Saltimbocca

From Terre à Terre, Amanda Powley with Philip Taylor, Absolute Press, 2010.

When I’m in a real cooking mood one of the books I might turn to for something to make is Terre à Terre. The recipes here are general involved with many different items to make before combining them for the final dish. The resulting dishes that I have made from here have usually been full of strong flavours, richly complex—and they are fun to make.

This recipe took me over two days to make. On the first day I made a white stock. Then some of this was used to make a demi glaze sauce. That was the first day done. Not difficult at all but just took a little time.

The second day I began by making mushroom duxelles. This took very little time. It was put aside while I made the polenta for creating sausages. When the polenta mixture was cooked and while still hot it had to be formed. The recipe called for it to be piped out of a piping bag into the sausage shape. I was somewhat unsure of the piping idea so took small rectangular dishes that were the size needed. I covered them with cling film and spread out the polenta onto them. The duxelles was spread down the centre of the rectangular shape and, using the cling film, I rolled them up. The film was fastened at each end and the sausages placed in the refrigerator.

Next job was to make the tomato casing. Sun dried tomatoes were placed in a mixture of water with some sherry vinegar and a cinnamon stick. They were brought to the boil and let simmer for 20 minutes. They were now drained (the liquid saved) and let cool. Next began the task that I failed in. The tomatoes were placed on a sheet of cling film slightly overlapping to form a square. Another sheet of cling film was placed over this and the tomatoes were rolled, bashed and pummelled with a rolling pin until they had become a thin sheet. This was not easy and holes kept appearing but eventually I had something that looked like it might work to wrap the polenta sausages in. It didn’t. They seemed all right until I tried to fry them later when the tomatoes began to peel off. The sausages went into the refrigerator until time to cook them.

The water left from softening the tomatoes was used with the demi glaze sauce to make a big red sauce. 

Other tasks were now begun. Some fennel butter was made. Barley was roasted in the oven and then combined with diced vegetables to make a roast barley water. Some garlic cloves were roasted in olive oil to be ready for making a garlic confit mash.

When it was time to make the meal the sausages were fried to brown on all sides and then went into the oven to cook through. Potatoes were put on to boil then mash with the garlic to make the garlic confit mash. Cavolo nero was put into water to boil until tender. The greengrocer was calling this vegetable ‘Tuscan cabbage’. Some mushrooms were fried.

Now the meal was put together: some mash, some cavolo nero mixed with fennel butter and roasted barley water, a sausage, mushrooms and big red sauce to go with them.

I loved the mash and the cabbage with its hint of fennel and the barley. The sausage did not really work, probably due to my ineptitude in making it. The tomato casing was falling off, the polenta was too thick and hid the richness of the duxelles. Nevertheless I thoroughly enjoyed the cooking, as I always do when using this book—and I’ll certainly make the garlic confit mash again.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔

Turtle Bean Soup with Plantain Fritters and Avocado Lime Salsa

From Terre à Terre: The Vegetarian Cookbook, Amanda Powley with Philip Taylor, Absolute Press, 2009.

I always get a kick out of making something from this book. The recipes are fun to make and the resulting dish is just as much fun to eat as it is packed with flavour.

I had to leave one of the elements, a sorbet, because guavas were unavailable. But I set to work on the turtle bean soup early. A mix of dried chillies were soaked in boiling water for about half an hour. The chilli mix I used was chipotles, guajillos and arbols. I added the arbols for heat as dried habaneros were not available.

The turtle beans had been soaking so they were drained, put in a pot with cold water, brought to the boil and kept on the boil for about 10 minutes. They were now drained again.

The chillies were drained with the water kept, deseeded and chopped finely. I gathered together a teaspoon of cumin seeds and about the same amount of coriander seeds, a bay leaf and a large pinch of dried thyme. All of these elements went in a saucepan with olive oil for about a minute until the herbs released their aromas. Into this mix went a chopped carrot, a finely chopped celery stalk and half a red capsicum, chopped. The lid was placed on and the vegetables left for about 10 minutes to release their juices. Now in went the beans, about a litre of water and the water from the soaked chillies. This was all brought to the boil and simmered until the beans were soft, about an hour and a half. When the beans were soft the soup was puréed in a blender, strained and left until ready to be served.

The salsa was simple a matter of chopping up the ingredients finely, mixing them together and putting them in a covered basin in the fridge until time to serve. While the recipe called for four garlic cloves I only used half of one. That seemed to be adequate when I tasted the salsa.

The plantain fritters were made by peeling a plantain, cutting it into 3cm lengths and then frying them until they were soft enough for a knife point to go into them easily. They were then pressed between two sheets of baking paper to make the fritter shapes. Just before serving they were deep fried until crisp and sprinkled with a dust made from grinding in a mortar roasted cumin seeds, salt, smoked paprika and black pepper seeds.

 

As usual with Terre à Terre recipes this was an absolute pleasure to eat. The soup was richly savoury and chilli hot, the salsa a mix of fresh vegetables enhanced by lime and cumin seeds, and the plantain fritters perfect scoops for the salsa. Interestingly we had some salsa left and finished it off by using commercial corn chips. The difference between fresh flavours and commercial, probably chemical ones, was marked.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔

Chai Chikki Fried Rice Pudding

From Terre à Terre: The Vegetarian Cookbook, Amanda Powley with Philip Taylor, Absolute Press, 2009.

I’ve cooked a couple of recipes from this cookbook and thoroughly enjoyed the process, though it was quite a long one. The fusion of flavours worked extremely well in the items I made giving meals that were different and exciting to eat. So, at last I decided to try to make an item of dessert from the book. Hence Chai Chikki Fried Rice Pudding.

There were several elements to the puddings: the puddings themselves, a tamarind toffee and a chai custard.

The toffee was no problem. All I had to do was mix the ingredients: tamarind paste, two sugars (palm and caster) and water, and bring them to the boil then simmer. No problem. Cream was added for a further simmer. Done.

The custard was only slightly more work. Coconut milk and almond milk (I’m afraid I just mixed some ground almonds with plain milk for the almond milk) were infused with chai tea bags to flavour. The mix was then thickened with the addition of cornflour. Sugar was added and it was basically ready.

There were two sections for the puddings. Firstly apricots had to be infused with the flavour of cardamom. This was pretty easy to do with cardamom pods tied in muslin and placed with dried apricots and orange juice into a pan and cooked on a low heat.

The puds were made with rice and coconut milk. Basically it was very similar to making risotto. Sugar is stirred in at the end and they were left to cool.

Once cool the rice mixture was placed in small moulds with chopped apricots added in the centre (as a surprise) as they were built up. They were then placed in the fridge.

At the meal time they were shallow fried before putting them in the oven to heat right through. I could not get my puddings to look anything like the ones in the photograph when I fried them. They held together buy did not crisp up well on the outside.

The photograph in the book showed the puddings with a nasturtium bloom on each one so I nicked a couple of blooms which were hanging over a fence down the street and added them to mine.

Though the puddings did not come up to my expectations (built up from other recipes followed in the book) they were a pleasant dessert. I particularly like the tamarind toffee.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔ 

Fun to make flavour feast

Colada Toddy

from Terre à Terre: The Vegetarian Cookbook, Amanda Powley with Philip Taylor, Absolute Press, 2010.

This book is such a lot of fun to cook from—but you need time. The recipes are totally different from anything I’ve seen in any other cookery books.

For a start, the names of each dish are somewhat humorous and don’t give any real insight into what the dish is going to be. The name of this recipe is Colada Toddy. This is a warm coconut and rum drink that accompanies the dish and, while an acceptable drink, it doesn’t in any way explain the meal which is an explosion of different tastes in a collection of parts.

There were six elements (including the toddy) to make up the whole. Each would stand alone easily to make a satisfactory eat; together they were a feast of flavours and textures.

The gazpacho, which to me is really a salad, was a mixture of green chillies, green capsicum, fennel, and celery. And then it was dressed with a mixture of wasabi, oil, galangal and lime. A crunchy salad with a bit of bite to it.

The Thai red relish turned out to be pickled shallots in a herb and vinegar mix. They’d make a nice nibble with cocktails.

The charred aubergine and umeboshi plum hash was a softly textured mix of aubergines, smoky and flavoured with a salty plum hash with added bits of fresh mint, red chillies and garlic. Eggplants are frequently lacking in flavour but make a good host for any you might add. This was a flavoursome delight.

The hero of the dish was the rice sausages. The recipe made more than were needed and I kept nibbling at them for a couple of days. Hot or cold they were an excitement of flavour. As you chewed you kept finding different tastes. They were hot and spicy, partly from the spice mix that was made prior to the sausages. This spice mix I am still using, sprinkling it on various dishes to give them an extra kick. The sausages themselves, as well as having the spice mix, had a mixture of herbs added (basil, mint, kaffir lime leaves) to add to the tastes.

When all of the six parts of the recipe were put together there was a flavour feast on a plate.

All in all it was a very time consuming meal to make—but well worth the time spent. As well as that I had a lot of fun making it—and even more so eating it. I am looking forward to when I have time to make something else from this book.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔ 

Dunkin' Doughnuts

Dunkin’ Doughnuts

from Terre à Terre: The Vegetarian Cookbook, Amanda Powley with Philip Taylor, Absolute Press, 2009

I had this book for some time before I felt game enough to try one of the recipes. It was bought because I was intrigued by the photographs of the finished food that looked completely different from any I had previously seen. And then there were also the oddball names of the dishes that only gave hints of what to expect in the meal: Turtle and Tostones, Skinny Melinki, Between the Sheets, and Yuba Juba Beefy Tea. Often, as you can see, they hinted at meaty meals.

When I looked at the recipes they looked as though they were somewhat difficult and complicated. However, since I had the book and a bit of free time came up I thought I had to give it a go.

It was far easier than I had imagined. The recipes are conveniently organised into different elements some of which can be done and put aside while the other sections are completed. There is a final section which explains how to put the various elements together.

The Dunkin’ Doughnuts looked oddly like the sweets course but it was savoury. What seemed to be a glass of hot coffee or chocolate was a chestnut soup. The doughnuts were savoury, flavoured with parmesan cheese and dusted with a mixture of parmesan and dried porcini mushrooms. On the side was a little tower of shaved frozen pear.

While my effort didn’t look exactly the same as the photograph it wasn’t too bad—and it was enjoyed by everyone—which counts in the end.

I had the oil a little too hot for the doughnuts and they were slightly burnt though not too bad to eat.

I really must go back to this book and try another recipe. The one I tried was a lot of fun to make and equally so to eat.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔