The Apprentice Gourmet by Trevor Thornton

Pan Roasted Monkfish, Apple & Lime Puree, Fennel & Lemongrass Sauce

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor T) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 22:04:00 +0000

I love fish and I love this combination. The lime/apple puree is zingy with a little sweetness and cuts through the richness of the lemongrass sauce. The fennel has a nice aniseed flavour that always works with fish.

This dish would also work really well with sea bass. Skip the salting step for the sea bass.

Go on try something different and tickle your pallet.

Pan Roasted Monkfish, Apple & Lime Puree, Fennel & Lemongrass Sauce

By Trevor Thornton

Serves 2

Difficulty Moderate - Hard

Ingredients
Salt and Pepper
Olive Oil
Butter
Monkfish
2 x 150g pieces of monkfish tail, cleaned and prepared
3 tbsp rock salt
Apple & Lime Puree
2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and cubed
2 limes, zest & juice
10g caster sugar
Fennel
1 bulb of fennel
Lemongrass Sauce
50ml Pernod/Noilly Pratt
200ml fish/chicken stock
100ml cream
2 lemongrass stalks, crushed and chopped
1 lemon, juice only

Method

“Mise en Place”

Firstly you have to salt the monkfish to remove most of the water from the fish. There is a lot of excess water in a monkfish tail and it’s best to remove it before cooking. Sprinkle the cleaned monkfish tail pieces with the rock salt. Place into a dish and set aside in the fridge for 40 minutes. Remove from the fridge and wash each fillet under cold running water to remove the excess salt. Pat completely dry with kitchen paper and place back into the fridge.

For the apple and lime puree place the apples, sugar, lime zest and juice into a saucepan and place over a medium heat. Cook for 6-8 minutes with the lid on. The apples are done when they are soft. Blend the apples with a stick blender until really smooth. Remove from the heat and set aside.

To make the lemongrass sauce, place a saucepan over a medium – high heat and add the Pernod. Boil the alcohol until there is only a tiny bit left. Add the fish/chicken stock into the saucepan and reduce by half. Add the cream with the lemongrass stalks and reduce by a further two thirds. Add the lemon juice to taste and season with salt and pepper. Its best to season with white pepper as the sauce is white. Place the lemongrass sauce into a food processor and blend to a smooth puree. Pass the sauce through a fine sieve and set aside. Cover with a lid to stop a skin forming if you are making it in advance.

For the fennel, remove the hard outer skin and top and tail the bulb. Remove the hard core with a sharp knife. Slice the fennel as thin as you can. Its best to use a mandolin. Cook in boiling salted water for 2 minutes. Remove from the water and place into iced water to stop the cooking. Remove from the iced water after a few minutes and pat dry and set aside.

“Service”

Heat a frying pan over a medium heat. Make sure the pan is on for 2-3 minutes to heat up. Season the monkfish with a small bit of salt and some pepper. Put 2 tbsp of olive oil into the pan and place the monkfish into the pan and cook for 1 minute without moving the fish around. This will develop a nice brown colour on that side. Repeat this on all 4 sides. Cook each end of the monkfish fillet for 30 seconds aside. This will give a total cooking time of 5 minutes. Add 3 tbsp of butter to the pan and let the butter foam. Lap the fish with the hot butter for another minute. Remove the monkfish from the pan and drain on kitchen paper.

Reheat the apple puree and lemongrass sauce. Place the sliced fennel into a saucepan with a tbsp of butter. Reheat slowly and season with salt and pepper.

To serve place a dessert spoon of the apple puree onto a plate and run the spoon through it. Place the fennel on top and follow with the monkfish. Drizzle with the lemongrass sauce and serve!

Fillet of Beef with Carrot Puree, Spinach, Asparagus and Fondant Potato

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor T) — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 20:35:00 +0000

My mouth is salivating even looking at this photo. The flavours of the spices in the carrot puree really work with the spinach and steak. I don’t really like carrots but these spices really bring out their sweet flavour. The nutmeg in the spinach also is a winner as it brings out the earthiness flavour.

My wife and I love eating fillet steak every once in a while. I don't order it out in any restaurant because I am always disappointed. I either get a poor cut or they don’t rest the meat long enough and there is blood all over the plate when I cut into it.

I bought a book called The Flavour Thesaurus by Niki Segnit and it’s a great reference for combining ingredients with other ingredients. I would really recommend it for any novice cook.

This dish is relative hard to complete as there are so many elements, so I have tried to explain how restaurants would do it. “Mise en Place” means everything in place and it’s the best way to prepare ingredients in advance especially if you are cooking for a dinner party. Every single restaurant carries out “Mise en Place” and most restaurants actually call it by its French name as homage to French cooking.

Fillet of Beef with Carrot Puree, Spinach, Asparagus and Fondant Potato

By Trevor Thornton

Serves 2

Difficulty Moderate - Hard

Ingredients
Salt and Pepper
Carrot Puree
2-3 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
½ tsp garam masala
¼ tsp ground cumin
½ tsp ground coriander
50ml single cream
Spinach
1 bag spinach
½ tsp ground nutmeg
1 tbsp butter
Asparagus
10 asparagus spears
1 tbsp butter
Fondant Potato
3 large potatoes
1 tbsp butter
1 chicken stock cube
50ml hot water
Steak
2 x 200g pieces of fillet steak, (1” in Thickness)

Method

“Mise en Place”

Place a large saucepan over a high heat and half fill it with water. Bring the water to a fast rolling boil and add 2 teaspoons of salt. Add the carrots to the water and cook until you can pierce the carrot with a knife without feeling any resistance. This should take about 6-8 minutes. Remove from the water with a slotted spoon and place directly into a food processor. Add the spices and cream and season with salt and pepper. Process until the puree is very smooth. You may need to scrape the sides down a few times to avoid any lumps. Add more cream if the mixture is not pureed enough. Taste and adjust the seasoning if needed. Push the puree through a fine sieve for a really smooth finish. Set aside until ready for use. This will keep covered in the fridge for a day or two.

Prepare a large bowl of iced water in advance of cooking the spinach. When you cook the spinach and asparagus, you want to stop the cooking process to preserve the beautiful vivid green colour. This can be done in advance as the vegetables can be reheated just before serving. This process is called blanching and you can do this for any vegetable especially peas, broccoli, spinach, asparagus, French beans, and cabbage.

Using the same water as the carrots, bring the water back to the boil and add the bag of spinach. Cook for exactly 90 seconds. Remove with a slotted spoon and place into a bowl of iced water. Trim the woody ends off the asparagus and place into the boiling water. Cook for exactly 90 seconds. Remove the asparagus from the water with a slotted spoon and place into the iced water. Leave the vegetables in the water until cold. Remove the asparagus from the iced water and set aside. Remove the spinach in a large ball and try to squeeze all the excess moisture out by squeezing your hands together and holding the spinach like a tennis ball. Set aside until ready for use.

For the fondant potato, push a 30-40mm circular cutter through the potato. You want to get two fondants through each potato. Remove the cutter from the potato and trim the top and bottom to achieve a nice cylindrical shape. Repeat this until you have 6 fondants. Place a small frying pan over a medium heat and add 1 tbsp olive oil and 1 tbsp butter to the pan. When the butter begins to foam place the fondants carefully into the frying pan. You can to cook the fondant on the top and bottom until they achieve a nice golden colour. They will probably take 2-3 minutes aside. Mix the stock cube and hot water together and add enough to cover the bottom of the frying pan. Remove the frying pan from the heat and cover with tin foil. Set aside until ready for use.

“Service”

Place the fondant potatoes covered with the foil into an oven preheated to 200°C. Cook for 20 to 25 minutes, or until you can pierce the potatoes with a knife without feeling any resistance. You can prepare everything else while the potatoes are cooking.

For the steak, make sure to take the steak out of the fridge for a good 30 minutes to come up to room temperature. This is very important as if you cook steaks from cold they won’t be as succulent.

Place a griddle pan over a medium high heat for at least five minutes. Season the steak with salt generously and smear with olive oil. Place the steaks onto the grill pan and cook for 2 minutes on one side and then turn over and cook for 2 minutes on the other side. Turn the steak over again remembering to keep a diamond pattern and cook for another 2 minutes. This is six minutes total cooking for a 1 inch piece of steak. Remove from the heat and place into aluminium foil to rest for 3-5 minutes. This will leave the steaks rare-medium.

Whilst the steak is resting reheat the carrot puree in a saucepan. Place two small saucepans over a medium heat and add 1 tbsp butter to each saucepan. Place the asparagus in one and the spinach in the other. Season the asparagus with salt and pepper and coat with the butter. Add the nutmeg to the spinach and season. Reheat both whilst stirring.

To serve, remove the steak from the tin foil and place on the plate and season with some pepper. Place the spinach on top. Remove the potatoes from the oven and place on the plate. Spoon a large tablespoon of the carrot puree and run the spoon through it in a semi circular direction. Place the asparagus on top or the carrot puree and serve. Yum!

Beef and Guinness Casserole

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor T) — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 21:35:00 +0000

This is a real winter warmer. I would normally cook this on a Sunday night for myself and my wife. We would have it Monday and freeze the rest for another time. The sauce has a deep golden brown colour with a rich intense flavour. The Guinness adds a real deep finish to the sauce.

You can always add a squeeze of lemon juice to the finished sauce to make the sauce a bit more refreshing.

A casserole is a great way of cooking as it is all done in one pot and the preparation time is short. This is a relatively easy recipe to try out.

Beef and Guinness Casserole

by Trevor Thornton

Serves 6 - 8 persons

Difficulty Easy

Ingredients

20g butter
2 tbsp olive oil
1Kg diced beef/stewing steak
salt and pepper
500ml Guinness, (1 large can)
2 tbsp tomato puree
500ml chicken stock, (2 stock cubes)
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2-3 bay leaf
2 sprigs of thyme, (1tsp dried)
1 sprig of Rosemary, (1/2 tsp dried)
2-3 carrots, turned into barrels
450g/1 lbs button mushrooms, 2 small packets
1-2 medium onions, peeled and halved
2 tbsp parsley, roughly chopped

Method

Firstly preheat the oven to 180ºC/Gas 4

Heat the butter and oil in the casserole dish over a medium high heat. Put in one third of the meat and brown on all sides for 3-4 minutes. Season the meat as it is browning with salt and pepper. Do not put in all the meat as you want the meat to take on colour. If you overcrowd the pan the meat will begin to stew. Transfer the meat to a separate dish and repeat this procedure until all the meat has been browned. You will find that some of the meat will stick on the base. This is no problem as this gives extra flavour to the finished sauce.

Return the meat to the pan and add the tomato puree. Don't forget to add the meat resting juices in also. Cook for 2-3 minutes whilst stirring. This cooks out the tomato puree and removes some of it's bitterness. Place the Guinness, stock, Worcestershire sauce, bay leaf, thyme and rosemary into the pot and turn the heat up to high. Use a wooded spoon to scrape up all the residue from the bottom of the pot, this is called deglazing.

Bring the mixture up to the boil and place the lid on and transfer to the middle shelf of an oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Take the pot out every 30 minutes or so and stir. Just in case anything catches on the bottom.

After 1 hour and 15 minutes add the carrots, onions and the mushrooms. Place back in the oven with the lid off. The mushrooms release a lot of moisture at this point and some of the moisture will need to escape. Cook for a further 20-30 minutes. When ready take out of the oven and stir in the chopped parsley. Check for seasoning as you can add more at this stage.

Serve into warm bowls with some creamy mash or tasty colcannon. If you want the sauce to become a little thicker you can pour the sauce out of the pot and reduce until it is thick and glossy. Alternatively you can add cornflower to thicken the sauce.

Easy Scotch Eggs

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor T) — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 19:45:00 +0000

We all secretly like deep fried food and these Scotch eggs are one of the best things to deep fry second to potatoes. Homemade Scotch Eggs are so tasty and they don't taste like their shop bought counterparts at all. This recipe relies on good quality sausages. I use sausages with a pork content above 70-75%.

These eggs can be eaten cold or warm. If you are taking them on a picnic it is best to hard boil the eggs. Cook the eggs for 15 minutes instead of 11.

Easy Scotch Eggs

by Trevor Thornton

Makes 4 eggs

Difficulty Moderate

Ingredients
4 large free range eggs
8 sausages, high pork content
flour
1 beaten egg
breadcrumbs

Method
Firstly place the eggs into a saucepan and cover with cold water. Leave the very tops of the eggs sticking out. Place the saucepan over a high heat and cook for 11 minutes for a soft boil. After 11 minutes remove from the heat and drain the hot water. Run the saucepan under the cold tap and leave the eggs in the cold water to cool. After 10 minutes, carefully de-shell the eggs and set aside. Roll the egg in flour and set aside. This makes sure that the sausage meat will stick to the surface of the egg.

Remove the skins from the sausages and place the meat onto a large sheet of cling film. Place another sheet of cling film on top and gradually roll the sausage meat to form a long sheet. You should stop when the thickness is around 5-7mm. Place into the fridge to firm up for 15-20 minutes.

Take the rolled sausage meat out of the fridge and cut into 4 rectangles of equal size. Carefully roll each rectangle around the egg. Use your hands as cups to spread and join the sausage meat. It is best to repair and holes at this stage. Wrap each egg in cling film and place into the fridge to firm up for 10-15 minutes.

Place the egg and breadcrumbs into two separate bowls. Un-wrap the sausage coated eggs and place into the egg and roll around coating all surfaces. Place into the breadcrumbs and coat all over. Repeat this procedure again. You have to double coat the eggs for them to deep fry correctly.

Heat a deep fat fryer with vegetable oil up to 180°C and carefully place the eggs into the oil once the temperature is up. Deep-fry for 8-10 minutes or until the sausage meat is thoroughly cooked through. Carefully take out of the oil with a slotted spoon and eat when cooled slightly.

Trout En Papillote

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor T) — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 20:42:00 +0000

En Papillote is a French cooking technique in which the food is placed into a pouch or parcel and it is then baked. The food cooks quickly as steam is created inside. It is a beautiful way to cook fish as you can't overcook it. The fish stays moist and flakes apart.

If you can't get trout you could use sea bass, salmon etc... Remember if you use a really thick piece of fish the cooking time should be increased. Also you can use absolutely any vegetable. I sometimes slice fennel and carrots really thinly and use these instead of asparagus. Just use whatever is in season. Remember that some vegetables might need precooking as the 10 minutes in the oven might not be enough.

I always add a shot of Pernod as I love the hint of aniseed. This flavour goes extremely well with fish. Serve with buttery Cous Cous or new season potatoes. If you don't have parchment paper you could use aluminium foil also. The fish might stick to the foil though.

Trout En Papillote, with Asparagus

by Trevor Thornton

Serves 2

Difficulty Easy

Ingredients
parchment paper
2 small packets of asparagus tips
2 trout fillets, de-scaled and pin boned
4 tsp butter
4-6 thin slices of lemon
2 tbsp white wine or Pernod
salt and pepper

Method

Cut 2 sheets of parchment paper roughly 37cm x 37cm. Place the asparagus tips directly in the centre. Place the trout fillets skin side up on top of the asparagus. Dot some butter over the fillets and add slices of lemon on top. Season with salt and pepper and add a splash of white wine/Pernod. Close the sides to create a bag. You can do this any way once none of the steam escapes during cooking. Once the parcels are ready you can keep them in the fridge until you are ready to eat.

Remove the parcels from the fridge 30 minutes before cooking to allow the fish to come up to room temperature. To cook, place into a preheated oven for 10 minutes at 180°C. Remove from the oven and open the bag and remove the skin before eating.

White Chocolate Mousse, with Raspberries

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor T) — Mon, 23 May 2011 20:06:00 +0000

This is another one of those recipes that you should master and keep under the belt for a quick simple dessert. I have a dark chocolate mousse recipe that uses egg whites as the mousse element. This is a cream based mouse so its rich but so extravagant.

It's good to have 5 starters, main courses and desserts in the bag for when people come over. The first time I made this the mixture split and I had to start again so don't worry.

My brother actually took the photo for this recipe and his girlfriend polished the dessert.

White Chocolate Mousse, with Raspberries

by Trevor Thornton

Makes about 2-4 depending on moulds

Difficulty Easy - Moderate

Ingredients
90ml whole milk
½ vanilla bean
3 x 2g sheets of gelatine
125g white chocolate
125g single cream
2 punnets or 150g of raspberries

Method

Place the milk into a small saucepan. Split the vanilla bean in half and scrape the seeds out and place them into the milk. Place the vanilla bean in as well. Place over a low-medium heat and bring to just before boiling point and then remove from the heat to infuse for 10-20 minutes.

Meanwhile soak the gelatine in a large bowl of cold water for 5 minutes or until soft.

Roughly chop the chocolate and place into a large clean bowl. Reheat the milk to hot and discard the vanilla bean. Pour half of the milk over the chocolate and stir until all the chocolate has melted. Remove the gelatine from the bowl and squeeze out any excess water. Add the gelatine to the remaining hot milk in the saucepan and stir until dissolved. Add this to the chocolate and stir to combine. Leave to cool until tepid but do not allow the mixture to stiffen.

Whip the cream until it just holds its own weight. Fold the cream into the chocolate and stir to combine. Whisk the mixture until you see soft peaks begin to form. Be very careful as this happens within 10-20 seconds. The mixture could split if you overwork the mixture. Line the bottom of whatever mould you are using with a layer of raspberries. You could just use a glass or cup also if you don’t have moulds. Divide the mixture between the moulds and smooth the top out. Place into the fridge for a minimum of three hours to set.

To remove the mould, remove from the fridge and run a small sharp knife around the inside of the mould and the mousse will come free. Alternatively if you had a blow torch you could just blow torch the mould quickly. Decorate the plate with fresh raspberries and grate some white chocolate over the top of the mousse.

Apple Wood Smoked Sausage Salad with Poached Egg

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor T) — Wed, 11 May 2011 08:38:00 +0000

I am cooking a lot of salads recently as with the warm weather my appetite changes. I could not think of eating a stew or something heavy. This time of the year is beautiful as the early vegetables are coming into season. Asparagus is bang in season right now.

I found these apple wood smoked sausages in "Fox's Fruit and Veg", in Mullingar. They are made just outside Mullingar and they were fantastic. If you like the taste of a "hot dog" then you would love these. If you don't like smoked meats then just use an ordinary high pork content sausage.

Apple Wood Smoked Sausage Salad with Poached Egg

by Trevor Thornton

Serves 2

Difficulty Moderate

Ingredients
2 free range eggs
1 tbps vinegar
4 large smoked sausages, use normal sausages if you can’t find smoked
1 packet of salad leaves
French Dressing
1 tsp Dijon vinegar
Extra virgin olive oil
white wine vinegar
salt and white pepper

Method
Cook the sausages in a frying pan over a very low heat for 10-15 minutes turning occasionally. I use the lowest heat possible on a gas hob. This ensures that the pork cooks slowly and all the bad fats leech out of the sausage. You will end up with a perfectly cooked sausage. When cooked set aside to rest.

Fill a large saucepan with 5cm (2 inch) of water and add in the vinegar. Place over a high heat. Crack the eggs into two cups and set aside. When you can see loads of tiny bubbles appear on the bottom of the saucepan add in the eggs carefully. Set your timer for exactly one minute. When the minute is up remove the saucepan from the heat and set aside for exactly 10 minutes. This was will give you perfectly set whites and a nice creamy warm yolk.

To make the French dressing, add the Dijon mustard to a large bowl and very slowly whisk in 4 tbps of extra virgin olive oil. The mixture will thicken as you are adding in the oil. The mixture will split if you add it too fast. If this happens just start again. Add in enough vinegar to taste. Make sure to whisk all of the time. Season with salt and pepper and set aside.

To assemble, add the dressing to the salad leaves and toss well to coat the leaves. Divide the salad between two plates. Cut the sausage into bite size pieces and add to the plates. Remove the egg from the saucepan after the 10 minutes and drain on kitchen paper. Place on top of the salad and serve.

"A Man's Salad" - Salad of Black Pudding, Bacon, Soft Boiled Egg and chunky Croutons

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor T) — Tue, 03 May 2011 15:48:00 +0000

I was up in Donegal recently where 14 of us went for dinner. All the men were hungry and we all ordered the same "Man's Salad". It was basically a fry-up called a salad. It was fantastic. The zingy salad dressing cut through the fatty bacon and the flavors of a fry up lingered in my mouth.

This is a really quick dish if you are just in the door as your local shop will have all the ingredients. I have tried this same dish with sausages and poached eggs and I will write about this soon.

With this nice warm weather it’s nice to eat a salad as I certainly don't have a large appetite when it’s hot outside.

“A Man’s Salad” Salad of Black Pudding, Bacon, Soft Boiled Egg and chunky Croutons

by Trevor Thornton

Serves 2

Difficulty Easy - Moderate

Ingredients

2 free range eggs
2 slices of bread
1 packet of Black Pudding, good quality
4 slices of streaky bacon
1 packet of salad leaves
Extra virgin olive oil
white wine vinegar

Method

Place the eggs into a small saucepan and cover the eggs with cold water. Place the saucepan over a high heat and set you timer for 12 minutes exactly. This will be for soft boiled. When the timer runs out, discard the hot water and fill the saucepan with cold water and set aside to cool.

Place the sliced bread into a toaster and toast until brown. Leave in the toaster while you are preparing the rest of the ingredients. The residual heat will dry out the bread.

Remove the protective packaging from the black pudding and cut into generous slices. Fry the pudding in a small amount of olive oil for 3-4 minutes aside over a medium heat. When the pudding is cooked remove from the pan and drain on kitchen paper. Add the bacon to the pan and cook 3-4 minutes on each side until nice and crispy.

To make a quick salad dressing place 3 tbps extra virgin olive oil into a bowl and add 1 tbsp vinegar and whisk to combine.

To assemble divide the salad leaves between two plates and add the pudding, crispy bacon and croutons. Remove the shell from the eggs and slice in half. Add the egg to the plate and drizzle with the salad dressing. Season with salt and pepper and enjoy!

Mussels with Beurre Blanc sauce

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor T) — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 08:40:00 +0000

Making sauces is a very important and very satisfying process in becoming a good home chef. Buerre Blanc is one of those all time classics and you probably have had it if you eat fish out in restaurants. The sauce generally is served with fish courses.

My previous recipe was Moules Marinières and this is a carry on from that. The process is exactly the same only that you whisk in loads of butter into the finished sauce right at the end. This is exactly the sort of dish I like to eat when I am away. Every time I taste the mussel flavours I think of Spain. Everyone has food memories and they are very important as they generally bring happiness.

Mussels with Beurre Blanc sauce

by Trevor Thornton

Serves 4

Difficulty Moderate

Ingredients
1 large bag of mussels
100 dry white wine
1 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, very finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
100g unsalted butter, cubes and really cold
½ lemon

Method

Wash the mussels under cold running water in a sink, removing any beards and barnacles. Just use your fingers and don’t scrub the shells with anything. Discard any mussels that float or remain open when tapped against the side of the sink. This means that they are dead and should not be eaten at all.

Place a large saucepan over a medium high heat and once the sauce pan is up to temperature add the olive oil and onion. Cook the onion for 3-4 minutes then add the garlic. Cook for a further minute then add the wine. Simmer for 2 minutes to remove the acidic alcohol taste and add the mussels. Cover with a lid and cook for 2-4 minutes or until the shells have opened. Discard any shells that are still closed as these are dead also.

Remove the liquid from the saucepan and keep separate. Remove the mussels from the shells and discard the shells. Pour half of the liquid into a clean saucepan and bring up to a hot temperature but don’t boil it as this will split the butter. You only use half the sauce as the finished sauce would be too salty if the whole amount was used. Whisk in the butter one cube at a time. You will see that the sauce begins to thicken the more butter you add in. Once all of the butter has been incorporated the sauce will have thickened and will be really glossy. Add the lemon juice and whisk to incorporate. Keep warm and set aside.

Arrange the mussels in the centre of a plate and pour the buerre blanc around the side of the plate. Decorate with chives and basil if you have them.

Moules Marinières

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor T) — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 10:53:00 +0000

The three of us went to Spain recently and in the local supermarket (the size of IKEA) they have a beautiful fish counter probably 20 meters long with every type of fresh fish on display. They have a crustaceans counter also with live lobster, fresh prawns, clams, oysters, razor clams etc...

When we go over the first item I cook is mussels and I love the French classic recipe Moules Marinières. You can't beat this with a glass of cold white wine. We are coming into some nice weather presently and this is a great summer dish. It is great for sharing and if you mop up the sauce with some nice crusty bread . . . . . . . . . happy days.

The only small job you have to do is clean the beards from the mussels before cooking. If you don't clean them they will end up in the sauce and they are not nice to eat. Any good fishmongers will have fresh mussels. Summer is officially here, go on try some mussels!

Moules Marinières

by Trevor Thornton

Serves 2 – 4 sharing

Difficulty Easy – Moderate

Ingredients
1 large bag of mussels
100 dry white wine
1 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, very finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
2 tbsp single cream
2 tbsp unsalted butter
3 tbsp chopped fresh flat leaf parsley

Method

Wash the mussels under cold running water in a sink, removing any beards and barnacles. Just use your fingers and don’t scrub the shells with anything. Discard any mussels that float or remain open when tapped against the side of the sink. This means that they are dead and should not be eaten at all.

Place a large saucepan over a medium high heat and once the sauce pan is up to temperature add the olive oil and onion. Cook the onion for 3-4 minutes then add the garlic. Cook for a further minute then add the wine. Simmer for 2 minutes to remove the acidic alcohol taste and add the mussels. Cover with a lid and cook for 2-4 minutes or until the shells have opened. Discard any shells that are still closed as these are dead also.

Pour out as much of the juice as possible and place into a clean saucepan. Place the saucepan over a high heat and reduce the liquid by half. Add the cream, butter and parsley and stir well. This will intensify the sauce and give it a nice sauce consistency. This step is totally optional.

No seasoning is required as the mussels will release a little salt water when they open. Place the mussels into a large serving bowl and pour the sauce all over and serve with crusty bread and some nice cold white wine.

Pomme Maxime

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor T) — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 08:24:00 +0000

Pomme Maxime

I was trawling through old photos and I found this. This is one of the very first photos I ever took of food. I first had them in Thornton's in Dublin and as soon as I came home I had to try to recreate them. This is one of Kevin Thornton's signatures of the restaurant.

I love these as they look beautiful on a plate and they are really tasty to eat. They are something that you would not normally try as they take quite a long time to make, but they are worth it.

Pomme Maxime

by Trevor Thornton

Makes 6 portions approx

Difficulty Hard

Ingredients
4-6 Rooster Potatoes
1 packet of butter, see note 1

Method

Core the centre of the potatoes with a potato cutter. The cutter should be 30mm in diameter. Slice the top and bottom of the core with a knife to remove any of the skin. Slice the core with a meat slicer to a thickness of 2mm. Drop the slices into warm clarified butter.

Take a 100mm metal tartlet mould and line the mould with the potato slices. Pack them close together, otherwise they will fall apart during cooking, don't forget to season between each layer. When you have 2-3 layers built up you can pour a small bit of the clarified butter over the potatoes.

Cook the moulds over a medium heat until you can see that the potato is golden brown on the bottom. Turn the mould upside down and re-insert the pomme maxime. Cook the other side exactly the same as the first. When the potatoes are golden brown on both sides, take out of the mould and set on a baking tray. Cook in an oven at 180°C for 10-15 minutes to cook fully through. Set aside in a warm place.

Note 1

To make clarified Butter

Heat a packet of unsalted butter until the butter has melted. Take off the heat and skim off the top foamy layer and discard. Pour the remaining clear layer into a separate container. This is the clarified butter. Stop pouring just before the solids come to the surface. The solids are white in colour and can be discarded.

My Ultimate Chips

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor T) — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 20:40:00 +0000

Chips have to be the ultimate good mood food. They conjure up so many memories and they will always stay as my number one hangover food item. We don't eat chips that often but when we do I always use my twice cooked method as they leave the chips fluffy in the centre with a really crispy exterior.

If you cut potatoes thick and tried to cook them at 180C they would be nice and golden on the outside but the centre would be raw. The thicker the chip the longer the cooking.

Heston Blumenthal who runs "The Fat Duck" in Bray, just outside London did a cookery programme called "In Search Of Perfection". In one of the programmes he showed the world how to cook the perfect chips using his triple cooked method.

1. Par boil the chips for about 10 minutes, then chills them until cold
2. Cook at 130C for 5 minutes, then drain and chill until cold
3. Cook at 180 for 8-10 minutes, season with salt and eat

This gives the best chips you have ever tasted but they take the whole day to make and that is why I use the twice cooked method.

My Ultimate Chips

by Trevor Thornton

Serves 2

Difficulty Easy

Ingredients
3 – 4 large rooster potatoes
sunflower oil for frying
sea salt & black pepper
malt vinegar

Method

Set the temperature of the deep fat fryer to 140°C. Meanwhile peel the potatoes and cut them into nice chunky sizes, probably 2cm in thickness. Put the chips into a large saucepan and cover them with water and leave to soak for 5 minutes. Remove all the water and fill again with fresh water. This removes all the starch from the potatoes. Repeat this once more and then drain all the water and pat the chips dry with a clean tea towel. Make sure to completely dry the chips.

Carefully place the chips into the fryer and cook for 6 minutes. Once the 6 minutes are up remove the chips and set the temperature to 190°C. The chips should now be cooked on the inside. Once the temperature has reached 190°C place the chips back in and cook until golden and crispy. Watch the chips at this stage as they will take on colour very quickly.

Remove from the fryer when ready and place onto kitchen paper to drain the excess oil. Season with sea salt, black pepper and a generous dose of malt vinegar.

Beef Tasting plate with Leek Colcannon

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor T) — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 11:03:00 +0000

Irish Food Bloggers Association (sponsored by Bord Bia) came up with a competition to promote Irish Beef across Europe and Irish food is the theme. You can check out the following link to read all of the various details.

http://www.irishfoodbloggers.com/2011/03/01/competition-win-a-chance-to-represent-ireland-at-a-european-food-bloggers-workshop/

The winner will get to go to a workshop to learn how to write blog’s better and to take better photographs. Many of you, especially my brother will say "Thank God, finally somebody can help the poor lad out"

My wife and I love sitting down to a steak dinner from time to time. When I do get around to making it, I like to make it special and this is our favourite way of eating steak. I always like to accompany a piece of fillet steak with a cheaper cut and everyone loves cottage pie. Cottage pie is generally made from beef and Shepard’s pie is made from lamb. Years ago when the Sunday roast was over any leftover meat was minced and made into cottage pie.

The meat I used was from Westmeath, from a farm very close to Mullingar. I was lucky as the meat had just come into the butchers. We are very lucky to have excellent meat in Ireland. I have been to Spain and France from time to time and their meat is not as good as ours.

This is a tricky dish to prepare as there are numerous ingredients. The best way to do this is to prepare most of the ingredients ahead of time and just reheat before serving. The only item that you have to cook at the last minute is the steak.

I like to eat my steak rare-medium. I always rest my steak for the same amount of time that I cook it. This way when you serve it the steak is juicy and succulent and there is no blood all over the plate. Resting makes a huge difference, try it out!

Beef Tasting plate with Leek Colcannon

By Trevor Thornton

Serves 2

Difficulty Hard

Ingredients
Cottage Pie
1 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 garlic clove, peeled and finely chopped
200g beef mince, round or chuck
400ml beef stock
Colcannon
3 large potatoes, rooster I find are best
2 tbps butter
1 large leek
1 tbsp olive oil & butter
Creamed Mushrooms
1 tbsp olive oil & butter
225g Mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
30ml brandy
50ml cream
1 tbps chives, finely chopped
Fried Onions
1 large onion
50g plain flour
Steak
2 x 200g pieces of fillet steak

Method

For the cottage pie place a saucepan over a medium heat. Add the olive oil and the onions and cook for 5-6 minutes or until the onions become translucent. Add the garlic and cook for another minute. Add the mince and cook until the mince has browned all over. This should take 4-6 minutes. Add the beef stock and bring to the boil. Cover and reduce the heat to a low simmer and cook for an hour. Check there is enough liquid from time to time. If you need more add some water. After an hour remove the lid and simmer until nearly all the water has been absorbed. Set aside until ready for use.

Place the potatoes into a saucepan and cover with cold water. Place over a high heat and bring to the boil and then reduce the heat to simmer. Cook for 40-50 minutes and then test to see if the potatoes are cooked by piercing the potato with a fork. If there is any resistance continue to cook until there is no resistance. When cooked remove from the heat and drain the excess water. Leave in the saucepan to dry for 2-3 minutes. Remove the skin from the potato carefully and then mash the potato with the butter and season with salt and pepper to taste. Set aside 1/3 of the mashed potato for the cottage pie.

Take the leek and remove the bottom root section. Slice the leek in half along the length and finely chop. Don’t use the dark green section of the leek as it is tough. Wash the leek under running water to remove any dirt and grit. Add the olive oil and butter to a frying pan and place over a medium high heat. Place the leek into the pan and cook for 6-8 minutes until the leek is cooked. Add the cooked leek into the large portion of the potatoes and stir to combine. Cover with cling film and set aside.

For the mushrooms place the olive oil and butter into a non stick frying pan over a medium high heat. Add the mushrooms and cook for 5-7 minutes or until the mushrooms have released all of their moisture. Add the brandy carefully as it can catch fire and add the cream. Cook for 1-2 minutes until the cream reduces and coats the mushrooms. Add the chives and season with salt and pepper to taste and set aside.

For the onion rings preheat a deep fat fryer to 180°C. Take the large onion and remove the skin. Slice the onion thinly to obtain nice rings. Place the rings into a bowl with the flour and shake to coat the onion. Shake off the excess flour and place the rings into the fryer carefully. Cook for 3-4 minutes until the rings are nice and golden. When they are nice and golden remove from the fryer and drain on kitchen paper.

For the steak heat a grill pan over a high heat. Make sure to take the steak out of the fridge for a good 30 minutes to come up to room temperature. Season the steak with salt and pepper and smear with olive oil. Place the steaks onto the grill pan and cook for 4 minutes on one side and then turn over and cook for 4 minutes on the other side. Remove from the heat and place into aluminium foil to rest. This will leave the steaks rare-medium.

Before plating it is best to reheat everything.

To plate up, place some of the cottage pie into a cup and top with the plain mashed potato. Place under a grill to colour the mashed potato if you desire. Place onto the plate. Divide the mushroom between the plates and spoon a large spoon of the colcannon on the plate. Remove the steak from the foil and place onto the plate. Top with the fried onions and serve immediately.

Pancake Tuesday

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor T) — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 21:42:00 +0000

I love Pancake Tuesday and I remember when I was young we ate our pancakes with golden syrup and lemon juice. I still love eating my pancakes the exact same way to this day.

Pancakes are one of the easiest recipes to make. I use the Board Bia recipe and it gives a nice thin pancake, more like a Crêpe. We eat pancakes throughout the year and especially if we have kids staying over as they love trying to flip the pancakes.

For the recipe follow the link

http://www.bordbia.ie/aboutfood/recipes/eggs/pages/basicpancakes.aspx

Mediterranean Couscous with Asparagus Tips and a Fried Egg

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor T) — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 08:50:00 +0000

Most people I talk to don't like couscous and I can understand the reason why. On it's own it tastes of nothing and it feels a bit like cardboard, sounds exciting!!! Well if you add loads of exciting flavors to the couscous it really works. The couscous is an excellent flavor carrier and it is also one of the healthiest grain based products.

This dish could be vegetarian if you dropped the bacon and it can be made in advance. The asparagus season is quickly approaching so get your asparagus steamers dusted off.

Mediterranean Couscous with Asparagus Tips and a Fried Egg

by Trevor Thornton

Serves 2

Difficulty Easy - Moderate

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil
125g streaky bacon, remove if vegetarian
1 large leek
1 tbsp butter½ red pepper, deseeded and finely chopped
1 packet of asparagus tips, containing 20 tips approx
1 bag of couscous
10 - 15 pitted black olives, sliced
2 tbps coriander, roughly chopped
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp vinegar
1 tbsp olive oil
2 eggs

Method

Place a non stick frying pan over a medium high heat and add the olive oil. Roughly chop the bacon and add to the frying pan. Cook for 3-4 minutes or until the bacon has started to turn brown and crispy. Remove the bacon onto kitchen paper to drain. Top and tail the leek and remove the outer skin. We are only going to use the white, if you want to use the green you would have to finely chop and then wash to remove the dirt. Slice the white in half along the length and finely chop. Add the butter to the frying pan and add the leek. Cook for 2-3 minutes and then add the red pepper. Cook for another 3-4 minutes whilst stirring. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Cook the asparagus in boiling salted water for 2-3 minutes or until tender. Carefully remove the hot water from the pot. Add cold water to stop the asparagus from overcooking. This will retain their green flavour also. Chop the asparagus into bite size pieces. Keep the tips if you are going to decorate the place later.

Cook the couscous as per the manufacturer’s recommendations. When ready place the couscous into a large bowl and add the bacon, leek, peppers, olives, asparagus and coriander. Season with salt and pepper and add the olive oil and the vinegar. The vinegar will really bring out the flavour of the dish. This might seem strange but it really works. The couscous can be made in advance and then just placed in a microwave to reheat.

To serve place the couscous into a metal ring and press down. Remove the ring and add a cooked fried egg on top. You can decorate the plate with asparagus tips as shown in the photo.

Spaghetti alla Carbonara

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor T) — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 14:46:00 +0000

Sometimes you are just in the door from work and all you want to do is sit down and chill out. Then you realize you have nothing to eat and you open the fridge and see that there is some bacon and eggs from the fry at the weekend, some mushrooms and you have some pasta in the press, well bingo Pasta alla Carbonara.

Seriously, this dish takes the same amount of time as it takes the pasta to boil, 12-14 minutes. I love quick simple dishes and this is one of those dishes.

The only thing to remember is to pour in the sauce with the pan off the heat as you don't want to scramble the eggs. This is the classic was to cook this dish.

Spaghetti alla Carbonara with Mushrooms

by Trevor Thornton

Makes 2 portions

Difficulty Easy - Moderate

Ingredients
150g spaghetti, I use Barilla pasta
1 tbps olive oil
125g streaky bacon, sliced into thin strips
3-4 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
1 tbps butter
225g mushrooms, field or button, cleaned and sliced
2 egg yolks
75ml cream
50g parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper

Method

Cook the spaghetti in boiling salted water as per the manufacturer’s recommendations. As the pasta is cooking pour the olive oil into a non stick frying over a medium high heat. Add the bacon and cook for 3-4 minutes or until the bacon starts to brown. Remove the bacon once cooked and place on some kitchen paper to drain away any excess oil. Return the frying pan to the heat and add the butter. Once the butter begins to foam add the mushrooms and cook on a high heat for 4-5 minutes or until the mushrooms have released all their moisture. Add the bacon and garlic in and cook for a further 1-2 minutes to cook out the garlic. Set the frying pan aside until the pasta is ready.

Meanwhile beat the egg yolks and cream with a whisk to combine. When the pasta has cooked add the spaghetti to the mushroom and bacon mixture. Pour the egg and cream mixture over the spaghetti and add the parmesan. Stir quickly to coat the pasta in the sauce. The heat of the spaghetti will cook the egg yolks. Do not place the over the heat as you will scramble the eggs. Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve immediately.

Valentine's Day Chocolate Pud

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor T) — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 08:31:00 +0000

Chocolate desserts are probably most girl’s favourites and I am currently in the progress of making something special.

From the photo the bottom layer is chocolate sponge the next layer is chocolate mousse and the top layer is a bitter chocolate glaze, topped with raspberries.

The sponge was a little dense so I am coming up with a lighter version so stay tuned if you love your chocolate desserts.

Quick Thai Red Curry

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor T) — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 09:13:00 +0000

Part 4 Dinner for €25

Everyone loves a Thai curry and I have personally cooked numerous curries. I have cooked a Red, Green, Yellow, Penang and Massaman curry. I have made some of the pastes from scratch but you can buy really good ones from Thailand in Chinese stores that are authentic. Some of the supermarket own brand pastes are watered down versions of the real thing. When you find a paste you like, just keep buying it. Don't forget in Thailand they like their curries really hot and a Green curry is one of the hottest. The Thai birds eye chillies are one of the hottest chillies around so be careful if using them.

This 4 part dinner for €25 was all about not wasting any food and by using the leftover chicken and in this recipe you are not wasting any food. A curry is quick and tasty and it is a great way of using leftover ingredients.

NOTE When you are using fish sauce, it smells revolting but it adds so much flavour to the curry. When you add it in make sure to simmer the sauce for 2-3 minutes to let the flavours marry.

Quick Thai Red Curry

by Trevor Thornton

Makes 2 portions

Difficulty Easy

Ingredients
2 tbsp olive oil
2 – 3 tsp red curry paste
1 tin of coconut milk
1 tbsp fish sauce
juice ½ lime
2 tbsp cornflour, mixed with 4 tbsp water
90g mangetout
any leftover chicken
fresh coriander, chopped

Method

Place a sauce pan over a medium heat and add the olive oil. Add the curry paste and cook for 2 minutes whilst stirring. This releases the oil and cooks the paste. Add the coconut milk, fish sauce and lime juice and bring to the boil. Once boiled reduce to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes to develop the flavours. Thicken the curry with some cornflour if needed. Place the mangetout into the sauce and cook for 2 minutes, add the leftover chicken and coriander. Bring to the boil and serve with rice.

Oven Baked Risotto with Mushrooms

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor T) — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 08:39:00 +0000

Part 3 Dinner for €25

This is the second dish using the chicken stock made previously. This is a really handy dish if you don't want to stand over the hob stirring the risotto for 20 minutes. The final outcome is not the same as a regular stirred risotto. If you are not used to risottos then you would not know the difference between a baked and stirred risotto.

When the risotto is cooked it is very important to season with salt and pepper and add more lemon juice if needed. By adding fresh parsley you will really lift the dish and give it a really fresh flavour.

Oven Baked Risotto with Mushrooms

by Trevor Thornton

Makes 2 portions

Difficulty Easy – Moderate

Ingredients
700ml chicken stock
2 tbsp olive oil
4 slices streaky bacon, finely sliced
250g mushrooms, sliced
1 onion, skin removed and finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, skin removed and finely chopped
150g risotto rice
1 large handful parmesan cheese
½ juice of 1 lemon
1 tbsp flat leaf parsley

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas 4. Place the chicken stock into a sauce pan and bring to the boil. Place a casserole pot (ovenware dish) over a medium high heat. Place 1 tbsp of olive oil in and add the bacon. Cook until the bacon has started to colour. Remove and set aside. Add the mushrooms to the pot and cook for 4-5 minutes until they have started to colour also. Remove and place with the cooked bacon.

Add the remaining olive oil, butter and onions to the pot. Turn the heat down to medium. Cook the onions for 3-4 minutes to soften then add the garlic and cook for 2 minutes Add the risotto rice, bacon and mushrooms and the hot stock. Give it a quick stir, bring to the boil and place in the oven with a lid. Cook for 20 minutes then remove from the oven and add the parmesan and lemon juice. Give it a good stir any place back in the oven with no lid this time. Cook until nearly all the liquid has evaporated. This should take 5 – 10 minutes. Remove from the oven, add the parsley and serve.

Chinese Style Chicken and Noodles

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor T) — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 15:36:00 +0000

Part 2 Dinner for €25

This is the first dish using homemade chicken stock and its one of my favourites. If you can master making the sauce you will make it again and again. I use the same sauce in my Beef Ramen with Sprouting Broccoli. Don't be afraid of sauces, once you master them you will never look back.

From the photo you will see that I turned carrots and potatoes into long barrel shapes. This is just for presentation. I part cooked the potatoes and then pan fried them. They were really nice in the dish.

You can basically put whatever you want into this dish once you can make the sauce. Whatever you have lefover in your fridge use it.

Chinese Style Chicken and Noodles

by Trevor Thornton

Makes 2 portions

Difficulty Easy – Moderate

Ingredients
Sauce
400ml chicken stock
3-4 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp teriyaki sauce (optional)

carrots, washed and sliced thinly
90g mangetout
enough cooked chicken for 2
125g chow mein noodles or ½ packet
2 tbsp cornflour, mixed with 4 tbsp water
fresh coriander

Method

Place the chicken stock into a saucepan and place over a high heat and bring to the boil. Add the oyster sauce, fish sauce, soy sauce and teriyaki sauce into the stock and boil until the liquid has reduced by half. Taste the stock as it reduces as the flavours will intensify. Place the carrots into the sauce and cook for 2 minutes on a simmer. Add the mangetout and cook for another minute. If you prefer to not to have your vegetables crunchy cook them for longer. Place the cooked chicken into the sauce and remove from the heat and set aside. Cook the noodles as per the manufacturer’s recommendations. When cooked remove from the saucepan, drain into a sieve to remove the water.

To serve place some noodles into the centre of a warmed bowl, place the chicken on top and scatter the vegetables around the side. If the remaining sauce is thin just thicken the sauce with some of the cornflour. You will have to place the sauce over the heat to thicken it. When ready pour around the noodles and serve with fresh coriander.

Chicken Stock

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor T) — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 16:48:00 +0000

Part 1 Dinner for €25

To stock or not to stock? We all lead busy lifestyles and most of the time when we need some stock we use stock cubes e.g. OXO or Just Bouillon. The only problem with stock cubes is that they are very salty and how do you know how good the stock is?

Well why don't you make some stock and see how it tastes. I will tell you how it tastes. The stock should be full of Flavour, Flavour and more Flavour.

Once you make stock once you might never go back. If you make soup or risottos then homemade stock is a must.

Over the next few days I will be releasing some recipes that use chicken stock so stay tuned.

You will see that for this stock you poach a whole chicken. Don't forget that this meat is useable and I will be showing you how to use it over the next few recipes. You will use some of the meat in the next recipe, Chinese Style Chicken and Noodles, then we will make an Oven Baked Risotto with the chicken stock and lastly we will make a Leftover Chicken Red Curry.

This way we are using all of the ingredients wisely and there is little or no food waste. I have cooked all of these dishes and the food cost was €25 for three meals.

Chicken Stock

by Trevor Thornton

Makes 4-5 litres

Difficulty Easy

Ingredients
10 chicken wings, chopped
4 tbsp olive oil
2 medium onions, skin removed and chopped
2 large carrots, cleaned and roughly chopped
1 large leek, washed and roughly chopped
3-4 sticks of celery, washed and roughly chopped
1 whole bulb of garlic, cut in half
10 black peppercorns whole
3-4 leaves of bay leaf
5 l of water
1 Small Bunch of Thyme, or 1 tsp dried1 Small Bunch of Parsley, or 2 tsp dried
1 chicken about 750g, free range if possible

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas 4. Place the chicken wings onto a non stick baking tray with 2tbsp olive oil and place into an oven for 30 minutes or until the skin is nicely browned.

Meanwhile while the bones are roasting, place a large stockpot over a medium high heat and add the remaining olive oil. Add the onions to the pot and cook for 3-4 minutes, add the carrots, leek, celery, garlic, peppercorns and bay leaf. Cook for 5-8 minutes to soften everything up. Add the water and herbs and bring to the boil. By the time the stock is boiling the chicken wings will be ready. Add the wings to the stock and add the whole chicken. Reduce the heat to the lowest possible. You want the stock to simmer and not boil.

After 1 hour remove the whole chicken and set aside to cool. If you have a meat thermometer you can take the chicken out when the internal temperature reaches 75°C in the thickest part. When the poached chicken has cooled enough to handle, remove the breasts, remove the legs and separate the meat, remove all reaming meat from the chicken and set the cooked meat aside and place the chicken carcass and all bones back into the stock.

Bring the stock back to a fast simmer and cook for another hour. Turn off the heat and let the stock go cold. When cold strain the stock through a fine sieve and or muslin. The liquid will keep in a sealed container in the fridge for up to one week. You can freeze in batches also.

Chilli con Carne Taco's

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor T) — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 19:06:00 +0000

Do you have some leftover chilli and you are sick of eating it with rice, well try a Taco or pitta bread or turn it in to a wrap. Nobody said that just because you made a huge batch dosen't mean you have to eat it for 5 days straight.

Mix it up, that is what eating is all about

Chilli con Carne Taco's

Ingredients
Chilli con Carne (as previous recipe)
fresh coriander
tomatoes
lettuce
cheese

Basically whatever you like

Method

Heat the taco. Put in some heated chilli con carne, throw on whatever toppings you want and enjoy.

Chilli con Carne

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor T) — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 20:23:00 +0000

OK are you ready for an oldschool recipe, Chilli con Carne with boiled rice.

My wife and I made this recently and it is just yum!!!!!! If you don't like the heat from chillies well don't make this, only messing, just eat with a dollop of natural yoghurt to tame the heat.

I have cooked Jamie Oliver’s recipe for ages and one evening I was working late so my wife had to make the dinner. Well I came home to dinner saying that this was the best Chilli I have ever eaten. After discussing this with my wife I found out that she didn't really follow the recipe and thank G*d, because hers was much better than mine. (Brownie Points)

Make sure to use the best quality tomatoes you can buy. Also we bought some chillies in Aldi and I took a photo. My wife used 1 Habenaro, 1 Scotch Bonnet and one dutch chilli. Man that was hot but a nice heat, not a kick you in the face heat.

Chilli con Carne

by Tina & Trevor Thornton

Serves 6

Difficulty Easy

Ingredients
2tbsp olive oil
2 medium onions, peeled and finely chopped
4 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
2 tsp chilli powder
2-3 fresh chillies, deseeded and finely chopped
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tbsp ground coriander
750g steak mince
salt and pepper
2 x 400g tins of plum tomatoes, good quality usually from Italy
1 tin of red wine
1 stick of cinnamon
2 x 400g tins of curry kidney beans.
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp Cajun powder

Method

Place a large saucepan over a medium heat and add the olive oil. Add the onions and cook for 4-5 minutes or until soft. Add the garlic and cook for another minute. Add the chilli powder, fresh chilli, cumin and coriander. Cook for a minute or two. The spices should begin to release their fragrance. Add the steak mince with some salt and pepper and cook until browned. Add the plum tomatoes, cinnamon stick and a tin of red wine. Use the plum tomatoes tin to measure. Bring to the boil and then reduce to a low simmer with the lid on. Cook for 1 ½ hours, stirring occasionally. Add the kidney beans, Worcestershire sauce and Cajun powder and cook for another 30 minutes to cook the kidney beans.

The dish is best prepared the day before as all the flavours need time to develop and mellow out. Serve with plain boiled rice.

Lobster Risotto

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor T) — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 11:55:00 +0000

There are some dishes that take a long time to make but they are worth it, this is one of them. If you had the stock prepared a day in advance the dish only takes 20 minutes to make. If you like prawns and other crustaceans then you would love lobster. Restaurants would charge up to €35 per kilo for lobster so it is real treat. The key to any of my recipes is to have as much of the preparation done in advance. This way you will enjoy the finished result more.

If you were preparing risotto in a restaurant environment stop cooking the risotto after 12 minutes and place the contents onto a large baking sheet and spread the mixture out flat and place into the fridge to go cold. This can only be done on the day of eating. Finish the cooking process when the order is called in.

The Pernod is a classic combination in most fish sauces as it leaves a lovely background aniseed flavour. You can leave out if you don't like the flavour.

Lobster Risotto

by Trevor Thornton

Serves 2

Difficulty Moderate

Ingredients
lobster meat from 1 lobster
lobster head, tail and arm shells from 1 lobster

Lobster Stock
1 tbsp olive oil
1 large carrot, roughly chopped
1 large onion, skin removed and roughly chopped
2-3 stalks celery, roughly chopped
3-4 cloves garlic, chopped skin on
1 shot of Pernod or Pastis or Ricard
1 glass of dry white wine
1 liter of water
handful of fresh thyme (optional)
handful of fresh flat leaf parsley (optional)

Risotto
1 tbps olive oil
1 tsp butter
1 medium onion, skin removed and finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, skin removed and finely chopped
75g Arborio or Carnaroli risotto rice
1 glass dry white wine
Juice of ½ a lemon
2 handfuls of parmesan cheese, grated
Salt and pepper
1 tsp truffle oil (optional)
1 tbsp flat leaf parsley (optional)

Method

To make the lobster stock place a large saucepan over a medium high heat and add the oil, lobster head, arm and tail shell to the oil and cook for 2-3 minutes, then add the carrot, onion and celery to the pan and cook for 4-5 minutes to soften them up. Add the garlic and cook for another minute. Add the Pernod and white wine and reduce the liquid by half. Using a large spoon crush the lobster shells to release all the flavour. Add the water and the herbs if using. Simmer the stock for 20 minutes and then turn off the heat. The longer you leave the stock the better flavour you will release from the lobster shell. Try to leave it a minimum 2 hours. Pass the stock through a fine sieve into a clean saucepan keeping the liquid. Discard everything else. You should end up with almost 1 litre of stock.

For the risotto reheat the lobster stock in a small saucepan and have it beside you when you are making the risotto. Place a clean saucepan over a medium high heat and add the oil and butter. When the butter starts to foam add the onion and garlic. Cook for 2-3 minutes or until the onions have turned translucent. Add the risotto rice and stir for 2 minutes to absorb all the cooking oil. Add the wine and stir until the liquid is absorbed. Add a ladle full of the stock and continue to stir until all the liquid has been absorbed. Repeat this procedure until 17 minutes has passed. You need to continuously stir the risotto as this is how the starch molecules break down and you end up with a creamy risotto but without any cream.

Add the lobster meat, lemon juice, parmesan cheese, salt and pepper to taste, truffle oil and parsley is using. At this stage your risotto should be almost fully cooked. The rice grains should have a very slight bite to them. Also when you lift up a spoon of risotto and turn the spoon upside down it should drop off the spoon easily and settle back into the saucepan. If the risotto is to loose cook until more liquid evaporates. If it is too thick add more stock or water to loosen. The whole process should take 18 to 20 minutes.

Serve the risotto in a warm bowl or plate and drizzle a little extra virgin olive oil for a richer finish.

Lobster Deconstruction

noreply@blogger.com (Trevor T) — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 21:02:00 +0000

Lobster is a real indulgent ingredient as it is so expensive so it is important to use everything, not just the tail and claw meat. Normally when I am in Spain on holidays I would buy a live lobster from the fishmongers and poach it then slice it in half and eat the meat with some mayonnaise and a squeeze of lemon juice, Yum!!!

The first time i cooked lobster I made a mess then I got better at it. The hardest part is removing the meat from the claws. Lidl were selling a whole lobster for €4.79 over the Christmas and I said to myself I would try it. I was very impressed, the meat was sweet and soft. So thumbs up for frozen lobster.

Lobster Deconstruction

by Trevor Thornton

Difficulty Moderate

Ingredients
1 cooked frozen lobster

Method

Remember when you remove the meat from the lobster place it into a separate bowl. This is so you don’t get any shell mixed with the meat.

Defrost the lobster in the fridge overnight. It normally takes up to 24 hours to completely defrost. Remove the lobster from the packaging.

The lobster is split into three main sections. The head, tail and arms. Remove the arms by pulling directly out from the head. To remove the tail hold the tail section in your right hand and hold the head section in your left hand. Move your hands from side to side whilst pulling and the tail will separate from the head.

Slice the tail section in half along the length. Remove the tail meat with a teaspoon and set aside. Slice the head in half along the length and then chop the head halves into smaller bits.

The arms can be split into two bits, arms and claws. Remove the arms from the claw by cutting the joint nearest the claw. Cut the arms joints in half and remove the meat and set aside.

To remove the claw meat hold the claw so that it is sitting on it side, tall side up. Tap the highest point with a sharp heavy knife and once you have made a small hole using your knife twist the knife through 90° whilst keeping pressure on your knife. This should create a crack along the claw. Follow the crack along the claw and then turn the claw over and tap another crack as before. This will enable you to pull the shell away to remove the claw meat in one piece. Set the meat aside.

All the cooked lobster meat at this stage is in the bowl. Gather up everything else into a saucepan to make a stock or lobster bisque.