Melissa kept things fresh and light with prosciutto-wrapped melon followed by a Thai ceviche made with tilapia, bell peppers and coconut milk -- one of Amanda's favorites at our place and a nice pairing with a Cuban mojito in one hand and a fork in the other.
The main event was a braised lamb shank served on couscous salad with a zesty sauce of cilantro, lime and Greek yogurt. When done right, lamb shank falls right off the bone and melts in your mouth, and this one hit the mark dead center. Seasoned with coriander and fennel seeds, garlic and cumin (among other things -- see recipe below), it was a panoply of flavors that held together beautifully.
We topped off the night with what has become a favorite, and somewhat legendary, dessert in our house. Ramon debuted his habanero, serrano and jalapeno creme brulee at a Blackwood Street Thanksgiving a few years ago. It met with some suspicious looks (before tasting), quickly followed by rave reviews once the crusts were cracked. Melissa got the proportions just right: the clean, fresh flavor of the peppers came through with just enough spice to leave a tickle in your throat, deftly sidestepping the high potential for disaster with this dish. Ramon would be proud. Self-service with the torch was optional, and guests met with mixed levels of success making a nice sugar crust -- a fun activity as long as alcohol consumption has been sufficiently moderate to warrant brandishing a lit propane torch in a tiny apartment full of people.
Libations for the night were somewhat haphazard: mojitos to start, followed by bubbly (both the Imperial Sec and a nice Prosecco Evan brought), and a 2007 Arona Sauvignon Blanc (Marlborough, NZ). As the night wore on the gin bottle was cracked and the final drops of a bottle of Glenlivet 12 yr Scotch were consumed. All in all a great Saturday night...
Happy Birthday, Amanda!
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Melissa's Recipes (serves 6; cited amounts are estimates):
Pate
500g/1lb Chicken Livers
1 Portobello Mushroom
2 Shallots
200ml/3/4 cup Cream
50g/1/2 stick Butter
50g/1/2 ounce unsalted Pork fat
2 tbsp Breadcrumbs
1 tbsp Black Peppercorns
1tsp Salt (leave out if salted pork fat is used)
Coarsely chop shallots and mushroom and pan fry in butter until soft. Add cooked mixture to raw livers, cream, raw pork fat, breadcrumbs, peppercorns and salt. Using a hand blender or food processor puree all ingredients together until there are no lumps. Mixture will be fairly runny. Pour into ~4 greased ramekins. Place ramekins in a large high sided pan in the oven. Fill pan with boiling water from a kettle so that the pates cook in ramekins surrounded by hot water (bain marie). It is safer to fill the pan while it is in the oven than move it to the oven after it is filled with hot water. The pates should be cooked ~1hr at 180C/350F or until internal temperature is ~76C/170F. Cool before serving.
Ceviche
3 Tilapia Filets (snapper or flounder is also suitable - cod doesn't work so well)
4-6 Lemons
1sp John West Thai Green Curry Paste
1-2tsp of fish sauce
1/4 red onion (Finely sliced 1/2 rings)
1/2 can lite coconut cream
11tbsp of chopped coriander leaves/cilantro
Mixed salad greens or rocket/arugula
1/2 red capsicum/bell pepper (julienned)
Dice fish into cubes and slice onions. Place in bowl and add lemon juice until it almost covers fish (how much lemon juice depends on type of bowl). Add green curry paste and fish sauce and mix. Cover with Gladwrap/Cling film. Push plastic down so it contacts fish and removes air pockets. Let sit in fridge for at least 2 hours, or preferably overnight. For shorter times or 2 hours cut fish into smaller pieces. Over time the lemon juice will "cook" the fish so it goes from translucent to opaque and the texture stiffens. Just prior to serving add coconut cream and coriander leaves/cilantro and mix. In a bowl make a base of salad greens. Spoon fish mixture on top. Add capsicum/bell pepper as a garnish and serve.
Lamb shanks with cous cous salad
Lamb
1-2 lamb shanks (mine was large, so might have been a sheep shank)
1 tbsp whole coriander seeds
1 tbsp cumin
1 tsp of fennel seeds
6 cloves of garlic
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tbsp salt
Beef broth (enough to 1/2 fill casserole dish after lamb is placed in it)
Grind coriander garlic and fennel seeds in mini food processor or with mortar and pestle. Add cumin, olive oil, salt and lemon juice and mix to loose paste. Put lamb shanks in smallest casserole dish that lid still fits on. Pour over spice paste and rub into meat. Fill casserole dish 1/2 full with beef broth (or any other type of broth or red wine), cover and place in 180C/350F oven for 3+ hours. In the middle of cooking time turn shanks so both sides cook in liquid. During cooking lamb will contract to expose bone and when ready lamb will slide easily from bone and the meat can be pulled apart by hand. Do not allow liquid from casserole dish to evaporate completely as the meat will become dry. ~15 minutes before taking out of the oven I spooned over juices containing garlic bits and cooked uncovered to allow the spice slurry to dry on the meat for extra flavour. Remove from oven and let cool to room temperature to serve with cous cous.
Cous cous salad
1 cup cous cous (fast cooking)
1 1/4 cup chicken broth
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tomato (diced)
1/2 avocado (diced)
hand full of coriander leaves/cilantro (finely chopped)
Place cous cous into dish, add boiling chicken broth and olive oil and cover. Allow to sit until cooled to room temperature. Cous cous will be cooked after ~5 minutes and cooled after ~20 minutes. Check that cous cous is cooked after 5 minutes. If chicken broth was not hot enough, microwaving for 2-3 minutes will soften cous cous before cooling. Prior to serving add tomato, avocado and coriander leaves/cilantro and mix.
Cilantro Pesto
1 cup of coriander leaves/cilantro
1 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp oil
1 tbsp unsweetened plain yogurt
1 tsp salt
Add all ingredients to blender and puree till runny and smooth.
To serve lamb with cous cous, spoon cous cous salad onto plate and place chunks of lamb on top. Drizzle Cilantro pesto over lamb and serve.
Creme Brulee
500ml of cream (I used 1/2 heavy, 1/2 light cream)
6 egg yolks
100g/3.5oz of sugar
1 tsp of ground ginger
1/6 habanero pepper
1/3 jalapeno pepper
1/3 serrano pepper
sugar for crust
In mixer whisk egg yolks and sugar until light and fluffy. Bring cream and ginger to boil on stove. Add hot cream to egg mixture and whisk. In blender finely chop peppers (with seeds removed) and add to cream and eggs mixture. At this stage mixture should be like very runny custard. Mine was still a little too thin so I boiled a pot of water and placed the mixing bowl over the pot to heat and thicken the contents a little more. Pour into 6-8 ramekins and cook at 150C/300F in a bain marie (see pate recipe for instructions on bain marie). Cooking time should be ~40-50 minutes. When done creme brulees should "wobble" when ramekin is tapped rather than remain runny. Remove from oven and cool to room temperature.
Just prior to serving sugar crust should be made. If you try to do this in advance it will get soft and redissolve into the brulee, so it must be done just prior to serving. Coat brulees with liberal coating of sugar. Any kind is ok but raw sugar is pretty good. With propane torch melt sugar until golden brown and runny. When heat is removed this will form a hard crust. From my limited experience here are a few tips that I think are useful. Remember the hottest part of the flame is at the tip so hold the torch back a generous distance from the creme brulees. Keep the torch moving so as not to burn regions of the topping. While the sugar will melt and slowly turn golden, any exposed creme brulee base will quickly turn black and bitter so more sugar rather than less makes it easier to get that golden brown crust. Good luck!
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P.S. Salad of leftovers...
1 comment:
Lunch time is closing in and reading this definitely makes my mouth water. I am very happy to hear about the creme brulee.
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