' 53 deg . C . PINK LING in ICHIBAN DASHI .'

53 degree C. sous vide cooked Pink Ling fillet in Ichiban Dashi with Aubergine & wakame miso dumplings, Wakame seaweed and lemon zest.

           This was a little Japanese influenced dish, that uses the dashi and miso dumplings to accompany an otherwise delicately flavoured fillet of fish. Ichiban dashi or 'first sea stock' is the stock collected from two ingredients Kombu, which is a type of kelp and Katsuobushi, dried bonito fish flakes. Once the stock is made a second stock can be made using the same ingredients called 'Niban dashi'. Dashi is economical and extremely easy and quick to make in comparison to other stocks where you have to boil carcasses or roast bones or fry prawn heads, dashi takes just about 30 minutes to make and is highly nutritious. The element of umami, considered one of the five basic favours in Japanese cuisine, is present in dashi by the use of Katsuobushi which contains high levels of sodium inosinate which has been identified as a source of umami.                                                                                                          
         To make this dish I started with roasting a whole eggplant in a 220 degree C. oven for about 20-25 minutes until the skin were roasted and separated from the pulp which was soft. I removed the eggplant from the oven and allowed to cool a little before peeling off the skin. I removed the seeds from the pulp and placed into the blender with some wakame miso and a little water and blended to form a runny puree. This was added to a mix of wheat and buckwheat flour to form a dough. Next I made the dashi by placing three strips of dried kombu kelp with 4 cups of water in a saucepan to soak for 15 minutes. I then place the saucepan on the stove and brought the water and kelp up to just before boiling point before removing from the heat and adding half a cup of bonito flakes scattering over the top. After about 3-4 minutes the katsuobushi had sunk to the bottom, I then strained the stock through a cheese cloth lined strainer and set aside for serving. While the eggplant was roasting a set the sous vide machine to 53 deg. C. and placed a fillet of pink ling with a little crushed ginger and some butter into vacuum sealed plastic pouch and cooked the fish at 53 degree C. for 30 minutes. To serve a placed the spent ingredients from the dashi back into the saucepan with 4 cups of water and brought the water to the boil, simmering for around 10 minutes to form a second sea stock called the Niban dashi. While the dashi was simmering I formed little rounded balls with the dough and once the dashi was ready and strained. The dashi was returned to the simmer and the dumplings were cooked in the dashi for about 2-3 minutes.
      To serve I reheated the ichiban dashi , pouring the dashi into a flat bottom bowl. I then placed the Pink Ling fillet in the centre of the bowl, arranging some seaweed and the dumplings around the fish. I then topped the fish with a little lemon zest.

           

' plated CHICKEN , PEA & NOODLE SOUP .'

Plated Free range chicken broth , Garden pea caviar , Fresh egg noodles , Shredded chicken breast , pea flower & greens.

                     Its the beginning of mid autumn here and you wouldn't think so weather wise, with only the night temperatures dropping ever so slightly, the humidity is still high and the day temps are in the high 20's pushing 30. The peas in my garden have shot up and we're starting to get our first pods and the snow peas are in prolific flower, great signs of a good crop. This dish was inspired by the garden harvests and with a left over chicken frame in the freezer I decided to serve up a plated soup. To add a little twist I turned the broth into a thickened sauce and made pea caviar using the 'cold oil spherefication' technique form pureed garden peas.                                                                                        
                      To make the chicken broth sauce I began by placing in a large stock pot a frame from a free range chicken, caramelised onion halves, chicken breast fillets, chopped carrots, celery, parsley, bay leaf and seasoning, covering with water I brought the stock to the boil reducing to a simmer for 2 and a bit hours. This was then strained and the breast fillets were put aside for shredding, some of the broth was reserved to make the sauce and the rest was placed into a small sauce pan with some fresh garden peas and brought to the boil. Once the peas were cooked they were placed into a blender with a little of the cooking stock and blended to a puree, this was then stained and set aside. I then placed a tall glass of canola oil in the freezer allowing the oil to chill and thicken for about half an hour. In a small saucepan I put the strained pea puree and 1% agar agar heating to a simmer while whisking to dissolve the agar powder, this was then removed and allowed to cool to 60 deg. c before I removed the oil from the freezer and prepared to make the pea caviar. With a syringe I drew up the pea liquid and slowly drop droplets of the liquid into the cold oil, as they slowly sunk to the bottom of the glass they had time to set solid. Once a dropped all the liquid I strained the the glass of oil, collecting the oil in a jar for later applications and trapping the caviar in the strainer, these were then rinsed and set aside for plating. In a bowl I combined flour and eggs and made a simple dough, kneading for 5-10 minutes. After chilling the dough for half an hour I rolled the dough out on a floured surface before passing through the rollers of the pasta machine, this was then run through the spaghetti attachment and dusted with flour to keep the strands separated. In a large pot of rolling salted boiling water I cooked the noodles for 2 minutes before removing and placing under cold water to stop the cooking process. To finish the sauce I placed the reserved chicken broth in a small saucepan bringing to broth to a simmer, with a little of the heated broth I added some arrowroot flour and made a paste before adding back into the broth and whisking to incorporate. Once the sauce had thickened I removed the pot from the heat ready for plating.                      
                   To plate I began by spooning some of the chicken broth sauce in the centre of the plate. I then arranged the shredded chicken breast, pea caviar and egg noodles on top of the broth. Garnishing the plate with droplets of broth with pea caviar, pea greens and topped with a pea flower.                    

' 54 deg . C BANANA PRAWN in PEA WATER .'

54 degree C. Sous vide cooked Queensland Banana prawn in a Chilled Pea water & Celery juice broth with Nameko mushrooms, Charred onions, Thai basil, Pea butter & greens.

               In many styles of food over the years, the chefs, cooks, housewives of the world abroad strive to cook meals with complexity and richness in flavour, with meals displaying layers of depth. In the modernists kitchens of today meals are being prepared using a minimalist approach to ingredients but showing execution of great techniques in showcasing these few ingredients and enhancing them. This dish is a good example of bringing out the raw flavours of each ingredient. The onions have been sauteed and caramelised to bring out the sweetness of the onion, the prawn was cooked in a 54 degree C. sous vide water bath with only butter and garlic to accompany. This allowed the prawn to cook evenly trapped in its own juices. I've seen the pea water prepared a little different to mine, with the use of a centrifuge, pea puree is spun at 1200 g's separating the liquid from the solid. My way still requires a pea puree but then this is manually passed several times through a cheese cloth filter. This technique removes the starch from the pea and it is starch which inhibits the body from tasting sweetness. So with most of the starch removed, it leaves the pea water tasting sweeter than the original whole peas used.
              I began by making the juices needed for the pea and celery water, first I put a pot of peas on the boil and roughly chopped celery into chunks. One serving requires 15 g of pea water and 5 g of celery juice so be sure not to over do it. I juiced the celery and ran it through a cloth filter several times before pouring into a glass jar and placing in the fridge to be chilled. Once the peas were cooked I drained them placing into the blender with some cold water and forming a puree. This was then ran through a cloth filter several times and poured into a jar before placing in the fridge to chill. While these were chilling I prepared the prawns in food safe plastic pouches along with a little butter and some garlic paste. This was then vacuum sealed with the food-saver and placed into a 54 degree c. sous vide water bath for 12 minutes. The pouch was then removed and placed directly into an ice water bath and the into the fridge to chill. In a skillet I quickly sauteed some nameko mushrooms and pearl onions before removing. I sliced the onions in half and returned them to a hot skillet face down to caramelise.
            To plate a placed 5 g of filtered celery juice and 15 g of pea water into the base of the bowl. In the centre of this I placed the sous vide prawn topped with pea greens and arranged the nameko mushrooms, micro purple thai basil leaves, charred onions and the pea butter around the edge of bowl.