pan-fried duck breast

A while ago I attended an event hosted by Bitton Café for Game Farm, a company producing predominantly chicken (corn-fed and spatchcock/poussin), quail and duck.

Since their farm is in Galston, an rural-like area on the northern outskirts of Sydney (and also where I spent the first seven years of my life) I was keen to try their products.

It was interesting they felt the need to promote their products to Australian consumers in this way, primarily because they were concerned people saw ducks and quail as something exotic and difficult to cook with. They wanted people to understand how easy and tasty they are (and cook/buy more).

I think duck is pretty easy to cook. It's certainly no harder than chicken.

For dinner, I knew I had some pretty delicious sides dishes (potatoes roasted in duck fat, crispy brussels sprouts with bacon, sautéed apples and sage) so I just wanted a simple duck breast recipe.

No-nonsense, pan-fried duck breast. As every chef and their dog says these days “I wanted the ingredients to speak for themselves”.

To test the mettle of Game Farm, I decided to use the recipe on the inside of their duck breast packaging.

It was fantastic, and just as easy as cooking a steak.

A quick rendering in the pan, to give it colour, and then gently finished off in the oven for a few minutes.

This could be a dinner party favourite, for when you want to put on a bit of a show, but better still it’s easily a meal Jonas and I would enjoy during the weekday, even after a hard day at work.

You could serve it sliced into a salad, or as a slab with awesome sides. Too easy.

I served mine with a little cabernet wine jelly I bought on our Easter road trip to Mudgee.

Pan-fried Duck Breast

Game Farm packet instructions! Serves 2.

Ingredients:
2 duck breasts
Salt
Pepper

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 200’C.

2. Score or prick the skin of the duck with a sharp knife - this will allow the natural juices under the skin to render during cooking.

3. Season with salt & pepper, or your favourite spice mix. Heat a non-stick frying pan to a low heat. Do not grease the pan.

4. Place the fillet skin-side down and cook for 3-4 minutes to crisp the skin, turning and cooking for a further 1 minute.

5. Place into a hot oven, skin side up, and cook for a further 7-10 minutes or until cooked through.

Note: Appliance temperatures can vary. You may need to adjust cooking times accordingly.

If you're interested in more duck, quail and chicken recipes, Game Farm has a pretty extensive online library.

I've also made:

Armenian Yoghurt Soup w Dumplings
Avgolemono
Buffalo Wings & Blue Cheese Dip
Coq Au Vin
Creole-Spiced Chicken
Duck w Cherries
Hungarian Chicken Paprikas
Kentish Pigeons w Plums
Moroccan Chicken Tagine
Palestinian Chicken w Sumac, Za’atar & Lemon
Portuguese Chicken
Senegal Chicken
Walnut & Pomegranate Spatchcock

wasted: a pop-up for neglected delights

Last night Jonas and I enjoyed the Wasted pop up dinner at Ten Buck Alley, celebrating the unloved bits of animal and vegetable often neglected from restaurant menus. It's a limited time event on Thursday 12th, Friday 13th and Saturday 14th May.

Despite it being Friday 13th, our hosts, British chef Douglas McMaster and self-confessed pop-up restaurant vigilante Kym Lenoble, put on a good show.

It sounds cliché, and Jonas will certainly roll his eyes at me, but it’s great to see chefs so excited and passionate.

I’m a big fan of these pop-up events because they give younger chefs and sommeliers a chance to be inventive and test their mettle.

We filed in, group by group, into the tiny café. It had been spruced up for our arrival with some quirky decorations and scenes from the 1995 post-apocalyptic film Waterworld projected onto the wall.

As Kym said, Waterworld is what we’ve got to look forward to if we don’t start eating and living more sustainably.

Seating was tight. Tables were flush against each other and elbows knocked. The small, backless stools were a touch uncomfortable for such a long meal, but the squashy set up meant I could lean on the person behind for support. Lucky for me that person turned out to be a blogger I already knew, Minh from Eat.Show.Tell.

Dragon Fruit Bellini

The night got rolling with a wonderful Dragon Fruit Bellini, the dragon fruit (pitaya) giving an elegant flavour to the sparkling wine, which became tinted a pretty pink from the fruit. Unfortunately there’s a certain sliminess to dragon fruit that floated to the surface of the bellini, forming a lipidic foam, but it was easily dispersed with a quick stir.

Visually it needs some finesse to avoid the foam, but I could easily steal this one for a dinner party.

Salt pork, pickled celeriac, celery leaves

Two amuse bouche kicked off the food.

First a spoon of salt pork, pickled celeriac and the fresh celery leaves. As a celery hater I was surprised to discover the celeriac root gave a fresh flavour when pickled and the leaves were very mild. The salt pork was delicious. A nice intro.

Chicken heart, dock weed, wheat

Next up was a tiny green jar with an equally tiny chicken heart, smothered in puréed dock weed and accompanied by some roasted wheat kernels. The dock weed’s acidity was a perfect match to the iron flavour of the heart. Another winner.

Anchovy chips, anchovy mayonnaise

While we waited for the team to prep our first course, they passed around ikan bilis (dried anchovies) and anchovy mayonnaise. It was like fishy chips and dip, enjoyed by many more people than I would have imagined given the strength of flavours. Tick!

Nettle soup, back fat, nasturtium

Our first course, a Nettle Soup, had a beautiful creamy texture and subtle verdant flavours that would have been lifted to dizzying heights with a little seasoning. As we discussed with our neighbours, including Daisy who blogs for London’s Evening Standard, so many young chefs are often afraid of salt.

Fortunately, tiny cubes of crackling-like back fat floated throughout providing mouthfuls of nutty pork flavour. The decorative nasturtium tasted like wild salad leaves.

It was a restorative course, served with an unwooded 2010 Printhie Chardonnay (Orange, NSW). Without the food it tasted a little unfinished, heavy on alcohol at the end, but after tasting the soup the wine balanced out perfectly.

Blood, brains, skin

The anxiously awaited Blood, Brains & Skin course was the most frightening dish for the majority of the crowd. Thickened blood sauce, flavoured with caraway seeds, was a bed for lamb brains fried in a mixture of breadcrumbs and pork crackling. It was all topped off with micro herbs and tart pickled apple.

Served on large square tiles, this was my favourite course of the night. It could easily have featured on any 3 hat/star restaurant menu.

The pickled apple gave fresh acidity, the brains were flavoursome and soft, but not limp, and the crackling added a wonderful crunchy texture contrast. The blood sauce was a rich punch to the softness of the other flavours, but many found its presence psychologically overwhelming.

Not me. I could have eaten another two plates of the stuff!

The brains were paired with the gutsy 2009 Devil's Ridge Block 22 Cabernet Sauvignon (Barossa Valley, SA). This wine was lovely. Low on tannins, and strong with cherry and anise. I’m going to keep a look out for this one in the stores.

Yabby, dill stem, wild rocket

Ironically, the yabby course was the most challenging for me, simply because it contained dill - my most hated of herbs.

The velvety texture of the yabby tartare was perfect, a sweet and striking contrast to the intense vegetal flavours of the wild rocket granita. In the dim light and intense green of the plate, the finger lime caviar disappeared visually, but the bursts of fresh acidity in the mouth proved they were there.

Again, a sprinkle of salt flakes would have lifted the flavours of the yabby and rocket dramatically, and perhaps curtailed the overpowering dill. The flavour from the stems is stronger and more anise than the commonly used tips and the stringy texture was also a turn off. Jonas and our neighbours had no such issues with the dill, adoring the fresh, clean flavours, but everyone agreed salt was needed.

I love that they served the yabby course on plastic black Frisbees. Afterwards we checked out the bottom and discovered they were promotional items from Espirit. Talk about recycling!

It worked well with the 2009 Brokenwood Semillon (Hunter Valley, NSW), matching the acidity of the finger lime.

Intercostal, potato skins, cauliflower root

Our last savoury course were beef intercostals, cooked into soft, gelatinous sweetness and accentuated by caramelised onions. They were served in crispy carved out potato skins and topped with cauliflower stems.

One of the groups sitting next to us were extra anxious as to what intercostals might be, but I assured them it was nothing dramatic: merely the muscle tissue between the ribs.

The matching wine was the 2008 Grant Burge Miamba Shiraz (Barossa Valley, SA) fruity and thick with chocolate, liquorice, plums and cherries.

Whey sorbet, feijoa, violet

The palate cleanser and first sweet course was a whey sorbet, sprinkled with crushed crystallised violets and chunks of fresh feijoa.

Jonas found the feijoa fruit overwhelming and pungent, whereas I enjoyed the sweet-sour tropical flavour, similar to a guava. The whey sorbet was quite sour, almost salty and entirely delightful.

This came with a delicate and sweet 2009 Batasiolo Moscato d'Asti (Piemonte, Italy).

Smoked wood custard, molasses, pomegranate

Our last course was a salute to the New Nordic food movement. A layer of molasses sauce was topped with natural yoghurt, a smoked custard mousse and splashes of reduced pomegranate juice. All decorated with glistening ruby pomegranate jewels and chewy crumbs from an ANZAC type biscuit.

The yoghurt counterbalanced the sweetness of the molasses while the earthy pomegranate mixed well with the smoky wooded custard. And who doesn’t like ANZAC biscuits? C’mon!

Twas wonderful.

This was paired with the Buller Tokay (Rutherglen, VIC), sticky and strong enough to match the smoked custard, but probably the weakest wine pairing of the evening.

We left the evening impressed with these young whippersnappers.

The food had focused on sustainable nose-to-tail or foraged ingredients and the wine matching was inspired with inexpensive options signing like a well practiced choir beside their partner course.

They'd managed to turn the ugly and the under-utilised into something wonderful.

Overall a thoroughly enjoyable evening, heralding many good things to come from Douglas McMaster and Kym Lenoble.

~ ~ ~

Anna & Jonas were NOT guests of the Wasted team and paid $123pp for 6 courses with matching wines.

wild rabbit, green olive & marjoram pappardelle

Kung Hei Fat Choy / Gong Xi Far Tsai !

Today is the first day of Chinese New Year and therefore the first day of the Year of the Rabbit.

My city council has listed some of the important customs of the Chinese New Year:

• Greet people with "Kung Hei Fat Choy", or "Gong Xi Far Tsai" (Happy New Year) to bring good fortune and prosperity.
• Keeping an empty seat at the table to symbolise the presence of family members who can't be there.
• In the lead up, clean your house to sweep out the bad luck of the previous year but don't clean on New Years Day or you'll sweep away the good luck of the new year.
• Let the old year out by opening every door and window in the house on the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve.
• Pay off all debts and cast all grudges aside.
• Do not use knives or scissors on New Year's Day as this may cut off fortune.
• On New Year's Day wear new clothes and be on your best behaviour, as actions on this day set the tone for the year to follow.
• Ward off bad luck by draping red cloth on your doorway.
• The Kitchen God, the guardian of the family hearth, will be reporting to heaven on the behaviour of the family over the past year, so make sure you feed him with sweet foods and honey to ensure he says sweet things about you.

I love the idea that I have a Kitchen God!

There are twelve signs in the Chinese zodiac, but only six are edible (according to moi).

I demonstrated this with seven days of pork recipes to bring in the Year of the Pig back in 2007, but unfortunately I didn’t get my act together for the Year of the Ox back in 2009.

This year I won’t be caught out and am offering up this sumptuous rabbit pasta, care of Mr Jamie Oliver.

I’m still not sure whether cooking the animal of honour is sacrilegious or not, but since no one has told me otherwise I suppose I can look forward to greeting in 2012 and the Year of the.....Dragon!

The flavours of this dish are herbal and comforting.

It’s easy to make, but it does involve a lot of steps and waiting period for marinating and roasting and cooling and reducing and boiling.

But it’s worth it.

Pappardelle w Wild Rabbit, Green Olives & Marjoram

Ingredients:
1 wild rabbit, jointed
Olive oil
2 knobs butter
Few sprigs fresh thyme, picked over (reserve some for serving)
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
4 cloves garlic
3 wineglasses white wine
600g pappardelle pasta
Small handful green olives, stoned and roughly chopped
Bunch of fresh marjoram
Handful freshly grated Parmesan
Zest of ½ orange or lemon (optional)

Marinade
Small bunch of fresh thyme, picked over
6 cloves garlic, crushed
Glug of olive oil
Zest of 1 lemon

Method:

1. The night before, mix the marinade ingredients together and rub them all over the rabbit pieces. Leave them to marinate overnight in the fridge (can be left like this for up to 2 days for a stronger flavour).

2. Preheat oven to 180’C and in a large, heavy-bottomed ovenproof saucepan, heat some olive oil and a knob of butter.

3. Season rabbit with salt and pepper then add to the pan and brown for a couple of minutes on each side until golden.

4. Add thyme, rosemary and garlic cloves then stir and add wine to almost cover the meat.

5. Cover with lid then cook in the oven for 2 hours or until the meat pulls away from the bone easily. Cool meat in juices.

6. When cool, shred the meat with your hands into 2.5cm strips and discard bones.

7. Remove the rosemary, thyme and garlic and heat to reduce juices to slightly thickened liquor (add optional tomatoes here).

8. Turn heat to low and add marjoram, olives and shredded meat. Stir and season to taste.

9. Boil pasta and cook until al dente. Drain and reserve a little cooking water.

10. Turn up heat under meat sauce and toss through remaining knob of butter, orange/lemon zest (optional) and cooked pappardelle. You may need to add a little pasta cooking water to loosen the sauce.

11. Serve immediately with reserved thyme leaves.

Variation: in the photo in the cookbook, the juices are quite red which leads me to believe a tomato was added somewhere along the process. I added two chopped, skinned tomatoes when I reduced the juices and they broke down perfectly.

This is my contribution to Presto Pasta Nights founded and hosted by Ruth from Once Upon A Feast

~~~

This is a short shout out to Ms Correct, who loves a good bunny and adores pappardelle. Let's just hope her fiance 007 can tear himself away from bombing small villages and assassinating dictators to get his ass back to Oz sometime soon. You heard me B-Rad! Put down that Blackberry / MI5 receiver and get on a plane!!!

goat cutlets w rhubarb agrodolce sauce

When Jonas started eating meat I was determined to have him experience all the various cuts and types of meat possible.

After a lovely morning stroll to the farmers markets at Eveleigh Carriageworks, I got chatting with one of the stall operators selling goat meat, and this inspired me to make these wonderful marinated cutlets and sweet-sour sauce.

It was all part of my three course rhubarb feast that included a raw rhubarb & feta salad as well as a rhubarb, strawberry & vanilla compote with chocolate custard.

Goat is a very strong flavoured meat, even more so than lamb. In cutlet form, it’s very easy to overcook and serve tough, so the trick is to serve it on the pink side.
As goat meat is so strong, it’s perfect to pair with gutsy marinades and powerful sauces because the flavours really shine through.

This agrodolce sauce is my own concoction, based on Italian sweet and sour principles. It worked perfectly with the goat but could be equally matched with a lamb or pork dish for the less adventurous meat eater.

Grilled Goat Cutlets w Rhubarb Agrodolce Sauce

Anna’s very own recipe. Serves 4.

Ingredients:
Fresh thyme flowers, picked over for garnish
Olive oil, for cooking

Marinade
8 goat cutlets (or 12 if very small)
½ cup red wine
1 tablespoon thyme leaves, picked over
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 garlic cloves, crushed

Sauce
1 red onion, finely diced
4 garlic cloves, finely sliced
4 stalks of rhubarb, chopped
2 tablespoons red wine
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons cabernet verjuice
½ cup water
Salt and pepper, to taste

Method:
1. Marinate goat overnight in red wine and garlic.

2. Next make the agrodolce sauce. Heat olive oil, and on a low heat cook the onion and garlic until soft and translucent.

3. Add the rhubarb and brown sugar and continue cooking until some of the moisture has been cooked out.

4. Add the red wine and cook until some of the alcohol has evaporated.

5. Add the water and verjuice and simmer until rhubarb is soft. Cool, then process into a rough purée.

6. Return to saucepan and reheat. Taste sauce, season and ensure a good sweet-sour balance (adjust as required adding more verjuice or brown sugar). Keep warm.

7. To cook goat cutlets, grill until medium-rare, basting with marinade throughout cooking.

8. Serve cutlets hot with agrodolce sauce.

This recipe (using thyme & rhubarb) is my contribution to Weekend Herb Blogging, this week hosted by Haalo from Cook (almost) Anything At Least Once.

kentish pigeon w plums

It was a case of Revenge of the Dinner!

When I stuck my hand into my pigeon to clean out the cavity, the sharp claws of the little beast dug into my flesh and scratched me quite painfully. The little bird unknowingly committed a small act of retribution before he was roasted and devoured.

As promised when I posted my Duck w Cherries recipe, here is a great Autumn recipe for those in the northern hemisphere. I suppose it's named after the area of the UK where the recipe comes from?

Like many ingredients that taste great together, pigeons and plums become widely available at the same time of year, allowing you to easily prepare this delicious Autumn dinner.

Just make sure there’s enough for everyone!

Kentish Pigeons w Plums
Recipe from cookitsimply.com Serves 4.
Ingredients:
25g (1 oz) butter
15ml (1 tbsp) vegetable oil
4 young pigeons, prepared
10ml (2 tsp) plain wholemeal flour
1 medium onion, skinned and chopped
2 cloves
1 tbsp chopped fresh herbs (rosemary, sage, thyme) or 1 tsp dried
100ml (4 fl oz) port
450g (1 lb) purple plums, stoned and halved
Salt & pepper, to taste
Freshly grated nutmeg
Method:
1. Heat the butter and oil in a large frying pan.
2. Coat the pigeons lightly in the flour, shaking off any excess, then add to the pan and fry, turning occasionally, until lightly browned on all sides. Transfer to an ovenproof casserole.
3. Stir the onion into the frying pan and fry gently until beginning to soften. Spoon over the pigeons, then sprinkle the cloves and herbs over the top.
4. Stir the port into the frying pan, bring to the boil, then pour over the pigeons.
5. Arrange the plums over the top. Cover tightly and bake at 170°C for 1½ hours, until the pigeons are tender.
6. Transfer the pigeons and plums to a warmed serving platter.
7. Boil the juices for 2-3 minutes to thicken them and concentrate the flavour.
8. Season to taste with salt, pepper and nutmeg, then pour over the pigeons. Serve at once.

For Weekend Herb Blogging this week I'm focusing on the pretty little plum.

In Australia, where there are more than 200 varieties grown, plums are available from October to May with the peak season being February to March.

European plums are more oval whereas Asian plums are rounder and heart-shaped.

Plum skin is usually rather tart whereas the flesh is quite sweet. Most of the sugar in plums is glucose (rather than fructose or sucrose).

One of my mother’s favourite memories was when she left me alone with her father and a tray of overripe blood plums. Since those plums were so squishy, and neither my grandfather nor I had any teeth, when she came back we were both smothered in red juices! Generational pincer movement!

I was surprised to learn than red-fleshed plums have more nutrients and high sugar contents than yellow-fleshed plums. Maybe that’s why my grandfather and I were so eager to eat those juicy blood plums!

Prunes are just dried plums, and both are known as natural laxatives. I’ll never forget how annoyed my brother was after I absentmindedly shared an entire bag of prunes with his 3yr old daughter.

Substances within the plum’s seed can decompose into hydrogen cyanide gas and in large enough doses could be harmful, so don’t leave two tonnes of plum seeds to compost in your backyard.

This recipe and the plum are my Weekend Herb Blogging entry for the week, hosted by Cinzia from Cindystar a lovely blog from Lake Garda in Italy.

Other online plum recipes:
Brioche Plum Tarts - A Whisk & A Spoon
Chicken Plum Pie - Ja Mange la Ville
Damson Jelly - The Cottage Smallholder
Dimply Plum Cake - Smitten Kitchen
Ginger Plum Jam - Andrea Meyer
Green Gage Plum & Vanilla Jam - Chez Pim
Hungarian Plum Dumplings - FXCuisine
Moroccan Nectarine & Plum Chicken Tagine - Closet Cooking
Plum & Blue Cheese Pannacotta - Cook (almost) Anything At Least Once
Plum & Muscat Gelato - White on Rice Couple
Plum & Peach Crisp - 101 Cookbooks
Plum & Radicchio Panzanella - Not Eating Out in New York
Plum Cake - La Tartine Gourmande
Plum Chutney - Green Gourmet Giraffe
Plum Kernel Oil Ice Cream - David Lebovitz
Plum Mayo Dressing - Simply Recipe
Plum Sorbet - Simply Recipes
Plum Tart - Rutic Kitchen
Quetsche Plum Tart w Walnut Cream - Chocolate & Zucchini
Roasted Plum Mousse Cannelee et Vanille
Rosewater & Plum Compote - 101 Cookbooks
Rosemary Plum Jam - Lucullian Delights
Upside-Down Plum Ricotta Cupcakes - Baking Obsession
Wild Plum Sauce - Fat Free Vegan Kitchen
Yeasted Olive Oil Plum Cake - Wild Yeast
Yellow Plum Sorbet - The Nourishing Gourmet
Zwetschgendatschi (Bavarian plum cake) - Delicious Days

This time previously on M&M:
2008 - smoked salmon, raisin & feta spoons
2007 - moqueca de peixe (Brazilian dendê oil & coconut fish)
2006 - grape & aniseed schiacciata & pavlova martini

References:
http://www.freshforkids.com.au/fruit_pages/plum/plum.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plum

duck w cherries

This recipe came from Australian Gourmet Traveller’s 40th Anniversary Issue where they reprinted some of the recipe over the years in a decade-by-decade history of food trends.

Duck w Cherries was firmly wedged in the 1960s along with Black Forest Cake. From the 1970s we got steak tartare and fondue, the 1980s gave us flaugnarde and neenish tarts and the 1990s was all about laksa, pannacotta and sticky date pudding.

Ahhh the memories (OK, so I’m only old enough to have memories of 1½ of those decades, but you get the idea).

I love sweet fruit sauces with meat, as you’ll see in a few weeks when I post a recipe for pigeon & plums or my archives of kangaroo & quandong, emu & rosella, venison & blueberries and pork w prunes & apples.

But for now enjoy the duck!

Duck w Cherries
Recipe from Gourmet Traveller (August 2006). Serves 4.
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon butter
1.8kg duck, quartered
125ml light-bodied red wine
500g cherries
1½ teaspoons cornflour
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Method:
1. Melt butter in a large casserole over medium heat.
2. Add duck and cook for 4 minutes on each side or until browned.
3. Add wine and season to taste with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
4. Cover and simmer over low heat for 1 hour
5. Drain excess fat from pan and add cherries, cover and cook for 30 minutes.
6. Combine cornflour in 1 tablespoon of water and mix until smooth.
7. Remove duck and cherries from pot then bring juice to a boil over a medium heat
8. Add cornflour mixture, whisking continuously for 1 minute or until thickened. Strain.
9. Divide duck and cherries among serving plates then spoon sauce over.
Note: frozen cherries can be used, but should be added 5 minutes before the end of cooking.

The area of Turkey, today called Giresun, was once known to the ancient Greeks as Kerasous and is the origin of most European words for cherry.

Greeks and Romans imported cherries from this area of Anatolia and called the fruits κέρασος (Greek) then cerasum (Latin) and eventually cereza (Spanish), cerise (French), kirsche (German) and cherry (English).

There are two main types of cherries: wild cherries (prunus avium) and sour cherries (prunus cerasus). Although they originate in the same place, they don’t cross-pollinate.

Cherry trees have silver-grey bark, long slender leaves and, in spring, beautiful pink and white blossoms. The Japanese have made an art out of cherry blossom enjoyment (hanami).

The peak fruit season depends on your location and those in the northern hemisphere enjoy them around June and July whereas in Australia they are best from November to January.

Cherry anthocyanins (red pigment) are potent antioxidants and they are an excellent source of vitamin C, vitamin E and dietary fibre. They are also being researched for their suspected benefits in combating the progression of cancer, chronic inflammatory conditions, neurological diseases, ageing, cardiovascular disease and allergic conditions (for instance asthma, hay fever, eczema and hives).

Our Weekend Herb Blogging host this week is the lovely Haalo from Cook (almost) Anything At Least Once. If you haven’t visited this blog before, please spend some time reading over Haalo’s recipes: it’s one of my all time favourite blogs out there.

M&M's cherry recipes:
Cherrylicious (cocktail)
Meggyleves (Hungarian sour cherry soup)
Schwarzwälderkirschtorte (German black forest cake)

Other cherry recipes from the blogosphere:
Beef Short Ribs w Cherry Balsamic Sauce - Mrs Glaze's Pommes d'Amour
Black Cherry Iced Tea - Appetite for China
Blue Cheese & Dried Cherry Meatloaf - A Year of Slow Cooking
Cherry Champagne Jellies - Cook (almost) Anything At Least Once
Cherry Hazelnut Loaf Cake - Chocolate & Zucchini
Cherry Jam - David Lebovitz
Cherry Mallow Salad - Eat Me Daily
Cherry Marzipan Tart - Nami Nami
Lamb Chops in Cherry & Port Sauce - Closet Cooking
Macaroon Cherry Tart - 101 Cookbooks
Persian Cherry Pilaf - Tigers & Strawberries
Sour Cherry Almond Frozen Yogurt - Always Order Dessert
Sour Cherry Barbecue Sauce - Habeas Brûlée
Sweet Cherry Pie - Smitten Kitchen
Venison w Cherry Mostarda & Chanterelles - Cook Eat Fret
Warm Cherry Port Sauce - Je Mange la Ville
Zucchini w Sour Cherry Couscous - Fig & Cherry

From the M&M archives:
2008 – Ecuadorian tuna & yuca soup
2007 – garlic scape pesto
2006 – mangosteen sorbet

Reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherry
http://www.cherries.org.au
http://www.freshforkids.com.au/fruit_pages/cherry/cherry.html

crocodile meat w long pepper

A while ago I bought some crocodile meat. It was frozen, so when I got home I put it in my freezer. I knew it was there, snapping away at me, demanding to know when it would be cooked, but there was never really a good enough occasion.

And then Chris from Mele Cotte announced her Deep Freeze Summer Challenge for the second year running and I knew it was now or never. Lucky too, because after I had cooked the thing I realised I was only a month or so off the used by date. Phew!

The meat came in a nifty little package (sorry I forgot to photograph it) and looked like a reasonable slab of meat. Once I opened it, however, I discovered it was folded over on itself and that I had almost double what I’d originally thought! Also, the shape of it made it very obvious that I was dealing with the reptile’s tail.

Hmmm. What to do?

I served the crocodile as part of a Balinese inspired feast, so I decided to grind up some of the long peppers we bought in Bali (using a spice mill), rub the pepper all over the tail then barbeque it?

Long peppers? I hear you ask. What are those?

Long peppers and crocodile meat? What next!!!

Well here’s some information on each of them:

Long pepper (Piper longum) is also known as Javanese Long Pepper, Indian Long Pepper or Indonesian Long Pepper, as well as Tabiabun in Indonesian. It is a flowering vine producing fruit that is usually dried and used as a spice (very top photo).

It is a relative of the black pepper plant, although its flavour is stronger, hotter and muskier. You could say it tastes like a combination of nutmeg, chilli and cardamom.

The long peppers flower spikes are actually made up of tiny fruits, each the size of a poppy seed. Present in these tiny fruits is the chemical, alkaloid piperine, which provides the peppery pungency.

The long pepper was a very important and sought after spice and was known even to the Romans. It’s popularity declined significantly after the discovery of chillies in the Americas. Although it is rarely used in European cooking anymore, it still has a place in Indian, North African and particularly Indonesian and Malaysian cuisine.

And let’s not forget the Deep Freeze crocodile meat. The meat tastes like rich, organic chicken with something a little special that you can’t quite place. It could easily become a new favourite meat.

After a little research I discovered some interesting information about crocodile:
• The Australian saltwater crocodile (C.porosus) is farmed and managed in Australia in accordance with the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
• Sustainable farming of crocodiles has been an overwhelming success and is a model for other threatened and endangered species.
• The meat is ideally suited to Australian native ingredients including pepperberries, lemon myrtle and wattleseed.
• Can be fried, grilled, BBQ or stewed but should be cooked very slowly over low heat otherwise it can really toughen up.
• Some recommend cooking frozen to prevent the loss of juices during thawing.
• Always use butter or olive oil as margarine can impact the flavour negatively.
• Best served medium-rare.
• The best cuts are the back-strap and tail fillet.
• Always trim the fat, as it has an unpleasant taste.
• From 100g of croc meat you’ll get 21.1g protein, 1.9g fat, 436kj. That’s better results than chicken, beef or legs.
• Low in fat and calories and high in protein, but slightly higher cholesterol than other meats.
• Low in saturated fats and high in monounsaturated fat and is considered a good source of niacin and vitamin B12.
• Has a very delicate flavour so accompaniments should not be over powering.
• Use of marinades help to break down the muscle fibres enzymatically (kiwifruit purée, pawpaw, pineapple or mango skin).
• In the 2005 World Expo in Nagoya, the Australian Pavilion served over 100,000 crocodile rolls during the 6 month event.

The recipe is simple but the results were delicious.

And I ticked off another 2008 Food Challenge by taste testing croc meat.

Buaya Tabiabun (Long Pepper Crocodile)
Anna’s very own recipe. Serves 4.

Ingredients:
1½ teaspoons freshly ground long pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
1kg crocodile tail

Method:
1. Rub olive oil all over the meat.
2. Dust the long pepper over the meat.
3. Barbecue on a low heat for 2 minutes on each side. Remove and rest 2 minutes.
4. Serve with rujak, pickles and nasi kuning.

So this is my contribution to 2008 Deep Freeze Summer Challenge.

References:
http://www.australiancrocodile.com.au/meats.html
http://www.mackayfishmarket.com.au/crocodile.htm
http://www.benjaminchristie.com/blog/crocodile-meat-restaurant-menus
http://www.gamemeat.com.au/crocodile.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_pepper
Tags: morsels and musings food blog food and drink australia recipes crocodile long pepper main course crocodile recipes long pepper recipes reptile recipes australian recipes australian food australian cuisine indonesian recipes indonesian food indonesian cuisine

venison w juniper, blueberries & thyme

After making so many sweet dishes for Blueberry Week, I thought it would be nice to make something savoury. I stumbled across this great venison dish on Jamie Oliver’s website.

Jamie brilliantly pairs hearty game meat with juniper and thyme and blueberries. It’s a great match with the sweetness of the blueberries cancelling out the slight bitterness of the juniper and both cutting through the iron richness of the venison.

Venison w Juniper, Blueberries & Thyme
Recipe by Jamie Oliver. Serves 4.
Ingredients:
800g venison loin, trimmed
1 small handful of fresh thyme, leaves picked
5 dried juniper berries
4 shallots, peeled and finely sliced
1 clove of garlic, peeled and finely sliced
1 glass of robust red wine
200g fresh blueberries
2 large knobs of butter
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Extra virgin olive oil

Method:

1. Bash up the thyme and juniper berries in a pestle and mortar with a really good pinch of salt and pepper. Loosen with 2 good lugs of olive oil.

2. Pat the venison dry with some kitchen paper and rub the thyme mixture all over it.

3. Sear the meat in a hot pan on all sides (roughly 6 minutes for medium rare, 7-8 minutes for medium: don’t cook it anymore than that and use your instincts not your clock!).

4. Remove it from the pan when it’s cooked to your liking and allow it to rest on a plate for 4 minutes, covered with tinfoil.

5. Reduce the heat under the pan and add a good lug of oil.

6. Add the shallots and the garlic and fry gently for around 3 minutes until translucent and tender.

7. Turn up the heat again, add the wine, and let it reduce by half.

8. Add the blueberries and simmer slowly for 4 minutes, then remove the pan from the heat.

9. Add the butter and jiggle and shake the pan around so the sauce goes slightly opaque and shiny. Season to taste.

10. Slice the venison into 2cm slices. Add the meat’s resting juices to the sauce and spoon over the venison. Serve with vegetables or salad passed separately.

Note: If you haven’t got a pestle and mortar, use the end of a rolling pin and a metal bowl.

I've already dealt with thyme, and surely no one wants me to talk about blueberries anymore, so let's focus on juniper berries.

Well they aren't real berries at all, but the female seed cone of various juniper trees, such as the Juniperus communis, which is the one most commonly used in cooking.

In fact juniper berries are the only spice that come from conifers. The mature, dark berries are used both fresh and dried in cooking, whereas immature green berries are what imparts the crucial flavours in gin.

In fact the English word “gin” is a direct derivation from the French genièvre and the Dutch jenever which described the juniper branches and berries used to flavour the spirit.

The outer part of berry is pretty flavourless so most recipes call for juniper berries to be crushed in order to bring out the essential oils. Apparently fresh mature berries are the strongest in flavour and lose their intensity during drying and storage.

Juniper has been used as far back as ancient Egypt, where berries have been found in tombs; Greece, where athletes believe juniper to increase their stamina for the ancient Olympic competitions; and Romans used juniper berries as a substitute for black pepper because it was too expensive.

Today the berries are used extensively in Scandinavian and other Northern European cuisines such as German, Austrian, Czech and Hungarian. Juniper pairs especially well with strong game meats, wild birds, pork and cabbage/sauerkraut.

This is my contribution to Weekend Herb Blogging, hosted this week by Pam from Sidewalk Shoes.

References & Photo Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juniper_berry
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juniper
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Jun_com_cones.jpg
http://www.global-garden.com.au/gardenherbs3.htm
http://www.culinarycafe.com/Spices_Herbs/Juniper_Berries.html
Tags: morsels and musings food blog food and drink australia recipes main course blueberries blueberry recipes berry recipes main course juniper venison juniper recipes meat recipes game meat recipes venison recipes weekend herb blogging whb

farewell, my stinky

Today is a sad day because my little sister, Stinky, is flying away. She will spend 2 weeks in the wilds and waters of Borneo (Malaysia) before moving to Amsterdam (Netherlands) where she’ll be living for who knows how long. She hasn’t got any firm plans, she just wants to live in another country and experience a new culture. Again.

A few weeks ago I had a “sisters feast” where Stinky, Shamu and I got together and since I promised to cook a multicourse Italian meal as one of my food resolutions and since Stinky loves Italian food, Italian is what I ended up making.

Il Menu
Bresaola di Cervo al Caprino - Venison Bresaola w Goats Cheese Dressing
Brodo Piccante con Fregola e Gamberi - Spicy Broth of Fregola & Prawns
Bistecca con Gorgonzola e Fichi - Steak w Gorgonzola & Figs
Melanzane al Forno - Baked Eggplant
Pesche Ripiene – Baked Peaches Stuffed w Amaretti

I was really pleased with the outcome of this meal. Everything was truly scrumptious, even if Stinky and I got extra when Shamu couldn’t overcome the psychological barrier of eating Bambi, no pun intended (mind you, the following week she devoured deer with relish at a restaurant!).

Although the venison smallgoods manufacturer claimed the product was prosciutto, there was no classic fat lacing that appears on prosciutto and instead was clearly a lean, bresaola style cured meat. I suspect the manufacturer thought no one would know what bresaola was and so chose “prosciutto” for marketing purposes.

The venison bresaola was served with a goats cheese sauce, the recipe coming directly from Giorgio Locatelli's Made in Italy cookbook, which I promised to cook from as another foodie resolution. In the cookbook, Locatelli uses the same dressing on beef bresaola, providing a nice alternative from the traditional lemon juice accompaniment, while still retaining the necessary acidity. I have since used this dressing on other small salads.

The seafood broth was a wonderful, light dish plumped out with sweet scallop and prawns as well as beads of fregola tostata, a type of Sardinian pasta. I plan to share this recipe tomorrow for Presto Pasta Night.

Next came the rich, tender steaks that I bought from the David Jones Food Hall. They were 27 day aged and sublime: the flavour in these steaks is simply amazing. I’d rather eat sublime meat like this once a week than average quality every day. I pan-fried the steaks and melted a layer of creamy gorgonzola dolce on top, a salute to a similar dish cooked by Australian chef Danny Russo. Served with sliced fresh figs and dressed rocket, it is a truly wonderful recipe that functions as an impressive meal on its own.

The side dish of baked eggplant was a bit of an afterthought, but was still surprisingly good. Using the same principles as eggplant parmigiana, I baked chunks of eggplant with a Napoli sauce and a layer of parmesan cheese.

Finally there were the baked, stuffed peaches served with ice cream. These were sweet with textural contrast and were a light, warming end to a very filling meal. I plan to focus on peaches for Weekend Herb Blogging this week, so I’ll post the recipe over the weekend.

Bresaola di Cervo al Caprino (Venison Bresaola w Goats' Cheese Dressing)
Recipe from Made in Italy by Giorgio Locatelli. Serves 4 as starter.
Ingredients:
20 slices venison bresaola
4 handfuls of rocket
100g soft, fresh goats’ cheese
3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Juice of ½ lemon
Salt and pepper
Method:
1. Mask cheese with a fork until smooth.
2. Combine with white wine vinegar and 5 tablespoons of olive oil and create a coarse blend
3. Mix the remaining tablespoon of oil with the lemon juice and dress the rocket. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Just before serving, arrange bresaola slices on serving plates, spoon over dressing then top with a little rocket.

Bistecca con Gorgonzola e Fichi (Steak w Gorgonzola & Figs)
Anna’s recipe inspired by Danny Russo. Serves 4.
Ingredients:
4 steaks
100g gorgonzola dolce, thinly sliced
4 large fresh figs, thinly sliced
Olive oil, for cooking
Salt & pepper
Method:
1. Sprinkle the steaks with salt and pepper then brush with olive oil.
2. Heat a little more olive oil in a frying pan then cook steaks for 3-5 minutes then turn and cook for another 3 minutes.
3. Top steaks with cheese slices and cook for another 2 minutes or until cheese melts. This could also be done under a grill if preferred.
4. Plate and serve with slices of fresh figs.
Note: steak cooking instructions are for medium-rare but you can adjust depending on tastes. Just remember to give the cheese at least 2 minutes on the steaks to melt accordingly.

Melanzane al Forno (Baked Eggplant)
Anna’s very own recipe. Serves 4 as a side.
Ingredients:
1 eggplant, peeled and cut into cubes
375ml (1½ cups) passata
1 small onion, chopped finely
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 long red chilli, chopped finely
1 tablespoon tomato paste
¾ cup finely grated parmesan
Olive oil, for cooking
Method:
1. First preheat to oven to 180’C.
2. To make the sauce by frying the onion with olive oil until soft, then adding the garlic and chilli and frying them until soft also.
3. Next add the tomato paste and fry until bubbly and a little thickened. Then add the passata and simmer for 5 minutes.
4. Remove from heat and toss eggplant through the sauce.
5. Transfer to a baking dish and bake until eggplant is soft, about 30 minutes.
6. Remove from oven and mix through some of the parmesan and sprinkling the rest on the top. Return for 5-10 minutes or until cheese melts.

That's three of the five recipes I made for my sisters. The other two will be posted over the next few days.

By the way everyone, don’t forget that I’m hosting Mixology Monday next week, so get your fruit liqueur cocktails ready for blogging!

Tags: morsels and musings food blog food and drink australia recipes starters entrees soup main course gorgonzola beef venison bresaola bresaola di cervo bresaolavenison fregola prawn recipes fregola recipes soup recipes bresaola recipes venison recipes gorgonzola recipes beef recipes italian recipes italian food italian cuisine