Worcestershire Sauce

Posted on December 4, 2012 by DemeterG

I bought a book a few months ago called “Make the Bread, Buy the Butter” by Jennifer Reece. She trials many different things at home and weighs up the cost, effort and end result and advises you on what you should make at home and what you should just buy. Although it is American and some ingredients are not available here, most can be substituted.

Worcestershire Sauce. Why would you bother?…. Um…… because I can! I love to try new things, especially curry pastes and sauces from scratch, instead of buying them from the supermarket. And they taste better (usually). In this case, it was a success. While I did not do the costing, I am sure that it cost much more than I could buy it for in the supermarket. The fresh horseradish alone cost me $5. But it’s not always about the money, it’s………. because I can 🙂

This recipe makes about 700ml of sauce which will keep indefinitely in the fridge.

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons olive oil
2 large onions, chopped
2 chillies, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon black pepper
115g anchovies, drained
¼ teaspoon cloves, ground
1 tablespoon salt
1 lemon, peel and white pith removed
2 cups dark corn syrup
1 cup molasses
950ml white vinegar
115g fresh horseradish, peeled and grated

Method:

Heat the oil over a high heat in a large saucepan and add the onion and chillies.

Cook, stirring until the vegetables are soft. Add the remaining ingredients and bring to the boil.

Reduce the heat to a simmer and stir occasionally for 6 hours.

Strain through a sieve into a bowl and let cool to room temperature. Store in a bottle with a seal. Refrigerate indefinitely.

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Chocolate and Poached Pear Tart

Posted on December 2, 2012 by DemeterG

There are three parts to this recipe, the chocolate tart pastry, the chocolate filling and the red wine poached pear. You can adjust the ratio of dark and milk chocolate to suit your taste but do try the red wine poached pear, it goes beautifully with the dark chocolate.

This recipe makes one large 20 cm tart or 4 – 5  smaller 10 cm tarts.

Ingredients:

Chocolate Pastry:
350g plain flour
40 g cocoa powder
125g icing sugar
200g unsalted butter
1 egg
zest of ½ orange

Chocolate Filling:
265ml thickened cream
300g dark chocolate
100 g milk chocolate
2 pinch salt
4 egg yolks

Red Wine Poached Pears: (click link)

Method:

Chocolate Pastry:
Pre-heat the oven to 160°C.

In a food processor, combine all the ingredients until the form a dough. Remove and combine on a clean bench. This pastry doesn’t roll and drape very well, I tend to press “blobs” of the pastry into the pie case until it forms a thin layer. I used a 20 cm tin. If you have any leftover pastry, you can freeze it ready for next time.

Blind bake for 9 minutes (6 minutes for smaller tarts), turn the oven off. Remove the pie weights and if the pastry is still a little undercooked, leave the pastry base in the oven to finish cooking with the residual heat. Do not be tempted to let it cook longer with the oven on, or it will be too dry and brittle.

Chocolate Filling:
Heat the cream over a medium heat until just starting to simmer, but do not boil. Add the chocolate and a pinch of salt and stir until melted and combined. Check the taste and add further salt until the bitterness of the dark chocolate is reduced, but not until it tastes salty.

Remove from the heat and add the egg yolks. Stir until combined. The heat of the chocolate mix will gently cook the eggs and make it like a custard.If you aren’t confident of the eggs cooking enugh, using a thermometer, take the mixture to 70°C, while gently stirring.

Pour into the pastry case(s) and chill in the fridge for at least 3 hours or overnight.

Assemble immediately before serving. Halve and slice the pears and decorate the tart. Enjoy with double cream or on its own.

Posted in Baking, Desserts, Favourite Recipe, Recipes, Sweet Tarts and Pies | Leave a comment

Sous-Vide Salmon

Posted on December 1, 2012 by DemeterG

I have been playing around with cooking salmon different ways and this is the best way that I have found to cook it. It gives the fish a lovely tender, gelatinous texture and even better, a consistent result each time. I have tried confit or poaching in oil and also in stock, and frying, but it does not give anywhere near the consistent results of this perfectly cooked fish.

I got a cheap and cheerful vacuum sealer off the web to try and it works just fine (so far). There are other larger models available, if you get serious, that you can get from your local homewares store.

Ingredients:

4 salmon fillets, skinned and pin boned
4 tablespoons Olive oil
2 cloves Garlic, thinly sliced
12 sprigs Thyme
1 small bunch Basil
Zest of 1 lemon

Method:

Bring a large saucepan of water to 50 degrees Celsius and maintain the temperature. I used a thermometer and a heat diffuser between the heat element and the pan to keep the temperature low.

Divide the lemon zest, basil, garlic and thyme into 4 x vacuum bags. Lay one piece of salmon on the herbs in each bag. Pour one tablespoon of olive oil over each salmon and seal.

Add the sealed salmon bags to the 50 degrees water and leave for 16 minutes.

Remove fillets of salmon from each bag and discard the herb mixture.

Serve immediately with beans, peas and pancetta and you can spoon over some salmon roe or olive oil and baby cress to serve.

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Red Wine Poached Pears

Posted on November 28, 2012 by DemeterG

 

Poached pears are just lovely. These red wine poached pears have a great flavour and can be used on their own or as decoration – see picture below.

 

 

 

 

Ingredients:

2 cups dry red wine
1/3 cup caster sugar
2 star anise
2 cinnamon sticks
1 vanilla bean, split
4 pears, peeled, cored if desired
If you want to use the pears as the main feature, leave the core and stem. If you are only wanting the pear flesh, core and remove the stem if easier.

Method:

Combine everything except the pears in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring, for 2 minutes or until sugar dissolves.

Add the pears to the saucepan and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer,  for 45 minutes or until pears are tender. Turn the pears occasionally to ensure an even colour.

Use a slotted spoon to transfer pears to a heatproof bowl.

You can use the syrup if you are serving the pears on their own. Increase heat to high and bring the syrup to the boil. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes or until syrup thickens slightly. Pour over the pears and serve hot with double cream or set aside in the fridge to serve cool later.

If using later for decoration. Slice and arrange as desired.

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Pickled Beetroot

Posted on November 22, 2012 by DemeterG

 

This pickled beetroot is just divine.

I made it as an accompaniment for a smoked salmon terrine.

 

Ingredients:

1 bunch baby beetroot
100 g castor sugar
100 ml white wine vinegar
100 ml white balsamic
60 ml extra virgin olive oil

Method:

Cook the beetroot in boiling water until tender. Drain and peel. I wore disposable gloves and just rubbed the skin off to peel it.

Cut the beetroot into cubes. Reserve the offcuts to use for everyday eating I.E. when you aren’t trying to show off to friends.

Mix together the other ingredients and pour over the beetroot cubes and allow to marinate for at least an hour.

Drain the beetroot cubes, but reserve the liquid to store your beetroot offcuts. Mix the beetroot cubes with baby cress and a light drizzle of olive oil and serve.

Posted in Recipes, Salads, Sides, Vegetables | Leave a comment