Crispy Potato Galette

Ingredients

3 large potatoes peeled and thinly sliced
1 tablespoon olive oil
Freshly ground nutmeg
Freshly ground black pepper
1 table spoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
Fresh thyme leaves

Method

MeMMmethPat the potatoes dry if they are starchy and moist. In a large frying pan, sauté half the potatoes with a tablespoon of olive oil over the potatoes, and sprinkle half the nutmeg and black pepper over the potatoes to taste. Starting in the centre of the pan, start arranging the potatoes into layers, over lapping them into a spiral.  When the potato slices are finished repeat the process with the remaining potato slice.

Cover the pan and place it on a medium heat and cook the potatoes until they are golden brown and cooked on the underside, about 15 minutes, occasionally shaking the pan gently to avoid the potatoes sticking. Wipe the inside of the lid to keep it dry as and when needed.

After the potatoes have cooked and turned golden brown. Press the potatoes down with a flat spatula and remove the pan from the heat. Place a plate over the pan, and flip the pan so that the galette is now on the plate. Then slide the raw side of the galette back into the pan and cook for a further 15 minutes. Once the galette is cooked through, transfer it back onto a serving plate, and garnish with the chopped parsley, crushed garlic and seasoning.

 

Bon Appétit

Roast Pork Belly Recipe

Serves: 4
Preparation: 60 minutes
Cooking: 2 hours 20 minutes

Roast pork belly

600g pork belly, skin on
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
2 tablespoons salt flakes
1 teaspoon black peppercorns

Apple puree

2 granny smith apples, cored, peeled and chopped
Juice of half a lime
1 teaspoon sugar

Honey cider vinegar glaze

¼ cup honey
½ cup cider vinegar
 

Cider vinaigrette

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
½ teaspoon sugar
Pinch salt
2 tablespoons water
1 ½ teaspoon cider vinegar
100ml grapeseed oil
Watercress and baby mache, to serve

Method:

Preheat oven to 230°C.  For roast pork belly, trim pork of excess fat and score the skin. In a dry pan roast the fennel seeds, one tablespoon of salt and the peppercorns until fragrant. Cool, and then grind finely in a pestle and mortar. Rub all over the flesh side of the pork, massaging it in well. Sprinkle the skin with about one tablespoon salt and rub in. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Remove from the fridge, wipe of all salt and moisture. Lightly salt. Place the pork on a roasting rack with a tray of water underneath to help keep the pork moist. Roast for 2 hours or until skin is crisp and flesh is tender. Check after 45 minutes to ensure the pork crackling doesn’t burn. If it’s looking a little too brown cover the pork with foil, or reduce oven temperature to 200°C. Rest for 20 minutes and cut into rectangular serving portions.

For apple puree, place apples in a saucepan with lime juice, sugar and 1-2 tablespoons of water. Cover and simmer until tender. Blend in a thermomix or blender until smooth. Check the seasoning.

For the glaze bring both the honey and cider vinegar to a boil over medium heat, simmer until the syrup thickens. For the vinaigrette mix all ingredients and whisk well until emulsified.

To serve, place pork on a serving plate and drizzle with glaze. Add a tablespoon of apple puree next to pork. Add watercress, top with baby mache and lightly dress with vinaigrette.

 

Bon Appétit

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.

Candy Beetroot Salad with Feta, Pears, Cucumber and Mint

Beetroot, Pear and Feta Salad Recipe

Ingredients

2 small candy beetroots, washed and sliced very thinly on a mandolin

3 ripe pears, peeled cored and cut into matchsticks
1 lemon
1 small bunch of mint
1/4 cup salted cashew nuts
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1/4 cup chick peas
1/2 cup of roughly minced feta
1/2 cucumber, peeled skinned & cut into matchsticks

Beetroot is not just that jarred, vinegary, crinkle cut chunks of purple vegetable that you mom tried to force you to eat as a child, but in fact a crunchy and juicy root vegetable. They can be oven roasted and pan fried in chunks, sliced thinly and eaten raw, shallow fried or baked and made into amazing crisps, or put into fresh juices.

Method:

Combine the beetroot, pears and cucumber together in a bowl. Dress them with a good squeeze of lemon juice and drizzle with olive oil as well as some salt & pepper for seasoning.

Arrange this on a plate then roughly crumble the feta and spread it over evenly, with the fresh mint contrasting the colour.

Sprinkle on some sesame seeds, chick peas and almonds.

Bon Appétit

Smoked Salmon and Celeriac Salad Recipe

Smoked Salmon and Celeriac Salad Recipe

I made this dish the other day for a corporate lunch function, and it was a huge success

This recipe will serve 2 people

Ingredients

160g Oak smoked salmon
50g Mascarpone cheese
80ml Double Cream
2 Sprigs of dill
Juice from half a fresh lemon
1/2 a large Celeriac
50ml fresh honey
Green Oil ( Olive oil mixed with dill and blitzed in a food processor)
Baby Green basil
Baby Purple Basil

Method

Peel or trim the skin off the celeriac, and then cut it into small cubes, roughly 2cm by 2cm. Place the cubes onto a lined baking tray, lightly drizzle with olive oil, and then drizzle the honey over the cubes. The honey doesn't have to completely cover the celeriac, it just has to be enough on each cube, so that when it roasts, each piece will have a honey flavour. Place the tray into an oven at 180 degrees C, and roast for 8minutes, or until the honey starts to caramelise.

In the mean time, make to large roses of salmon, and 4 small roses, equally sized and portioned. Place them in the fridge until you need them.

Take the mascarpone and double cream and place it into a mixing bowl. Chop the dill until it is really fine. Mix the dill in with the cream and cheese mix, and squeeze in the lemon juice. Mix it together until it is well incorporated, taste it, and adjust the seasoning if needed. The mix should be soft enough that you can swipe it across a plate, but firm enough to hold when you swipe it.

To Plate 

Place a large tablespoon of the cream and cheese mix on the left hand side, in the centre, of the plate. Using a clean teaspoon, place the spoon into the mix, and swipe it in any direction across the plate, dragging the mix to create the swipe.

Place 1 large salmon rose and 2 small roses on each plate, spacing them apart. Place the warm roasted celeriac on the plate, about 6-8 cubes per plate.

Garnish the dish with the purple and green basil, and dots of green oil

Bon Appétit

Tuna Nicoise Salad Recipe

Serves 2 people as a starter

Ingredients

50g pitted Kalamata Olives

4 cherry tomatoes, both red and yellow

10 Green Beans

4 new potatoes

4 quail eggs

1 side of fresh tuna

Dill

Olive oil

Baby basil or other micro cress to serve

Rock Salt

Juice of half a lemon

 

Method

 

Slice the new potatoes in half and steam them until they are cooked all the way through, but not so much that they become too soft, rinse them with cold water until they are completely cooled, drain and set aside.

 

Trim the beans. Blanch the green beans until al dente, they should still have their entire colour and be crunchy when they are bitten. Cut each bean in half. Set aside

 

Slice the tomatoes in half and set aside.

 

Take about half a bunch of fresh dill, and place it into a blender, pour in about 100ml of olive oil and blend, you should have a green oil that is easy to pour, like a dressing. If you need to, add more oil, or dill, whichever is needed to get the consistency you would like

 

Bring a pot of water to a rapid boil, and then place the quail eggs inside, boil for 1 minute 30 seconds, then remove the eggs and place them in water that has ice in it, you want to cool the eggs as quickly as possible. To make peeling them easier, add some white vinegar to the water that they are cooling in. Peel the eggs and then cut them in half, length ways.

 

Take the tune and season it with some rock salt, and then pour over a little of the dill oil you have prepared, this is just to give it some extra flavour and colour when you fry it

 

Heat up a griddle pan with a little oil, and when the pan is really hot, add the tuna. Fry the tuna until it has the marks of the pan on it, and then do the same for the other side, You want to keep the tuna a bit pink and rare in the middle, so do not overcook it

 

Now that you have all the components of the dish ready, it’s time to plate them up.

 

Place the green beans in the centre of the plate, then place the tomatoes, olives and egg halves and potatoes around the beans, as well as a few elements on top of the beans to give the dish a bit of ‘lift’. Then take the tuna, and break it with your fingers into chunks. Drizzle the dill oil around the plate and on the ingredients, but remember dill has a very strong flavour so do not be too generous.

 

Bon Appétit

Rocket, Pear and Parmesan Salad Recipe

Ingredients

200g Rocket leaves
1 Pear
150g shaved Parmesan

Method

Put the washed rocket leaves into a bowl, and drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle on a pinch of rock salt. Toss the leaves in the bowl so that all the leaves get a light coating of the olive oil.

Slice the pear very thinly and place the slices into a bowl of water that has a little lemon juice in it, set aside until you have finished preparing the Parmesan.

With a peeler, 'peel' the cheese to get the Parmesan shavings.

Drain the pear from the lemon water, and place it into the bowl with the rocket, then add the Parmesan cheese. Drizzle a little more olive oil over the salad, and toss everything together.

Bon Appetit

Serves 2 people

 

Roasted Tomato and Basil Soup Recipe

Ingredients:

75ml olive oil

1kg ripe tomatoes
3g garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
100g carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
100g onions, peeled and roughly chopped
100g leeks, roughly chopped and washed
42.5g tomato puree
1 liter vegetable stock

10g basil

Method:

Heat the olive oil in a thick-bottomed pan. Add the tomatoes, garlic and vegetables and roast in a medium oven for about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the tomato puree and return to the oven for another 15 – 20 minutes.

Transfer the tomatoes and vegetables to a pan with the stalks from the basil and the vegetable stock. Bring to the boil, season and simmer for 30 minutes. Add the basil leaves and remove from the heat. Blend the soup with a stick blender until smooth, then strain through a fine meshed sieve. Adjust the seasoning.

A soup like this is so easy to make, and super tasty, and if you wanted to take this dish one step further, you could make your own bread or bread rolls to serve with it. See my bread recipes

Bon Appétit

Leek and Wild Mushroom Tart

Ingredients

60g butter
500g leeks, cut into a rough 1 cm dice and washed
100ml double cream
50g parmesan cheese, grated
150g wild mushrooms, trimmed and washed
1 egg yolk
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
200-300g  short crust pastry

Method

 

On a floured table roll out the pastry to ½ cm thick and line 4 tartlet moulds measuring about 8-10 cm x 2-3 cm deep. Rest the pastry in the fridge for 1 hour.

Pre-heat the oven to 175°c. Meanwhile melt the butter in a thick bottomed pan, add the leeks and lightly season with salt and pepper then cook over a low heat with a lid on for about 15 minutes stirring every so often. Add the wild mushrooms and continue to cook with the lid on for another 10 minutes. Add the double cream and Parmesan and simmer for a further 6 or 7 minutes. Leave to cool a little then stir in the egg yolk and season again if necessary.

Line the tartlets with greaseproof paper, fill with baking beans and blind bake for 10-15 minutes until the pastry is light golden. Remove the paper and beans and leave to cool a little, and then remove the pastry carefully from the tins.

Fill the tarts with the leek mixture and bake on a tray for 15-20 minutes until golden.

 

You can serve this with a pepper rocket and baby spinach leaf salad.

Bon Appétit

Chicken Liver Parfait

Ingredients

110g chicken livers, cleaned

110g unsalted butter, melted and hot
80ml port
80ml red wine
80ml Madeira
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
2 shallots, peeled and roughly chopped
A few sprigs of thyme
1 bay leaf
1tsp salt rose (or make it 2tsp salt if not available)
1tsp salt
1tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 egg yolks
1 whole egg

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C.

Put the port, red wine, Madeira, garlic, thyme and bay leaf into a saucepan, bring to the boil and continue boiling until it has reduced to a couple of tablespoons. Strain through a fine meshed sieve. Put the chicken livers into a liquidiser with the hot butter, alcohol reduction, egg yolks and whole egg. Add the salt and pepper and salt rose and mix well.

Transfer the mixture into small, sterilised jars or a suitable sized terrine mould or loaf tin. Place a piece of grease proof paper on the mix if you are using a terrine and cover with a lid or close the lids if using jars.

Place the jars or terrine in a deep roasting tray and fill with hot water three quarters of the way up the jars or terrine.

Cook for 45 minutes in the oven, and then remove then parfait from the tray and leave to cool.

 

When I serve this dish, I would serve it with some thinly sliced bread that has been toasted and drizzled with olive oil.

 

Bon Appétit

Leek Soup with Chanterelle Mushrooms

 

Ingredients

 

500g leeks, finely sliced and washed

125g onion, peeled and finely sliced

50g Chanterelle / Mushroom trimmings (not ceps)

20 ml vegetable oil

15g plain flour

Parsley stalks

1.25 liters vegetable stock

35g cooked spinach

Seasoning

 

Method

Gently cook the leeks and onion in the vegetable oil without colouring them, cook them until they are soft. Reduce the heat, add the flour and work it well into the leeks & onions, you want to “cook the flour out” for 5 minutes, then add the mushroom trimmings, parsley stalks & the vegetable stock. Cook over a high heat for 10 minutes & then add the cooked spinach, cook for 2 minutes, then remove from the heat and blend in a food processor until smooth.

 

Garnish

4g sautéed chanterelle mushrooms         

4g cooked leek

 

 

Cauliflower Soup with Walnut Pesto

 

Ingredients

 1 medium onions, peeled and finely chopped
¼  large leek, white part only, washed well & finely chopped
125g butter
1 ½  heads of cauliflower, leaves removed and roughly chopped
3 liters vegetable stock
Salt and freshly ground white pepper

Method

Gently cook the onions and leeks in the butter until soft.

Add the cauliflower & vegetable stock and bring to the boil, season with salt and pepper and simmer for 15 minutes. Blend in a liquidiser until smooth and pass through a strainer if needed. Correct the seasoning and finish with a drizzle of walnut pesto.

Walnut Pesto

Ingredients

1 cloves garlic, crushed

167g basil leaves
167ml olive oil
14g pine nuts, roasted
25g Parmesan cheese, grated
27g chopped toasted walnuts
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

Blend all the ingredients in a blender and season to taste, then add 27g chopped toasted walnuts

 

I love baking fresh bread to go with soup, it's quick and easy and somehow it seems to make eating soup that much better.

 

Bon Appétit