|
As usual, I have used this ICSA as an excuse to test out some new foods on my friends. I tried to think of a load of things I’ve never made before, invited a couple of people over, and inflicted my food on them. Because we all went to university together, it inevitably turned into a colossal piss-up, draining my flat of all drink and going on until 4am. I have now recovered enough to write down what happened, the recipes and thoughts of my friends, who as usual, were extremely open in expressing their opinions! I am going to write this in order of the courses served, not necessarily in the order of things prepared: some of the items made and used were several weeks in the making, but I think it’s best to write this as we ate each course. So, to the menu! All recipes are for four people. Apéritif: French 75 Salad: Roasted lemon Caesar Soup: Avgolemono with mini lemon scones Fish: Lemon sole meunière with lemon risotto Entrée: Rack of lamb with root vegetable tagine and lemon cumin yoghurt Palette cleanser: Sgroppino Dessert: Lemon semolina cake with lemon caramel sauce and lemon cream Digestif: Limoncello My aim with this menu was to show the versatility of lemons: I don’t think there are many ways in which I’ve used lemon twice here, and at every stage the ways in which the lemon flavours came through were different. As my friends showed up (late), I served them a cocktail. It seemed only polite. Apéritif: French 75 Before anyone arrived, I started by candying some lemons.  Zest of 2 lemons 70g sugar 200ml cold water Using a vegetable peeler, remove the lemon rind in long strands Combine rind, sugar and water in a pan and heat on medium until the sugar dissolves Bring to the boil, then simmer for ten minutes Allow to cool on baking paper Once cool enough to handle, wrap some of the peel around skewers to get a nice helix, and dice the remainder  Set aside until the cocktails are made  180ml gin Juice of 2 lemons 2 tsp sugar Fizzy wine (I used cava) Candied peel twists Shake the gin, lemon juice and sugar with ice Strain into four flutes Top up with cava Garnish with a twist  We had these in the kitchen while I prepared the food, and chatted of this and that. The verdict: “Excellent” and “refreshing”. For my part, I thought this was a fantastic apéritif, it took the edge off the fact that we were starting late because one friend missed her train, got everyone in the mood for a nice dinner, and had just the right balance between sharp and dry. I am very glad I didn’t use decent champagne for it, as it would have been rather a waste. While drinking a few of these, I prepared the next course… Salad: Roasted lemon Caesar I began several days earlier by making a lemon and olive ciabatta to turn into croutons. The first step in the process was to make the sponge:  100g white bread flour 60ml cool water 2g salt A very small pinch of dry instant yeast Mix the ingredients until they form a dough  Leave to ferment overnight at room temperature The next day, I made the bread itself  150g white bread flour 2g dry instant yeast 3g salt 2.5g sugar 130ml warm water 160g sponge from above 75g Kalamata olives, roughly chopped Zest of 1 lemon Pinch of dry thyme 5g olive oil Pinch of dry rosemary Mix the flour, yeast, salt and sugar in a mixer with a dough hook Add enough water to form a coherent mass Gradually incorporate small pieces of the (very sticky) sponge Once the dough stops sticking to the sides of the mixer bowl, add the remaining water and the oil in small increments The dough will be very wet and hard to work with at this point Add the olives, lemon zest and thyme and fold into the dough Place in an oiled bowl and leave to prove in a warm place for 1h  Place the dough onto a floured surface and stretch it out to remove some air and stretch the gluten strands Fold over a few times and put back into the bowl for another hour Place the dough on a heavily floured lined baking tray, then heavily flour the top Leave to rest for 5m, stretch into a slipper shape, cover and rest for 30m Sprinkle with rosemary and a little olive oil  Now, at this point, I began to get slightly concerned. I’ve made bread several times in the past, and this didn’t seem to be acting in the same way as any bread I’ve ever made before. However, I had read that the dough was a tough one to deal with, and that it would feel and look completely terrible until it was finished, so I put my faith in the science of baking and continued following the instructions. Bake at 230C for 20m When it came out of the oven, it hadn’t risen whatsoever, and when cut open, it looked pretty loving terrible.  I resolved to continue, and see what would happen if I made my  Bread cubes 60ml olive oil 1 clove garlic, minced Zest of 1 lemon 3 tbsp parmesan, finely grated A few twists of black pepper Mix the oil, garlic, zest, parmesan and pepper in a bowl and toss the bread in the mixture  Bake at 190 for 10m, turn and bake for another 10m until crispy  Set aside until ready to make your salad. Next was the dressing:  1 egg yolk Oil from a tin of anchovies Juice of 1 lemon 3 cloves garlic, minced 1 tsp Dijon mustard 2 tbsp olive oil Dash of Worcestershire sauce 1 tsp capers, chopped Beat the egg yolk, garlic, lemon juice and mustard together Gradually add the oils while whisking continuously until emulsified  Add the Worcestershire sauce and capers and set aside. Finally I was in a position to make a start on the salad.  I took this photo earlier in the day, so the croutons were not yet done at this point, but you get the gist… 2 lemons, thinly sliced 1 tbsp olive oil Pinch of sugar 500g tomatoes, quartered 1 bulb fennel, thinly sliced, retaining fronds Handful freshly chopped parsley 1 heart of romaine lettuce, roughly torn 4 eggs Croutons 1 tin of anchovies, roughly shopped Parmesan, shaved with the back of a knife Toss the lemon slices in the oil and sugar Roast at 180 for 20m  While these are cooling, boil the eggs for 6.5m and plunge into iced water Assemble the salad including the roasted lemons, toss in the dressing Garnish with croutons, fennel fronds, eggs, and parmesan  This was actually excellent. While I would like to make a proper ciabatta (and would appreciate tips on what went wrong), the croutons worked nicely, and were still very crunchy. The main criticisms were that the balance was a bit off, and that everyone wanted more fennel and anchovies, but that overall it worked well together and the bitterness of the lemon was good with the pungent dressing and olive croutons. After our salad, we had some soup! Soup: Avgolemono with mini lemon scones I first heard about this type of soup when I was in Greece for a work thing: apparently, because of a lack of facility to store milk and cream, the Greeks came up with a novel way of thickening soup, using lemons and eggs. I was intrigued when I heard about this, and now I had a perfect opportunity to try it out myself! But first, miniature scones.  60g plain flour Pinch of salt 12.5g grated parmesan Zest of 1 lemon 1 tsp dry thyme Black pepper 25g butter 1 clove garlic, minced ½ an egg yolk 1 tbsp plain yoghurt Mix all the ingredients together in a mixer, completely ignoring your own instructions to do dry ingredients first, followed by butter to make a breadcrumb texture and then the eggs and yoghurt (it seemed to work) Form into a sausage, wrap in cling film and chill for 2h  Using a sharp knife, cut into 5mm rounds When this doesn’t work to your satisfaction, roll each round into a ball and press flat Bake at 160 for 20m until golden  Set aside until ready to serve with the soup  3 chicken thighs Enough gelatinous homemade stock cubes for about 1L of stock Mirepoix Black peppercorns 45g orzo Parsley, finely chopped 2 eggs Juice of 1 lemon Poach the thighs in stock with a rough mirepoix and peppercorns Set thighs aside and strain the broth through cheesecloth Set aside 250ml of broth into a jug, put the remainder back in the pan Cook the orzo in the stock for 8m While this is cooking, shred the chicken and put it into bowls  Beat the eggs, gradually adding the lemon juice Once incorporated, temper the eggs by gradually whisking in the warm reserved stock Add the creamy egg/lemon/stock mix into the soup pan and simmer for 4m Pour over the chicken and garnish with a slice of lemon and some chopped parsley  Eat the soup, eat the scones, fail to get a good crumb shot of the scone  This was rather wonderful. Before I made it, I had images of a thin soup with occasional lumps of unincorporated egg. As it turned out, this was probably the most praised dish of the night. “Faultless” with “really good texture, which is often lacking in soup” and “great biscuits”. For my part, I thought it was delicious, lemony and chickeny, and had a really great texture, both in terms of the soup itself and the addition of the orzo. I will absolutely be making this again. Now, our appetites whetted by soup and salad, and our sociability well and truly lubricated, it was time to have a bit of fish. Fish: Lemon sole meunière with lemon risotto I’m sorry, I couldn’t resist the play on words. Begin by making basil chips.  Small bunch of basil 1 tsp olive oil Pinch of salt Toss the basil leaves in the oil and salt Bake at 165 for 10m  Set aside until ready to serve Next, make some courgette ribbons. This was great, because I could finally use the weird little spiralizer device I got for listening to a strange man tell me lies about a bad knife I didn’t want to buy.  1 courgette Juice of 1 lemon Spiralize the courgette and toss in lemon juice  The weird little half a face you can see behind the spiral is my son, who thought the whole thing hilarious and refused to get out of the photo Next, I made a lemon risotto:  1 onion 1 stick celery 1 carrot 60g butter 1 tbsp olive oil 300g carnaroli rice Enough gelatinous homemade stock cubes for about 1L of stock Zest and juice of 1 lemon 1 tsp dry rosemary 1 large egg yolk 20g parmesan, finely grated 60ml double cream Very finely mince the onion, celery and carrot to make a fine mirepoix Heat the oil and half the butter in a large pan and soften the mirepoix for about 5m, stirring constantly Mix in the rice, stirring to get it evenly coated Add a little vermouth, then a ladleful of hot stock, and stir until absorbed Add more stock, and keep stirring until absorbed  Repeat until all the stock is gone and the rice is al dente, about 15-20m It was during this process that I completely lost the ability to take photos during the prep of the fish course, as it was all going off. I only managed to do the mise en place for the fish, and then everything was done before I knew it. Add the lemon zest and rosemary In a small bowl, beat together the egg yolk, parmesan, cream, lemon juice and pepper When the rice is done, add the eggy mixture and the remaining butter and beat the hell out of it to quickly incorporate everything While this was doing, I was also doing the fish.  Fillet of lemon sole 6 tbsp flour Salt and pepper 3 tbsp olive oil 85g butter Juice of 1 lemon 2 tbsp capers, roughly chopped Cut the sole into four portions and dredge in generously seasoned flour Fry skin-side down in oil on medium heat for a couple of minutes until crispy Flip and fry for another minute Remove the fish to a warm plate, chuck in the butter, lemon juice and capers Whisk until ready to serve Plate the dish by putting a dollop of risotto, then the courgette, top with fish and a basil crisp and surround with the sauce meunière  I’m afraid I didn’t manage to get a nice close-up shot of the fish, but you get the idea, I’m sure. The fish was great, perfectly cooked with crispy skin, and the risotto was a really good accompaniment. In my mind, I had horrible thoughts of this being like a lemon rice pudding, but it was subtle and delicious. The courgette was an excellent counterpoint to the soft fish and creamy risotto, and just so simple. One friend by this point had reached the overly-effusive stage and claimed this dish to be “an utter triumph” and “exceptional” but I suspect this was the wine talking… It was really good, though, even if I do say so myself. By now, we had had enough of these little dainty dishes, and wanted something hearty. It was time for a tagine! Entrée: Rack of lamb with root vegetable tagine and lemon cumin yoghurt I don’t own a proper tagine, but you can do a pretty good approximation with a regular pan. The main thing I needed was preserved lemons, which I had made three weeks before serving anything. The simplest mise en place yet:  4 lemons Salt Trim the ends of all the lemons to remove the nubs  Cut lengthwise into quarters, stopping about 3/4 of the way down before the lemon falls apart Put a tsp of salt into each cut and push the lemons down into a freshly sterilised jar, topping each with another spoonful of salt Repeat until the jar is full of lemons, then squeeze the final lemon over the top and top up with boiling water  Seal and let sit at room temperature for 3d, shaking and rotating a few times daily Refrigerate for at least three weeks before using On the day of the dinner, I started by making a little lemon cumin yoghurt, which is another pretty simple mise en place!  300ml Greek yoghurt Zest and juice of 1 lemon 1 tsp cumin Mix together and set aside Then it was time to make the tagine!  1 potato, peeled and diced 1 sweet potato, diced 1 carrot, diced 1 turnip, diced Enough gelatinous homemade stock cubes for about 250ml of stock Pinch of saffron 1 onion, diced 1 tomato, deseeded and diced A piece of ginger, minced Smoked paprika Cumin 2 cloves of garlic 1/2 a preserved lemon, including flesh, finely chopped Handful of parsley, chopped Handful of coriander, chopped Green olives Heat the stock, take off the stove and chuck in the saffron to bloom Soften the onions in oil over medium heat, and add the spices, garlic, vegetables and preserved lemon, as well as some of the herbs Toss to coat, and put in the saffron broth Bring to the boil, then simmer with the lid on for 40m Carefully remove the veg, and reduce the liquid until thick Add back in the veg and throw in some olives Set aside until ready to serve Then it was time to set off the smoke alarms and scare the kids  Garlic salt Smoked paprika Coriander Black pepper Juice of 1 lemon Rack of lamb ribs Begin by putting the lamb into a screaming hot pan and browning on all sides Set aside to cool down while you turn off the smoke alarm and wipe up all the drops of all that now cover your kitchen Once cool, brush generously with lemon juice and sprinkle with your spice mix Roast at 180C for 20m, cover in foil and stand for 15m before slicing To serve, put a smear of yoghurt on the plate and a dollop of tagine, then put the lamb on with a generous sprinkling of diced preserved lemon and chopped coriander leaves   You can’t really go wrong with pink lamb and root vegetables, and this was really good. Again, real depth of flavour in a variety of different ways from the lemon, with the yoghurt providing a welcome touch of acid to the sweetness of the lamb, and the preserved lemons in the tagine just being “loving amazing”. The whole thing was “earthy and tangy”. Like my guests, I think I could have done with more lemon-ness, but it was definitely there and added a lot of flavour to the dish. After all this savoury food, it was definitely time to cleanse our palettes. Palette cleanser: Sgroppino Begin by making a simple lemon sorbet  300g sugar Juice of 4 lemons Zest of 1 lemon 450ml water Combine the sugar, water and lemon zest in a saucepan, heat on low until dissolved Allow to cool, stir in the lemon juice and chill overnight Put in the ice cream machine for 40m, then freeze for 2h  Put a generous scoop of sorbet into each champagne flute, followed by a teaspoon of vodka, and top up with prosecco Serve with a lemon wedge on the side  This was my wife’s favourite part of the dinner. It was really great, delicious and definitely refreshed us all after a long meal of rich food. Now we were ready for some cake! Dessert: Lemon semolina cake with lemon caramel sauce and lemon cream Like some other things on the menu, this began a few weeks in advance, this time with lemon curd  Zest and juice of 4 lemons 200g caster sugar 100g butter 3 eggs 1 egg yolk Put the zest, juice and butter into a heatproof bowl and suspend over a pan of boiling water, making sure the water doesn’t touch the bowl Stir until the butter is melted Whisk the eggs and yolk into the butter until thoroughly combined Leave to cook for 10-15m, stirring occasionally until the mixture is thicker and coats the back of a spoon Pour into a sterile jar Set aside to cool, stirring occasionally as it cools, then put into the fridge for a couple of weeks Next, I made a simple lemon caramel sauce  225g sugar 60ml water Juice of 1 lemon 30g butter, diced Heat the sugar and water until the sugar dissolves Cook without stirring until the syrup browns Whisk in the juice and butter and allow to cool Transfer to an old (clean) sriracha bottle for squirting Then I made a lemon cream  300ml double cream 3 tbsp icing sugar Zest and juice of 1 lemon Mix the ingredients together and whisk until firm Chill until ready to use Finally, we were ready to make a cake!  6 large eggs 300 sugar 250ml olive oil 250ml whole milk Juice and zest of 1 lemon 315g plain flour 75g semolina 1 tbsp baking powder 1 tsp salt Beat the eggs and sugar together, and slowly add the oil Add milk, then reduce the speed to low and add the zest and juice In a separate bowl, mix flour, semolina, baking powder and salt Gradually mix this into the egg mix Pour batter into a large greased cake pan and bake at 180 for 25-30m Allow to cool until able to handle and pop out onto a wire rack  Then assembly your cake sandwich  Lemon cake Lemon curd Strawberries Cut the cake into eight rounds, leaving some small squares for testing Spread each circle with lemon curd, then cover one in very thinly sliced strawberries  At this point, if you are being “helped” by small children, assemble some mini versions of your cakes and feed them  While they’re distracted, you can quickly plate the cakes! Squirt a little of the caramel sauce onto the plate, put your cake on top with a quenelle of lemon cream, and scatter with the diced candied peel from right at the start   This was great. Everyone loves a cake, and lemon cake is just a really perfect way to end a big meal, it’s light, refreshing, tasty and not overpowering. The whole thing was a perfect showcase for the many ways in which lemons can be used in a pudding, and it was lovely. By this point, everyone was having a bit too much fun to remember to comment on the food and for me to write it down, but there were second helpings and requests for recipes and all the normal things that happen when drunk people enjoy food… Speaking of drunk people, it was definitely now time for a digestif. Digestif: Limoncello The final course of the night, this was actually the first thing I made in the process, as soon as the challenge came out.  350ml vodka 5 lemons 260g caster sugar 250ml freshly boiled water Using a vegetable peeler, remove the zest from all the lemons Using a sharp knife, remove as much of the white pith as possible, as it can impart a bitter taste to the final product  Put the peel into a large bottle along with the vodka, and leave to steep for a week, shaking daily Dissolve the sugar in the water and add to the vodka/lemons Leave for another week, shaking daily Strain and chill Before dinner, put some shorts glasses in the freezer along with the bottle of limoncello  Serve at a tooth-achingly cold temperature  This was another big hit. Everyone loved it, it was a perfect end to a pretty amazing meal. Lemony, sweet, without being overly so, alcoholic without being harsh, it was great. And by this point everyone was sloshed, so it was just what we all wanted! So, to recap: Apéritif: French 75 Salad: Roasted lemon Caesar Soup: Avgolemono with mini lemon scones Fish: Lemon sole meunière with lemon risotto Entrée: Rack of lamb with root vegetable tagine and lemon cumin yoghurt Palette cleanser: Sgroppino Dessert: Lemon semolina cake with lemon caramel sauce and lemon cream Digestif: Limoncello All in all, the meal was a triumph. It was all pretty delicious, even the mistakes were good, and the good bits were great. Most of this meal I was attempting for the first time, and as usual, there’s a lot here that will be done again. But most importantly, it did what all good meals do best; it brought some friends together to have a good time in each other’s company, with good food, good drink and good conversation. And a loving ton of lemons. Scientastic fucked around with this message at 15:50 on Sep 25, 2018 |
#
?
Sep 25, 2018 15:46
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 27, 2024 18:13 |
|
|
gently caress e: drat BrianBoitano fucked around with this message at 20:19 on Sep 25, 2018 |
|
#
?
Sep 25, 2018 16:08
|
|
|
wow 
|
|
#
?
Sep 25, 2018 19:21
|
|
|
Please tell me more about the zucchini spiraling, are you free handing that? I use the pencil shaver thing myself. Everything looks nuts, I'm gonna need a minute to digest all this crazy good.
|
|
#
?
Sep 26, 2018 01:01
|
|
|
This all looks very good. Postmortem on the ciabatta, that dough looks to be nearly gluten free. For the bread to rise properly the dough needs enough elasticity/strength to hold enough steam to form a crumb as the bread bakes. This is a good way to check for gluten formation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adfzN_mfQ8o With that recipe you're running at about 76% hydration, which is good for ciabatta, but the addition of oil is gonna impede the gluten formation process. So basically just leave it on the dough hook until you can stretch out a window pane, then fold in your goodies and leave it to ferment.
|
|
#
?
Sep 26, 2018 01:52
|
|
|
Suspect Bucket posted:Please tell me more about the zucchini spiraling, are you free handing that? I use the pencil shaver thing myself. Everything looks nuts, I'm gonna need a minute to digest all this crazy good. There was a chap at my local supermarket who did a knife demo: you know the sort of thing where they take a knife that’s been blunted against a rock, and it can’t cut through a tomato, but lo and behold the serrated WONDER KNIFE ™ cuts it just fine. To encourage people to listen, they give away these free gifts. That’s how I own a spiralizer. There’s a picture of it next to the courgette. Scientastic posted:Next, make some courgette ribbons. This was great, because I could finally use the weird little spiralizer device I got for listening to a strange man tell me lies about a bad knife I didn’t want to buy. Scientastic fucked around with this message at 07:23 on Sep 26, 2018 |
|
#
?
Sep 26, 2018 07:20
|
|
|
Stringent posted:Gluten advice Perfect, thanks! I knew it would be something basic like this, and I am more than capable of leaving it in the mixer for longer!
|
|
#
?
Sep 26, 2018 07:25
|
|
|
Yeah, you kinda have to beat the snot out of ciabatta to get good gluten formation because it's such a wet dough and usually oiled. ~8 minutes on medium speed with a paddle at ~80% hydration, IIRC.
|
|
#
?
Sep 26, 2018 17:03
|
|
|
Fortunately for my guests, the abortive ciabatta flatbread still made pretty good croutons, but I really appreciate the advice: I shall definitely kneed the hell out of it next time I try to make a ciabatta
|
|
#
?
Sep 26, 2018 19:38
|
|
|
Your cautionary tale saved my laffa yesterday! My dough looked a lot like yours. I added just enough flour to make it workable and kneaded for an additional 5 minutes (slap and fold gets the job done quick!) and they turned out wonderfully.
|
|
#
?
Sep 26, 2018 20:50
|
|
|
Excellent menu, I was looking forward to reading this and it delivered. I also hadn't realised I always assumed you were American.
|
|
#
?
Sep 26, 2018 21:02
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 27, 2024 18:13 |
|
|
BrianBoitano posted:Your cautionary tale saved my laffa yesterday! Glad to hear it! That’s one of the reasons I like to document my mistakes in these things as well as the bits that didn’t go well: it’s good to learn from your mistakes, but it’s even better to learn from other peoples!
|
|
#
?
Sep 26, 2018 21:11
|
|