B&B Christmas Dinner, 7th December 2002

Sorrell Frittata

• 4 eggs
• 1½ tbsp plain flour
• 2 tbsp cream
• 1 cup shredded sorell leaves
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tbsp olive oil

Method:

Footnote:
By leaving out the flour and avoiding stirring during cooking this mixture makes a delicious omelette. The cream can also be deleted if you wish. Just turn the omelette over when one side is golden - in this case the internal texture should be quite soft and the sorrel will appear wilted.

Crispy Beijing Duck in Rice Paper Rolls

• 1 cooked Beijing duck (go to a Chinese deli)
• 100 gm mushrooms - shitake
• 3 spring onions finely diced
• 200 gm bean sprouts
• ¼ cup chopped coriander
• ¼ cup hoisin sauce
• 25 ml light soy sauce
• 1 tbs sunflower oil
• ½ tsp black pepper
• bunch bok choy or pak choy
• 25 ricepaper sheets
• bunch chives

Method:

Sauté the mushrooms in the oil; then transfer them to a cool bowl. Add spring onions bean sprouts, coriander, sauces and seasonings and mix well. Carve the duck and cut into short strips. Plunge the bok choy into boiling water and simmer for a couple of minutes. Then remove it to a colander and run cold water over it for a second or two.

Soak the ricepaper sheets in warm water for a couple of minutes until just soft. Lay the sheets out on paper towels and pat off the excess water. Cut the bok choy leaves to fit and place one on each sheet. Put a piece of the duck on each and a generous portion of the mushroom-sprout mix. Turn in the two ends and roll up into parcels. Secure each parcel by tying it with a long chive.

Stack the parcels on a damp teatowel and turn the edges over to prevent them drying out. Keep in the refrigerator for no longer than an hour or so before serving.

Party Tempura

• 500 ml broccoli
• 500 ml cauliflower
• 1 large red capsicum
• 5 zucchinis
• 2 carrots,
• 500 gm shelled medium shrimps (tails on)
• plastic bag - with cornflour

Method:

Cut the carrots, zucchinis, broccoli and cauliflower into thin strips about four inch long, discarding any stems and hard pieces. Using a sharp knife, make a slice down the back of each prawn and draw out the gut. Put a little cornflour and salt into a plastic bag. Add the prawns and the vegetables, a few pieces at a time, and shake so they are nicely coated with a very thin film of the flour; shake off any excess. Stir the crushed ice into the chilled water until it disolves. Sift the flour and the measured cornflour together. Beat the egg yolk adding the cold water. Without stopping add the flour mix gradually and beat until this batter is smooth.

In a deep fryer or deep saucepan bring the oil to a high heat - about 180°- 200°C. Dip the prawns and vegetable pieces in the batter several at a time. Carefully drop these into the hot oil and cook for about 60 seconds - until the batter is a pale gold in colour. Remove and drain, placing them on paper napkins to remove the residual oil.

Tempura Sauce

• 500ml chicken stock
• 100ml white wine or sake
• 100 ml light soy sauce
• 15 ml fish sauce
• 1-2 tsp chili paste
• 1-2 tsp ginger finely chopped
• 1 tbsp palm sugar or light brown sugar

Method:

Put all the ingredients into a saucepan and boil slowly until reduced to a light, syrupy consistency. Allow to cool before setting out in small bowls.

Smoked Salmon and Ricotta Cornettos

• 1kg smoked salmon slices
• 250 ml ricotta cheese
• 250 ml double cream
• ¼ cup chopped pickled caperberries {pickled capers are fine also}
• ¼ cup chopped green shallots
• 1 tsp fresh lemon zest
• salt and cracked black pepper
• juice of 1 lemon
• 150 gm fresh baby spinach leaves

Method:

To make the filling, combine the cheese and cream in a blender, mixing it into a smooth paste. Stir in the chopped shallots and caperberries; add the lemon zest, seasonings and lemon juice.

Puree 125g of the smoked salmon in the blender. Stir this puree into the cheese mixture and place in the fridge until the mixture is firm.

Before separating the salmon slices make a cut right down the length of the fish to ensure the pieces are of an appropriate size. Put one spinach leaf on each piece of salmon along with a teaspoon of the cheese mixture. Roll up to form a cornetto with the filling inside.

Arrange on a serving dish. Cover and place in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

Fresh Figs with Blue Stilton and Prosciutto

Ingredients:

• 8 small figs
• 8 pc thinly sliced prosciutto
• 50 gm blue Stilton or gorgonzola
• seasonings
• balsamic vinegar
• fresh mint

Method:

Make two slices at right angles across the top of each fig. Crumble the Stilton and put a teaspoonsful into each fig. Wrap the prosciutto firmly around the figs a couple of times so that it doesn't unwind. If necessary, secure with a toothpick - doesn't look so good.

Place on baking paper on a baking tray and drizzle a little olive oil over the fruit. Bake in a medium oven - about 180°C until the figs are cooked. Drizzle a few drops of balsamic vinegar over each fig before serving and decorate each piece with a sprig of mint.

Orange Lemon and Lime Sorbets

Ingredients:

• 12 oranges (500 ml juice)
• 12 lemons (250 ml juice)
• 12 limes (250 ml juice)
• caster sugar
• water
• 1 tsp Angostura Bitters

Method:

Make sufficient syrup by putting equal quantities of sugar and water in a saucepan, bringing it to the boil slowly and stirring until the sugar is dissolved.
1 litre of each will result in 1½ litres of syrup.

When juicing the oranges and lemons, protect the skins. Then clean them of all pith. Place in a sealed container and freeze solid. In separate exercises mix 500 ml of strained orange juice with 500 ml of syrup plus the bitters, and, 250 ml of strained lemon juice with 500 ml of syrup, and, 250 ml of strained lime juice with 500 ml of syrup. These proportions should be adjusted to taste.

Each mix is separately churned in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions until frozen.
Spoon the sorbet mixtures into their respective skin cases;
place on trays; cover and store in a freezer until required.
Can be prepared up to a week in advance

Turkey Breasts stuffed with Liverwurst and Chestnuts, Oven Roasted Root Vegetables with Walnuts

Ingredients:

• 2 x 1 kg turkey breasts
• 300 gm chestnuts
• 150 gm pork sausage meat
• 150 gm liverwurst
• 1 x onion diced
• 1 x carrot diced
• 100 gm pork belly minced
• 2 tsp thyme
• 2 tsp parsley
• 2 bay leaves
• 50 ml canola oil
• 400 ml chicken stock
• 200 ml white table wine
• salt and cracked black peppercorns

Method:

Put a small slit in the shell of each chestnut and bake in a hot oven until shells split - about 10 minutes. Remove the shell and inner skin while hot. Chop the chestnuts lightly. Make a stuffing by mixing them with the sausage meat and up to three quarters of the liverwurst. Add a liberal quantity of salt and pepper. With a cook's knife make a good-sized cavity inside each turkey breast, keeping the entry point as small as posible. Place the stuffing into the cavity and sew up the opening with cook's twine. In a baking tray make a bed of the diced onion and carrot, the minced pork belly and the remainder of the liverwurst, plus the thyme and parsley and about 75 ml of water. Add the bay leaves whole. Put the turkey breasts on this bed and brush all over with the oil.

Roast in a hot oven - about 200°C - turning the meat a couple of times and basting with oil until the surface is golden. After 30-45 minutes pour the the stock and half the wine into the baking tray, cover the meat and continue roasting at reduced heat - about 170°C or gas mark3 - for about another hour and a half or until cooked*.

Remove the meat and set aside under cover to keep warm. Skim as much fat as possible from the surface of the cooking liquids. Reserve these liquids in a jug. Deglaze the baking tray with the rest of the white wine, scraping up the unburned residues. Add a little paste made of cornflour and cold water, sufficient to slightly thicken the pan juices. Cook for a couple of minutes and then return the reserved cooking liquids to the tray and simmer for another couple of minutes. Strain this sauce and serve with generous slices of the meat on a light bed of watercress. Keep the rest of the sauce in a gravy boat for use at the table.

A slice of honey-glazed baked ham with cloves and a serving of roasted root vegetables with walnuts make ideal accompaniments to this dish.

* Note:
When cooked the juices should run clear when a skewer is inserted. An oven probe, if used, should read at least 75°C in the deepest part of the meat.

Roasted Root Vegetables with Walnuts

Ingredients:

• 800 gm baby white turnips
• 800gm baby carrots
• 1 head celeriac or fennel
• 1.5 kg potatoes
• 800 gm baby beetroots
• 400 ml canola oil
• 100 ml walnut oil
• 30 Échalotes (French onions)
• 30 small garlic cloves
• 2 tbsm caster sugar
• 1 tbs grated nutmeg
• 1 tbs pimento (allspice)
• 200 gm coarse chopped walnuts
• salt and cracked black pepper

Method:

Christmas Ice Cream Fruit pudding

Ingredients:

• 2 litres vanilla ice cream
• 1 kg rich Christmas cake
• 1 kg rich plum pudding
• 1 cup mixed glacée fruit
• ¼ cup seeded raisins
• ½ cup roasted almond flakes
• 200 ml Bundaberg rum

Method:

Several days in advance, place the cake and plum pudding in a large bowl. Stab each a few times and pour the rum over them gradually so it all soaks in. This can be done in stages over several days if necessary.

A few days before Christmas, combine the ingredients.
In a large mixing bowl, break up the cake and plum pudding into rough crumbly bits and mix in the glacée fruit and almonds. Take a couple of rectangular tins or dishes at least 75 cm deep and of a size to accommodate all the mixture, preferably filled to the brim.
Allow the ice cream to soften just enough to make it pliable.
Then working quickly so that it doesn't melt, spoon a third of the ice cream in thick layer in the bottom of the tins.
Then put in half of the cake mixture.
Press it down lightly to set it in place but don't push it into the ice cream layer below.
Do another layer of each in the same manner and finish with a layer of ice cream.

Stretch a sheet of plastic wrap over the top and put straight into the feezer until ready to serve.

To unmould, place the tin for a brief second in a hot water bath, invert and shake loose onto a serving dish. To assist in cutting the pudding into neat rectangular servings, have a container filled with very hot water and a large cook's knife at the ready.

Slice and serve while still frozen.

Chocolate Almond and Hazel Nut Truffles

Ingredients:

• 100 gm almonds
• 100 gm hazel nuts
• 300 gm desiccated coconut
• 600 gm rich dark chocolate
• 250 ml coconut cream
• 50 ml rum
• 150 gm Turkish delight
• 2 tsp instant coffee granules
• 1 tbsp cocoa powder

Method:

Put the nuts onto a baking tray and toast under the grill for a minute or two - until lightly golden. Crush the nuts (inside a plastic bag) or chop finely.

Toast the coconut flakes in the same manner making sure not to burn them.

Break the chocolate into small pieces into the top section of a heat proof glass double boiler and keep the water in the lower section boiling gently. Dissolve the instant coffee in a tablespoonful of hot water. As the chocolate melts stir in the coconut cream and instant coffee and blend with the chocolate until smooth. Do not cover or the chocolate will seize. Using a metal spoon stir in the rum, nuts, coconut and Turkish delight.

Place in the refrigerator until the mixture partially sets. Remove and roll into balls between your palms - wearing disposable rubber gloves moistened with water. This makes about 40 truffles. Toss the balls in the cocoa powder and set out on a serving plate on which you have placed a paper doilly.

Refrigerate until firm. Alternatively, if not for serving immediately put the truffles into an airtight jar and store in the refrigerator until required.

Wine List