' UNSEASONAL OFFERINGS .'

King Island Diary Roaring Forties Blue cheese with Olive Caramel sauce, Salt cured Baby Roma tomatoes, Melon confit, Smoked Black Muscat grape, Young Celery leaves and Baby coriander.

               I'm not a real fan of blue moulded cheeses and I put it down to that first experience. I can recall mine vividly as my German father was born in Tilsit he would some times be giving by his german friends or buy himself Tilsiter or Cambazola. I was the the later also known as 'blue brie' needed to be vacuum sealed, locked up, frozen or something, when that came out of the packet the two cats ran away. The smell was of rotten socks and vomit and my dads breath after eating the tiniest piece, can't be described here, this kind of put me off blue mould cheese. Until this one popped up from this respectable cheese maker, its creamy and mild with a sweet nutty aftertaste and no repulsive odours. So this was marked down the other day and I picked up a wedge, to do some pairing exercises.

Now what was I to pair with this cheese and I foraged through the fridge. When you have children your fridge tends to store some unseasonal items, such as the rockmelon that Caleb our 6 yo. takes to school every day despite it being nearly the start of winter. Or the baby Roma tomatoes, or the black muscat grapes at the bottom of the crisper. Its quite insane the world our kids are being brought into if you really look into it. The children of today don't know seasonal foods as they see their favourite bright coloured sweet fruit or vegetable, supplied almost all year round in our supermarkets. Will this in time bring about whole new food pairings in the cooking of the future. Anyway it happens to be that these ingredients are well known match makers with cheeses and so I set out to make an 'unseasonable offerings'. Wanting to incorporate olives in the dish, I decided to go with a sauce I had seen done before

infusing olives in a caramel sauce.                                                                                                              

               Most of the preparations in this dish required about the same time so these can be done in any order . Below I have listed the preparations for this dish.                                                                                

Smoked Muscat grape- I put together a boat from aluminium foil and placed some dampened hickory saw dust into the boat and waited for my smoker to heat up. I then placed the boat in the bottom of the smoker and waited until the smoker was full of smoke. Placing a grape on baking paper over a metal bowl of ice and into the smoker on a wire rack above the boat. I smoked the grape with a low heat on the burner for about 5-6 minutes and then switched the burner off and continued to smoke the grape for another 5-6 minutes before removing and cooling at room temperature.
Salt cured tomatoes- For these I first got a saucepan of salted water on the boil, then making a tiny cross incision with a paring knife, so just the skin was cut. These were then put into the boiling water for about 2 minutes, the skins were just starting to come away from the flesh. I removed them from the saucepan and placed them into a chilled water bath before removing the skins with ease. the skinless tomatoes were then drained and placed into a bowl of kosher salt covering them partially. They were then placed into the fridge to cure for around 30-40 minutes before being rinsed under a slow trickle of cold water to wash off the salt, they were now ready to serve.                                                                         

Melon confit- To make this I set the sous vide water bath to 53 degree C. and in a vacuum sealed plastic pouch I placed melon shavings about 2m thick and frozen rockmelon juice with a little rice wine vinegar, this was cooked at set temperature for 30 minutes before being removed from the pouch. The shavings were rinsed under cold water to remove the juice and then rolled into a scroll and dressed in a little olive oil and seasoned with salt.                                                                                                                 

Olive caramel sauce- This sauce was adding 2/3 cup of white sugar with about 3 tbsp. of water to a heavy based sauce pan on a medium heat until all the sugar had dissolved and there was a cloudy syrup, being sure not to touch the pan up to this stage. When the sugar starts to bubble I turned the heat up to high and while stirring cooked the caramel until it was a beautiful amber colour. I then added 1/4 cup of black olive puree stirring with a wooden spoon to incorporate, the olive caramel was then removed from the heat and I added a touch of water to form a more sauce consistency. This sauce is served at room temperature.                                                                                                                             

   

' BLACK TRUFFLE TARTUFO .'

Tartufo of Chocolate & Vanilla gelato incased in a White truffle oil infused Dark chocolate shell , Chocolate fudge sauce , Cookie crumble Dirt & Sand , Shaved Black summer truffle & bee pollen granules.

                This is a dessert of pure indulgence and is a perfect way to see out the last summer days as we enter our first days of autumn here in the land of oz. As the heat is still around here in Brisbane, we are destined to see a prolonged late summer and the overlap of seasonal offerings but this also means a perfect scenario for raising autumn seedlings, giving them a strong start and establishment before the temperatures drop and day light decreases hindering photosynthesis. Anyway enough in the garden and more about this little stella. This dish isn't about showcasing expensive ingredients rather a dish with a perfect flavour pairing. What I noticed the most with this sweet, earthy flavoured pairing is the truffle gives the dark chocolate flavour the ability to last on the palate for ever, kind of like a fixative in soap holds the fragrance of a soap, truffle fixes the taste of the dark chocolate to the palate.

                This plate was fairly simple to put together, having said that I cheated with the gelato and opted for a store bought split flavoured gelato. This removed the a huge amount of time from the overall planning but in hindsight, next time I do this dish I intend to make my own vanilla flavoured gelato. As I found the store bought version didn't stand up to the plating and had melted inside the shell. With making my own I can adjust the gums and thickeners to my needs and produce a more durable gelato. The preparation of this dish started with the cookie crumbles, the first being the 'sand' or shortbread crumble of which I made a simple butter, flour and sugar dough, rolling out to 3-4 mm thick and cutting into cookie shapes before being baked in a 170 deg. oven for 15 minutes until golden in colour, the tray was then removed from the oven and allowed to cool before the cookies were pulverised to a crumb consistency. For the 'dirt' crumble I did a house-made Oreo cookie dough by mixing flour, unsweetened cocoa powder, a little baking soda, salt and sugar with an egg and unsalted butter, this was then rolled out to 3-4 mm thick, cut into cookie rounds and baked at 180-190 deg.c for 10 minutes before being removed and allowed to cool. I then placed the cookies in to a plastic bag and pulverised them to a crumb consistency. The trick to a good crumble is to shape the dough into cookies before baking rather than cooking as a flat sheet of dough, the biscuit shape is what gives a hardened crumb. I made the tartufo ( truffle ) next by melting some good quality ( 70% ) dark chocolate and adding to this a little white summer truffle oil. Using a melon baller I scooped balls of the gelato and with the truffle infused chocolate I coated the gelato balls, working fast to get them onto a parchment lined tray and into the freezer to set. While the tartufo were setting a began making the fudge sauce by bringing some cream, golden syrup, brown sugar, cocoa powder, salt and dark chocolate to the boil over a medium heat in a saucepan. I then reduced the heat to a low simmer and while stirring I cooked the fudge sauce out for about 5 minutes before removing from the stove and adding unsalted butter, vanilla extract and some more dark chocolate. This was then stirred until smooth in consistency and set aside to cool. The fudge sauce was then reheated in the microwave for 30 seconds to serve. And for the finishing touches I carefully shaved slithers of black summer truffle to accompany and garnished the tartufo with some delicate bee pollen granules.

' 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.

 

' GARLIC & GINGER SCAMPI with AVOCADO .'

Grilled garlic & ginger Scampi , Smoked salmon mousse , Avocado & Ginger mint puree , Edible sand , dried nori and pea greens.    

                   Summer inspired seafood entree of garlic and ginger grilled scampi accompanied by a smoked salmon mousse and avocado puree. Keeping with flavour of the sea I served an edible sand made from crumbs and other goodies of sea nature such as salts, dried fish, seaweed etc. The avocado puree remains fresh on the palette with a hint of ginger mint to lift it as well as lime juice, instead of the ever so popular guacamole pairing of avocado and garlic.                                                                        
                   Halving an avocado and removing the seed, I scooped the flesh from the skin into a blender with a little cream, lime juice, fresh ginger mint and a little seasoning. This was bended to form a smooth lime green puree nice and creamy. I then split a large scampi in half lengthways and cleaned the head cavities of the scampi halves. Making a basting sauce from butter, minced garlic and ginger I coated the flesh of the tail meat and filled the head cavity. I then placed the scampi flesh side up on a flat tray and placed the tray under the grill to cook for around 8-10 minutes, basting the meat every 2 minutes while their cooking. Once their cooked I removed the tray from under the grill and let them rest. In the meantime I placed some cream cheese, cream and smoked salmon in a blender and blended the mixture to a mousse consistency. To make the edible sand I mixed in a bowl some panko crumb, bread crumb, black and white sea salt, pink salt, ground dried fish, ground dried nori seaweed, evaporated sugar cane juice and wakame miso oil. The miso oil is simply sesame oil mixed with wakame miso paste and is rubbed through the crumb mix just before serving.                                                                
                    I plated this by swiping the top half of the plate with chilled avocado and ginger mint puree. I then arranged the scampi halves on the plate showing the succulent tail meat to the diner. With the salmon mousse I made four quenelles and arranged them between everything else on the plate and garnishing them with a slim strand of dried nori seaweed. With a spoon I carefully placed mounds randomly on the plate of the edible sand  and then finished the plate off with some fresh pea greens.