october offerings' PICKLED LAMBS TONGUE .'

Pickled Organic grass-fed Lambs tongue with Sous vide Baby beetroot in raspberry sauce, Sheep's milk Curd snow, Apple & German chamomile oil and chamomile leaves. 

                 The third instalment of the 'october offerings', this dish is a variation of one that was getting around the tables of L'Enclume a few years back. The sheep's milk curd snow is very light and delicate but refreshing against the earthy sweetness of the raspberry sous vide beets and the apple infused oil. All giving way to the acidity of the pickled tongue and its strong lamb flavours. The pickled tongue underwent a 3 week brining and pickling process listed below, before it was sliced thinly to be served.        
                 After the tongue was detached and removed from the sheep head, I rinsed the tongue under cold running water before placing the tongue into a glass container. I then prepared a brine of salted water, covering the tongue with the brine and refrigerating overnight covered. The next day I rinsed the tongue under cold running water again before this time simmering the tongue on a medium heat in a  brine of water, apple cider vinegar and salt for about 2 hours until the tongue was tender. The tongue was then rinsed again and the outer membrane was removed. In a saucepan I brought to the boil some water, vinegar, salt, sugar, mustard seeds, fennel seeds, cumin seeds, coriander seeds and peppercorns. I then placed the tongue into a sterilised jar and covered the tongue with the cooled pickling liquid, securing the jar with a lid, the the tongue was placed into the fridge and allowed to mature for 3 weeks. To make the curd snow, I first made the curd as per earlier posted this month. Only once the curd was drained of all its whey, I formed a ball with the curd and placed it into the freezer to freeze solid. Once the curd was solid, using a grater I shaved the frozen curd to form a powdery snow. In a small saucepan I gently heated some olive oil with a few strips of apple peel and some german chamomile leaves. The oil was then removed from the heat and allowed to stand and infuse until cool. The oil was then strained through cheese cloth and ready to be used. The last application was the beets of which I simply peeled, quartered and placed into a food grade plastic pouch with some frozen raspberry sauce. The pouch was vacuum sealed and placed into a 84C water bath for an hour. The beets and sauce were then removed from the pouch and chilled before being served.

' CORNMEAL CRUSTED LAMBS BRAINS .'

Cornmeal crusted Organic grass-fed Lambs brains with a Golden peach & Sweet corn salsa, Lemon Balm and a Sherry Vin gastrique.

                    This dish is a continuation of the 'october offerings', with the brains used here coming from the sheep head given to me buy a good mate. As butchering is not something I do all he time, I wasn't quite sure on the approach to removing the brains from the skull without a band saw. So with some unsuccessful googling, I picked up the head and went downstairs. With the head laid out upright, wrapped in plastic and wedged between to big rocks and now my 3 year old son Levi as audience. I took to the head with a tomahawk, seven blows later I split the skull directly down the middle and managed to keep the brains intact, as my son watched on with an excited curiosity. With this dish the peach and corn salsa gives a sweetness as the acidity of the sherry vin gastrique cuts the richness of the crumbed lambs fry.                                                                                                                                        
                   After removing the brains from the sheep skull, I rinsed them thoroughly before trimming any fatty tissue. The brains were then soaked in fresh ewes milk for about an hour, before being coated with cornmeal and shallow fried in pork fat. The crumbed brains were then removed, drained on paper towel and seasoned with salt. To make the salsa, I lightly sauteed some diced peach and corn kernels in some olive oil and seasoned with a little cumin, paprika, salt and pepper. As the peaches just started to leak their juices, I removed the salsa from the stove and allowed it to cool before serving. The vin gastrique was made by gently reducing sherry vinegar and a little sugar until thick and syrupy.

october offerings - ' SHEEPS MILK CURD .'

Fresh Organic Ewes milk Curd served with a spring salad of Garden peas & greens, Asparagus, Green Courgette, Sprigs of Mint and Sage flowers.

                      Its been a while between posts and I do apologise to any followers, there has been quite a bit on my plate recently, so to speak. Not so long ago a local good mate of ours just got his lambs done and came over with some spring offerings. Amongst some quality cuts of grass reared lamb, there was also a whole, skinned sheep head and about 3 quarts of fresh ewes milk. I was a bit taken back by the sheep head at first, but I've always wanted to have a go at pickled lambs tongue. The only thing is I wasn't quite sure what to use to remove the tongue. Immediately when I saw the milk my mind ticked over with thoughts of food pairings for ewes milk yoghurt and milk curd. Sheeps milk, despite not widely drunk in modern culture, has a far more superior protein value and has almost twice the fat content of cows and goats milk. These qualities make sheeps milk perfect for cheese making with some fine examples such as Manchego, Pecorino and Roquefort.                                                                            
                     This milk curd has been made using lemon juice to curdle the milk which imparts a nice faint hint of citrus freshness through the curd. I started by heating some of the ewes milk in a saucepan until just before boiling point, about 87-91 C. The milk was then returned to a gentle low heat before I added some freshly squeezed lemon juice. Stirring to separate the curds and the whey, I then strained the curd through some cheese cloth and forming a ball, I squeezed out any excess whey. To serve a gave the curd a dressing of some macadamia nut oil and seasoning of cracked back pepper. All the vegetables were tossed in olive oil and lemon juice and the plate was garnished with sprigs of mint, olive oil herb and purple sage blossom.
                                                                                                    

' HOMAGE TO THE PEA .'

Green Pea & mint mousse served on Smashed peas with Chickpea fritters and a salad of Zucchini ribbons, Garden podded peas, pea greens & flowers.

                   Spring is definitely upon us here in Brisbane, Queensland and the day and night temps have climbed. With the onset of the warmer weather means the humble pea leaves the garden and its space becomes quickly replaced by beans. So as a way to say goodbye to winter and embrace the warmer months of spring and summer I've done a little homage to the pea. This dish is playful and pays tribute to the pea in its many different parts and stages of the plant, presented using a wide variety of cooking techniques from its raw state to a light creamy mousse to sweet and savoury fried fritters.
                   To make the pea mousse I cooked 300g of peas in salted boiling water until soft and tender, 100g of these were then placed into the blender with 100ml of milk, 100ml of cream and some finely chopped mint. This was then blended until smooth and poured into a small saucepan with a tsp of agar agar and brought to the simmer, whisking to dissolve the agar. I then separated some of the mixture and added some pure pea puree to make a greener tone. This was then spooned into a mould and placed into the fridge for a minute or two before pouring the rest of the original lighter coloured mixture on top, filling the mould. This was then placed in the fridge for half an hour to fully set before being un-moulded. For the fritters, I placed 100g of the cooked peas in a mixing bowl and mashed them until roughly smashed. To this I added 1 egg, 100ml of buttermilk, minced onion, 1/2 tsp of turmeric, 1/4 tsp of garam masala and seasoning of pepper and salt. This was all whisked to incorporate and put some air in the mixture before adding 50g of chickpea flour, 50g of plain flour and a 1/4 tsp of baking powder. With a wooden spoon I brought the mixture to a drop batter consistency. I then heated some ghee in a shallow frying pan and fried spoonfuls of the batter in batches, cooking for 2-3 minutes on each side. They were then drained on paper towel seasoned with citron salt and served warm. With the final 100g of cooked peas I mashed them in a bowl roughly with some olive oil, apple cider vinegar, salt and pepper. This dressing was also used to dress all the fresh greens and zucchini ribbons.

' poached CHICKEN with PINK AUTUMN SALAD .'

Poached Chicken tenderloin, Garlic chive & yoghurt mayo, Salad of Purple Kale, Red onion, Detroit Globe Beetroot, Purple carrot, Heirloom Radish and Radish baby greens.

                       This dish was solely inspired by our Autumn garden harvests, now thriving the cold nights have come and the greens are crisp and fresh. We will have purple, green and tuscan kale growing perpetually for most of the winter now and radishes are coming on with stagnated plant outs of a few different heirloom varieties. All this action in the garden has prompted me to put together a pink and purple accented salad for an accompaniment to poached chicken for a light lunch. Vegetables that are purple in colour like the original carrot have a pigment which is very high in anti oxidants, not to mention have great vibrant colourful appeal.                                                                                            
                       This was a fairly simple dish to throw together and to begin with I placed a pot of chicken stock on a low to medium heat adding to this chopped onions, bay leaf, carrot and celery. Once heated I added some chicken tenderloins and poached them in the stock for about 15 minutes. They were then removed and placed into the fridge to chill. To make the yoghurt mayo I first started by making a whole egg mayonnaise by blending whole eggs, white vinegar, mustard powder and salt until it had combined, I then drizzled olive oil, while blending on a medium speed to form a creamy consistency. Once the mayo was ready I spooned the mayo into a small mixing bowl adding a little greek yoghurt and some finely chopped garlic chives, this was then placed into the fridge to chill. To make the salad I prepared the vegetables, firstly I peeled the beetroot and pickled the beet over a low simmer in equal parts rice wine vinegar and water with a little sugar and a pinch of salt until tender before draining a cutting the beet brunoise. The carrot was sliced to thin julienne and radishes cut into wedges and slices. The red onion was sliced thinly and the kale and baby radish greens washed. All vegetables except the beetroot was tossed in a little olive oil and some of the yoghurt mayo before serving. To plate I arranged the pink autumn salad on the plate, placing the chicken on top. I then spooned the yoghurt mayo over the chicken, seasoning with cracked back pepper.

 

                                                            plated without the purple kale

' QUAIL , poached PEAR & SWEET POTATO .'

De-boned double breast of Quail roasted , Sweet potato & pear puree , Brandy Poached mini Pear , Quail jus , fresh pear salad , pea greens and micro sage leaves.

                  While out browsing the deli shops and Italian grocers the other day I made a special trip to this particular store that sells a small range of gourmet products and quail was what I was after. They never let me down and I walked out with some white asparagus six birds at $4 AUS. each. The pears in this dish are a mini variety I purchased while doing the weekly groceries. They were labeled 'paradise pears' by Zahra farms, Yenda NSW. I'm suggesting they are some kind of new season pear variety.      
                  The preparations for this dish are listed by name below and are in no order to follow as I prepared all the elements first and cooked them all at the same time its harder to explain in writing.
  QUAIL - The quail was first cut down the breast plate and turned over back side up and flattened. The legs from the top of thighs were removed as to the wings, leaving just the the double breast or torso. Using a sharp knife I ran the blade between the breast fillet and the rib cage and cut the meat away from the ribs up to the back bone and doing the same to the other breast fillet. Once I had achieved this I flipped the quail over so it was on its back and with the rib cage now free but the back bone still attached I used a pair of scissors to cut between the backbone and the skin and little flesh their is. I now removed the whole backbone and ribs from the bird leaving behind a de-boned perfect, skin on double breast fillet of fresh quail meat. This was then rinsed under cold water and checked for remaining bones before being pat dry. I then filled the pocket between the two breasts with sage leaves, folding the breasts back together I placed three toothpicks at the base of the meat to hold the the two fillets together while cooking. In a hot pan with some olive oil I placed the seasoned quail skin side down and cooked to brown the skin and seal the meat. Once the meat lifted easily without force and was browned I turned it over and cooked for a further 5-6 minutes. I then placed the quail into a roasting dish with a wire rack with water at the bottom of the pan and into a 160 deg.c. oven and baked the quail until the juices changed from running red to running brown, well I like mine with no blood anyway the cooking is preferential. The quail was then removed and allowed to rest before pulling the toothpicks out. I retained the juices from the roasting pan to make the jus.        
   JUS - I placed the cooking liquid, skimmed of fat retained from roasting in to a saucepan and simply brought the stock or jus ( juice from itself ) to a gently simmer and reduced the sauce to a thick syrup.    
  PUREE - I made the puree by simply placing cooked sweet potato, chopped fresh pear and a little cream in a blender and processing to a smooth consistency before being reheated when served.                    
  SALAD - The pear salad is a simple brunoise of summer pear dressed with extra virgin cold pressed olive oil and lemon juice with a seasoning of cracked pepper medley and smoked sea salt.                      
  PEAR - I poached the pear by first bringing some Cretan white sweet brandy made of honey, thyme and distilled grape must, a little water, sugar, honey, thyme and lemon juice and zest to the boil and then removed from the heat while I prepared the pear by peeling and trimming a slice from the bottom of the pear so it can stand freely. This was then placed into the brandy syrup and returned back to the stove and brought to a simmer . The pear was then ladled with the syrup and poached with a lid on the saucepan until tender and translucent, spooning syrup over the pear at regular intervals during the poaching, for a pear of this size it only took about 15-20 minutes. The pear was then removed and set aside and allowed to cool before being plated.

 

' BEETROOT & GOATS CHEESE SALAD .'

Goats cheese & Beetroot roulade , Goats cheese panna cotta Whole pickled & Sliced fresh baby beets , Beetroot & goats milk emulsion, Pea greens , French tarragon , Water hyssop flowers & Cypress black salt.

                     Just the one post this week, a little slack I know but I guess one is better than none. I've been a bit busy finishing the chook palace in the back corner of the yard, stage one of what I call 'protein corner'. We purchased our girls today and they've settled in quite well. Anyway this light little dish I've presented here is a variation of a beetroot and goats cheese salad. The goats cheese I chose for this came from 'South Cape Fine Foods' and having aged a little longer, is creamy and a little earthy in flavour. More so than the tangy taste of a younger cheese made from goats milk. And its these characteristics which allow the cheese to pair so well with the earthy, sweet tones of the root vegetable beetroot. Each of the two ingredients have three applications and intertwine flavours of tartness and sweet along with textural contrasts of fresh, crunchy, creamy and soft.                            
                    This salad began with the preparation of the roulade of which I first placed into a saucepan some milk, cubed goats cheese and agar agar at 1%. This was brought to the simmer whisking to dissolve the agar and also melt the cheese through the milk. Once simmering I removed the pot from the stove and using a funnel I poured the panna cotta mix into plastic cylinders and placed into the fridge to set. Next I heated some beetroot juice in a saucepan with 1% agar  and brought to the simmer whisking to dissolve the agar powder. This was then removed from the stove and poured onto a flat tray and spread to about 2mm thick this was then allowed to set at room temp. I then un-moulded the goats cheese, with one cylinder I left as is for the goats cheese panna cotta slicing it into bite size pieces. For the thicker cylinder I trimmed up the ends, measured the length and cut the corresponding sized rectangle out of the beetroot gelee. Placing the goats cheese roll at one end of the gelee, I rolled cheese in the beetroot film. I then sliced some of the the complete rolled roulade of varying sizes and some really thin slices were cut to make the faux radish. With some whole baby beets I peeled them placing a few into some water, rice wine vinegar, sugar and salt bringing them to the boil and reducing to a simmer until soft and tender. With the remainder of the fresh beet I simply thinly sliced and presented as is. To make the emulsion dressing I placed goats milk, honey, sherry vinegar, beetroot juice and a little seasoning into a tall tumbler along with some granulated soy lecithin and blended using a stick blender to form a foam, this was then refrigerated until serving time so the bubbles hold their structure, hence don't make this prep till last. To plate I garnished the dish with some pea greens, petite french tarragon, water hyssop flowers and a sprinkling of Cypress black sea salt. Next time I think I will have the addition of some fresh beetroot leaves and some tiny thinly sliced red onion rings.                                                    

' SMOKED WAGYU PIE & HEIRLOOM CARROTS .'

Hickory smoked Wagyu Beef pie & fillet , Red wine & plum reduction , Orange & Purple heirloom carrots , Crumble of Panko crumb & Dorrego pepper leaf , Carrot & ginger sauce , Purple carrot & plum gel and fresh thyme sprigs.

              Wagyu meaning 'Japanese cow' is a stand out in table beef in my eyes, no other breeds can match that natural marbling which enhances its taste and tenderness. This wagyu cut came from my regular deli and was the end cut of a Kobe Wagyu rib roast. The carrots came from the green grocers section of the same shop and all in all this is a pretty easy dish with few ingredients. Light but packed with grounding flavours of smokey and earthiness paired with the sweetness of the three sauces, makes this dish a winner for taste and with a different approach from being plated the pies could be served as buttlered or stationary hors d'oeuvres.                                                                                                            
              The first thing I did was prepare the meat for this plate. With a 50/50 mix of sea salt and sugar I rubbed the piece of meat placing it into a ziplock bag with the curing mix of salt and sugar and placed the bag into the fridge to cure, turning and shaking every hour for 3-4 hours. Once the meat was partial cured I rinsed the curing mix off the meat with cold water and pat dried. Placing my smoking vessel over the barbecue burner to heat up, I then made a boat from tin foil and wet some hickory shavings, squeezing all the water out I placed the shavings in the boat and put the boat at the bottom of the smoker. Once the vessel was full of smoke and hot I placed the wagyu meat basted in oil on the rack in the smoker. Closing the lid I smoke the meat for 4-5 minutes each side with the heat . I then turned the flame off smoking the meat for a further 8 minutes turning half way. The smoked wagyu was then pan fried for a further 2 minutes each side and then allowed to rest before carving a thin slice to plate and cubing some more into 4mm cubes to go in the pie filling. Next I made a simple meat gravy by melting butter in a saucepan, to this I added plain flour to form a roux to which I gradually added veal stock. Whisking while gently simmering until the gravy becomes thick and velvety, this was then added to the chopped meat pieces and the filling was set aside. To make the savoury shortcrust pastry I started by combining flour, butter and salt in a food processor to make a fine crumb. To this I added egg yolks and chilled water and processed bringing together a dough before turning the pastry on to a floured work bench and rolling out to a 3-4 mm disc. This was then covered between two sheets of baking paper and placed in the fridge for 30 minutes. Greasing muffin tins I then cut circles using an upturned glass out of the pastry and lined the muffin inserts. I then spooned the filling into the pastry liners and cut circles for the lids, making slits in the pie lids for the pie to breath I then brushed the pies with beaten egg and placed them into a 170 deg. c oven for about 20-25 minutes, re-glazing the the pies with egg wash again half way through cooking. Once cooked I removed the pies from the muffin tray and set aside.
               The carrots were simply prepared in different shapes and sizes then blanched in salted boiling water before being placed into an ice water bath to stop the colours leaching. The crumb is a mix of Japanese panko crumb, olive oil and the Aussie bush pepper leaf from Dorrego. The three sauces were next, firstly the Red wine sauce was a reduction of Barossa valley Shiraz with thyme and plum juice, this was used to dress the pie and the wagyu fillet. The orange coloured sauce is carrot and ginger juice, sugar and a little xantham gum to thicken. And the purple gel is purple carrot juice, plum juice, sugar and xantham gum. These sauces were used to imitate carrots on the plate, giving sweetness to the dish.

' BLOOD ORANGE & BEETROOT TARTLET .'

Blood orange & Beetroot Tartlet , Beetroot panna cotta , Persian cucumber , Asparagus , Hummus , Swiss cheese , Rocket , Red oak , Blood orange and edible flowers.

               This is a dish put together with left over ingredients making their way to areas of the fridge that don't see light, out of sight out of mind the saying goes, but not this time. I made use of these awol. veggies before it was to late and they become food for my worm farm. It came together quite well considering, the ingredients are slightly random but surprisingly works together and this would make a fabulous light lunch, brunch type deal. Next time I would just add a bit more beet juice to the panna cotta to try and achieve a more purple, maroon beetroot coloration rather than the strawberry looking one I've made.      
                The sweet shortcrust pastry was the first preparation for this meal, starting by combining flour, butter and sugar in a food processor to make a fine crumb, to this I added egg yolk and chilled water and processed bringing together a dough before turning the pastry onto a floured work bench and rolling out to a 3-4 mm thick disc. This was then covered between two sheets of baking paper and placed in the fridge for 30 minutes. Greasing muffin tins, I then cut circles with a glass out of the pastry and lined the muffin inserts. In a bowl I grated beetroot and mixed with blood orange juice, sugar, egg and a little flour, this was then spooned into the pastry shells and placed into a 170 deg.c. oven and cooked for about 25-30 minutes until the filling was cooked and the pastry just  browning. These were then removed and allowed to cool before serving. To make the panna cotta I simple heated in a small saucepan milk, cream, sugar, beetroot juice and agar agar at 2%. This was then brought to a simmer whisking to dissolve the sugar and agar powder, this was then poured into a 10 mm plastic tube and set in the fridge. I poured the remaining mixture onto a flat tray and placed it in the fridge to set. While these were setting I prepared the asparagus by washing, trimming and blanching asparagus spears of which were then steeped in an ice bath to stop the cooking procedure. The cucumber was shaved using a veggie peeler, trimmed and dressed in olive oil and seasoned. The lettuce greens were simply tossed in seasoned olive oil before being plated. I then made a hummus by placing chick peas, tahini, garlic, olive oil, cumin and lemon juice in a blender and processed to combine adding a little water and blending to make a smooth paste.