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.
Making Sweet Pickled Cucumber is a great way of using up excess cucumber and giving a rather bland food an enticing lift.
I decided to have a go at growing cucumbers this year. And I quickly discovered that they had teamed up with the courgettes in an attempt to take over the planet. Having bombarded the friends and neighbours with free cucumbers I still had more than we could deal with.
This led me into looking into new ways of using cucumbers in new ways. The obvious option was pickling, and after a few attempts I ended up with the version below.
As the cucumber is technically a fruit, I have married it with a slight Asian influence using ginger, chili, and coriander as a background. The result is a sweet, light, zingy pickle, which marries perfectly with fish, particularly cured fish. Of course, it’s equally at home at the BBQ, on a burger or lifting your lunchtime sandwich to new heights.
This is not a long-term pickle used as a preserve but more of a short-term chutney which helps to season and punch up the flavours of the item it is served with.
The first task is to slice the cucumber, aim for slices about 3mm in thickness. Too thick and they become intrusive, too thin and the pickle will lack character. You can either use a sharp knife or a mandolin as you wish, whichever you feel safer with. The mandolin has the advantage of producing consistent slices but watch your fingers! There isn’t a chef on the planet that hasn’t cut themselves on a mandolin at some point.
Once all the cucumber is sliced take a colander set in a bowl and cover the base with slices of cucumber. Sprinkle the cut slices with some of the table salt, then add another layer of cucumber, then more salt. Keep going until all the cucumber and salt is used up. If you run out of salt don’t be afraid to use a little more to complete the process.
The function of the salt is to draw out some of the liquid in the cucumber. In turn this will season and crisp up the slices ready for the pickle.
Don’t be afraid of the amount of salt. Its not the volume of salt that will dictate the saltiness of the pickle but rather how long the slices are exposed to the curing.
When the slices have been exposed to the salt for 10 to 12 minutes, give then a good rinse under running cold water to remove all the salt. Don’t leave the slices sitting in water, drain them as soon as ready and tip them on to a clean cloth to drain.
I am flavouring the pickle with two types of ginger. Root ginger for its vibrant warmth, and stem ginger for a smoother sweeter flavour. I also like to add some of the syrup from the stem ginger as well for good measure.
Weigh the sugar into a small bowl then add the cider vinegar, and whisk together.
Then using a fine microplane grater grate a lump of stem ginger into the vinegar. Peel the root ginger (this is best done by scraping the root with a spoon). Then grate a teaspoonful of fresh ginger on top. Doing the grating this way will make sure all the sticky stem ginger finds its way into the bowl.
Add a teaspoon of the ginger syrup, followed by the chili flakes and coriander seeds. Give the whole thing a whisk, and it’s done.
Take a sterilized half litre Kilner jar and cover the base with a layer of the drained cucumber. Spread a spoonful of pickle over the slices, then add more cucumber and more pickle. Repeat until all the cucumber is used pouring any remaining pickle into the jar. Lightly press the cucumber down with the back of a spoon, then close up the lid. Give the jar a shake to insure all the slices are exposed to the pickle.
You will notice that the cucumber slices are not covered with pickle, don’t worry that’s fine. Place the jar in the fridge for at least four hours, or better still overnight.
As the pickle reacts with the cucumber the volume of liquid will seem to increase as the cucumber sinks down a little in the jar. Store the pickle in the fridge ready for use.
The pickle will keep up to five days in the fridge and I think gets better after a couple of days maturing.
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
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 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.
These French Apple Tarts are a real celebration of apples. When discussing fruit tarts, the British focus is as much on the pastry as the filling. The French aspect is all on the filling with the pastry been a necessary adjunct. That’s not to say that the pastry can be of poor quality, but its there to showcase the main product.
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 stop the apple discolouring.
The first job is to make the apple puree. This needs to be cold before use so its an ideal job to do the night before you intend to make the tarts.
Peel and core the apples then cut into thin slices. Put the slices into a shallow pan with the butter then place the pan over a low to medium heat. Sprinkle the apples with the sugar, cider, and lemon juice, then pop on a lid.
Cook slowly, removing the lid and stirring from time to time. Once the apples have softened and become a puree remove the lid and cook for a further three or four minutes to dry the puree a little. Have a taste and add a dash of sugar if you think the puree needs it, but don’t let it become too sweet Scrape the puree into a clean bowl and let cool completely.
Find yourself a small plate approximately 12cm in diameter. Next cut some squares of baking paper just a little larger than the size of the plates.
Open the puff pastry and carefully unroll onto a chopping board. Place the plate onto one edge, then using the point of small knife cut around the plate for form a disk of pastry. Use a fish slice to lift the disc into a square of baking paper, then place a second square on top. Its important not to crush the edge of the pastry, or the cooked tart will rise unevenly.
Repeat this process, laying each disk on top of the first with a sheet of paper in between. Lift the stack onto the plate then refrigerate for ½- 1 hour.
Before you start, melt the 30g of butter in a small dish and work in 2tsps of lemon juice, keep that handy to glaze the finished tarts.
Cut a granny Smiths apple in half from the stem downwards, then cut out the core. Then take a slice off one side and starting at the side you have just cut slice the apple into 2mm thin slices. You can do this with a knife or use a vegetable mandolin as you wish. Only cut one or two apples at a time, or they will discolour before you can use them.
Take a disk of pastry, keeping the paper base in place and set in onto the chopping board. Set a mound of apple puree into the centre of the disk.
Lay a slice of apple on the pastry, sitting with one end on the puree and the other end about 6mm in from the edge of the pastry. Add a second slice, overlapping the first by approximately a third and keeping in from the edge. When you have completed the circle, tuck the last slice under the first take a small knife and gently score a grove into the pastry around the circle of apples. This will allow the pastry to rise up around the apples and form a rim. Brush the tart all over with the melted butter / lemon mix. Then transfer the tart onto a tray, and place in the fridge while you work on the next one.
To make the cider syrup simply pour the cider into a small pan and add the caster sugar. Bring the pan to the simmer and simmer gently until most of the cider has evaporated and you have a thick, but still runny syrup. Watch out as the syrup will thicken as it cools, a dash of hot water will thin it slightly if needed.
If you are going to cook the tarts at once straight away sprinkle heavily with icing sugar and place in a hot oven 180° for 35 minutes, then remove and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar or until the pastry is crisp and golden brown and nice the apples have a nice colour. Whilst the tarts are cooking, put the mascarpone in a bowl and beat through the vanilla seeds.
Place the cooked tarts onto a serving plate and place a good scoop of vanilla ice cream, topped with chopped pistachios. Finish the place with a thread of cider syrup around the tart and a sprinkling of icing sugar laced with a pinch of ground cinnamon.
I have kept the finished tarts in the fridge for a couple of days without problem. The butter and lemon juice glaze on the apples prevents them from discolouring. You can also freeze the finished raw tarts, and even bake them directly from frozen. You need to be sure they are covered and don’t get damaged in the freezer though. If cooking from frozen allow about an extra 10 minutes cooking.
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
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.
How to make – Cheats Chocolate Fondant. The classic restaurant chocolate fondant is a challenge for the pastry chef needing dexterity and exact timing to be served to perfection.
This version is much easier to make and is far more forgiving in cooking and serving as it is made in advance.