' home cured DUCK PROSCIUTTO with MELON .'

Home cured Duck breast Prosciutto served with Compressed Cantaloupe in lemon vinaigrette, Olive oil & Powdered Olive oil, Balsamic vinegar reduction and micro greens.

              October was a month of a few simple charcuterie projects I had wanted to do for a while now. As I've been recovering from a third bout of surgery on my foot, these little projects have been a perfect   therapy. Just a little light preparation and then some patience while they cured, brined, pickled or corned, depending on the project at the time. There are quite a few recipes available, which I find to be safe and easy to do from home and really for the results at the end, its worth the wait. To name a couple that I do from home, Duck breast pastrami and prosciutto, duck liver pate, pickled lambs tongue, nitrate free bacon and smoked oysters, salmon and trout. Duck prosciutto I would recommend to any one wanting to give charcuterie a go, as its hard to go wrong, providing you're working in an hygienic environment and clean hands and work tools and surfaces. The duck prosciutto consists of just three ingredients, the duck breast, salt and white pepper, with a bit of cheesecloth, some kitchen string and 7-10 days of patience and Voila.        
              First of all, I rinsed the duck breast under cold running water before pat drying. In a glass container I spread 1 cup of evaporated sea salt (course mill), placing the breast on to the salt, skin side up. I then placed a 2nd cup of salt over the top of the breast, making sure to completely cover the duck. This was then covered with plastic wrap and placed in the fridge for 24 hours. I then rinsed the salt from the duck breast which was now firm and had gone quite red in colour, before pat drying with a towel and seasoning with the anti-bacterial properties of the white pepper. The duck was then wrapped in a couple of layers of cheesecloth before being strung with kitchen string and hung in a dark, cool place (8-10C) for 7-10 days. After a week I started checking on the meat by gentle pressing the thickest part of the cut. When the meat was firm to the touch, which was around the 9th or 10th day it was ready to be sliced and sampled. When sliced thinly enough the layer of breast fat just melts away on your tongue and together with the saltiness of the duck flavoured meat is just perfection for the palate.                                                                                                                      
               For this dish, I stuck to the perfect match for an accompaniment, rock-melon, to which I sliced into 5cm long, 1 x 1 cm batons. The batons were then placed into a food grade plastic pouch with some lemon vinaigrette and vacuum sealed on high. These were left in the fridge overnight to compress, breaking down the structures of the fruits cell walls, releasing the natural sugars and flavour of the melon, as well as soaking in the vinaigrette. To make the reduction I simple simmered down some balsamic vinegar and a little sugar until thick and syrupy. The powdered olive oil was made by mixing at a ratio of 40/60, Olive oil to Tapioca Maltodextrin (N-zorbit M) until light and fluffy. To plate I placed the compressed melon batons lined diagonally across the plate topping each with a slice of duck prosciutto and the olive oil powder. This was then garnished with some micro greens and on one side of the dish I placed some dots of balsamic reduction and on the other side I drizzled some olive oil.        

' POPCORN FILLED CORN YEAST DOUGHNUT .'

Corn yeast risen doughnut, piped with Creamed Popcorn filling, topped with Salted Caramel icing and Crumbled popcorn. 

                      This dessert came from the result of two dishes on the same day colliding. I had set out to make corn yeast doughnuts on the day but with a simple sweetened cream corn custard filling. I also while on the corn as the subject made a clam and corn chowder and set out to attempt the great Grant Achatz dessert from the Alinea restaurant, 'liquid popcorn with caramel froth'. Although while making the liquid popcorn I had scaled back the recipe to a third, in doing this the ratio of liquid was wrong and with the starch in the corn the mix became a thick custard consistency instead of a drinkable one. The mixture had turned to a perfect piping bakers custard consistency only tasted of buttered popcorn from the movies. This prompted me to ditch making the Achatz recipe for the time being and use the creamed popcorn for the filling in the corn yeast doughnuts, so it went from there and I managed to finish the chowder also.          
                    So to make this dessert I first prepared the dough for the doughnuts and then while the dough was rising I prepared the filling by accident, followed by the salted caramel icing. Below is a list of the preparations, the ingredients and detailed methodology.

CORN YEAST DOUGHNUT- I first cut the kernels off a half cob of corn and mashed them in a small saucepan with a half cup of milk, this was then brought to the simmer and then removed from the heat, allowed to steep and infuse for 5 minutes before being strained, reserving 1/3 cup of corn infused milk. To this warm milk infusion I added 5g of granular yeast and 1 tbsp of caster sugar, mixing to combine, this was then set aside for 5 minutes to activate the yeast. In a mixing bowl I then whisked 1 egg until pale and thick, to this I added 50g of caster sugar, a pinch of salt, 15g of melted butter and the yeast corn milk mixture. This was then mixed to combine before adding 250g of 00 flour gradually, a half cup (62.5g) at a time to form a dough that came away from the side of the bowl but quite sticky to the touch. This was then covered and placed in warm place for an hour until doubled in size. I then flipped the dough over and recovered, allowing another half an hour. At this stage I heated some canola oil to 170C in a pot on the stove, rolled pieces of the dough into balls and flattening them to 1cm thick, using floured hands. These were then fried in the oil until golden in colour and cooked through the middle, once cooked the doughnuts were drained on paper towel and coated in caster sugar before being filled with creamed popcorn, iced with salted caramel icing and topped with crumbled popcorn.
CREAMED POPCORN FILLING- This was made by placing 60g of prepared popcorn, 3g of salt, 45g of butter, 30g of caster sugar and 375g of water into a medium saucepan and simmering on a medium heat for 5 minutes. This was then strained and then blended to form a paste, this was then placed in the fridge to chill before being spooned into a piping bag and piped into the centre of the doughnuts.
SALTED CARAMEL ICING- In a saucepan over a medium heat I melted 2 tbsp of butter, I then mixed in 3 tbsp of milk and 1/2 cup of brown sugar, his was boiled vigorously for a minute. I then removed the pot from the heat and beat in 1/2 a cup of confectioners sugar, 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract and a 1/2  tsp of sea salt.
CRUMBLED POPCORN- This is a mixture of ground popcorn which was made using the coffee grinder, a little salt, icing sugar and powdered butter. The powered butter is a simple mix of melted clarified butter with N-zorbit which is a modified tapioca starch used in cooking to turn fats and oils into powders, in this case butter.

' EDIBLE FOREST FLOOR in WINTER .'

Deep fried Reindeer Moss, Pine oil powder, Truffle oil powder, Truffle infused Dark chocolate branches, Porcini creme fraiche, Morels and Semi-dried Parsley leaves.

                  When plating this taste sample dish theres one ingredient that sparked the whole dish when I thought about it. A couple of weeks back the family went for a drive to the rainforest nearby and after we had some lunch we drove to a popular water hole. The 100m walk to the water whole from the car park was littered with native bush food plants from a rejuvenation program many years ago. Along the walk I came across a piece of reindeer moss growing suspended in the branch of a tree lining the path. I brought the sample home and started the research on its gastronomical ability. After a bit of research and a positive identification I found that the moss used to be served at one the worlds most famous restaurants in Denmark called ' Noma '. The danish restaurant served the lichen deep fried, seasoned with porcini mushroom powder on a saucer of live moss with a side dish of creme fraiche. So I decided to take the idea and serve the lichen with a few other european forest inspired ingredients to accompany, creating a scene from the winter forest floors of europe.                                                          
                   The methods for all the preparations are listed below and are not in order of execution.            
DEEP FRIED REINDEER MOSS- This was simply as it says deep fried and very quickly before being left to drain on a paper towel. The fried light brown fibres of the lichen dissolves, crumbling away on your tongue leaving a delicate taste of earthy truffle, with sweet grassy and vanilla notes.        
PINE OIL POWDER- To make this powder which is the one with greener tint, I made some pine oil by blending together chopped pine needles and olive oil until the oil turns green and the pine oil has infused with the olive oil. This was then strained and mixed at a 40/60 ratio with N-Zorbit which is a Tapioca Maltodextrin, which is a modified starch like corn flour but made from cassava root. N-Zorbit has the ability to turn fats into fluffy powders that melt back to their oils on your tongue with next to no spoiling to the flavour. The pine oil and n-Zorbit were mixed together using a fork until fluffy and powdery. The downfall to the starch is when it becomes in contact with any other fluid other than oils or fats, N-Zorbit turns to an instant sludge and not a delicate fluffy powder.                                                  
TRUFFLE OIL POWDER- Same as above except substituting the pine oil for white truffle oil.

TRUFFLE INFUSED CHOCOLATE BRANCHES- This were made by roasting parsley stems in the oven until brown and hard, these were then coated in melted dark chocolate mixed with a little truffle oil and placed in the fridge to set.
SEMI-DRIED PARSLEY LEAVES- I simply placed the leaves on a flat tray and dried them out in an 80 degree C. oven until they just turn light brown, before removing and setting aside to plate.
PORCINI CREME FRAICHE- To make the final prep I placed dried porcini mushrooms in a spice blender, blending to form a powder, I then mixed the powder with some creme fraiche until it was all incorporated. This was then placed in the fridge to chill and firm back up before serving.