Dinner, 19th of Jan, 2013


First
- Hummus
- Roasted eggplant salad
- Cherry tomato, queso fresco and couscous salad with mint and tahini dressing

Second
- Saffron and wild mushroom chicken stew with Moorish spices
- Roasted mash squash
- Picada

Third
- Flourless chocolate cake, green apple sorbet/vanilla ice cream

Roast pork belly

Dry pork belly with paper towels, score vertically making sure to cut into the fat but not meat, season generously with salt and let sit uncovered in fridge for a few hours.

Take meat out to temper, dry again and re-season skin.

For the meat side, season with whatever herbs or spice mixture.

Pre-heat oven to 220C. Roast pork in container skin side up for 20 mins, then turn heat down to 150C and cook for 30-40 mins until it looks done. Skin should have rendered a lot of the fat out. Take pork out of oven and turn heat up to highest setting or put broiler on. Broil skin until super crispy making sure you dont burn it.

Scrape off any burnt skin.

Serve with fennel and pomegranate salad, citrus and radish salad, chutney, plum sauce, etc.

Sourdough and ice cream

Basic sour dough at 70% hydration.
275g water + 500g 100% hydration.
400g bread flour + 100g whole wheat mixed with hydrated starter to autolyse for 30 mins.

Stretch and fold x 3 at 10 min intervals.
Rise for 1-2 hrs
Stretch and fold
Rise for 1hr (heat oven at 500F)
Tension pull 
Score
Bake for 20 mins covered, then for 30 mins at 430F


Rum-whiskey raisin, cinnamon and nutmeg ice-cream

- salt a little too much, maybe less cinnamon also.
- fresh vanilla would be nice
- less cream, more milk
- 173g yolks, 173g sugar, salt
- 10 oz milk, 10 oz cream - scalded
- temper eggs, return back to heat and cook until custard like. strain, cool down overnight, churn. Partway churning add whiskey and rum soaked raisins

Green pea soup

white aromatics, leeks, sweat.
add in green peas, lemon grass, kaffir lime leaves.
cover with stock, bring to boil and cook for 5 mins.
puree, garnish with lime juice and optional lime zest.

saute spam with broccoli florets, garnish for soup for more substance.

grits

Tomato sauce with anchovies
grits, cooked with water, salt, tomato sauce
heat roasted chicken
parsley, chilies, radish and cheese. mix, bind with one egg.
olive oil, salt, pepper 

dinner

Oven baked  mashed potatoes (cooked in skin, 450 for 35 mins), peeled and crushed with butter and EVOO. Steamed eggplant, meatballs, oyster sauce, sesame oil, diced cabbage. Needs something green, coriander perhaps. Hot peppers would work.

Steamed egg with ginger-garlic-onion-siracha paste. Roasted pork, dark soy. Water. Stir fried vegetables. Rice and couscous.

black and strawberry ricotta pie

Having made a batch of sweet pie dough from the Ottolenigh cook book which is beautiful to make some tartlets a couple weeks ago, a pie was in order.

The recent trip to the supermarket yeilded a punnet of black berries and a tub of ricotta cheese. A quick search on tastespotting yeilded multiple ricotta pies which as it turns out, is an Italian Easter tradition. We may be two weeks early but who really cares. The dough itself is very easy to make and is not too difficult to work with (butter content isn't too high). The filling itself is also very simple - rich and smooth ricotta cut with the acidity of a little lemon, black berries and strawberries that have been slightly cooked down and pureed. This is then bound with eggs, a little vanilla for body and a little extra sugar for sweetness.

Some thoughts however - the tart could have been baked for way longer. Trying to get it out of a non-spring form pie tin is was a pain and a mess was created, though a neat looking tart never tastes as good as a messy one. Right? Also a little more sugar in the ricotta filling would have been nice, it was borderline bland even with the fruit puree. Finally to make it lighter, I think separating the whites and beating them into soft peaks and then folding it in would have made a lighter filling.

And what does one do with leftover rolled out pie dough? Quasi shortbread!  

















Moving on: Chocolate bacon macarons. There's really no reason why the two can't be combined. A chocolate ganache is enlivened by the textural crunch of rendered bacon and the richness from the fat basically replaces the butter. Couple notes again, the ganache itself could have been slightly sweeter, a less dark chocolate could have been used. Perhaps if I paired it with a maple butter cream or something... gasp, pancake breakfast macarons!