Kenyan pork fillet with roasted veg, freeze dried apple and red wine sauce

Kenyan pork is one of my favourite proteins I can buy here.  It seems to be scented with herbs somehow.....I'm not sure what those pigs eat but whatever their diet it certainly makes for a mouthwatering pork fillet - a cut that can be pretty blah.  It's also supremely tender.  I cook pork fillet to just under medium or just over medium rare.  I know, people are scared to eat it this way but it's the way you'll get it in most good restaurants and in Spain.  It really does lend to an incredibly textured meat properly rested.

Served this time with a simple red wine sauce (made with the trimmings, red wine, onion and port and passed)....over roasted parsnip for a chewy result, beetroot, properly charred leek and a few freeze dried apple pieces for taste and texture.  Delicious and rather simple considering the flavours and textures.

Lamb loin, lamb and rosemary jus, parsley rosemary anchovy stuffing

I bought the most beautiful looking bone on loin of lamb from the Butcher Shop and Grill here.  I don't know why the whole loin isn't more readily available........it's usually chopped with the fat cap and bone on into short rib pieces.  I've never cooked loin butchered this way as I simply have no idea what I'd do with it.

The whole piece, on the other hand, is a different story.  I cut away most of the fat leaving around 3mm which I scored.  I took the bone off (and hacked it into pieces for the stock).

A stuffing was made simply of anchovy fillets, garlic, parsley and rosemary all blended together.  I then tied up the loin into a (if I might say) very pretty log.

The bones were browned really well, leek and tomato added and caramelised, deglazed with white wine, a further lamb sauce I had in the freezer was added for additional depth plus good chicken stock and fresh rosemary sprigs, all cooked together then strained twice to give a beautiful glossy, rich lamb jus.

I did a potato galette which isn't really my thing (when I make this again....and I will...I will replace the galette with maybe potato and leek dauphinoise or omit the potato altogether).  Lesson learnt, don't make things you don't really like that much!  Duh!!

The lamb was browned off and put in a 130deg C oven for 18 minutes and rested in foil.  Superbly cooked.  Served with slow roasted tomatoes, a little cauliflower garlic puree, parsley and that sublime sauce.......it was tender, fragrant, sweet and utterly UTTERLY scrummy.  A bit of an effort but worth every hour.

Aged eye fillet with cauliflower

We are lucky enough to get the best of the best when it comes to aged beef.  Butcher Shop and Grill here is a South African chain and they sell aged beef over the counter.  Eye fillet is generally pretty blah but Butcher Shop aged eye fillet is something else.  Meltingly tender, incredibly flavourful and utterly addictive.

I have a technique (which I don't know why more people don't do actually) of lightly salting meat I will be pan cooking and leaving it uncovered in the fridge for the day or overnight.  It essentially draws moisture from the protein but only on the exposed pieces.  Therefore I find that when I go to roast, grill etc the surface area is now nice and dry and a crust forms easily with very little splatter.  I use this technique for chicken with the skin on too.  It allows the skin to dry out and crisp up easily in the oven.

OK so anyway Andy cooked the steak.  Cooked it to rare - medium rare perfection.  Turning it every 30 secs in a good pan on a decent heat creates a beautiful crust and loads of caramelised blood flavour.  Yum.

I made a cauliflower puree with umami flavours in mind.  I added a little bit of raw garlic, some parmesan and a touch of MSG.  I KNOW.... it's not the thing to do but I disagree with that consensus. MSG is a great flavour enhancer and will do you absolutely no harm.  I mean billions of people eat loads of the stuff.  They seem fine.  I like MSG.

The cauliflower puree was topped with crisp cooked cauliflower pieces.  The steak is resting on top of a baked portobello mushroom.  I topped it off with some truffle oil (yes that beast of a thing that gets a big bad wrap but again I LIKE IT and can't get truffles so all you truffle oil snobs can snob away.

Viola!  Simple steak deliciousness.

Cod with leek and potato sauce, bonito flakes and leek ash

This Heston Blumenthal recipe is one I've done before.  I changed it slightly this time round.  After making the sauce and passing it, I used the thick leftover which was like a leek mouse and added chopped cod from the trimmings.  When heating together before serving the cod is just cooked to which I added peas.  I popped this mix onto the centre of each plate, poured the passed sauce around and the cooked whole piece of cod on top.  The addition of leek ash gave the dish a kick if, well bitter I guess....which sounds gross but works very well here.  Leek ash gives a big toast note to any dish.  Bonito flakes were used in my fish stock and they are also fabulous as a garnish to give that lovely hint of smoke.  I topped the cod off with some deep fried onion pieces.

This, as a result, tasted like a luxury fish pie, with everything cooked to perfection.

Stuffed duck neck

The first time I've cooked duck neck (well duck neck skin that is).  Salting it first and leaving it in the fridge for a few hours before rinsing it and drying it ensures excess moisture is taken away and means when it's cooked it renders easier and doesn't spit as much.

I used a mixture of chopped sourdough bread, sautéed onion and mushrooms, iberico bellota ham finely chopped, thyme and sage (a delicious mix).

Stuffing the neck is easy peasy and I tied off each end and chopped off any excess.  It made a really tidy sausage.  It needs to sit in the fridge for a few hours after stuffing and before cooking to set it.

Cooking is easy too, brown it off well in a pan, pop it in the oven for around 10 minutes and viola.

I served it with a vinegarette for an acidity balance, shaved fennel and fig and spring onion.  The skin itself was nice and thin, it sounds incredibly heavy but was light to eat and easily a nice starter for two cut in half.

Duck breast, duck jus, leak puree, roasted leeks, freeze dried blueberries, poached fig.

The duck breast was covered in a spice mix of fennel seeds and star anise.  My favourite spices for duck (cardamon is great with duck too).

I reduced the jus till a glaze with a touch of sugar and sherry vinegar, adjusting the salt at the end.  The leek puree was done with the green of the leek which is usually discarded.  I don't know why it's usually discarded.  I love it.  The roasted leeks were pre cooked in duck stock to render them melting before a hot oven gave them a roasting.

The freeze dried blueberries is a new product here and I thought they would go well, I ground some and left some whole.  They balanced beautifully in this dish.

The figs were poached in a little pommegranate molasses to give them a sharpness.

The duck - I do make an effort to get every single bit of sinew I can from the meat.  I cannot stress enough how much this pays off.  The meat (put in a cold pan and cooked on medium heat skin side until crispy and rendered, turned over for 30 secs on the flesh side then taken out of the pan to rest for as long as it was cooked for) was meltingly tender and quite frankly divine.

I pour the duck fat out of the pan and tip the reduced jus mix into this pan to reheat and scrape up any yummy bits and use this as my sauce.  It's a personal preference to have the sauce ready to go (i.e. pre reduced, pre seasoned etc) so that a quick tip into the pan that was used for the meat becomes a quick deglazing job and it's all done.  It's the way I do all my sauces because I like to relax at the end of cooking.

Duck heart, kidney, liver and mushrooms

Very simple and delicious to sauté some mushrooms with onion until the mushrooms.  Quickly fry whatever offal you're using in duck fat or oil on a high heat, but not cooked through.  A few seconds of searing is what's required.

Add some reduced stock that has been cooked down with a little bit of caramelised sugar and vinegar.  Some herbs (tarragon works well as does thyme).

Add the mushrooms and seared offal to the reduced stock and heat until just warmed through.  The offal needs to be pink to be tender.

Serve as an entree in small bowls with chives and grilled sourdough (my own of course!).  Also superb served as an open ravioli without the bread.

What to do with a whole duck…..

 I buy them occasionally when I have the inclination.  They are cheap at Lulu supermarket.  Around $15USD (50 AED) for a pretty big duck.  They come thawed from frozen.  It doesn’t affect the meat at all in my opinion.  It’s one of those few breeds that freeze well.

So a whole duck for two people does pose a little problem in regards to eating it.  This one had particularly large breasts.  Therefore half a duck breast as a main was sufficient. 

So….

I had the bits and bobs (being the kidneys, liver and heart) for an entrée, I had the neck skin for another entrée, I had two breasts for two mains and two legs for a main PLUS all that carcass bone for stocks.

Oh not to forget the wings which I roasted off separately with some salt and we scoffed as a snack.  The skin and meat ends out chewy and gooey utterly delicious. 

The next few posts are … well lots of ways with one duck!