Seared Tuna with Fattoush and Tarama

Seared Tuna

1 kg Yellow Fin Tuna
50 g cracked pepper
10 ml extra virgin olive oil
250 g taramasalata

Fattoush

500 g semi dried cherry tomatoes, halved
500 g Lebanese cucumbers, brunoise
6 red radishes, brunoise
½ bunch shallots, brunoise
2 lemons zested and juiced
150 ml extra virgin olive oil
½ b. flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
½ b. mint, finely chopped
seasoning

To make the fattoush, mix all ingredients together.
Allow to marinate before serving.
Roll tuna in cracked pepper.
Heat olive oil in hot pan and sear tuna.
Take off heat and allow to cool.
Slice tuna with a sharp knife as thinly as possible and divide into 100 g portions.

Assembly

Lay sliced tuna on a flat plate with each piece overlapping so that as much of the flat plate is covered as possible.
Place fattoush in the centre of each plate of tuna and make a well, then place 25 g of quinelled tarama into the centre.
Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle with salt & pepper.

Chocolate Soufflé Pudding

100 g dark chocolate (75% cocoa)
200 g dark chocolate (55% cocoa)
4 egg yolks
100 g castor sugar
250 g egg whites

Melt chocolate over a baine marie and whisk through egg yolks.
Whisk egg whites and sugar to stiff peaks and combine.
Grease dariole moulds and cook in a baine marie for 15 mins at 180ºC

Smoked Kingfish

1 cup castor sugar
1 cup rice
½ cup green tea leaves
1 side of kingfish

Lay 3 large pieces of foil in a deep tray and pour in all ingredients.
Cover and leave over high heat for 6-8 minutes until smoking.
Remove all bones from kingfish and place side on a wire rack directly above the smoking mix, cover.
Smoke for 15-40 mins.

Tips: Fish is cooked through when a skewer can be easily inserted and removed without sticking

Red Wine & Winter Fruit Trifle

Red Wine Poached Pear

6 corella pears
750 ml bottle Cab Sav
500 g caster sugar
2 cloves
1 star anise
1 cinnamon quill
4 cardamom pods
1 lemon, zest and juice

Place all liquids, spices and sugar into a saucepan and bring to the boil.
Peel, halve and core the pears.
Place pears into boiling liquid and reduce to a simmer.
Cover with cartouche and cook for 20 minutes or until tender.
Allow to cool in liquid.

Rhubarb

1 b. rhubarb, trimmed and washed
500 g caster sugar

Cut rhubard into 1 cm lengths and place in a bowl with the sugar.
Mix together and allow to macerate over night.
Remove rhubarb from liquid into separate bowl.
Place small amount of liquid into heavy based saucepan and bring to boil and add rhubarb.
Simmer gently until rhubarb is tender and allow to cool.
Repeat until all rhubarb has been cooked.

Vanilla Mascarpone

500 g mascarpone
1 vanilla pod, split and scraped
200 ml pouring cream

Whisk cream to firm peaks.
Place mascarpone in a bowl, add the vanilla seeds and slowly fold in the pouring cream.
Refrigerate until needed.

Hazelnut Praline

500 g hazelnuts, roasted and peeled
500 g caster sugar
250 ml water
20 g liquid glucose

Place sugar and water into heavy based saucepan and bring to boil.
Scatter hazelnuts onto a tray lined with non-stick baking paper.
Cook until sugar begins to caramelize then reduce heat and continue cooking until the caramel is a dark golden colour.
Pour caramel over hazelnuts and allow to cool.
Break into small pieces and place in food processor and crush to form a powder.

Hazelnut Meringue

100 g egg white
100 g caster sugar
100 g icing sugar
15 g cornflour
100 g hazelnut meal

Whisk egg whites to soft peaks then slowly add the caster sugar, whisking continuously to form a glossy meringue.
Sift the icing sugar and cornflour together and fold into the meringue.
Fold through hazelnut meal.
Pipe small peaked drops onto a tray lined with baking paper and bake at 50 degrees for 1 hour.
Place on wire rack to cool and store in an airtight container.

Assembly

Slice 2 pear halves and place neatly in the bottom of a glass at least 1 cm high.
Sprinkle on a layer of praline at least ½ cm high.
Pipe in a layer of the mascarpone cream 1 cm high.
Add layer of rhubarb 1 cm high.
To finish drop on tiny meringues and dust with icing sugar.

Duck & Pork Rillette

3 kg duck Maryland, salted
1.5 kg pork belly
½ b. lemon thyme
8 cloves garlic
duck fat, to cover
200 g Dijon mustard
160 ml chardonnay vinegar

Bring to the boil and cook over lowest heat for approx. 3 hours.
Strain and reserve duck fat.
Separate flesh from bones and fork through until it becomes a smooth consistency.
Add mustard, vinegar, seasoning and fat to taste.
Press 100 g of rillette mix into a ramekin.
Pipe apple and lemon butter to cover the top.
Refrigerate until set and turn out with a paring knife.

Pickling Liquid

15 L white wine vinegar
4 kg castor sugar
12 coriander seeds
12 mustard seeds
12 whole white peppercorns
12 cloves
12 bay leaves
6 cinnamon quills
12 knobs ginger

Bring vinegar to the boil.
Add sugar and stir to dissolve.
Toast aromatics in a dry pan and add to vinegar.

* for pickling vegetables, eg. fennel, cornichons, spring onions

Apple & Lemon Butter

1 kg butter
1 b. lemon thyme
100 ml apple glaze
3 lemons

Finely chop zest of lemons and juice.
Cream butter and add all ingredients, beat until thoroughly mixed.

Tips: Cream the butter until it becomes a very pale yellow, aeration lends it to become smoother and easier to pipe

Duck Liver Parfait

800 g duck liver
8 eggs
200 g eschallots
2 g thyme, finely chopped
1 bay leaf
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
90 ml brandy
180 ml port
180 ml Madeira
800 g butter, diced

Bring liver and eggs to room temperature.
Sauté eschallots in butter with thyme, garlic and bay leaf.
Deglaze with liquors and reduce.
Whisk in butter to thicken.
Puree liver, eggs, liquor and season.
Pass through a chinois lined with muslin and pour into ceramic terrine moulds.
Cook in a baine marie for 1 hour at 110ºC.

Tips: Use cold butter to prevent the glaze from splitting and start the baine marie with boiling water to minimise cooking time. When cooked the internal temperature should bebetween 57ºC - 65ºC.

And In The Beginning..

This is just a blog to collate a few of the recipes that I have collected from working in various commercial kitchens over the last couple of years. I'm also using this blog to share other recipes which I have tried successfully. They range from the very basic to the annoyingly tedious. Hopefully some of these will come in handy for those of you who may stumble across this virtual space.