Figs Stuffed with Blue Vein Cheese à la Bourguignonne

From Biró European-Inspired Cuisine, Marcel Biró and Shannon Kring Biró, Gibbs Smith Publisher, 2005.

Figs are such a wonderful fruit and I had six of them that were plump and heavily ripe. I had long looked at this recipe so thought this was now the opportunity to try it.

I cut the tops off the figs and with a small spoon dug out a little of the contents. Into the cavity I poked pieces of blue vein cheese. I melted some butter in a pan, placed the figs and their tops in and sprinkled over them about half a tablespoon of sugar. I cooked them for about 2 minutes, until the sugar had caramelised. I took the pan off the heat and added a tablespoon of water.

I now placed about a quarter cup of red wine in a small saucepan together with the insides of the figs that had been dug out. I added about half a tablespoon of port and then cooked the mixture until it had decreased by about half. Half a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar was added and the mixture was strained. A little salt was added and some freshly grated black pepper.

The oven had been preheated to 180ªC. The figs had their tops placed back on them. The strained liquid was now poured over and they went into the oven for about 5 minutes to warm through and let the cheese just begin to melt.

I love figs so much yet I did not enjoy this dish at all. The flavours did not sit well with my palate. It was difficult to discern the flavour of the figs through the red wine sauce and the blue vein cheese. The best part was the bottom end of each fig where you could distinguish the fig taste jut a little.

Taste: ✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔

Pumpkin Soup with Curried Apple Chutney

From Biró:European-Inspired Cuisine, Marcel Biró, Gibbs Smith, 2005.

It’s amazing how far one large pumpkin can go. We’ve had three different meals from this one and there’s still some left. So it looks like we’re back to soup again. This one sounded quite an interesting mix of flavours.

Three cups of pumpkin, two cups of apples and one onion, all chopped roughly were sautéed in a large saucepan until they were beginning to brown. Coriander, cumin and turmeric were all then added and stirred until their aroma came through.

It was then time to add the stock. I used six cups of water with two vegetable stock cubes. Also two cups of apple cider were added and half a cup of cream. In also went a cinnamon stick and a good pinch of cayenne pepper. I did not add salt as the stock cubes often have sufficient. This mix was simmered for about half an hour.

When it was cooled a little the cinnamon stick was removed and the soup was pureed with a stick blender. It was then supposed to go through a strainer but I prefer to have my soup to have a few solids. The soup was put away until we were ready to have it.

In the meantime curried apple chutney was made. This was simply a matter of half filling a cup with water and topping it up with apple cider. This was poured into a small saucepan. Then half a cup of rice wine vinegar and almost half a cup of sugar was added. Then a quantity of salt, a few cloves, some mustard seeds, a little ground cinnamon, and some allspice berries. It was all simmered for about 15 minutes.

While this was simmering half a cup of pumpkin was cut up into fine dice and the same quantity of apple. It was all added to the simmering mixture that was now brought back up to the boil and turned off. The apples and pumpkin were strained off and kept as the chutney mix.

 

At serving time the soup was topped with chutney when it was placed in bowls.

This was rather a thin soup (I usually prefer pumpkin soup to be thicker) but it had a depth of flavour that was really very pleasant. The chutney was not what I would usually consider a chutney but it worked well, adding another set of flavours in an already flavoursome soup.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔

Baked Brie with Raspberry Coulis

From Biró: European-Inspired Cuisine, Marcel Biró and Shannon Kring Biró, Gibbs Smith, 2005.

I had never thought to bake brie. When I found this recipe I was immediately inspired to make it.

The recipe in the book called for lingonberry sauce but I have never seen these berries in Sydney. I had seen a lingonberry jam in Ikea but it was just out of my way to go there, so I settled for using raspberries.

The brie was cut into wedges and these were double breaded, that is dipped in flour, then eggs beaten with milk and then breadcrumbs. This whole pattern was repeated. The brie was then put in the fridge to keep it as cool as possible before the next step.

The coated brie was sautéed in oil and butter until browned on all sides. The wedges were then placed in the oven for about 5 minutes.

I served them with a cold coulis of raspberries. A real taste treat. This is one I must make more often. In preparation I purchased a jar of lingonberry jam the next time I was at Ikea.

After the flop from using one other of the recipes from this book I was really pleased to find that this one was a perfect success.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔

Fennel Salad with Orange Vinaigrette, Crème Fraîche and Parmesan Crisp

From Biró: European-Inspired Cuisine, Marcel Biró and Shannon Kring Biró, Gibbs Smith, 2005.

This is not a book for vegetarians but on glancing through the pages I felt that there were adequate recipes to make it worthwhile.

Marcel Biró being an acclaimed chef and opening his own restaurant, Biró, in the United States, the recipes should be reasonable. The book is a collection of recipes from the SBS Series The Kitchens of BIRÓ.

The first part of the book consists of amuse-bouches. These are supposed to be bite-sized portions served before the meal and generally not ordered but served at the discretion of the chef.

The name for the one I tried was basically longer than the titbit, although mine did not turn out to be anywhere near a titbit.

There were two parts. The first was to make Parmesan crips. This was not difficult. A dough was prepared with water, oil and salt. It was rolled out as thin as possible—thin enough to read through—sprinkled with parmesan and baked.

This worked out reasonably but, even though I halved the quantity, I ended up with heaps too much. However it did serve as nibbles later.

I followed the ingredients list carefully and made sure all the portions were correct. It was basically fennel and carrot grated and mixed in with orange juice and olive oil which had been whipped until emulsified. Crème fraîche was added and seasonings.

It was then supposed to be shaped into a quenelle and served with a Parmesan crisp. There was no way I could turn mine into a quenelle as the crème fraîche seemed to lose its texture as soon as it was added to the other ingredients and became very watery. I put it into a mould to see if it could gain at least some shape. When turned out it just flopped into a runny lump.

It was all right to eat—especially the Parmesan crisp—but it was a most unpleasant sight on the dish.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔