Prawn Risotto with Peppers, Olives and Zucchini

Simple rustic foods is often the most satisfying both to cook and to eat. Among the best of such dishes is risotto in one of its various culinary combinations. Regardless of the final flavor profile good risotto always starts with a good risotto base.

In a heavy, wide bottomed pan heat some oil, add garlic and finely diced onion to sweat before adding the abario rice and stirring it thoroughly to coat the grains with oil. Season the rice before deglazing with dry white wine and then stirring in hot, clear chicken stock to cover the rice. Only stir the rice enough so that it doesn’t stick and then reduce to the minimum possible heat and let the risotto base simmer. As it takes up the stock add more until the rice grains are tender then remove it from the heat and allow it to rest.

Meanwhile, heat some oil in a pan and add some garlic and chilli followed by a generous amount of prawns. Allow the prawns to sear quickly over a high heat before adding the thinly chopped oloives then the diced peppers and zucchini. Toss this in the pan to brown it evenly, seasoning with plenty of salt and cracked black pepper. Deglaze the pan with more wine, add the cooked risotto, a splash of tomato passata and some shredded fresh basil. Allow this to cook until it stiffens up before serving with freshly grated Grana Padano Parmesan, crusty Ciabatta bread and a large glass of Chianti.

Paring Knife

A previous post on this site on the subject of knives is so popular that it has inspired me to go into greater detail on this topic which is so close to my heart. As I said in that previous post, there are three knives that will do the bulk of the work in most kitchens. The real workhorse knife will be the broad bladed cook’s knife, a serrated edge knife is essential for sawing bread, cutting sandwiches and so on. But the first knife that most cooks will need is a paring knife.

A good paring knife will, like all good knives, have a riveted handle that fits comfortably into the palm of the hand. The blade should be a little longer than the width of the palm- too short and the edge will not be long enough to give a good clean cut and the knife will be difficult to handle, too long and the knife will be awkward. A good paring knife will have a thin, flexible blade of forged steel hard enough to sustain an enduring edge and a very sharp point.

Skill with the paring knife, turning vegetables and other decorative cuts, can really add a dimension to a dish or to the garnish of a plate and by mastering the use of the paring knife for peeling vegetables the uniform shapes and sizes required to successfully carry off many formal or complicated techniques will become habit. Many people skimp when spending money on the paring knife but purchasing a good quality blade is not really that expensive and will be a serviceable tool that the cook will use every day for the rest of their cooking lives.

Chicken Soup

I don’t think that there is a cuisine on earth that doesn’t make some sort of chicken soup. Even a half good cook can produce a chicken soup that is edible but in the hands of a talented chef this simple dish can be a satisfying symphony of flavor. This potage is the foundation of the chef’s soup making repertoire and requires all of his skills to make a good one. Good chicken soup begins with a good stock and too often not enough care is taken when it is made. Rather than just popping an old boiler in a pot of water and boiling it up for a couple of hours which produces a bitter and greasy stock, it is better to break the whole chicken into pieces and to simmer them gently with some onion, carrot, celery, parsley, garlic, peppercorns, whole cloves, bay leaves and sprigs of fresh thyme. Patiently simmer the chicken until it falls away from the bones then lift it out of the broth and set it aside to cool while you strain the stock, reserving only the liquid.

I prefer a simple recipe of vegetables and herbs with my chicken soup. I start with a small dice of onion and carrot, add a slightly larger dice of celery, turnip and potato, and finally I add sweet corn kernels and peas. Strip the meat off of the chicken bones but don’t break it up too finely. Heat some oil in a heavy bottomed soup pot and quickly sweat off the vegetables with some salt and pepper, oregano and chopped parsley. Add the chicken meat and mix through the vegetables thoroughly before covering with the reserved stock and topping up the pot with water. Simmer this for at least an hour, until the chicken begins to look shredded. Serve in deep bowls garnish with fresh julienne of spring onions.

Apple Sauce

I love apples. They are easily my favorite fruit. In the kitchen they are extremely versatile in everything from salads, sweets and savory dishes. The classic dish I suppose would be Apple Pie or perhaps Apple Crumble. Either way the success of the dish relies on the floral flavor of apples even if the spices do try to steal the show. I like to bake apples after removing the core and stuffing the fruit with brown sugar, spices and dried fruit like currants or prunes that has been reconstituted in brandy or rum. Served with custard or ice cream they make an attractive and popular sweet course.

Whenever there is roast pork on a menu the punters will invariably want their apple sauce with it and unfortunately it is often just a commercial condiment with no flavor and less character. It is so easy to make a good apple sauce that it would seem silly to buy it in and the finish that a homemade apple sauce give to a simple plate of roast pork makes it worth going to that little bit of extra effort. I like to use good sweet eating apples, my latest favorites are Pink Lady apples which are almost like a sweet Granny Smith.

Core and peel the apples and cut into quarters before putting them over a low heat with some brown sugar, a few quills of good cinnamon, a few cloves and a couple of star anise. Splash in some fresh lemon juice and a pinch of salt and allow the apples to cook covered for fifteen minutes or so. Pass the cooked apples through a fine sieve to catch the spices and any seeds and to give the sauce a fine finish. Cool the apple sauce in the fridge and if a large batch is made keep the excess in small containers in the freezer.

Watermelon, Cucumber & Wild Rocket Salad

As a chef I am called upon to create interesting new dishes but often restricted to using the same base produce to do it. One area where this is so is the cold larder, the salad corner of the kitchen. The real challenge for the salad chef is to produce fresh crisp salads that are inviting and which steer away from the suburban tomato and lettuce combinations. Often it is the unexpected combination of familiar flavors that makes the difference to a plate, lifting it to a memorable gastronomic experience. The other consideration for the cold larder chef is that the salads must be bright and colorful enough to tempt the more carnivorous diners.

I recently stumbled across a salad recipe that surprised me with the complexity of its flavor profile but which was a combination of the simplest ingredients. Dice a firm fleshed watermelon, seedless would be best, and very finely slice some red onion. To this add thin slices of continental cucumber and a handful of the freshest wild rocket. Grind a tiny amount of black pepper into the salad to support the peppery nuttiness of the rocket and carefully toss the salad until it is well mixed without breaking the delicate watermelon flesh up too much. Leave this to sit for at least 20 minutes before serving.

Watermelon Cucumber & Rocket Salad

Perfect Mashed Potato

Often the recipes that people have the least understanding of are the simple dishes that we eat every day. It is common for keen cooks to spend a lot of effort on perfecting the focus of a plate, getting a sauce exactly right, grilling the steaks correctly and then the final product is let down by something as basic as over cooked vegetables. One dish that we all cook that suffers from this inattention is mashed potato and yet it is the simplest thing to get it right every time.

When mash fails in its perfect creaminess of texture it is always either overcooked or worse, undercooked. In a pinch undercooked mashed potato can be microwaved and, with luck and a balloon whisk it might be brought back from the brink but overcooked potato will never mash well and will always end up as a sloppy unpalatable mess on the plate. It would be better to add some sautéed bacon and onions, a generous amount of chicken stock and then to blitz the potato slurry into soup- in the kitchen there are never really disasters only menu changes.

So how do we avoid these culinary traps without increasing the attention that we pay to the staple base on the evening dinner plate? Chefs rarely have time to stand over a pot of potatoes and watch them cook and neither does the domestic chef but by following a few simple principals an excellent result can be guaranteed every time. Choose large potatoes, preferably brushed rather than washed and if possible white potatoes rather than red ones. The starch content of these larger white potatoes will ensure that even if they are a bit overcooked that the resultant mash will still be reasonably stiff.

Do not cut the potatoes up too small, halves or quarters, if they are really large, is usually small enough. Too small and they will break down in the cooking water and the soup option will be the only solution. Even whole is better than small dice. The potato should be cooked in plenty of water and I like to start in very hot water with a generous amount of salt dissolved into it. Most importantly is not to cook the spuds to fast. Once they begin to boil reduce the heat and let them simmer more gently, this will cook the potatoes evenly through and make the mash more consistent in texture. Cook the spuds until a small knife penetrates right into them. Once the potatoes are cooked let them drain really well so that the surface of the potato is almost dry and a bit sticky- water only dilutes the flavor of the mash.

Finally, microwave the milk or cream to warm it up before adding it to the potatoes when mashing as it will keep the heat in the spuds, also add plenty of salt and white pepper (so you can’t see the specks). I like to use a whisk to whip my mash but a ricer or a masher is just as good. Either way really work the potato, make sure there are no unpleasant lumps and then mont the potato with knobs of soft butter to give the mash a velvety richness. If you follow this technique you potato will always be mashed to perfection.

Harissa

The photo from this weeks postaweek 2011 photo challenge inspired me to post my favorite chili recipe. Chili is one of those ingredients in cookery that is always sure to cause disputes between chefs. Some love chili some are more cautious, some chefs don’t show it the respect that such a potent flavor deserves. The active elements in chilies that make them hot are substances called capsaicinoids. Predominantly found in the small whitish seeds they are mostly flavorless and react with the pain receptors in the mouth causing perspiration and the release of endorphins and so chili eating is a stimulant to the pleasure centers in the brain. In fact capsaicinoids make the things that they are combined with taste more like themselves, lifting the entire flavor profile of any dish.

In most commercial kitchens it is most common to use chili in the form of a sambal or paste. The Indonesian dark red-umber colored Sambal Olek is the finest chili paste available in the world but it is very easy to make a chili paste from fresh Birdseye chilies that is almost as robust. But my favorite way to use these hot little chilies is to make Harissa. This traditional North African ingredient is a staple part of the diet in many places and there are as many recipes for it as there are cooks but for my own I like to develop a complex profile that will go well with a wide variety of meats or give a pasta or cous cous a real kick. I start by trimming the stalks from about half a kilo of chilies and putting them into a food processor with a dozen cloves of garlic, some salt, white pepper and ground cumin. When this is an even paste I add a large bunch of fresh coriander leaves and stems, juice from 3 or 4 lemons and enough olive oil to bring the paste together to a fairly fine consistency.

This Harissa paste will keep in jars in the refrigerator for several months (at least) and can be used to marinate chicken, fish, lamb or beef as well as added to tagines to give them the necessary heat and depth of flavor. I like to blend a tablespoon of Harissa into a dressing of olive oil and red wine vinegar to give salads a sharp finish on the palate. However you use it you just have to remember to use it carefully and don’t ever rub your eyes.

Never Fail Short Sweet Crust Pastry

As a traditional pan chef I am rarely expected to have the same skills as a specialist like a patisserie chef but on the occasion that I need to venture out of the comfort zone in that direction I like to have good solid recipes to follow. One recipe that I have used since I first began to cook is my Bulletproof Sweet Pastry which came out of a professional cookbook used to train apprentices. Its simplicity and the ease with which it can be multiplied to make a larger batch has made it a reliable old favorite in my battery.

 

The finished pastry

Put two cups of plain flour, almost a cup of white sugar and 100g of butter or margarine into a food processor and blend it to the consistency of fine crumbs before adding a whole egg and then 2 or 3 tablespoons of cold water, just enough to bring the mixture together as a paste. Rest this pastry in the refrigerator for half an hour before using it. Butter gives a richer but softer pastry whereas margarine or shortening will give a lighter, crisper finish. It is in fact the shortening in this class of pastries that cause them to be called “short pastry”. This recipe is a classic Pate Sucre but with the omission of the sugar and the addition of salt it works very well for savory pies.

Cinnamon

Of all of the spices that I keep in my larder I think that I like cinnamon the most. I love the smell of a freshly opened bag of ground cinnamon and the festive smell of compotes or patisserie that features this spice.

I find that cinnamon is the most versatile flavor, adding richness and a glorious aroma to everything that it is used in. Cinnamon goes with so many styles of dish, savory as well as sweet, and adds a lift to coffee or cocoa. Almost every cake or cookie recipe calls for cinnamon but it is equally as tasty with meats, especially game meats like venison or pheasant. A stick of cinnamon in the roasting pan with a joint of meat, especially lamb, gives the jus a subtle flavor that draws out the flavor of the meat.

But, as with all things culinary, the end result is determined by the quality of the produce that is used and cinnamon is one ingredient that this can be truer of than others. Generally, on our supermarket shelves, what is sold to the consumer as cinnamon, or Dutch cinnamon, is really cassia. It is common practice to blend the much cheaper cassia with cinnamon but the result is an entirely less satisfying product.

Cinnamon is the bark from Cinnamomum verum a small tree that is grown in Sri Lanka. Only the finest inner bark is harvested giving the quills their brittle texture. Cassia bark is always thicker (2-3 mm) and comes from Cinnamomum aromaticum, often called Chinese cinnamon and whilst is has a slightly stronger flavor it is also harsher and lacks the genuine fineness of cinnamon flavor. It also has higher quantities of a moderately toxic component called coumarin that has come into question lately. Even so, genuine Ceylon Cinnamon is not that much more expensive and can be bought online at http://ceylon-cinnamon.com/Identify-Cinnamon.htm  for about US $26 per pound.

How to Poach the Perfect Egg

Poaching eggs seems to be a culinary skill that eludes many people and yet it is one of the simplest and healthiest ways to prepare them. In my work as a breakfast chef I poach a lot of eggs so I have had the opportunity to test all of the tried and true methods and to debunk many of the myths of this basic technique.

Cookbooks and television chefs will tell you that there are a few tricks to poaching eggs but the true secret is to only ever poach the very freshest eggs. After only a couple of days good eggs will begin to become too stale to poach very well, but fresh eggs will poach perfectly, keeping their shape beautifully and without any of the white separating even in not quite boiling water.

Unfortunately we can rarely count on having eggs straight from the farm and so there are a few steps that everyone can take to make sure of a good result. Acidulate 2 or 3 liters of salted water with 30 or 50 ml of white wine vinegar and bring it to the boil and when the water is at the rolling boil stir the water rapidly with a spoon to create a vortex. Quickly break a couple of eggs into the vortex before it stops spinning and reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook the eggs until the whites are firm before carefully lifting them on to kitchen paper with a slotted spoon to dry them.

This method generally works for all but the stalest eggs but really the perfect way to poach an egg is to start with a perfect egg.

Barded Beef with Cherries

I love to serve meat with fruit. The sweetness of the fruit acts as a relish or a condiment to the charred smoky flavor of roasted or grilled meats. As the chill of winter has blown into Melbourne I have begun to cook heartier dishes and adding fruit to a plate is a small reminder of the warm comfortable days of summer. Perhaps the best fruit to cook with is cherries which bring a fulfilling richness to a sauce for game and meat that is among my favorites to prepare.

I begin by barding a butt-end of a beef tenderloin, the cut called a chateaubriand, with long thin strips of streaky bacon. Season this well with salt, pepper, celery salt and fresh thyme before sealing it in a hot pan of duck fat. When the beef is evenly browned put it into a fast oven for half an hour or so. When the beef is medium rare take it out of the oven and set it aside to rest while the sauce is made in the hot pan.

Begin by deglazing the pan with a shot of good port wine (or a heavy red if needs be) and drizzle in some of the syrup that comes in the tin with the cherries. Add about six or seven cherries per portion and allow the sauce to simmer quickly enough to reduce before adding some demi-glace to thicken the sauce. If you do not have demi-glace then make up some instant gravy and add that. Remember to put all of the juices from the beef back into the sauce. Serve with roasted vegetables and a large glass of claret.

Pumpkin & Sweet Potato Soup

Pumpkin soup is without a doubt the most popular potage that I cook in restaurants. Of all the soups that I can make I can always be certain that a good pumpkin soup will always sell out. This fact is not isolated to my kitchen but is a well known phenomenon throughout my industry, and this broad popularity means that every café has its own spin on this simple soup. Some chefs will roast the pumpkin before using it in soup on order to caramelize the sugars and develop the flavors of the pumpkin. Different spice profiles that feature nutmeg, cinnamon, star anise, curry or any other number of other sharp flavors can impart a chef’s personal twist to this dish. Classic French pumpkin soup that starts by sweating off the mirepoix vegetables mixes potato with the pumpkin to give the soup a smooth creamy texture and makes a full flavored, robust potage.

My favorite version of pumpkin soup uses Kent or Butternut pumpkins with about half their weight in sweet potatoes. Start by sweating some diced onion in a heavy bottomed soup kettle. Season the onions with plenty of salt and white pepper, add some ground cumin and a generous amount of ground coriander, then, finally, some freshly grated ginger. Stir this over a high heat until it is strongly aromatic then put in the pumpkin and sweet potato in large chunks and toss them in the seasoned onions. Cover this with good chicken stock and simmer until the vegetables are thoroughly cooked. Allow soup to rest until cool.

When the soup has cooled enough, puree and pass it through a fine sieve then return it to the pot. Add some more stock to adjust the consistency if necessary and return the soup to the boil. I like to serve this soup in deep bowls garnished with fresh cream and cracked pepper.

Slow Braised Beef with Peppers

Winter has blown into Melbourne this week on a stiff Antarctic breeze and ushered in an appetite for heavier, heartier, richer dishes that are suited to the colder months of the year. Stews, curries and casseroles have reappeared on my menus again but for myself I prefer to braise meats rather than make a ragout. The method is more difficult but the intense flavors that it creates and the melt in the mouth texture of braised meats makes the extra attentions that are needed worth the effort.

One of my ‘go to’ recipes when I need to make a slow braised beef dish starts by peeling a few red capsicums (bell peppers). Rub some oil into the skins of the peppers and then put them into a very hot oven on a flat tray and roast them until the skin blisters and starts to burn. To remove the skins easily put the hot peppers into a bowl and cover it tightly with cling film whilst the peppers are left to cool. The skins will then peel off of the dark red flesh very readily.

To braise the beef use a heavy bottomed pot with a lid. Heat some oil then sweat off some crushed garlic and some onion slices before adding thick pieces of beef- I use rump. Keep stirring the meat over a high heat until it is well colored and the onion almost starts to burn. Next, deglaze the dish with some white wine, add some chicken stock and then a can of whole Italian tomatoes (or, even better, peel your own Romas if you like). Season with plenty of salt and freshly ground black pepper, then add oregano and bay leaves. There should be just enough liquid to cover the beef. Cover the pot and simmer vigorously for at least 90 min then add strips of the peeled red peppers, remove the pot lid and allow the sauce to reduce over a high heat until it reaches a thick, rich consistency.

Serve Beef Pepperonata with pasta, char-grilled slices of Polenta Milanese, rice or simple mashed potatoes and a glass of dry red wine on a cold winter evening.

Kipfler Potatoes

From amongst the vast array of potatoes available to the chef there is one that stands out above the rest- Kipflers. Once, these long, egg-shaped tubers were the darling spud of celebrity chefs and starred on five-star menus, such was the regard that they were held in by gastronomes across the planet. Now they are in plentiful supply and so they are available to the public for a few cents more per kilo than the more familiar Coliban or Desiree varieties, offering the home cook the option of preparing Kipflers with their Sunday roast.

Kipflers are smallish potatoes, meaning that they are more work to peel than the larger and more common spuds, but their creamy firm flesh has an earthy flavor that makes it worth the effort. I love them simply mashed with lashings of cream and nobs of butter, served garnished with finely cut chives or crisped bacon lardons but to really enjoy their flavor I like to cut the Kipflers into quarters lengthwise and then to steam them in chicken stock until they are just tender. After letting them drain thoroughly (until they are quite dry and sticky) I saute them in a simmering pan of clarified butter with simple salt and freshly ground black pepper seasoning, gently tossing them in the butter until they are golden brown. Serve them on the side of any grilled meat dish to enjoy potatoes they way that they tasted when we were kids.

Kipfler Potatoes

Mushroom

Here in Australia we have just entered winter for the year and so we are at the peak of our mushroom season. All through the streets of my suburb there are mushrooms popping up on front lawns although they are mostly the noxious yellow-stainers that look deceptively like the edible mushrooms sold in the supermarket. There are so many recipes for mushrooms that it is hard to pick a favorite. From common field mushrooms I like to make a soup that simmers the dark-gilled giants in chicken stock with a base of caramelized onions and handfuls of chopped parsley. To thicken this potage I use stale bread that I soak in the mushroom broth, blitzing the mixture to a smoothish consistency before serving it piping hot with a dollop of cream and a couple of pieces of grilled rye bread on the side.

 

Perhaps my favorite variety of mushroom (at the minute) is Portobello, a dark-skinned mushroom with creamy white flesh and a robust earthy flavor. I like to sauté the sliced mushrooms in a generous measure of clarified butter until the flesh is a lovely caramelized color and then serve them on top of a char grilled piece of fillet steak. They are also excellent roasted whole, drizzled with olive oil, sprinkled with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper and finished with roughly chopped thyme. Served on the side of a breakfast plate of bacon and eggs they are the perfect start to the day.