Lemon Myrtle Yoghurt Souffle
To be completed....
Monday, October 31, 2005
Sunday, October 30, 2005
Breakfast Menu - Bush Tucker Souffle Omelette
A light puffy souffle omelette, featuring akudjura (bush tomato) and mountain pepper leaves, fresh tomatoes, yoghurt and fresh julienned mountain pepper leaves. Served with a side of sesame and aniseed myrtle melba toast drizzled with honey. Enjoy the breakfast with fresh juices, lemon myrtle and ginger green tea or aniseed myrtle chai.
To make 2 souffle omelettes:
Ingredients
2 eggs, separated
2 tablespoon low fat yoghurt
2 teaspoon corn starch
pinch cream of tartar
4-6 fresh mountain pepper leaves, julienned
1/4 teaspoon ground akudjura
fresh tomatoes, yoghurt and extra mountain pepper leaves to serve
Beat the egg yolks with yoghurt and corn starch. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites with the cream of tartar until very stiff and glossy. Fold the whisked egg whites into the egg yolk mixture. Add mountain pepper leaves and akudjura. Season to taste. Cook in a covered non-stick pan (like an electric wok) at medium heat. Fold over when the top sets. Serve with yoghurt, fresh sliced tomatoes and julienned mountain pepper leaves.
There is plenty of time to serve the souffle omelette as the shape retains well on cooling. Lemon myrtle makes a great addition as it pairs well with the yoghurt in the omelette.
Friday, October 21, 2005
Bush Tucker Dinner
It's Friday, the restaurant closes for the night! These days dining out to practise the palate on somebody else's cooking becomes a real stretch. After surfing the internet for a restaurant which serves Australian bush foods, it is obvious there is no bush tucker restaurant in Perth. The closest is in Adelaide, that is, unless, Noodle Cook does something with the fresh bush herbs recently acquired from Tumbeela.
Cooking with unfamiliar herbs seems easy after Paper Chef #11 experience where Noodle ended up with menu design and cooking on the spot when John the "secret reviewer" (the villain in "An Electronic Restaurant") pulled out at the start of the challenge! Will Noodle Cook succeed in creating a bush tucker dinner in time? Drum rolls again, a pause for the unfolding drama and then ....
Luck seems to be working in Noodle's favour again, as within 1.5 hours, using a few short cuts, such as leftover potato chips and beef glace from the soup dumpling, Noodle produces a 2-course bush tucker dinner:
Entree
Lemon myrtle potato and leek soup served with soy sauce, white truffle oil, chilli flakes and freshly ground black peper. Garnished with peas and strips of leek.
Mains
Sesame crusted smoked aniseed myrtle kangaroo steak, served with a stir fry of fresh mountain pepper leaves, bean sprouts, carrot and julienned snowpea, over a bed of shiitake red rice risotto with akudjura and mountain pepper berry glace.
The kangaroo steak derives its impressive flavours from toasted sesame seeds, mesquite smoking chips, soy sauce and an olive oil infusion made by gently heating Extra Virgin olive oil with fresh aniseed myrtle leaves, ginger and shallot onion. The succulent texture is achieved by smoking at a low temperature of 130-150 degrees celsius for about 15-20 minutes and resting in a warm oven at 75 degrees celsius for 10-15 minutes.
The complex layers of flavours work really together to produce a great oriental tasting meal. The bush herbs transformed what is actually a simple meal of leftovers into a dinner party!
Half an hour before serve up, John the "secret reviewer" prods his finger into the resting kangaroo steak proclaims "It's raw!" There's no time to waste, as Noodle swings into auto pilot to rescue the meal by resmoking for 15 minutes at 130-150 degrees celsius. In the meantime, the soup gets served up with shrieks of "wow". By the time the kangaroo reaches the table, the steak looks perfect like "any other restaurant meal".
With halo floating over the head after yet another rare cooking success, Noodle goes off to bed dreaming of breakfast in bed: an omelette with chopped mountain pepper leaves, akudjura, fresh tomatoes and cheddar, follow by sesame melba toast drizzled with aniseed myrtle olive oil infusion and honey, and a good strong cuppa. A dream is a dream: Noodle wakes up early and finds the fridge in need of stocking up!
Thursday, October 20, 2005
Fresh Australian Bush Herbs
After many attempts to make contact with bush foods suppliers over the internet, Tumbeela, from South Australia, not only responded with friendly and helpful emails, but came up with the goods very quickly. The herbs arrived looking like they have been picked only moments earlier: crisp, glossy green and full of aroma.
Mountain Pepper Leaf
"The leaf of this ancient Australian native shrub makes an exquisite culinary berb. For warm aromatic flavours sprinkle on meats, pasta, curries and vegetables toward the end of cooking."
Aniseed Myrtle
"This Australian native has a distinctive aniseed flavour. Great addition to pork or Asian style dishes or as a rub for BBQ chicken and fish. Use to flavour ice cream, custards or other desserts."
Lemon Myrtle Leaf
"The leaves of the lemon myrtle tree have a natural affinity with seafood, chicken or vegatable dishes calling for lime, lemon, or lemongrass. Sprinkle on food before grilling roasting or barbequing. Superb with stir fries or curries. Start off with a pinch and work up to taste."
The fresh bush herbs come in "Chef Packs" of 30-45 g each for a total of AUD$21.50 plus postage. Tumbeela also offer good quality dried quandongs for jams and sauces for AUD$50/kg plus postage.
Tumbeela Native Bushfoods
PO Box 80
Beaumont Road, Verdun SA 5245
Contact: Warren and Ewa Jones
Email: tumbeela@ozemail.com.au
Website: http://www.adelaidehillsfood.com.au/tumbeela
Tel: 08 83887360
Fax: 08 83881065
Sunday, October 16, 2005
Paper Chef #11 - All Out For a Duck
Most food bloggers fled from Paper Chef #11 on the announcement of the four secret ingredients of duck, nut butter, pear and ginger. Perhaps it was the big list of criteria for judging or maybe duck was just too hard to get. Owen at Tomatilla conceded defeat with no duck, while personal chef Kevin of Seriously Good struggled with his creation and B'gina of Stalking the Waiter wrangled with a flat camera battery. In the end, the battle for the Paper Chef crown was left to a field of 11 challengers who fell into two groups: those who presented superb duck dishes, and those who made do with no duck. Ultimately, it was up to Chef Chopper Dave and Mrs D of Belly Timber, the pasta experts, to lead the field with no duck, with an amazing transparent ravioli featuring the theme ingredients with duck in the form of a glace (pronounced "gloss"). For the roundup of entries and the announcement of winners, find out from judge Stephen at What's For Dinner?
As a tribute to this month's participants, here is a version of soup dumpling, using Chef Chopper Dave and Mrs D's transparent ravioli and glace ideas.
Soup dumplings, usually served in Dim Sum restaurants, enclose a jellied stock which liquifies on steaming. The liquified stock is dramatically released during eating. The dish is stunning as a first course.
Soup Stock
1.5 kg chuck bones
1 onion
1 garlic clove
2 teaspoon celery seeds
1 teaspoon ground akudjura (bush tomato)
1 teaspoon peppercorn
2 teaspoon mountain pepper berry
2 slices ginger
1 bouquet garni
2 bay leaves
2 carrots
Make a glace following Chef Chopper Dave's instructions using the above ingredients. Basically brown the bones, add everything else, pour on water to cover and simmer slowly overnight. Next day, strain and reduce to a thickened consistency.
Soup Dumplings
To make 4 dumplings, combine 4 thinly sliced shiitake mushrooms, 1/2 cup jellied soup stock, 1 teaspoon corn starch, 1/4 cup peas and 1/4 cup diced carrots. Season to taste. For each dumpling, roll 4 gyoza skins until very thin. To aid adhesion, lightly wipe each pair of skins with a damp tea towel before placing coriander leaves between the skins and sealing. Allow 1/4 cup filling for each dumpling. Seal each dumpling carefully by wetting the edges of the skins. Steam for 10-15 minutes, until transparent.
To Serve
Place the steamed soup dumplings in individual bowls. For each bowl, add 1 tablespoon soup stock and pour over 1/2 cup boiling water. Garnish with coriander, fried ginger and rendered duck liver sausage. Serve immediately.
For those wanting to make their own pastry and use a more traditional recipe, follow Ellen Leong Blonder's recipe for Seafood Soup Dumpling from her book, "Dim Sum, The Art of Chinese Tea Lunch".
Related Articles
Paper Chef #11 - Menu
Paper Chef #11 - Entree
Paper Chef #11 - Mains
Paper Chef #11 - Dessert
My Little Restaurant Rules!
Monday, October 10, 2005
Paper Chef #11 - Dessert
Chestnut, butternut and gingered custard parfait, served with a pear and mandarin coulis and an exquisite tasting five-spice, ginger and duck liver sausage melba toast. A stylishly presented parfait which balances sweet and saltiness with oriental flavours. The dessert is based on the Italian Monte Bianco, which takes its name from the French Alps, Mont Blanc.
Chestnut Vermicelli
150 g dried chestnuts
1 tablespoon maple syrup or honey
Soak the dried chestnuts in water for 1 hour. Boil for 1 hour until soft. Drain and puree the chestnut with the honey. Add enough water to make a dough.
Gingered Custard
3/4 cup milk
1 large egg
2 teaspoon sugar, to taste
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
2 teaspoon constarch
Whisk all the ingredients to combine. Very gently cook on the stove while stirring until the custard coats the back of the stirring spoon. Remove from the heat and cool.
Butternut Cream
1 cup cooked butternut pumpkin, mashed and strained
1/2 teaspoon ground fennel seeds
1/2 teaspoon salt
Mix together and rest for 30 minutes to allow the fennel flavour to develop.
Pear and Mandarin Coulis
2 tablespoon pear and mandarin, or favourite jam
1/4 cup water
Mix together and bring to boil. Reduce or thicken with cornstarch if required. When cool strain the mixture.
Melba Toast
4 slices thin white bread
2 teaspoon rendered and milled duck liver sausage
2 tablespoon peanut butter, made by finely milling freshly toasted peanuts
pinch of five spice
pinch of ground ginger
Remove the crusts of the bread and cut into triangles. Freeze the bread. Mix the rest of the ingredients and lightly butter the frozen bread. Bake at 150 degrees Celsius for about 15 minutes until golden brown and crisp. For extra thin slices, split the bread with a knive just when the top and bottom of the slices crisp up.
To serve
Place 1/4 cup of butternut in a parfait glass. Pour in 1/4 cup custard. Drizzle over some pear and mandarin coulis. Carefully press the chestnut dough through a sieve or colander over the parfait glass. Thin vermicelli strands will form in a pile resembling a mountain. Place the melba toasts in a side plate as shown. Eat with a parfait spoon until the butternut, then dip with the melba toast.
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Paper Chef #11 - Mains
Shiitake mushroom risotto with white truffle oil, served with a warm salad of bok choy, butternut pumpkin and crispy duck liver sausage dressed with a mildly spicy pear and mandarin reduction. The risotto which utilises red rice, tastes wonderfully complex with rich flavours of duck liver sausage render, shiitake mushrooms, caramelised onion and wine. There's just a subtle hint of ginger in the risotto.
Risotto
8 shiitake mushroom
1 L hot water
4 duck liver sausages, thinly sliced
1 onion, finely diced
250 g red rice, washed and soaked
1 slice of fresh ginger
1 cup white wine, dry sherry or rice wine
white truffle oil for serving, optional
Wash the mushrooms and soak the mushrooms in the hot water for 30 minutes to create the stock. Remove the softened mushrooms and slice. Add the ginger to the stock and boil. Render the sausage slices in a wok until crisp. Remove the sausages and keep warm for the salad. Add the onion to the rendered fat and brown. Add the mushrooms and the rice and saute. Add boiling stock a little at a time until almost all absorbed before adding more. Continue until the rice is cooked. Adjust seasoning. Pour in the wine, turn off the heat and cover. Sprinkle a few drops of truffle oil over the risotto when serving.
Warm Bok Choy, Butternut and Crispy Duck Liver Sausage Salad
2 bok choy plants
2 duck liver sausages, sliced and rendered until crispy
1 cup cubed butternut, boiled
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 tablespoon pear and mandarin jam
2 teaspoon caramelised soy
pinch chilli flakes
Wash the bok choy, separate into leaves and blanch briefly in boiling water. Assemble the bok choy, butternut and sausages on a plate. Make the reduction by boiling the remaining ingredients until thick. Adjust seasoning. Drizzle the reduction over the salad when serving.
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Paper Chef #11 - Entree
Butternut pumpkin soup, and duck liver sausage and shiitake tortellini served with a mildly spicy pear and mandarine dressing. The crisp texture and the intense aroma of the tortellini nicely contrast the mild coriander, ginger, butter and caramelised onion flavours of the soup. Peanut or cashew nut butter cream works well with this soup.
Butternut Soup
1 onion, diced
1 tablespoon butter
500 g butternut, peeled and cubed
2 cups water
1 slice of ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander seed
2 bay leaves
2 teaspoon chilli oil
1/2 cup raw peanuts
Brown the onion in butter. Add the remaining ingredients and simmer for 30 minutes or until cooked. Remove the ginger and bay leaves. Season to taste. Puree until smooth. For the peanut butter cream, roast the peanuts at 180 degrees celsius for 30 minutes. Mill finely to a butter. Add chilli oil and enough water to make a cream. Season to taste. To serve, pour the peanut butter cream in an attractive trail over the butternut soup.
Duck Liver Sausage and Shiitake Mushroom Tortellini
2 duck liver sausages, chopped
1/2 onion
4 shiitake mushroom, finely minced
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/2 cup water
24 round gyoza skins (manufactured with rice wine)
Carefully render the sausages. Add the onion and saute until transparent. Add the mushroom and saute. Add the cornstarch and then the water. Cook until the mixture thickens. Season to taste. Remove from the heat and cool. To make the tortellini, place 1 teaspoon of filling in the centre of the gyoza skin, moisten the edges and fold to seal. Fry the gyoza until golden brown and crispy.
Chilli, Pear and Mandarin Dressing
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon pear and mandarin, or favourite jam
1 teaspoon sambal oelek
Combine and season to taste.
To Serve
Assemble three tortellini over the butternut soup as shown. Drizzle over the dressing. Garnish with a sprig of coriander.
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Paper Chef #11 - Menu
The Paper Chef #11 Deal
This month's Paper Chef #11 challenge (48 hours using 4 secret ingredients), the Iron Chef equivalent for internet savvy home cooks and professionals alike, is hosted by previous month's winner, Stephen of "What's For Dinner?" (Stephencooks.com). Owen the founding host at Tomatilla is challenging everybody else this time round (until he found out there is no duck). For a bit of extra fun in the judging, Stephen is engaging a panel of food bloggers, which includes the very comical Erica Ferencik of "Wakeup and Smell the Blog", but watch out as there is a scary list of criteria for success.
The Secret Ingredients
The four secret ingredients of duck, nut butter, pear and ginger come with the theme of "Favourite Fall Foods" which reflects the use of the abundant autumn produce from the Northern Hemisphere.
Last autumn's favourite foods included a very warming buttery french onion soup followed by a fusion confit duck dish at award winning Louisa's Restaurant in Bunbury (Western Australia). The occasion was a double birthday celebration. Bunbury was partly devasted by a miniature tornado one day after. From memory, the duck dish comprised fried szechwan or five-spice coated European style confit duck, pecorino cheese, prosciutto, roasted plums, beetroot and salad greens served with a spectacular hoisin drizzle. The taste was an explosion of Northern Chinese and Italian/French flavours.
For Paper Chef #11, it was decided to experiment with the fusion of tastes experienced at Louisa's Restaurant. Alas, it was discovered duck, even though frozen, was a bit rich at AUD$16, ending any plans for confit duck. The next choice of waxed duck (fermented) at about AUD$10 per leg was no better. In the end with budget in mind, it was decided Australian made fermented oriental duck liver sausages (at AUD$6.75 for 375 g) makes a good choice for this months theme: In a bygone era, duck liver sausages were made during autumn and air dried over cold winter months for use in spring as a delicacy when meat was scarce. The salty and mildly sweet duck liver sausage is very pungent and its use, after rendering the fat, is more as a condiment and as a flavouring, very much like using bacon, pancetta or proscuitto.
Not only is the duck "rich", and duck liver sausages just the same, so is nut butter, made from finely milled toasted oil-rich nuts, often with the addition of more oil. Since it is spring in Perth (Western Australia), the season is back to front, leaving some room for re-interpretation of nut butter such as using the healthier autumn butternut pumpkin, as a reverse of nut butter. The more expensive, but low fat, chestnut makes a good substitute for dessert. Dried oriental chestnuts cost only AUD$2.80 per 150 g.
The pear for this entry comes from a jam made last autumn using pear, mandarin, fruit juice and commercial pectin. This jam, which is more of a fruit paste, forms a really versatile base for many sauces, glazes and reductions, particularly for pork, duck, lamb and game.
The final ingredient ginger, a tropical crop, in time past grew only during the hot summers in temperate areas and would be not be available unless dried or in preserved forms like ground ginger or crystallied ginger. For this challenge, logic dictates taste comes first, with preference given to fresh ginger over preserved ginger.
The proposed dishes for Paper Chef #11:
Entree
Butternut pumpkin soup, and duck liver sausage and shiitake tortellini served with a mildly spicy pear and mandarin dressing. The crisp texture and the intense aroma of the tortellini nicely contrast the mild coriander, ginger, butter and caramelised onion flavours of the soup. Peanut or cashew nut butter cream works well with this soup.
Read article >>
Mains
Shiitake mushroom risotto with white truffle oil, served with a warm salad of bok choy, butternut pumpkin and crispy duck liver sausage dressed with a mildly spicy pear and mandarin reduction. The risotto which utilises red rice, tastes wonderfully complex with rich flavours of duck liver sausage render, shiitake mushrooms, caramelised onion and wine. There's just a subtle hint of ginger.
Read article >>
Dessert
Chestnut, butternut and gingered custard parfait, served with a pear and mandarin coulis and an exquisite tasting five-spice, ginger and duck liver sausage melba toast. A stylishly presented parfait which balances sweet and saltiness with oriental flavours. The dessert is based on the Italian Monte Bianco, which takes its name from the French Alps, Mont Blanc.
Read article >>
Parfait Design
The crux of this Paper Chef entry was the unique flavours of the parfait. The interesting thing about the design was the layering of the flavours so as to progress from sweet to savoury or vice versa to enable dipping of the savoury melba toast. It was decided to keep the chestnut vermicelli top sweet using honey (or maple syrup), followed by a sweet and sour pear and mandarin coulis, then a barely sweet gingered custard, and at the end of the parfait, a savoury butternut puree with fennel. In this configuration, the melba toast was eaten last using the butternut as as dip. Chocolate tasting wattleseed, although not used this time, makes a great addition to the chestnut vermicelli for the bush tucker version in the future.
The melba toast was a bit of tongue in check over Owen's suggestion of "peanut butter and jam" will get you nowhere as a Chef entry. Toasted bread ("melba toast"), with ground ginger, toasted duck liver sausage, peanut butter and pear jam (with mandarin), is a valid entry on its own as long as there is creativity!
The Verdict
After 4 hours of intense cooking, it was up to John the "secret reviewer" to pass final judgement on the first two courses. Since John does not eat desserts, the parfait was prepared on the next day.
The beautiful aromas of onions, shiitake and toasted duck liver sausage in the tortellini made the rather sweet butternut soup extra special. A freshly made roasted peanut cream made the soup deliciously smooth. The bok choy and crispy duck liver sausage slices looked wonderful, without the butternut which accidentally ended up pureed with the soup. The butternut in the salad photograph came from the dessert the next day! As for the risotto, the beautiful aromas did not translate too well on the palate, mainly because the dry white wine tasted stale, like acetone, which was really disappointing. Perhaps dry sherry or rice wine should be used instead. Overall the flavours were rather intense and very different although not overly spectacular in combination. The conclusion was that both the entree and mains were edible, with adjustments needed for the latter.
Paper Chef #11 started with a grand vision of a warming soup and delicious confit duck, like what was eaten last autumn during the double birthday celebration. There was also hope that somebody else did the cooking. As with the reversal of seasons with the northern hemisphere, the vision was totally reversed when John the "secret reviewer" pointed out to whom "we" referred when it was announced "we" were doing the Paper Chef #11 challenge since he wasn't doing it. Noodle Cook ended up with the cooking instead of John!
Note: The recipes can be accessed via the hyperlinks below or in the proposed menu.
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Paper Chef #11 - Menu
Paper Chef #11 - Entree
Paper Chef #11 - Mains
Paper Chef #11 - Dessert
Paper Chef #11 - Soup Dumpling Tribute
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Thursday, October 06, 2005
Secret Ingredient No. 7
Loomi, the dried Middle Eastern lime is introduced as the next secret ingredient. It is also known by its Iranian name, limu omani. Used as a spice, the fruit imparts a sour taste and a savoury citrus aroma to dishes, very much like lime zest, kaffir lime leaves or lemon grass. The loomi is made by boiling the ripened fruit in salted water and then sun drying. The inside of the loomi turns black in the fermentation process, hence the reference to "black lime" in some recipes. To use, mill and sprinkle over cooking, or pierce before using whole to flavour soups and stews, in which case remove the loomi before serving.
Loomi is used in the sweet and sour Lamb Soup with Quandong and Mountain Pepper Berry. Together with the smokey black oriental dates, the loomi gives the soup a savoury character which balances the sweetness and sourness.
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