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Roast Duck

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I prefer to roast duck slowly at first to make the fat run out, then crisp it under a higher temperature towards the end. Well, actually I prefer to cook it via indirect heat in a Weber grill but this’ll do indoors.

Planning

serves: 4
preparation time: 15 mins
cooking time: 2½ hrs

Ingredients

  • 1 duck
  • 1 set duck giblets (neck, heart, gizzard)
  • olive oil (just a splash)
  • 1 stick/rib celery, roughly chopped
  • 1 small-medium onion, roughly chooped
  • 1 carrot, roughly chopped
  • 1 bay leaf
  • ~10 black peppercorns
  • 2 tsp flour
  • Salt & pepper

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 170°C/325°F/gas 3.

Begin by getting the brown stock going for the gravy (or jus, if you prefer). Chop up the duck neck, halve the heart and pieces of gizzard. (Do NOT, repeat NOT, use the liver – it will make the stock bitter. Save this delicacy to serve on toast.) If the duck came with wing tips, remove them, halve them and add them to the giblets. Heat a heavy based pan on the hob over medium heat and, with very little olive oil, brown the duck pieces for ~10 minutes. (You should be getting some caramelized meat bits sticking to the bottom of the pan. This is good.) Toss in the chopped veggies, stir and continuing browning everything for about another 5-10 minutes. Cover with water. Stir with a wooden spatula scraping all the caramelized juices from the bottom of the pan. Add the bay leaf and black peppercorns, and bring to simmering point. Leave it to simmer, topping up as necessary with boiling water water, while you cook the duck itself. (It can cook as long as you like but needs at least 2 hours.)

The Duck. Slash the duck skin in a criss-cross, diamond pattern. Take care to cut only the skin and fat, not the flesh underneath. The point here is to let the fat run out as it melts while cooking. Dry the duck skin with kitchen towel (moisture tends to stop it crisping) and season with salt & pepper. Put the duck, preferably on a low wire support, into a roasting pan and set in the middle of the oven. Leave it for 90 minutes. Increase the oven temperature to 220°C/425°F/gas 7. Continue roasting for another 30 minutes byt which time, hopefully, the dick skin will have crisped up.

The gravy/jus. Strain the brown duck stock. Remove the duck from the roasting pan and cover loosely with foil to keep warm. Strain most of the fat from the roasting pan, set it back on a moderate heat and stir the flour into the remaining fat. Cook the flour out for a minute or two then stir in your duck stock (just about 8-10 fl oz of it if you have more). Continuing to stir, scraping any brown gooey bits from the pan, bring this to the simmer and cook for a couple of minutes. While it’s simmering, carve the duck.


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Posted in Poultry Tagged with:

Mango Salsa

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I don’t know whether this constitutes fusion food or not – Mexico-America-Far East? Does Mexico grow mangoes? Whaever it is, this salsa goes very well with salmon which, in my view, tends to need a lift and something to cut through the oiliness.

Planning

serves: 4
preparation time: 15 mins
cooking time: n/a

Ingredients

  • 1 ripe mango, flesh of, diced
  • ½ red onion, finely chopped
  • ½ cucumber, skinned & diced
  • 1 medium hot chilli, finely chopped (green or red, with or without seeds to taste)
  • ~10g fresh coriander leaves, coarsely chopped
  • juice of 1 lime
  • olive oil (just a splash)
  • Salt & pepper

Method

Mix all the ingredients down to and including the oilve oil in a glass bowl. Give it all a good stir and let it stand for an hour or so to let the flavours mingle.

Season with a little salt & pepper to taste.


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Posted in Accompaniments Tagged with:

Cod with Leek & Potato Sauce

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I have never understood the popularity of cod, other than as fish and chips. To me, it is a rather bland, uninspiring fish. So, when a cod recipe has me searching for superlatives, I know it must be something special. This is one such recipe from the manically brilliant Mr. Blumenthal. (Fear not, this one is actually pretty conventional.)

Planning

serves: 2
preparation time:
cooking time:

Ingredients

  • 1 small potato, peeled & finely sliced (~50g/2ozs)
  • 10g butter
  • ½ onion, peeled & finely sliced
  • 160g/6ozs leeks, very finely sliced
  • 200ml fish stock, warmed
  • fresh bouquet garni (small bay leaf, 1 sprig thyme, 2-3 sprigs parsley)
  • 1 tbs whipping cream
  • 1 tbs milk (semi-skimmed is fine))
  • 1 tbs groundnut oil
  • 2 cod fillets (~200g each)
  • chives, finely cut/chopped
  • 20g pea tops to garnish
  • Salt & pepper

Method

Rinse the sliced potato under running water for ~30 seconds then drain well.

Melt the butter in a saucepan over gentle medium heat and cook the onion and potato for 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Toss in the leeks and cook for 5 minutes more. Pour in the fish stock together with the bouquet garni, bring to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes (or until the potatoes are tender). Add the cream and milk and cook very gently for another 10 minutes.

To finish the sauce, remove the bouquet garni, blitz and strain into a clean pan. Season with salt & pepper and keep warm while you cook the fish.

Heat the oil in a fying pan on high heat. Season the fish with a little salt and sear it for about 2 minutes on both sides. The precise time will depend on thickness – you want it just cooked, only just “setting” in the centre.

Get all chefy and serve the cod on or surrounded by the sauce, sprinkled with chives and garnished with the pea tops. It goes well with some waxy potatoes (which could sit under the fish) and green beans.


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Posted in Fish

Chicken Liver Paté

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Every time I make chicken liver paté, I go through the same head-scratching search. So, finally, here is the answer written down.

For parties I make three times this amount which is enough to fill precisely my large Le Creuset terrine which, I think, holds about 2lbs. (That makes sense if you add up the weigths of the ingredients.) This, however, is the single amount.

Planning

serves: 6
preparation time: 15 mins
cooking time: 30 mins

Ingredients

  • 250g unsalted butter
  • 400g fresh chicken livers, trimmed
  • 50g tin salted anchovy fillets, coarsely chopped
  • 2 medium banana/long shallots, finely chopped
  • 1 tsp fresh oregano leaves, chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 1 tbs brandy
  • Salt & pepper

Method

Put aside one third of your pack of butter. (This is to seal the paté once potted.) Make the paté with the remaining two thirds butter.

Trim and halve the chicken livers. Melt about 30g butter in a frying pan and add the chicken livers. Add a few grindings of black pepper and cook them gently, turning occasionally, for about 7 minutes until cooked through. Tip them, along with all the pan juices, into a food processor.

In the same pan, melt a further 30g butter and sweat the chopped shallots, along with the anchovies and oregano, until the shallots are soft but not browned (about 5 minutes) and the anchovies have melted. Stir in the smashed garlic towards the end and cook it for about 2 minutes. Toss in the brandy and simmer it for a minute to drive off the alcohol. (Sniff it, don’t waste it.) Tip this lot into the blender with the livers.

Roughly dice the remainder of your two thirds of butter and add it to the processor. Blitz it all until smooth. Adjust the seasoning with pepper. (You probably won’t need salt because you have a lot of anchovies in there.)

Fill your chosen paté container(s) with the blitzed paté and smooth the top. Melt the reserved one third butter over gentle heat before poring it over the paté to cover the top completely.

Allow the paté to cool and then refrigerate until needed. Remove it from the fridge about an hour before you want to serve it though – it tastes better at room temperature.


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Posted in Starters

Moules Marinières

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This is one of those absolute classics, and deservedly so. This is so classic that I really can’t see any reason to cook mussels any other way (except as an ingredient to another dish such as Paella , of course). If you’re having mussels as just, well, mussels, then this is the way to cook them.

Planning

serves: 2
preparation time: 30 mins
cooking time: 5 mins

Ingredients

  • 1 net rope-grown mussels
  • 1 tbs butter
  • 1 banana shallot (or 2 regular shallots), very finely chopped
  • 1 clove garlic, very finely chopped
  • 8 sprigs fresh thyme (optional)
  • 100ml dry white wine (e.g. Muscadet)
  • 2 tbs cream (single or whipping)
  • 2 tbs finely chopped fresh parsley

Method

Wash the mussels under cold running water in a sink, removing the beards with a paring knife. Do not scrub the shells – apparently the colour will taint the juices in cooking. Discard any broken mussels or mussels that remain open when tapped sharply a few times.

Melt the butter in a casserole (one that has a tight-fitting lid) that is plenty big enough for the mussels with room to spare. Toss in the shallot, garlic and thyme (if using) and sweat for a minute. Add the wine and bring to simmering point to drive off the alcohol.

Add the mussels, cover with a lid and cook for 3 minutes or until the mussels open. Hold the lid and shake the pan a time or two to stir the mussels up a bit. Discard any mussels that do not open.

Add the cream and parsley and stir well. Do not season – the salty mussel juices mixed with the wine are all you will need.

Serve with crusty French bread and/or, for the total French experience, frîtes .


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Posted in Seafood Tagged with:

Grilled Squid Salad

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If I had a pound for every time I’d heard somebody say, “I don’t like squid ‘cos it’s rubbery”, I’d be a rich man. It isn’t!! Especially if it’s cooked correctly, i.e. hot and fast.

This marinated squid makes the best tasting squid I can remember. Red chilli is a classic with squid but I think it’s the small amount of sugar in this recipe that makes all the difference. Do try to get fresh squid complete with their guts and purple outer skin – they really do taste far superior to the bland white, frozen variety.

Planning

serves: 2
preparation time: 15 mins
cooking time: 2 mins

Ingredients

  • 4 medium fresh squid
  • 2 tbs olive oil
  • 1 tsp lemon juice
  • 2 tsp golden caster sugar or brown sugar
  • 1 medium red chilli, deseeded
  • large pinch salt
  • 1 bag mixed slad leaves (rocket is good)
  • ½ garlic clove
  • 1 tbs balsamic vineger
  • 3 tbs olive oil
  • salt & pepper

Method

Prepare the squid. Grasp each squid body firmly but gently in one hand, its head and tentacles in the other hand and gently pull them apart. Most of the guts should come out of the body and still be attached to the head. Cut the tentacles away from the head by cutting as close to the eyes as possible without bursting them. (Yukko!) Discard the head and guts. Leave the tentacles whole. Slice open each squid body lengthways and pick off any gut remnants. (Yukko again!) Cutting about half-way through the flesh, score a criss-cross pattern on the inside of each squid body, then cut each into three pieces.

Mix together the the olive oil, lemon juice, salt, chilli and sugar. Put the squid pieces in a glass bowl and stir in the marinade. Leave it to marinate for 30-45 minutes.

Heat a ridged griddle pan until it is very hot. Grill the squid pieces for 30 seconds on each side, scored side down first. It is important that the pan is extremely hot so that the squid cooks very quickly. If it cooks for too long (2 minutes) it can become “rubbery”. (Phone the fire brigade and tell them that the smoke is NOT a fire.)

Make the vinaigrette dressing. Crush the ½ garlic clove to a paste with a little salt. Stir it into the balsamic vineger and leave it to infuse for about 15 minutes. Whisk in the olive oil and a few grindings of black pepper to make an emulsion.

Dress the salad leaves with the vinaigrette and serve with the grilled squid scattered over. Make sure the highly prized tentacles are fairly distributed. (Yummy!)


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Posted in Seafood Tagged with:

Pignon Tart

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My hero doesn’t just do well with fish but he does a very creditable job with desserts, as well, particularly tarts. Pine kernels are certainly not cheap but lashing out on loads for this is well worth the investment.

Planning

serves: 8
preparation time: 1 hr
cooking time: 1 hr

Ingredients

  • 50g sultanas
  • 2 tbs eau de vie (clear spirit – proper German schnapps)
  • 1 quantity sweet pastry
  • 110g butter, softened
  • 50g caster sugar
  • 2 medium eggs
  • 50g ground almonds
  • 100g pine kernels
  • icing sugar (to dust)

Method

Mix the sultanas and eau de vie together and let the sultanas soak for 2 hours, turning them occasionally.

Use 10g of the butter to grease a loose-bottomed flan tin measuring 2½cms deep by 22cms diameter. Roll out the pastry thinly and use it to line the flan tin. Prick the flan base well witha fork and chill it for 30 minutes.

Heat the oven to 200°C/gas 6.

Blind bake the pastry case, lined with greaseproof paper and baking beans, for ~15 minutes until the edges are biscuit coloured. Remove the greaseproof paper and baking beans and return the case to the oven for a further 3-4 minutes until golden brown. Remove the flan case from the oven and reduce the oven temperature to 180°C/gas 4.

Make the filling. Beat the remaining 100g butter in a bowl until very soft. Beat in the caster sugar until light and fluffy. Lightly beat the eggs and beat them into the mixture gradually to prevent curdling. (Adding a few ground almonds along with later additions of egg apparently helps.) Mix in the ground almonds and any unabsorbed eau de vie. Fold in the sultanas and 75g of the pine kernels before filling the flan case with the mixture. Now distribute the remaining 25g pine kernels on top. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes until golden on top. Now cover the flan with some domed foil to prevent burning while it finishes cooking for about another 15 minutes (until an inserted skewer comes out clean). Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

Dust with icing sugar and serve at room temperature with crème fraîche or just regular cream, if you prefer.


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Posted in Desserts Tagged with:

Sweet Pastry

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My pastry chef says that this recipe makes a very maleable, easy-to-handle dough. It is basically a cheating approach to a more traditional French pâté sucrée.

Planning

serves: n/a
preparation time: 10 mins
cooking time: n/a

Ingredients

  • 175g plain flour
  • pinch salt
  • 50g icing sugar
  • 100g chilled butter, cut into pieces
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 1-1½ tsp cold water

Method

Sift the flour, salt and icing sugar into a food processor/mixing bowl. Add the chilled butter and blitz/work together to the fine breadcrumb stage. Stir in the egg yolk and sufficient water for the mixture to start coming together into a ball.

Turn it out onto a floured surface and kneed it briefly until smooth. Rest the dough for about 30 mins in the fridge before using it as needed.


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Posted in Basics Tagged with:

Preserved Lemons

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Preserved lemons are, in my view, indispensible in the making of tagines. You can buy them bottled in supermarkets but these are a pale shadow of those you make yourself. Fortunately they are very easy to make requiring no more than lemons, salt, water, a suitable preserving jar and time.

This recipe is for 3 preserved lemons because that’s what fits most of my Kilner/Parfait jars. They need to fit the jar snugly otherwise they float and don’t remain submerged. The recipe is basically 25g/1oz salt for each preserved lemon so you can scale it according to what will fit your jar.

Once made, leave them for at least a month. They will keep indefinitely so you won’t waste them.

Planning

serves: n/a
preparation time: >1 month
cooking time: n/a

Ingredients

  • 4 fresh lemons, unblemished & preferably unwaxed
  • 75g/3ozs salt
  • water

Method

First of all, I sterilize a Kilner/Parfait preserving jar by washing it then drying it in a 125°C oven. Let it cool down before proceeding.

Cut each of three lemons almost into quarters lengthwise – leave the quarters attached at the stem, though. Splay each lemon and spread salt liberally on all the cut surfaces before squeezing it back together and cramming them tightly into the jar. I usually find it necessary to split one lemon completely in half and use these two halves to wedge the other two lemons. However you do it, make sure they are tight. Tip the remaining salt into the jar. Juice the remaining lemon and pour the juice into the jar. Now top up with water to just above the lemons – they should be completely submerged.

Seal the jar and leave it for at least one month.

When using preserved lemons, it is traditional to use only the skin. Remove and discard the flesh.


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Posted in Accompaniments Tagged with:

Sea Bass with a Black Olive Crust

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This recipe is based upon one in Nico by Nico Ladenis. My main change is to use wholemeal breadcrumbs instead of white and, rather than pressing and refrigerating the crust mixture before use, just to press it roughly straight onto the fish by hand; the result seems to be a better texture to me. This would work on many fish fillets but it is particularly good on sea bass.

You can, of course, use white bread if you prefer. Also, the herbs are just a guideline so feel free to mess with those to your liking.

Planning

serves: 4
preparation time: 20 mins
cooking time: 10 mins

Ingredients

  • ~7cms/3ins thick chunk of wholemeal loaf, crust removed
  • 20 black olives, pitted
  • 1 tbs fresh parsley, chopped
  • ½ tsp fresh thyme leaves, chopped
  • ½ tsp fresh basil, chopped
  • 1 small clove garlic, peeled
  • 50g butter
  • juice of ½ lemon
  • olive oil
  • 4 sea bass fillets, pin bones removed if possible
  • Salt & pepper

Method

First make the black olive breadcrumb mixture. Blitz the bread into breadcrumbs, preferably in a food processor and turn it out into a glass bowl. Chop the olives reasonably finely and add them to the breadcrumbs followed by the chopped herbs. Crush the garlic clove and add it to the breadcrumbs together with a few twists of salt and pepper, then stir all together to mix well.

Heat the butter in a small frying pan to make a beurre noisette. When it is nicely nutty brown, turn off the heat and add the lemon juice to stop it cooking further. Pour the beurre noisette into the breadcrumb mixture and mix well with a fork. You should be able to form the mixture into a reasonably firm mass. You can do all the preceding ahead of time and leave the flavours to blend a little.

When you are ready to cook the fish, get your grill blastingly hot. Lightly oil the skin side of the fish fillets before putting them skin side down. Season each fillet lightly with salt and pepper, then coat the flesh side with the breadcrumb mixture. Just press a modest coating all over with your fingers.

Get a cast iron griddle (plain, not ridged) or a shallow cast iron skillet hot and place on each fillet skin side down. You want the griddle/pan hot enough for the skin to sizzle a little. Place the hot griddle/pan under the blastingly hot grill and brown the crumb topping for about 5 minutes. Make sure it doesn’t burn – your grill may be more powerful than mine. Brown is good, black is bad! The residual heat and grilling will finish cooking the fish through.

This is good served with a green vegetable and, perhaps, some finely sliced fresh fennel sautéed and flamed in a little Ricard.


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Posted in Fish Tagged with: