Recipes

— Recipes —

Sauté off Garlic, thyme and potatoes in some of the olive oil over low heat. Add stock and cook till potatoes are soft. Remove thyme sprigs.
Add truffle oil and blend till smooth. Season with salt.

Tip: you can use a shot glass or espresso cup if serving as ‘amuse’.

Potato & Truffle Velouté

400g Potatoes
1l Stock
2 Cloves Garlic
2 Sprigs Thyme
20g Truffle Oil
80g Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Chocolate Nemesis

by Sous Chef Paul Cooper
675g Chocolate, 70%
450g Butter
600g Sugar
10 Eggs

Cream sugar and egg until they double in volume (about 10 minutes).
Melt the chocolate with butter over a water bath
Fold together chocolate with sugar and egg mix.

Steam bake at 145c for 40minutes

FEIJOAS with FRENCH MERINGUE

ingredients:

6 feijoas
150g butter
75g caster sugar
3 eggs
1 lemon
2 egg whites
85g castor sugar
85g icing sugar

METHOD:

Halve the Feijoas width ways and gently scoop out the flesh using a teaspoon. Reserve the Feijoa shells to use as cups. With a sharp knife slice the end of the cups only enough so the cups stand upright.
Take the feijoa flesh and blend it with the juice of the lemon. In a medium heavy based pot put the feijoa flesh mix, sugar, butter and eggs and whisk together over a medium heat until the mixture boils.
Whilst hot pour the curd into the cups then refrigerate until needed. Any extra curd can be kept in a separate container and used as a condiment for baked goods or other desserts.
For the meringue, but the egg whites and a small spoon of the sugar in a mixing bowl with a dash of lemon juice. Using an electric mixer mix on a medium speed until they begin to foam then increase the speed and mix it to soft peak. Then whisking continuously add the remaining sugar.

Crayfish Ravioli with Bisque

This month's recipe is one of Chef Honeyman's favourites to make for friends and family.
"It reminds me of growing up and cooking with my mum. It's always fun to involve dinner guests... to get our hands dirty, chat and share some wine. "

Method:

Dough: Infuse saffron in warm water (50C) and cover for 40 minutes. Mix all the wet ingredients -water, eggs, oil- together. Using a food processor start with flour and salt, slowly work the wet into the dry until you have a smooth dough and process for 4min. (Alternatively mix by hand using two forks) Cut dough into 4 pieces. Wrap in cling film; set aside. Rest for 2 hours.
Filling: Dice crayfish or prawn meat into .5cm cubes. Thoroughly mix all ingredients and set aside
Veggies: Cut the vegetable in 3cm long pieces, slice 1mm lengthwise. Stack the slices and cut in 1 mm thin slices lengthwise. In a large pan heat extra virgin olive oil and add vegetables. Season with salt and cook for about 5min until they are al dente - still firm to the bite.
Bisque: With a large wooden spoon crush the crayfish head or prawn head and shells and add to a very hot, large pot with canola oil. Add curry powder and let the oil infuse for 3-4 minutes. Add tomato paste and caramelise for 6-10 minutes. Stir regularly to prevent burning. Add the rest of the ingredients except the sherry vinegar. Simmer for 30 minutes, add sherry vinegar. Take the bisque off the heat and let stand for 30 minutes to 1 hour. Strain and return to pot.
Make pasta: Place dough on lightly floured surface; flatten slightly. Set rollers of pasta machine at widest setting (position 1). Feed unwrapped dough piece through flat rollers by turning handle. Dough may crumble slightly at first but will hold together after two to three rollings. Lightly flour dough strip; fold strip in half (double up). Feed through rollers again. Continue process 3-4 times until dough is smooth and elastic. Reduce setting to position 2. Feed dough strip through rollers. Without folding strip into half, repeat on positions 3 to 6 (thinnest setting).
Make Ravioli: Lay strips flat on lightly floured surface. With a spoon drop walnut sized portions of filling every 7-8 cm along the strip. Cover with second strip. With your fingers tightly press together the dough strips making sure the filling is ‘sealed’ in the center. Cut into pieces. Repeat with rest of dough.
Bring large pot with salt water to a boil. Add ravioli and cook for 3.5min. (Depending on size of pot and number of raviolis you might need to work in patches to ensure the water does not stop boiling) Remove using a slotted spoon and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil.
Plate: Portion the vegetable on the bottom of a deep plate or bowl, add ravioli and
bisque. Fresh grated parmesan and herbs to serve.

Ingredients:

Pasta Dough
350g Flour, standard
10g Salt, fine
40g Warm water
15 Saffron, strands
2 Eggs, whole
5 Egg yolks
25g Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Crayfish or Prawn Filling 6 ravioli at 60g
200g Crayfish or Prawn meat
150g Ricotta
5g Sweet Soy Sauce
15g Parmesan, grated
3g Parsley or Terragon, chopped

Root Vegetables
1 Celeriac
2 Carrots
1 Leek
Pinch of Salt
Extra Virgin Olive Oil for cooking

Bisque
500g Crayfish head or Prawn head & Shell
175g Tomato paste
1 tbs Curry powder
150g Canola oil
750g Fish stock
1 tbs Sugar
1tbs Sherry vinegar
White pepper to taste

To Serve:
Fresh herbs (parsley, dill or basil), picked and stem removed and Parmesan

Summer Potato Salad "Olivie"

INGREDIENTS:

10 Wilcox Perla Potatoes
2 boiled eggs
Salt
1 clove garlic (sliced)
2 shallots (sliced)
1 tbsp mayonnaise
Sour cream 1 tablespoon
½ lemon juice
fresh dill
spring onion
20 raw green beans (chopped)
1 stick celery (diced)
½ rock melon (diced)
2 tbs feta cheese
2 tbs cooked Chorizo sausage (chopped finely)
1tbs almonds

METHOD

Boil Wilcox Perla potatoes and eggs together, with a pinch of salt for 12 minutes.
For the salad: to a cold pan, add garlic and shallots a pinch of sea salt and cook gently until caramelised. Add Chorizo and almonds and warm through.
Construct the salad in two parts. For the potato layer: place mayonnaise, sour cream and a handful of fresh dill into bottom of a bowl. For the top layer: add green beans, celery, rock melon and feta.
Remove Wilcox Perla potatoes and eggs from the heat, once they have finished cooking. Cool slightly, and slice in half.
Carefully peel eggs and chop roughly. Add eggs and potatoes to the bowl with the mayonnaise mixture. Add dill, a pinch of sea salt and squeeze over lemon juice. Mix gently.
To serve: combine Chorizo sausage mixture with rest of potato salad. Mix gently once again and add final rock melon mixture.

Lyn's Almond Meringue by Chef Nick Honeyman

Christmas is all about memories and family. This recipe from Nick Honeyman is inspired by a cake his mom made growing up. It is absolutely delicious and the texture is both chewy & crunchy. The perfect, easy recipe to impress your guests or to bring as a little gift. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

6 Egg whites, cold
145g Sugar
200g Dark chocolate
200g Almonds

Method:

Preheat oven to 190C (conventional) and grease 8inch pan.
Chopp almonds and chocolate
In a kitchenaid start beating the whites at low speed until they are foamy, add salt to speed up whipping and help to stabilize the whites. Move on to medium/medium-high speed until the whites form soft, rounded peaks. Gradually add the sugar.
With a spatula gently fold under the almonds and chocolate.
Fill mixture in greased pan and bake at 190c for 10 min.
Reduce temperature to 120C and bake for 30min.
Test cake with clean knife or wooden pick.
Let cool down and dust with icing sugar or cocoa to serve.

Harmony Glazed Ham

Ingredients:

5-6kg Harmony Champagne Ham
Marinate:
30g extra virgin olive oil
1 orange juice& zest
1 lime juice & zest
6g sea salt
Glaze:
200g brown sugar
80g chardonnay or sherry vinegar
80g ABC Soy sauce (dark soy)
100g Manuka honey
50g Dijon mustard

10 fresh bay leaves
20 cloves

Method:

Turn on the oven to 180deg c. Make sure that you are prepping the ham from cold. Starting from the bottom of the ham remove the skin leaving as much of the fat on as you can. When you reach the knuckle leave the skin on. Assess the fat on the ham and trim off any excess, you would ideally like a 1cm layer across the ham. Score the ham on the angle with 2cm cubes.

Place the ham on to a roasting tray which is lined with greaseproof paper. In a bowl mix all of the ingredients for the marinate and pour them over the ham rubbing it into the scoring then put the tray in the oven at 180deg for 45mins basting it every 15mins.

In a pot bring all of the ingredients except the honey to a simmer, remove from the heat and then incorporate the honey.

After the ham has been in for 45mins take it out cover it with half of the glaze mixture, return it to the oven for 15mins and repeat the process with the other half of the mixture and cook for a further 15mins.

We are no ready to stud the ham with the cloves, glaze the ham once more with the juices and the in the scoring corners evenly distribute the cloves, ten of which you will pin on the fresh bay leaves. Return to the oven for a further 20mins and then transfer it to a carving board and serve.

Chef notes:

The reason for trimming the ham cold is because if the fat is at room temperature you will pull it off when you take off the skin and have an uneven coating on you ham.

For those who do not like the flavour of orange 1 cup of pineapple juice can be substituted in place of 2 oranges and zest.

The key is to baste your ham as much as you can with the juices of the roasting tray to get that wonderful caramel glazed colour. If your oven at home is not fan forced this recipe may take a little longer, just continue checking and basting the ham until it is a dark caramel colour and the gaze is a thick sticky consistency.