Recipe: Black Garlic King Prawn Kebab w/ Cucumber & Lime

by Simon Fernandez of ferdiesfoodlab

Due to some bad planning and a rather rushed weekend I managed to end up with a rather large handful of uncooked shell-on king prawns I had to cook. That, or they would have gone to waste!  Now I don't believe in wasting anything, and I try and find good ways of preserving if possible: freezing, curing, whatever makes most sense. In this case I had some stunning ingredients left over from the supper club so I thought I'd treat my flatmates to some special kebabs!! Here's what I made for them . . . . .

Lemon oil, black garlic and prawns are a fabulous combination of flavours!!

ingredients (serves 2)
for the prawns
16 raw kingsize prawns (head off or shell off)
40g fermented garlic butter (in slices) - (here's how to make it!)
1/4 lime (juiced)

for the sauce
125g natural yogurt
10 leaves fresh mint (finely chopped)
1/2 cucumber (medium/large dice)

for the naan bread
2 fresh plain buttered naan (lush home made naan here)

for the garnish
5g coriander leaves
1/2 lime

equipment
wok
(and cast-iron pan and grill - if making naan)



sauce
Mix the mint, cucumber and yogurt together and season. The salt you add here will balance the sweetness of the black garlic prawns. Maybe worth dipping one in when they're cooked, just to test the seasoning you understand ; ) chef's privilege.




naan
I love making my own naan, mostly because I'm not that often near a place where I can get a really good one!
If you're lucky enough to have a good authentic local, and you're short on time go get 'em, but if you're relaxing on the weekend, maybe cooking for the family or friends you can very simply make your own. Here's how : )




prawns
Add a knob of butter to the wok and throw in the prawns, add the chopped black garlic butter, and mix well moving the prawns continuously to they cook, and coat evenly. Take care not to over cook them, they should moist on the inside! Once ready turn off the gas, leave them in the wok while you plate so they don't go cold!

to serve
If you are using head-on shell-on (HOSO, in fact, with any shell at all) serve the kebab open. With the naan bread butter side up, dress with a generous serving of cucumber mix, load the prawns on top and garnish with coriander and a squeeze of lime juice!
Serve immediately.

I might have had a little nibble of that there naan, was quite peckish!

Basics - Recipe: Fermented Garlic Butter Stack - Black Garlic

by Simon Fernandez of ferdiesfoodlab

I came across fermented garlic, also know as black garlic in the kitchen at the Chancery  when helping out Sabrina Ghayour doing the charity event: The French Laundrette Supper Club the proceeds of which went to Action Against Hunger. Post about that coming soon!

It's garlic, but not as we know it!! For a start it's black, secondly, its texture is completely different to garlic: having been fermented at high temperature for around a month, it's actually quite soft and pliable. It has a history of use in Asian cuisine, and is much, much milder than raw garlic. It has a subtle sweet flavour . . . .

Time to put it to the test at ferdiesfoodlab!

This is a component / basic recipe and recipes that use it  are . . . . coming soon.  King Prawn and Black Garlic Kebab, Gargantuan Madagascan Prawn with Lemon and Black Garlic Stripes and Paprika Churros. If you like to see one posted first leave a comment tell me which! : )

ingredients (a 280g block)
for the butter stack
250g butter (unsalted)
30 cloves (3 bulbs) black garlic (peeled)

apparatus
chef's knife
plastic cutting board

method
Put the butter in the deep freeze for 15 mins or at the back of your fridge (where it's coldest) so that it's around -2C / 35F.
While the butter cools, take the cloves and spread them as thinly as possible on a plastic cutting board. (not wooden as shown here) Put a few drops of water on the board and wet your knife. Squeeze a clove so that it's just under a millimetre thick then loosen it from the board and use a spreading action,  to make it thinner still. Repeat for each clove, maintaining a wet board and knife throughout.

Once the garlic is ready, remove the butter from the cool (the fridge or freezer) and cut a 2-3mm slice off across its width, cover in a film of black garlic, and repeat until a stack is created. Squeeze the stack down to remove any air from it.

Start the stack

and continue stacking until the butter's used up

 

Store at the back (coldest part) of the fridge until required. Cut lengthways to reveal stripes across the slice of butter.

 

thinking ahead
The butter stack will live happily in the freezer or fridge for a month or more.

 

what could go wrong?
Using a dry blade or board will mean that the garlic will stick to one or the other, or both, and be difficult to spread thinly, giving you curly wedges more suitable for a noodle recipe!! : / Make sure both the blade and board are wet!

to serve
Cut a thin slice off and melt onto toast!

more on black garlic

on twitter @blackgarlicUK, on facebook, on their homepage

recipies using black garlic coming up

Gargantuan Madagascan Prawn with Lemon and Black Garlic Stripes and Paprika Churros

King Prawn and Black Garlic Kebab (I couldn't resist a quick dip of yoghurt - thus the missing naan, oops!)

Recipe / Leftovers: Celeriac and Potato Rösti

by Simon Fernandez of ferdiesfoodlab

Still learning from me mum! Perfect rostis!!

Cooking is a lot to do with confidence, and, usually, that comes with experience. A random accident, phone call or some sort of improvisation that takes your fancy - basically experimentation - although often a recipe wrecker can some yield a cracking result!!

But there are some recipes that no matter how many times you try them the result is still a turkey where no turkey was initially involved!! Sooner or later, crestfallen from the lack of progress, you give up on something maybe never to return to it again!! Filed as an Achilles heal : /

Röstis are that thing for me, they never come out, tried loads of recipes and they always come out like nasty, dry pancakes, boo! So you can imagine my flabergastedlyness when my mum turned out some stunners to go along with the leftover turkey pie I made over the Christmas break. 

There was turkey left over from Christmas day, and pastry from the sausage rolls, it was a no brainer, turkey pie! Angels singing in the background, hallelujah . . hallelujah, hallelujah : ) big smiles!

A quick bit of industrial espionage - in the shape of me getting me mum to show me how to make them - and here's the low down. . .

ingredients (makes 6 - 8 patties)
for the röstis
1 medium celeriac
2 medium potatoes
large pinch basil, thyme or rosemary (dried)
ground black pepper
2 tbsp plain flour (enough to bind shredded potato)

for the garnish
10 fresh basil leaves

apparatus / equipment
grater

röstis
Peel the potato and the celeriac and shred them using a food processor with a small grating disc.
Some folks squeeze the water out of the shreds using a tea towel, but it isn't necessary and the excess water helps bind the röstis together.
Put all ingredients, bar the flour, into a mixing bowl and season it.
Add half the flour and form into patties about 3/4 inch (1.8cm) thick and 2.5inches (6cm) in diameter.
If they don't hold together add a little more flour until they form the required patties.
Then shallow fry in vegetable oil on a medium heat, and I quote, "until golden brown and yummy!!"
Turn them once until they are crunchy and brown on the outside.
Serve immediately.

 

what could go wrong?
Try not to make them too "frizzy", the outer strands will burn - not a good look! - and pollute your oil.
Don't make them too flat or they will be dry, if they're around the 3/4 - 1 inch mark the centre will be soft and the outside crunchy!

to serve
Place on a platter and serve with scattered basil leaves and baby plum tomatoes for a light snack, or as a potato accompaniment to turkey pie, replacing chips or mash for example.

A little salad, turkey pie and a touch of wine! Bliss!

variations
Röstis are best made with root vegetables. If you fancy using a wetter root vegetable such as beetroot - which adds a lovely flavour to a rösti - remove as much liquid as possible and balance it with potato.

Experiment: Lemon Biscotti (Angel Eyes, and Hell Boy pt II)

by Simon Fernandez of ferdiesfoodlab  (check here for Angel Eyes, and Hell Boy pt I)

This recipe is a great way to introduce kids to cooking and what a result! A fantastic biscuit that looks hard to make but is simplicity itself!

At this point in my culinary career I'd not really made biscotti before, so it was basically a test run. Now I don't know about anyone else, but when I'm doing test runs I like to have tight control over ingredients, quantities, temperatures, times, shelves, pan types, etc. In other words, I want the result, be it a cricket bat, or the lightest crumbliest sublime biscuit, to be reproducible if nothing else!

So off I went to my friends in the country. What better fun than to make some biscotti with the kids? Or so I thought!

I prepped up the ingredients and got in my master sous chefs for a baking bonanza!

I'd forgotten how excitable youngsters can be - before I knew what was going on there were all sorts of things flying into the mixing bowl at completely inappropriate times, mixing spoons, nuts, what this? baking powder? let's have some! bosh!

Once I gave in to the concept that making biscotti with 2 youngsters, was NO place for the ordered kitchen mind of the ferdie, and just went with it, I had a great time and so did they! 

 

And I found out that this recipe will always give you something resembling a biscotti no matter what you do! It might also resemble a cricket bat, but hey, it'll be an edible cricket bat . . he . . he!

What's all this mess? -  err, uh, oh. . .

Uh ooh!! "Has he seen us?"

Meanwhile . . . back at the lab, a few test runs later . . .

ingredients (Serves 26 - 3 loaves)
150C/40m, slice loaves then 180C/15m turn once

for the lemon biscotti
35g butter
2 lemons (juice and zest)
3 eggs + 2 yolks
300g caster sugar
1 tbsp baking powder (15ml)
550g self raising flour
130g pecans
130g almonds

apparatus
baking tray
wire rack
microplane
juicer (manual is fine - or a fork)

lemon biscottis
Preheat oven G2 / 150C / 300F
Melt the butter and add the lemon juice and zest, warm until the butter is completely melted and set aside to infuse.

Mix the baking powder and flour, then add the nuts and mix further. You can use whichever nuts you like best.
In a separate bowl whisk eggs and sugar until lightly aerated, then add them to the flour and nut mixture. Stir in well.

You're now ready to make and bake the loaves - which is how the biscotti start life!
Divide the mix into 3 loaves and place in the oven on a lined baking sheet for 40 minutes.

Once they're golden, remove them from the oven on to a wire rack to cool. Turn the oven up to G4 / 180C / 350F. 

Once cool enough to handle cut the loaves into biscotti (1/2 inch / 1cm thick slices) and return to the oven on a lined baking tray. Bake them for 15 minutes turning once. It'll take less if you have fan assist on!

Happy munching! Don't forget if you put these in an airtight container they'll last for at least a week, and you can freeze the loaves and bake off a batch on the weekend or when guests come to visit; they suffuse the kitchen with an irresistible aroma.

what can go wrong?
I've got a lumpy dough! Grumos! As the spanish would say!! To avoid a lumpy mixture put your powders in the bowl and make a well. Using a wooden fork (better than a spoon since the liquids can flow through it) mix the flour in a circular motion, going around the outside of the liquid, combining it in bit by bit until it's one big, smooth mix.

Recipe: Naan Bread . . . . . and Turkey Kebab

by Simon Fernandez of ferdiesfoodlab

I was a kebab virgin when I went to college - I know!! I was a bit of a late developer what can I say! Anyway there were 2 kebab houses near our digs in south Manchester. Bar the empty shop between them they were next-door to each other; the kebabs were OK. The selling point of Abduls was the good chicken and sauces, the selling point of the Haji's was it's mahoosive donners. (investigative post coming up on donners - watch this space) You can imagine my surprise when Sajaan a kebabeur (it's a real word honest) with Tony Montana sized balls opened his new kebab shop in between the two!!

Perfect kebab, healthy, tasty, and home made!!

 Fair play! So we went to try them first chance we got!! Blindingly good! Super fresh naan - IE made to order rather than off some huge pile of naans, the meats beautifully marinated, sauces fresh and vibrant, and the salad ingredients many and varied. When you walked out of Sajaans with your kebab, it would be like Gollum prizing the ring! Maiy preeesciooouuus. . . dribble!

Here's how from home . . . .

ingredients (makes 8 naans)
for the naan bread
500g strong flour
170ml    water   
35ml milk
7g yeast (dried)
30g sugar
5g salt
50 ml EVO (extra virgin olive oil)
1 egg    (beaten)
4g  garlic (finely chopped - optional)

for the dressing
8 pinches poppy seeds (optional)
150g salted butter (clarified)

naan bread
Activate the yeast: Boil the milk and add it to the cold water (the mix will be around 35C perfect temperature to activate the yeast). Dissolve the sugar in the liquid and add the yeast, stirring it in. Leave the mix for about 15 mins while measuring out the other ingredients. It should be frothy on the surface when ready.

Beat the egg and add the oil to it.

Put the rest of the ingredients into a food processor fitted with a plastic blade (dough blade).

Once the yeast is frothy, add the oil and egg mix.

With the motor running, add the liquid to the dry ingredients until a dough is formed, it should be coming away from the side of the mixer cleanly.

Knead the dough: by running the machine for another 2 mins (it feels like forever!!) or knead it on the counter for 8-10mins.
(the purpose here is to get gluten forming in the dough to give elasticity)



Once you're done kneading, put the dough into an oiled mixing bowl and cover it with a damp cloth. Leave it somewhere warm to double in size for around 60mins. Alternatively cover with cling film and leave it in the fridge over night.




Get your heavy based pan hot! I did an experiment to see how much dough was required to fit my pan: it's 9inches, not a bad size for a naan. The dough should be about 2mm thick after it's rolled out. I tried a 70g ball, but it was a bit on the wee side, so I upped it to 120g. In the end a 100g dough ball, rolled out to 2mm thickness, was the perfect fit for my pan.

Don't forget to flour the work surface and the rolling pin before you roll the dough. Flip and turn it 90 degrees on each roll to ensure there's enough flour to stop it sticking. Roll it a touch larger than the pan since it will shrink as you transfer it to said pan.



Of course if you have a tandoor oven you'd pop it onto a round spongy thing and stick it to the inside of the oven for it to cook. But if you have a tandoor oven and you're reading this recipe I think you should have done a bit more research before opening your kebab shop!! Having said that, if you follow this recipe it'll come out better than the crap, loveless kebabs you get from most kebab shops. Where's my trumpet gone? Oh look, there it is, that'll be me there blowing it!! : )

Back to he recipe . . .



Watch the bubbles form on the surface, it will start to look irresistible - still needs browning on top - check the underside to make sure it's golden, then pop it under the grill, after putting a fork through the large bubbles - this will stop your naan ballooning under the grill and catching fire!!



Last thing you want is a Homer Simpson style 'Haaaaaaaa' as you run, flaming balloon naan, flicking from hand to hand to the garden, looking for the nearest disposal point.



Remove perfectly browned naan, brush with clarified butter and dust with poppy seeds. Heaven!

The dough will last in the fridge for a couple of days no problem, so fresh naan for lunch or breakfast? Thank you please!
Hmmmm . . .  : )


for 2 ultra healthy and super tasty moist turkey kebabs
This is a really simple prep, mix and assembly job, resulting in a cracking bit of fare for those invited to dinner!

for the marinaded turkey
1/2 tsp  garam masala
1/2 tsp cumin seed (ground)
6 cardamom pods (deseeded & ground)
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp pimentón
60ml EVO
300g turkey breast (cut into chunks)

for the yoghurt and mint sauce
150ml natural yoghurt
10g fresh mint (finely chopped)
10g coriander (finely chopped)

for the mango sauce
100ml mango chutney
50ml water (to loosen)
15ml chilli sauce

for the salad
1/2 gem lettuce (roughly chopped)
1/2 tomato (diced)
1/4 cucumber (quartered lengthways and sliced)
100g cabbage (julienne)
1 spring onion (fine slice)
1/4 red pepper (julienne, halved)
4 mange tout (julienne)
2 tbsp mayo [LINK] (optional - if you're out of yoghurt)

for the naan bread
2 naan bread (see above)

for the garnish
coriander (torn)

yoghurt and mint sauce
Mix ingredients together.

mango sauce
Mix ingredients together



salad
Mix all the ingredients together except the gem lettuce.



marinaded turkey
Mix all the ingredients together and leave to marinate for at least 2hrs or overnight.
Sear in a heavy-based pan, it won't need any oil as  the marinade has enough, cook until golden brown, turning occasionally.
Remove the turkey from pan and deglaze it with a little water or white wine if you have some to hand (50ml). Put the turkey and the juice in a warm bowl ready for assembly of the kebabs!



what could go wrong?
You might eat all 8 naan yourself and turn into a pork chop! It's better to share them with family and friends!

thinking ahead
You can make the naan dough a day in advance, and keep it in the fridge ready for your guests' arrival. Are you kidding? Guestses aren't allowed near the precious are they? No-nooo, it's mineses it is!

to serve
Put all the components on the table and let folk serve themselves: Lay some gem lettuce on a naan, place some turkey on top of that, a little salad on top of that, coriander, and whichever sauces you fancy! Roll and eat

variations
Are many and varied, if you have a kebab recipe that you want tested in the foodlab please comment, or mail!

Recipe: Herefordshire Beef Pho w/ Brandy de Jerez Digestif

by Simon Fernandez of ferdiesfoodlab

First day's rest for the festive season! Wake up in the morning, slowly, don't have anything to do today. I love that feeling - holiday! - without a care in the world, no responsibilities to deal with and a bit of cash to spend on a good time! Yeay! What to do? Potter about, make a coffee and call friend, "you fancy hanging out?", "yip : )", "cool, I'll come get you, we can do a little shopping for dinner". "You had breakfast yet?" "No? OK we can grab that too". Quick look in the fridge and larder, what have we got? Some oxtail, onions, lemons, ginger, lemon grass, chillies, bottle of Prosecco : ) hmmm and idea begins to form involving slow cooking oxtail. A little piece of fillet steak, some noodles and some coriander will be all I need.

Unbeknown to me, there were secret elements that had been bought for our consumption, so we picked up a poppy and sesame seed baguette from Des Lys Boulangerie which is a cracking spot by the way, and a few other little bits for our dinner and Champagne brunch!

By this point we were starving. Luckily, almost before I'd managed to start browning the oxtail, a rather lovely combo dip of truffle oil and 25 year old balsamic reserve found its way onto the table with a very enticing, seeded French stick. After a little toning down of the truffle flavour to make it a little subtler the combo was a cracking start that went very well with a glass of Prosecco. Aperitif darling? Why I don't mind if I doo!

Bits on the griddle done, oxtail for the pho on the bubble, I got on with brunch but I found myself being distracted by another festive treat: a little brandy de Jerez!!!!

How could I not indeed!! "Rude not to!! Would you like one?" I inquire, to be greeted by a charming smile and a decisive "I think I'm going to have to try some, quality control you understand." A few giggles later and breakfast was on the table, sorry, err . . brunch was on the table and our oriental dinner was bubbling away nicely on the stove, as we settled in for a movie!

I have to say that a strong coffee with a touch of Jerez brandy makes for a fabulous digestif.

The pho that we had later was close to the original but the response it got: "surprising fusion of flavours and freshness it all went together so well!!" and the fact that it had disappeared are good enough signs to me that it's a keeper!!

note for the purists: I put this post up because folks complained they couldn't get half the ingredients where they lived! This recipe is basically as close as you can get to a Pho with plain old supermarket ingredients. If you can make it in Hereford you can make it anywhere!!! It's missing a few of the light fragrant notes from the specialist leaves namely the Thai basil, but the fine Herefordshire steak more than makes up for that!!

Here's how I made it . . . .

ingredients (serves 4)
for the pho
1 oxtail (cut into slices)
1L chicken stock
300g finest Hereford fillet steak
1 red onion / 4 shallots (finely chopped)
2 birdseye chillies (deseeded)
3 star anise
1 lemon (halved)
1 large piece ginger (3 thumbs - halved)
2 onions (halved)
200g pak choi
30g rock sugar (optional)
600g noodles (I like the flat rice vermicelli (ribbon noodles) - but you can use what ever you want)

for the garnish / accompaniment
10g fresh coriander (torn)
2 bird's eye chillies (sliced rounds)
dash of fish sauce
2 spring onions (julienne)
1 lime (quartered)
2 handfuls of bean sprouts
fish sauce

equipment
griddle pan
4 large soup bowls

 

method
In the broth pot, add a little oil and brown the finely chopped red onions / shallots, and star anise. Whenever you want particular spice flavours to come through more in a dish they should be added first: the roasting will bring  the flavours out more prominently 'Thanks Atul Kochhar for that tip', it's made a great difference to a lot of my food over the years!
Next, put the lemon, ginger, onions, and lemon grass on a griddle pan and char them until they have dark lines running across them, this will give you extra depth of flavour.

They need to be browner than this much browner!!

Brown the oxtails in a pan to get that Maillard reaction going. Once brown all over add them to the broth pot, deglaze the pan with a little chicken stock and add it to the broth pot. Add the griddle contents to the broth pot and deglaze that too, adding to sauce to the pot -  loads of flavour.

Add enough chicken stock to the pot to cover the meat by at least an inch (2.5cm), and at least a tablespoon of fish sauce, then bring it to the boil and allow it to simmer for 3-4 hours, keeping it topped up with stock. If you'd like a lighter, more traditional broth add water and sugar to loosen the broth; if you'd like a more wintery broth simply add stock.

thinking ahead
The broth can be made in the morning and reheated for dinner when you need it, the veg, beansprouts, pak chi, coriander etc are always added at the last minute so they don't spoil.

what could go wrong?
My broth isn't clear!! Well that depends on your point of view. I like my oxtail browned before it goes in so it has more flavour, if you're a clear broth only sort, then you can boil the meats that are to be braised for 15min, then rinse them under cold water and continue with the recipe.

to serve
Bring the broth to a simmer.
Cook the fillet steak to the doneness you like (I like mine closer to rare than medium), rest it for about 4mins and then cut it into fine slices. Add the pak choi to the broth, let it warm through while the steak rests.

Warm the bowls and share out the noodles, fill generously with oxtail and broth and dress with slices of fillet steak. Serve with a side plate of the garnishes and accompaniments so that people can season to their taste.

variations
Pho varies from place to place and the ingredients certainly aren't restricted to oxtail for the slow braising. Cuts such as flank, brisket, and rib (cooked bone-in and sliced later) can all be used, and for the rare beef, sirloin, hanger (onglet), and rump can all be used hanger is my personal favourite it's so tasty! You can also make Pho with chicken - happy days for those who don't eat red meat! I garnish mine with crispy chicken skins - nice!

Enjoy!!