Flounder with Normandaise Sauce

Ingredients

1 flounder, about 800g, cleaned, trimmed and head removed.
200ml dry cider.
150g Swiss brown mushrooms.
120g butter.
100g school prawns.
75g crème fraîche.
4 eschallots, finely sliced.
1 tblsp cider vinegar.

Method

Sauté eschallots with 20g butter over moderate head in a large saucepan for 5 min.
Add mushrooms, cook for a further 5 min.
Add cider and prawns, cook for a further 5 minutes.
Place aside, keep warm.
Season flounder, and cook in a large frypan with remaining butter for about 5 minutes each side.
Return saucepan to heat, stir through crème fraîche, cooking until warm.
Season sauce with salt, pepper and cider vinegar.
Serve sauce over fish.

Braised Witlof

Ingredients

2 witlof, trimmed and halved lengthways.
75ml chicken stock.
15g butter.
1 tsp demerara sugar.
Dash tarragon vinegar.
1 tbsp crème fraîche.
Nutmeg.

Method

Sauté witlof in a frypan with butter over moderate heat for 1 – 2 minutes.
Add sugar, vinegar and stock.
Bring to the boil, reduce to simmer, cover and cook for 20 minutes.
Remove witlof and keep warm.
Increase heat and reduce liquid by ½, stir through crème fraîche, season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.
Pour sauce over witlof.
And serve…

Roast Poussin with Walnuts

Ingredients

1 poussin, about 500g.
2 rashers streaky bacon.
100g walnuts, finely chopped.
85g prunes, finely chopped.
4 eschallots, finely chopped.
1 garlic clove, finely chopped.
30g butter.
Additional butter.

Method

Preheat oven to 220°C.
Clean and trim poussin.
Combine walnuts, prunes, eschallot, garlic and butter well, season, and stuff poussin.
Lay bacon across poussin breast, truss poussin, season, smear with additional butter.
Roast on a rack.

Poussin cooking times:
20 minutes, plus an additional minute for every 50g above 500g.

Remove from rack and rest for five minutes.
Meanwhile, deglaze tray with 100ml water, reduce heat to a simmer, stir through 40g flour, bring to a boil for 1 – 2 min, season, and serve as gravy.

Small Duck Breast Terrine

Ingredients

700g duck breast (about 2 large breasts), coarsely chopped.
350g pork shoulder, coarsely chopped.
50g chicken or duck liver, coarsely chopped.
50g pork flare or back fat.
6-8 slices bacon or speck, very finely sliced.
75g baby spinach leaves.
30ml cognac.
1 tblsp parsley, finely chopped.
1 garlic clove, finely chopped.
½ tsp quatre-épices.
1 sprig of thyme, stalk removed, finely chopped.
1 egg yolk, lightly beaten.
25g salt.
Pinch black pepper.

Method

Preheat oven to 160°C.
Line a small (about 400ml capacity) terrine with bacon slices, leaving the edges overhanging—when the dish is full you will fold these over to wrap the terrine.
Blanche spinach for 1 – 2 min, drain well, squeeze dry and finely chop.
Combine spinach and all remaining ingredients and mix very well.
Press the mixture into terrine dish, folding over bacon to form a cover.
Cover with terrine lid (or foil) and bake in a bain-marie for 1 hour.
Reduce heat to 140°C and bake for a further 4 – 5 hours, internal temperature 70°C.
Remove from oven, allow to cool, and drain well of any fluids.
Remove terrine lid and apply a heavy weight to terrine—at least 1 kg—ensuring that even weight is applied across the terrine.
Rest, weighted, in refrigerator overnight, before removing weight and covering.
Serve with cornichons, cherries, and toasted sourdough.

Confit Duck Legs

Ingredients

6 duck marylands.
Approx 1 ltr of either duck fat, goose fat, lard, or a combination of all three.
About 100g salt.
6 – 8 black peppercorns.
2 – 3 bay leaves.
2 – 3 garlic cloves, crushed.
2 – 3 juniper berries, crushed.
Sprig rosemary.
Sprig thyme.

Method

Liberally rub marylands with salt, then rest for 2 – 4 hours.
Pre-heat oven to 80°C.
Rinse marylands under water and pat dry.
In a large, deep oven dish or casserole, arrange marylands and herbs.
Cover entirely with fat; legs must be covered by at least 1cm of fat above top of flesh.
Cook in oven for 5 hours.
Carefully remove marylands from pan, rest aside.
Reserve fat.
Once fat and legs are cooled, strain fat through fine sieve.
Place marylands in a sterilized container, covering with strained fat, and refrigerate.
Marylands will keep like this for some time, and are best after at least 1 – 2 days.
To serve, remove marylands from fat, leaving a fine layer of grease, and either 1) pan-fry over moderate heat for 8 – 10 minutes, until crisp, or 2) roast at 180°C for 20 – 30 min, until crisp.
Serve with a salad of rocket, walnuts, and finely diced pear, dressed with a simple dressing.

Steak Tartare

This dish consists of very lean beef fillets, finely chopped, and accompanied by an egg yolk, and finely chopped anchovies, capers, cornichons, Spanish onion, and parsley. These should be accompanied by slices of lemon, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco, salt, pepper, and fine slices of sourdough bread (drizzled with olive oil and toasted in the oven for 15 min at 180°C).

Pommes Dauphinoise

Ingredients

Desire or Pontiac potatoes, very thinly sliced.
Garlic, finely chopped.
Milk.
50mls cream for every 100ml milk.

Method

Preheat oven to 200°C.
Combine milk and cream.
Grease a baking dish with butter.
Arrange potato in dish in layers, seasoning with salt and pepper as needed, and adding garlic occasionally.
Pour in enough milk and cream to cover the potatoes by a couple of mm.
Bake for 1 hour, covering with foil if the top of the dish browns too much.

Chicken Liver Pâté

Ingredients

600g chicken livers, cleaned.
150g butter.
3 eschallots, finely diced.
2 garlic cloves, finely diced.
6 tarragon leaves, finely chopped.
45ml cognac.
Nutmeg.
Additional clarified butter.

Method

Soften the garlic and eschallots with tarragon in a large frypan over moderate heat for 4 minutes.
Lift tarragon, garlic and eschallots out of pan and keep aside.
Using additional butter as needed, sauté the livers in batches for 2 minutes, reserving pan juices.
Deglaze pan with cognac, then return livers, tarragon, garlic and eschallots to pan, flambé-ing for a further minute.
Remove pan contents, including juices, and puree well.
Force puree through a sieve or food mill.
Melt remaining butter.
Whisk melted butter through puree, to form a mousse.
Season with a pinch of nutmeg, salt and pepper.
Spoon pâté into ramekins, sealing with clarified butter.
The pâté is best after a day or two.

Beef Stroganoff

Ingredients

400g lean beef, finely sliced into 4cm by 1cm slivers.
150g button or Swiss brown mushrooms, finely sliced.
80g sour cream.
60ml red wine.
50g flour.
50g tomato paste.
30g butter.
1 garlic clove, finely chopped.
½ onion, finely sliced.
Juice of 1 lemon.
1 tsp paprika.
1 tblsp chives, finely chopped.

Method

Combine flour with paprika and season heavily.
Roll beef in flour.
In a large frypan, soften onion and garlic for 3 min over moderate heat with a dash of butter.
Brown steak for 2 minutes in batches, adding butter as needed.
Deglaze pan with wine.
Return onions, garlic and beef to pan.
Add tomato paste, mushrooms and ½ the lemon juice.
Cook for 5 minutes.
Stir in sour cream, season well with salt, pepper and additional lemon juice.
Serve with chives and rice or pasta.

Beef Stroganoff

Ingredients

400g lean beef, finely sliced into 4cm by 1cm slivers.
150g button or Swiss brown mushrooms, finely sliced.
80g sour cream.
60ml red wine.
50g flour.
50g tomato paste.
30g butter.
1 garlic clove, finely chopped.
½ onion, finely sliced.
Juice of 1 lemon.
1 tsp paprika.
1 tblsp chives, finely chopped.

Method

Combine flour with paprika and season heavily.
Roll beef in flour.
In a large frypan, soften onion and garlic for 3 min over moderate heat with a dash of butter.
Brown steak for 2 minutes in batches, adding butter as needed.
Deglaze pan with wine.
Return onions, garlic and beef to pan.
Add tomato paste, mushrooms and ½ the lemon juice.
Cook for 5 minutes.
Stir in sour cream, season well with salt, pepper and additional lemon juice.
Serve with chives and rice or pasta.

Roast Lamb Loin with Ratatouille

Ingredients

Lamb loin, trimmed, rolled and neatly trussed.

For the Ratatouille:

1 red onion, chopped.
2 garlic cloves, chopped.
1 red capsicum, cored and chopped.
1 yellow capsicum, cored and chopped.
2 tomatoes, seeded and chopped.
3 Chinese eggplants, chopped.
3 zucchinis, chopped.
6 – 8 basil leaves, chopped.
30ml balsamic vinegar.

Method

Lamb(off the bone) roasting times:

Season lamb well before roasting on a rack.
Cook lamb for 10 min at 230°C, then reduce heat to 180°C and cook for 18 min per 450g.
Internal temperature should be 60°C.
Rest for 10 min before carving and serving.

Ratatouille:

Over moderate heat, soften onion and garlic for 2 min.
Add the capsicum, cook for 2 min.
Add the eggplant, zucchini, and tomato, cook for 5 min.
Add balsamic, basil, stir and season well.

Petit Farcis

Ingredients

250g pork mince.
250g veal mince.
80g fresh breadcrumbs.
50g parmesan cheese.
50g tomato paste.
80ml white wine.
2 Chinese eggplants.
2 small red capsicum.
3 small zucchini.
2 – 3 small tomatoes.
1 red onion, finely chopped.
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped.
2 tblsp parsley, finely chopped.

Method

Preheat oven to 180°C.
Cut eggplants and zucchini in half lengthways and scoop out flesh.
Finely chop eggplant and zucchini flesh and set both skins and flesh aside.
Remove tops of tomatoes, scoop out flesh, finely chop flesh and set aside.
Half and core capsicums.
In a heavy based saucepan or frypan, soften garlic and onion over medium heat with a dash of olive oil for 2 min.
Add pork and veal mince, browning for a further five min.
Add eggplant and zucchini flesh, cook for 3 min.
Add tomato flesh, tomato paste, and white wine, cook for 10 min.
Remove mixture from heat, and stir through cheese, breadcrumbs and parsley.
Season well.
Stuff vegetable shells with mixture, brush with olive oil, and arrange in a deep baking tray.
Fill tray with 5mm of water.
Bake for 45 min.

Scallops with Mornay Sauce

Ingredients

12 scallops, roe on, in half-shells.
1 ltr court-bouillon.
300ml milk.
100g Gruyère, grated.
50g butter
50g flour
2 eschallots, finely diced.

Method

Warm milk.

In a heavy based saucepan, melt butter, add shallots and soften for 3 minutes, without browning.
Add flour to form a roux, cooking for 2 minutes.
Remove pan from heat.
Gradually add milk, stirring constantly.
Return to the heat stirring constantly, bring to the boil, reduce heat and cooked until thickened to make a white sauce.
Stir through cheese, and season with salt and white pepper.
Place aside sauce.
Remove scallops from shells, cleaning and keeping aside shells.
Bring the court-bouillon to the boil, then reduce heat to a gentle simmer.
Poach scallops in court bouillon for 2 minutes.
Place one scallop on each shell, spooning sauce over each scallop.
Grill under salamander for two minutes, until lightly browned.

Roast Poussin with braised lettuce and spock

Ingredients

For the chicken:
1 chicken or poussin.
½ onion.
Garlic cloves.
Thyme.
Parsley.
For the lettuce:
½ cos lettuce.
200g speck, chopped into small batons.
500ml chicken stock.
100ml white wine.

Method

Preheat the oven to 400°C.
Clean and trim the chicken.
Stuff the chicken with salt, pepper, onion, thyme, parsley and garlic.
Truss chicken legs and tail.
Season chicken skin with salt and pepper, and dob generously with butter.
Roast chicken on an open rack.
Roasting time: 18 minutes plus a further 18 minutes per 500g.
For the lettuce
Sautee speck with a touch of butter in heavy-based pan until browned.
Add stock and wine, bring to the boil, reduce heat, and reduce by ¾ until thick.
Add lettuce leaves, braising for 4 – 5 minutes until soft.
Carve chicken into breast, thigh and leg, and serve over lettuce and speck, drizzling with braising liquids.

Pan-Fried Duck Breast

Trim and score duck breasts, before seasoning with salt, pepper, and a tiny touch of ground nutmeg and cinnamon.
Fry the breasts over moderate to high heat for 5 – 6 minutes each side, turning once, and beginning with skin-side downwards.
Deglaze the pan with cognac, reduce, season and serve with sautéed spinach and pommes boulangerie.

Pommes Boulangére

Ingredients

Desiree potatoes, sliced to 3mm thickness with a mandolin.
½ onion per 250g potatoes, sliced to 3mm thickness.
Chicken stock, about 300ml per 100g potatoes.
Butter.

Method

Preheat oven to 350°C.
Grease a lidded casserole dish with butter.
Arrange the potatoes in dish in layers, adding a thin layer of onion to every three or four potato layers.
Bring the stock to boil in a saucepan.
Pour enough hot stock to completely cover potatoes into dish.
Bake for 1 hour, or until potatoes are cooked.

Braised Beef Cheeks

Ingredients

3 or 4 (600g) beef cheeks.
100g bacon or speck.
500ml beef stock.
300ml red wine.
½ onion, chopped.
2 garlic cloves, chopped.
1 celery stalk, chopped.
1 orange zest.
1 bay leaf.
1 sprig parsley.
2 cloves.
50g butter.


Mash.
Baby carrots, sautéed in butter and seasoned.

Method

Marinate the beef cheeks overnight with the onion, celery, red wine, garlic, orange zest, cloves and herbs.
Remove the beef from the marinade and pat dry.
Season cheeks well.
Strain the marinade, reserving liquid and solids.
In a casserole over moderate to high heat, sear the beef cheeks with butter for 2 minutes on each side.
Deglaze the casserole with a touch of marinade liquid.
Add marinade solids, and soften for 5 minutes.
Add beef cheeks, bacon and remaining marinade.
Season well.
Bring to the boil, reduce heat, and simmer covered for 2 ½ hours.
Remove the cheeks, wrap in foil, and keep aside.
Strain the braising liquids, discarding solids.
Return liquids to pan and reduce until thick.
Warm the foil packets in oven for 5 min at 350°C.
Serve with mash and sautéed carrots, finishing with reduced sauce.

Le Croque Monsieur

Ingredients

Shaved leg ham.
Bread, sliced 1cm thick.
Gruyere cheese, grated.
Salad.

For the sauce:
30g butter.
30g flour.
2 tsp Dijon mustard.
150ml milk.
Pinch nutmeg.

Method

To make the sauce, combine the milk and mustard, stirring well.
Melt butter over low heat in a heavy-based saucepan and stir in the flour, cooking for 1 minute to form a roux.
Remove from heat, and gradually stir in milk/mustard mixture.
Return to heat, bring to the boil, reduce heat and stir until thickened.
Add a pinch of nutmeg, and season.

On a slice of bread arrange ham, gruyere and a layer of sauce.
Top with another slice of bread to form a sandwich.
Over medium heat, fry sandwich for 1 to 2 minutes on each side with a dash of butter.
Slice in half and serve with some salad.

Shellfish Broth

Ingredients

4 balmain bugs.
600g pippies.
100g (dry weight) short pasta such as cencioni or farfalle, cooked.
1 small onion, chopped.
1 leek, white part only, chopped.
4 baby carrots, peeled and chopped.
500ml white wine.
100g butter, room temperature.
1 tbsp tarragon, finely chopped.
1 stalk thyme, leaves only, chopped.
Lemon.

Method

Steam bugs for 2 minutes over boiling water.
Remove tails, chop, lengthways and discard heads.
In a heavy-based pot, sauté bug tails with carrot, onion, leek and 20g butter for 3 minutes over moderate heat.
Add wine, and clams, increase heat, bring to the boil.
Cook, covered, for 4 min.
Remove lid, add pasta and herbs, cook for a further 1 min.
Season with lemon juice, salt and pepper.
Whisk in butter until melted.

White Wine Mussels

Ingredients

1kg mussels, scrubbed and bearded.
1 onion, finely diced.
2 eschallots, finely diced.
3 garlic cloves, finely diced.
500ml white wine.
25g butter.
2 tblsp parsley, finely chopped.
Chips.
Mayonnaise.

Method

Soften onions, eschallots and garlic with butter over low heat.
Add wine, bring to the boil, reduce heat.
Reduce wine by ½.
Season.
Return mixture to boil, add mussels and cover, cooking for 3 ½ min, shaking pot regularly.
Remove mussels, stir through a dash of fresh white wine, add parsley, season, and pour over mussels.
Serve with chips and mayonnaise.