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.

' 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.

' food plays' WALDORF SALAD .'

Contempory Waldorf salad of Crisp Granny Smith apple, Roaring Forties Blue cheese, Roasted walnuts, Tender Crisp celery, Watercress and Blue cheese dressing. 

                    The waldorf salad is a classic salad that has endless possibilities of a reconstructed contempory twist to its presentation. The salad is traditionally made of apple, celery, walnuts and mayo on a bed of lettuce and was first created in the 1890's by Oscar Tschirky at the Waldorf Hotel in NYC. The are many variations using chicken, dates, grapes, sultanas etc. and the recipe I've chosen to recreate comes from a english restauranteur and owner of The British Larder. This variation uses the addition of the blue cheese through the mayo and as a crumbled accompaniment, which really stands up against the tang of the apple and the pepperiness of the watercress. This waldorf version delivers a diversity of textures and flavours that pack punch and harmonise collectively.
                   To make the salad I simply cored an apple slicing thinly into 2-3mm slices, these were lightly dressed in olive oil and lemon juice before being reassembled into an apple shape and chilled. Next I sliced the celery into 2-3mm matchsticks and reserved some young yellow leaves also dressing these in the oil and lemon juice before chilling. In a 180C oven I placed some walnuts on a flat tray and roasted them for about 10 minutes until nicely toasted and starting to release nut oils which intensify the flavour of the nut, these were then cooled, chopped roughly and set aside ready for plating. To make the dressing I creamed 1 egg yolk, 1/2 teaspoon of Dijon mustard, 50g of Blue cheese, 1 tbsp of lemon juice, a pinch of sugar and salt, until smooth. Slowly I then added 50ml of olive oil and 100ml of sunflower oil while slowly whisking the mayo to form an emulsion, adding a tbsp of warm water if the mayo became to thick. The mayo was then chilled for half an hour before serving.                                    
                   To plate I placed the reassembled sliced apple in the centre of the plate, topping with young celery leaf, celery matchstick, sprig of watercress and a small thin tile of blue cheese. Around the apple I placed dollops of the blue cheese dressing at 12, 3, 6 and 9 0'clock, topping each with a different accompaniment. Next I arranged the matchsticks of celery, young celery leaves, watercress and crumbled blue cheese around the apple, scattering the roasted walnuts and seasoning the dish with a little cracked black pepper.                                      

 

' SPICY CHOCOLATE SALAD .'

Chilli spiked Chocolate pudding, Nasturtium blooms, Watermelon Radish greens, Olive oil and Aged Balsamic vinaigrette and vanilla salt. 

                    This creation came about from a conversation I had with mum about a week ago or so at my cousins sons first birthday celebration. We were talking about our common interest food, and how she feels so strongly about the Mediterranean food culture, the simplicity, the whole food ethics and so on but how times are changing even over there. People are becoming more willing to participate in the unusual or the un-tried. How our children's tastes have been exposed to a greater number of food combinations than any generation in the past. The conversation went on and mum made a reference to how chocolate is being applied in many different ways now from just the humble chocolate bar, and she went on to state that we are now seeing chocolate in beer and wine, who knows whats next. At the time I'm looking a bowl of fresh garden salad on the table and mind starting ticking. When I got home I got onto the laptop to see if there were any chocolate salad recipes out there and low and behold there was a photo of a chocolate salad in a blog entry from years back by the food ideas group. So with a bit of improvisation and my adaptations I came up with this simple chilli spiced chocolate salad.                    
                    For this prep I started with the base for the chocolate pudding by gently heating some cream in a saucepan and adding cocoa powder, chopped de-seeded red chillies and melted bitter sweet chocolate, mixing to incorporate. Allowing time for the chilli to infuse, I then strained the mixture removing the chilli and placing the mixture back into the saucepan. To set the pudding I wanted something to be able to cut cubes but also have a velvet mouth feel, so I used carrageenan both iota and kappa which gave me tenderness with rigidness. I added the gums to the chocolate cream and while whisking, I brought the mixture to 80 degrees C. before removing from the heat and pouring into a plastic mould. This was then placed in the fridge to chill and set. To accent this pudding I foraged the vegetable garden for some nasturtium leaves and baby radish greens, both having a peppery bite to them each. Once the pudding was set, it was un-moulded, diced into bite size cubes and dressed in a vinaigrette of olive oil and aged balsamic vinegar, then all the ingredients were tossed together and plated. The salad was then seasoned with a little vanilla salt, something I had prepared some months ago by infusing salt with vanilla beans in a container sealed over time, bringing out a delicate sweetness and aroma to the salt.

 

' 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

' tea smoked SEA SCALLOP with WAKAME SALAD .'

Tea smoked Wild caught Sea Scallop with Wakame salad , Compressed Asian pear & sake , Pickled Baby Bitter melon , Water cress , Black garlic puree & wild rocket flowers .

                     With this dish I've used some Asian inspired ingredients to lift and accompany this succulent wild caught off the coastlines of the US sea scallop. I chose to cold smoke the mollusc using a tea smoking boat with the scallop on a rack over a bowl of ice to keep the temps down. Bitter melon plants went in late for me this year and are just coming on now with my 3 vines producing plenty. When small these melons are very concentrated and bitter but when pickled with vinegar, sugar and salt, this mellows and almost tastes like a cross between gherkins and capers.
                     To make this dish I first started with the compressed nashi fruit, for this technique I used the vacuum food saver sealer . Cutting the pear into brunoise, I placed them in a bowl and covered them with sake. After 5 or so minutes I drained the diced pear and placed them and a little frozen pear juice in to a food grade plastic pouch and vacuum sealed twice. This was left to compress and burst the cell walls of the fruit and release extra flavour while marinating in the sake, for about half an hour or so. In the mean time I made the wakame salad by simply mixing in a bowl wakame seaweed, sesame seeds, sesame oil, rice wine vinegar, sake, chilli flakes and a little salt this was then chilled until plating. To pickle the bitter melons I placed equal parts of water and rice wine vinegar, enough to cover the melons in a saucepan on a medium heat together with some sugar and salt. This was brought to a slow simmer for about 15 minutes until the melons were soft and tender to touch. I then drained them before plunging into an ice water bath to stop the cooking process, these were then drained and chilled for serving. After the half an hour was up I removed the asian pear pieces from the vacuum packaging, rinsed them quickly under cold water and dressed them in olive oil and black sea salt. The black garlic puree is just simply mashed black garlic piped through a plunger. The final component was the sea scallop of which I first seared very quickly on a hot skillet before rubbing in salt and brown sugar. In a foil boat I placed a mixture of some jasmine rice, jasmine tea leaves, brown sugar, black pepper corns and orange peel zest. This was placed into the smoker and was the vessel was filled and the boat was smouldering, I turned the flame off waited a little and with the scallop on a rack above a bowl of ice, I placed the bowl in to the smoker and cold smoked the scallop until fully cooked before removing from the smoker ready for plating.
            To plate I placed the smoked scallop on top of a bed of home grown water cress, this was topped with some wakame salad, a little black garlic puree, micro bitter melon and an edible wild rocket flower. I arranged the compressed asian pear pieces, wakame salad and pickled bitter melon with the black garlic puree and edible flowers to accompany.

' SWEETCORN & ASPARAGUS SALAD .'

Warm salad of Sweetcorn & Asparagus , Wakame Shiro miso, Sauteed onions , Toasted sesame seeds & Shichimi Togarashi .

                    This is a taste sensation and is simple and quick to make. Essentially a vegan friendly warm salad of sweetcorn and asparagus using the bold flavours of spice and heat with that savoury unami flavour from the fermented miso paste to help add a rich deep element to the otherwise light fare. The dish was seasoned with the japanese chilli spice shichimi togarashi, a spice mix containing seven flavours ( black and white sesame seeds, poppy seeds, roasted orange peel, sancho, ginger and nori). The asparagus in this dish was supplied by friends of ours (Buchanan's produce) and are local to the area, growing the freshest of organic produce and a decent size flock of dorper lambs. Many thanks Warren and co. for the gesture and the ongoing inspiration and knowledge in growing good food.    
                    Together in a bowl I mixed some shiro miso, rice wine vinegar and mirin to a paste before making a swipe on the plate. Standing a cob of corn on its end I cut the kernels of corn from off the cob with a sharp knife. I cut the asparagus into small pieces and sliced a small onion finely. With a little butter I sauteed (sweat) the onions off before removing, turning the heat up and cooking the corn and asparagus. I first laid a bed of sauteed onions across the swipe on the plate before placing the corn kernels on top of the onions followed by the asparagus. I seasoned the plate with some toasted sesame seeds and some Japanese seasoning shichimi togarashi.

' 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.                                                    

' BACKYARD SALAD # 2 .'

Backyard harvested salad of Edible weeds - Chickweed , Dandelion , Water hyssop , Wild rocket , Purslane , Scurvy weed & Lambs quarter with Pink grapefruit , Parmesan , wild rocket flowers and Lime & palm sugar vinaigrette .

              The second edition to the backyard salad series and this time although still the majority of the dish being harvested from the backyard, the emphasis is on those plants most people dread in their garden and are unaware there's a meal right under foot. Many people around the world are edible weed forages and sometimes travel to collect their prized eating weeds. I'm unfortunate enough that these edible plants are some of the best growing plants in my yard only they're not in rows. With the exception of the Wild rocket and the purslane which are in rows and have been cultivated by me. In fact there are ten edible weeds that grow commonly in our yard with the inclusion of clover, salsify and nasturtium. Although these plants are domestically known as weeds and have no commercial value, some of the leaves used in this salad have more nutritional value than your supermarket salad leaf. For example Dandelion native to Europe and now a widespread common weed throughout the world contains the highest content of vitamin A of all greens and very high potassium levels, stimulates bile flow and digestive enzymes is considered a spring clean for your liver. Scurvy weed was first eaten by white settlers in the country to protect themselves from scurvy and Wild rocket a member of the mustard family, the group of plants renown for their cancer fighting properties. This is just scratching into the surface of whats in this salad dish from a nutritional aspect. As most of these weeds taste either bland or bitter I've added the accompaniments of parmesan cheese and pink grapefruit pieces with a lime and palm sugar vinaigrette and seasoned with black cypress salt.

From left to right and top to bottom - 

Dandelion, Lambs quarter, Purslane, Wild rocket, Scurvy weed and water hyssop.