatoes baked with cream

I haven’t abandoned the blog, it’s been awhile since my last decent sized post, but not a whole heap of cooking or experimenting has been going on recently, time and other commitments keeping me occupied, and to top it all off, I fractured a tiny bone in my wrist which has ended up with my arm in a brace and the simple tasks of slicing or even lifting the smallest weights is painful and impossible. It certainly makes me appreciate the ease I normally have with even the simplest of tasks, like being able to successfully use a knife and not be menace with it, not knowing which way it’s going to slip because I can’t apply the right pressure. Thank goodness for the Mandoline I say! At least with this great little kitchen gadget I can still whip up one of my favourite comfort dishes, layers of thin potato and onion smothered in thyme infused cream and baked to a golden cheesy goodness.

There’s not too much to this, butter to coat the dish, floury potatoes, garlic (if you wish), onions, cream and thyme, with it being so simple I find taking the little bit extra effort carefully layering everything quite rewarding in the end result, a compact slice of cheesy potatoes rather than a sloppy mess.


Get some cream in a pot with the thyme and garlic and bring it up to the boil, remove from the heat and let the herbs infuse. Slice the potatoes and onions on the thinnest setting of the mandoline. Not too hard. Now carefully place a layer of potatoes in the bottom of a greased dish, having each slice slightly overlapping, next a thin layer of onions, and then season with salt and pepper. Repeat this until the dish is full or you have run out, make sure to end on a potato layer. Pour over the cream, it should cover the potatoes when pushed down. Cook in a 180°C oven for 45-60 minutes, cranking up the heat near the end to get a nice golden crust. Rest on the bench for at least 10 minutes before serving.


The miso egg yolk finally made it’s way out of the cure, and is dehydrating slowly in the fridge, I have a few plans for this amber gem, so do expect a post on that in the coming weeks. Also we’re heading up to the big little city for a long weekend, avoiding the easter crush though, and am looking forward to eating far too much, and quite excited to finally get to a few places I've been champing at the bit to try.

When life gives you onions…

My parents generation have lead us to believe pressure cookers are time bombs of boiling hot lentil stew, ready to spray every wall of the kitchen and give all occupants 3rd degree burns. Nothing could be further from the truth, modern cookers have built in safety measures, and with correct use, are about as likely to explode as your kettle. They are an invaluable piece of equipment in the modern kitchen, and to make life even easier there are electric models available that don’t require constant attention, and won’t take up valuable stove space (although do a little research, you need a model that goes to 15psi, Russell Hobbs version does).

The idea started something like this... “What would happen if I put a whole lot of onions, a little wine, and splash of cognac into a pressure cooker”. It was about 1am, so not the ideal time to start cooking, but the idea was jotted down for the next night's meal. I know that when you pressure cook onion, it becomes mellow and sweet, and loses the harsh onion sting. Along with the pressure cooked onions, I decided to slowly caramelise sliced onion the traditional way, to really beef up the onion flavour. At least there was backup in the fridge if the whole thing turned pear shaped.

You don’t need to add a lot of liquid when pressure cooking, as it’s a closed system, so hardly anything will evaporate off, and all of the liquid from the onion will be pulled out, so only the bare minimum should be added, and added for flavour.


Ingredients
2kg Brown onions
30 ml Brandy
250 ml White wine

1. Slice the head of the onions off, slice in half and peel.
2. Thinly slice the onions, a mandoline makes quick work of this.

Pressure Cooker

1. Melt a knob of butter in the pressure cooker, when sizzling add a handful of onions and sweat slightly.
2. Add the brandy and let it cook off the harsh alcohol bite.
3. Pour in the white wine, and add about two thirds of the remaining onions.
4. Season with some salt and pepper.
5. Cook on high pressure for 1 hour.

Frying Pan

1. In a heavy based pan melt a little butter on the lowest heat and add the remaining onions.
2. Season with a little salt.
3. Let it cook on low heat, occasionally stirring, until the onions have caramelised. It will take about 40 minutes on the lowest heat, it’s a long time, but very much worth it.

Serving Up

1. When the hour is up, use a quick release on the pressure cooker.
2. Purée the pressure cooked onions, and pass through a sieve.
3. Stir in the caramelised onion, saving a bit for garnish.
4. Enrich the soup with a little butter, and adjust the seasoning.
5. Ladle into warm bowl, garnish with some caramelised onion and sliced herb.
6. Serve with some crusty bread.

The soup is rich, sweet, savoury and very very moreish. If you wish, you could loosen the soup with a good beef stock.

This recipe was originally posted by me on Localist

Potatoes and Beef Sausage

Spicy beef sausages with onion sauce and potato thyme stack.


With some spicy good quality beef sausages and rich onion sauce this simple dish packs a lot of flavour.


Firstly get the potatoes ready, as they take about 40 minutes in the oven. Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Thinly slice some shallots. And in a bowl mix together some olive oil, salt, thyme and pepper.


Slice (or use a mandoline) the potatoes and toss through the oil mixture, making sure to coat each slice.


Start layering potato slices and shallots in oiled muffin tins, pressing down as you go.


You want the slices to sit slightly above the top of the tin as it will settle. Cook until golden and cooked through 30-40 minutes (the sausages will share the last 10 minutes).


When they're cooked remove from the tins. I like these little individual serves as a lot more of the surface gets crispy.


Next get the sauce on the go, slowly caramelise some sliced onion, add a spoon of mustard, a small spoon of something sweet (I used quince conserve, but red current jelly would work), and then deglaze with a dash of vinegar. And finally add a cup or so of rich beef stock. Let it simmer and reduce, make sure not to reduce it too much though.


Cook the sausages. I like to start the cooking by browning them in a medium-high heat pan and then finish off in the oven for 10 minutes or so.


Nothing left to but eat and enjoy.

Pickled onions

Pickled onions are really easy to make, they just take a little time and patience.

Start off by putting a pot of water on to boil, trim the top and base of some pickling onions (or shallots) making sure not to cut off too much, and finally sterilising your jars.


Pour the boiling water over then onions and let them stand for a minute or two. Drain and peel the skin off. Don't let the onions sit for too long in the water.


Pack the onions in a jar and sprinkle over a spoon of sugar, top with cold water, seal and store for 24 hours in the fridge.


The next day thoroughly rinse the onions.


Assemble your spices. The mix you use is entirely up to you, some of the classics are bay leaf, cinnamon, chilli flakes, cloves, all spice, star anise, mustard seeds, ginger and cumin. Or just use a pack of pickling spices (which are great to use when cooking corned beef).

I went for a mix of coriander, bay, mustard seeds, a dried chilli, cloves, and all spice.


Evenly distribute the spices amongst the onions, fill the jar three quarters with malt vinegar, top off with cold water. Seal the jar and store in a cool dark place for at least a month before eating.

Quick red pickle

As I mentioned in the bone marrow post, I served it with some pickled red onions and promised the recipe. Well here it is finally.


Slice up enough red onions to fill the jar you're going to use.


Sterilise your jar and then stuff the onion in to it.

I use the ratio of 3 cups of vinegar (I prefer cider) to 1 cup of sugar for the pickling liquid. So in a pot put enough vinegar to fill the rest of the jar up (and appropriate amount of sugar) with some spices. Bring to the boil and let it simmer for a couple of minutes.

The spices are really up to you, but I like to use some classics like Bay leaf, cinnamon, chilli flakes, cloves, all spice, star anise, mustard seeds, ginger and cumin.


For this batch I chose chilli flakes, cloves, mustard seeds, coriander and bay leaf .


Fill the Jar up with the liquid, tip it over and tap the top to release any air bubbles.


Let it cool down to room temperature and then refrigerate for at least 12 hours before eating. It will store for about a month.

Quiche and tart

Ham, cheese and home-grown chard quiche. Always and quick and easy dish to throw together with a simple salad. Just make sure your fillings wont leach water, so we cooked and drained the chard before adding to the pastry shell, and don't add too much cheese as it can split.

I use a ratio of 3 eggs to 2 cups of milk for the custard. Cook for about 30-40 minutes at 170°C, you want it to be almost set in the center so while you let it rest for 10 minutes or so it will finish cooking on the bench.


There was some left over pastry, so for brunch the next day a quick cheese and onion tart was whipped up.

Polenta and caramelised onion

A perfect lunch for an overcast, windy, cold day with showers of hail.


Slice the onions thinly. I like to use a mixture of onion and shallot.


Put a little oil in the pan, and put on a medium-low heat.

A couple of tips when it comes to caramelising onions

1. Don't constantly stir them, let them sit, movement will slow the process down.
2. Don't salt your onions, salt inhibits the Maillard reaction (browning).
   
3. Low and slow. It takes longer but is the only way to caramelise onions.

Cook for about 15 minutes on a low heat stirring occasionally. When it looks like they're 3-4 minutes away from being done chuck a teaspoon or so of fennel seed.


Deglaze the pan with some vinegar, and a dash of dijon mustard, and season.


Take your favourite polenta, and cook to their instructions.


I used 125 grams of polenta with 625mls of water. Cook until done, stir through some pesto and butter.


Serve warm with a drizzle of olive oil.

Silverbeet (chard)

We have a good bunch of Silverbeet growing in our pots at home (Ruby & Yellow Chard), along with a several varieties of spinach.

With a big bunch of leaves I trimmed the steams of and roughly chopped the leaves into large pieces, and sliced up the stems. In a frying pan sautéed some chopped bacon until it had rendered all it's fat out and started to go crispy. Then I added some sliced onions and let them soften and slowly caramelise in the oh so good bacon fat. Next the stems get thrown in and left to soften slightly and finally the leaves which take no time at all to wilt down.

Dish up in a bowl and devour. The salt from the bacon combats the bitter from the Chard, very tasty snack.