Hello again! I am back from a long and learning-filled week at Ashburton Cookery School. Over the next few days, I'll be posting the recipes and photos... there is a lot of material for me to work through here.
Vanessa was confined to eating soup while I was gone, so she was pretty eager to have me back at work in the kitchen. I ended up taking home a big ball of pasta dough from the school and thought I would create a dish inspired by one of the dishes we cooked.
From start to finish, these two plates took an hour to get together, from raw ingredients (except the pasta had was already made) to two steaming-hot plates of yummy food.
I went with a salmon, dill, chive, aniseed flavor profile here which is going work pretty much every time. A nice, salty accent from the bacon and good, fresh veg tastes. A really well-rounded dish, I think. Hope you give it a try.
2 sheets fresh pasta, cut into 6 squares, 5" x 5"
COURT BOUILLON
½ lemon, sliced
10 black peppercorns
4 parsley stems
1 bay leaf, torn
1 star anise pod
1 pinch salt
300 g salmon, skin on
water, to cover fish
"FILLING"
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
50 g pancetta, cut in lardons
½ leek, quartered lengthways, then sliced across into smallish dice
200 g peas, thawed if frozen
1 splash Pernod
3 sprigs dill, roughly chopped
30 milliliters double (heavy) cream
salt and black pepper
DILL FOAM
200 milliliters skim milk
1 shallot, sliced
1 clove garlic, sliced
¼ cup chives, finely snipped
salt and black pepper
Heat the oven to 50C. Put your plates in the oven to keep warm while you cook.
CHIVE FOAM
Add the foam ingredients and bring up to 70C on medium heat. Remove from the stove, set aside and allow the flavors to infuse for up to 1 hour.
PASTA
Roll out your fresh pasta and cut into 5" squares. Alternatively, you could use lasagna noodles, but fresh pasta tastes better. Set aside in a floured tray until needed. Get a small saucepan to the boil, add a splash of olive oil and a small handful of salt, cover and keep warm. Cooking the pasta is the final step.
FILLING
Heat the oil and butter in a deep saucepan over medium-high heat. When hot, add the pancetta and cook off until starting to go brown. Back the heat down to medium and add the leeks. Saute for a few minutes, until it is starting to go a bit soft, and add the peas. Season with salt and pepper.
When the peas and leeks have cooked (and the peas are still nice a green), add a splash of Pernod to the pan and deglaze, allowing the Pernod to cook down. Add the cream and stir through to combine. When it just starts to bubble, pull the pan off the heat and add the dill. Check for seasoning. Cover and put in the oven to keep warm.
POACH THE SALMON
Put the lemon, peppercorns, parsley stems, bay leaf, star anise and salt in a deep, wide pan. Fill the pan with water about 1/2 way up the sides. Bring this to a bare simmer and hold this temperature.
Add the salmon, and allow to poach gently for 6-8 minutes, or until you can see the salmon is cooked when you separate a few flakes. When cooked, remove from the pan and pull the salmon skin off and discard. Pick the salmon apart into good-sized chunks.
FINISH
Strain the foam ingredients and add a bit more snipped chives. Warm gently then foam vigorously with a stick blender. Set aside.
Cook the pasta for 1-2 minutes, until done. (NOTE: The water only needs to be hot, not boiling). Remove the pan from the heat and pick the pasta pieces out with a slotted spoon.
Take one sheet for each plate and lay it on the bottom in an artsy, decorative way. Top with some of the filling and some salmon.
Repeat this layering until you have used the filling, pasta and salmon evenly in layers. Top with a few spoonfuls of just the foamy top of the chive foam. Garnish with a few dill sprigs. Serve.
COURT BOUILLON
½ lemon, sliced
10 black peppercorns
4 parsley stems
1 bay leaf, torn
1 star anise pod
1 pinch salt
300 g salmon, skin on
water, to cover fish
"FILLING"
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
50 g pancetta, cut in lardons
½ leek, quartered lengthways, then sliced across into smallish dice
200 g peas, thawed if frozen
1 splash Pernod
3 sprigs dill, roughly chopped
30 milliliters double (heavy) cream
salt and black pepper
DILL FOAM
200 milliliters skim milk
1 shallot, sliced
1 clove garlic, sliced
¼ cup chives, finely snipped
salt and black pepper
Heat the oven to 50C. Put your plates in the oven to keep warm while you cook.
CHIVE FOAM
Add the foam ingredients and bring up to 70C on medium heat. Remove from the stove, set aside and allow the flavors to infuse for up to 1 hour.
PASTA
Roll out your fresh pasta and cut into 5" squares. Alternatively, you could use lasagna noodles, but fresh pasta tastes better. Set aside in a floured tray until needed. Get a small saucepan to the boil, add a splash of olive oil and a small handful of salt, cover and keep warm. Cooking the pasta is the final step.
FILLING
Heat the oil and butter in a deep saucepan over medium-high heat. When hot, add the pancetta and cook off until starting to go brown. Back the heat down to medium and add the leeks. Saute for a few minutes, until it is starting to go a bit soft, and add the peas. Season with salt and pepper.
When the peas and leeks have cooked (and the peas are still nice a green), add a splash of Pernod to the pan and deglaze, allowing the Pernod to cook down. Add the cream and stir through to combine. When it just starts to bubble, pull the pan off the heat and add the dill. Check for seasoning. Cover and put in the oven to keep warm.
POACH THE SALMON
Put the lemon, peppercorns, parsley stems, bay leaf, star anise and salt in a deep, wide pan. Fill the pan with water about 1/2 way up the sides. Bring this to a bare simmer and hold this temperature.
Add the salmon, and allow to poach gently for 6-8 minutes, or until you can see the salmon is cooked when you separate a few flakes. When cooked, remove from the pan and pull the salmon skin off and discard. Pick the salmon apart into good-sized chunks.
FINISH
Strain the foam ingredients and add a bit more snipped chives. Warm gently then foam vigorously with a stick blender. Set aside.
Cook the pasta for 1-2 minutes, until done. (NOTE: The water only needs to be hot, not boiling). Remove the pan from the heat and pick the pasta pieces out with a slotted spoon.
Take one sheet for each plate and lay it on the bottom in an artsy, decorative way. Top with some of the filling and some salmon.
Repeat this layering until you have used the filling, pasta and salmon evenly in layers. Top with a few spoonfuls of just the foamy top of the chive foam. Garnish with a few dill sprigs. Serve.
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