theme: Ottolenghi

Posted on » by Dino » Theme:

Soy Grilled Quail Eggs With Sesame Salt

Recipe by Yotam Ottolenghi.

Soy Grilled Quail Eggs with Sesame Salt

Notes

Ottolenghi’s method did not properly cook the eggs, and even after they were cooked they were quite difficult to peel. I took Ashley’s suggestion and did the following (which worked out lovely):

  • Put eggs in a pot and fill with enough water to submerge them, adding a drizzle of distilled white vinegar to the water
  • Bring the water to a rolling boil
  • Set a timer for 2 minutes
  • Cover the pot, turn the heat off, then remove the pot from the hot burner
  • After the 2 minutes drain the hot water, then re-fill the pot with cold water (to the top)
  • To ensure the centers were properly cooked, I then put the eggs in a water bath and set an immersion circulator to 146.5°F for 60 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 tbsp sesame seeds (white and black)
  • 1 tsp Maldon sea salt (I used Celtic sea salt)
  • 24 quail eggs (I used 30)
  • 2 tbsp dark soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp olive oil

Method

  1. Scatter the sesame seeds inside a nonstick pan and place it on medium heat. Jiggle them around for four minutes or so, until toasted evenly, then remove from the heat. Once cool, tip into a food processor (I used a spice grinder), add the salt and blitz in a few pulses, to break up the seeds just a little.
  2. Fill a medium pan with water and bring to a boil. Place the eggs inside and simmer for two minutes for soft-boiled (leave for another minute if you like them harder). Remove, refresh in cold water and peel. Mix the soy and oil in a bowl, add the eggs, coating them in the mixture, and marinade for 30 minutes.
  3. Place a griddle pan on a medium to high flame and leave until hot. Lift the eggs out of their marinade and place on the griddle. After 20 seconds, turn them and leave for another 20 seconds, to get char marks on all sides. Remove, stick each egg on a wooden skewer and serve warm, or at room temperature, with the sesame salt alongside for dipping into.
Posted on » by Michael » Theme:

Pineapple and sage martini

1 large pineapple, unpeeled, leaves trimmed and discarded (1.4kg)
4 cardamom pods, roughly crushed by hand or in a pestle and mortar

20 sage leaves, plus 2 extra to serve
1 x 700ml bottle of Tanqueray London dry gin
25ml lemon juice
20ml clove syrup (see below)

Clove syrup (This is a ton more than is needed)
250g caster sugar
4 whole cloves

You’ll make more of the pineapple purée than you need, so you can either freeze the remainder in batches, to be re-used when needed, or eat it as a delicious purée, swirled into semi-whipped cream or spooned on top of some plain yoghurt for breakfast. The remaining clove syrup can be kept in the fridge for a few weeks or frozen for longer.

Method

1 Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/gas mark 6.

2 Wrap the pineapple in tin foil and roast in the oven for 3 hours. Remove and set aside to cool. Peel the pineapple and cut it, lengthways, into 4 wedges. Cut out and discard the core, then place the flesh in a blender. Blitz to form a purée and set aside.

3 Add the crushed cardamom pods and sage leaves to the bottle of gin and set aside for at least 3 hours, swirling the bottle from time to time. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve, discard the cardamom and sage and return the gin to the bottle.

4 To make the clove syrup, place the sugar in a medium saucepan with 250ml of water. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to low. Add the cloves and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring from time to time. Lift out and discard the cloves, then set the syrup aside until completely cool.

5 Pour 100ml of gin into a mixing glass with 50ml of the pineapple purée, the lemon juice and 20ml of the clove syrup. Add ice, shake vigorously for 10 –15 seconds, and strain into pre-chilled martini glasses. Garnish each with a fresh sage leaf and serve at once.

Posted on » by Michael » Theme:

Pulled Pork with Pomegranate Salad

Ingredients

  • 2.5kg (5.512 lbs)pork shoulder, bone in
  • 200ml (6.763 oz) cider vinegar
    80g (2.822 oz) dark brown sugar
    1 tbsp Szuechan pepper (I used almost 2 TB whole black peppers which was not a good idea. I would grind them up next time, I also added coriander and Loren dropped in 2 crushed cardamom seeds in error.)
    5 cinnamon sticks
    1 tbsp red chilli flakes 
    2¼ tsp soy sauce
    2 tbsp pomegranate molasses
    1 tbsp tomato paste
    Salt

For the pomegranate salad:
1 small red onion, peeled and sliced very thinly into pinwheels
100g pomegranate seeds (ie, the seeds of 1 medium pomegranate)
20g parsley, picked and roughly chopped
1 tbsp red-wine vinegar
1 tbsp pomegranate molasses (I used a bit more  – see recipe below)
2 tbsp olive oil
90g rocket (I used baby spinach)

Method

Heat the oven to 150C/300F/gas mark 2. Put a ridged griddle pan on a high heat. When smoking hot, lay the pork on top and cook for about eight minutes, turning as you go. For the last two minutes’ griddling, cover the pork in a large sheet of foil, so that the resulting smoke infuses the meat. Remove and set aside.

Place a large, heavy-based pot for which you have a lid on a medium heat; the pan has to be big enough to hold the pork snugly. Add the vinegar, sugar, Szechuan pepper, cinnamon, chilli, soy, molasses and tomato paste, plus one and a quarter teaspoons of salt, and heat gently, stirring occasionally, until the sugar dissolves. Remove four tablespoons of the sauce to a bowl or ramekin and set aside.

Add the pork to the pot and spoon the pan juices all over it. Cover, cook in the oven for an hour, turning the meat in the sauce from time to time. Turn down the temperature to 130C/260F/gas mark ½ and cook for two hours more, again turning the meat regularly in the sticky juices. Turn down the heat again, this time to 120C/250F/gas mark ¼, and cook for five to six hours more, turning the joint from time to time, until the meat can easily be pulled off the bone. Remove and set aside.

When cool enough to handle, pull off and discard the bones and fatty skin, then shred the meat into bite-size pieces back into the pot. Add the reserved sauce, stir and keep warm.

For the salad, put all the ingredients in a bowl, add a quarter-teaspoon of salt and toss. Stuff the pulled pork into the baguette halves; put the salad in the bread, too, or serve on the side

Pomegranate Molasses

  • Prep 5 m
  • Ready In 1 h 5 m
  • 4 cups pomegranate juice
  • 1/2 cup white sugar
  • 1/2 cup lemon juice (alton brown recipe has 1 TB)

Directions

For Molasses: Place the pomegranate juice, sugar and lemon juice in a 4-quart saucepan set over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the sugar has completely dissolved. Once the sugar has dissolved, reduce the heat to medium-low and cook until the mixture has reduced to 1 cup, approximately 70 minutes. It should be the consistency of thick syrup. Remove from the heat and allow to cool in the saucepan for 30 minutes. Transfer to a glass jar and allow to cool completely before covering and storing in the refrigerator for up to 6 months.

To scale for recipe above: (I used the Alton proportions)

  • ½ cup pomegranate juice
  • 1 TB sugar
  • 1 TB lemon juice (for alton brown it would be 3/8 tsp)