' 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.        

' 64.C poached & fried EGG with ASPARAGUS .'

64 C. poached & fried Free range Hen egg, French Tarragon infused Asparagus ribbons, Crumbled croutons, Balsamic vinegar reduction, Fresh Tarragon and Viola flower.

              The night temperatures have dropped quite rapidly here at the moment but our hens are in their first season and are laying strong through the start of our winter. Hence the egg recipe, which is in fact a recipe from the great Eddie Shepperd, award winning vegetarian chef in the U.K. I chose to use, (copy what ever you may call it) Eddie's recipe because of his use of techniques in making the dish, the simple egg cooked in a way you can really appreciate eating it and accompanied by the perfect pairings. We got our three girls going on 3 months ago now and if there was an eighth day in the week we would get 2 dozen eggs. We couldn't be happier, they couldn't be happier and its a great mutualistic  relationship. Free ranging is a different story, almost everyday the Isa brown gets out and I'm having to go and retrieve her from next doors backyard, the park or half way up the street where she's foraging on someones front lawn. Anyway below I've listed the techniques to this tasty vegetarian breakfast of asparagus and egg with crouton and balsamic reduction.                                                                          
            To begin with I started with the asparagus, setting my sous vide machine to 85C. I then vacuum sealed asparagus spears with a little butter and some fresh tarragon from the garden. The sealed asparagus was then placed in the water bath and cooked for 15 minutes before being removed and placed in an ice water bath to stop the cooking. Once the asparagus was cool enough I sliced them into halves or ribbons and dressed them with a little olive oil, a squeeze of lemon juice and a little salt and pepper to season, these were then stored in the fridge and warmed gently before serving. I then set the sous vide water bath to 64C. and carefully placed the egg in the bath with the shell on, cooking the egg for 1 hour. Once the egg was ready I broke the egg into a frying pan, frying the egg for a 30 seconds on one side only before removing and plating immediately. While the egg was cooking I prepared the balsamic reduction and the croutons, beginning with the reduction I placed some balsamic vinegar into a saucepan with and brought to slow simmer, reducing the vinegar by a third. This was then set aside to thicken up. Next I prepped the croutons by tearing up some good quality white bread and frying the pieces in a little olive oil and garlic until golden in colour. I the crumbled the croutons up lightly and seasoned them with salt.                                                                                                                            
               To plate I placed the warmed asparagus in the centre of the plate in a loose bundle letting them sit where they naturally fell. I then placed the hot poached then fried egg on top of the asparagus and seasoned with salt and cracked black pepper. I then scattered the crumbled croutons in a rough line starting from the top of the egg out to the edge of the plate. Delicately dotting the thickened balsamic to make an arch around the egg and finally garnishing with a fresh viola flower and a sprig of fresh french tarragon from the garden.

' MUSHROOMS , MARROW & DATES .'

Grass-fed Bone Marrow in Swiss Brown mushroom stems, Charred Dates, Balsamic reduction and Vegemite paste. 

                Another really simple little dish to make and tastes sensational, the mushrooms have a rich meaty flavour and an almost steak like texture, the dates were pounded to a thin rectangle, adding  sweetness and a roasted flavour. The accompaniments of the balsamic vinegar reduction gives a distinct sweet acidity to balance the marrow out and the Vegemite paste adds a savoury streak for both the eye and the palate. Exquisite grass fed beef marrow has been stuffed into hollowed swiss brown mushroom stems to replicate marrow bones and sauteed in rendered marrow.                                                                
              I started this dish by placing some dried dates on to a tray and into a 180 deg. c. oven for about 20 minutes, until some parts were starting to char. The dates were then removed and placed between two sheets of silicon paper and rolled out to about 2 mm thick. I then made an outline of the rectangle shape using a ruler and marker on to the top sheet of silicon paper before cutting the shape out and setting aside for plating. Next I removed the stems from large swiss browns and hollowed the middles out with a cutter. Scraping some of the raw marrow from the bones I gently filled the stems, these were then placed in the fridge to set. In the mean time I placed a little mandarin juice and balsamic vinegar in a saucepan and brought to a gentle simmer, reducing the vinegar to a thick syrup before removing from the stove and setting aside for plating. The Vegemite was simple thinned with a little olive oil and to finish the dish I sauteed the mushroom stems in a little rendered marrow just before plating.