Terrine - Voilà!

If you want to impress your dinner guests, you could make something French and fancy that looks like

it's really complicated. The Terrine is just such a recipe. You don't need any skills, really, its' made in advance and will basically cook itself so you have your hands free to prepare other things at the same time. The Terrine has many variations and can be made with fish, vegetables, or as in this case minced meat. Yes, it's basically a fancy meatloaf. It's served cold as a starter, and to spice it up a little I made a wasabi mayonnaise to go with it. Here's how you make it:

Terrine:

400 g. minced beef

400 g. pork sausages (casings removed)

1 small onion, shredded

1 clove of garlic

2 tbsp. cognac (or Brandy)

2 tsp. herbes de provence

A small handful of peeled pistachios 

1 pack of smoked bacon (to cover your mold)

2-3 large carrots, boiled for 12 minutes, cut in long sticks

Strips of meat of your liking (duck breast, pork tenderloin etc.)

Wasabi Maynaise:

1/2 cup of mayonnaise

Wasabi to taste (start with a little, as some is very strong)

A few drops of green food coloring (Optional)

Served with:

Pickled cucumber

Raspberry vinagaitte reduction (or a bit of jam will do)

Toasted sesame seeds

Toasted bread

 Start by mixing all the ingredients for the terrine except the bacon, strips of meat and carrots.

 Line your bread form with oven paper and a overlapping layer of bacon that goes up the side. 

 Fill about one 1/3 of the mince into the base. Press it well so you don't have any air pockets. Press a layer of carrots and strips of meat lengthwise into the mince. Put another layer of mince on top. Add some more carrots and meat strips lengthwise, but in opposite pattern of the previous (i.e. meat on the outside/carrots in the centre). Add the last third of mince, Fold the bacon over. Again, make sure everything is well pressed together.

Wrap the whole thing in tinfoil. Place it in bain marie in a 180ºC oven for 1.5 hour or until the centre reaches a temperature of 72º. Take it out and let it cool down while placing some kind of pressure on top (I used some folded cardboard with a pot full of water on top). Once it's cooled down a bit, put it in the fridge for at least 12 hours.

 Once refrigerated, and you cut into it, it should look something like this. Slice it to the thickness you like.

Mix the ingredients for the wasabi mayo and plate up with some pickled cucumber, a drizzle of some raspberry vinaigrette reduction and sprinkle it with some sesame seeds. Serve with a good loaf of bread.

Go-with-the-flo(s)

Today's recipe is a homage to my aunt Dorthe, also known as Flo, who runs Tebstrup Gedeosteri (click link to visit their page), where they produce a variety of wonderful organic goat cheese. Although it's actually just a simple bruschetta, I've decided to call them "Go with the Flo". Here's what you need:

Day-old bread, toasted

High quality extra virgin olive oil

Freshly blended tomatoes (with a bit of garlic for a kick)

Tebstrup Gedeost in oil (or any soft goat cheese)

A couple of fresh basil leaves, cut into fine threads (look up the cutting technique 'chiffonade')

A light sprinkle of sea salt flakes (fleur de sel)

Assemble the toasted bread with some drops of olive oil, the tomato and the cheese. Toast it a bit further. Sprinkle on the basil, some more olive oil and the sea salt.  

The tub of soft goat cheese in oil with thyme, rosemary and pink pepper corn. 

Tandoori Chicken w. Mango

It's been ages since I posted something last, I know. But good things come to those who wait. At least that's what they say. This dish is one of my favorite Asian dishes for various reasons. First of all, it's dead-simple to make. Secondly because it's so packed with flavour which balance each other perfectly.  It's sweet from the mangoes, bitter and sharp from the onion, spicy from the chicken and mild and citric from the lime-yogurt sauce. You can prepare it in advance and assemble it and bring it out at the last moment. It's sure to impress.

Ingredients:

Chicken Tandoori

1-2 chicken breasts (or equivalent in thigh meat)

Tandoori paste

or make it yourself:

1/2 tsp. Salt

1 small jar of Greek-style yogurt

1 tsp ginger garlic paste

Juice of 1/2 lime

Freshly ground pepper

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp ground fenugreek seed

1 tsp garam masala

1 tsp coriander powder

1/2 tsp cumin powder

1/2 tsp Tumeric

Salad:

1 ripe mango

1 red onion 

A small handful of fresh cilantro

1-2 tsp Sambal Olek (or other chili paste)

Juice of 1 lime

Yogurt dressing:

1 small jar of Greek yogurt

Juice of 1/2 or 1 lime (to taste)

Salt to taste

Papdums

Start by cutting the chicken meat in bite sizes and marinate them with the tandoori paste and a bit of yogurt for 4 to 12 hours.

 Peel the mango and cut it in to small cubes of about 2 cm. Slice the onion and finely chop the coriander leaves. Add the chili and squeeze the lime fruit over it.

 When ready to eat, fry the marinated chicken over high heat. If you have a grill, even better. Just put the meat on a skewer. Grill marks only add to the flavour.

 Fry the papadoms according to the instructions. I usually fried then in a centimetre of neutral oil until the swell up. If it starts to bend weirdly, just press the sides down the a fork. Turn once and place on a rack to drip off.

 Mix the yogurt with the lime and taste for salt. Serve the tandoori chicken on top of the salad on top of the papadum. Splash a few dollops of the yogurt on top and enjoy.

Christmas Frikadeller

This is just a quick recipe for Frikadeller which are Danish pork meatballs. I've given them a slight Christmas twist by adding a tiny bit of cloves. I've seen people calling out for the best frikadelle recipe but as these little buggers are so heavily steeped in tradition and "how-my-mum-used-to-make-them", I'm not even gonna try claiming that. These are just simply good frikadelles, but with the best sauce in the world (oh no, I see trouble brewing)...

Ingredients:

500g Pork mince

1/2 Onion, very finely chopped or shredded

1.5 dl Cream (Or milk if you're on a diet)

1 egg

3-4 tbsp of breadcrumbs

Pinch of powdered cloves

Pinch of cayenne

Salt and pepper (Go on, don't be shy)

Butter for frying

Sauce:

1 cup of beef stock

Something sweet and fruity like a jam. I used a raspberry balsamic vinaigrette I had. About a teaspoon

1 dl of cream

 Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl. Stir it well (use your hands if you like) until it starts sticking together like one big ball. Add a little more breadcrumbs if it's too loose. You'll have to be able to form small balls. On the other hand, don't add too much breadcrumbs as they might get dry.

 The easiest way to shape the balls is to use wet hands. If you don't like getting your hands dirty, you can use two spoons. Melt the butter over medium heat and wait for it to finish bubbling. Fry the meatballs on both sides until done. How long is that? Well, depends on how big you're making the balls and hot hot your frying pan is. I Start turning them over when I can see the mince turning greyish a bit over half way up.  

 Remove the meat balls and set aside somewhere warm. Add the beef stock to the pan to deglaze it. This basically means using all the meat bits and flavours from the frying to make this wonderful sauce. Let it reduce and thicken. Add the jam or whatever fruity stuff you're using.

Add the cream and turn off heat. The residual heat will be enough to cook the sauce through.

Serve and enjoy your holidays.

Tortillitas de Camarones - Shrimp Pancake?

This recipe is one of my girlfriend's favourites. It's a dish from the South of Spain where they excel in frying all kinds of fish and seafood. It's really nothing more than a pancake with some baby shrimp mixed into the batter. Here's what you need:

1 small onion, spring onion preferred.

1 small cup of flour ( the original recipe calls for chickpea flower, which makes the tortillita more crunchy.

1 egg

1 tbsp freshly chopped parsley

1 small pinch of saffron

Salt to taste

Pinch of cayenne

200g cooked baby shrimp

1.5dl. milk

Frying oil

I didn't have spring onion so I decided to finely chop and lightly fry a small normal onion for a few minutes, just enough to take the edge off its sharpness.

Mix the rest of the ingredients with the fried onion.

Add the baby shrimp and milk. Stir to a batter.

Heat up a frying pan, add the oil and fry the tortillitas as you would fry small pancakes. You can make one and see if you need to adjust for salt.

Leave the on a paper towel to absorb some of the excess grease. Try a bite and dream away to the south of Spain...

Fried Zucchini Flowers

Summer time and the zucchinis are in full bloom. I'm so lucky that my girlfriend's parents are zucchini fanatics. Not so much because I like zucchinis (which, to be honest, I find a mildly boring vegetable), but because I have access to all the zucchini flowers I can pick. Zucchinis have two types of flowers: those which have a thick stem and which will turn into zucchinis, and those with a thin stem which are the "male" flowers and are only good for pollination... almost! Because you can also eat these. It's apparently a big thing in Italy, where apart from just frying them like I did, they also stuff them with cheese and herbs. Try it for yourself:

some 12-20 zucchini flowers

1 egg

1 dl. of water

1 dl. flour

pinch of salt

pinch of cayenne

Some neutral oil for frying

Start by mixing the batter (all the ingredients apart from the flowers). Leave it to rest in the fridge while preparing the flowers.

You can either wash them and leave them to dry if you aren't sure how clean they are. I picked mine directly from their organic garden so I just brushed off any small insect I might come across. Then gently open the flowers and remove the stamen as it's quite bitter (I've read). It snaps off easily. Trim the stem back to a centimeter and break off those green leafs from the base of the flower.

Heat up a good amount of neutral oil on a non-stick frying pan. Dip the dry flowers in the batter and place them directly into the hot oil.

Fry them for a minute on one side then or until they look golden and crispy, then turn them.

Place on a paper towel to absorb the excess oil. Eat while warm and crispy.

Rabbit's Liver Snack

I bought a rabbit recently to use in a Paella and it came with these two good-looking chunks of liver which I thought would be a shame to throw away. So I decide to make a small tapas to start the meal. Here's how:

Ingredients:

Rabbit's Liver

1 -2 tbsp Lemon Juice

Pinch of thyme

Salt, pepper

Olive oil

Baguette

First, marinate the livers in lemon juice, thyme and a pinch of salt for about 20 minutes. Then slice them.

Heat up the oil in a frying pan until it's very hot (when you start to see the first whisk of smoke), and then just fry them very fast. Add freshly chopped parsley and be generous with the black pepper. You might also want to add a little flaky sea salt. Slice the bread, place the liver on top and drizzle with the oil from the frying pan. Absolutely delicious...

Octopus Stew as seen on Ramsay's F-Word

I love cooking shows. Master Chef, The F Word, Kitchen Nightmares (The British version for sure), In Search of Perfection, Good Eats, Jamie Oliver, the lot. Great inspiration for the kitchen. In the recent edition of the F Word, Ramsay had local restaurants battle it out in the kitchen to become the best locale restaurant. He had divided the contestants into categories according to their cuisine. In the best Italian restaurant episode Ramsay went to Italy to catch some Octopus and ended up making a little octopus stew. From what I could see, this is how he did it.

Ingredients:
1 octopus
Splash white wine
salt, pepper
Bay leaf
1 red chilli
1 red onion
2 cloves of garlic
2 plump tomatoes
Olives
1 tbsp. Capers
Fresh Parsley
1 to 2 cups of fish stock
Olive oil

Bring a big pot of water to a boil, add plenty of salt, a bit of white wine, and 1 or 2 bay leafs. Rinse the octopus and boil it in the water 10 minutes under lid.
Meanwhile, fry the chilli, onion and garlic in a bit of olive oil at medium heat until it's soft and translucent.
Take out the octopus, remove as much of the skin as you can. Cut the tentacles in bite sizes, and use the meaty part of the head. Discard the rest.

Add the octopus to the onions, along with the chopped tomatoes, chopped olives, capers and parsley.
Add fish stock and a bit of olive oil. Let it simmer without lid 30-35 minutes until the stock is reduced and thickened.

One tasty octopus stew coming up.

Asparagus Soup

Spring is here, asparagus season has just started, so there's no excuse not to go and make yourself a big bowl of soothing asparagus soup. Here's my version.

Ingredients:
2 bunches of green asparagus
1 litre of chicken stock (vegetable stock can be used if vegetarian)
1 tsp butter
1 tsp flour
1 egg yolk
Salt to taste

Cut the dry end off the asparagus and cut then in to smaller pieces. Bring the chicken stock to boil, add the asparagus. I usually add the tougher parts first, simmer then for 10 minutes before adding the much more tender top parts and let it simmer for a further 7 minutes.

Meanwhile, I mix the flour and the softened butter into a ball.

After simmering the asparagus, blend them with a stick blender.

Stir in the butter/flour ball. Make sure it dissolves completely. Bring it back to a simmer so it thickens a bit. At this stage you can pass it through a sieve. This way you won't find pieces of stringy asparagus fibres in your soup.

Put your yolk in a cup, add a spoonful of the soup to temper it. Stir it back in to the warm soup and stir. This adds a bit of extra creaminess and taste. Just don't bring it back to a boil or the egg will coagulate.
Serve with bread.

Broccoli Soup

I'm not the biggest fan of broccoli, but, somehow, I've become a big fan of broccoli soup. And it's so easy to make. You don't need anything apart from broccoli, water and a bit of salt. If you want to make it fancy, you can spice it up with some walnuts, almonds, bits of fried bacon, parmesan, or my favourite, blue cheese. Of course, it's healthier on it's own. High in vitamin C and lots of nutrients with anti-cancer properties. I'll show you how to make it.

Wash your broccoli, turn it upside down and cut off the florets. Cut the stalk into thin slices.

Put it in a big bowl of boiling water. At plenty of salt. The trick is to cook them as fast as possible. Put a lid on and boil for 4-5 minutes or until a knife goes through the broccoli.
Put the broccoli in a blender. Fill it up with halfway up to the height of the broccoli with the same water you boiled it in.
By holding a kitchen towel on top of the blend and giving it light pulses to begin with, you will avoid it explodes and scolds you. Blend till smooth.
Serve with a slice of toasted bread and any of the aforementioned fillings. I've used walnuts and Cabrales blue cheese.

Chef John's Beef Satay

As part of a dinner I hosted this Saturday, I made some thai spring rolls (recipe already posted, search for it), skewers with teriaki chicken, and Chef John from Foodwishes.com' s beef satay:

You need thinly cut beef, cut against the fibres and for the marinate:

1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
1 tbsp brown sugar
1.5 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp pureed lemongrass
0.5 tsp cumin
0.5 tsp turmeric
0.5 tbsp ground coriander
0.5 tbsp fresh lime juice

Mix all the ingredients for the marinate.

Slice the beef thinly against the fibres.

Marinate for about 5 hours.

Place the meat on skewers previously soaked in water

Grill or fry the skewers.

I've sprinkled them with a bit of finely chopped peanuts.