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.
                                                                                                    

' BACKYARD SALAD #3 .'

Backyard winter harvested salad of Pea greens & Flowers, Watercress, Sorrel, Yellow Chard, Sweet potato greens, Nasturtium leaves & Petals, Watermelon Radish and Supremes of Blood Orange & Tangelo.

                  For this post I've done a quick little winter garden inspired salad to accompany some fresh citrus I had bought from the grocers. This tasty salad of winter greens with peppery and lemon notes has been dressed with a blood orange vinaigrette and makes perfect for an appetiser as it gets all those saliva glands going and taste buds zinging. The nasturtium leaves and petals along with the watercress and radish give off peppery and mustard flavour notes adding a little spice and warmth to the dish.        
                  To make this salad I started with preparing the citrus, slicing both the blood orange and tangelo into supremes and placing into the fridge to chill. In a bowl I whisked together some olive oil, blood orange juice, salt, pepper and panela until well combined, this was set aside. Next I went for a walk down the backyard to the vegetable garden and had a little forage for the winter greens, radishes and flowers. These were washed, the radish I sliced thinly and dressed the salad greens in the blood orange vinaigrette. The greens, radish slices, flower petals and prepared citrus fruit supremes were then arranged onto a plate and seasoned with some cracked black pepper.
                 When it was photo shoot time, I went outside to capture the days natural light like I usually do. But this time I had forgotten that I had let the chooks out to to free range earlier on. Well at the end of the shoot I was taking some variation plating shots and experimenting with a white back ground,  when the curiosity and patience had got the better of the White Sussex and she had to check out the backyard salad. Upon a closer look she dove in a started eating the salad, picking the tangelo supreme first followed by a frenzy of thrashing beak work annihilating my salad.

post#100 - ' the GOLDEN NESTED EGG .'

Beetroot marbled free-range Hens egg in Nest of Golden Sweet Corn Silks accented by Nasturtium petals & leaves, Pea greens, Olive oil leaf herb, Water Hyssop and Edible Wild rocket flowers.

                         Post number 100 @ food play and I'd like to give thanks and appreciation to the support out there, the forwards, the comments and the general help to spread the site globally. A special thanks to my wife for early pursuits in spreading the word and for encouragement and praise, but I guess mainly for her taste buds and their critique. This blog started October last year and has been viewed by over 30 countries and has had thousands of page views, I would never have thought. So for the 100th instead of the golden nest egg, I've done 'the GOLDEN NESTED EGG'.                              

                         The idea for this dish came from applications I've seen similar with the root of the concept coming from a soup that uses every part of the corn ear but the kernels are only used for garnish. Starting with striping the husks which are roasted and the silks were fried for a crunchy accompaniment, the spent cobs were grilled and charred and used with the husks for the base of the chowder. Upon doing more prying I've seen a number of chefs using the corn silks to form nests to present various egg preparations. I thought it would be appropriate to post a breakfast for #1oo as the very first post was a breakfast post as well.

                         To make this dish I first put a pot of water on the stove and brought to the boil, adding a little vinegar to the water I cooked some eggs for 5 minutes and 12 seconds before plunging the eggs into cold water. In a blender I added chopped beetroot, rice wine vinegar and a little water before blending to a juice. This was then passed through a sieve and poured into a tall glass filling to three quarters in height. I then made cracks all over the egg shells with the back of a spoon before placing into the beetroot juice and set aside for about 2 hours or enough time for the beet juice to penetrate the cracks and stain the egg whites with pink fuchsia. Next I heated some oil in a saucepan to around 180 deg. c. and deep fried corn silks in the arrangement of a birds nest, once the silks had puffed and turned from light green to golden I removed the nest with a slotted spoon and drained onto paper towel. And next I foraged the gardens in the backyard for some fresh accents for the nest, these were arranged around the rim of the nest and placed in the centre of the plate for serving. Next I drained the egg from the beetroot juice and under a trickle of running water I carefully peeled the egg revealing the stained beetroot marbling. I then placed the egg in the nest of corn silks and seasoned with smoked sea salt and cracked black pepper before serving.
                                                                                                       

' CARAMELISED CAULIFLOWER CUSTARDS .'

Caramelised Cauliflower custards served with Garden Pea greens dressed with Barrel aged Fish sauce & Lemon oil .

                     This is a simple little taster dish to put together and a really good little way to showcase seasonal produce. The custards in this dish are extremely dynamic in that it has a great crust, are hot throughout and melts on the tongue like a decadent cauliflower puree rather than the firm set that it resembles. To accompany these I dressed assorted pea greens fresh from the garden in a little aged fish sauce and lemon oil.                                                                                                                                  
                     To make the custards I placed heavy cream, diced cauliflower, salt, cayenne, and cinnamon in a saucepan over a medium heat, I brought this to the boil reducing to a low simmer, covering with a lid. Once the cauliflower was cooked and tender I transferred the mixture to a blender and mixed to form a smooth puree, this was then placed into a small saucepan and brought to a simmer with 1.5% gellan gum whisking to dissolve and disperse the gum. The the puree was then removed from the heat and poured into a plastic mould and placed in the fridge to set. At this time I dressed the pea greens with a little barrel-aged fish sauce and some olive oil mixed with lemon. I kept the pea greens fresh and not cooked to give the dish a little fresh crunch to cut the rich creamy custard. The greens were then plated and ready for the the custards to be re-heated and caramelised. In a medium hot pan I added some olive oil, removing the custard from its mould I sliced the custard into bite sized cubes of which I lightly pan seared one side of the cube before immediately arranging them on to the plate with the pea greens and seasoned with smoked sea salt to serve.