Paper Chef #12 - On a Budget

The Paper Chef challenge is invented by Owen at Tomatilla. The secret ingredients for this month's gruelling challenge for internet home cooks, professionals and dreamers, as announced by previous month's winners, Mrs D and Chopper Dave at Belly Timber:
Fish sauce, basil, orange, and lamb

Ingredients Selection
Whitebait tapenade for fish sauce...



Basil seeds for texture in place of basil...



B-grade oranges, and finally cheap lamb bones and forequarter pieces at AUD$1.99 per kilo ....



... for a budget of AUD$5.00, together with a bit of imagination becomes what??

Charcuterie, French for pate, sausages, preserved meats and terrine, which makes Russell Blaikie's "Must Winebar Restaurant" in Perth famous, is a great choice for a budget dish. The proposed dish transformed a frugal cut of lamb into a restaurant meal easily costing 5 times more. Although the end result looks simple, cooking took 2 days.

Here it is:

Bush Tucker Lamb Parfait with Orange Basil Seed Champagne Jelly and Whitebait Tapenade Sauce



A pernod/anise and citrus tasting lamb equivalent of the French jambon persille, which is a ham terrine with parsley. The lamb is accentuated by nutty and coffee tasting wattleseed. The dish, which features Australian bush herbs and spices, pairs well with the honey glazed wattleseed figs from Paper Chef #9.
See recipe >>

An exquisite licorice tasting orange juice and champagne jelly tops the lamb parfait. The jelly comprises 2 layers: a honey layer with basil seeds, and a herbed layer with sprigs of fresh fennel and finely chopped fresh lavender leaves. Compared to basil leaves, basil seeds on their own taste bland. The black seeds swell up on soaking in water to white gelatinous balls with black crunchy centres. After soaking, the seeds readily take on the flavours of the jelly. The intense licorice taste of the jelly comes from a combination of fennel seed, aniseed and aniseed myrtle.
See recipe >>



The whitebait tapenade sauce, with subtle fennel and citrus flavours, complements the lamb. The tapenade itself acts as dip for the accompanients to the lamb parfait. The sauce is considered an olive oil variant of Cafe de Paris Butter Sauce, where butter carries a complex range of herbs and spices.
See recipe >>



The lamb parfait is intended as part of a charcuterie ensemble consisting:

Pickled gerkins (cornichons)
Radishes
Fried fish (goujon) or whitebait fritters (mix fish with tempura batter and deep fry)
Pate (mushroom or chicken liver)
Camembert or other cheeses
Toasted bread (French bread or lavash)
Glazed wattleseed figs from Paper Chef #9



The Taste Test
The jellied stock tasted really beautiful, like a cross between a Chinese red braising sauce and a spiced Middle Eastern coffee. The sweet, cooling licorice effect was barely detectable even though overall, in the lamb, the aroma was pernod like. The hints of nuts and coffee from the wattleseeds worked really well with the citrus.

However the parsley in the lamb was a bit too much. The beautiful green marble look could be produced using less parsley and adding ground pepitas (pumpkin seeds) or green pistachio nuts.

The champagne jelly not only look sensational, but the licorice, citrus and honey aromas can only be described as WOW! The refreshing taste nicely balanced the more earthy taste of the lamb. Although, the jelly could be a bit sweeter to balance the salt in the lamb.

The whitebait tapenade sauce on its own tasted delicious like a highly seasoned Thai fish cake with olives and lemongrass (from the lemon myrtle leaves). The sauce sort of removed the gamey taste of the lamb. The citrus and subtle anise flavours also worked well with the lamb.

Overall, thumbs up to a very pleasant combination of flavours. Perhaps this is Noodle Cook's best Paper Chef effort yet, despite another "fusion" mishap with the jelly falling off the lamb. Not bad, for a budget of AUD$5.00!

Note: The quantity of lamb was doubled to make full use of the long cooking time. The budget was for the secret ingredients only.

Related Articles:

Paper Chef #9 - Glazed Wattleseed Figs
Akudjura Tapenade
Australian Bush Herbs - lemon and aniseed myrtle
Paper Chef #12 - On a Budget
Paper Chef #12 - Ingredients
Paper Chef #12 - Bush Tucker Lamb
Paper Chef #12 - Orange Basil Seed Champagne Jelly
Paper Chef #12 - Sauces