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…

Pumpkin Soup

Ingredients

1 small pumpkin, about 1kg, cleaned and chopped to make 700g.
350ml beef or veal stock.
1 small onion, finely chopped.

Method

Soften onion in a large saucepan.
Add pumpkin and stock, simmer over moderate heat for 20min, until pumpkin is soft.
Puree, adding additional stock if necessary.
Season, and serve with crusty bread.

Mushroom Sandwiches

Ingredients

About 200g of 4 or 5 types of wild field mushrooms.
About 4 garlic cloves.
2 tblsp parsley, finely chopped.
Lemon.
Butter.
Rye bread, thickly sliced.

Method

Sauté each variety of field mushroom individually with a touch of garlic and butter for 4 – 5 minutes each.
Combine mushrooms, season with salt, pepper, parley, and a squeeze of lemon juice.
Return to pan for 1 – 2 minutes to reheat.
Meanwhile, toast buttered bread under salamander until lightly browned.
Serve as a sandwich.

Cauliflower with Cheese Sauce

Ingredients

1 cauliflower, cut into florets.
500ml milk.
150g strong cheddar cheese, grated.
100g butter
100g flour

Method

Preheat oven to 180°C.
Arrange cauliflower in a deep oven tray, lightly greased with butter.
Warm milk and set aside.
In a heavy based saucepan, melt butter, and add flour to form a roux, cooking for 2 minutes without browning.
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.
Pour sauce to cover cauliflower, and bake for 20 min.

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.

Leeks a la Greque

Ingredients

2 – 3 leeks, white part only, cut into batons.
60ml olive oil.
30ml white wine.
30g tomato paste.
½ teaspoon white sugar.
1 bay leaf.
1 sprig thyme.
1 garlic clove, finely chopped.
6 coriander seeds, crushed.
8 black peppercorns.
Juice ½ lemon.
1 tblsp parsley, finely chopped.

Method

Combine all ingredients except leeks, lemon juice and parsley in a large frypan.
Bring to the boil, stirring.
Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 10 minutes.
Add leeks, cover, and simmer for 20 – 30 minutes, until leeks are soft.
Season with salt, pepper and lemon juice, sprinkle with parsley.

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.

BBQ Haloumi

Ingredients

Haloumi, sliced into 1cm thick pieces.
Lemon.
Mint, finely chopped.

Method

Barbeque the haloumi over hot coals for 30 seconds to 1 minute on each side.
Season with salt and pepper, a squeeze of lemon.
Serve with a sprinkle of finely chopped mint.

Mayonnaise

Ingredients

100ml grape-seed oil.
50ml olive oil.
1 egg yolk.
White wine vinegar.

Method

Whisk egg yolk and mustard in a large bowl.
Combine oils, then gradually add oil mixture to egg yolk, whisking constantly to emulsify.
When all oil is added, season well with salt, pepper and white wine vinegar.

Tomato Relish

Ingredients

½ Spanish onion, finely diced.
400g canned diced tomatoes.
30g Demerara sugar.
30ml balsamic vinegar.
1 tblsp mustard seeds.
2 tsp Keen’s curry powder.
1 tsp allspice.
1 tsp ground cumin seeds.

Method

Soften onion with a dash of vegetable oil in a saucepan over low heat.
Add spices, and cook for a further minute, until aromatic.
Add tomatoes, sugar and vinegar.
Reduce for 20 – 30 minutes.

Leek & Potato Soup

Ingredients

2 leeks, white part only, chopped.
500g desiree potatoes, peeled and chopped.
1 onion, peeled chopped.
500ml chicken stock.
25g butter.

Method

Sweat leek and onion with butter over low heat for 10 min.
Add stock and potato, bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer for 20 min.
Drain vegetables, reserving liquid.
Process vegetables until smooth.
Whisk in reserved liquid until correct consistency is obtained.
If soup is still too thick, add additional water.
Season well with salt and pepper.

Cauliflower Soup

Ingredients

15g butter
600g cauliflower, cut into florets.
1 onion, sliced.
2 sticks celery, sliced.
150ml chicken stock.
300ml milk.
125ml cream.
1 bay leaf.
1 sprig thyme.

Method

Over low heat, soften onion and celery with butter.
Add cauliflower, stock, milk and herbs, bring to the boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes.
Puree mixture, and force through a sieve or food mill.
Return puree to pan, stir through cream and warm soup without boiling.
Season with salt and white pepper.

Herb Butter

Ingredients

125g butter, room temperature.
20g garlic, very finely chopped.
20g eschallots, very finely chopped.
30g parsley, finely chopped.
5ml Pernod.
2 dashes Tabasco.

Method

Combine ingredients, except butter, well.
Massage ingredients into butter.
Season well.
Roll butter into tube of cling-film and seal.
Freeze for ½ hour, or until use.

Broccoli Soup

Ingredients

Broccoli, stalked and chopped.
Crème fraîche.
Pine nuts, coarsely chopped.
Nutmeg.

Method

Toast pine nuts in a pan with butter for one minute or until browned.
Blanch broccoli for 3 minutes in fiercely boiling salted water, in batches if necessary.
Reserve water.
Process broccoli until smooth.
Continuing to process, add braising water to broccoli, until soup reaches correct consistency.
Season.
Serve with crème fraîche, toasted pine nuts, and a pinch of nutmeg.

Mashed Potato

Ingredients

Equal quantities of desireé and Pontiac potatoes.
30g of butter, soft, per 500g potatoes.
30ml milk, per 500g potatoes.

Method

Peel potatoes carefully, removing any blemishes from surface.
Chop into cubes no more than 1 inch diameter.
Steam over boiling salted water until a skewer passes through potatoes cleanly, about 10 – 15 min.
Remove from steamer.
Warm milk.
Mash potato with a masher (or food mill) until smooth.
Work in butter and milk in stages, whisking with spoon until fluffy.
Season well with additional salt and white pepper.

Cheese plate

Allow cheese to warm to room temperature—ideally for 2 or more hours—then serve with dried muscatels and figs, quince paste, and an assortment of breads and biscuits.

Blanched Green Vegetables

Plunge vegetables into a large pot of boiling water with a handful of salt. Boil for 2 minutes (1 ½ minutes for snow peas). Remove and toss through a dob of butter, seasoning well.

Court Bouillon

Ingredients

2.5 ltr water.
700ml white wine.
250ml white wine vinegar.
2 carrots, chopped.
2 onions, chopped.
Bouquet garni.
1 tblsp salt.
1 tblsp black peppercorns.

Method

Combine all ingredients except vinegar in stock-pot.
Bring to the boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
Add vinegar and simmer for a further five minutes.

Tomato “Essence”

Ingredients

Tomatoes.
Chervil.
Bay leaves.
Parsley.
Black peppercorns.

Method

Bake tomatoes and herbs in a deep tray at 100°C for 5 hours.
Hang baked tomatoes, herbs, and baking juices in fine muslin overnight, reserving juices.
Discard tomatoes, herbs and muslin.
Gently reheat juices, seasoning with salt and pepper if necessary.
Serve with a pinch of finely chopped chervil.

Roast Potatoes with Rosemary

Ingredients

Pontiac potatoes.
Rosemary, chopped.
Garlic, chopped.
Goose or duck fat.

Method

Heat oven to 220°C.
Fill deep baking tray with ½ inch vegetable oil and a few heaped spoon-fulls of duck or goose fat.
Heat oil in oven.
Peel potatoes and dice into ½ inch cubes.
Blanche in batches for 2 minutes in salted boiling water.
Drain pan, return potatoes to pan, cover, and shake vigorously. This should roughen the potato surface.
Add potatoes, garlic and rosemary to pan and oil, tossing several times.
Roast for 1 hour, turning regularly, until golden brown.
Remove potatoes from oil and toss in lots of salt, plus some pepper and freshly chopped rosemary.