Tag: crème fraîche

Damien Pignolet’s Tiny Omelette of Goat’s Cheese & Pine Nuts

.Reading time 2 minutes.

Serves: 1

Nat and I had a simple French lunch a Sunday or two ago and I cooked this omelette from Damien Pignolet’s book, ‘french’.

It’s a book I have had for years and it’s just lovely 80s and 90s French from his various restaurants. (If you haven’t, Bistro Moncur in Woollahra is a wonderful long lunch!)

This omelette is predictable delicate and just a lovely way to kick things off; I doubled it so that we had a small omelette each.

Enjoy.

Ingredients

1 whole egg
1 egg yolk
2 tsp crème fraîche
2 tsp pine nuts, toasted until pale golden
1/4 tsp thyme leaves
1 tsp unsalted butter
2 tsp rosemary oil (below)
1 tbsp rindless mature goat’s cheese, broken into small pieces

Method

  1. Place the egg, egg yolk, crème fraîche, and pine nuts in a small bowl for each omelette. Season with a tiny pinch of salt, freshly cracked black pepper and thyme leaves. Using a fork, break the eggs and yolks, lightly mixing the ingredients so that streaks of white and yolk are still visible – this ensures lightness of texture in the omelette.
  2. Heat the butter and rosemary oil in a blini pan, pour in the egg mixture, wait a moment for it to set, then shake the pan and, using a spatula or fork, draw the cooked egg away to allow the raw mixture to flow underneath and cook. While the omelette is still quite moist, add the goat’s cheese, flip half the omelette over and turn out onto a warm plate.

Rosemary oil

To make the rosemary oil, put 4 tbsp of olive oil in a small ovenproof bowl with 2 tbsp rosemary leaves and place in a 150c oven for 10 minutes. Allow to cool then strain into a bowl or storage jar; the oil will keep for several days. This quantity is enough for 9 tiny omelettes. Rosemary oil can also be used to sauté potatoes, along with some garlic, or to brush on a small fish such as red mullet before grilling.

Paul Farag’s Potato Rosti with Cultured Cream and Bottarga

.Reading time 3 minutes.

Serves: 4

Wow.

This as starter or a side. Just brilliant.

By Paul Farag, the genius behind Sydney Turkish 2-hater Aalia, this recipe has a little technique behind it, though it’s otherwise simple and elegant.

What we loved about it was the drama of serving two large Rostis so that everyone can get in on the fun.

The shaved bottarga is just lux. Add caviar if you really want to impress.

I say it every time, though when I find a new potato dish that is a home run, I’m so excited.

(Nat found it, cooked it and I can no credit other than to be typing this up.)

We’re BBQing lobster on Christmas Eve – an annual tradition with Nat’s parents – and this rosti is going to make Nat’s mother so happy: just need to someone cook all that ghee without her seeing!

(If you don’t have a mandoline fitted with a julienne attachment, now might be the time.)

Ingredients

1gm sebago potatoes, peeled*
200gm ghee, melted
200gm crème fraîche
10gm bottarga or roe, caviar
1 bunch chives, finely chopped

Method

  1. Using your mandolin fitted with a julienne attachment, cut your potatoes into fine matchsticks.
  2. I rarely interrupt a recipe other than to suggest a wine or to keep stirring, however I say this as someone that made four cauliflower pizza bases one Friday night, not realising I would need to food-process, steam something like 20 cauliflowers and then suffer through the purgatory of squeezing the hot wet rice of 20 cauliflowers: do not julienne 1kg of potato with a knife. Just don’t.)
  3. Using your hands, squeeze out all the excess liquid, then place potato in a large bowl. Toss the potato with half the ghee and season well with salt flakes and freshly ground pepper.
  4. Place a non-stick pan with a 23cm base (use a sheet of baking paper to line the pan if your pan isn’t non-stick) over medium-low heat. Add half the potato mix, spreading it evenly to cover the base of the pan, lightly shaping it to a neat circle, but trying not to push down too much.
  5. Cook for 15 minutes or until deep golden brown. When ready to flip, place a chopping board over the pan and flip onto the board. Place half the remaining ghee (50gm) in the pan and transfer the rosti back to the pan, uncooked side down and cook for another 10 – 15 minutes until deep golden colour. Remove from the pan and drain on paper towel. Repeat the remaining process with the remaining potato mixture and ghee.
  6. To serve, place a good dollop of crème fraîche on top of each warm rosti, finely shave bottarga over the top and sprinkle with chives.

* Yes, you can buy them in Australia.

David Japy’s (Chick) ‘The Classic with Chicken’ Burger

.Reading time 4 minutes.

Serves: 4

A few months back, we flew to the Barossa for my birthday.

We both had to work, though we had the little kids in tow and were surrounded by some of Australia’s best wineries: what could go wrong, right?

What a brilliant week.

Light the fire before the kids get up, have breakfast (croissants), bash out emails, a winery or two around lunchtime, back for lunch at home, far fewer emails and try one of the reds we purchased earlier in the day.

Thanks for a brilliant week Nat. Never going to be 45 again and so lucky to have spent it with you. Here is to Grant Burge at 10am on my birthday.
At Henschke. Max didn’t take their heritage as seriously as they did. (They still gave him a colouring pack.)
David Franz. A brilliant cellar door and brilliant wines. Cellaring a 2013 Cab Sav.
We purchased their cookbook years ago. The restaurant is a most-go in Adelaide.
A brilliant recommendation from my mate Bryan. Cellared.
My mate Bryan’s favourite drop: a bottle in the cellar for Max when he turns 21.
Waking up to this each morning. Light fire. Croissants. Count down to birthday Champagne.

Per tradition, I had a cookbook for Nat ready to be unveiled in the lounge before we flew down to Adelaide.

‘Hamburger Gourmet’ by David Japy.

We’ve bought a few hamburger books and almost exclusively – actually, exclusively – they’ve been duds. Donated to the local community library.

Hamburger Gourmet, however. This is no dud.

Take this ‘Chick’ burger, one of the best chicken burgers I’ve had.

Tom (13) has designated burger night every second Thursday and I’m not scared.

Start with this burger.

Just wonderful. Simple yes, though bloody wonderful!

(We added avocado due to having an abundance of them and I am yet to be convinced avocado should not be on any and every chicken burger.)

Ingredients

4 homemade or bought buns (we did milk buns)

Patties
500gm chicken breast
A few pinches, sea salt
A drizzle olive oil

Sauce
1 onion, thinly sliced
A drizzle olive oil
200gm crème fraîche
75gm Italian parsley, finely chopped

Toppings
70gm baby spinach
Mashed avocado

Method

  1. For the patties, dice the chicken into small pieces and form into 4 patties, pressing them together well.
  2. Brown the onion in a frying pan over a high heat with the olive oil. Set a quarter aside. Put the frying pan over low heat and add the crème fraîche and parsley. Cook, stirring until the mixture reduces. Season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
  3. Season the patties with the sea salt. Cook the patties in a hot frying pan over high heat with the olive oil for 5 minutes on each side.
  4. Cut the buns in half horizontally and toast them for 2 minutes under the grill. Spread the cut sides of the heels and crowns with the sauce. (Now is the time to spread the avocado on the heels if that is your preference.) Put the chicken patties on the heels then topped with the reserved onions and spinach. Finish with the crowns.

Jamie Oliver’s Salmon en croute

.Reading time 4 minutes.

FullSizeRender (5).jpg
Merry Salmon Christmas!

Jamie Oliver’s Salmon en croute

Serves: 4

We did a seafood themed-dinner the evening of Christmas Eve and one of the dishes we prepared was this number from Jamie Oliver.

It is something I have wanted to try for a while and with a beautiful side of salmon right from the fish markets (we doubled the recipe) it was a real hit: the sauce, the pastry, the thick, flaking salmon and the wonderful watercress and spinach filling.

Complete with Christmas pastry-work by Nat, it looked and tasted just like Christmas and it was just as good as a cold snack on Boxing Day.

I’m slightly sad thinking it will be almost a year until I can cook this number again…

Ingredients

Olive oil
2 French shallots
100gm baby spinach
1 bunch of fresh flat-leaf parsley
200gm baby leaf watercress
1 tbsp butter
1 lemon
1 whole nutmeg , for grating
200gm crème fraîche
500gm thick, skinless salmon fillet, pin-boned
500gm puff pastry sheets
1 large egg, whisked

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 200c. Line a large baking tray with greaseproof paper and brush it with a little oil.
  2. Peel and finely chop the shallots, roughly chop the spinach, then pick and chop the parsley leaves. Chop half the watercress, leaving the rest whole.
  3. To make the filling, warm the butter and a splash of oil in a pan over a low heat. Add the shallots and cook for 10 minutes, or until soft but not coloured.
  4. Add the spinach, parsley and chopped watercress to the pan with the zest and juice from the lemon. Season to taste and stir in a good grating of nutmeg.
  5. Cook down the leaves for 3 to 5 minutes, then mix in 1 tablespoon of the crème fraîche.
  6. Tip it into a sieve set over a bowl and press to squeeze out the juices. Leave the filling to cool.
  7. To make the sauce, blitz the remaining watercress and crème fraîche in a food processor with juices from the bowl. Season and transfer to a bowl and chill until needed.
  8. Slice the salmon fillet in half sideways, so you can open it like a book.
  9. Spoon the cooled filling down the middle, fold the fish back over to close and set aside.
  10. Prepare enough pastry sheets to fully wrap the salmon: 2, maybe 3.
  11. Place one piece of pastry on the baking tray and lay the salmon on top in the middle. With your finger, dab water around the edge of the pastry, then lay the other piece on top.
  12. Mould the pastry around the fish with your hands, then press the edges with a fork to seal. Score the top with a knife, then beat and brush over the whisked egg.
  13. Bake the salmon in the oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the pastry is crisp.
  14. Serve with the watercress sauce.