Posts Tagged potato
Broad beans? Parsnip? Never cooked. But how?
Incredulous or not. I have never tried cooking these before. Broad beans have a rubbery layer surrounding each seed. Am I supposed to remove them? Certainly tasted more tender and looked more pleasing-green than not removed. The white base was a puree of parsnip and potato. A helping of good olive oil, lemon juice and some chive flowers from my home herb pots. Tasted alright, light. maybe as a starter. I know most of my friends would want some chilli sauce on this one.
My friend visited today for a coffee. We tried the Dead Man Espresso blend from 7 seeds. It’s full of fruity body. Flavours that bounce out through the milk. She’s got a Pansonic point and shoot – a very good one but. I was really amazed at what small cameras can do. Later tonight, confirmed by my brother who always have wanted a similar one for ‘backup’.
Squid ink pasta and potato garlic foam
Last week’s prawn soup was actually accompanied by a squid ink pasta (all colour, no taste). We made a potato garlic foam/sauce for the pasta, topped it with a few slices of karasumi (dried mullet roe), lemon juice and olive oil. The potato garlic foam contained a bit of cooked garlic and very lightly cooked garlic to give it a kick.
Foaming good
All this foam stuff. I recently got a cream whipper and a stack of NO2 chargers. I am ready.
The mixture is mashed potatoes with a little cream and milk to help it pass through a sieve. Return the mixture to a small pot and add some more cream. I havent really got a recipie with quantities worked out but the final warm mixture poured like the cream as it came out of the cold bottle.
I added a poached egg, olive oil and chives. A little lemon juice might have helped this dish.
Duck confit salad
Duck fat is my new butter.
Duck confit:
Duck legs (anything more than 6 is worth the effort)
2 sprigs of thyme, stem removed.
3-6 cloves of garlic, minced.
salt flakes and pepper
A can of duck fat, or more
Combine thyme, garlic, salt and pepper into a mix and rub onto the legs. Roughly 1 teasoon of salt for every 2 legs. The salt acts like a preservative and draws moisture out but you don’t want to eat salty legs after. Place in fridge for at least 12 hours.
Remove excess mix from legs with paper towel and pat dry. Melt the duck fat in a small, heavy based pot and place duck inside. Traditionally an casserole dish is used but as long as the fat covered the duck completely and you cook it at a low temperature(around 100 deg Celcius). It’s basically duck simmered in it’s own fat. Cook for 1-1.5 hours. The meat should be very tender and almost fall off bone. Cook without lid to ensure the moisture evaporates.
Let it cool. Place duck into a dry bowl (glass or cermic or stainless steel pot works best) and pour in the duck fat to cover the meat by at least 1-2 cm. Place in the fridge. I read that the duck can be preserved like this for at least a month. When you want to use it, gently heat the bowl to the fat melts and pull the leg you want. I think if you are making a batch and want to preserve it for a while, then a cooking stainless steel pot is better as you can re-heat easily.
Reserve the fat for the next round. Or I can eat it.
The salad has roasted potatoes, salad leaf mix, baby carrots (sauted in butter), parsley, chives, yogurt and balsamic vinegar.
Potato man
A little eccentric about spuds. But if you owned a shop that specialized in potatoes since 1891 your mind is probably not running the same track as most people do. The shop at Prahran Market was first opened by Michael Mow’s grandfather Daniel Wong Mow. However, it was not until the early 90′s when Michael starteed bringing a variety of potatoes from all over Australia. His stock may not be consistent but there is always a good variety to choose from. Micheal is helpful with advice to match the right potato with your cooking ideas or if you want to try some spuds you never seen before.