Basil & Mint Tea Infused Ice Cream with a Summer Berry Sauce

May 12, 2014 — 1 Comment

RECIPE_INFO_BASIL_ICE

I scream, you scream, we all scream, for ice cream… and what better time with the weather just starting to turn into nice sunshine here in London. This light, zingy, refreshing and interesting dessert may not seem like an obvious flavour combination to some people, but I believe it really works. The sweet, intense, fresh acidity of the sauce cutting through the richer, custard based ice cream, with its infused herby flavours and creamy textures. This ice cream is great as a light dessert, or you can keep it in the freezer and pull it out for when you just want a hit of something refreshing and sweet on a hot day (the sauce will keep for around 10 days if kept in a sealed container in the fridge). You could also substitute the infused mint tea for fresh mint and the recipe would probably work just as well.

INGREDIENTS

For the Basil/Mint Tea Infused Ice Cream

30 grams basil
250ml heavy cream
150ml whole milk
3 mixed mint tea bags
6 egg yolks
150 grams sugar
vanilla extract

For the Summer Berry Sauce

1 punnet of Raspberries
1 punnet of Blueberries
1 punnet of Blackberries
1 lemon (halved)
Caster sugar to taste

MUSIC I COOKED TO:

Preparation Method:

Heat the milk gently to a light simmer.
Remove from heat. Add the half the chopped basil leaves and mint tea bags and infuse for fifteen minutes. Don’t worry if the mix looks a little grey at this point – the vibrant green colour will return when you add more herbs later!
Quickly blanch the rest of the basil and mint in boiling water and then transfer the herbs to an ice bath to halt the cooking process. Drain and set aside.
Add the heavy cream, milk and a splash of vanilla essence to a saucepan on medium heat. Stir the mixture until it is liquid. Bring the liquid to a gentle simmer.
While the cream/milk mixture is warming up, whisk egg yolks and sugar together in a bowl or blender. Make sure they’re well combined.
When the cream is just starting to simmer (do NOT boil it), SLOWLY temper it into the yolks by pouring the mixture into the egg mixture whilst whisking.
Pour the custard mixture back into the saucepan and turn the heat down to medium low. Stir in a figure 8 motion for several minutes until the mixture coats the back of a wood spoon or rubber spatula. Remove from the heat and add the herbs. Do not heat to quickly or you will end up with scrambled eggs.
Puree the rest of the basil in a blender with the custard mixture and blend it on high until the basil is fully incorporated.
Strain the cream through a fine mesh strainer and allow to chill thoroughly in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.
Prepare the summer fruit sauce by placing the mixed berries in a pan.
Cover with the fruit with a layer of caster sugar.
Heat on a medium heat for around 10-15 minutes until the fruit has broken down.
Squeeze in the juice of a lemon and then add the lemon halves to the mixture.
Simmer for a further 5 mins.
Strain the berry mixture into a bowl through a fine mesh sieve.
Blend the solid berry flesh left in the sieve until liquid.
Strain the blended mixture into the same bowl. Chill in the fridge until ready to use.
Make ice cream according to the manufacturer’s instructions for your ice cream maker. Cover and place in the freezer to firm up.
Prepare some fine lemon peel for garnish.
To serve place a quenelle of the ice cream on a small plate, drizzle over some of the chilled summer berry sauce, and garnish with the lemon peel.

Herb Crusted Lamb with Minted Peas, Pancetta, and Lettuce

April 28, 2014 — Leave a comment

This dish is fast, simple, light, full of flavour and wonderful colours. A rack of lamb dish like this really is very quick to put together and makes a perfect fast lunch or dinner that tastes really fresh and succulent. The cool, sweet, subtle tastes and textures of the herbs and vegetables compliment the meaty, salty lamb and pancetta really well – and the herb crust on the lamb adds a wonderful textural element to the meat, and imparts some great extra flavour punchiness. Just a quick note for the sake of total disclosure – the vegetable part if this dish was inspired by the cooking of the immense Dominic Chapman from a recipe in which he pairs it with a confit of duck. I’ve changed the amounts and adjusted the flavours slightly, by omitting spring onion which he includes, as I felt the spring onion would be a flavour too far with the herb crust of the lamb.

INGREDIENTS

Herb Crusted Lamb

Small, trimmed rack of lamb (mine was 300g)
150g of dry bread crumbs
Sprig parsley
Sprig thyme
Sprig coriander
Sprig rosemary
1 tablespoons English mustard
splash of olive oil

Braised peas, lettuce, bacon, mint

A large handful of garden peas
4 baby gem lettuce leaves
100g of diced Pancetta
20g of fresh mint leaves, roughly chopped
30g of butter

MUSIC I COOKED TO:

Preparation Method:

Place your herbs on a large chopping board and finely chop them together with the garlic.
Add them to the bread crumbs in a bowl.
Add light olive oil until the mixtures becomes well coated and fluid.
Place mixture into a mortar and pestle and crush into a fine crust. Set aside.
Pre-heat the oven to 200ºC
Place lamb on a cutting board. Generously season the lamb with salt and pepper – ensuring it’s thoroughly coated all over.
Heat some light, frying olive oil in an oven safe pan. Seal and brown the lamb all over.
Transfer the lamb in the pan into the oven and bake for 7 minutes. Start to prepare the vegetables while the lamb is cooking.
In a large pan, start to fry the diced bacon on a medium heat until golden. Remove the bacon from the pan and keep in a warm place until required.
Remove the lamb from the oven and brush the top of the rack generously with the mustard. Dip the lamb into the crust mixture coating the top. Dip several times to ensure an even coating. Allow meat to rest for a bit.
Place it back into the oven for 3 minutes, remove, and allow to rest until ready to serve.
Increase the heat under the veg on the hob, add the butter and and small dash of water, stirring to emulsify in the pan. Add the 4 lettuce leaves and cook until just tender, but still green.
Next, add the peas and return the bacon back to the pan and cook for 2 minutes. Strain off any excess liquid in a colander, season to taste and add the fresh chopped mint to finish
Crave the lamb into individual chops.
To serve place the lettuce leaves on the centre of the plate, next add the minted peas and Pancetta. Place one or two chops on top of the vegetables and Pancetta.

Duck Breast Salad & Candied Soy Walnuts on a Sweet Potato Pancake with Raspberry Vinaigrette

March 30, 2014 — Leave a comment

This bright, fresh, fruity and light duck salad is a great spring dish. It makes a great light lunch to enjoy in the early spring sun. It also makes a good first course of you’re doing one of those dinner party things 🙂 The savoury notes of the rich, tender duck meat, sweet potato pancake and the asparagus combine beautifully with the sharp fruit flavours of the raspberry vinaigrette and the caramelised walnuts. All the stages are pretty quick and easy to put together – make sure you’re careful with the duck and don’t overcook it or you’ll end up with tough, leathery meat. Not nice. If you did want to save a little time and effort you could always omit the sweet potato pancake… though I wouldn’t! You could also replace this element with a fritter or sweet potato bread or roti too.

INGREDIENTS

For the Duck:

2 duck breast
salt
mixed salad leaves to serve

Sweet Potato Pancakes:

500g of sweet potato
3 tbsp of milk
3 tbsp of single cream
3 tbsp of plain flour
3 eggs
4 egg whites
750ml of chicken stock
sunflower oil
salt
black pepper

Asparagus

4 asparagus spears
1 tbsp of unsalted butter

Honey Soy Walnuts

150g of walnuts
20ml of light soy sauce
2tbsp of honey
sea salt

Raspberry vinaigrette

1 punnet of raspberries
1/2 tsp of Dijon Mustard
200ml of olive oil
50ml of red wine vinegar
sea salt
pepper

Preparation Method:

To make the potato pancakes, peel and quarter the potatoes then cook them in a pan of boiling salted water/stock until tender.
Drain, then while still hot put them through a blender or use a masher to purée and set aside to cool. Do not over blend to avoid the texture becoming gluey
Once the potatoes are completely cool, put them in a mixing bowl with the milk, cream and flour. Beat in the whole eggs one at a time
In a large clean bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form then fold them into the batter.
To cook the pancakes, heat a blini pan with some sunflower oil until hot, then tip out the oil.
Put a ladle of pancake mixture in the pan, leave on the heat for a few seconds, and then place in the oven (or under the grill) until the pancake is firm to the touch and lightly browned. Keep warm while you repeat with the remaining batter
Preheat the oven to 175˚C/gas mark 3 1/2. Mix walnuts, honey, soy sauce and salt.
Place onto a baking tray and bake for 5 minutes, remove and place back into their original bowl to mix with any left over mixture. Be careful to keep an eye on these so they don’t burn. Allow to cool on the tray.
Combine the raspberries, red wine vinegar and Dijon mustard in a bowl. Whisk gently, slowly pouring in the olive oil until thoroughly combined. Season to taste and set aside.
Preheat the oven to 180˚C/gas mark 4
Place a dry pan over a medium high heat and sprinkle with a couple of pinches of salt.
Lightly score the skin and place the duck breasts, skin-side down, in the pan
The fat will slowly render out of the skin. As it does so, remove with a spoon to allow the skin to crisp up nicely- this will take 4-5 minutes
Add the duck breasts to the tray. Cook in the oven for 4-5 minutes, then remove and allow to rest for a further 5 minutes before serving.
To cook the asparagus, snap off the woody ends and peel the stalks
Blanch the spears for 1-2 minutes (depending on thickness) in a pan of boiling salted water, then drain and refresh in iced water. Drain again then trim the spears so that they are all the same length
Melt butter in a large skillet and add asparagus. Sautee over medium-high heat, until the asparagus begins to blister, around 2 minutes.
Combine the salad leaves and asparagus in a large bowl and mix in some of the raspberry vinaigrette.
Arrange the sweet potato pancake on the centre of the plate. Place the salad and walnuts around the pancake in the middle of each plate. Place the sliced duck breast on top of the pancake and then finish with the asparagus. Drizzle with some more vinaigrette, some flaky sea salt and serve immediately.