The Cooking Professor has been very remiss in not updating his blog!!! It has been since March. Quel Horreur! However, a reader has reminded me that it would be nice to do an update, so now is the time.
A Good reason for an update is that I was asked to do a cooking demonstration by the wonderful people who organised the Chittering Valley's Wine and Food Festival - Flavours of Chittering. What a lovely event it was! The valley was in all its superb early Spring splendour of rich green. The produce was fabulous, and the wines? Well! Those of you who have been to the Cooking School's classes will remember the superb wines from Riseborough Estate that we feature at the School. Riseborough is one of about eight vineyards and wineries in the valley and surrounds and most were featuring their best on the day.
Here are the two recipes that I demonstrated at the Festival:
Moondah Chicken Tagine with Chittering Preserved Lemons
You Need
Chermoula
1 red onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 piece of fresh ginger, about thumb-sized, grated
1 coriander plant, (including the root and stems) finely chopped
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 or two cloves, crushed
½ tsp turmeric
½ tsp paprika
½ tsp cinnamon
3 Tbsp olive oil
zest and juice of 1 lemon
¼ preserved lemon, finely chopped
Tagine
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 red onions, chopped
1 garlic clove, finely minced
1 small chilli, finely chopped
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cumin
sprinkle of dried oregano, about 1 tsp
½ tsp saffron threads, crushed
250ml chicken stock, warmed
1 free-range chicken, jointed
1 preserved lemon, quartered, and sliced into strips
100g pitted green olives , halved
12 or so pitted prunes
1 Tbls honey
a good handful fresh coriander, chopped
a good handful flat leaf parsley, chopped
Method
Make the chermoula by putting all the ingredients into a food processor and processing into a paste. Marinate the chicken pieces in the chermoula for at least 3 hours.
When it is time to make the tagine, heat the stock and add the saffron threads to the stock to infuse. Meanwhile, in a tagine or heavy-bottomed, lidded casserole, heat the olive oil and fry the onions until soft. Add the garlic and chilli and then the ginger, oregano and cumin and cook gently for a few more minutes. Add the chicken and its chermoula to the tagine and stir to coat with the onion and spices. Add the preserved lemon strips and then the saffron-infused stock to just cover the chicken pieces. Bring to a simmer, then cover and cook on a very gentle heat for about 45 minutes. Then add the prunes and olives and stir in the honey. Cook for another 15 minutes or until the chicken is falling apart.
Add the chopped coriander and parsley just before serving.
Serve over buttered cous cous.
Slow Braised Chittering Beef in Red Wine
(serves 4-6)
You Need
1 kilo lean stewing beef
Marinade
1 celery stalk, diced
1 onion, finely chopped
1 medium carrot, diced
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 crumbled bay leaf
zest of 1 orange
3 tbsp olive oil
1½ cups dry red wine
6 tbsp brandy
Rest of Ingredients
4 tbsp plain flour
olive oil
200g 1cm thick piece of rindless bacon, cut into lardoons (1cm chunks)
1 x 400 gm can diced tomatoes
1-2 cups beef stock
1 bouquet garni (sprigs of thyme, rosemary and parsley tied together)
20 button mushrooms, wiped with a damp cloth & quartered
Freshly ground Black Pepper
12 anchovies, mashed
3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp olive oil
3 garlic cloves, crushed
4 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
Method
A day ahead, cut beef into large cubes, trimming any excess fat. Combine all the marinade ingredients with the beef, mix well and refrigerate overnight. (Hint: If you forget this step, or haven’t the time, you can heat the wine until it boils and pour over the beef cubes and let it marinate the meat for about 20 minutes whilst you chop the vegetables and get everything else ready.)
The next day, preheat oven to 160C.
Drain the beef, reserving the marinade liquid and vegetables. Flour the beef, heat the oil in a large heavy-bottomed pot or casserole, and brown the meat in 2 or 3 lots. Wipe out the pot and heat fresh oil. Then toss in the bacon and cook for a few minutes. Return the beef and reserved marinade to the pot. Tuck in the bouquet garni. Add the tomatoes and just enough stock to cover. Season with freshly ground black pepper. Bring to a simmer, cover and put in the oven. Cook for 2-2½ hours or until the meat is very tender, adding more stock if needed.
Meanwhile, sauté the mushrooms and set aside. Mash together the anchovies, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, garlic and chopped parsley to form a paste and mix into the casserole, together with the mushrooms, and return to the oven for a further 30 minutes of cooking.
Serve on creamy mashed potatoes.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Curtin FM 100.1 Thursday 19 March
It is Curtin FM day again, and this is what we talked about. It is a great recipe!
Spiced Fish Pieces with Tahini Remoulade
(serves 4)
You Need
12 Fish pieces
Crunchy Coating
3 Tblsp cornflour
3 Tblsp Polenta
3 Tblsp fine semolina
1 Tblsp Golden Spice
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
½ tsp turmeric
½ tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp ground chilli
Tahini Remoulade
150g natural yoghurt
3 Tblsp Tahini
1 clove garlic, minced with salt
juice and zest of 1 lemon
½ tsp black pepper
1 Tblsp chopped parsley
1 Tblsp chopped gherkins
1 Tblsp chopped capers
4 handfuls of mixed lettuce leaves, including some bitter lettuce like radicchio
lemon wedges for serving
olive oil for frying the fish.
Method
To make the remoulade: Combine the yoghurt, tahini, garlic paste and lemon juice and zest in a bowl, and whisk thoroughly. Add the remaining ingredients and stir well.
Make the crunchy coating by thoroughly sieving the ingredients together using a coarse sieve. Season the fish pieces and coat in the crunchy coating.
Heat the oil in a hot non-stick fry pan and cook the fish pieces until golden. Drain on paper towels and serve over the dressed salad leaves with the remoulade spooned over the top.
Spiced Fish Pieces with Tahini Remoulade
(serves 4)
You Need
12 Fish pieces
Crunchy Coating
3 Tblsp cornflour
3 Tblsp Polenta
3 Tblsp fine semolina
1 Tblsp Golden Spice
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
½ tsp turmeric
½ tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp ground chilli
Tahini Remoulade
150g natural yoghurt
3 Tblsp Tahini
1 clove garlic, minced with salt
juice and zest of 1 lemon
½ tsp black pepper
1 Tblsp chopped parsley
1 Tblsp chopped gherkins
1 Tblsp chopped capers
4 handfuls of mixed lettuce leaves, including some bitter lettuce like radicchio
lemon wedges for serving
olive oil for frying the fish.
Method
To make the remoulade: Combine the yoghurt, tahini, garlic paste and lemon juice and zest in a bowl, and whisk thoroughly. Add the remaining ingredients and stir well.
Make the crunchy coating by thoroughly sieving the ingredients together using a coarse sieve. Season the fish pieces and coat in the crunchy coating.
Heat the oil in a hot non-stick fry pan and cook the fish pieces until golden. Drain on paper towels and serve over the dressed salad leaves with the remoulade spooned over the top.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
New Cooking Class Schedule
The new cooking class schedule for April and may is now available on the Cooking Professor's website. I would love to see you in a class!
Hummus
A lot of people have requested this recipe, so here it is!
Hummus
(serves 4-6 as a snack)
You need
1 425 g can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
3 cloves of garlic, finely minced with salt
1 lemon juiced and zested
¼ cup tahini*
1 tspn ground cumin
Pinch cayenne pepper
¼ cup olive oil
Salt and pepper
*Tahini can be bought at most Continental Delis.
Method
Place all the ingredients in a food processor, and add the olive oil to form a thick, smooth paste. Season. Add extra lemon juice if too thick. (If you haven’t got a blender, just chop and then mash the chickpeas and add the rest of the ingredients, with the oil added once the mixture begins to become paste-like.) To serve, transfer to a bowl, sprinkle with some extra cayenne papper (or paprika for a milder taste) and drizzle with olive oil.
Hummus
(serves 4-6 as a snack)
You need
1 425 g can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
3 cloves of garlic, finely minced with salt
1 lemon juiced and zested
¼ cup tahini*
1 tspn ground cumin
Pinch cayenne pepper
¼ cup olive oil
Salt and pepper
*Tahini can be bought at most Continental Delis.
Method
Place all the ingredients in a food processor, and add the olive oil to form a thick, smooth paste. Season. Add extra lemon juice if too thick. (If you haven’t got a blender, just chop and then mash the chickpeas and add the rest of the ingredients, with the oil added once the mixture begins to become paste-like.) To serve, transfer to a bowl, sprinkle with some extra cayenne papper (or paprika for a milder taste) and drizzle with olive oil.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Curtin FM 100.1
The Cooking Professor talks to Liz Pye on Curtin FM Radio 100.1 every second Thursday about food and cooking. It is a lot of fun! I usually have a recipe for Liz. Here is the one that went to air this week:
Sautéed Squid, Chickpea and Chorizo Salad
Serves 4 as an entrée
You need
200 g chickpeas.
300 g cleaned medium-sized squid (bodies and tentacles)
10 cherry tomatoes, quartered
1 lemon, juiced
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 medium-hot red chilli, seeded and thinly sliced across
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
A small handful of flat-leaf parsley leaves, chopped
1 chorizo sausage, cut across into thin slices
a good handful or two of rocket leaves
Salt and ground black pepper
Method
First, prepare the squid. Remove the tentacles and head from each squid, cut off the head, and remove the ink sack and any long dangly tentacles and discard. Retain the main set of tentacles and remove the hard gristle from where you have cut away the head. Now prepare the body of each squid. Remove the hard clear cartilage. Cut off the wings. Make a slit in the purple skin and remove from the body tube of the squid and discard. Cut the body of each squid open along one side and score the inner side with a sharp knife into a fine diamond pattern. Then cut each pouch lengthways in half, then across into 8cm pieces. Reserve.
Now slice the chorizo into thin slices, about 30 mm, and quickly sauté in a drizzle of olive oil. Set the chorizo aside on a few pieces of absorbent paper.
Add a drizzle of olive oil to the pan over a medium heat. Add the chilli and garlic and cook for a minute. Drain a can of chickpeas and add them to the pan and heat through, about 2 minutes. Stir the tomatoes into the chickpeas with the lemon juice, about 4 tablespoons of the olive oil, parsley and season to taste. Remove from the heat and set aside.
Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large frying pan over a high heat. Add half the squid pieces, scored side facing upwards first (this will make them curl), and half the tentacles and sear for 30 seconds, then turn them over and sear for another 30 seconds until golden brown and caramelized. Season with salt and pepper and remove from the pan. Repeat with the remaining olive oil and the rest of the squid. Return all the squid to the pan with the chorizo and toss together over a high heat for a further minute.
Briefly toss the rocket leaves through the chickpea salad and spoon onto 4 individual plates. Top with the sautéed squid and chorizo and serve.
(Curtin FM, 19 February 2009.)
Sautéed Squid, Chickpea and Chorizo Salad
Serves 4 as an entrée
You need
200 g chickpeas.
300 g cleaned medium-sized squid (bodies and tentacles)
10 cherry tomatoes, quartered
1 lemon, juiced
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 medium-hot red chilli, seeded and thinly sliced across
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
A small handful of flat-leaf parsley leaves, chopped
1 chorizo sausage, cut across into thin slices
a good handful or two of rocket leaves
Salt and ground black pepper
Method
First, prepare the squid. Remove the tentacles and head from each squid, cut off the head, and remove the ink sack and any long dangly tentacles and discard. Retain the main set of tentacles and remove the hard gristle from where you have cut away the head. Now prepare the body of each squid. Remove the hard clear cartilage. Cut off the wings. Make a slit in the purple skin and remove from the body tube of the squid and discard. Cut the body of each squid open along one side and score the inner side with a sharp knife into a fine diamond pattern. Then cut each pouch lengthways in half, then across into 8cm pieces. Reserve.
Now slice the chorizo into thin slices, about 30 mm, and quickly sauté in a drizzle of olive oil. Set the chorizo aside on a few pieces of absorbent paper.
Add a drizzle of olive oil to the pan over a medium heat. Add the chilli and garlic and cook for a minute. Drain a can of chickpeas and add them to the pan and heat through, about 2 minutes. Stir the tomatoes into the chickpeas with the lemon juice, about 4 tablespoons of the olive oil, parsley and season to taste. Remove from the heat and set aside.
Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large frying pan over a high heat. Add half the squid pieces, scored side facing upwards first (this will make them curl), and half the tentacles and sear for 30 seconds, then turn them over and sear for another 30 seconds until golden brown and caramelized. Season with salt and pepper and remove from the pan. Repeat with the remaining olive oil and the rest of the squid. Return all the squid to the pan with the chorizo and toss together over a high heat for a further minute.
Briefly toss the rocket leaves through the chickpea salad and spoon onto 4 individual plates. Top with the sautéed squid and chorizo and serve.
(Curtin FM, 19 February 2009.)
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Mod Oz
What constitutes modern Australian cuisine?
We all know that Australian cuisine has changed dramatically over the last three decades. When I was a kid in the 50s and 60s(all too long ago), Australian food was pretty boring - meat (and lots of it) and a couple of veg (spuds, beans and peas and not much else). Going out to restaurants was a rare event. And these were either pretty formal dreary affairs, the local Chinese that sold something that definitely was not from the middle Kingdom, or pubs of varying degrees of quality, but mostly at the lower end of the spectrum.
Something happened in the 70s.
There are lots of theories as to why. Rising incomes certainly increased demand. Then there was the crucial influx of migrants, at first from Northern Europe, and then from glorious Greece and Italy and later from Asia. And we travelled overseas in numbers not possible before the introduction of cheap airfares. Perhaps the experience of wandering the highways and byways of Asia and Europe, tasting the wonderful cuisines along the way, brought back influences and the demand for a more cosmopolitan cuisine at home.
Whatever the reasons, it is certainly true that modern Australia offers a huge range of cuisines, ingredients and produce which allow us to prepare dishes unconstrained by tradition or lack of resources.
It is not always obvious how lucky we are in this respect. It was brought home to me when I cooked in Italy. Naturally, I wanted to include coriander and lemon grass and other Aussie staples into some of my dishes. This was exceedingly difficult. To find such exotic ingredients in central Tuscany required a 30k trip to Florence where one (note ONE) shop sold Asian ingredients.
So what is Modern Australian food? Well, just about anything! But it has to have balance and harmony to be good. It is not just a matter of throwing in some Asian ingredients into what otherwise might be an Italian or French derived dish. It takes some skill.
When looking for recipes for the modern Australian class this week, I came across a lovely Tuna dish by Melbourne cookery teacher, Tony Tan. I thought it captured the essence of modern Australian food - light, colourful with some Asian influences, but these not dominating in any way. However, his dish was not quite what I wanted to do - I did not want to do a seafood dish for a start, as I already had a good seafood dish for the class. And given the summer season and the abundance of mangoes and avocados this year, I wanted to feature these. I also wanted to use some beautiful Mt Barker chicken. So here is what I came up with:
Chicken Tian with Avocado, Mango and Pickled Cucumber
(Serves 4)
You Need
1 tomato
1 small cucumber, about 10 cm long
1-2 spring onions
160 g poached chicken breast, diced into 1 cm pieces
1 avocado, peeled and diced
1 lime, zest and juice
4 tsp chives, finely chopped
2 tsp fish sauce
1 tsp deseeded and minced fresh red chilli
1 fresh kaffir lime leaf, finely shredded (alternatively use the tender new leaves of lime, lemon or grapefruit)
½ tsp dried ground lemon myrtle
a pinch of sugar
4 heaped tsp diced mango
salt and freshly ground white pepper
1 Tbls black sesame seeds, lightly toasted
Mint, shredded, for garnish
For The Vinaigrette
1 tsp sushi rice vinegar
1 tsp sherry vinegar
½ tsp sugar
80 ml (⅓ cup) grapeseed oil
a dash of light soy sauce
salt and pepper
Method
Peel and finely dice the tomato. You want about 3 tablespoons of diced tomato. Set aside. Peel and dice the mango and set aside. Zest and juice the lime and put into a medium-sized bowl. Peel the avocado and dice and gently mix through the lime juice. Set aside.
Peel the cucumber. Then, using a vegetable peeler, cut the flesh into thin ribbons. Whisk together the ingredients for the vinaigrette in a small mixing bowl. Add the cucumber ribbons and set aside for 10 minutes. Cut the spring onions into fine julienne strips, enough to give 2½ tablespoons. Set aside to use as a garnish.
In the mixing bowl containing the avocado, combine the diced chicken, three quarters of the diced tomato, the chives, fish sauce, the chilli, the shredded kaffir lime leaf and the lemon myrtle. Add the sugar and a little salt and freshly ground white pepper. Gently stir, being careful not to over-mix or the dish will be mushy.
Put a 5 cm diameter stainless steel or PVC ring on a serving plate. Half-fill the ring with the chicken mixture and cover with 1 heaped teaspoon of diced mango and a little shredded mint. Remove the ring carefully. Repeat with the remaining chicken mixture and mango to give 4 servings. Arrange the cucumber ribbons around the tian. Garnish with the remaining diced tomato, spring onion julienne and toasted black sesame seeds and serve.
We all know that Australian cuisine has changed dramatically over the last three decades. When I was a kid in the 50s and 60s(all too long ago), Australian food was pretty boring - meat (and lots of it) and a couple of veg (spuds, beans and peas and not much else). Going out to restaurants was a rare event. And these were either pretty formal dreary affairs, the local Chinese that sold something that definitely was not from the middle Kingdom, or pubs of varying degrees of quality, but mostly at the lower end of the spectrum.
Something happened in the 70s.
There are lots of theories as to why. Rising incomes certainly increased demand. Then there was the crucial influx of migrants, at first from Northern Europe, and then from glorious Greece and Italy and later from Asia. And we travelled overseas in numbers not possible before the introduction of cheap airfares. Perhaps the experience of wandering the highways and byways of Asia and Europe, tasting the wonderful cuisines along the way, brought back influences and the demand for a more cosmopolitan cuisine at home.
Whatever the reasons, it is certainly true that modern Australia offers a huge range of cuisines, ingredients and produce which allow us to prepare dishes unconstrained by tradition or lack of resources.
It is not always obvious how lucky we are in this respect. It was brought home to me when I cooked in Italy. Naturally, I wanted to include coriander and lemon grass and other Aussie staples into some of my dishes. This was exceedingly difficult. To find such exotic ingredients in central Tuscany required a 30k trip to Florence where one (note ONE) shop sold Asian ingredients.
So what is Modern Australian food? Well, just about anything! But it has to have balance and harmony to be good. It is not just a matter of throwing in some Asian ingredients into what otherwise might be an Italian or French derived dish. It takes some skill.
When looking for recipes for the modern Australian class this week, I came across a lovely Tuna dish by Melbourne cookery teacher, Tony Tan. I thought it captured the essence of modern Australian food - light, colourful with some Asian influences, but these not dominating in any way. However, his dish was not quite what I wanted to do - I did not want to do a seafood dish for a start, as I already had a good seafood dish for the class. And given the summer season and the abundance of mangoes and avocados this year, I wanted to feature these. I also wanted to use some beautiful Mt Barker chicken. So here is what I came up with:
Chicken Tian with Avocado, Mango and Pickled Cucumber
(Serves 4)
You Need
1 tomato
1 small cucumber, about 10 cm long
1-2 spring onions
160 g poached chicken breast, diced into 1 cm pieces
1 avocado, peeled and diced
1 lime, zest and juice
4 tsp chives, finely chopped
2 tsp fish sauce
1 tsp deseeded and minced fresh red chilli
1 fresh kaffir lime leaf, finely shredded (alternatively use the tender new leaves of lime, lemon or grapefruit)
½ tsp dried ground lemon myrtle
a pinch of sugar
4 heaped tsp diced mango
salt and freshly ground white pepper
1 Tbls black sesame seeds, lightly toasted
Mint, shredded, for garnish
For The Vinaigrette
1 tsp sushi rice vinegar
1 tsp sherry vinegar
½ tsp sugar
80 ml (⅓ cup) grapeseed oil
a dash of light soy sauce
salt and pepper
Method
Peel and finely dice the tomato. You want about 3 tablespoons of diced tomato. Set aside. Peel and dice the mango and set aside. Zest and juice the lime and put into a medium-sized bowl. Peel the avocado and dice and gently mix through the lime juice. Set aside.
Peel the cucumber. Then, using a vegetable peeler, cut the flesh into thin ribbons. Whisk together the ingredients for the vinaigrette in a small mixing bowl. Add the cucumber ribbons and set aside for 10 minutes. Cut the spring onions into fine julienne strips, enough to give 2½ tablespoons. Set aside to use as a garnish.
In the mixing bowl containing the avocado, combine the diced chicken, three quarters of the diced tomato, the chives, fish sauce, the chilli, the shredded kaffir lime leaf and the lemon myrtle. Add the sugar and a little salt and freshly ground white pepper. Gently stir, being careful not to over-mix or the dish will be mushy.
Put a 5 cm diameter stainless steel or PVC ring on a serving plate. Half-fill the ring with the chicken mixture and cover with 1 heaped teaspoon of diced mango and a little shredded mint. Remove the ring carefully. Repeat with the remaining chicken mixture and mango to give 4 servings. Arrange the cucumber ribbons around the tian. Garnish with the remaining diced tomato, spring onion julienne and toasted black sesame seeds and serve.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
The new term has begun
The Cooking school reopened this week with 'Seafood Without Fear' and 'Pasta and Risotto.' It was great to be back in action after the Christmas holiday. The students were keen and we were energised. I hope that it came through. I have to say that the cooking by the students was just fabulous. It was so rewarding to see such great cooking happening.
A highlight of 'Seafood' was the Tea Smoked Salmon. Here is the recipe:
Tea Smoked Salmon Salad
serves 4
You Need
500g Atlantic Salmon fillets, skin off
200g salt
200g brown sugar
Dill
Dash of Whisky (or some other spirit)
White pepper
1 tsp tea leaves
small square 6cm x 6cm of alfoil
75g rocket leaves
75g baby spinach leaves
2 small fennel bulbs
½ red onion
12 cherry tomatoes, halved
1 tsp whole grain mustard
1 tsp honey
1½ tsp whisky
1 tsp dill, chopped finely
olive oil
juice and zest of 2 limes
Method
Mix the sugar and salt together and season with ground white pepper. Rub on the salmon fillets. Place the fillets on a plate, put the sprigs of dill over the fish fillets and sprinkle over the rest of the salt and sugar mixture, pressing slightly when done so that the salt and sugar mixture covers the fillets. Sprinkle with whisky to moisten and leave in the fridge to marinate, preferably for a couple of hours but at least 30 minutes.
Meanwhile make a sauce for the smoked salmon by mixing together the whole grain mustard, the honey, the whisky, the chopped dill and the juice of one lime, together with a little olive oil. You want the sauce to be thick but runny. Set aside.
Make a vinaigrette for the salad by whisking the juice and zest of 1 lime with olive oil and a little water. Season with salt and pepper.
Prepare the salad by washing and drying the salad leaves and then finely slicing the fennel and onion. Divide the leaves on four plates, sprinkle each with sliced onion and fennel and decorate with cherry tomato halves. Set aside.
When the salmon fillets are ready, wash off the marinade and pat dry with a paper towel. Prepare the smoking tea by putting the tea in an alfoil square and turning up the sides to form a small open parcel. sprinkle a few drops of water onto the tea. Place the parcel in the bottom of a wok, place a round metal cooling rack (of sufficient size that the level of the rack is 2-3 cm above the tea) in the wok. Place the wok on a low flame and cover. Allow the tea to begin to smoke.
When the tea is smoking vigorously, place the salmon fillets on the rack inside the wok, cover and leave for 10 minutes. Check at 7 minutes to see how the fillets are cooking. They are cooked when a metal skewer placed into the middle of a fillet is warm on the lip of your mouth.
When cooked, drizzle the salad with the vinaigrette, slice up the salmon into bite sized pieces and distribute onto the salad plates and finely drizzle over the honey and mustard sauce.
(To make this a more substantial meal allow one fillet per person, about 200g each and serve a whole fillet over the salad.)
'Pasta and Risotto' was a really fantastic class. We were booked out and the students were really keen. I was joined by Sophie Budd, our 'Jamie Oliver' chef. She had some fresh crabs from Mandurah and I had some squid ink left over from the previous evening's 'Seafood' class. So we added a squid ink with crab fettucine to the recipes. Wow! It was good. We made some pasta and mixed through the squid ink before rolling it out. Then we made a sauce of the picked crab, some chilli, garlic and olive oil together with some parsley, a good sprinkle of lemon juice and there it was! Simple but remarkably tasty!
A highlight of 'Seafood' was the Tea Smoked Salmon. Here is the recipe:
Tea Smoked Salmon Salad
serves 4
You Need
500g Atlantic Salmon fillets, skin off
200g salt
200g brown sugar
Dill
Dash of Whisky (or some other spirit)
White pepper
1 tsp tea leaves
small square 6cm x 6cm of alfoil
75g rocket leaves
75g baby spinach leaves
2 small fennel bulbs
½ red onion
12 cherry tomatoes, halved
1 tsp whole grain mustard
1 tsp honey
1½ tsp whisky
1 tsp dill, chopped finely
olive oil
juice and zest of 2 limes
Method
Mix the sugar and salt together and season with ground white pepper. Rub on the salmon fillets. Place the fillets on a plate, put the sprigs of dill over the fish fillets and sprinkle over the rest of the salt and sugar mixture, pressing slightly when done so that the salt and sugar mixture covers the fillets. Sprinkle with whisky to moisten and leave in the fridge to marinate, preferably for a couple of hours but at least 30 minutes.
Meanwhile make a sauce for the smoked salmon by mixing together the whole grain mustard, the honey, the whisky, the chopped dill and the juice of one lime, together with a little olive oil. You want the sauce to be thick but runny. Set aside.
Make a vinaigrette for the salad by whisking the juice and zest of 1 lime with olive oil and a little water. Season with salt and pepper.
Prepare the salad by washing and drying the salad leaves and then finely slicing the fennel and onion. Divide the leaves on four plates, sprinkle each with sliced onion and fennel and decorate with cherry tomato halves. Set aside.
When the salmon fillets are ready, wash off the marinade and pat dry with a paper towel. Prepare the smoking tea by putting the tea in an alfoil square and turning up the sides to form a small open parcel. sprinkle a few drops of water onto the tea. Place the parcel in the bottom of a wok, place a round metal cooling rack (of sufficient size that the level of the rack is 2-3 cm above the tea) in the wok. Place the wok on a low flame and cover. Allow the tea to begin to smoke.
When the tea is smoking vigorously, place the salmon fillets on the rack inside the wok, cover and leave for 10 minutes. Check at 7 minutes to see how the fillets are cooking. They are cooked when a metal skewer placed into the middle of a fillet is warm on the lip of your mouth.
When cooked, drizzle the salad with the vinaigrette, slice up the salmon into bite sized pieces and distribute onto the salad plates and finely drizzle over the honey and mustard sauce.
(To make this a more substantial meal allow one fillet per person, about 200g each and serve a whole fillet over the salad.)
'Pasta and Risotto' was a really fantastic class. We were booked out and the students were really keen. I was joined by Sophie Budd, our 'Jamie Oliver' chef. She had some fresh crabs from Mandurah and I had some squid ink left over from the previous evening's 'Seafood' class. So we added a squid ink with crab fettucine to the recipes. Wow! It was good. We made some pasta and mixed through the squid ink before rolling it out. Then we made a sauce of the picked crab, some chilli, garlic and olive oil together with some parsley, a good sprinkle of lemon juice and there it was! Simple but remarkably tasty!
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