Jaconde Alize.....a sexy dessert

Every good menu needs a stunning dessert to end the meal, so we need to have something really sexy for dessert. The name is already sexy, Jaconde Alize.

If you google the dessert you will quickly find out that it is actually a classic dessert which has be brought to perfection by Michel Roux. It is soft layers of almond sponge, then praline butter cream and raspberries, something that is just too wonderful.

So yes, our pastry chef was for many years on ships and had the privilege to work with Michel Roux....what a lucky guy. And I am now a lucky guy to have the pastry chef working for us here. I met Michel Roux when he came for a well deserved break in the Relais et Chateaux hotel where I was the chef at the time. Such a humble and great man, no arrogance, just simply enjoying his time with us and the food.

The almond sponge is soaked with a bit sugar syrup, then you paint dark chocolate on it, so it gets just a tiny bit crispness, then the raspberries and the butter cream, wow, it is really great

Just be aware, it takes a bit time and loads of love to make this recipe work

Recipe
600 G Almond Sponge
300 G Frozen Raspberries
400 G Butter Cream
50 G Hazelnut paste
50 G Chocolate
20 G Cocoa Powder
30 G Sugar

50 G Mango sauce

Method
Bake the almond sponge in sheets
Cook the chocolate with cocoa powder and sugar till melted
Paint the chocolate on top of the sponge
Defrost the berries, chop
Put the berries on top of the chocolate

Mix Butter cream with hazelnut paste
Spread the butter cream on top of the berries
Put the individual layers on top of each other
Press gently
Cool over night
Add a last layer of butter cream on top

Cut slices of 140 g each
Garnish with mango sauce

And here is the recipe for the Almond Sponge

600 g Almond Flour
600 g Icing sugar
200 g Flour
150 g Butter
750 g Eggs

Beat the eggs with the sugar till light and creamy
Add the other ingredients carefully, except the butter
Melt the butter and add at the end
pour on baking trays and make sure it is not thicker than 1 cm
Bake at 180 C till light brown in color

Beef fillet with Truffle Potatoes

It has been a good new year so far, we had already some great recipes, so time now for a good piece de resistance, the beef fillet. I serve it with truffle potatoes, basically lovely creamy mashed potatoes with a bit of truffle oil and then chopped truffles. For the meat I take a Karan fillet. Karan is a South African breed, very nice and lean. It is good value for money, not as nice as a Scottish Black Angus, but for the price there is no complaints, Karan is lovely

I love truffles, of course I do, I love truffles, I love foie gras I love food. Always happy to try new things and they don't always have to be exotic.

Truffle is something not too many people cook with, even so I have to admit, I found it once in Seattle in the frozen section of a supermarket, wow, was I happy and we of course cooked straight a lovely dish with it.

Truffles go with many things, not just foie gras, no, it actually goes great with potatoes. The potatoes are the best carriers for this lovely subtle flavor, it is subtle that is for sure. If you use truffle oil, use it sparingly otherwise it will overpower your dish and it won't be the great dish you were hoping for

There are plenty of different truffles, I think I should actually write a separate blog about them, they really deserve it!

 

But of course the recipe would not fall under gourmet recipes if there is not some more labor involved.....hehehe, yes it is. The sauce I serve with the fillet is actually an oxtail sauce. It is a powerful yet subtle sauce that just goes perfectly well with the fillet and the truffles and the potatoes. It takes hours to cook, but boy is it nice!!!!!

So without too much chatting, let's go and check out the new recipe

1.8 Kg (4 lb) Karan fillet
15 G (0.5 oz) Salt
2 G Pepper
50 Ml (2 oz) Olive oil

1 Kg (2 lb) Oxtail
10 G (1/3 oz) Salt, pepper
50 Ml (2 oz) Oil
150 G (5 oz) Onion
10 G (1/3 oz) Garlic
100 G (3 oz) Carrots
100 G (3 oz) celeriac
100 G (3 oz) Leeks
50 G (2 oz) Tomato paste
10 G (1/3 oz) Rosemary
200 Ml (0.2 qrt) White wine
750 Ml (0.75 qrt) Brown veal stock
250 Ml (0.25 qrt) Demi glace

1500 G Potatoes
10 G Salt
2 G Pepper
100 Ml Milk
50 Ml Cream
50 G Butter
50 G Truffles, black
5 Ml Truffle oil

Roast the whole fillet in the butter till brown all round
Season to taste
Finish in the oven at 51 C for 3 hours
Cut the Oxtail in 5 cm pieces
Cut the vegetables in matignon
Season Oxtail
Roast in rotissoire till brown on both sides, take out
Pour away oil, then add matignon
Add tomato paste, roast some more, then deglacer with white wine, repeat twice
Add meat, herbs, stock and demi glace
Braise covered in the oven till tender.
Take the meat out carefully
Reduce sauce till nice and thick,add meat

Peel and cook the potatoes till soft
Drain off water
Dry the potatoes on the stove a bit
Boil up milk, cream and butter
Mix with potatoes
Add truffles and truffle oil
Season to taste

Snapper and Lobster with Parsnip

Let's go to the next course of the NYE menu, I used originally grouper, but now I have a recipe that uses snapper instead. Of course you can change the fish to any fish you like, there are no limits.

I serve the snapper with a small lobster tail, parsnip puree and roast cocktail tomatoes. All has a bit of a Mediterranean flavor to it, is light and just simply yummy. It is easy to prepare and a success id guaranteed with any dinner party.

The tomatoes I cook at the very end, just drizzled with olive oil, a bit salt and pepper out of the mill, then I put it in the salamander or in the oven with top heat only. It just takes a couple of minutes and they are cooked

Parsnip is another ingredient that I simply love. It is actually the root of parsley, but over the years the root became a vegetable for itself. The flavor is awesome, I can't describe it any different. It has hints of parsley, but much more mellow, it even has hints of celeriac, but again, just so subtle., it is really a great winter vegetable. Of course it can be roasted or made as a soup, in any way you do it, it will be just great

So, let's go ahead to the recipe, very simple, step by step. You can easily prepare something ahead as well, like the parsnip puree, so at the end you just have to put everything together

Recipe

400 G Grouper Fillet
600 G Lobster tail
10 G Salt 1 G Pepper
50 Ml Olive oil

400 G Parsnip
100 Ml Cream
50 G Butter
7 G Salt
1 G Pepper

100 Ml Chardonnay
150 G Butter
35 Ml Cream
40 G Parsley
40 G Dill

350 G Cherry Tomatoes

Cut the grouper in exact squares
Season the fish and fry in olive oil
Cut the lobster tail in half, season and fry in olive oil

Peel the parsnip and cut in cubes
Cook in salt water till soft
Blend, add butter and cream
Season to taste

Reduce Chardonnay till half
Add cream, boil up
Whisk up with ice cold butter
Chop herbs very fine
Add the herbs just before serving, season to taste

Roast Cherry tomatoes under salamander with a little olive oil, salt and pepper

Foie Gras and Chicken Liver

One is French the other English? No, of course not. But calling goose liver Foie Gras just sounds more elegant. They are basically both livers, one from the chicken and one from the goose. But there is one huge difference, the goose liver is from a force fed animal. At least partly force fed. Already the ancient Romans enjoyed catching the geese when going south in late autumn, their liver big and fatty for the long journey.

Of course there is no comparison to the goose liver of today. Today, the geese are fed till the liver has a size that nearly fills the entire stomach cavity, not good, I admit. So the goal is to find a producer that produces the liver more natural, they are a lot smaller, but still have this lovely flavor.

I like to combine goose and chicken liver. There are several reasons for it, one is that they are both different in taste, but still compliment each other. And then there is of course a cost factor, it is a lot cheaper to do a goose liver terrine and then stretch it a bit, but still have it full of flavor

The recipe is actually totally easy, I got it from a great chef in Switzerland a couple of years ago and I am still doing it regularly.

250 g Foie Gras
250 g Kg Chicken liver, cleaned
250 g Butter
3 Eggs
25 ml Brandy or Cognac

Clean the foie gras and cut in 2 cm pieces
Blend the chicken liver, then strain through a fine sieve
Melt the butter, add to the chicken liver
Beat the eggs and add to the mix
Add Brandy and season to taste......yes you should taste the mix before cooking it, sounds terrible but can avoid that your terrine is too salty or lacks salt

Lay out a terrine form with plastic wrap
Pour the mix in the terrine form, then add the foie gras pieces
Cover and poach carefully at 80C for about 45 minutes.

Cool in the fridge, un mould and slice

Serve with a little port reduction and a crispy salad

Happy New Year and another Scallop recipe

Happy New Year everybody

I hope it has been a good one for all of my readers. It has been a good one for me, one with many changes and new challenges.

I said good bye to ships life and have settled on land again, in a place I would not have thought I would be working, but you know how it goes, it usually doesn't end up how one plans these things and like with many other things, one has to go there where the jobs are.

Then when I have arrived in Ghana, I must admit, it was really a good experience. The hotel is amazing and I can be creative again. On the ships the creativity is somehow limited. Here I can say that each recipe I give is actually a recipe of a dish that is serve in our restaurant

I got a lot more followers over the year and the hits on the blog are now on average 150 a day, something I wouldn't have thought it could happen just a year ago.....now only the sky is the limit and I still have so much more to write.

So yes, there are so many more recipes to come. I just made the recipes for the entire New Years Eve Menu and will happily share them with you. Maybe we should just start looking at the menu first, then we go in the kitchen and start cooking. The first course are roast diver scallops on mange tout salad. It is nice and light, the perfect way to start the dinner.

I know I just made a recipe with scallops but it is just twice on the menu in different forms

Recipe
300 G Sugar snap peas
50 G Onions
250 G Tomatoes
50 G Radicchio lettuce
500 G Scallops
50 Ml Olive oil
10 G Salt
1 G Pepper
1 G Saffron
30 Ml Cider vinegar
70 Ml Olive oil
5 G Salt
1 G Pepper

Blanch the sugar snaps very briefly and cool immediately
Blanch the tomatoes, peel and cut in concasse
Cut sugar snaps and radicchio in very fine strips
Season the scallops and fry quickly in olive oil
Mix all ingredients together for the saffron vinaigrette

Plate the sugar snap pea salad in the middle
Top with the warm scallops
Drizzle the vinaigrette around

Seared Scallops and Tomato Mousse on Ratatouille Salad

It sounds delicious, but wait, it is actually just half of the recipe. Yes there is more! The tomato mousse and ratatouille salad are served with olive oil fried scallops and a capsicum vinaigrette. A lovely and light starter that is so easy to prepare.

I have done white tomato mousse before, so this time we are doing a red tomato mousse. It is the same way, cooking the tomatoes, then blending and straining, cool down, add gelatine and whipped cream.....finish...sounds easy enough? No worry, it is easy you will see when you follow the recipe.

Then there is the ratatouille salad, cut the vegetables in small cubes....not just anyhow, no, try to have them exact, 5 mm by 5 mm. I know it is a pain, but that is me, it has to be right. Then cook it like a normal ratatouille, cool down and just add a touch of balsamic vinegar.....yes an old one it will be nicer

Then you quickly prepare the capsicum vinaigrette, something you can even do a couple of days ahead of time, it keeps well in the fridge and can be used for all sorts of salads. Just roast the capsicum in the oven, peel, de pip, blend and add the other ingredients of the vinaigrette, voila and finish....now that was really easy

Then you plate everything and just before serving and adding the vinaigrette, flash fry the scallops. They have to be fried hot and very quick, you don't want to overcook them. I cut them in half, so it goes very fat with the cooking.

Isn't it amazing how easy this dish is to prepare? Mmmmmmm yes, I have to admit, it is not all that easy, it is a bit time consuming and one needs to have a bit experience in cooking the scallops, but let me tell you one thing.....don't be afraid to try something new, just follow the recipe step by step and you will see that you can make a starter at home you usually would only get in a fine dining establishment! Try, just try it out

10 Each Tomatoes
2 Each Basil
1 Each Thyme
50 Ml Champagne
2 Each Egg white
Salt, Pepper
3.5 Each Gelatine leaves
1 Lemon juice
10 Gin
10 Ml Champagne vinegar
Ml Salt, sugar
120 Ml Whipped cream

100 G Zucchini
100 G Eggplant
100 G Onions
100 G Tomatoes
25 G Tomato paste
25 Ml Olive oil Salt, pepper

600 G Scallops
50 Ml Olive oil Salt, pepper

150 G Red peppers
70 Ml Olive oil
30 Ml Cider vinegar
salt, pepper

Chop tomatoes, put in a pot with basil, thyme champagne and egg white

Blend everything, then bring slowly to boil, season

Strain through a Chinoise

Take 300 ml of the puree

Melt the soaked gelatine in it, add lemon juice gin and champagne vinegar

Cool down and fold in whipped cream

Cool in the fridge

Cut the vegetables in 5 mm cubes

Heat olive oil and fry vegetables

Add tomato paste

Simmer till still al dente

Season to taste

Cool completely

Season the scallops and fry quickly in olive oil

Roast the peppers in the oven, cool and peel

Take just the meat of the peppers and blend

Add olive oil and vinegar, season to taste

For the plating put the cold ratatouille in a round ring

Make a quenelle of the mousse and place it on top

 

Put 2 scallops around it and drizzle with vinaigrette

Poached Sole and Salmon Roulade

This is another dish from our new weekly menu, something I haven't done since my training....yes that is a while back. A Sole and Salmon Roulade.

I am not sure why, but sole, Salmon, Spinach. Potatoes and White Wine Sauce just go well together, the flavors bond and the dish is exceptional. It always worked and I never had a bad comment about it. The flavors are subtle but still strong, the go together not against each other. The dish is light, but not really light in Calories as there is a bit of cream and butter in the sauce. The cooking method is healthy so overall it is a timeless dish, one that has worked well in the past...... many years!

Of course there needs to be a bit work to make this dish nice. The salmon has to be blended, strained, mixed up with cream, then the sole is laid out, the salmon goes on top of it, it gets rolled and then wrapped in plastic. I like to make one roll per person and then cut it just before serving

What is really important is that the Salmon and Cream are ice cold when blended together. The speed of the blender tends to heat up the fish mix and the danger comes that the cream splits....not what you want. Make sure you blend the salmon a bit, then add the salt as it will help emulating the fish and the cream. You need to work quite fast as well as it will help keeping the mix cold

So now, lets go to work and make this lovely dish, here is the recipe

Recipe

900 g Sole fillet
400 g Salmon fillet
250 ml Cream
10 g Salt
5 g Pepper
30 ml Noilly Prat

300 ml Fish Stock
100 ml White wine
250 ml Cream
10 g Corn starch

1 Kg Fresh Spinach
50 g Garlic
70 g Shallots
50 ml Olive oil
10 g Salt, Pepper

1.20 Kg Potatoes
50 g Butter

20 g Parsley

250 g Tomatoes

10 ml Olive oil

10 g Basil

Method

Blend salmon finely in a blender, make sure it stays cold all the time

Mix in seasoning and cream, season to taste

Clean sole fillet and lay them next to each other on a plastic wrap
Spread the salmon mix carefully on the sole fillets

Roll everything like a roulade

Close the ends tight and prick the plastic carefully with a knife. This will help to infuse the roulades with the flavor of the stock

Combine ingredients except cream and starch for the fish stock

Poach the roulades in the stock for about 10 minutes, take out and let rest

Then boil up fish stock, add cream

Mix corn starch with a little white wine and thicken the sauce

Turn the potatoes and boil till soft

Just before serving heat them up, saute in a bit butter and chopped parsley

Saute the cleaned spinach, season to taste

Semi dry the tomato with olive oil and seasoning

Springbok with Spinach Spatzle

Today I make a traditional game dish from Europe but with a different game, one from South Africa. Springbok is a small antelope with incredibly tender meat, especially the loin and fillet. But even the legs don't require to long cooking times.

 

The recipe below looks like this huge amount of work, but to be honest, it is not. Of course there are short cuts you can take, often one can buy the braised red cabbage already, one can use something else than spatzle....of course it is not the same anymore, but it is possible

 

Then on the other side, nothing in this recipe really takes long. The cabbage is cut quickly, and the marination doesn't take time, OK, then you leave it over night in the fridge, but you are not really cooking during that time. The apples are really quickly made and the butternut is the same. Just make sure that you don't add any water when you cook the butternut, it has to be low heat and covered. There is enough liquid int he vegetable to make a perfect puree

 

This is a dish we serve on our second weekly menu, OK, the first one took nearly 3 week, but we wanted to sell out first all the New Zealand beef before we made a new one.

 

The whole menu is lovely, here it is

Tomato mousse on ratatouille salad

Olive oil seared scallops and capsicum vinaigrette

 

Tender Springbok loin with Spinach Spatzle and red cabbage

Caramelized butternut puree

or

Sole and Salmon roulade

Spinach, Chateaux potatoes and chardonnay cream

 

Caramel Foam with Saffron poached Mango

Recipe
2.00 Kg Springbok loin

500 G Flour
40 G Butter
4 Each Eggs
200 Ml Milk
5 G Salt
2 G Nutmeg

0.50 Kg Red cabbage
0.10 L Red wine
0.10 L Orange juice
0.05 Kg Oranges
0.05 L Red wine vinegar
0.05 Kg Sugar
0.05 Kg Honey
0.20 Kg Apples
0.20 Kg Onions
0.01 Kg Bayleaves
0.00 Kg Gloves
0.01 Kg Peppercorns
0.05 Kg Potatoes

0.50 Kg Butternut
0.03 Sugar
0.00 Salt
0.5 Kg Apples
0.1 Kg White wine
0.1 Kg Water
0.05 Kg Sugar

Method
Cut the loin in 200 g pieces, season and fry in oil

Sieve the flour
Mix all the other ingredients except the butter
Mix the liquid quickly with the flour
Beat the dough with your hand until the dough has blisters
The dough must be smooth and slightly runny
One can add Rocket, Spinach, Wild Mushroom flour or Tomato Paste to flavor the Spätzle

Slice the red cabbage very fine, preferably on a slicer
Cut the onions and apples in fine slivers
Mix all ingredients well, except the potatoes
Marinate over night
Simmer slowly in the oven till the cabbage is tender
Peel and grate the potatoes
Use them at the end to thicken the red cabbage

Peel the butternut, saute with sugar in a bit butter add salt simmer covered till soft
Puree and season to taste

Peel the apples and cut in wedges
Poach in white wine, water and sugar till al dente