Confit of Trout

Trout

5x200g portions of ocean trout, skinned and boned
500ml olive oil
500ml vegetable oil
1 clove garlic
1/4 bunch thyme
Zest of 1/2 lemon
Parsley stalks
Salt
100g thick plain yoghurt
25g amaranth
25g puffed quinoa
1/2 bunch chervil
1/2 bunch chives

Beetroot en papillote

Beetroot en papillote
7 baby golden beets
30ml olive oil
Flake salt and black pepper
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
¼ bunch thyme

Beetroot puree

2 large beetroots
500ml water
500ml red wine
Sugar, salt to taste
100ml red wine vinegar
15ml olive oil

Poached Lentils

50g French lentils
25g water
Pinch salt
Pinch toasted ground cumin
15ml olive oil

Garnish

Flake salt
Baby mixed herbs
100ml extra virgin olive oil

Method

Double check the trout for bones. Remove any stray bones with fish tweezers and set fish aside.

Combine the oils, garlic, thyme, lemon zest and parsley stalks into a roasting tray and bring the oil up to 50°C over a low gentle flame.

Season the trout portions with the salt, place in the oil and cook at 45-50°C. It will take approximately 12-15 minutes depending on the thickness of the fish.

Once cooked drain the trout portions on paper towel. Use a pastry brush to coat the trout with yoghurt.

Sprinkle finely chopped chives, chervil and puffed grains onto the yoghurt-coated trout to create an even coating and season with another pinch of salt.

Place beetroots in a bowl with the olive oil, salt, pepper, cumin and thyme and toss to coat.

Wrap beetroots in bundles of 3-4, using foil and cook for 50 minutes in a 170°C oven. Remove the beetroots from the foil and transfer to a large bowl along with the cooking juices. Wrap the bowl in cling film and allow the beets to cool, rub off the skin and remove thyme stalks.

Marinate in the reserved cooking juices until required.

Cut the beetroots into interesting irregular shapes so the pieces stand up nicely on the plate. It is important they are tender throughout.

Cut the beetroot into quarters and combine in a saucepan with a with the water, wine, sugar, salt and vinegar. The beetroots should be covered by the liquid with an extra inch or so.

Cover with a baking paper cartouche and poach until soft. Drain the beetroots from the cooking liquor and reserve both the beetroot and the liquor. Allow the beetroot to cool slightly, peel the skin off, transfer to a bar blender and
blend until silky smooth drizzling in the olive oil to give sheen.

Combine lentils, water and salt in a medium saucepan and bring up to a simmer over a medium heat. Poach until
the lentils are tender without becoming mushy.

Drain through a colander reserving the cooking liquor.

Re-moisten the lentils with a little of the cooking liquor, add the cumin, drizzle with olive oil and toss well to coat.

To serve, dress the plate with a generous smear of beetroot puree. Place coated trout portion onto the
puree and neatly scatter the beetroots around. Scatter warm dressed lentils in neat piles on the plate. Place a
few neat bundles of baby garnett cress onto plate and finish with a drizzle of olive oil.

'Lemon Meringue Pie' recipe

Ingredients

Meringue

60ml water
30g glucose
300gcaster sugar
160g egg white

Pastry

200g vanilla short crust pastry sheet

Sorbet Yoghurt

2 vanilla beans
250gcaster sugar
80gglucose
250ml water
400g yoghurt
100ml thickened cream

Lemon Curd

175ml lime, juice
120gwhole eggs
105g egg yolk
110g caster sugar
60gthickened cream
20gcorn flour
110g unsalted butter

Method

Place water, glucose and sugar in a small saucepan and over a medium to high heat, bring to the boil. Boil the sugar mixture up to 118°C, test this using a sugar thermometer.

Using an electric mixer, with a whisk attachment, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. While continuously beating, slowly pour in the hot sugar mixture, down the side of the bowl, in a steady stream. Whip until cold and set aside until needed.

For the pastry, preheat the oven to 160°C. Place pastry sheet onto a 30cmx40cm paper lined baking tray and bake at 160°for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the oven, and slide pastry onto a wire rack to cool. Once cool, break pastry into large pieces, place in a food processor to and process until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.

For the sorbet, split the vanilla beans in half length ways, scraping out the seeds with a small sharp knife. Add this to a medium saucepan, along with the sugar, glucose and water. Bring mixture to the boil, remove from heat and allow to cool, strain through a sieve. Add the yogurt and cream to the sugar mixture, stirring to combine. Allow to cool completely, pour into an ice cream machine and churn, according to the manufacturer’s instructions until smooth and set. Freeze until required.

In a large clean dry bowl combine lime juice, eggs, yolks, sugar, cream and corn flour. Transfer into a medium saucepan over a medium heat and cook out, mixing constantly, until mixture thickens and just begins to boil. Remove saucepan from the heat and add butter in small batches, whisking thoroughly until curd is smooth and shiny.
Transfer the curd into a clean bowl to cool in the fridge. Once cooled, spoon lemon curd into a piping bag with a 2cm plain round nozzle, ready for plating.

To assemble, in the centre of each plate, smear a heaped tablespoon of meringue. Either preheat the oven on grill or use a small brulee torch, to give the meringue a golden crust, be careful, as this will happen quickly. Add a small pile of pastry crumbs to one side of the meringue, topping it with a scoop of sorbet. On the other side, take the piping bag and pipe 2 tablespoons of curd. Serve immediately.

Bon Appétit

 

Relish Recipes

Green Tomato Relish

Ingredients

 

40g finely chopped shallots
30g caster sugar
50ml white wine vinegar
100g green tomatoes cut into 1 cm dice
10g finely diced blushed tomatoes
10g small capers
50ml extra virgin olive oil
5g mint leaves removed and finely chopped
5g coriander, finely chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

 

Simmer the shallots, sugar and white wine vinegar together until they have reduced by one third. Leave them to cool slightly then mix in the capers, green tomatoes, sun blushed tomatoes & the olive oil, season to taste, then cool & store.

When you are serving this relish add the chopped herbs.

Red Onion Marmalade

Ingredients

 

100g red onions, peeled and thinly sliced
1 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
¼ teaspoon thyme leaves
5ml vegetable oil
30ml red wine
10ml red wine vinegar
20g red currant jelly
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

Gently cook the onions, garlic, and thyme leaves in the vegetable oil until soft. Add the red wine, red wine vinegar and redcurrant jelly, season with salt and pepper, cover with a lid and cook gently on a low heat for 45 minutes, giving the occasional stir. Remove the lid and leave to simmer until the liquid has evaporated completely. Re-season if necessary. Cool and store in the fridge

 

 

Parma Ham and Fig Salad

Ingredients

1 fig per person

2 pieces of fresh Parma ham per person

1 ball soft buffalo mozzarella per person

Candied cashews crushed into dust for the plate

Green oil

Edible Flowers

Method

Slice the fig and mozzarella into discs pieces, making sure not to break either of the ingredients. The whole idea of this dish is to keep the ingredients in circular shapes, this helps with the presentation of the dish

To candy the cashew nuts, heat some caster sugar in a non stick frying pan, and when it starts to caramelize, pour it over non salted cashew nuts that are on a lined tray. Let the caramel set over the nuts, then using something hard, crush the candied nuts and caramel. It does not have to look like dust, roughly crushed it better because it gives the plate more textures.

To plate, place the Parma Ham slices onto the plate, in the centre. On top of that, alternating between the fig and mozzarella, place 2 slices of the fig and cheese, garnish the plate with  drizzle of green oil, candied cashews and fresh colourful edible flowers

Bon Appétit