Month: January 2016

Categories
MAIN COURSE

Herb crusted salmon with Swiss chard


This is a very elegant and delicious dish to serve at your next dinner party.  Most of the components can be prepared well in advance.

SALMON WITH HERB CRUST

Serves 4

Preheat the oven to 220ºC/430ºF.

 800 g/1.8 lb salmon, skinned, bones removed
salt and freshly ground white pepper
1 tablespoon mustard
2 tablespoons tomato sauce (recipe follows)
2 tablespoons mushroom duxelle (recipe follows)
200 g soft herb crust (recipe follows)

Cut the salmon in even portions and season with salt and pepper. Lightly spread Dijon mustard on top of each piece of fish,  then a spread of the tomato sauce, then the mushroom duxelle. Place a neat tile (the size of the fish) of the soft herb crust on top of the fish.  Heat an ovenproof pan with a splash of oil and put the salmon in with the crusted side facing up. Cook for 1 minutes then place the pan in the preheated oven for 6-8 minutes.

Keep an eye on it so that the crust does not burn.  Set aside to rest for 5 minutes.

Tomato sauce:
100 ml/3.4 fl oz olive oil
½ shallot, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
6-8 large ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded and finely diced
1 sprig fresh thyme
¼ bay leaf

Heat the olive oil in a pan and sauté the shallots and garlic for a few minutes without coloring. Add the tomato and thyme and continue cooking very gently until all the moisture of the tomato has evaporated and you are left with a dry tomato paste. Remove the sprig of thyme and bay leaf, and put the mixture in a blender and blend until smooth.

The mushroom duxelles:
2 cups mixed mushrooms, finely chopped
salt and freshly ground white pepper
1 tablespoon cream

Wipe the mushrooms and trim the stalks if necessary. Chop very finely in a processor or by hand, then cook in a dry pan until all their liquid has evaporated and the mushrooms formed a paste.

Add the cream and mix in to bind the mushrooms.

Yoghurt can be used instead of cream, but add it right at the end of cooking the mushrooms and do not bring to a boil.


The herb crust:
175 g/6 oz fresh breadcrumbs
80 g/2.8 oz Gruyère cheese
50 g/1.87 oz mixture of fresh parsley, fresh tarragon, and fresh thyme leaves, finely
chopped
125 g/4.4 oz unsalted butter
salt and freshly ground pepper

Place all the ingredients into a food processor and process until thoroughly mixed. On a tray lined with greaseproof paper, spread the crumb mixture about 2 mm/0.07 in thick on to a tray and freeze uncovered.  Cut the crust big enough to fit nicely on top of each portion of the fish.

There will be some left over.  Cover it tightly and freeze for later us.


The sauce:
500 g/1 lb  butter
1 tablespoon shallots, minced
100 ml/3.4 fl oz white wine
1½ cup fish stock
pinch of kosher salt
pinch of white pepper
lemon juice

Heat 1 tablespoon butter and add the shallots.  Sauté until translucent (do not brown), then add the wine.  Reduce until there are only about 1 tablespoon of the wine left, then add the fish stock and reduce until half.  Set the pan over low heat and whisk 2 knobs of butter into the reduction and continue whisking the rest of the butter, a knob at a time, allowing each piece to dissolve into the sauce before adding more.  When all the butter is used up, remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the lemon juice.  Taste and adjust the seasoning, then strain through a fine sieve into a bowl.  Keep warm.

The Swiss chard:
1 large bunch of Swiss chard, freshly picked
1 small clove garlic, sliced
1 tablespoon/15 ml butter
salt

Rinse out the Swiss chard leaves thoroughly, then remove the tough stalk and cut the leaves into wide strips.

Heat a saucepan on medium heat, add the olive oil and the garlic and sauté for a few seconds, then add the sliced Swiss chard leaves and salt. With tongs lift and stir the leaves constantly to ensure that the bottom ones don’t overcook. (It should not be necessary to add water because the chard releases quite a bit of moisture.) Do this for no longer than 5 minutes. It will become soft and silky and still is bright green.  Taste a piece and add seasoning if necessary.  Set aside until needed. 

To serve:
In the centre of each serving plate, spoon the Swiss chard, place the salmon on top and spoon the sauce around.  Serve immediately.

 

Categories
MAIN COURSE

Oxtail wrapped in a herb dumpling


Serve with rice and fried glazed ginger and lemon confit with glazed baby beetroot and horseradish cream.

This can be made with leftover oxtail.
The meat should be very tender and come off the bone quite easily after the cooking process. If you prefer, leave the meat on the bone and serve the dumplings, steamed in a bamboo steamer, separately.
OXTAILServes 4 with possible leftovers
If you have the time (and inclination), prepare a separate stock to strengthen the flavor of your dish.  It is optional but worth it.  Start making this sauce before starting to cook the oxtail.
Additional flavor: (Optional)
1 tablespoon olive oil
any trimmings from the oxtail
1 medium onion, diced
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
2 cups beef stock, heated
2 cups of water
reserved tomato peels and seeds plus 1 extra tomato finely diced
3 juniper berries
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
2 thyme sprigs
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
season to taste
In a saucepan, add all the above ingredients and bring to a boil, skimming the surface all the time to remove all the impurities.  Cook for 30 minutes and let sit for another 30 minutes whilst preparing for the cooking of the oxtail.

The oxtail:
1 oxtail, trimmed and wiped dry, reserve the trimmings
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
½ bottle of red wine
1 large onion, chopped finely
3 cloves of garlic, chopped finely
1 cinnamon stick, whole
2 bay leaves
4 whole cloves
2 cups beef stock, heated (or the stock you prepared earlier, if you did)
salt and freshly ground pepper

1 large tomato, peeled, seeded and finely diced
1 onion, finely chopped

The lemon confit:
6 lemons, zest and juice
150 g (5.2 oz) castor sugar

The garnish: (optional)
glazed ginger, sliced and lightly fried in butter

The beetroot:
8 baby beetroot
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 sprig of thyme
1 clove garlic, roughly chopped
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 small onion, thinly sliced
¼ cup apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon honey, or to taste
1 teaspoon port

The horseradish cream:
¼ cup fresh horseradish, grated
1 tablespoon mustard
½ teaspoon lemon juice
½ castor sugar or to taste
1 tablespoon dill
salt and pepper
1 cup cream, whipped

The oxtail:

  • Heat the oil in a cast iron pan and add the oxtail pieces. Fry over moderate heat until brown all over, then add the red wine and bring to a boil until nearly dry, stirring regularly.
  • Add the onions, garlic, cinnamon, bay leaves, cloves, hot stock (or the above prepared sauce, strained), and salt and pepper, and cover tightly with the pan lid. Turn down the heat to a moderate simmer.
If you prefer to cook the oxtail in the oven, now is the time to put it in an oven preheated to 180°C/356°F.
  • Cook for at least two hours, checking at regular intervals that it does not cook dry. Top up with 1 cup boiling water and repeat every time it seems to be cooking dry.
  • When the meat separates easily from the bones, remove from the heat.  Spoon the meat in a separate container and leave the sauce, which should have formed a thick sludge by now, behind and keep warm.
  • Check the seasoning of the sauce, discard the cinnamon stick and bay leaves (and cloves if you can find them!), then reduce the sauce to a syrupy consistency and remove from the heat. Set aside in a warm place.
If you plan to serve the oxtail on the bone with the steamed dumplings, your oxtail is ready to be served now.
  • If you want to serve it with the dumplings wrapped around the meat, remove the bones from the meat and discard.
  • Roughly chop the meat, and mix in the tomato and onion. Shape the mixture into a sausage about 6 cm/2.5 in in diameter, and roll it in plastic film.
  • Twist the ends to seal well, then refrigerate to set.

For the dumplings:

  • Into a food processor bowl, sift the flour and baking powder, add oil and enough milk to bind the mixture and pulse until it just comes together as a dough.
  • Add the cheese and chives and pulse again to just combine.
  • Transfer the mixture to a lightly floured surface and knead very lightly. Roll out the pastry to a rectangle measuring 18 x 48 cm/7 x 19 x in.
  • Carefully remove the plastic film from the oxtail sausage and place the meat in the center of the dumpling dough. Roll the dough over the meat and seal the edges. Trim the two ends of the sausage then cut it into 8 even slices.
  • Prepare the steamer and line each steam basket with some cabbage leaves rubbed with oil. Place the oxtail dumplings flat on the cabbage leaves (this is to prevent the oxtail from sticking to the basket) so that the meat is visible and steam for 15 minutes.
  • Halfway through the steaming process change the steamer baskets around so that they both get equal steam.
  • Carefully remove each dumpling and put on a warm plate. Discard the cabbage leaves.

For the lemon confit:

  • Peel the lemons, leaving the pith behind, and slice the zest as fine as possible. Place the zest in a saucepan and just cover it with water. Bring to the boil but drain as soon as it starts boiling.
  • Repeat the whole process twice, starting off with fresh cold water every time.
  • After the final draining, place the zest back in the saucepan and cover with the lemon juice and the sugar and, if necessary, add a little water. Cook over very low heat (barely simmering) until the zest is tender and the juice becomes syrupy.

The beetroot:

  • On a large piece of foil, place the beetroot in the centre and drizzle with the olive oil, then add thyme and garlic. Season with salt and pepper.
  • Enclose the foil and seal, then place on a baking tray. Bake for about 1 hour until very tender.
  • Remove from the oven and, unwrap the foil and tip the beetroot into a bowl. Cover the bowl with some plastic film and leave for 20 minutes to allow the skins to loosen and the beetroot to cool.
  • Remove the plastic film and discard the thyme and garlic.
  • Rub off the skins of the beetroot and cut in half. Put all the beetroot in a bowl and add the onion.
  • In a saucepan, bring to a boil the vinegar, honey, port and 1 tablespoon cold water. Reduce until it starts to thicken to a rich glaze. Add the cooked beetroot and stir to cover with the glaze, remove from the heat and leave to cool.

For the horseradish:

  • In a food processor blend the horseradish, lemon juice, sugar and dill.
  • In a separate bowl, whisk the cream until stiff then fold into the horseradish mixture.
  • Season to taste, then strain through a sieve (optional) and refrigerate for 4 – 8 hours.

To serve:
Pour the sauce in the center of the plate and place two of the oxtail dumplings on top. Spoon the lemon confit and ginger on top of the oxtail and serve on rice with glazed baby beetroot and horseradish cream.