SUNDAY NIGHT AT THE MANOR

Tonight at The Manor .......
The first course will be pork knuckle baked in an Italian balsamic vinegar served with a simple spinach and tomato salad .
The mains is fillets of ocean trout and blue grenadier in a horseradish mustard crusted dukkah ...these will be served on a bed of brown rice and freekah along with a side of broad beans and carrots .
Service at 6 pm .

 

STRONG FLOUR ........choux pastry

Strong flour has a gluten content of 13- 14 %.
That is why strong flour is important to use in making choux pastry , as it contains more gluten which is needed to make the dough and gives the pastry elasticity .

HELPFUL HINTS

EGGS.........
I am often asked if there is a way to stop the dark rim around the yolks of hard boiled eggs ?
All you need to do is place the eggs in salted cold water then bring to a gentle boil for 7 minutes , then pour off the hot water and place saucepan with eggs under cold running water .
To prevent discolouration of your saucepan when boiling eggs , add a tbs of vinegar or a slice of lemon to the water .

CREAM.......
To make whipped cream go further add a lightly beaten egg white before starting to whip .

CURRY TOO HOT ?
If you have over spiced your curry, ( too strong ) add some tomato sauce , 1 tbs of sugar and the juice of 1/2 a lemon .
Mix this well into your curry .

EVAPORATED MILK
Evaporated milk maybe used in place of egg when making hamburgers ..1 tbs : 500 gm of mince .

EGG REPLACEMENT
Mix cornflour and water together to form a paste in   place of egg prior to coating with breadcrumbs

BROAD BEANS
Adding a couple of mint leaves to the cooking process will enhance the flavour of the beans .

DECONSTRUCTED PEACH MEMORY ...

I was asked to replicate a memory of a Peach Melba ...
These are the details of the Peach Melba once enjoyed on a train ride  in the early sixties .
From memory the Peach Melba had a sponge style base and cling peach slices were used , the cake was no more than 50 cm high .
This dessert was served on a diesel train from Lilydale to Melbourne , it was a scout trip from Gladysdale toYarra Glen .
First let me correct the title of the dish it definitely is not a traditional Peach Melba .
I have researched train menus from the sixties , used my extensive collection of old recipe books  , nothing matches the memory.
Peach Melba  is an individual dessert of poached , skinned and destoned  peaches topped with fresh raspberry sauce and a scoop of vanilla ice cream .
So using the scant details from the memory , I created A Deconstructed Peach Memory...
1 used 2 small round cake pans and a vanilla sponge mix and divided the mix evenly between the pans.
I used only one half of the prepared sponge cakes .
I lightly spread the base of the cake with raspberry jam and placed it jam side down on a plate .
Then I  spread a  fine layer of passion fruit curd over the top and placed the drained cling peach slices  and crushed raspberry jelly  rounds on top .
I bordered the peach cake with halved pavlova discs filled with raspberry frosting .
Then piped unsweetened thickened cream to fill the gaps between the pavlova border and finished off with a fine crumble of pavlova.

CHICKEN AND EGG FRITATTA

The chicken and egg fritatta I served tonight at The Manor

GOLDEN CIRCLE TROPICAL RECIPE BOOK

I have a passion for old cook / recipe books and was thrilled be given the
GOLDEN CIRCLE TROPICAL RECIPE BOOK published in 1955.
The book is in perfect condition ... the ingredients are still available , its just the preparation and plating up that has evolved .

Thank you so much Bev Lorraine ...

RICOTTA FRITTATA

Place in a large bowl 300gm of ricotta cheese , salt and cracked black pepper to taste , 3 lightly beaten eggs , 2 tbs of chopped fresh parsley , 1 tbs of dried dill , 1 tbs of dried chives 150 gm of diced ham and 80 gm of grated mozzarella cheese .

Mix together until ricotta is smooth , pour into a greased flan and bake in a well preheated oven or 25 minutes or until the mixture is well risen and golden .

Serve garnished with black olives alongside garlic bread .