Lime Panna Cotta & Cranberry Compote

25 Feb 2009 at 21:59

Kiplagat

Random Recipe

2 Comments

Lime Panna Cotta

I was online a few days ago reading the “tastingmenu blog” by a professional chef & her partner, the post on perfecting panna cotta caught my attention. Panna cotta is an italian desert that consists of flavoured cream set in gelatin. Dana the chef on the blog scientifically explains the method to a perfect panna cotta. I was inspired to try the method mentioned on the blog.

I did a hack job for my panna cotta, purists might be offended by what I did. It was fun though. I started with double cream, packet of dessert jelly mix & milk. The jelly mix has the all important gelatin, ideally I should have used unflavoured gelatine sheets or granules, but I didn’t have any.

Stuff

Stumbled on the outset, dessert jelly mixes contain lots of acid. I knew this might cause a problem but I foolishly went ahead. When I tried to mix the flavoured gelatin granules into hot milk. The milk seized spectacularly into curds. Luckily i had only used about a quarter of gelatin granules, I started again by heating about 200 mls of water. I dissolved the remaining gelatin granules into the hot water, then let it cool to about room temperature.

Next stage, whilst the hot water with my gelatin was cooling. I set aside about 125 mls of cream in and bowl, and placed it in the fridge to chill. When jelly mix was at room temperature, I whisked the chilled cream. Dana of the tastingmenu blog prescribes the whisking should be done until soft peaks of cream. Well, I over whisked to hard peaks…. too bad. Any way, i added about 250 mls of cool cream to the dissolved gelatin, then folded in the whisked cream. Poured into my moulds and let it set it overnight in the fridge.

For the cranberry compote, I simmered the dried cranberries in a little water for about 30 minutes, added about 1 tbsp of sugar. Reduced the liquid to a thin syrup.

How did it taste? so so….. The commercial gelatin mixes have rather harsh flavours, it was like a lime soda drink. But what I really liked in this panna cotta was the texture(using milk would have made this better). I think it had to do with adding the whisked cream. The cranberries were also great.

Next time, I will source some sheet gelatin, use milk instead of water to dissolve gelatin. Would also serve with a flavoured tuile to add some crunch texture to this dessert.

Lime Panna Cotta

Daube of Beef Cheeks

24 Feb 2009 at 00:54

Kiplagat

Season to Taste by Liam Tomlin

1 Comment

Daube of Beef cheeks, Roasted baby carrots & Potato puree

Daube is a stew of beef slow cooked in wine, the dish originated from the south of France. Beef cheeks are the hard working muscles on the face of the cow/bull, it is a tasteful cut with wonderful gelatinous buttery texture provided its cooked slowly & gently.

Adapted this recipe from Justin North’s “French Lessons“. Justin North is chef owner of Becasse, Plan B & Etch. He has been cooking since he was 15 years old & has trained under great chefs like Raymond Blanc at Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons & Liam Tomlin at Banc. I met him briefly & asked a question during Sydney Morning Herald’s “Good Food Month” Molecular gastronomy event, at the Powerhouse museum sydney october 2008. He seems to be a great bloke, his food at Becasse & Plan B rocks. Plan B does the most amazing wagyu beef burger for only $10.

For the daube

  • 4 x 300g beef cheeks
  • 1 onion
  • 1 carrot
  • 1 celery stick
  • 6 garlic cloves
  • 6 sprigs of thyme(love it)
  • 1 bay leaf(1 bay leaf goes a long way)
  • 1 litre red wine(I used a bottle of McGuigan’s estate red wine blend, it was in a 1 litre bottle)
  • 500 ml port(I used a DeBortoli tawny port)
  • Plain flour for dusting cheeks
  • 4 tbsps olive oil
  • 2 litres brown veal or beef stock
  • Salt & pepper
Aromatics & herbs for daube
  1. Place the cheeks in marinading container.
  2. Chop roughly the onion, carrot & celery. Add to the marinading container with the cheeks. Also add the garlic & herbs.
  3. Combine port & red wine in saucepan, heat to the boil. Lower heat and simmer until reduced by half.Allow to cool until lukewarm, add to marinading container.
  4. Leave marinade to cool to room temperature, then cover and refrigerate. Leave to marinate for 24hrs.
  5. Next day, preheat oven to 140 degrees. Strain beef, vegetables & herbs. Set aside the vegetables & herbs and reserve the marinade.
  6. Lightly dust the beef cheeks with flour.(Flour used to prevent cheeks from burning when browning, not thickening)
  7. Heat oil in large casserole pan, brown beef cheeks until browned evenly. Set cheeks aside.
  8. Add the reserved vegetables to pan & brown evenly. Add marinade to pan and bring to the boil. Lower heat & simmer until liquid is reduced by half.
  9. In another pan bring the brown veal or beef stock to boil.
  10. Add beef cheeks, herbs & stock to casserole pan. Bring it to gentle simmer.
  11. Cover tightly casserole pan with a lid. Braise in oven for 4 hours.

Serve the daube of beef cheeks with baby roasted carrots & potato puree.

Pumpkin Veloute & Thyme Chantilly

19 Feb 2009 at 23:27

Kiplagat

French Lessons by Justin North

No Comments

Pumpkin Veloute

Had some uncooked pumpkin leftover in my fridge and my carton of cream was approaching its used by date, it got me thinking Veloute, Veloute……

Adapted this recipe from Justin North’s Potato Veloute recipe from his “French Lessons” cookbook. Along with the veloute, I made a thyme chantilly which is a savoury whipped cream flavoured with thyme leaves & a bit of lemon juice. The chantilly was amazing, but next time i’ll infuse the thyme into the cream longer, for a more intense flavour hit.

Also in this recipe is my favourite saute medium, extra virgin olive oil & unsalted butter. Something magical happens when you combine this two fats/oils. Works great on my palate, I don’t know about everyone else?

Pumpkin Veloute

  • 20 grams butter
  • 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 garlic cloves, finely sliced
  • 4 sprigs of thyme (I’m addicted to this herb)
  • 200 grams pumpkin
  • 800 mls white chicken stock
  • 50 mls cream
  • 1 tsp of lemon juice
  • Salt & white pepper

  2. Melt the butter with olive oil on saucepan.
  3. Add onions, garlic & thyme and season with salt & pepper.
  4. Sweat under low heat until onion is soft & translucent.
  5. Add pumpkin and sweat for another 2 minutes.
  6. Add chicken stock, bring to the boil & season.
  7. Lower heat and simmer until pumpkin is very soft.
  8. Add cream, bring soup back to a simmer.
  9. Spoon into blender, and whiz it to a smooth puree.
  10. Check seasoning, the pass it through a fine sieve.

Thyme Chantilly

  • 50 mls of chilled cream.
  • 1 tbsp of thyme leaves (fresh, quit the dried stuff).
  • 1 tsp of lemon juice.
  • Pinch of Salt.

  2. Whisk cream until it thickens to ribbon stage.
  3. Fold in thyme leaves, salt & lemon juice.
  4. Whisk to soft peaks.
  5. Chill until ready to use.

Serve Pumpkin veloute with dollop of thyme chantilly & croutons.

Pumpkin Veloute

Chocolate Pithivier

19 Feb 2009 at 00:22

Kiplagat

Season to Taste by Liam Tomlin

4 Comments

Chocolate Pithivier

Pithiviers are a speciality from the town of Pithiviers in the south of France. They are usually served as coffee cakes. The traditional filling is an almond cream mixture with a hint of rum.

This recipe is adapted from Liam Tomlin’s book “Season to Taste”. Liam Tomlin is current executive chef at Cape Grace,Cape Town and former head chef of famed but now closed sydney restaurant Banc. His proteges at Banc have become prominent Australian restauranteurs; Chui Lee Luke at Claude’s, Justin North at Becasse, Peter Sheppard at Caveau, Warren Turnbull at Assiette , Matthew Kemp at Restaurant Balzac.

To make this pithiviers you need the following.

Puff Pastry

I took the easy way out & bought frozen puff pastry from the supermarket.

  2. Roll out the puff pastry
  3. Use a 8 cm pastry cutter to cut round bases and tops for the pithiviers.
  4. Place tops and bases in the fridge for 30 minutes for pastry to rest before assembling the pithiviers

Creme patissiere (Pastry Cream)

  • 1 Egg yolk
  • 125 mls milk
  • 2 1/2 tbsps plain flour
  • 35 grams caster sugar
  • 1/4 tsp vanilla essence

  2. Combine milk and vanilla essence in sauce pan bring to boil, then set aside.
  3. In a bowl, combine egg yolks and sugar then whisk it silly. It will take a while. What you want is a mixture very pale, double in volume, thick consistency. Mixture should come down like a ribbon off the whisk(hard to explain)
  4. Fold flour into egg yolks sugar mixture.
  5. Take 1/3 of milk mixture, combine into egg sugar mixture in bowl.
  6. Add egg sugar mixture from bowl, add to saucepan contain milk mixture.
  7. Place saucepan on medium heat, whisk slowly until it thickens to shiny thick custard. This takes about 5 minutes. Set aside.

Chocolate almond filling

  • 100 grams dark chocolate
  • 55 grams caster sugar
  • 55 grams almond meal
  • 1 tbsp cocoa powder
  • 1 egg

  2. Melt chocolate over a bain-marie(bowl over simmering water)
  3. Cream together butter & sugar. Then stir in the egg, almond meal and cocoa powder. Add the melted chocolate and mix until the chocolate is fully incorporated.
  4. Refrigerate for 1 hour until reasonably firm to mold into patties that about 6 cm in diameter. Freeze patties until ready to use.

Chocolate sauce

  • 50 grams dark chocolate
  • 75 mls cream
  • 25 grams unsalted butter

  2. Bring cream to boil.
  3. Add chunks of chocolate into hot cream & incorporate it.
  4. Finish it off with the butter & set aside

Assembly

  • Place pastry base on floured surface, put a chocolate almond patty into the centre of the pastry bases. Brush the edge of base with egg wash.
  • Place a pastry top over the chocolate patty and mould it around the patty removing any air pockets between patty & filling.
  • Mark a pattern on pithivier with the tip of a knife
  • Brush with egg wash then refrigerate for 30 minutes.
  • Mark border with back of knife. Preheat oven to 220 degrees centigrade. Refrigerate again for 30 minutes.
  • Bake pithiviers for about 15 minutes until crisp & golden

Serve with chocolate sauce & vanilla ice cream

Chocolate Pithivier

Pizza Margherita

16 Feb 2009 at 21:00

Kiplagat

Baking, Random Recipe

1 Comment

Margherita Pizza

My first pizza, margherita pizzas are simple & all flavours work perfectly together. This pizza is just my homemade dough, homemade tomato sauce, basil, mozzarella & extra virgin olive oil. The processed mozzarella was great, it’s from Browns Cheese. I have not been able to track down any fresh mozzarella in nairobi yet.

Margherita Pizza

Square Banana Tarts

11 Feb 2009 at 17:43

Kiplagat

La Technique by Jacques Pepin

No Comments

Square banana tart

Inspired by Jacques Pepin’s Tart Carree from his book “La Technique(Complete Techniques)”.

This tarts were amazing, banana & custard(creme patissiere) is one of my favourite flavour combinations.

Puff pastry shell

I used frozen Puff Pastry bought at Nakumatt, not as good as home made one. The commercial varieties use random vegetable oils/fats instead of butter.

  2. Cut puff pastry into squares.
  3. Fold into triangle
  4. Measure & mark about 1 cm into border of square sides of triangle. Cut along marked line.
  5. Unfold, you should have square piece of pastry in the centre & large strip of pastry bordering the centre piece.
  6. Brush outer edges of centre pastry with water.
  7. Now the tricky bit.Fold outer pastry onto opposite edge, aligning its border with that of centre pastry.Trim edges.
  8. Using a fork, poke numerous holes in centre pastry to stop it from rising.
  9. Baking in 220 degrees oven for 20 minutes, then set aside.

Creme patissiere (Pastry Cream)

  • 3 Egg yolks
  • 100 mls milk
  • 100 mls cream
  • 25 grams plain flour
  • 50 grams caster sugar
  • 1/4 tsp vanilla essence
  2. Combine milk, cream & vanilla essence in sauce pan bring to boil, then set aside.
  3. In a bowl, combine egg yolks and sugar then whisk it silly. It will take a while. What you want is a mixture very pale, double in volume, thick consistency. Mixture should come down like a ribbon off the whisk(hard to explain)
  4. Fold flour into egg yolks sugar mixture.
  5. Take 1/3 of milk mixture, combine into egg sugar mixture in bowl.
  6. Add egg sugar mixture from bowl, add to saucepan contain mill mixture.
  7. Place saucepan on medium heat, whisk slowly until it thickens to shiny thick custard. This takes about 5 minutes. Set aside in fridge until ready to use

Caramel

  • 1/2 cup caster sugar
  • 1/4 cup water
  2. Combine in pan, heat until colour changes to hazelnut brown.

Assembly

  2. Pour thin layer of caramel on the bottom of puff pastry shells. The caramel adds some crunch & also stops pastry from getting soggy
  3. Spread creme patissiere(pastry cream) inside pastry shell
  4. Arrange fruit on top of pastry shell
  5. Dust with icing sugar & cinnamon
Square banana tart

My home made bread – Whole meal boule

06 Feb 2009 at 17:17

Kiplagat

Baking, Random Recipe

5 Comments

Whole meal boule

I love baking bread by hand, it is a slow but rewarding process. This bread took about 4 hours to prepare & bake. I am still a novice at baking, but the results so far have been very rewarding. You cannot compare home baked bread to the commercial crap in the supermarket. The only bread I buy now are from little bakeries that do artisan style bread. The bread at these bakeries may cost more, the taste & craftsmanship justifies the premium.

The first bread I baked was a foccacia, it turned out so good I thought I was born baking. Second bread was a white boule, it was a total disaster….. really bad. I always try to get better with every bread, the perfect loaf seems elusive. I’ll get there on my 10,000th loaf……

Whole meal boule slice

Recipe for this boule

I have adapted this recipe for myself from a variety of sources. Still trying to achieve the perfect bread.

  • 300 grams sifted whole meal flour
  • 200 grams plain flour
  • 250 ml water
  • 100 ml milk(room temperature)
  • 2 teaspoons instant yeast
  • 1.5 teaspoons salt
  • 1 teaspoon caster sugar

    • Prep & Baking

  • Sift flour into large bowl. Add salt,yeast & sugar. Mix well
  • Add water & milk to flour. Mix well creating the dough
  • Let dough rest for 30 minutes
  • Take dough out of bowl, knead on floured surface for about 15-20 minutes until gluten in dough is well developed
  • Place dough in a bowl, cover with cling film, let it rise till it doubles in size. That will take about 2 hours.
  • Remove from bowl, knock it down. Let dough rest for 10 minutes.
  • After rest, turn out the dough on floured surface, shape the dough then place on baking tray. Cover with tea towel. Let dough proof for 45 minutes.
  • Bake in 220 degree oven for 45 minutes……Then let bread cool on wire rack for about 15 minutes.

    • Sliced bread, balsamic vinegar, extra virgin olive oil

    This bread does not need any spread, I just dip it into some extra virgin olive oil with balsamic vinegar. yummo!

    Rabbit with Olives – Lapin Aux Olives

    05 Feb 2009 at 17:49

    Kiplagat

    Les Halles Cookbook by Anthony Bourdain

    1 Comment

    Lapin Aux Olive - Rabbit with Olives

    First time cooking rabbit & I am pleased with the result. What does rabbit taste like? Kinda like chicken. The saddle is almost like the white meat in chicken, the legs are like the dark meats. I got the bunny from the local fruit & veg place, already slaughtered & cleaned. Carrying the bunny home, I could only think of a friend who had a pet rabbit that littered her carpet with little turds. I cheekily wanted to ask her over for dinner to witness rabbit genocide. I did not.

    Used recipe from Anthony Bourdain’s Les Halles Cookbook as a guide. Got all my ingredients setup below

    Rabbit mise en place

    My mise en place/ setup

  • One bunny
  • Spanish olives (the recipe said green picholines, i prefer the spanish ones)
  • Small mirepoix of onion,carrot & celery
  • Garlic cloves
  • Bay leaves
  • Few Sprigs of thyme, rosemary & parsley
  • Olive oil & Butter(used woolworth’s select australian EVOO,really great at its price point)
  • Tomato paste
  • White wine(Half mile creek semillon sauvignon blanc, cheap shit)
  • Red wine vinegar
  • Chicken stock

    • Marinating rabbit

    Cooking the bunny

  • Chop up the bunny
  • Combine the bunny, mirepoix, garlic, bay leaves, herbs, peppercorns & wine. Marinated for 2 hours
  • After two hours drain the marinade, reserve the liquid & veggies separately
  • Dredge the rabbit in flour, brown them in pan with hot olive oil & butter. Fry until both sides are golden brown then set aside.
  • Brown the vegetables from the marinade in same pan until caramelised, add tomato paste & flour. Stir really well(work it lol!)
  • Add vinegar & marinade liquid, cook until liquid is thick enough to coat back of a spoon.
  • Add chicken stock & olives, bring to boil. Add rabbit pieces. Simmer until tender.
  • Tweak seasoning, then serve. I had this with jasmine rice.

    • First Post

    02 Feb 2009 at 22:25

    Kiplagat

    random rambling

    2 Comments

    This is my first post, hooray!

    Blog Widget by LinkWithin
    Newer Entries →