eG Foodblog: lesliec (2011) - Beef, boots and other stories

[Shelby]

Lovely kitchen and I like your toys.

[Kent Wang]

Is the selection of imported spirits (and wines) in NZ pretty decent? I see you have Domaine de Canton and a tequila that Stilton seems to like (nice cat).

[lesliec]

[font="Trebuchet MS"]Hi Scottyboy. Yep - requirement #1 was it had to be useable. There's usually just one of us in there, but the three metre island gives us plenty of room if we're both doing something (typically, at the end of the day: me cooking, Jane making a cocktail).

Hi Shelby. Me too!

Hi Kent. I can't really compare what we have to many other places, but I think we're pretty well served - although sometimes I read some of the cocktail threads here and wonder what they're talking about! Domaine de Canton was a new find last year - great in winter in hot cider (DdeC, for the uninitiated, is fabulously ginger flavoured), and equally so in summer in all manner of things. One of the recipes that came with our first bottle was for a White Orchid - DdeC, cranberry, citrus vodka. We didn't have any citrus vodka (there's plenty available; we just haven't bought it) so Jane substituted half plain vodka, half Angie O's limoncello. What a find! Can't ever seeing us buying citrus vodka now.

That's not tequila Stilton's interested in. I took this the day we got him (cheating - he's two years old now) and we celebrated his arrival with vintage Port - which is what one drinks with Stilton, as any Englishman will tell you.

[lesliec]

It's nothing to do with food, but you might be interested - the Queen Elizabeth came in this morning as part of her maiden voyage. The longest ship ever to berth in Wellington, I'm told.

She's coming to you next, Nick.

[lesliec]

[font="Trebuchet MS"]I know Erin's been waiting patiently for this one - last night I finally got round to making a batch of the herb-infused oil we talked about earlier in the week.



I've been doing these for a couple of years now. The place where I work has occasional Craft Fairs, where suitably-inclined staff bring along things they've made to sell. It's partly a fundraiser for the social club; partly for the sellers. For the first of these I had the idea of infusing olive oil with the fresh herbs (piles of them) growing in our garden. It took a little while to find a suitable oil - it had to be extra-virgin, and local - but my man Steve at Ontrays came through with a good one.

When I started I used to have the oil in a large pot on the stove, but I'm now using the MyCook. The batches are smaller, but the control is much better, and I don't have to stand over it. The recipe couldn't be simpler: take oil; add herb; heat. I'm using bay leaves today; the suburb I live in has big bay trees everywhere, and the oil is my favourite of those I make (and later I'll tell you about bay ice cream. [Drools, delicately]).





After the mix has been going long enough and hot enough to both get good flavour and seriously inconvenience any bugs, I allow it to cool, then bottle it. I print the labels too. On my inkjet, so don't get them wet.





We're off for a picnic shortly, so I'll be back later to show you what we had.

[David Ross]

Really enjoying this delicious ride and your photos.

[lesliec]

Thanks David. I was going to say you ain't seen nuttin' yet, but I don't think I'm going to top the Beef Wellington in a hurry. But one can try ...

[Pam R]

Lovely kitchen, Leslie. Are the main cook or do you share the honors with Jane?

You sink tap is very cool. Is there a practical reason behind it or is it just cool?

[lesliec]

Picnic part 1

As I mentioned earlier, we had a picnic scheduled today with some of the people from work. This seemed like a good excuse to show some of the 'real New Zealand food' you may have been wondering about.

A favourite picnic food for me for many years (thanks Mum) is bacon and egg pie. Now, I feel this is an appropriate forum to lay down some rules. The main one is: IT'S NOT A PROPER ONE IF YOU RUIN IT BY PUTTING PEAS OR TOMATOES OR OTHER RUBBISH IN IT. I'm glad I got that off my chest. I feel so much better now. To continue ...

In accordance with the rule above, my pies consist of bacon. And eggs. I will stretch to allowing a bit of fresh thyme, but that's it. Well, OK, and pastry.



Some like to leave their eggs whole, but I like mine slightly beaten. There are five in this one, and the bacon is from a packet of smoky offcuts we get sometimes. It's what's left when the processor has sliced off all the 'presentation' slices for packaging and sale. It's not pretty - you get all sorts of funny lumps of meat in there - but it's very tasty and great to use for something like this. Costs less than the prettier stuff, too.

I don't usually go to the extreme of decorating the pastry lid, but since it's for you:



Hot oven, some 20-30 minutes later:



You'll see how the inside turned out when we get to the picnic in part 2 below.

You may have heard of the classic New Zealand dish, the pavlova. SInce I've been making lots of ice cream (I haven't showed you that yet, have I? I will, promise) I end up with lots of spare egg whites. I'm reluctant to throw them away, so a pav is the answer.

Idle thought: as I've been writing this I've been thinking about how we use its name in print. Although it was named for a Russian dancer and hence could be considered a proper name, I seem to think I've only ever seen it in print with a small 'p'. I have no idea why this should be - Peach Melba (and, indeed, Beef Wellington) always have capitals. Any theories welcome.

There are probably as many pavlova recipes as there are grandmothers (living or deceased), but the one I always use is from the foundation stone of every New Zealand kitchen, the Edmonds Cookery Book. Because of the number of egg whites I usually have, I always at least double the recipe in the book - sometimes triple. That makes a big pav, I can tell you.

There is some debate about what a good one should be like, but I think the weight of opinion is on the side of crisp outside, fluffy inside. And that's what you're going to get.

It's not a complicated thing to make, but I do recommend a stand mixer unless you have Conan's biceps. Start by beating the whites until they're stiff, add a bit of water and keep beating, then ungodly amounts of sugar (that's what will give it the crispy crust). Then a bit of cornflour, vinegar and vanilla, beat some more and that's it.



I used an oven tray lined with kitchen paper today, but a silicone mat also works very well. When the mix is well beaten the texture is amazing - pure white, beautifully smooth and shapeable. Basically, you now plonk it all on your try, tidy it up a bit and you're ready to go.



Warm oven (150°C) for about an hour (the book says 45 minutes, but I don't trust that for big versions), then leave it in to cool. At the end of the cooking time, the meringue is still just as you piled it on the tray; the colour is a little darker, of course.



But when you eventually take it out of the oven, almost invariably the top crust will have collapsed. Congratulations: it's a proper one! I've had them much more caved-in than this, and it's not a problem - it'll hold the cream and fruit much better.



OK - ready to go out to the picnic? Don't forget the bottle of wine from the fridge.

[nickrey]

It's nothing to do with food, but you might be interested - the Queen Elizabeth came in this morning as part of her maiden voyage. The longest ship ever to berth in Wellington, I'm told.

She's coming to you next, Nick.

The signs are already out to expect traffic delays. But hey we're rated the tenth most congested city in the world so it's actually business as usual.

[lesliec]

Hi Pam. It's shared, but mostly me. Jane is much better at throwing something together in a hurry; I usually follow a recipe and take much more time.

Being cool IS a practical reason, isn't it? We had much debate about that, right up to the time we walked in the door of the plumbing supplies shop. It does come in a lightless version as well, but I put on my most pathetic face and Jane agreed we'd ask if they had the one with the light in stock. If they did, OK; if not we'd have the other one. Guess what ...

[lesliec]

Nick, you might be able to ease the problem by keeping the ships in the harbour rather than letting them on the road. Just a thought.

[Pam R]

Being cool IS a practical reason, isn't it?

It's a good enough reason for me. Now I wish I hadn't already purchased a faucet for my new kitchen.

I've never seen a Pavlova recipe that calls for water - what does it do? And is a 'proper' pavlova crisp throughout or chewy in the center?

[lesliec]

I wish I hadn't already purchased a faucet for my new kitchen.

That's what eBay is for ...

Your question about the water made me work a bit! I even went so far as to consult McGee, but although he has a good section on meringues he's silent on the subject of adding water to them. But then, fortunately, I thought I remembered something from a few years ago, and yes! The water, according to Khymos according to Hervé This, increases the volume of the egg whites.

I wouldn't call the texture chewy. It's soft, and light, and foamy. The crisp bit only extends a few millimetres into the body. Improper ones (by definition, any that aren't like mine) are soft all the way through.

[lesliec]

Picnic part 2

It's not quite such a stunning day as it's been during the week (naturally!), but still warm, so the picnic in the Wellington Botanic Gardens went ahead as planned. Teddy bears were invited, but only one turned up (he came with us).

So ... you were wondering about the bacon and egg pie?

Teddy enjoyed his piece too:

This wasn't the only pie at the picnic. I'd been speaking to my friend Brenda about my plans to bring 'real' New Zealand food along, so on the way to the gardens she bought a 'real' meat pie for lunch.

Back in the 80s, the height of culinary sophistication was the 'hedgehog', consisting of toothpicks with cheese, cocktail onions and pineapple stuck into a grapefruit half. Brenda made a more up to date version for us:

Then there's my friend Bingo. I've been working on him to bake something - anything - but he refuses. He can handle meat, he says, but baking requires too much precision. Here's his lunch today - authentically New Zealand, certainly, but I despair:

And finally - the pavlova. It was still slightly warm when it was time to leave home, so I whipped some cream with vanilla and took it and some berries along separately. At the gardens I put it all together:

If you make one of these, don't try for 'elegant' - it probably won't work. But what's wrong with 'rustic'?

My piece. OK, my first piece ... you can see the crisp outside and the fluffy inside:

Hungry?

Edited February 19, 2011 by lesliec (log)

[harrysnapperorgans]

great pav, leslie. It's not easy to get it that perfect!

[lesliec]

Thanks, Harry. I wonder if it's to do with the size? I've never had a dud, but I've never made the recipe with the ingredient quantities specified in Edmonds. Maybe I should try that to see what happens.

[lesliec]

OK, boys and girls ... we're drawing rapidly to a close with this week's foodblog and I'd like to thank everybody for reading it and sharing my part of the food and drink world for a while. Your responses have been great; some of them have made me do some extra work to find out some things I didn't know.

But we haven't finished yet. I promised you ice cream, so ice cream you will have.

I started making it maybe a year ago, having puzzled for some time over the choice of machine. I decided to go with the Cuisinart with built-in freezing unit; the idea of cluttering up the freezer with a largeish bowl I might use only once every week or two didn't appeal. It's a noisy little beast, but I console myself by remembering it's only for 40 minutes or so at a time.

The next issue was recipes. Like many of you, I'm sure, I'm always pulling interesting recipes out of magazine or (more often) websites. Including this one, naturally. I'd found a few ice cream recipes which sounded good but were only OK; then I found one for cinnamon flavour and I was made - that one is now the basis for all the flavours I make. I'd love to credit the source, but I didn't make a note of it. So if you've ever published a cinnamon ice cream recipe on the Web, maybe it's yours I'm using and getting a lot of pleasure from. Thanks.

I have a limited range of flavours I make often, and several others I'm going to make ... one day. Cinnamon, ginger and vanilla are three of my regulars, and are very good, if not that unusual. The one I'm going to talk about now, though, is bay. We're having a bit of a bay day - first infused oil, now ice cream.

There's nothing exotic about this recipe, but it works really well. We start with milk and cream:

They go into a large pot with some fresh bay leaves, some sugar and a pinch of salt:

We bring them up to boiling point or close to it, then turn the heat off and let the bay infuse for an hour. Or more, depending on how strong you want it.

The next step involves the fruit of the hen:

All we need for this is the yolks, so find another use for the whites. A pavlova is good:

While we whisk them, the milk/cream/bay mix is back on the heat. Try not to let it get to boiling point this time. Now we're at probably the most crucial stage; us ice cream professionals [snort] call it tempering. If you put your eggs into the hot milk/cream, they'd probably scramble so instead, slowly and carefully, pour some of the hot mixture into the eggs while still whisking them. Stop when you've transferred between a third and half of the milk/cream.

Now the contents of the egg bowl can all go into the pot with the remaining milk/cream.

We keep stirring the mix over the heat. I like a silicone spatula for this, but wooden spoons work fine too. At a certain point - I now do it by eye, but I seem to remember it's when the temperature gets to about 90°C - the mix will begin to form a more persistent coating on the spoon. If you can run your finger through it and leave a track (careful; hot!), you're there. Now the hot mix can be strained (the leaves are still in there, so it's time we did something about that) into more cream in another bowl:

Give that a good stir to blend everything, and you should have something looking a bit like this:

Sit down, relax; that's your work done for tonight. When the custard has cooled, cover it with kitchen wrap and put it in the fridge overnight (it can be for a shorter time, but longer is better).

In the morning, the chilled custard goes into the ice cream machine. 40 minutes later, you have this:

At this stage it's still quite soft - like soft serve - so put it into a container you can seal and put it in the freezer to harden properly. Then you can look forward to tonight's dessert, which may look a little like this:

I hit on bay as a flavour while talking to Angie at the City Market about her Alloro bay liqueur, which we like a lot. After I'd got it right I took some in to her; it was pronounced officially 'OMG'.

[lesliec]

And one more for tonight before I go beddy-byes:

I seem to have been generating an unusual amount of leftovers this week. I think it must be your fault; you're making me cook new things rather than get rid of yesterday's dinner. There's even still a large piece of last Sunday's cold lamb in the fridge - I'll have to do something with that when you're not watching.

But I can't blame you completely, because tonight we had leftovers from something I did a few nights back and for some reason didn't tell you about. No matter. I'll tell you about it now.

Actually I do dimly remember saying something earlier this week about a high-temperature chicken dish of my own devising. This is it. As with most things of my own devising,this may not look sophisticated, but it certainly has some flavour. Ready to get your hands dirty? OK, here we go.

We start with fresh basil (lots of it), peeled garlic, a few black peppercorns, a sprinkle of salt and a generous glug of olive oil. No, I can't be more precise - that's how this thing works. Vary the ratios to suit your taste. Mash them up in a mortar and pestle (or a blender, but you want this to stay fairly lumpy):

Then take a chicken and cut the backbone out - poultry shears are recommended, but you could do it with a knife if you were talented and careful. Turn the remains skin side up and press the breastbone to flatten the bird a little. Cut slashes in the meaty areas to help the flavour get it. Now - here's the bit where you get your hands dirty - slather the pesto all over the chicken. It won't mind:

Make plans to clean your oven quite soon and heat it to 200°C. Put the chicken in for about 45 minutes, or until it's quite brown. Keep an eye on it; you don't want it to go too far. This is about what you're aiming for:

What always amazes me about this treatment is how juicy the chicken stays. All you have to do now is dismember and serve it with an accompaniment of your choice, in this case baby peppers and zucchini sautéed in olive oil (yes, I use a LOT of olive oil!):

So ... that's one less thing I have to fight my way around to get into the fridge. Thanks for your help.

And with that, your Wellington foodblog sinks slowly in the west.

Thanks again for coming along for the ride. It's been surprisingly exhausting, but a lot of fun. Maybe we'll do it again sometime.

Goodnight, and good eating!

[nakji]

Thanks, Leslie!

Your infused oils look spectacular. Aside from drizzling over bay ice cream, what else can it be used for? Right off the top, I'm thinking pasta dressing and salad dressing...any other creative uses? And what's a MyCook? Is that like a Thermomix?

I had many a pav wile travelling NZ and Oz, but none as fine looking as yours. Can you post proportions/ a recipe for your pav?

[eldereno]

Thank you for the glimpse into your life, your kithen, and culinary adventures. It was an enjoyable and educational experience. Now rest!!!

[helenjp]

I see...you still have to find freezer room for icecream made with an electric ice-cream maker. We won a DeLonghi in-freezer type maker, and not only does it take up room, the small Japanese-size freezer drawers don't get cold enough to freeze icrecream really well in summer. Does the electric ice-cream maker perform worse in warm summer temperatures?

And was it as good as it looks?

Luverly pav...soft and almost marshmallow-y inside, not crisp or chewy - looks perfect. Though crisp and chewy pavs have their uses too!

Thanks for that blast of Wellington wind atmosphere...

Edited February 19, 2011 by helenjp (log)

[Shelby]

What a stunning view as the sun sets.

Must. Make. Pavlova. Today.

Yours looks SO SO yummy. I don't have any fruit though....

Thanks for the lovely peek into your life, I've enjoyed it greatly!

[judiu]

Leslie, thank you so much for a lovely blog! As I've said before, I'm an armchair traveler and, barring a miracle or a lotto win, will remain one. Great to see a new country, one which I've always longed to visit.

[lesliec]

Hi Erin. Now, see, I KNOW you weren't serious about oil on icecream. Might be an interesting thought, though; if you can make olive oil ice cream - I haven't but I've seen it - why not use infused oils for an extra dimension? Hmmm ...

How should you use them? People ask me the same question at the craft fairs. The simple answer is: whenever you'd use oil. I cook with them, when I might otherwise use plain EVO. And that means both frying and over a roast befor it goes into the oven (day 1's roast lamb would have had some rosemary over the top if it hadn't had such a good fat layer). I drizzle them on salads; they go well on roast vegetables. I don't think I've tried them on pasta, but no reason why not. Yes, a MyCook is a Spanish rendition of the Thermomix - a food processor than weighs and cooks.

My megapav is pretty much as follows:

For the six egg whites one from yesterday), add 30ml of cold water after the initial beat, and keep beating. Pour in 425g of caster sugar (normal sugar may not dissolve properly and you'll get a different result). Slow down the mixer - or stop it - and add 30ml each of vinegar and vanilla extract, and 20g cornflour (cornstarch). Cook at 150°C for an hour, turn the oven off and leave the pav in there to cool. All the measurements above were simply doubled from the three egg original with no science applied, but it works. As does tripling for a nine egg whopper. Good luck - let us all see the results.