Pork Belly Restaurant Style

Posted on 17 September 2014 by Linda Peek

Pork belly has become a regular addition to restaurant menus over the past couple of years. Its popularity is an indication that people aren’t so scared about eating a bit of fat every now and then, which is good. Succulent, juicy meat with a golden crispy skin, often served with creamy mashed potatoes, pumpkin or sweet potato and some wilted greens, with maybe a tangy sauce or glaze. Delicious.

Getting the pork right takes time, so it’s not something you can whip up in the half hour before dinner. Fortunately most of the work can be done in advance, which is how they achieve perfect results every time you order pork belly in a good restaurant. With this recipe you can do the same. Start the recipe in the morning or even the night before.

I use my coffee grinder to grind up the spices. Son James, a serious coffee drinker, says this is sacrilege. But I do give it a good wipe out afterwards and it makes the next brew of coffee interesting!

1.5 kg boneless pork belly, skin scored
2 Tbs olive oil
Spice Mix:
3 tsp dried thyme
1 star anise
1 tsp juniper berries or all spice
1 tsp fennel seeds or coriander seeds
6 whole cloves
½ cup salt
2 cloves garlic
½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
Sauce:
Reserved pan juices
1 Tbs honey
1 Tbs lemon juice
To serve:
Creamy mashed pumpkin (or potatoes or sweet potatoes)
Wilted buttered spinach or kale or roast kale (see below)

Place pork in a shallow dish. Grind thyme and spices in a spice or coffee grinder, or use a mortar and pestle. Mix with salt, garlic and pepper. Rub half over one side of pork, then turn it over and rub the rest into the other side. Refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight, turning from time to time.

Preheat oven to 150ºC. Rinse pork under cold water and pat dry with paper towels. Place skin side up on a rack in a roasting pan. Add enough boiling water to come 2-3 cm up the sides of the pan, but it shouldn’t touch the meat. Cover with foil and roast for 4 hours. Check from time to time to see if water needs topping up. Remove pork from oven and cool. Strain pan juices, place in the fridge and when cold remove and discard the fat from the top. A spoonful of this fat mixed into our dog’s biscuits and he’s in heaven! Use a very sharp knife to cut pork into six neat rectangular servings – you might even get eight, depending on the size you want. Recipe can be prepared ahead to this stage.

About an hour before dinner preheat oven to 200ºC. Place oil in a cold frying pan large enough to take all the pork pieces and swirl to cover the bottom. Choose a pan with a handle which can go in the oven. Rub pork skin with a little salt then arrange the pieces on top of the oil, skin side down. Turn on heat and cook for 15 minutes on medium, or until skin is golden and crunchy. Turn pork over so it’s skin side up and place in the oven for 15-20 minutes to brown the bottom of the meat and heat through.

Meanwhile boil the pumpkin, or potatoes or sweet potatoes and mash them with lots of butter, salt and pepper and maybe a dash of cream. Cook spinach or kale in a little butter until wilted, then season, or roast – see below.

Remove pork from the oven. Place pork pieces on a plate and keep warm while you make the sauce. Tip off all the fat from the pan. Add reserved pan juices, honey and lemon juice and cook over high heat, stirring, for a couple of minutes, until slightly thickened.

Serve pork on a bed of mashed pumpkin (potatoes or sweet potatoes) with some greens on the side. Drizzle the sauce over and around the pork. If liked serve with apple sauce on the side – see below.

For a low carb version just skip the mashed potatoes or pumpkin and serve with more kale or some spinach or other green vegetable.

Serves 6

Roast Kale: An unusual way to cook kale is to roast it. Break off pieces of kale 3-4 cm long and arrange on a baking tray lined with foil. Spray with oil, sprinkle lightly with salt, then place in a hot oven (with the pork) for 5-8 minutes or until turning a bit brown and crispy on the edges. Watch carefully as it burns quickly.

Apple Sauce: peel, core and slice two large Granny Smith apples or cooking apples. Place in a small pan with half a cup of water and 2 Tbs sugar and simmer until soft. Use a potato masher to crush the apples into a chunky sauce and serve at room temperature.

Moroccan Chicken

Posted on 25 June 2014 by Linda Peek

This is another great recipe from Delicious magazine, with a few slight changes and variations. A perfect mid-week dinner, with some leftovers for sandwiches.

The original recipe uses 2 Tbs of Ras el Hanout – a Moroccan spice blend available in some specialist shops. But it’s not difficult to make, so I have explained how to do this. Don’t worry if you’re missing one of the spices, just add something else.

In the salad the original recipe uses freekeh – an ancient, but now new and trendy grain. I used pearl barley instead. You could also substitute burghul (cracked wheat) or couscous. The second time I made this dish I served the chicken and onions on mashed sweet potato instead of the grain salad, which was also very tasty.

Costco sells two small punnets of fresh pomegranate seeds for about $10. Freeze them in ice cube trays, then you can whip a couple out to garnish dishes like this and add a splash of colour.

1.5kg whole chicken
2 Tbs Ras al Hanout (see below)
1 tsp salt and lots of freshly ground black pepper
2 Tbs olive oil
2-3 large onions, peeled and very thickly sliced
Grain salad:
1 cup barley
1 can lentils (or cook some dried lentils)
1/3 cup pine nuts
1/3 cup pumpkin or sunflower seeds, or a mix
2 Tbs capers, rinsed and drained
½ cup dried cranberries, raisins or sultanas
1 cup coriander leaves, finely chopped
1 cup flat parsley leaves, finely chopped
½ cup mint leaves, finely chopped
Dressing:
2-3 Tbs lemon juice
¼ cup olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
To serve:
2 Tbs pomegranate molasses (see below)
Thick Greek-style plain yoghurt
Seeds from 1 pomegranate (optional)
Rocket salad

Pre-heat oven to 180°C. Rinse and pat chicken dry with paper towels. Mix Ras el Hanout with the salt, pepper and the 2 Tbs oil and brush all over the chicken, both sides and inside. Place onion slices in a roasting pan and sit chicken on top. Roast for between an hour and a quarter and an hour and a half, or until juices run clear when thickest part of chicken thigh is pierced with a skewer. After about 40 mins of cooking, turn chicken over and about 20 mins before it’s ready, turn it back over again. When you turn the chicken, move the onions around a bit so they don’t burn. Add about ¼ cup of water if they’re starting to burn and stick.

Meanwhile cook barley in boiling salted water for about 30 mins or until al dente. When almost cooked add the drained lentils. When barley is cooked drain both and place in a bowl. Add remaining ingredients. Mix dressing ingredients and mix with grains.

When chicken is cooked brush all over with Pomegranate Molasses then cover loosely with foil, turn off the oven and leave it in there for 10-20 mins or until you are ready to serve. The chicken will continue to cook, resulting in meat that is almost falling off the bone, but we liked it that way.

Carve chicken into portions and serve with some of the onions on a bed of grain salad. Top with a dollop of yoghurt and some pomegranate seeds and serve a rocket salad, dressed simply with a little olive oil and lemon juice, on the side.

Serves 4-6

Notes:

Ras al Hanout: An Australian tablespoon = 20 mls and a teaspoon = 5 mls. So to make 2 Tbs of spice mix you need 8 tsp of ground spices. Mix together 1 tsp of each of the following: cumin, coriander, paprika, ginger, cardamom or fenugreek and turmeric. Then add ½ tsp each of cloves and nutmeg. And ½ to 1 tsp chilli powder, to taste. For kids you may prefer to leave the chilli out altogether.

Pomegranate Molasses: a sweet and sour sauce from Morocco available in some specialist shops. If you don’t have any either leave it out, or substitute 1 Tbs Thai Sweet Chilli sauce or honey mixed with 1 Tbs balsamic vinegar.

Variations: instead of serving chicken on grain salad, serve it on mashed sweet potato or pumpkin (add butter, S and P).

Matt Moran’s Pear Tart with Caramel Sauce

Posted on 28 May 2014 by Linda Peek

Make this tart when you have a spare couple of hours and you’re feeling creative. It’s a bit more time-consuming than most of the recipes which appear on this blog but not difficult. You may think it has a lot of sugar and it does. But there’s a lot less than the original version of the recipe, because I cut down on the amount of caramel sauce and crumble. The crumble is optional.

Caramel sauce:
¾ cup caster sugar
½ cup cream
60g unsalted butter, diced
Tart:
150-175g puff pastry (see note below)
100g marzipan
1 egg white
½ tsp vanilla essence
½ tsp flour
2-3 pears, peeled, quartered and cored
1 Tbs melted butter
1 Tbs caster sugar
Crumble:
½ cup plain flour
3 Tbs sugar
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 tsp ground ginger
To serve:
Vanilla ice cream – home-made or bought

Caramel sauce: place sugar in non-stick heavy pan and heat, swirling pan from time to time, until rich golden brown. Remove from heat and whisk in butter, then cream, until smooth, then cool. If you have a large piece of caramel which refuses to dissolve, put the sauce back on the heat for a minute or two and stir until it dissolves.

Tart: Pre-heat oven to 200ºC. Line a biscuit tray with baking paper and lay the pastry rectangle on top. It should be about 5mm thick and measure about 14-15 cm by 25-26cm. Place marzipan, egg white, vanilla and the ½ tsp flour in food processor and mix till smooth. Spread this evenly over the pastry, then cover with the thinly sliced pears. You may prefer to select only the best and larger slices of pear and eat the rest.

Brush with the 1 Tbs melted butter and sprinkle with the 1 Tbs caster sugar. Bake 15 mins. Remove from oven and drizzle with some of the caramel sauce (see below). Place a piece of baking paper on top, then another biscuit tin and flip the tart, so the pears are on the bottom. Put back in the oven with pears on the bottom for another 15 mins or until pears are nicely caramelised. Remove to a cutting board. If making ahead, leave tart on the paper-lined tray so you can put it back in the oven for a few minutes and serve it warm.

Crumble: While tart is cooking place all ingredients for crumble in food processor and mix until combined and starting to stick together. Tip onto a biscuit tin lined with baking paper and spread out. Bake for about 15 mins or until golden brown. Once or twice during cooking time break up the larger lumps and mix the crumble so it browns evenly.

To serve: Place a zig-zag drizzle of caramel sauce to one side on six serving plates. With a very sharp knife, cut tart vertically into two, then cut each half into three, so you have six slices each measuring about 14 by 4.5cm. Arrange a slice of tart on top of the caramel sauce. On the other side of the plate arrange a heaped tablespoonful of crumble and top with a quenelle of vanilla ice cream.

Serves 6

Notes: Carême is the best brand of puff pastry in Australia. More expensive but worth it. Available from some IGA supermarkets. Each packet contains 375g of ready rolled pastry. I cut it in half and used one half – stuck the rest back in the freezer for another time. I ended up with a rectangle about 14x26cm.

Variation: use apples instead of pears. If you don’t like marzipan just omit that layer.

Beef Carpaccio with Walnut Pesto

Posted on 21 May 2014 by Linda Peek

This recipe was inspired by a carpaccio I ate recently at The European, a restaurant which opened in the Canberra suburb of Kingston in November last year. Unfortunately the establishment didn’t survive and recently closed its doors.

The carpaccio shown in the photo is probably larger than you would need as a starter. We had it for lunch.

300-400 fillet of beef, trimmed (see note below)
Walnut pesto:
1 cup walnuts
1 small clove garlic, crushed
Pinch salt
About 1/3 cup olive oil
Topping:
About 4 Tbs diced black or green olive flesh
About 4 Tbs coarsely chopped walnuts
Some microherbs or small coriander leaves
About 4 Tbs coarsely grated Parmesan
To serve:
Truffle oil or extra virgin olive oil
Lemon juice
8 quick Grissini (see below) or purchased Grissini

Make Grissini (see below). Trim meat and put in the freezer (see note below). Make pesto: place walnuts and garlic in food processor and process. With motor running add enough olive oil to make a thick paste, stopping halfway to scrape down the sides. This can be made ahead and keeps for at least a week.

Thinly slice beef (this is easier to do if the meat is semi-frozen) and arrange down the middle of four serving plates, in overlapping circles. Smear some walnut pesto down each side. You will probably have some beef and some pesto left over.

Sprinkle with the olives, walnuts, herbs or coriander and the Parmesan. Drizzle with truffle or olive oil and lemon juice to taste. Arrange two Grissini on top of each serving and serve with a salt and pepper mill.

Serves 4-6

Note: I bought a one kilo vacuum pack of beef fillet from Aldi, cut off about 500g from the wide end for the carpaccio and trimmed off the small amount of visible fat and tendon. I then rolled the meat tightly in plastic wrap to achieve a neat cylinder about 4cm in diameter. I put it in the freezer for a couple of hours, so it was semi-frozen and easy to slice thinly. I cut the rest of the beef into strips and froze it to make a Stroganoff.

Quick Grissini

Grissini are usually made with bread dough. This is a quick version.

2 sheets bought puff pastry, thawed
4 Tbs finely grated Parmesan
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Lay pastry sheets on a work surface. Sprinkle with parmesan and season with salt and pepper. Press the cheese and seasonings into the meat with the heel of your hand. Cut pastry into thin strips about 1 cm wide then twist into spirals. Bake in a hot oven on biscuit trays lined with paper for about 15 mins or until golden brown and crisp. Turn them over halfway through the cooking.

Makes about 20

Scallops with Bacon la Gaxottière

Posted on 7 May 2014 by Linda Peek

Alistair Sawday’s French Bed and Breakfasts – or Chambres d’Hôtes as they’re called in French – was our bible during the four years we were posted to Paris. Our copy is old and starting to come apart, but we still use it when we return to France for a holiday. A fabulous way to get to know the country without spending a fortune on accommodation.

Over the years we’ve stayed in many picturesque villages – farmhouses as well as a few small chateaux – and enjoyed the company of a wide variety of hosts, both French and ex-patriot. Having dinner with your hosts, usually by pre-arrangement, is a very intimate experience and doesn’t suit everybody, but we love getting to get to know the locals.

Of all the places we stayed La Gaxottière sticks in my mind for two reasons. Firstly because we enjoyed our stay there so much and secondly because our hostess gave me a couple of great recipes.

Françoise Gaxotte is a gregarious lady of a certain age, as they say in French. She has never married and, since retiring as a pharmacist, has run a successful B & B in Compiègne in Picardy. We chose it for its proximity to Charles de Gaulle airport as we were flying out the following morning, but it turned out to be a little gem, worth going back to for no reason at all.

Tall, imposing and matronly, Madame wears her snow-white hair in a traditional bun. She greeted us warmly, showed us our room and explained that dinner would be at seven o’clock sharp.

We were the only guests that night and as we knocked on the door of the converted barn, which forms the main part of the house, we were greeted by an elderly gentleman. He had been playing chess with Madame in front of a roaring log fire and was just leaving. Madame offered us an aperitif from her extensive collection and shortly afterwards we sat down for dinner. We could have been close friends or relatives enjoying an intimate dinner party for three.

For the main course we had some delicious scallops. Madame Gaxotte explained the recipe and I made a mental note. As we ate breakfast in the kitchen next morning she was busy making Rabbit with Dijon Mustard for guests who were due to arrive that night. This time I had a pen and paper to hand! I haven’t made it as often as the scallops, but when I do I am reminded how delicious rabbit can be, when you have a good recipe.

There aren’t many places where you can enjoy a fabulous four course meal, including cheese, an aperitif and wine, for 20€ a head. After breakfast we paid the bill and headed off to the airport.

10-12 large scallops without roe
About 6 slices streaky bacon
2-3 French shallots finely chopped
1 Tbs butter
½ cup cream
Pepper
To garnish:
Snipped chives

If scallops are frozen, thaw them in a little milk and water which will plump them up – a tip I learnt from Madame. Drain and dry thoroughly with paper towels.

Remove rind from bacon and cut each slice into two or three horizontal slices about as wide as the scallops are thick and long enough to go round the outside with a bit extra. Wrap a piece of bacon around each scallop and secure with a toothpick, pushing it right through and out the other side. Leave on paper towels so they continue to drain. It’s important for the scallops to be very dry and the pan very hot, so they brown nicely.

Heat butter in a frying pan large enough to hold the scallops in one layer and cook the shallots for a few minutes, gently, until soft and golden. Remove from pan. Add the scallops and cook for a couple of minutes each side, till lightly browned. Return shallots and continue to cook for about a minute, stirring and spooning the sauce over the scallops. Add cream and cook until slightly thickened, gently turning the scallops so they are well covered with the sauce. You may need to add a little extra cream.

Season with pepper (there’s probably enough salt from the bacon) and serve on a bed of mashed potatoes – nice and smooth with lots of butter and a little milk added – or steamed rice. Place potatoes or rice in a sausage shape down the middle of each serving plate, then arrange the scallops on top, in a line. Remove toothpicks, spoon over sauce and garnish with the chives.

Serve as a main course with mashed potatoes or steamed rice and a green salad, or steamed green vegetable such as snow peas, green beans or asparagus. Or as a starter in smaller portions. Served individually, on Chinese spoons, they make a great aperitif.

Serves 2 as a main course or 4 as a starter

Note: I use d’Orsogna Premium Rindless Streaky Bacon which comes in a packet from most Woolworths shops. If you can’t find it have a look at their website for a list of stockists.

Raspberry Trifle

Posted on 6 March 2014 by Linda Peek

When I was growing up in England a trifle was always served for special occasions – birthdays, high days and holidays and if we were entertaining special guests. If someone served trifle you knew you were getting the right royal treatment. The basic combination was always sponge fingers, a splash of sherry, fruit, raspberry jelly made from a packet, custard – the instant Bird’s Eye variety – and whipped cream.

Many years ago my friend Daphne served a real raspberry jelly and I was blown away. Made from sieved raspberries, sugar and gelatine, it was nothing like the packet variety. So when I make a trifle these days I make real raspberry jelly and crème anglaise, instead of the fake custard of my youth. If you’re in a hurry use a couple of packet of bought raspberry jelly – see the notes.

You can use fresh or frozen raspberries to make the jelly. I usually use frozen berries as they’re cheaper and available all year round. You just need a few fresh ones to garnish – which in this photo came from our garden – and I added a few strawberries to add a touch of green. I prefer not to add sherry, as my mother always did, as I don’t want anything to detract from the intense raspberry flavour of the jelly.

Funny how the French call custard crème anglaise, when many Brits grew up on the packet variety as I did. British housewives got used to using Bird’s Eye custard powder during WW2, when eggs were rationed and hard to come by. In my recipe for crème anglaise I use whole eggs rather than just the yolks, so I add some cornflour because you want the custard to be nice and thick.

The end result is even more delicious than my childhood memories. Suffice it to say that Matthew, who was put off British desserts such as custard, rice pudding and tapioca as a result of spending several years at boarding school in England, comes back for second helpings.

Base:
8 lady finger (Savoiardi) sponges
1 large can peach halves or slices in natural juice
or 4 large fresh peaches or nectarines, peeled and halved
Jelly:
1 kg raspberries, fresh or frozen
3-4 Tbs sugar, or to taste
2 Tbs powdered gelatine
Crème Anglaise:
1 cup cream (250 ml)
2 cups milk (500 ml)
2 to 4 Tbs sugar, to taste (I use 1 Tbs)
2 tsp vanilla essence
4 eggs
3 Tbs cornflour
To finish:
250 ml whipping cream
Fresh raspberries to garnish (+ a few strawberries if liked)

Start the trifle the day before serving.

Base: Arrange lady fingers in the bottom of a glass dish – see note below. They might fit better in your dish if you cut them in halves. Arrange the peaches over the sponge. I used peach halves and arranged them around the edge of the dish standing up, with the cut faces against the glass. If using fresh peaches they need to be very ripe and peeled.

Jelly: Thaw raspberries if frozen. Push them through a sieve, discarding any pulp which won’t go through. Add enough water to the raspberry juice/puree to make up to 800 ml and sweeten to taste. Sprinkle gelatine over half a cup of water then zap in the microwave to dissolve. Mix gelatine mixture into raspberry mixture, then pour gently over the peaches and sponge fingers. The sponge fingers will float to the top, but keep pushing them under so they soak up the jelly. Refrigerate until set.

Crème anglaise: In a non-stick saucepan heat cream, milk, sugar and vanilla essence until almost boiling. Beat eggs and cornflour with a balloon whisk in a bowl, then pour in the hot cream mixture and whisk to combine. Pour back into the saucepan and continue to cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spatular which has a flat base, until the custard has thickened and will coat the back of the spatular. Be careful as you don’t want scrambled eggs. Cool a bit then carefully pour over the raspberry jelly. Cover and chill overnight.

To finish: Whip cream until thick – it should double in volume – then carefully dollop over the top of the trifle. Decorate with fresh berries.

Serves 8-10

Variations: use strawberries instead of raspberries in the jelly.

Instead of making the raspberry jelly you could place the fruit on top of the sponge layer (300g raspberries will be enough) then make up 2 packets of bought raspberry jelly and pour that over. Use fresh or frozen raspberries or strawberries and some canned or fresh peach halves, or leave out the peaches altogether and just use berries.

Note: the dish I used in the photo was a bit small. A larger one with a wider mouth would have made the trifle less deep and easier to serve. It was a bit difficult to get to the bottom layer, but we managed!

Toblerone Ice Cream Parfait with Chocolate Sauce

Posted on 26 February 2014 by Linda Peek

Woolworths was selling 400g Toblerones for half price so I bought a couple and put them in the pantry (trying to forget they were there) until I came up with inspiration for a new dessert.

By using good quality bought vanilla ice cream you can make this parfait in a jiffy. If you have time to make your own ice cream so much the better. While you could make this in an ordinary loaf shape, using a triangular tin looks snazzier, especially as Toblerones are that shape. You can buy them online.

If preferred, leave out the chocolate coating. This chocolate sauce recipe is an old family favourite. Great to have in the fridge to serve with ice cream or waffles, though one batch doesn’t last long if you have kids around, or even grown up kids!

2 litres good quality vanilla ice cream
1 x 400g Toblerone chocolate bar
Chocolate Coating:
200g dark or milk chocolate
2 Tbs vegetable oil
Chocolate Sauce:
½ cup sugar
½ cup water
4 Tbs cocoa
2 Tbs golden syrup
Large knob of butter
1 tsp vanilla essence

Remove ice cream from freezer and spoon into a large bowl. Leave to stand for a few minutes while you chop the Toblerone into small chunks. Not too long as you don’t want the ice cream to melt. Thoroughly mix Toblerone into ice cream. Line loaf tin (triangular or rectangular) with plastic wrap, leaving the excess hanging over the sides. Fill with ice cream mixture, pushing down and smoothing the top. Cover with the plastic wrap then freeze several hours or overnight.

Chocolate Coating: Remove parfait from freezer, tip out (you may need to hold a hot towel over the base to loosen it), peel off the plastic wrap and place on serving dish. Meanwhile melt chocolate in a bowl over simmering water and mix in the oil. Working quickly cover the parfait with melted chocolate. Put back in the freezer to set.

Chocolate Sauce: Choose a large pan because this sauce has a tendency to boil over. Place all ingredients, except butter and vanilla essence, in pan. Mix with a whisk to remove lumps, then boil for 5 minutes without stirring. Cool for 10 minutes. Stir in butter and vanilla. Reheat before serving and serve warm not hot.

To serve: Remove parfait from freezer for about 10 minutes before serving. Slice with a large sharp knife dipped into very hot water. Serve with the chocolate sauce.

Serves 12

Note: if you can’t buy golden syrup substitute corn/glucose syrup or honey.

Scallops with Black Bean Dressing

Posted on 12 February 2014 by Linda Peek

When Tetsuya Wakuda opened his restaurant Tetsuya’s in Sydney in 1989 it was a culinary breath of fresh air and Australians were literally wowed. By combining French cooking techniques he had learnt while working at Kinsela’s for Tony Bilson with the pure clean flavours of his heritage this smiley Japanese chef was an overnight success.

The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide gave Tetsuya’s their highest possible award every year from 1992 until 2009. Not bad for a guy who arrived in Sydney in 1982 with nothing more than a small suitcase and a love of food.

This delicious starter appeared in a newspaper article about Tetsuya some 20 years ago and I cut it out. I’ve been making it ever since and it always goes down well. Scallops are quite expensive but three per person is enough for a light starter.

24 large scallops, without roe
1 leek, white part only, cut into fine julienne
oil to fry
3 Nori sheets, very finely sliced*

Dressing:
¾ cup vegetable or light olive oil
¼ cup salted black beans, finely chopped*
¼ cup finely chopped shallots
3 Tbs rice wine vinegar*
2 Tbs mirin*
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 Tbs fresh ginger, grated or finely chopped
1 tsp soy sauce

Thaw scallops if frozen and dry thoroughly with paper towels. Place dressing ingredients in a jar with a lid and shake well. Taste and add a bit more rice wine vinegar if necessary, to get the right balance. Deep fry leeks in hot oil until crispy then drain on paper towels. Recipe can be made ahead to this stage.

To serve, arrange the nori “straw” on 8 serving plates. Brush or lightly spray scallops on both sides with some oil, then sear on a hot pan or griddle for 1-2 minutes each side or until golden. Arrange three scallops on each plate, drizzle with some of the dressing, then garnish with the crispy leeks.

Serves 8

Notes: * ingredients marked with an asterisk are available from Asian food stores. Leftover dressing will keep for a week or two in the fridge and goes well with grilled fish or chicken. The black beans come in tins or packets. If you buy them in a tin, drain and rinse well. Large raw prawns can be used instead of scallops and if you don’t have any nori, serve on a bed of finely shredded rocket.

Chicken Biryani

Posted on 22 January 2014 by Linda Peek

I watched Rick Stein make this on his TV programme about India and decided to give it a try. We’re not big meat eaters, but we prefer to fill up on protein and vegetables rather than carbs. So I cut the 600g of rice in Steins recipe down to 400g and increased the chicken meat from 600g to one kilo. If you prefer to use the original recipe you can find it online.

This recipe serves 6-8 and is perfect for entertaining. We didn’t have guests coming which meant there were delicious leftovers to reheat and serve later in the week. I found it easier to mix the saffron and rosewater into the rice rather than sprinkling it over the layers as Stein does. If you don’t have any rosewater don’t worry – the flavour is very subtle so just leave it out. I’ve added a teaspoon of sugar as I always do with savoury sauces, especially if they contain tomato.

A Biryani is supposed to be dry with separate grains of rice. If you prefer more sauce don’t do the final layering in the casserole. Instead boil the rice completely, then drain and serve in one dish. And stop cooking the chicken when there’s more sauce left and serve it in another dish. Alternatively serve the Biryani with another curry which has lots of sauce, such as a vegetable curry.

When we lived in Copenhagen we had an Indian housekeeper called Rajan. He was always telling me that the two steaks or chicken pieces we were having for dinner would feed his family in India for a week. Having inherited my mother’s War mentality I hate to see good food go to waste, so I’m pretty frugal and good at using up leftovers. But by Rajan’s standards all Westerners are wasteful. He would often rock his head from side to side and say “Madam very wasteful”.

Once we had a reception for several hundred people and I needed lots of coriander for one of the dishes. That week the supermarket only had it growing in pots so I bought eight. When Rajan saw me throwing the completely denuded plants into the bin next day he was horrified. Unbeknownst to me he rescued them, took them to his room and kept them on the window sill. It was the middle of winter and far too cold to plant them outside. Two months later in walks Rajan clutching eight flourishing coriander plants, a big smile on his face. It was a real “Ta da” moment, so I made all the right noises and told him how wonderful he was. He was very pleased with himself, this incident being further proof that Madam was indeed very wasteful.

Rajan and I spent many happy hours working together in the kitchen and putting the world to rights. He was often difficult to understand, especially when discussing India-Pakistan politics or cricket, so I usually found it easier just to agree with him. I tried on several occasions to get him to call me Mrs Peek, but he would always reply “Yes Madam”.

400g basmati rice, soaked in cold water for an hour
Marinade:
1 cup plain thick yoghurt
2-3 green chillies (mine were 10cm+ long so I used 2)
1 tsp chilli powder (I substituted a rounded tsp of Sambal Oelek)
6 cloves garlic, crushed
1 heaped Tbs grated fresh ginger
1 tsp ground coriander
½ tsp ground turmeric
1 kg boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut in halves
Fried Onions:
1 cup vegetable oil
3 medium onions, thinly sliced
Remaining ingredients:
10 whole cloves
1 cinnamon stick, broken
5 cardamom pods, bruised with a rolling pin
2 bay leaves
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
100g clarified butter or ghee, melted
Pinch saffron soaked in 4 Tbs warm milk for 15 mins
2-3 tsp rosewater
To garnish:
A handful of dry roasted cashews and/or pistachio nuts to garnish
A handful of raisins (not in Stein’s recipe but in many others)
Fresh coriander, roughly chopped

Mix chicken with marinade and put aside for an hour or more. Drain rice and cook in plenty of boiling salted water for 5-7 minutes or until just tender but still firm. Put aside to drain. Heat oil in a wok or large frying pan and cook the onions for 10-15 mins or until golden brown and crispy. Drain on paper towels.

Remove all but 3 Tbs oil from the pan. Keep the rest of the oil for another use. Cook the whole spices for a minute then add the chicken and its marinade, the tomato and salt and cook, stirring and turning the chicken from time to time over a moderate heat for 20-30 minutes, or until chicken is tender and liquid has mostly disappeared. Stein says to add a splash of water to the sauce if it starts to catch before the chicken is cooked, but I didn’t find this necessary.

To assemble the dish, mix saffron mixture and rosewater into the cooked rice. If you don’t have any saffron, substitute 1-2 teaspoons of turmeric. Place half the clarified butter or ghee and 3 Tbs water in a large heavy casserole with a well fitting lid. A Le Creuset-type is perfect. Spread over a third of the rice, then half the chicken and a third of the fried onions. Repeat with another third of rice, the remaining chicken, another third of the onions and finally the rest of the rice. Keep the remaining third of fried onions to garnish. Drizzle the remaining clarified butter or ghee around the edges of the rice so it drips down the sides and prevents sticking. Put the lid on the pot and place on the stove on a high heat. Lift up the lid to check and as soon as you see steam rising put the lid back and turn the heat to very low for 30 minutes.

Tip the Biryani onto a large serving platter, making sure you scrape up the crispy bits from the bottom of the casserole, as they are particularly delicious. Garnish with the remaining fried onions, the nuts, raisins and coriander.

A side dish of raita – a yoghurt and cucumber dish for which there are plenty of recipes online – goes well, as does a dish of fruit chutney.

Serves 6-8

Mango Cheesecake

Posted on 2 January 2014 by Linda Peek

I was looking for a dessert to serve on New Year’s Eve that could be made ahead, didn’t involve turning on the oven, used seasonal fruit, could be transported from Canberra to Sydney with ease and didn’t include raw eggs, making it suitable for a pregnant lady.

This recipe which meets all the criteria appeared in a recent advertisement for Kraft Philadelphia cream cheese.The only change I made was to increase the lemon rind from one teaspoon to one tablespoonful.

Mangoes are at their cheapest in Australia at this time of year. Choose ones which are not over-ripe as they’re easier to slice thinly and curve for the decoration. I made the cheesecake the day before and took it to Sydney in an Esky (Australian name for a cold box, for those who don’t know) on New Year’s Eve. All I had to do was arrange the mango slices on top and it was ready to serve.

The original recipe didn’t include passionfruit, but we ate the leftovers on New Year’s day with some pulp spooned over. It was a definite plus, enhancing the flavour of the mango and providing colour contrast.

200g fresh mango, puréed in food processor
¼ cup glucose syrup (also known as Corn Syrup)
1¼ cups sweet biscuit crumbs (e.g. Digestives, crushed in food processor)
75g butter, melted
500g cream cheese at room temperature
¾ cup sugar
1 Tbs grated lemon rind
2 tsp gelatine dissolved in
¼ cup boiling water, cooled
220g white chocolate, melted and cooled
1 cup cream, softly whipped
2 mangoes extra, thinly sliced
Pulp from 2 passionfruit (optional)
Thick cream to serve

Place mango purée in a saucepan with glucose syrup. Cook, stirring over a medium heat for 15 minutes or until thickened and reduced by half. Set aside to cool.

Combine biscuits and butter and press evenly over the base of a 20-22 cm springform pan. In food processor or by hand beat cream cheese, sugar and lemon rind until smooth. Mix in gelatine mixture and melted chocolate, then fold in the whipped cream. Pour filling over biscuit base. Spoon over mango mixture and swirl through the white mixture using the tip of a knife, smoothing the top. Refrigerate 3 hours or overnight. Serve decorated with fresh mango slices and, if liked, some passionfruit pulp. Serve thick pouring cream separately.