Recipes for Main Courses

Welcome to my 50th review. Having had this discussion with a few of the Ciao members I am lucky to call online friends, I have decided to make good the claim that I can actually cook *grin*

So, the review below is what I would have on my reasonably priced lunchtime menu, should I choose to run a restaurant one day. I believe that the whole menu is perfectly reasonably priced at £24 per diner, and for 3 courses, is in the same league ...
...saying that the standard of the cooking is as good, but it is certainly passable and The Blonde does rave about it. It has also been known in the past for me to be hired by friends (either paying for the ingredients and inviting me to eat with them if I cook) or to be hired by friends parents to cook for a dinner party for their friends and colleagues (This is subject to a kitchen inspection and only if I can set the menu and have all of the dietary ... more

Welcome to my 50th review. Having had this discussion with a few of the Ciao members I am lucky to call online friends, I have decided to make good the claim that I can actually cook *grin*

So, the review below is what I would have on my reasonably priced lunchtime menu, should I choose to run a restaurant one day. I believe that the whole menu is perfectly reasonably priced at £24 per diner, and for 3 courses, is in the same league as Gordon Ramsay or Rick Stein. Now, that's not saying that the standard of the cooking is as good, but it is certainly passable and The Blonde does rave about it. It has also been known in the past for me to be hired by friends (either paying for the ingredients and inviting me to eat with them if I cook) or to be hired by friends parents to cook for a dinner party for their friends and colleagues (This is subject to a kitchen inspection and only if I can set the menu and have all of the dietary requirements of the guests present.

The decor of the restaurant is almost as important as the the food itself. Beevorm@Leedscitycentre would be clean lined, with dark wood tables and dark brown leather chairs, built for functionality and comfort than flashy design style. Pure white floor length table cloths, muted colours and stunning silver cutlery would ensure elegance and comfort, without clutter and without crowding. There would be ample room for diners to move between tables without having to squeeze past other diners or ask them to move in. The reception and bar would be housed well away from the dining area, the temperature of which is highly controlled and the lighting clean and relatively bright. I hate not being able to see my food.

So, onto the menu... I aim for 3 of each course. It presents a good choice, whilst still retaining good profit margins and removes too much complexity from the kitchen aspect of things. You will find that I have a tendency to choose relatively rich dishes and have a penchant for game. It's simple really. I love the stronger flavours, and feel that the main course should dominate proceedings, and the refreshing desserts leads to a beautifully clean palate and a non-lingering feeling of being comfortably sated, but not having the taste of the meal in your mouth for the rest of the day; just in your memory. The portions are aimed to be filling without being overly so, and miles away from the crap 3 peas and a carrot on the plate with a miniscule anorexic chicken breast with some weird flavour sauce accompaniment. IT'S NOT REAL FOOD!

Right then.... Here we go.

**********************STARTERS***************************

1. Crispy Belly Pork And Sweet Potato Soup.
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The Cripsy Belly Pork is remarkably simple to prepare.

Take a good cut of Belly Pork from your butcher (You really need to trust him on the quality of the pork since it is a remarkabley fatty cut of meat and you need to get the balance right. You also need to ensure that the Pork Belly is unrolled.

Pre-Heat your oven to 220 degrees celsius, criss-cross the pork with a good sharp paring knife and rub high quality sea salt crystals into the cuts. This serves to make the fat incredibly crispy and wonderfully flavoursome since the salt draws out the flavours in the fat.

Insert the pork in a greased roasting tray at 220 degrees celsius for half an hour. Reduce the heat down to 170 degrees and cook for a further hour. Leave to stand for 10 minutes and slice into brownie sized squares.

The sweet potato soup is perfectly acceptable on it's own, but the Belly Pork adds an enjoyable saltiness and crunch at the end of the dish.

For sensible quanities of soup you will need 6 large sweet potatoes, 1/2 pint of chicken stock, 1 carton of natural (unsweetened) yoghurt, 1 medium sized white onion, a decent knob of butter and nutmeg to flavour.

Saute the onion gently until soft and leave to cool. In the meantime, peel and boil your sweet potatoes until soft, mash and add to a blender. Insert chicken stock and yoghurt and blend into a puree. Add the onion and blend once more. Return to the heat and gently simmer for 20 minutes to allow the flavours to meld. Season to taste with nutmeg and serve with a chunk of homemade bread and the brownie sized piece of pork belly neslting gently in the middle.

The soup is wonderfully thick and has a very slightly sweet flavour, and the pork belly gives a distinct salty flavour and a delicious crunch at the end of the dish.

2. Seafood In Tomato And White Wine.
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This classic dish presents for the lighter option for the diner not looking for a heavy meal, and gives a good thread into the fish dish in the main courses. The seafood consists of wonderfully soft whelks, mussels, cockles and scallops in a chunky tomato and white wine sauce.

You'll require a good handful of each crustacean, cleaned and preapred. Discard ANY with broken shells. You can never be too careful with seafood freshness and damaged shells show poorer quality produce.

You will also need 5 medium shallots, couple of cloves of garlic, 1lb of fresh vine tomatoes, olive oil and half a bottle of white wine (It is actually better to use good white wine, rather than the plonk you were left with by an associate that you would normally use for cooking. The flavour of the wine really does come through. The better the wine, the better the flavours).

Chop the shallots and the garlic finely and saute gently for 5-10 minutes or until soft in good quality olive oil. Not extra virgin olive oil as this is too strong for the mussels.

Believe it or not, garlic has 3 or 4 different flavours depending on how it is prepared and cooked. Chopped garlic gives a slightly bitter flavour, crushed garlic gives an almost sweet flavour on cooking, roast garlic tends to go almost smokey and boiled garlic is horrible and sour.

There are two paths that you are able to take at this point... Some people prefer to add the wine and the seafood together, some like to let the wine reduce slightly to merge the flavours. I personally prefer to add them together as the white wine flavours the seafood wonderfully well. Bring to a relatively high boil and cover. The steam created cooks the seafood and encourages them to open fully. Steam for 5-7 minutes before reducing the heat (The juices should have also reduced by about a 3rd) and add the vine tomatoes, chopped roughly (otherwise they'll dissolve) and cover for another 5 minutes.

Serve with a 2 good chunks of homemade bread, spare waste shell bowl and a whelk fork! The sauce is flavoured by the tomatoes and given a little bulk. The white wine comes steaming through and the mussels, whelks, cockles and scallops provide a taste of the sea.

3. Teal, Rabbit And Pheasant Terrine
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Now, this is a slightly controversial starter. I made this for Christmas 2 years ago and it went down brilliantly. Right down to the point at which I told everyone exactly what was in it! Since there are so many ingredients in this bloody dish, a list is necessary, althoughthe ingredients are all cheap. Hell, if you own a shotgun, you can pretty much find them and kill them for free.

The flavours of this dish are strong and wonderfully gamey. It is a real hardcore eaters dish since the flavours can threaten the rest of the menu.

2 pheasant - Boned. You can do this yourself, which is incredible fun and will impove your knife-work no end. Otherwise, ask your game dealer for breast meat.
2 saddle and hindquarters of 1 rabbit, boned
2 Teals. You will have to bone these yourself. They are too small and fiddly for a butcher to do for you.
oil or fat, for frying

For the forcemeat:
500g/1lb2oz sausage meat
2 handfuls fresh white breadcrumbs
1 egg
3 tbsp parsley, finely chopped
1 handful of Sage leaves
5-6 juniper berries, crushed in pestle and mortar
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
splash of cognac
salt and pepper

You will also need about 8 rashers of thick cut back bacon, to line and cover the terrine tin or loaf tin, depending on the size (More on how to do this later)

A WORD OF WARNING - you will get your hands dirty with this one. It's a great restaurant dish since it can be made 2 days previously and sliced when cold. In fact, the whole dish is served cold.

Combine the forcemeat ingredients in a mixing bowl and add the juniper berries. Mix incredibly well with your hands and leave to one side.

Bone the game ingredients, and snip the meat with shears into regular sized strips. I prefer smaller strips personally as you get a better blend through the terrine. Brown the game strips in a heavy based pan for a couple of minutes and layer throughout the terrine tin.

Now, an important piece here is to line the terrine tin properly. Fail to do this and everything falls apart. I use a solid thick strip of back bacon laid vertically along the tin, and then use horizontally laid strips throughout the rest of the tin, ensuring that there is enough overlap over the edges to cover a decent amount of the top of the terrine too.

Layer the terrine mix into the tin, stopping every inch or so to put a layer of sage leaves in the mixture for additional flavour. Fold the edges of the back bacon over the top of the terrine and plae another couple of rashers vertically along the tin, over the overlapping edges of the horizontally laid bacon.

cover the top of the terrine in tin foil and place in a bain marie (Roasting tin half filled with water, placed in the oven) and leave for 1 1/2 hours at gas mark 3. Ensure that the terrine is fully cooked by inserting a skewer into the centre of the terrine and make sure that it re-emerges piping hot. If not, place back in the oven for another 15 minutes.

Now, the important bit. The jellies and fats from the game and bacon are what hold the terrine together... As the terrine is cooling, make sure that you weight down the top of the terrine with a brick, bit of wood or something heavy and flat that fits perfectly into the tin. (I often use a strip of wood with heavy cooking weights placed on top).

Once cooled and firmed, slice into thick (1-1 1/2 inches) slices and serve with chunks of toasted bread and a good fruit chutney.

So, that's the starters over. I think that this might turn into a bit of a long review!!!!! Well done for getting this far! Without further ado, lets move onto the main courses...

**********************MAIN COURSES****************************

1. Rabbit In Cider, Mustard & Thyme
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I cooked this for The Blondes parents when they first visited us in Leeds and considering that neither of them had had rabbit before, it went down incredibly well.

The piquant nature of the mustard gives a slight tang to the dish, but the cream soon dampens this down slightly giving a lovely full flavour to the dish. Now, this might be quite controversial since rabbit is a slightly taboo area within the restaurant arena. I'm not overly sure whether this would work in a restaurant, but it would be a shame because it is such a wonderful dish.

The ingredients below...

1 Rabbit, farmed or 2 wild, jointed into 8 pieces
3 tbsp seasoned plain flour
4 Onions
12 garlic cloves
Olive oil
Knob of butter
1 bunch Thyme
600ml still cider, good quality
2 tbsp wholegrain mustard
1 tbsp Honey
2 tbsp Cream

Coat the rabbit pieces in seasoned flour and set aside. This stops them cooking to quickly and seals the flavours in the meat.
Roughly slice up the onions and smash up the garlic a little, but do not peel it. This helps contain the flavour slightly and removes some of the horrible sour taste that you get when boiling/casseroling garlic. Melt the oil and butter together in a large frying pan and add the rabbit. Leave it to brown really well, then turn over and brown the other side. You have to be really brave here and resist the temptation to keep turning the rabbit. It's a mistake i still continue to make because I live in fear of burning dishes. Add the onion, garlic and thyme. Cook for 10 minutes, and then add the cider and mustard.

Put the lid on, and simmer for 40 minutes. At the end of this time, there should be very little juice left. Add the honey, and then the cream, stir and continue cooking for one minute more, until the rabbit is almost falling off the bone.

This would be served with either mashed potatoes or seasonal vegetables.

2. Seabass with Roasted Lime and Herbs
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This dish is wonderfully easy to make and deliciously light to serve. It fits marvellously with the seafood starter and also works well following the sweet potato soup too. The ingredients are wonderfully simple. A whole seabass, 3 large limes, mixed summer herbs. I would generally recommend that you use a mixture of parsley basil and dill so as not to overpower the fish, but add some wonderful flavours.

Wash the fish thoroughly under cold running water, especially
the body cavity ensuring that it is totally clean and that there is absolutely no blood left. Dry with kitchen paper and make slashes diagonally across the fish, about 4-6 in all, on both sides. Place the fish in a roasting pan and brush lightly with some of the oil. Grate the zest of 1 of the lime and squeeze the juice. Mix with the chopped herbs and press the mixture into the slashes.

Cut the other 2 limes in half and nestle alongside the fish in a roasting tin. Season everything well and drizzle over the remaining oil. Roast the fish in the oven, uncovered, for about 25-30 minutes at 200 degrees celsius, until the flesh feels just firm when pressed. If you want to double-check that is cooked, part some of the flesh down the backbone to see if it flakes. Squeeze the juice from the roasted limes over the fish and serve on a platter with the pan juices trickled over and around the plate. Serve with fine green beans done with a tiny amount of lemon and butter to keep the fresh citrus theme.

3. Minute Steak in Red Wine
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This is a lightening recipe for those on the run and one that can fit in easily to the desires of those wishing to stay with the full flavoured dishes on the menu. It's remarkably easy, and presented well, can look 10x the dish it actually is.

The ingredients are :-

1lb of minute steaks (thinkly sliced steaks that literally take 1 minute to cook!)
1 medium onion
1 clove garlic
1/2 glass beef stock
1/2 glass of red wine (Good flavoursome wine is important, so think burgundy or claret)
1 teaspoon arrowroot (For thickening purposes only)

Saute the onion and garlic, chopped finely until softened. Add the beef stock and arrowroot and simmer until the sauces starts to thicken. Add the wine and reduce the sauce further.

Pan fry the steaks. Literally for a minute on each side, serve with sauce drizzled over and with serve with new potatoes or hand cut chips (With the skins left on). Seasonal vegetables can also be provided.

FInally, the main courses are over. That was far far far more difficult since there were so many dishes that I could have included on that course! The desserts, fortunately, are easy since they are all refreshing, light and not made within the restaurant.

*****************************DESSERTS********************* *******

I don't profess to be a dessert chef of any note. I can cobble together a cheesecake, scoop ice-cream and sorbets into pretty patterns and shapes and make mousses and brulees. That's it really. But, I do know that a dessert should always be light, and without stodgy ingredients, especially at lunch. I want my diners to feel full, but not stuffed and uncomfortable. Hence, a light dessert. The three below are some of my favourites, and fit nicely throughout, with varying levels of richness, weight and flavour.

1. Lemon Sorbet
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Beautifully easy to serve and it will effectively clean the palate after almost any meal.

2. Vanilla Brulee
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No matter how many times I have this, I always adore it. Below uses real vanilla, since essence is the tool of the debil.

6 large egg yolks
6 tablespoons sugar
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
1 1/2 cups whipping cream

6 teaspoons granulated sugar for finish.

Whisk yolks and 6 tablespoons sugar in a mixing bowl and scrape in seeds from vanilla bean. Slowly (And this is important otherwise the mixture will fall and just be heavy and cloying) whisk the cream into the sugar. Spoon mixture into a small ramekin until 3/4 full. Utilise a bain marie in a 325 degree oven (or highest setting) with the water reaching approximately 1/2 way up the side of the ramekins.

Bake custards approximately 35-40 minutes until the custard is set. Make sure that you keep an eye on the brulees otherwise they will bounce like an india rubber ball. Allow custards to cool before placing in the refrigerator otherwise they will all fall.

Just before serving, to achieve that lovely crisp layer before you break into the succlent, creamy brulee beneath, sprinkle a whole load of sugar onto the top of the brulee and use a chefs blowtorch to create that wonderfully caramelised crisp layer.

3. White Chocolate Mousse
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I know that this is slightly moving away from the refreshing, light, palate cleansing desserts, but made properly it can be beautifully light.

8 ounces imported white chocolate, chopped
1 3/4 cups whipping cream
4 tablespoons light corn syrup
3 ounces semisweet chocolate (or bittersweet), chopped

Stir white chocolate, 1/4 cup cream and 2 tablespoons syrup in saucepan over very low heat until chocolate is melted and smooth. Pour into a bowl and allow to cool to lukewarm. Beat 3/4 cup cream with electric mixer to firm peaks. Fold cream into the white chocolate mixture in 2 batches. Divide mousse among 4 custard cups. Cover and refrigerate until firm, about 4 hours

So there you have it. A menu, at about £24 per diner for 3 lunchtime courses. I won't upset everyone with the wine list since this review is already far too long for its own good.

Please please please let me know what you think.

Mike  

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