Pealed peas

It seems completely nuts, I know.  But we've had pealed peas at a couple of Michelin starred restaurants in the past.  They are a labour of love.  They take time.  But it's actually pretty therapeutic.  Of course, not something to do on a Tuesday night after work, or for that matter for a family dinner.   I'm not completely out of touch!   But do do some for a special meal they are a treat.  The colour is the brightest of green and the flavour.....well peas are wonderfully sweet anyway, however without the skin they have the most gorgeous pop of peaness in your mouth.  Worth the time?  For me, from time to time, yes.  Absolutely.  Without a doubt.  I mean, look at these beauties!

Three variations on pork belly, cured pork loin, reduction sauce, celeriac puree crispy celeriac, peas and broad beans.

The fact is I had 3 different versions of braised, pressed pork belly in the freezer from various meals I had cooked and had set a square aside to make an ensemble dish.  To do this from scratch would simply take hours but as it was I had star anise braised pressed pork belly, smoked cured braised and pressed pork belly, spiced braised and pressed pork belly and cured pork loin.

The sauce was a reduction from the star anise braising liquor.

Braising and pressing pork belly means cooking it slowly until it's meltingly tender, then carefully putting it in a dish, skin side completely flat and weighting it in the fridge at least overnight.  After than point it can be frozen.

Then to serve, cook it skin side down to get a glass crust.  With the gelatinous fat and meltingly tender meat underneith it's my favourite way to eat the belly of pork.

I had pealed the peas!  I KNOW!!!

Beef Tartare with avocado and celeriac

Because I had this beautiful piece of beef picanha I trimmed it to make it perfectly rectangular for main so that when sliced in half there were two perfect squares.  The excess I had trimmed I diced finely, added seasoning and topped with avocado (Andy's idea).  The avocado gave the lovely rich smoothness usually provided by egg yolk in a traditional tartare.  Served with a slice of grilled sourdough rubbed with garlic and topped with dehydrated celeriac.  A delicious and elegant entree.

Beef picanha coated in squid ink with caramelised onion puree, creamed leeks.

My current favourite cut of beef  (rump cap with fat in tact).  The squid ink was merely for colour, it looked sensational.  I had put the meat into a zip lock bag with the ink which meant no mess.  Squid ink can get EVERYWHERE if you're not careful handling it.   I cooked the beef as usual, drying it in the fridge, scoring the fat, rendering the fat down slowly as you would cook duck breast, resting and slicing in half to serve us.  When sliced the gorgeous pink meat against the black ink looked so awesome.  A browned onion puree is a thing of pure pleasure and one the the most simple things to make.  Its simplicity in prep belies it's deep rich flavour.  

The creamed leeks added a delicious savoury note and the crisp dehydrated beetroot and jerusalem artichoke, other than tasting delicious added the little notes of crunch.  Yum. 

Crisp skin sea bream, celeriac and saffron puree, beetroot relish and crunchy potato

A bit of an experimental dish.  It actually worked well.  The beetroot was a simple relish with onion, sherry vinegar and ground fennel seeds.  A lovely sweet sour accompaniment with the fish.  The puree could have done with being silkier and more creamy but I didn't realise until I'd put it on the plate.  The potatoes were done in the oven with some duck fat, crunchy and delicious, fan baked on a low heat so they were fully dehydrated.  I also dehydrated some green olives for a salty kick and when there was a little of everything on the fork it really was a very good dish.  Just needs tweeking to make it an awesome dish.

Strudel again!!

We've become mad strudel fans after making one from scratch for the first time recently.  This time I added some black berries along with the apple.  Everything else was the same, pain d'espice spice mix, the bread crumbs toasted in good salted french butter and that lovely butter melted to brush over the top.  The pastry again was a delight to stretch and just plain satisfying when it's in the oven.  

It keeps very well in the fridge.  It just needs a decent warming before serving so that the pastry is fully crisp again.  My idea of food heaven.  

Beef picanha with reduction

I've already mentioned this cut of beef, the rump cap taken from the top of the rump and with the fat still on.  I absolutely love this cut of beef.  It's very good value and utterly delicious.  Why it's not available in NZ is beyond me but it's popular in Europe and south America.

I use the duck breast method and render the fat so that there is just a thin golden delicious coating on the lovely tasty rump meat.  I cook it medium rare, but cook it for some time fat side down to properly render it to sublime deliciousness.

I served it simply, grilled cauliflower, broad beans, grilled onion and reduction.  Yum.

Prawns with grape sauce

An odd one I know, but it works so very well.  This is an Atul Kochhar recipe.  He uses scallops.  I am a cheapskate.  I use local prawns.

They are given a coating of ground coriander seeds, garlic salt, sesame seeds (black and white but I use nigella seeds in place of the black sesame seeds, I like the flavour) and a little chilli.

Simply grilled and served with a sauce of blitzed seedless grapes, fresh mint/coriander, dried mango powder, paprika (strange but true) and chilli.

The dish is served with a few frozen grapes and the whole combination comes together brilliantly.  It is an easy, fresh, light entree and a favourite of mine.