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Showing posts with label Shellfish. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Shellfish. Show all posts

Seafood chowder

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Posted on Tuesday, 22 November 2011 20:12 | By: Tony

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I love classic seafood chowder it’s a great way of showing of all of our local fish that we have on our doorstep. At the Portaferry hotel Gary Bell loves to serve this dish in a very dramatic fashion and bring a little of the seaside to our customers table.  Serve on a big board draped with seaweed and netting for two people to share with fresh wheaten bread and crispy fish skin seasoned with salt and vinegar.
I know this is quite excessive at home but it works equally as well served in individual bowls with plenty of wheaten or crusty bread.


Ingredients;

1tbsp olive
500g mussels
500g cockles
300ml white wine
50g butter
6 slices of streaky bacon, rind removed, cut into 5mm dice
4 onions finely diced
50g flour
500ml fish stock
500ml milk
3 large potatoes cut into 5mm dice.
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Pinch of cayenne pepper
500g smoked haddock
500g gurnard
250ml single cream

To serve;

Freshly chopped parsley, scallions and chives

Method;

Heat 1tblsp of olive in a large pan, when hot add the mussels and the white wine, cover and bring to the boil, cook for 1min, add the cockles and cover again. Cook over high heat for a further 2-3mins or until all of the cockles and mussels have opened and are cooked through.
Place a sieve over a large bowl. Remove the pan from the heat and strain the cockles and mussel. Place them onto a tray and reserve the liquid.

Heat the butter in large saucepan and brown the bacon well until it is crisp and golden.
Add the onion, cover and sweat for a few minutes over a low heat. Stir in the flour and cook for 1-2 minutes.
Add the fish stock and the reserved mussel liquid gradually. Add the milk and potatoes. Season well with salt, pepper and cayenne.
Cover and simmer until the potatoes are almost cooked, approximately 5-6 minutes.
Cut the fish into small cubes. Add to the pot as soon as the tip of a knife will go through a potato.
Simmer gently for 3-4 minutes, stir in the cream and add the shelled mussels and cockles, bring to the boil and when boiling, remove from the heat.
Taste, correct the seasoning, sprinkle with freshly chopped parsley, scallions and chives.
Serve in a deep dish with plenty of bread and butter.

Coquilles St Jacques

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Posted on Sunday, 9 October 2011 07:12 | By: Tony

Category:

This is my children’s favourite dish to cook in the house. We make this dish at least every couple of weeks. I think this is a great recipe to try on the kids, the sweet scallop topped with creamy mash and melted cheese are flavours and textures that kids love. Give them the piping bag and let them loose on the potato topping. As I always say if your kids help prepare the food they will be more likely to try anything. It’s good to get them interested in shellfish at an early age. This really is a very simple dish to prepare and home with the family. Give it a go!!!!


Ingredients;

For the scallop filling;

900g shelled scallops, corals removed
350ml fish stock
350ml white wine
1tblsp butter
350g button mushrooms, cleaned and quartered
Juice of ½ a lemon

For the potato topping;

1½kg floury potatoes, King Edwards or Maris piper, peeled
85g butter
6 egg yolks

For the sauce;

2 shallots finely diced
65g butter
35g plain flour
75ml double cream
50ml crème fraiche

To serve;

8 large scallop shells
2tblsp breadcrumbs
2tblsp Gruyere cheese grated
1tblsp melted butter
4 lemons cut in half and wrapped in muslin

Method;

Pre heat an oven to 180c.

For the scallop filling;

Discard the white muscle from each scallop and cut any large scallops horizontally in half. Heat the fish stock and wine in a pan, add the scallops, cover and poach 1-2 minutes until the scallops just whiten (remember that they will cook further in the sauce). Transfer them to a bowl, reserving the stock separately.
Place a large frying pan over high heat; add the butter, when the butter starts to foam add the mushrooms. Cook the mushrooms until golden brown and all of their liquid has evaporated, add the lemon juice and season to taste. If any liquid remains, continue to cook uncovered until it has all evaporated. Add the mushrooms to the scallops.

For the potatoes;

Take a pan big enough to hold the potatoes, cut the potatoes into 2-3 pieces depending on their size and place them into the pot. Cover with water, season to taste and bring to the boil. Boil until tender. When the potatoes are tender remove from the heat and drain through a colander, leave them to drain very well, put them back in the pan and dry them for 1-2 minutes over a low heat. Take off the heat and mash the potatoes with the butter, salt and pepper, then beat over a low heat until fluffy. Take the potatoes off the heat and beat in the egg yolks to thicken. Adjust the seasoning. Let the purée cool slightly, then spoon it into a piping bag with a plain nozzle

For the sauce;

Boil the reserved stock for 10 minutes until reduced to 450ml. Fry the shallots in the butter until soft, 1-2 minutes. Stir in the flour and cook until it's foaming. Whisk in the stock and bring to a boil, whisking, and then simmer until the sauce thickens to coat a spoon, 3-5 minutes. Add the crème fraîche and any liquid released by the scallops, and simmer until the sauce reaches coating consistency. Season to taste.

To serve;

Stir the scallops and mushrooms into the sauce and spoon into the shells. (Can be prepared ahead to this stage and kept in the fridge for 6-8 hours.) Pipe a generous border of potato around each scallop shell. Sprinkle with the breadcrumbs, grated cheese and melted butter. Set the shells on a baking sheet, steadying them on a slice of bread or a bed of foil. Bake until browned and bubbling, 12-15 minutes. Serve very hot with the lemon on the side.




Seared scallops, aubergine caviar, toasted almonds, spinach and saffron air

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Posted on Wednesday, 28 September 2011 16:09 | By: Tony

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This was the first course for our very first Pop up Belfast, set in the decaying structure of the Titanic drawing rooms.
We wanted to make an impression with this course because it was to lead the way into this unique dining experience and let the customers (who had followed and trusted us in this secret event), know that they were in for a something completely different throughout the night. The saffron air was proably the most asked question when people where talking about the Pop up Belfast menu. What is saffron air???? They would say confused. Well the saffron air was to be a dramatic effect with dried seaweed, saffron and dry ice put into a bucket. When the tray arrived at the table boiling water was added and a stream of air engulfed the table, bringing with it the smells of seaweed and saffron, an effect that I think worked really well and got the crowd talking.
The recipes created for pop up Belfast are not straight forward and are not the easiest things to create at home, but I really wanted to add these recipes to the blog, just encase anyone on the night might like to recreate this experience at home.

Ingredients;

For the aubergine caviar;

2 aubergines
2 cloves of garlic cut in half
4 sprigs of thyme
1tblsp olive oil
Maldon salt and cracked black pepper to taste
1 red pepper, roasted, skinned and deseeded
Juice from ¼ of a lemon
4 large leaves of basil very finely sliced











For the saffron foam;

5kg of fish bones, soaked in cold water and guiles removed
5ltrs of cold water
2 onions, diced
2 leeks, diced white part only
2 sticks of celery diced
12 white peppercorns
4 bay leaves
1btl white wine
50g mixed chervil, parsley, tarragon and coriander
1 onion finely diced
2 cloves garlic crushed
200ml white wine
200ml Noilly prat
250ml double cream
1tsp saffron


 
For the toasted almonds;

1tblsp almond flakes

For the scallops;

10 medium Irish scallops, White meat only, trimmed off all coral
Salt and pepper to taste
1tblsp olive oil
25g butter
Squeeze of lemon

For the spinach;

50g spinach, washed and picked
10g butter

To serve;

Cream gun with 2 gas canisters
Seaweed and netting
1 Wine bucket
100g Dried seaweed
1tsp Saffron
200g dry ice

Method;

For the aubergine caviar;

Pre heat an oven to 200c.
Slice the aubergines in two lengthways, and then score the flesh with the tip of your knife in a criss-cross pattern. Rub the garlic halves over the scored sides of the aubergines and stud two halves with sprigs of thyme. Drizzle over the olive oil and sprinkle with Maldon salt and pepper. Sandwich together, with the garlic halves, and wrap tightly in foil to resemble a Christmas cracker. Repeat with the other two halves. Place on a roasting tray and bake for 35-40 minutes. Allow to cool slightly.
Remove the foil from the aubergines, discard the herbs and scrape the flesh and garlic on to a chopping board. Chop to a coarse paste.
Finely chop the red pepper and add to the aubergine. Add lemon juice and basil and adjust seasoning to taste. Set aside ready for service.

For the saffron foam;

In a large pan sweat the vegetables over medium heat until translucent. Add the peppercorns and bay leaves and pour in the wine, reduce until almost evaporated. Add the bones and herbs and cover with water, bring to the boil and reduce heat to a very gentle simmer. Simmer for 20mins, remove from the heat and allow to settle for at least 2hours. Skim the stock well and ladle the stock through a muslin lined sieve. Try not to disturb the bones to much as this will make the stock cloudy. Do not be tempted to try and get all the liquid from the pan. At this point the stock for the pop up Belfast would have been reduced by half and put over fresh fish bones and repeated one more time. This will add a very deep flavour to the sauce and also adds natural gelatine to help hold the final foam.
For a simpler version at home reduce by half and add two softened gelatine leaves.
Cool and store in the fridge over night. The next day remove all the fat from the surface of the stock.
Place a medium sized pan over high heat and add the oil. Add the onions and the garlic and cook until translucent, add the white wine and reduce until almost all has evaporated. Add the Noilly Prat and reduce to ¼ its volume. Add the fish stock and reduce by ¾. Add the cream and bring to the boil, turn the heat to a simmer and continue to simmer for 5mins. Remove from the heat, add the saffron and keep warm.

For the toasted almonds;

Place the almonds in a heavy, ungreased non stick pan. Place the pan over a gentle heat and stir often until golden brown, remove from the heat and allow to cool. When cool store in an airtight container ready for service.

For the scallops;

Place a large none stick frying pan over high heat. Add a little olive oil. When the oil is hot, season the scallops with salt and pepper and panfry over high heat for 1½ minutes. This should give the scallops a lovely golden caramelised surface. Turn the scallops over and add the butter. Allow the butter to melt and spoon the butter all over the scallops; cook for a further 45seconds or until just cooked through and no more. Add a squeeze of lemon and remove from the heat and keep warm.

For the spinach;

Cook spinach on medium heat with 5g butter in a small pan. When the spinach has just wilted remove from the pan and place on a clean kitchen towel. Remove as much moisture as possible, season to taste, keep warm and set aside.

To serve;

Prepare a large tray with some seaweed and netting, leaving a space for the wine bucket and the water jug. Warm the scallop’s shells and place on top of the seaweed.
Place a little of the spinach into the bottom of each shell. Warm the aubergine caviar and place on top of the spinach. Place a scallop on top of each shell.
Pour the warm saffron velouté into a cream gun. Add two gas canisters to the gun to create the foam.
Point the cream gun at the scallops and cover the scallops with the foam.
Place the wine bucket onto the tray and add the dried seaweed and dry ice. Place a water jug filled with boiling water at the bottom of the tray and carry the tray to the table.
Pour the boiling water into the wine bucket and this will release the air all over the table.


Tempura Oysters Asian slaw and Thai dressing

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Posted on Wednesday, 14 September 2011 07:34 | By: Tony

Category: ,

Ingredients;

For the salad;

¼ cabbage, very finely sliced through the robo coupe
1 small red onions, cut in half and very finely sliced on mandolin
1 large carrots cut in fine julienne strips on the mandolin
500ml dressing

For the dressing;

12 dried chillies
1ltr rapeseed oil
6 onions, finely diced
200g red curry paste
2 large knobs ginger, peeled and diced
8 large red chillies, seeded and diced
200g palm sugar
200ml rice wine vinegar
Juice of 3 limes
100ml fish sauce
250g coriander chopped
6 bunches scallions finely sliced

For the tempura oyster;

Seasoning
100g plain flour
1 egg yolk
100ml ice cold sparkling water
12 oysters, removed from their shells and shells reseved

To serve;

Maldon salt
Coriander leaves
Lime wedges

Method;

For the dressing;

Place the shallots, paste, ginger, chillies and oil into a pan and warm through, allow to infuse for 1 hour. Place the sugar and the vinegar in a small pan and cook to a light syrup.
Remove from the heat and stir in the lime juice, fish sauce and the oil. Allow to cool completely.
Once cold add the coriander and scallions, taste to make sure the flavours are well balanced.
The taste should be hot, sweet, sour and salty with no flavour overpowering the other.

For the salad;

Place the cabbage, onion and carrots into a large bowl.  Add the dressing and mix well making sure everything has been evenly distributed.
Place the oil a wok and heat until smoking add the chillies and blacken. Strain the oil and discard the chillies.

For the tempura oyster;

Mix the flour and egg yolks together with a fork, add the water all in one go and stir very lightly with the fork, leave the batter quite lumpy as it is these lumps that make the tempura crisp when fried. Dip each oyster into a little flour to cover then dip into the batter, deep fry at 180c until crispy and cooked through, approx 2-3mins. Drain on kitchen roll.

To serve;

Take a rectangle plate, cover the base with maldon salt and place 3 well cleaned oyster shells on top. Place a little of the dressed Asian slaw in the empty and place a tempura oyster on top. Garnish with coriander and lime wedge and serve.


Ballotine of organic Glenarm salmon oyster velouté, peas and gnocchi

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07:24 | By: Tony

Category: ,

Ingredients;

For the ballotine;

1 side of salmon skinned and all fat removed                                 
1tsp Maldon salt

For the gnocchi;

500g very dry mash potato, still warm
2 medium eggs
75g fine semolina
50g plain flour
Seasoning to taste

For the velouté;

1 onion, finely diced
1 leek, white part only finely diced
250ml vermouth
500ml fish stock
500ml double cream
2 sprigs of rosemary
1 head of garlic, cut through the centre
Seasoning
Cayenne pepper
1 lemon cut in half

To serve;

12 oysters, removed from their shells and juice reserved
120g fresh peas
A little fresh lemon juice
1tblsp chopped parsley

Method;

For the Ballotine;

Trim the salmon, remove the tail and the top piece to leave the salmon in a perfect rectangle shape, remove all of the fat and brown flesh from the belly and all of the pin bones, and sprinkle with a little salt. Cut the salmon in half. Place one piece of salmon on top of the and roll into perfect barrel shape in cling film, making sure it is very tight, allow to set for 2 hours.
Place the salmon into a water bath set at 47c and cook for 1min for every 100g of the salmon weight, plus 20mins extra. Remove from the water and chill until cold. Slice the salmon into 4cm thick slices and reserve.

For the gnocchi;

Place the mash into a large bowl and season well. Add the eggs and mix until all the egg has been absorbed by the potato. Add the two types of flour and mix to incorporate, do not over mix as the potato will continue to absorb the flours making them very heavy and dense. Lightly flour a work surface and place the gnocchi mix on top, knead very lightly until the dough feels barley sticky and has come together. Bring a large pot of water to the boil. Pull sections of the dough and roll into a long sausage shape, cut to desired size and place on a floured tray. Have a large tub of iced water ready. Drop the gnocchi into the boiling water and cook for a couple of minutes. When the gnocchi is ready it will have risen to the surface of the pot. Remove from the water and plunge into the iced water. Allow to cool completely them drain them thoroughly. Toss the cooked gnocchi in olive oil and store in the fridge ready for service.

For the velouté;

Melt a little butter in a pan and add the onion and the leek, cook until translucent, pour in the vermouth and reduce until almost dry, add the stock and reduce by half then add the cream and simmer for 5mins, remove from the heat and add the remaining ingredients, cover and leave to infuse for 1 hour. After one hour add all of the oyster juice, mix well and then strain. Cool and reserve.

To serve;

Rub the portions of salmon with a little olive oil and place onto grease proof paper, place a piece of greaseproof on top and warm the salmon portions in a low oven to heat through.
Place a pan over medium heat and add a little butter. Add the gnocchi and pan fry on both sides until golden brown. Remove from the pan and wipe the pan clean with kitchen paper. Add a little more butter and add the oysters, peas and gnocchi, cook for a minute then add some velouté, bring the velouté to the boil and remove from the heat, season to taste and add a squeeze of lemon juice and the chopped parsley.
Place the salmon into the centre of a serving plate and spoon the gnocchi, oysters, peas and velouté around.

Serve at once.



Crab ravioli with a lobster bisque sauce

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Posted on Tuesday, 30 August 2011 16:40 | By: Tony

Category: ,

Ingredients

For the pasta;

550g ‘00’ flour
4 whole eggs
6 egg yolks
1tblsp olive oil
Salt to taste

For the Ravioli;

200g fresh crab meat
2 shallots
2 cloves garlic
1tblsp chopped chives and chervil mixed
Seasoning
1 egg white

For the Lobster Bisque Sauce;

1kg lobster shells
1kg langoustine shells
200ml of brandy
2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion roughly chopped
3 cloves garlic
2 sticks celery
2 carrots
50g tomato puree
400ml white wine
6 tomatoes
1tsp paprika
1 bay leaf
Salt and pepper to taste
Juice of ½ lemon
250ml double cream
100g unsalted butter cut into small cubes

Method;

For the pasta;

Place the flour on a board or in a bowl. Make a well in the centre and crack the eggs into it. Beat the eggs with a fork until smooth. Using the tips of your fingers, mix the eggs with the flour, incorporating a little at a time, until everything is combined. Knead the pieces of dough together  they’ll all bind together to give you one big, smooth lump of dough!
You can also make your dough in a food processor if you’ve got one. Just place everything in, blend until the flour looks like breadcrumbs, then tip the mixture on to your work surface and bring the dough together into one lump, using your hands.
Once you’ve made your dough you need to knead and work it with your hands to develop the gluten in the flour, otherwise your pasta will be flabby and soft when you cook it, instead of springy and al dente.
There’s no secret to kneading. You just have to work the dough hard with your hands, squashing it into the table, reshaping it, pulling it, stretching it, and squashing it again. When your pasta starts to feel smooth and silky instead of rough and floury, then the dough is ready. When ready wrap in cling film and put it in the fridge to rest for at least half an hour before you use it. Make sure the cling film covers it well or it will dry out and go crusty round the edges.

For the crab ravioli filling;

Finely chop shallots and garlic and combine with crab meat. Add chopped chervil and chives and seasoning to taste. Add 1 egg and mix well.


For the lobster bisque sauce;

In a large saucepan, fry lobster shells and prawn shells in a little olive oil for 5mins. Add the brandy and flambé. Add chopped onion, garlic, celery and carrot, and fry for a further 5mins. Add the tomato purée and cook for a further 2-3mins, stirring all the time. Add the white wine and reduce until almost evaporated. Add chopped tomatoes, paprika and bay leaf, season to taste, and stir well. Cover with water and bring to boil and then gently simmer for 1 hour, skimming the surface periodically to remove scum.
Pass through a fine-meshed sieve and return to saucepan and gently reduce to half the volume. Gently whisk in double cream and bring back to the boil, remove from the heat and whisk in the butter until sauce thickens, add lemon juice and add seasoning to taste.

To Serve;

Roll the pasta as directed in the pasta recipe on this blog under base recipes.
Lay the sheets onto a work surface and cut with a large pastry ring. Place tablespoon of filling into the middle of each pasta ring. Brush around the filling with the beaten egg and place another pasta ring over the top. Press down around the filling to remove any air bubbles. Place the ravioli’s onto a well floured surface and continue with the same process with the other 3 quarters of pasta dough.
Bring a large pan of water to a rolling boil, add a couple of tablespoons of olive oil to the water and cook the ravioli in batches until all are cooked al dente.
Drain and serve in large bowl with lobster bisque sauce. Garnish with micro cress, wilted spinach and tomato concasse.

Seared scallops with butternut squash purée, creamed leeks and crispy bacon and morels.

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Posted on Wednesday, 24 August 2011 09:21 | By: Tony

Category: ,

The best scallops can be found in and around the shores of Scotland and Northern Ireland and those that are handpicked by divers as opposed to dredged are the best quality of all, as they are free from grit and have not been damaged through dredging. If you are buying scallops in the shell (which seem to be becoming increasingly harder to find), make sure they are tightly closed when you buy them, as this shows how fresh they really are.
Although you don’t need the orange coral for this recipe, don’t throw them away. They can be used in a variety of different ways. They make a great base for a Velouté (cream based sauce), or they can be dried and ground into a fine powder and used as a seasoning or a flavouring and used in risottos and sauces.
This is fantastic dish (well worth the effort to make this at home), with a great depth of flavour. The sweet flavour from the scallops and butternut squash purée all work brilliantly with the salty, crisp bacon. These flavours are all pulled together with the creamed leeks and morels, making this dish a great way to start a gourmet meal.

Ingredients;

For the butternut Squash puree;

1 butternut squash, cut into rough chunks
1 garlic clove, thinly sliced
Sprig of thyme
50ml olive oil
10g butter
Salt and pepper to taste
50ml double cream
20g cold butter, diced

For the creamed Leeks;

2 leeks washed and cut into very fine Julienne strips
1tblsp of butter
100ml white wine
200ml double cream
20g Glebe Breton cheese or Gruyere grated
Salt and pepper to taste

For the potato bread;

4 medium potatoes, peeled and halved  
1 pinch salt       
¼ cup plain flour, plus extra for dusting  
1tblsp melted butter

To serve;

50g thin slices of dry cured streaky bacon
12 medium Irish scallops, White meat only, trimmed off all coral
Salt and pepper to taste
1tblsp olive oil
25g butter
Squeeze of lemon
12 morels, washed and lightly cooked in butter
Reduced Jus

Method:

For the butternut Squash puree;

Pre heat the oven to 170c.
Place the butternut squash onto a large roasting tray with the garlic, sprig of thyme, olive oil, butter, season to taste with salt and pepper. Place the tray into the pre heated oven and roast for 40-45mins or until the squash flesh is very tender. Remove from the oven and scoop out flesh with a spoon. Place the cooked butternut squash into a blender and purée with the double cream until very smooth. Add the 20g butter to and blend again until all of the butter is incorporated. This will give the purée a beautiful glossy finish. Adjust seasoning.
If making the purée in advance, don’t add the butter until ready to serve. Chilli the purée and store in the fridge. Reheat when ready to serve and add the butter at the last minute.

For the creamed leeks;

Melt the butter in a large pan. Add the leeks and cook over medium heat until the leeks are just starting to soften. Turn up the heat under the pan and add the wine, reduce until almost evaporated. Add the cream and bring to the boil, turn the pan to a simmer and cook until the leeks are well coated in a light sauce, about 5-7mins.
Remove the pan from the heat and add the grated cheese, season to taste.

For the potato bread;

In a pot, cover potatoes with water and bring to a boil over high heat. Simmer on medium-high heat until the centre of the potatoes are tender when pricked with a fork, about 20 minutes. Turn off heat. Drain, return potatoes to pot and allow to completely dry out over remaining heat. Mash with a potato masher until smooth. Place warm mashed potato in medium bowl. Stir in flour, salt and melted butter. Mix lightly until dough forms. On a well floured surface, knead the dough lightly. The dough will be sticky. Use a floured rolling pin to roll out the potato mixture. Cut the potato bread into small cakes using a small ring cutter.
Sprinkle a little flour into the base of the skillet or a dry frying pan and cook the farls for 3 minutes on each side or until evenly browned and cooked through.

To serve;

Place slices of bacon onto a metal baking tray. Place another tray on top and cook in the pre heated oven for approx 7mins or until the bacon slices are very crisp, be careful as they will burn quite easily. Remove from the oven and set aside.

Place a large none stick frying pan over high heat. Add a little olive oil, Season the scallops with salt and pepper and panfry over high heat for 1 ½ minutes. This should give the scallops a lovely golden caramelised surface. Turn the scallops over and add the butter. Allow the butter to melt and spoon the butter all over the scallops; cook for a further 45seconds or until just cooked through and no more. Add a squeeze of lemon and remove from the heat.

Spoon the butternut squash purée across the centre of a warm serving plate. Place a slice of potato bread at the top of the plate and top with a little of the creamed leeks.
Place 1 of the scallops on top of the leeks. Place the other 2 scallops at the front of your plate. Garnish with crisp bacon slices, morels and drizzle with the reduced jus.
Serve at once and enjoy!!!!!


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