These Garlic and Za’atar Knots are a tear and come again treat. Perfect for a get together and irresistible after the first bite. When you think of feta cheese, a Greek salad of filo pastry pie might come to mind. But I bet you didn’t think it could become a dip!
This Cheese, and Rosemary Christmas Tree is a terrific addition to any Christmas party, and best of all its quick and easy to make. Use it to form a centrepiece for your party table. Each branch of the ‘tree’ breaks off to become a cheese straw ready to be dipped into a suitable sauce. I like to use my Tomato and Chilli jam as a dip. But it could be anything you like.
Bacon and Avocado Wedges make an interesting party snack that is quick to both make, and serve.
Most people only think of avocado ether in a salad or as a support for prawns. They are much more versatile than that. This recipe makes use of classic flavours that marry well with avocado, bacon, garlic, lemon, and basil.
The Aioli is a simplified version of the classic French sauce. Don’t worry, no frantic crushing or beating needed, we are using ready-made mayonnaise. A small food processor or hand blender is all you need.
Make the wedges a little time ahead, then store them in the fridge. A quick blast in the air fryer is all that’s needed and you’re ready to serve. I have served these alongside my Cheese, and Rosemary Christmas Tree as the two go together brilliantly.
For the Basil Aioli
The finished wedges can be stored in the fridge ready for cooking. They will be fine prepared in the morning to be cooked in the evening. But I wouldn’t recommend making them the day before as the avocado may start to discolour.
Take the avocados and cut each one in half longways from the stem downwards, then remove the stone. Take care when doing this, it’s a very simple process, but one of the most common ways that people cut themselves.
To remove the skin, start at the pointed end of each half and peel the skin back towards the base of the pear. Hass avocados if you can find them are the best for this. But the skin on this type of avocado is thick and hard so you will find it will come off in chunks rather than strips.
Once peeled take each half and rub with the half of lemon. This will lightly flavour the avocado, and also help prevent them from discolouring.
Take each half of avocado cut side down on the chopping board. Holding the knife at an angle cut the each half of avocado into three equal wedges.
Do use good quality dry cure bacon for this. The cheaper waterlogged versions will give you a disappointing result.
Take a slice of bacon and place it on the chopping board. Stretch the rasher out by using the back of your knife and drawing down the length of the bacon.
Place a wedge of avocado at one end of the rasher, then tightly roll the wedge in the bacon. Start at one side of the wedge and let the travel down the wedge overlapping each turn slightly.
Peel and chop the garlic, sprinkle the salt on top and using the flat of the knife crush the garlic to a paste. Place the paste into a suitable jug and squeeze the lemon juice over the top. Leave the jug to stand for five minutes. The lemon juice will react with the garlic and take away some of the harshness from the flavour.
Add the mayonnaise to the jar. Then take the basil and pick the leaves off the stem adding them to the jar. Keep one or two leaves to act as a garnish when serving.
Using the hand blender in a up and down motion, blend the contents of the jar together. As everything is crushed together the Aioli will take on an appealing pastil green colour. When everything is ready remove the blender, scarping off as much sauce as possible. Cover the jar with cling film and store in the fridge.
Organise your serving dish and spoon the Aioli into a dish wide enough to let people dip the wedges into the sauce with ease. Set the air fryer to ‘air fry’ at a temperature of 210˚c .
Take the avocado wedges and lightly brush or spray with olive oil. All you need is a very light coating, don’t overdo it.
Set the wedges onto a cooking rack leaving a gap between each one and start the cooking. They should only take 7-8 minutes according to your air fryer.
Of course, if you don’t have an air fryer you can use a convection oven. Make sure the over is completely pre heated and the temperature is cranked up as high as it will go. That’s about 240˚c on most ovens.
When the avocado wedges are ready the bacon should be crisp and golden. And the avocado will have taken a little colour to the edges.
Arrange the wedges around the Aioli and serve at once.
Enjoy Life!
John.
Hi, my name is John Webber, award winning chef and tutor, now retired to the west coast of Scotland. Welcome to our blog focusing on food, cooking, and countryside. My aim is to pass on my years of skills and knowledge together with an appreciation of the countryside.
Join us to experience the beauty of the west coast, cook some great food and be at ease in the kitchen.
Join The ‘Westcoaster Newsletter.
Sign up to our newsletter to receive regular updates of what’s new and upcoming at ‘The Westcoaster.’
© Copywrite, John Webber. 2024
The ubiquitous Brussel Sprout must be the largest topic of discussion at the Christmas dinner table. Love them or hate them they are here to stay so why not make them the biggest hit of the meal.
Make a Christmas Stollen this year and forgo the heavy Christmas cake!
The Stollen, is a German fruit bread made with yeast, and contains dried fruits, candied citrus peel, nuts and spices. Traditionary marzipan is folded into the dough before baking. If that’s not to your taste, it can easily be left out of the recipe.
Serve these Christmas Pudding Soufflés to you guests and you will instantaneously be seen as a culinary genius. People are always impressed by a served a souffle, in fact they are a lot easier than people imagine.
There are a few key points to souffle success, and I will explain all of these and highlight them at the end of the blog. This is a long post, but don’t be put off. I have tried to go into a much detail as possible to explain what is happening at each stage.
You can ether serve these on Christmas day or use them as a way of using up leftover pudding. I think Christmas pudding falls into the same trap as the turkey and the Christmas cake. We always buy one that is too large!
My advice is to make things as easy as possible and make the pastry cream the day before. That only leaves you to mix the base and whip the egg whites and you are ready to go.
Place the egg yolks into a medium sized bowl and beat in the dark brown sugar with a small whisk. Add the vanilla essence, flour, salt, and cornflower and mix together.
Mix in just enough of the milk to form a batter, then put the remaining milk on the stove to heat up. Have a small bowl, icing sugar and some cling film ready to receive the finished cream.
When the milk is hot, but not boiling, slowly add the milk to the bowl containing the egg yolks and flours. Make sure to whisk continually as you add the milk. When all the milk has been added, tip the contents of the bowl back into the pan, use a spatula to make sure all the ingredients have been transferred to the pan.
Return the pan to the heat and use the whisk to keep the contents moving. As the pan gets close to boiling the cream will begin to thicken. Give the cream a good whisking then switch to the spatula reducing the heat a little. Cook the cream over the heat for two to three minutes, when it should be thick enough to stand up on its own.
Scrape the pastry cream into a small bowl, levelling it off a little.
As soon as the pastry cream is levelled off, sprinkle a layer of icing sugar on top, then tightly cover with cling film.
As the cream cools, steam will turn the icing sugar into a syrup which will prevent a tough skin forming on the surface. The pastry cream can now be allowed to cool and will keep three to four days in the fridge.
This is one of the key stages in producing a good souffle. Look for ramekins with straight sides, (curved ones don’t work that well) and that are not too thick and heavy.
Heavier ramekins do work, but the souffle won’t begin to cook until the heat as penetrated the walls of the ramekin.
Have some soft, not melted butter, and caster sugar to hand. Using a pastry brush, coat the insides of the ramekin with the butter. Spoon some caster sugar into the ramekin, then holding the ramekin on its side rotate it letting the sugar spill back into the container. Have a good look at the inside and the rim of the ramekin, if you see any uncoated areas have another go.
For this I’m using 9cm / 175ml ramekins, but you can use smaller ones if you wish.
Turn your oven on to 200˚c – 400˚f. I prefer to use a standard oven for souffles as I find some fan ovens can cause the souffles to lean over, like a tree in a strong wind.
Place a baking tray onto the middle shelf of the oven to pre – heat making sure there is enough hight above it to allow the souffles to rise.
Just before you begin to tackle the whites, have a bowl ready to mix everything together. Check the Christmas pudding and pastry cream are warm enough to work with. Particularly if you made the pastry cream the day before. A few seconds in the microwave will help. They need to be just warm and soft – not hot!
In a large clean bowl whisk the egg whites a little then add the cream of tartar. I prefer to whisk the whites by hand, so I can feel when they are ready. When you have light snowy texture begin to sprinkle in the sugar. This will stabilise the meringue and make it easier to mix in later.
Use a machine by all means but be careful not to over whisk them. We don’t want the whites to be fully whipped, we are looking for what’s known as soft peak. The best way to judge this is to lift the whisk vertically out of the white then quicky turn it over. A peak of whites will be left on the end of the whisk. If the point of the peak has fallen over, that’s soft peak. If the peak sits firm and proud, that’s stiff peak.
Think of the egg white like a balloon. If they are over inflated by too much whisking as they rise in the oven they will inflate even more and like a balloon, burst. You will see your souffle rise in the oven, and just as you begin to congratulate yourself it will deflate and collapse in front of you.
Lightly whisk one-quarter of the whites into the souffle base to loosen it slightly, and then carefully fold in the remainder. Make sure that you do not overwork the mixture – this is to ensure you do not knock out all the air previously whisked in.
Take the mixing bowl and add the Christmas pudding and rum. Using the spatula, beat the two together to soften the pudding. Add the pastry cream to the bowl and beat the two together to combine.
Now take roughly a quarter of the whites and beat them into the base you have just made. This is to soften up the mixture even more.
Add all the remaining whites to the bowl, but now gently fold the white into the base with the spatula.
The technique we use is called, Cut and Fold. Hold the spatula at the far side of the bowl, toughing the bottom of the bowl, with the edge facing towards you. Bring the spatula towards you and as you reach the edge of the bowl twist your wrist and lift the spatula. This will lift the mixture at the bottom of the bowl to the surface and fold it into the souffle mix. Give the bowl a slight turn then repeat the process.
Keep folding and turning the bowl until the whites are incorporated into the souffle.
Over folding will spoil the souffle. So, if you’re not sure when to stop, look at the mixture. When you have thin streaks of egg white still visible it ready. If the egg whites have completely disappeared, its overmixed. Don’t worry the streaks of egg white will disappear in baking.
Contrary to common belief, the souffles do not need to go into the oven immediately. So, relax, you can leave the filled ramekins ten minutes or so without problem. However, when they come out of the oven, we need to serve them at once. If you are serving a number of people, appoint somebody to be ready and help carry them to the table when they are ready.
Make sure you have your serving plates ready. If you are serving ice cream, have it already scooped back in the freezer, and have an icing sugar sieve ready to dust the cooked souffles.
Open the oven, and quickly place the souffles onto the pre-heated tray, closing the door as quickly as possible. Don’t be tempted to have a peep at them while they are cooking, set a timer for 12 minutes. Go round and top up the drinks, put anything like ice cream of cream ready onto the table, and wait.
When the timer goes off you should have well risen light brown souffles. Lift the tray from the oven, dust the tops of the souffles with icing sugar and serve.
It’s crucial that the mixture can rise within the dish it’s been baked in. make sure the whole of the interior of the dish is coated as well as the rim. If your souffle only rises at one side, its because you missed coating a bit of the inside.
For the souffles to rise we need to get heat into the ramekins as quickly as possible. Using a cold baking tray will slow down the cooking process resulting in in a souffle that is cooked on top, but raw underneath.
Less is more here, if you’re not sure on how to whisk the whites have a practice beforehand. A couple of wasted egg whites could save you a whole batch of souffle mix.
Folding the whites into the base, using cut and fold retains the air beaten into the whites. Why go to all that bother to whisk in all that air, then beat it back out again.
There is an easy way to compare the capacity of dishes like ramekins. Place the dish onto the scales. Set the scale to zero and to read in grams. Fill the dish with water and when its full, note the weight. One millilitre of water weighs one gram, so if the scales show 140 grams that’s 140 millilitres. This recipe filles 4 x 175ml ramekins, that’s 680ml. divide that by 140 and its 5. So, the recipe will fill five of your ramekins.
Enjoy Life!
John.
Hi, my name is John Webber, award winning chef and tutor, now retired to the west coast of Scotland. Welcome to our blog focusing on food, cooking, and countryside. My aim is to pass on my years of skills and knowledge together with an appreciation of the countryside.
Join us to experience the beauty of the west coast, cook some great food and be at ease in the kitchen.
Join The ‘Westcoaster Newsletter.
Sign up to our newsletter to receive regular updates of what’s new and upcoming at ‘The Westcoaster.’
© Copywrite, John Webber. 2024
Harissa Paste is a condiment originating from Tunisia and one of those flavours that once tasted, you become hooked on. If you like spicy, rich flavours, then this is a must-have ingredient in your kitchen.
Baking Simple Scones at home is easy and very rewarding. Homemade scones are always a winner whatever time of year. But particularly pleasing enjoyed in front of the fire when the weather is disappointing.
These are The 12 Best Seasonings you need to get sensational results in the kitchen. They should be in everybody’s kitchen at home, and in fact, I would go so far as to say I feel culinary naked without these. Some of these you will already have, and all are easily available if you don’t. So, let’s have a look and see my choices and how I would use them.
Some of these items are used to enhance the way that our taste buds perceive flavours. Some act like all-in-one seasonings, but with all of them the key is restraint. They should be there, but not there. If your guests comment on tasting the ingredient itself, you have overdone it!
I know some of these might seem strange but think about it. The main flavour sensations we are trying to create in our cooking are hot, sweet, salty, sour, and umami. A great dish will encompass at least two of these. And learning how to season is a key skill in becoming a great cook.
Adding a dash of mustard into any white sauce will give them a lift. The French version, been made with wine and vinegar adds an acidic punch as is great to season and lighten a creamy pasta dish.
Mustard also acts as a thickener and stabiliser. Perfect for holding the fatty products and liquids together in a salad dressing or sauce. Try rubbing a layer of mustard with chopped herbs onto your lamb or Turkey roast before cooking. It will produce a lovely flavoursome crust.
I use these as a basic seasoning alongside sea salt and pepper. The chemicals in chilli effect the taste buds in the mouth and to produce a warming balance to flavours.
I use a medium heat chilli, and some restraint is required not to overdo the dosing. The Capsaicin, which is the active ingredient, can become addictive. Leading to your food become hotter and hotter. Great for you, but not your guests!
Many a chef has a bottle of tomato ketchup sitting ready to add into a struggling dish. They may not admit it, but believe me, its not just for the staff lunch.
Try a dash of ketchup in a bolognaise for a super tomato sauce.
If you like to make your own burgers, adding ketchup really brings out the flavour of the meat. Heavy stews can be lifted with the addition of ketchup.
Been an emulsion, mayonnaise is great used as an enrichment in dishes. Try a dash in mashed potato, in place of butter for a healthier option. Fish soups benefit from a spoonful of mayonnaise worked in off the heat just before serving.
If you like to use very lean meat to make your burgers, they can be a little dry. Mix in some mayonnaise to enrich the meat without the saturated fat. If you like to finish you soups with a dash of cream, try some mayonnaise instead for a smooth finish on the tongue.
Traditionally British, yet with strong oriental connections this classic sauce is fermented with anchovies, tamarind, vinegar, sugar, onions and garlic. The exact recipe is closely guarded. It’s easy to overdo it when using Worcester sauce, just add a few drops at time to add a satisfying umami finish to the dish.
A classic accompaniment to tomato-based dishes but also great added into stews and casseroles. Add the sauce into the dish during cooking so it blends into the dish rather than been the first thing you taste. Rub a (very) small amount onto a cooked steak before serving. If you are pan frying a steak, deglaze the pan with a few drops of sauce added just before the wine of stock to make a great gravy.
One of my favourite ingredients, it differs from standard paprika by been made from dried and smoked peppers. This give the spice a smoky almost campfire background that I find addictive. Like standard paprika its available in mild (dulce) and hot (picante) versions according to the type of peppers used. I find the hot version to bs more useful, by adding one of our five flavour sensations into the mix.
Try ringing the changes to your lentil soup with a spoonful of paprika cooked into the soup. Add some into a dry meat rub, to impart an extra smoky ascent to the crust.
Chilli con carne takes on a new identity with the addition of hot smoked paprika.
Make a whole new version of scrambled eggs by cooking some gently in the butter before adding the eggs.
Paprika can burn easily so be careful not to overdo it.
Pesto, whatever herb it is made with becomes an instant explosion of flavour. A range of pesto’s made with different herbs and frozen in small cubes is immensely useful in any kitchen.
Ether add into a soup or float the defrosted pesto into the top of the soup as both a garnish and seasoning in one. Cheese toasty? Spread a little pesto onto the bread, and wham. Mix pesto into soft butter for an herby spread. Try fried eggs, finished with a dollop of pesto.
Add to mashed potato, instant flavour on a plate. Boring shop bought pizza? Add some pesto, and you’ll think you’re in Italy! Try out our own basil Pesto, find the recipe, HERE.
Now here I mean REALLY GOOD wine vinegar. This is the one where you will need to look further afield that the supermarket. Try a good deli or even amazon if that’s not possible. If when you taste it, your mouth locks up, its not good enough. Expect to pay a lot more that you think to get a really good vinegar. Balsamic vinegar is the one that gets all the hype, and it can be outstanding. However, to get a top-quality balsamic vinegar is extremely expensive. If its too cheap be suspicious, it likely to the be a harsh unaged raw vinegar. More likely to ruin a dish that improve it.
Use some red wine or red fruits vinegar to deglaze a pan after cooking a steak and before adding the stock. Better than using cheap wine.
Heavy stews and casseroles, particularly game benefit from finishing with a fruit-based vinegar. A few drops of sherry vinegar are a great finish for fried eggs.
Finish tomato soup with a few drops of red wine, or fruit vinegar.
As above there is a world of difference in the quality of olive oils. As I write this the cost of olive oil has risen sharply due to a poor harvest last year.
The premium oil is known as cold pressed virgin olive oil. Here the olives have the oil remove purely by pressing them. The oil can be purchased in filtered and unfiltered versions. Commercial olive oil is extracted by heating the olive and using a centrifuge to spin out the oil. This is very efficient but the heating process losses some of the flavour from the oil. The flavour of the oil can be defined as been ether fruity or peppery, some been quite harsh on the pallet. Personally, I tent to go for the fruity versions.
I should say that this oil is used mainly as an ingredient. Depending on the type of oil used the smoke point (burning) can be too low and aggressive frying will cause the oil to burn and become bitter.
For frying by preference is to use sunflower oil with the addition of a little butter once the initial heat has been reduced.
Surely salt is salt. well, no, mined and iodized table salt is well, just salty. Sea salts on the other hand have additional minerals from the seawater the salt is evaporated from. This adds addition flavour and often adds umami notes adding to the flavour profile of the food.
Finish your bread dough with a sprinkling of flaky salt before baking for a great crunch and flavour.
Harissa.
Use this as a marinade with the addition of some olive oil and lemon juice. Add to or serve alongside Hummus.
Rub under the skin of a chicken before roasting. Pop a half a lemon and a couple of cloves of bruised garlic into the cavity, then into the oven. The skin will stop the Harissa burning while the flavours seep into the meat and also stop the breast from drying out.
Use harissa to flavour roasted vegetables, great with roasted carrots.
If you want to try and make your own Harissa, check out our recipe, HERE.
A little like the Sea Salt there is more to pepper than you might think. Now what I would like you to do is go to your kitchen cupboard, grab that container of ground white pepper and throw it into the bin. That’s not what we mean when we talk about pepper!
Peppercorns are small, dried berries, and there are many different varieties available, Including, Szechuan, Pink, Green, Tellicherry, White, Black, Long and Sansho.
Each pepper has its own characteristics, adding that bit extra to the dish. Start with black peppercorns and invest in a pepper mill, you will never look back.
In the past I have even had a pepper grinder filled with a mixture of peppercorns, blended for a particular use.
Of course, things don’t stop there, we can make other additions to the table just by using these ingredients themselves.
Mix some harissa, or pesto into mayonnaise to make an instant dip.
Mix some ketchup, Worchester sauce, vinegar and a dash of oil for an instant dressing.
Try some ketchup with a pinch of smoked paprika and Worcester sauce for a super, and quick barbeque marinade.
Use your olive oil, vinegar, and a dash of mustard to make a French dressing.
This is not a definitive list; we could go on and on. I have a cupboard full of spices in my kitchen not to mention fresh herbs, and garlic from the garden. These are the items I use most frequently, and I believe should be in everyone’s kitchen. If you have any favourites I have left out, let me know.
Enjoy Life!
John.
Hi, my name is John Webber, award winning chef and tutor, now retired to the west coast of Scotland. Welcome to our blog focusing on food, cooking, and countryside. My aim is to pass on my years of skills and knowledge together with an appreciation of the countryside.
Join us to experience the beauty of the west coast, cook some great food and be at ease in the kitchen.
Join The ‘Westcoaster Newsletter.
Sign up to our newsletter to receive regular updates of what’s new and upcoming at ‘The Westcoaster.’
© Copywrite, John Webber. 2024
Making Sweet Pickled Cucumber is a great way of using up excess cucumber and giving a rather bland food an enticing lift.
Cheese, Bacon, and Red Onion Muffins are great served as finger food or taken on a picnic. In fact, they are great all year round and are one of my regular contributions to village social events.
Muffins are easy to make, and once you have mastered the basics there is a wealth of ingredients that can be added, both sweet and savoury. Let me take you through the process, and lets get baking!
These Scottish Venison Meatballs are so easy to make, and so much better that the shop-bought versions. To go with them I’m making a mushroom and whisky sauce to toss through buttered Tagliatelle. The dish uses ingredients abundant in the Scottish countryside, perfect for autumntime when a variety of wild mushrooms are available to use.
Of course, it’s great to make at any time of year. And you can change the mushrooms you use according to what’s available to you. If you are making this out of season (as I am) I would recommend you always add the dried morels into the mix.
If the idea of gathering your own dinner attracts you, great. But DON’T just go off and pick whatever takes you fancy, get some tuition first.
Picking wild mushrooms needs care and experience. A few taste wonderful, a few are ok, and some are extremely dangerous. Before you head out on your own go on a tutored course and ideally have an experience friend with you for the first few trips out. And the golden rule – if you’re not sure, don’t touch it!
If you are keen to learn on how to forage for wild mushrooms, there is a great guide available HERE.
Don’t be put off this recipe thinking the venison will be strong and earthy, not a bit of it. Been classified as game gives people an image the meat will have an overpowering flavour.
In fact, the meat has flavour, but it’s a more delicate herbaceous, almost nutty flavour. that marries will with red wine, fruits, and mushrooms.
Venison is also one of the heathiest meats to eat. Venison has less intermuscular fat that beef and because of this has less calories wight for weigh. It is high in omega 3 and nutrients and of course in one of few totally natural meats available to us. You can of course also get reared venison, and if you are looking for a more tender cut to sauté or roast it’s a very good product.
The one drawback of venison for a chef is the fat, its quite unpleasant. Because of this if fat is needed in the preparation, beef or pork fat would be added.
To make our meatballs we are adding belly pork to the mix. This will do two things, lighten the mixture, and add in some fat which will improve the texture and flavour in the mouth. It’s quite common in Italy for a cocktail of meats to be used when making meatballs. Most commonly, beef, pork, and gammon.
First of all, we need to cook the onion, so many recipes add raw onion into the meat mixture. That should never happen! Peel and finely chop the onion, pop it into a shallow pan and add the 1tbsp of olive oil. Using a mortar and pestle break up the fennel seeds then add them to the pan.
Gently cook the onion in the oil without letting it colour then scrape all the onion our of the pan into a bowl, and let it cool completely. In a second smaller bowl soak the sliced bread in milk until soft.
If you are using the dried Morels, place them in a small container and cover them with boiling water. Put them to one side to use later.
Mix the meats together in a large bowl and add the salt and cinnamon. Finely grate the clove of garlic into the bowl and add the cooled, cooked onion.
Lift the bread from the milk, squeeze it out to form a soft ball and add to the meat with the parsley, and egg yolk. Mix to make a smooth mixture then form the mix into balls of roughly 30g. you should make 24 meatballs from the recipe.
Dust the meat balls in flour and place in a tray until all the mixture is used.
Heat a shallow pan on the hob and add the 60ml of olive oil. Check the oil is hot by placing a meatball in the pan, if it sizzles in the oil add more meatballs but don’t over crowd the pan. The oil needs to be hot but not smoking, we want to cook the meatballs with a golden-brown crust but without burning the meat. If you can’t get all the meatballs in at once do the cooking in two batches.
As the meat balls are ready remove them and drain well on a tray lined with absorbent paper.
If you don’t want to serve the meatballs straight away, let them cool completely, then cover them and store in the fridge. Do this in the morning, then all you have to do is re-heat the meatballs in the oven while you make the sauce and cook the pasta, easy!
Use the same pan the meatballs were cooked in. Drain off the excess cooking oil and put the pan over a medium heat.
Add the butter to the pan closely followed by the fresh mushrooms then let them sauté in the for three to four minutes. Now we are ready for the whisky.
WARNING! When the whisky hits the pan on the hob there is a likelihood that the alcohol will burst into flames! This should not be a problem as long as you are prepared and expecting it.
If you are cooking on a gas hob its almost certain the alcohol will ignite. It may look good on television, but not such a good idea at home.
Insure there are no flammable materials anywhere close to where you are cooking, and your hob extractor is clean and not full of grease.
If there may be a risk of the whisky igniting, remove the pan far away from the hob before you add the whisky and let the alcohol completely evaporate safely away before returning the pan to the heat. Have the pan lid close to hand and stand well back when adding the whisky.
Add the stock to the pan and scrape the bottom of the pan with a silicone spatula to lift any flavours into the sauce. Let the pan simmer to reduce the stock by half. While the pan is simmering lift the Morels from the soaking water and give them a squeeze. Check the stem of each one is clean then slice each Morel in half longways and add them to the pan. Decant three quarters of the soaking water into the panto reduce with the stock.
Dried morels can be quite gritty, so by not adding all of the mushroom juice to the pan we can leavy any dirt and grit in the container to be disposed of.
When the stock and mushroom juices have reduced add the cream. Return the meatballs to the pan and coat in the sauce to reheat them. Put the pan on a low heat and pop on the lid to let the flavours blend while you cook the pasta.
Take your warm deep plates and nestle the buttered paster into each one. Set the meatballs into the centre of each nest of pasta arranging the mushrooms on top. Divide any remaining sauce around the plates, scatter some chopped parsley and parmesan shaving on top and serve.
Enjoy Life!
John.
Hi, my name is John Webber, award winning chef and tutor, now retired to the west coast of Scotland. Welcome to our blog focusing on food, cooking, and countryside. My aim is to pass on my years of skills and knowledge together with an appreciation of the countryside.
Join us to experience the beauty of the west coast, cook some great food and be at ease in the kitchen.
Join The ‘Westcoaster Newsletter.
Sign up to our newsletter to receive regular updates of what’s new and upcoming at ‘The Westcoaster.’
© Copywrite, John Webber. 2024
For these tarts we are using two distinct types of apples. Bramley apple for full on flavour, backed up with a dash of good cider. Green apples, Granny Smiths of French Golden delicious provide texture and a hint of freshness to the tarts. These tarts can be made the night before and stored in the fridge. The trick is to glaze and seal the apple with melted butter and lemon to spot the apple discolouring.
Fattoush is a great summer salad perfect for eating al fresco with a friends or a barbeque. This is a rustic country salad from Syria and Lebanon that uses a dressing make from buttermilk. This gives the salad a smooth let sharp finish that makes it so refreshing.