The Lunch Menu Saturday 4th April
Purple Sprouting Broccoli with Green Salsarie Thing
Whole Baked Salmon
Beetroot, Potato and Roast Garlic Dauphinois
Fennel, Orange and Radish Salad
Lemon Posset
Baked Rhubarb
Piloncillo Shortbread/Mexican Brown Sugar Shortbread.
The Gorgeous guests........
Denny
Jane, Olly, Alfi & Harry
Riley & Craig
Sara
Neil & Stevie
Joyce
Heide, Jason & Flossy
Pete
Kate
Yas
Me
Those who came later......
Glyn
Aaron
Daniel
Cousin Sam
Mark Bunny
Purple Sprouting Broccoli with Green Salsarie Thing
bunch spring onions
small bunch fresh mint
bunch fresh flat leaf parsley
small bunch fresh dill
1 tbsp little capers, rinsed in warm water and drained
6 little (cornichons) gherkins
can anchovies
pinch chilli flakes
ev olive oil
Purple sprouting broccoli, I guess about 100g each
salt and pepper
Whiz the spring onion in a food processor. Add the herbs, capers, gherkins, anchovies and a pinch of chilli flakes and whiz again til a rough but smooth puree. (you know what I mean!)
Scrape into a bowl and stir in olive oil to create a runny paste. Season well with salt and pepper.
Bring a very large pan of salted water to the boil and add the sprouting broccoli. Cook until just tender and drain well.
To save time when serving, (and panic!) cook this ahead of time then refresh in loads of cold running water and drain again. Place the pan back on the stove with fresh water and bring back to a boil when you are just about to serve and it will only take about a minute to heat through.
This time drain and keep a few tablespoons of the water to mix with the salsa as this will help it stick to the broccoli. (same method for pasta)
Toss all together well and serve.
Could always add cheese to this. ie Parmesan or feta....garlic....lemon juice...
Whole baked Salmon
Weighed 5kg
10 minutes per 450 g, plus an extra 10 minutes. It took 2 ½ hours in the oven but if the Dauphinois wasn't in there too I expect it would have taken 2 hours.
In the salmon's belly I put 3 sliced lemons (could use the skins from the lemon posset lemons) and green tops of the fennel. (for the salad) Plus the stalks of a bunch of dill and a slosh or 2 of vermouth.
Rubbed it with olive oil then mixed together finely grated lemon zest (from lemons used in posset) rock salt and freshly ground fennel seeds. Rubbed this all over fish then covered in a tent of foil.
Beetroot, Potato and Roast Garlic Dauphinois
6 large cloves garlic
tablespoon olive oil
1.2 kg potatoes, peeled and sliced very thinly
1 kg raw beetroot, peeled and sliced very thinly
900 ml double cream
600 ml milk
bunch dill, chopped
50 g butter
sea salt and freshly ground pepper
Preheat oven 160 C/325 F/ Gas 3
Place the whole unpeeled cloves of garlic in a small piece of foil and drizzle over the olive oil. Pinch to seal and place in the oven for about 30 minutes or until the flesh has softened. Leave to cool then squeeze out the flesh into a saucepan.
Pour the milk and cream into the pan and bring to a boil then remove from heat. Sieve the milk and cream mixture through a fine sieve squeezing the soft garlic flesh through with the back of a spoon. Season the mixture very well with salt and black pepper, stir in the dill and set aside.
Tip all the sliced potato and beetroot and toss together well, in a large roasting tin or baking dish and pour over the cream mixture and press the potato and beetroot down to submerge. Dot with butter and place in oven and cook for about 2 hours, (mine took 3 hours because it shared the oven with the salmon.) pressing down the potato slices every 20 minutes or so, until very tender when tested with a knife.
Really the best way to slice the beetroot and potato very thinly is a mandolin. (I get real joy in seeing very finely sliced vegetables!) But they are dodgily dangerous. Really concentrate when your using it and never use it when you're tired. I don't think Denny enjoyed the experience. Failing that a very large knife.
You could also boil the garlic cloves in water for this. Probably for about 10 minutes.
Fennel, Orange and Radish Salad
Fennel bulbs, about ½ per person
oranges, (lovely with blood oranges) again about ½ per person
a bunch of radishes
extra virgin olive oil
sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper
Now it is better too use a mandolin (But see notes in Dauphinois recipe) to get lovely thin slices of fennel, but a large knife will do it. Remove the green tops and use to put in the belly of the salmon. (or use in the salad anyway.) Cut in half lengthwise, then cut out the core. Slice very thinly across.
At this point you can pop the fennel slices into ice cold water and leave them for an hour or two and they will really crisp up or to have them softer, make an hour or two before you serve and the fennel will soften and amalgamate with all the ingredients.
Slices the radishes thinly. Cut the top and bottom off of the oranges and standing it upright peel down each side to remove all of the pith and white pith. (get as much white pith off as possible as it's bitter and not nice!) Slice across thinly.
Tip the fennel slices onto a large serving dish, top with the oranges and radish, drizzle over a little olive oil, season with salt and pepper and toss together well. Toss again to serve.
Nb. Black olives added to this, is lovely!
Piloncillo Shortbread/Mexican Brown Sugar Shortbread
Now I used the Mexican Piloncillo sugar cone I brought back with me (I don't think Tesco do this, even it's Finest!) and grated it (Denny did actually!) on a coarse grater but dark brown or dark muscovado sugar would be good.
85 g soft dark brown or muscovado sugar
120 g butter, softened
150 g plain flour
pinch salt
Preheat oven 160 C/325 F/ Gas 3.
Whiz the butter with the sugar until a paste is formed and the butter is evenly distributed. Add the flour and salt and pulse to a even crumb like texture.
Press the crumbs with your (Denny's!) fingers evenly into the base of a 23 cm loose bottomed tart tin.
Place in oven and cook for 30-40 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes then using a sharp knife cut the shortbread into little wedges. Leave to cool completely in the tin.
Annie and Denny's Lemon Posset
1200 ml double cream
350 g caster sugar
juice 6 lemons (made about 250 ml juice)
The day before, bring cream and sugar to a boil then remove from the heat.
Let it cool until lukewarm then add the lemon juice.
Pour into little cups or dishes and place in fridge to set overnight.
Baked Rhubarb
700 g rhubarb
juice and zest of 2 oranges
200 g light brown sugar
Chop the rhubarb into 2.5 cm pieces and tip into a large oven dish or roasting tin. Sprinkle over the juice, zest and sugar, cover with foil and bake for about 20 minutes. Take the lid off and give it a gentle stir and check for doneness. Pop it back in re covered for a while longer if it's not ready.
When it's cooked tip the fruit into a colander and drain off the excess liquid into a small pan. Place the pan over a high heat and reduce by half. Leave to cool and then stir into the rhubarb.
Piloncillo
By Chelsie Kenyon, About.com
See More About:mexican ingredients mexican glossary terms recipes with piloncillo
Piloncillo (c)2005 Chelsie Kenyon licensed to About.com
Definition: Piloncillo is made from pure, unrefined sugar that is pressed into a cone shape. It tastes very similar to brown sugar with a molasses flavor (even though it does not contain molasses) and you can use it for anything that calls for brown sugar. It's name means "little pylon" because of it's shape. The smaller cones are usually around 1 ounce and the larger ones around 8 ounces. They comein light, "blanco" and dark "oscura."
Some delicious Mexican recipes using piloncillo include Capirotada, a bread pudding and Atole, a sweet, porridge style drink.
If you don't have piloncillo on hand, you can substitute 1 cup of dark brown sugar and 1 tablespoon molasses for each 8 to 9oz cone.
Pronunciation: pee-lon-SEE-yoh