Crispy Risotto by Chef Igor Macchia

Here is a recipe that I though many of you would like because even so it is a Michelin starred recipes, you can actually as well use your left over risotto and dress it up beautifully. Of course we made everything from scratch, but that should be like this in a 5 Star hotel.

This dish we served as a Canape during our guest cocktail which is part of the whole guest chef experience, like this all the guests have the possibility to have at least a taster of Chef Igor's fantastic cuisine

As the other dishes, this one has a couple of items that might be difficult to get. One of them is Stracciatella. Even I was not really sure what it was so I asked one of my best friends....Google! and the answer was pretty easy. It basically is a type of Burrata, a buffalo Mozzarella with a creamy interior. It is generally very difficult to find so take Burrata instead....it will work very well

Bottarga is a dried fish roe from Italy....depending on quality it can be quite expensive but as you don't need much, go for a really good quality....you really just need a sliver on top to give the lovely salty flavor to it

Ingredients for saffron risotto:

300 gr             Carnaroli rice

     2 lt             Vegetable stock

   30 gr            Olive oil

   50 gr            Butter

   50 gr            Grated Parmesan cheese

     2 gr            Saffron

                        Salt

                        Pepper 

Method for saffron risotto:

·         Heat olive oil in a pan, add the risotto and roast for about 2\3 min. Add boiling stock flavored with saffron and cook for around 13\14 min. Add all other ingredients and season with salt and pepper if needed.

·         Lay the risotto in a tray of about 2 cm thickness and keep cold. Once the risotto will be cold, cut with ring mold. Flour the risotto and pan fried in a non-stick pan with olive oil.

Ingredients for presentation of the plate:

  1 nr               Crispy saffron risotto

10 gr               Stracciatella di mozzarella

  3 gr               Bottarga (air dried roe)

  1 nr               Tahoon cress

  1 gr               Roasted barley malt powder

Method for presentation of the plate:

·         Plate warm crispy risotto, add the stracciatella, roasted barley malt powder and sliced air dried roe. Garnish with tahoon cress before serve.

Pontet Canet wines @ Soneva Fushi

It was a great day, we had a special wine dinner with wines from Pontet Canet, one of the most prestigious Bordeaux wines. We even have the owner, Melanie Tesseron, of the chateau here so we were in for a real treat.

I made a menu that matches the wonderful wines from the Chateaux, all red wines so there challenge was on. Especially for the dessert as it is really difficult to match a red Bordeaux with dessert. So I decided to go with Valrhona Fair trade chocolate. The chocolate comes in three ways, one flavored with rosemary, then one with orange and the last with pink pepper corns.

But let me start at the beginning of the dinner, some Champagne and home cured salmon, a dish that goes so well with Champagne. We did a little duo, one cured with citrus and the other with beetroot. Just a little salmon roe on top, and it was finish.

cured sustainable ocean trout

beetroot, orange, salmon roe, endive

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tortellini

peas, mushrooms, butternut, olive oil, truffle

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Grain-fed Bresse chicken

snails, sun-dried tomato, celeriac, herbs

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beef

potatoes, mushrooms, shallot, spinach, truffle jus

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goats cheese

smoked tomato, cream

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Valrhona fair-trade grand cru chocolate

rosemary, orange, pink peppercorn

Then we had tortellini, three kind all filled with a different filling, one with peas, one with mushroom and one with butternut. I love pasta and feel that even with a classical French menu we can sere a little pasta course. It is a very playful dish, quite labor intensive but beautiful to look at

Then we had the duo of Bresse chicken and snails. The chicken comes from the Bresse region, they are absolutely fantastic tasting chickens, slightly yellow in color from the feed which is corn. The breast is filled with sun-dried tomatoes and then rolled, the skin still on, then poached, cooled and pan fried just before serving. It goes beautifully well with the herbed snails and the red wine

Then the main course is a very traditional one, basically one could call it beef parmentier which means beef and potatoes.....just of course shooshed up a little.

The cheese course is a very important course on this menu, I decided to go for a twice cooked goats cheese souffle, even so it doesn't say on the menu, I like to keep some surprises up my sleeve. This is served with a slightly smoked tomato sauce and pesto, just a couple of drops as otherwise it will be too overpowering

The wines of course were out of this world. Pontet Canet is not just a Grand Crus Classe 1855, but it is the first and only bio-dynamic Grand Cru Classe in Bordeaux. I am not telling you how much one bottle costs, that you can find out for yourselves, but just to let you know the 2010 was awarded 100 Points by Parker, which means it is basically a perfect wine.

We had 6 different vintages, I mean to have one vintage is already a treat, but to be able to taste 6 different years, to see how different the wines are each year, knowing that they come from the same soil....is simply amazing. It is all depending on the weather, just amazing

Restaurant Review, Pepper Lunch in Aura Mall, Manila

This is the first time we went to the brand new SM Aura Mall in Manila......and wow, how fancy it all is. A total contrast to Market Market which is less than 5 minutes walk, basically opposite Aura Mall. The Mall is not yet fully opened, there are quite a few shops still not ready, but overall it is a very nice Mall, loads of space, everything is still shiny and polished, so definitely worth a try

There is a food court on the top level, next to the movies and there is a nice choice of food stalls, this time we wanted to try out Pepper Lunch, simply because the line in front of the restaurant was the longest one of all food outlet and I always like to go there where all the people go, it must be good. And good it was indeed. I was amazed at the simplicity of the concept, you choose your dish and then the chef just prepares it quickly on a sizzling hot metal plate, WOW.

The restaurant is a fairly new chain restaurant and there are branches popping up everywhere in Manila, but this is special, you see what they do on the plate. The choice in Aura Mall is a bit small, if you want to have a wider variety you need to go to Rockwell, but beware, the prices there are quite a bit higher.....location and rent I guess.

We had the Pepper Beef and the Teriyaki Beef, both were extremely nice and hot, yes of course, it is a sizzling plate and the food is piping hot. Be careful when you eat it or when you get it from the till as I was full of little sauce splatters over my shirt as I did not think about the food sizzling right in front of me, so to take precautions, even if a little late I used the serviette to protect me, hehehe, still plenty off little spots!

The idea is actually that you mix everything together, there is a pepper butter in the rice, so with mixing it it melts beautifully and flavors the rice. As the restaurant name gives it already away, it is peppery, so if you don't like black pepper, than this restaurant is nothing for you....we loved it.

Canapes: Dill Scones with smoked Salmon

I think the first question that comes up is, why to put dill in scones, does that actually work? Yes it does, it is a great combination of sweet and savory. I remember that I have written a blog about making scones, yes I know it is a long time ago, but this time it is actually just a variation of the other scones and it is worth while talking bout scones again. I love scones, I have them in all variations, with jam, with cheese, clotted cream or savory with salmon.

The only difference in the scone dough is that I use chopped dill in addition to the other ingredients and then that they are generously topped with cream cheese and then either smoked salmon or cured salmon.....yes cured salmon or gravid lax that had a lot of dill in the marinade. Salmon likes to be paired with something on the sweet side, it just marries perfectly with the delicate flavor of the salmon.

I have here again the recipe for the scones, just in case you have forgotten it or don't want to look for the blog with the recipe

Recipe

560 G Cake Flour

10 G Baking Powder

2 G Salt

80 G Sugar

1 Each Lemon Zest

1 Each Orange Zest

30 G Dill, chopped

250 Ml Buttermilk

130 G Butter

130 Ml Water

2 Each Eggs

Method

Sift all the dry ingredients

Mix flour and butter together

Mix everything quickly to a dough

Roll the dough out and cut out scones

Let the scones rest for at least 1 hour before baking

By the way, I have to tell you how the car launch went.....it was a lot different than expected. After the canape tasting the message came through that they don't have the budget for such elaborate canapes, so we actually sold just the normal ones. Pity as there were cars costing a fortune and we ended up serving Spring Rolls, Mini Burgers, Prawn Tempura and Chicken Lolly Pops. There was no Jaguar on show, but at least a beautiful black Land Rover Defender 110. What a stunning car it is, real rough going a car that looks absolutely indestructible.

The whole function started early, a couple of promotional movies and then the canapes, by just after 7 PM we were already finished and prepared to go home. The huge wow and pomp......maybe another time.

Canapes: Lamb Chops

I am playing again, OK, the playing is actually for the launch or Jaguar and Range Rover here in Ghana, so it is something that gets showcased with some of the most amazing cars there are...yes I love Jaguar and Range Rover, so I am more than happy to create some nice and special bites for it.

The recipe for the canape of today is actually very easy, but if you serve it in the right dish it just looks absolutely stunning. To get the meat perfectly pink I first season and sear the rack on all sides, then I put it in the oven at....64 C and yes it has to be exactly 64 C if it is more it will be well done, if it is less then it will stay too rare. It takes good 45 minutes, even more to get the center temperature up to 64, but then you can actually leave the lamb in the oven as long as you want, it will not overcook as the temperature is not high enough

Now for all my friends in the States, 64 Celsius is 147 Fahrenheit.

You will see that if you want to do this method, it is a lot easier in a convection oven, the traditional ovens are a lot more difficult to have the exact temperature, but the end result is the same, you want it nice and pink in the middle

Then I add the crust and just finish the rack in the salamander to give the crust the crispness and the brown color.

I like to serve the cut rack individual with a little creamy mash potatoes, some marinated peas and a little jus, garnish with some herbs and your deluxe canape is ready....or our 150 deluxe canapes will be ready

Recipe2 Ea Lamb Rack, Frenched
Salt
Pepper
Olive oil
10 G Thyme
10 G Rosemary
20 G Parsley
100 G Bread Crumbs
100 G Butter

500 G Potatoes
20 Ml Cream
20 Ml Milk
20 G Butter
Salt
Pepper

Method
Season the lamb rack and fry in hot oil till nice and brown
Finish it off in the oven at 65C for about 45 minutes
The meat will be perfectly pink
Have the butter at room temperature
Chop the herbs finely
Mix bread crumbs, butter and herbs
Roll the crust between 2 plastic wraps to about 3 mm
Put in the fridge to get hard, then cut the size of the lamb rack
Take the lamb rack out the oven and place the crust on the rack
Quickly flash under the salamander till golden brown

Boil the potatoes till very soft
Pour the water off
Strain the potatoes
Add milk, cream and butter
Season to taste

Pipe a bit mash in a Chinese spoon
Cut the lamb rack in slices
Put the lamb on the mash
Add a bit truffled demi glace
Garninsh with some herbs

Canapes, little delicious eats for cocktails

Smoked Salmon Roulade

Don't we all love going to cocktail, sipping the bubbly, talking stories to other people and listening to their stories and yes, of course nibbling these delicious little cocktail food called canapes.

Let me give you the definition of a canape as per Wikipedia:

The name comes from the French word for "couch," drawing on the analogy that the garnish sits atop the bread as people do a couch.

 

Because they are often served during cocktail hours, it is often desired that a canapé be either salty or spicy, in order to encourage guests to drink more. A canapé may also be referred to as finger food, although not all finger foods are canapés.  Crackers or small slices of bread or toast or puff pastry, cut into various shapes, serve as the base for savory butters or pastes, often topped with a “canopy” of such savory foods as meat, cheese, fish, caviar, foie gras, purees or relish.

Traditionally, canapés are built on stale white bread (though other foods may be used as a base), cut in thin slices and then shaped with a cutter or knife. Shapes might include circles, rings, squares, strips or triangles. These pieces of bread are then prepared by deep frying, sauteeing or toasting. The foods are sometimes highly processed and decoratively applied (e.g., piped) to the base with a pastry bag. Decorative garnishes are then applied. The canapés are usually served on a canapé salver and eaten from small canapé plates. The technical composition of a canapé consists of a base (e.g., the bread or pancake), a spread, a main item, and a garnish. The spread is traditionally either a compound butter or a flavored cream cheese. Common garnishes can range from finely chopped vegetables, scallions, and herbs to caviar or truffle oil.

Caramelized Foie Gras Profiterole

Wow, that is a lot of explanation for a little thing, but as you can see, they don't just look delicious, thy taste delicious.

Today I have 2 types for you, both of them are a little high end but something different to the usual cheese on cracker. The one is a smoked salmon roulade with cream cheese. I serve it on a toasted brown bread with a little lettuce. The other one is a Foie Gras Profiterole......I explain a little more about profiteroles another time, but it is basically choux pastry that is filled with a foie gras mousse and then the lid gets caramelized, this gives it a bit sweetness and crunchiness

Salmon Roulade

300 G Smoked Salmon
500 G Cream cheese
1 Ea Pumpernickel, rounds
15 G Salt
2 G Pepper
20 G Parsley, chopped
1 Ea Lemon juice

Baby Spinach
Radiccio salad
Frisee salad

Beat the cream cheese till light and fluffy
Add seasoning and chopped herbs
Take cling film and roll it on your working surface put one layer of smoked salmon on it
Spread the cream cheese evenly all over the salmon
Holding the cling film, carefully roll the salmon that it forms one long roulade
Wrap it in the cling film and freeze
Let it slightly defrost, cut in 5 mm slices

Take the pumpernickel, top with one leaf of baby spinach and a piece of radiccio salad
Top with the salmon roulade
Garnish with frisee lettuce Makes about 45 pieces

Foie Gras Profiterole

250 G Foie Gras
75 Ml Chicken stock, light
250 Ml Cream
10 G Salt
2 G Pepper
15 Ml Cognac
3 Ea Gelatine
100 G Sugar

Melt the foie gras in the chicken stock, not heating it too much
Blend everything in a food processor
Cool down to room temperature
Season with salt, pepper and cognac, it needs to bee a little on the salty side as otherwise with the cream it will taste bland
Soak and melt the gelatine
Add to the foie gras mix
Whip the cream till stiff
Fold into the foie gras mix

Caramelize the sugar
Cut the profiteroles in half
Dip the cover of the profiteroles in the caramel
Cool down Pipe the mousse on the bottom, then add the caramelized top

Makes about 45 pieces