Leftovers - Recipe: Special Fried Rice or Duck and Apple Haggis

by Simon Fernandez of ferdiesfoodlab

I use all manner of variations of special fried rice to use up leftovers!  This one came about when I was running a duck menu last summer. 

Once all the development is done comes scaling it up for a banquet. It was the first time we’d scaled it up in anger, you always have to make alterations to ingredients, quantities and the process. On this particular occasion I totally miss-judged the amount of duck we needed (always have more than you need, hungry banqueters ain’t a pretty site!), and as it happens we had a giant haggis leftover too!! Secretly thinking RESULT!! : )

The key elements in this recipe are the caramelised apple and the haggis, they make a great backdrop of the duck and the cavolo nero. After the onions, which deepen the flavour and also add some lighter notes (spring onion), the rest is completely optional!

One note I will make is that the Braeburn apples that I used weren’t quite ripe which meant they had a good bite to them so they put up well with the caramelising process, staying in chunks and adding a sharp note when they were bit into, perfect against the haggis and the duck!!! Still I don’t think I’d use cooking apples!

Unusual, minimal effort and really really good!!!

ingredients (serves 6)

for the caramelised apple 

4 Braeburn apples (3/4 cm dice)

1 lemon (juiced)

1 tbsp sugar

1/4 tsp cinnamon

for the duck and apple haggis

300g picked duck (picked form carcass)

300g caramelised apple (from above)

700g haggis (cooked and broken up)

cavolo nero (1cm slices)

1 leek (cleaned and small dice)

1 large onion (medium dice)

6 spring onion (chopped)

1 pepper (deseeded, medium dice)

2 carrots (medium dice - 1/2cm)

2 eggs

200g boiled rice

2 roast potatoes (coarse chop)

for the garnish

5g chives (chopped)

caramelised apple 

Juice the lemon into a bowl big enough to hold the apples 

Peel and dice the apples about 3/4 cm dice. Add them to the lemon juice and toss to coat them and stop them going brown.

You want them to release a burst of flavour when you bite into the chunks, smaller than this and they’ll turn to mush!

Once they’re all dice put them into a medium hot pan and allow them to release juice without moving them about too much.

Once they’ve stopped releasing juice and there’s almost none left add the cinnamon and the sugar and toss them to coat well.

Leave them until the sugar stars to caramelise the apple chunks, once done put them aside until needed.

for the duck and apple haggis

Add a little oil and the eggs to a hot pan then add the boiled rice and chopped roast potatoes and mix well, one the egg is cooked put the mix into a large mixing bowl. This step is optional, I was just using up leftovers, that is after all the point or the exercise!

The bowl is not optional!! The rice and potatoes are!! K?

Next make a kind of mirepoix from the onion, leek, pepper, carrots and cavolo nero, season and once cooked add this to the mixing bowl.

Add a little more oil to the pan and ad the picked duck pieces toss to coat them (a smidgen of hoisin sauce at this point doesn’t hurt but it’s optional) and then leave them a few minutes to crisp up a little. Add them to the mix.

Right, time to release the Haggis! Add some more oil to the pan and add the crumbled (already cooked haggis) and warm through. Add this to the mix and mix in well.

Then mix in the raw chopped spring onion and lastly gently fold in the caramelised apple

to serve

Chuck some chopped chives over the top and serve immediately!! I served this with some larger duck pieces and hoisin sauce and some soused cucumber and mange tout.

variations

It really doesn’t need the rice or roast potatoes! The haggis is a good stogy substance and will put up with being loaded with quite a lot of vegetable! Pick what every you want! Pork goes well with this too instead of duck. . . 

It ain’t going to get any Michelin Stars but it’s a good feed if there are a few of you!! : )

Recipe: Cherry Pie, Chocolate Tart, Super Simple 5 ingredient BLISS!

by Simon Fernandez of ferdiesfoodlab

This is the kind of recipe that’s I love writing about, those little triumphs in the kitchen that can really take the edge off a crappy day. Not just the relaxation and distraction of creating, but the “phoenix from the ashes moment” of having created something really very nice out of leftovers (and bits and things).

After the the supper club last week we had some left over cherries, I’d bought a box to go with the petit fours:

I new I’d have a busy week ahead, and I could just imagine them, the following Saturday, in the same bowl on the kitchen table, with a giant bloom of mould growing on them. So I had a look around the kitchen this is what I found: mascarpone cheese, a roll of flaky pastry, and a lemon.

Well pastry screams PIE (and smiles!) so I hunted around for a tart tin but the only thing I could find was this dingy sized pyrex dish which would have made a half decent glass bottomed boat! Kept looking . . . muffin tray? Maybe, could make 12 mini pies . . . kept looking and found a rather dinky pyrex dish, not exactly the tart tin I was looking for but about the right size, the sides were too high but, mheh, yeah, I reckon it’d do, so I rolled with it.

Found some sugar for a stock syrup, and an egg . . . right ready for action!

ingredients (serves 6-8)

for the cherry pie

375g flaky pastry (1 pack / pre rolled)

400g cherries (stoned)

400g stock syrup (200g sugar & 200g water)

250g mascarpone cheese

300g chocolate spread

1 egg

4 sheets (gelatine)

1/2 lemon (juiced)

3 star anise (optional)

pinch of cinnamon

for the garnish

soured cream (something sharp, to complement the sweet tart).

apparatus / equipment

22cm pyrex dish

pastry brush (or a bit of kitchen towel works well)

method - quick version 

Blind bake the pastry @ 180C for 20min. Seal it with beaten egg.

Mix the chocolate spread and mascarpone cheese until smooth and spread it onto the pastry for the bottom layer.

Soften the stoned the cherries in a stock syrup and infuse with star anise and cinnamon for at least an hour.

Once infused, strain, and place the cherries on top of the chocolate to create the middle layer. 

Add gelatine to the syrup, reduce by 1/2. cool and pour over the cherries. Allow to set.

DONE!

method

This is so simple! That’s what makes this cherry and chocolate tart even better. Turn the oven on to 180C.

Butter the pyrex dish, and unroll the pastry onto it. Lift the edges so the pastry can be pushed right to the bottom without tearing. (specially if it’s deep) I reckon a loaf tin would would work too. It would result in more of a terrine style pie.

At this point I’d normally line it with baking paper, and add some ceramic balls to blind bake the pastry. But, as I said, I was doing a bit of free styling in an unfamiliar kitchen. So no baking balls!! I did brush the pastry with a beaten egg though to water proof it from the filling. Bake for 20mins @ 180C

While the pastry is in the oven, put the water and sugar into a sauce pan and put it on full on the hob. Add the star anise and the cinnamon. While that comes to the boil, wash and stone the cherries. Add them to the boiling syrup (taking care not to splash yourself) and as soon as it’s back up to the boil take it off the heat.

Put the gelatine into some cold water, leave it for 5 mins then squeeze it of excess water and add it to the syrup.

Next, mix the mascarpone and the chocolate until you have a smooth and creamy chocolate pate.

Spread the mix into the bottom of the pastry lined dish. Then sieve the cherries, keeping the syrup, and place them on top of the chocolate. Then put the whole tart in the fridge to set. (Best to cover it in cling film so it does’t take up any weird flavours like kippers or blue cheese)

Reduce the the syrup by half, then add the lemon juice, allow to cool and pour onto the tart. (after removing the cling film obviously) Return to the fridge to set.

to serve

Once set, cut into slices and serve as is, or with a scoop of soured cream, or maybe a lemon ice cream

Sooo good! So so good!

thinking ahead

You can make this a few days in advance and keep it in the fridge no problem.

what could go wrong? (notes)

“I tried to warm up my portion of tart” - DO NOT do that unless you want a pool of chocolate sauce with a bunch of angry cherries looking up at you!! Last thing you want!

“My gelatine turned into gloop and I could’t get it out if the water!” - Soak the gelatine in COLD water NOT warm water.

techniques used

Patience (required for the setting of the tart)

variations

I reckon this would be pretty good with a mix of soft fruits, strawberries, blueberries etc

Use agar to make the veggie version of this, or reduce the sauce a little more and don’t use a setting agent at all!!

ENJOY!!

Recipe - Classic: Steak / Beef and Onion Pie (or Oxtail & Prune Pie w/ Red Cabbage)

by Simon Fernandez of ferdiesfoodlab




OK I'm going to have a rant for a moment. Something I've often been presented with when ordering a pie is some kind of china bowl or ramekin with a bit of pastry almost hovering on top, as if they had been combined by accident, having nothing to do with each other. It's as if a bowl of stew was being stalked by a bit of pastry that always wanted to be a pie but somehow never made the grade. As far as I'm concerned, if it doesn't have a pastry bottom it isn't a pie! (Ahem . . . . . with the small exception of my Christmas left over turkey pie!! That doesn't count - it's Christmas and it's left overs!!)

Anyway rant over . . . . .  and thoughts turn to PIE! Can't beat a good pie! Even better if it's got a bottom!! Not a soggy bottom, mind you, we can't be doing with that!!

 







ingredients (makes 2 pies)
for the oxtail & prune pureé filling
2.5kg oxtail
750g (10) med onions (peeled & cut into 6ths)
100ml extra virgin olive oil
20g thyme (bouquet garni)
8 cloves garlic (cut into 1/4s lengthways)
750ml red wine
20 prunes (pitted)
3L chicken stock
plain flour for dusting
cinnamon powder

for the pie case
2x 375g puff pastry (want to make your own? here's how)
1 egg (beaten)
splash milk

for the red cabbage & beetroot
600g red cabbage (sliced)
2 beetroots (peeled, then 1 cm cubes)
300ml water
600ml tawny port
50g salted butter (small cubes)

special equipment
rubber gloves for beetroot
stick blender
2x 23cm loose bottomed tin (circular)
 

oxtail & prune pureé filling
Trim all the excess fat off the larger pieces of oxtail.
Season and coat the oxtail in flour and fry off in a pan until golden brown, then add to the boiling pot.
Oxtail usually comes held together with a piece of butcher's string.
You can use this to make a bouquet garni with the thyme: take the thyme, fold it in half, tie it with the string and add it to the pot.Add the onions, prunes, red wine, garlic, extra virgin olive oil and pour in enough chicken stock to cover the meat by 1cm.
Bring to the boil and then turn the heat down to a simmer, leaving the lid off.
Top up with chicken stock occasionally to keep the water level above the meat.

The oxtail should be ready after about 2.5 hours. When it is, remove it with a slotted spoon into a tray and pick the meat off the bone, it should fall away with very little effort.

Remove the bouquet garni and dispose of it. Pass the stock through a sieve and return it to the pot, reduce until it is a thick sauce.
Once reduced, return the contents of the sieve and the picked oxtail to the sauce. Mix it together. That's the pie filling ready.


pie casing
Rub the pie tin with a little oil or butter so the pastry doesn't stick to it.
Line the tin with pastry - this is the base - then using a brush, paint the pastry with beaten egg. This water proofs your base so when you fill it you don't end up with a soggy bottom - no body want a soggy bottom! Now you could cover the pastry with oven proof paper and fill it with dry beans and blind bake it. or you can, as you can see from the pics, chuck it directly into the oven and bake it as is. 200C for 15mins. 15 minutes is enough to seal the pastry with egg and almost completely cook it.

assembly
Once the base is out of the oven, fill it with the (hot) spectacularly tasty filling. Add a splash of milk to the beaten egg and whisk it in, then brush around the edges of the pastry - so the top sticks to it. Place the pastry top on and trim it with a pair of scissors.
Throw it back into the oven 200C for 20mins.

red cabbage & beetroot in port reduction
Add the cabbage and the water to a pot with a lid and bring to the boil.
After 3 mins add the beetroot cubes and replace the lid.

After 2 mins more remove the lid and allow the liquid to evaporate until there is almost none left.
In a separate small pot (without a lid) bring the port to the boil and reduce by 3/4 to 150ml.
 



what could go wrong? (TIPS)
My reduction burnt! TIP: Watch anything you are reducing like a hawk. To begin with, it will seem like it will never reduce, but the more it reduces the faster it goes, and it will evaporate completely and burn if you don't keep an eye on it in the final stages!

I burnt my kitchen down! TIP: When reducing alcoholic liquids, be careful. Always keep the lid at hand so that if they catch fire, you can simply put the lid on to put it out. (or let it burn off carefully!)


to serve
Turn out the pie! Easy way to do this is to put the loose bottomed tin onto a tuna tin (better be line caught and not blue fin tuna!) and gently push down the rim of the tin revealing the fabulous pie . . . chef bursts into song with pride, and does a quick victory dance!! Cut up and serve immediately with some cabbage and beetroot!



thinking ahead
You can make the cabbage in the afternoon, and reheat it in minutes when you need it.

Recipe: Oxtail & Sweet Potato Mash w/ Red Cabbage & Beetroot in a Port Reduction

by Simon Fernandez of ferdiesfoodlab

Oxtail w/ Bread and Butter Crisps, Sweet Potato Mash & Port Jus

When the weather is starting to get cold as well as raining all the time, it's nice to have something warming to feed you guests. Using a few ingredients that are in season, this recipe gives you a dinner packed with flavour! Oxtail is one of those inexpensive cuts that a lot people don't register at all in the supermarket - probably because it's already cut up into segments and tied into a sort of circular arrangement that doesn't look much like a tail! But, when slowly cooked for about two and half hours, it becomes sticky and soft and falls off the bone - it's simply gorgeous! And, if you don't fancy sweet potato mash, this will go equally well with roast potatoes!
If you've never tried oxtail then give this a go . . .  see variations for super quick version.

Can't beat a glass of wine whilst making Sunday Lunch - best way to relax ever . .  humming away in the kitchen to the radio! Aaaaah


ingredients (serves 4-6)
for the oxtail & prune purée
2.5kg oxtail
750g (10) med onions (peeled & cut into 6ths)
100ml extra virgin olive oil
20g thyme (bouquet garni)
8 cloves garlic (cut into 1/4's lengthways)
750ml red wine
75g ~20 prunes (stoned)
3L chicken stock
plain flour for dusting
cinnamon powder
10 dates (stoned and chopped)

for the mushrooms
280g mixed mushrooms (shitake, shimeji, enoki, oyster, for example)
40g butter

for the sweet potato mash

Browning before braising (Maillard reaction)

1kg sweet potatoes (peeled and diced)
300ml double cream (reduced by half)
50g butter (cut into 1cm cubes)
1 limes (juiced)
1L chicken stock (enough to cover the potatoes by 1cm)

for the red cabbage & beetroot
600g red cabbage (sliced)
2 beetroots (peeled, then 1 cm cubes)
300ml water
600ml tawny port
50g salted butter (small cubes)

for the bread and butter crisps
a bit of old French stick (cut into 2mm slices)
butter (melted)

for the garnish

5g chives (finely chopped)
baby chard leaves

special equipment
rubber gloves for beetroot
stick blender
brush

oxtail & prune purée
Trim all the excess fat off the larger pieces of oxtail.
Season and coat the oxtail in flour and fry off in a pan until golden brown, then add to the boiling pot.
Oxtail usually comes held together with a piece of butcher's string.
You can use this to make a bouquet garni with the thyme: take the thyme, fold it in half, tie it with the string and add it to the pot.

Bouquet garni made with string from oxtail!!

Add the onions, prunes, red wine, garlic, extra virgin olive oil and pour in enough chicken stock to cover the meat by 1cm.




Bring to the boil and then turn the heat down to a simmer, leaving the lid off.
Top up with chicken stock occasionally to keep the water level above the meat.

After 90mins remove the prunes with a slotted spoon and 2/3 of the onions. Place them along with the dates in a small pot, add a pinch of cinnamon and blend with a stick blender until smooth. Keep on a low heat, allow to thicken to a purée.

The oxtail should be ready after about 2.5 hours. When it is, remove it with a slotted spoon into a tray and keep warm.
Pass the stock through a sieve and return it to the pot, reduce until it is a thick sauce.

mushrooms
Melt the butter and sauté the mixed mushrooms together until golden brown. Season with a touch of salt.

mash
Boil the sweet potatoes until they are fully cooked but not falling apart. They're done when the tip of a knife enters with little resistance.
Drain them in a colander. (Reserve the liquid for the base of a soup) Let the potatoes cool a little. While they do, prepare the cream:

Add the cream to the pot and bring to the boil; lower the heat a little and continue to boil until the cream has reduced by half. As soon as it has, add the butter.
Once the butter has melted, add the potatoes and the lime juice over the top.
Season and mash the potatoes until smooth. Set aside until required.

Removing the alcohol.

red cabbage & beetroot in port reduction
Add the cabbage and the water to a pot with a lid and bring to the boil.
After 3 mins add the beetroot cubes and replace the lid.
After 2 mins more remove the lid and allow the liquid to evaporate until there is almost none left.
In a separate small pot (without a lid) bring the port to the boil and reduce by 3/4 to 150ml. 

Cabbage braise & cover in a reduced port jus!!

 















I find easiest way to know how reduced it with scales, then oncereduced to a third by viscosity with a spoon. (don't be a dumb ass and use plastic scales - use metal heatproof ones) >>>

Bread Crisps or Bread Tuiles - whatever you want to call them they're tastey!

bread and butter crisps
Take some old French stick cut into thin (2mm) slices and brush with melted butter. Bake in the oven at 180C for 4-8min, the time will depend on whether your oven is fan assisted or not. Remove when golden and crisp.


what could go wrong? (TIPS)
My reduction burnt! TIP: Watch anything you are reducing like a hawk: to begin with, it will seem like it will never reduce, but the more it reduces, the faster it goes, and it will evaporate completely and burn if you don't keep an eye on it in the final stages!

I burnt my kitchen down! TIP: When reducing alcoholic liquids, be careful. Always keep the lid at hand so that if they catch fire, you can simply put the lid on to put it out. (or let it burn off carefully!) DO NOT blow on it to try and put it out, you will engulf your head in flames! Use a lid to extinguish the flame: Bring the lid in horizontally from the side and cover the pot.

My mash is watery : ( TIP: Don't over cook your spuds / sweet potatoes - if they start to fall apart they are no use for mash. Make sure they are properly drained, leaving them until no more steam is coming off them.

My mash has come out like glue! TIP: Never use a stick blender or food processor to make mash since it creates a starchy gloop, resembling wall paper paste!! Use a masher or a potato ricer.


to serve
Add the butter to the hot port reduction, mix in and pour this into the cabbage and beetroot, reserving a little to dress the plate.
Plate the oxtails and cabbage in layers and pipe (or spoon) on the mash, surround with mushrooms and onions.
Season the mash with a little black pepper and garnish with a bread and butter crisp.
Add a little of the prune puree, pour the sticky oxtail sauce over the oxtail and dress the surrounds with the remainder of the port.
Serve immediately.

variations
For a low hassle, great comfort food winter dinner: Don't remove anything from the oxtail except the bouquet garni, dish up the oxtail with the onion and prune sauce, serve with the cabbage and roast potatoes! Result: A no-nonsense great tasting dinner!

Pick the meat and use it and the sauce to make: Prune and Oxtail Pie

Oxtail is also a great component for a Pho Soup

Alternative presentaion - Choux buns are filled with sweet potato mash - Surprise!!

The finished product! Honestly! Oxtail, roasties and peas is much easier but it was fun to make!

 
thinking ahead
The mash can be made in the morning and stored in the fridge in a plastic container so it can be microwaved just before serving! The oxtail, cabbage and the port reduction can be left in the pot and reheated. Add the butter to the port sauce last minute so it doesn't split. and the bread crisps will happily last a day in an airtight container!! So it's basically an assembly job for dinner!! Shall we go for a couple of pints and have it when we get back!!! ; )

Experiment - Recipe: Beef Shortribs w/ Cinnamon and Orange (& beef dripping)

by Simon Fernandez of ferdiesfoodlab
 
I often see recipes that look or sound so enticing, with ingredients that I kinda sit there and go . . .  yeah, right, so I'll be trying that out some time soon . . . . NOT! So when I do come across things that I've been meaning to get around to experimenting with, I'll more often buy them than not! What is life for if not for experimenting!!


A quick look around the ol' interweb thingy, scan through a few of me cookbooks and it's clear - unsurprisingly - that a slooow braise is in order. . .

ingredients (serves 2-4)
for the short ribs  - G2 / 150C / 4hrs
short rib cut (one piece cut into 4 ribs, coated in EVO and salt)
3 onions (cut into sixths)
2 peppers (coarse chop)
1 stick cinnamon
1/2 bulb garlic (crushed)
10g thyme
peel of 1/2 an orange
1 large chilli (rings, seeds and all)
a good slug of EVO

for the dripping
this is a by-product of browning the ribs

for the stock
2 beef stock cubes
1L water

apparatus / equipment
coarse sieve (frying basket)
cartouche

cartouche
To make a cartouche fold a piece of baking paper into a dart. The point of the dart is the centre of the final cartouche.
Cut the other end off in an arc. The centre to the arc is the diameter of you pot!! (Make it a touch larger than the pot)
This does of course assume your pot is round.

short ribs
Coat in oil, salt and brown - fat side first to render the fat.
Once browned nicely, remove to baking tray, and pour excess fat into a second pot (dripping)
Add the onions and garlic to the fat and brown off; then add to baking tray with the rest of the ingredients.
Deglaze the pan with the stock and add to the baking tray (half way up ribs)
Cover with a cartouche - (allows moisture escape, stops skin forming, stops meat drying out)
Roast in pre-heated oven.

dripping
Let any excess fat in the secondary pan solidify, store in a container.

notes
G2 / 150C / 4hrs? Thought . . . maybe that'll turn out stringy, that was my first instinct.
Was pretty gooey and soft after 3hrs, which I think was enough, maybe try 4hrs next time!! . . . .  

 If I do it 4hrs think I'll drop the temp to 100C too!!

to serve
Plate each rib into a hot shallow bowl generously spooning over vegetables and jus!