Recipe: Beef Bavette

 Been playing around with a recipe (can't remember where I found it) but this works very well:

Made this last night, a lot of win for very little effort. I downsized spice mix for less meat, but otherwise I almost followed a recipe!

Spice Mix

2T coriander seeds; 1T fennel seeds; 2T sea salt; 2T peppercorns; 1 lemon zested; 3T seaweed; 1t cayenne; 1T thyme; few shakes of tabasco; 200ml vege oil

1 beef bavette or flank - around 1Kg [actually, I just used a steak]

Toast coriander and fennel seeds until fragrant and cool; grind with salt and peppercorns. Add remainder of ingredients, add oil and mix. Rub sensuously into the meat.

Marinate overnight. (you can get away with doing it in the morning and cooking in the evening, but let's give you a relaxed day eh)

Cook on hot bbq or frypan until well coloured surface, cook the other side until well coloured on surface

Remove from heat and let stand for 10mins. (meat will be about medium-rare, or mine was)

Cooking with Bruce: Squid with stuff

It's been awhile. I know. You'll be thrilled to hear I haven't starved.

today's menu comes from my head. I wanted squid, I had squid. I didn't want chips. So I made something. It probably has a name. I'll call it 'steve'.

Ingredients
squid hoods for however many people you're feeding
plain flour
cayenne pepper

sunflower oil for frying

olive oil
onion finely chopped
2 sticks of celery, chopped
3 tomatoes, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1t caster sugar
1T (ish) pomegranate molasses
10 green olives [stones removed]
1T capers, rinsed
parsley

Cooking stuff

1. Remove squid guts, and scrape clean, score lightly in a crosshatch pattern.
2. Heat olive oil, and cook onions until slightly browned, remove (and drain).
3. Add a bit more olive oil, cook celery, garlic, tomatoes, sugar for a couple of minutes, add pomegranate molasses, olives, capers until starting to collapse. Add the onions to the mix, mix in the parsley. Cook for a couple of minutes and place into bowls.
4. Add sunflower oil to pan and heat to very hot, toss squid in the flour+cayenne pepper until well coated, and fry for 1-2 mins per side. 
5. Place squid on the mixture, eat.

I was thinking of using balsamic vinegar, but I'd run out, I think the pomegranate was a better choice anyway.

B

Cooking with Bruce: Creamy Chicken Pies

Yorks Alordy. It's been awhile since a recipe has graced these pages. Let's fix that...and yes, I know this has meat, but eh.
Inspired by my wandering to M&S to get new pillows, and ending up with some pie tins as well.

Creamy Chicken Pies
2T olive oil
3 bacon rashers, finely sliced
1 red onion, finely chopped
1 medium leek, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1T plain flour
250gm shredded roast chicken
150ml dry white wine
250ml chicken stock
2t thyme
60ml double cream
2T parsley
350gm puff pastry
1 egg, beaten
[for gluten free, use gf pastry and gf flour]

Heat over to 200C.

• Heat oil, and cook bacon until crisp. Remove, and fry onions and leeks gently for 10mins, add garlic and fry for 2 more mins.
• Return bacon, add flour, stir, add chicken, wine, stock and thyme. Season and simmer for 15 mins, cool down, add cream and parsley.
• Roll out pastry, add to pie dishes, fill them with mix, brush egg over top of the pastry and add the lids. Make a slit in the top for steam.
• Bake 35mins until golden.

Cooking with Bruce : Pecan Chocolate Mousse pie

Again, a fair gap between food blogs. But rest assured, I haven't starved. There is still significant (muscle) mass on the bones.

This blog gives an example of how the kitchen doesn't follow recipes - other than by utilising a few key ingredients. I had been told to make a gluten and dairy free dessert, and been sent a recipe for what was proudly (fuck knows why) called 'Gluten-free tofu peanut butter pie'.
Our kitchen doesn't respond well to being told to do anything, and I really don't like peanut butter, and putting tofu in a dessert seemed a really dumb idea. So things weren't off to a good start. I did like the concept of chocolate and maple syrup though. And so, plans were formed.

Here's what the incredibly sexy kitchen turned out:
Pecan Chocolate Mousse Pie
Base

1x pack gluten free digestives

3T cocoa powder

25gm pecans

115gm dark chocolate, melted

Combine first three in blender, mix in chocolate and pour into lined/greased cake tin. Place in fridge to chill and set.

Mousse

4 eggs separated

2t sugar

180gm dark chocolate, melted  [this gives 20gm for taste testing]

1t vanilla essence

2T maple syrup

1/4c chopped pecans  [in my case, beaten up with my fist in the plastic container]

Beat egg whites until stiff, add sugar and beat in.

Mix egg yolks and melted chocolate, add vanilla, maple syrup, and pecans. Fold in egg whites.

Pour into the base, and leave for a few hours to set.

For those of you interested in the original recipe, and no I can't remember where it came from, other than hell, it's included below (edited for brevity).

Love, B

<<<

Gluten-free tofu peanut butter pie

base

• 2 x 155g packets gluten-free, vegan ginger-nut biscuits or similar
• 6 tablespoons deodorised virgin coconut oil, melted
• 3 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 115g dark chocolate, melted
• 1/4 cup roasted, unsalted peanuts, roughly chopped

filling

• 450g silken tofu, drained and patted dry
• 2/3 cup natural smooth peanut butter
• pinch sea salt
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla essence
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup or runny honey (if not vegan)
• 145g dark chocolate, melted
• 1/4 cup roasted, unsalted peanuts, roughly chopped

Line the base of a 22cm (9-inch) cake tin with baking paper (parchment). 

Place the biscuits and cocoa into the bowl of a food processor. Pulse a few times before blending on high until finely ground. Add the melted coconut oil and blend until well incorporated. Press mixture into the lined cake tin, lining the base and coming up the sides by approximately 5 cm. Spread the melted chocolate over the base and spread a little up the sides too. Sprinkle with peanuts and set aside.

Place the tofu, peanut butter, a pinch of sea salt, vanilla essence and maple syrup into the food processor bowl (cleaned), blend on high until smooth, scrapping down the sides at least once to make sure it's all incorporated.  Add the melted chocolate and blend until evenly distributed. Pour mixture into the pie case, smoothing off the top as you go. Chill in the fridge for at least 3-4 hours, preferably overnight.

Cooking with Bruce : Fennel and Blue Cheese Souffle Tart

This is fantastic. And even better cold. Just make it. It also allowed me to deliver the line "look, the kitchen is not your place".

Ingredients
large head of fennel (or 2), chopped into sixths
olive oil
cup of milk
1T of butter
1T (heaped) of flour
3 eggs, separated
1/2c greek yoghurt
1t Dijon mustard
zest of lemon
40gm of grated parmesan
200gm (ish) of blue cheese (or even better, gorgonzola)
50gm toasted walnuts (ie cooked gently in butter/olive oil for 3-4mins) and broken up
Pastry (puff)

Method

• Preheat oven to 180C/Gas5
• Blanch fennel heads in boiling water for 2mins then roast in oven with olive oil, salt, pepper until browning and caramelising
• Melt butter in small pan, stir in flour until thick, add the milk slowly - stop when reasonably thick roux (was around 3/4c for me)
• Mix egg yolks, yoghurt, mustard, zest and add to roux with salt and pepper
• Grease tin, and cover with pastry, sprinkle parmesan over the base, chopped fennel, and walnuts
• Beat egg whites until stuff, and fold into roux. Spoon over the base. 
• Bake until 30min until set.

Cooking with Bruce : Caramelised shallots, fig and beetroot tart with French goat’s cheese and red wine syrup

Yes, I know it's been awhile since the last instalment of cooking with Bruce. I have been cooking, but have forgotten to post the recipes i liked. However yesterday I felt the urge to go a bit over the top so:

Caramelised shallots, fig and beetroot tart with French goat’s cheese and red wine syrup

100g Turkish dried figs

400ml red wine

300gm caster sugar

300gm puff pastry

4 large beetroot

400g chopped shallots

1t chopped thyme

200gm French goat’s cheese

Simmer figs, wine and caster sugar for 30mins then leave to cool overnight.

Cut puff pastry 5mm thick and cut into squares or circles, place on baking tray and rest for 30min before baking at 200C until golden.

Wrap beetroot individually in tin foil and bake until tender (rest on something to stop base burning), cool and chop into rounds, or boil gently until cooked.

Sweat shallots in olive oil, salt, and thyme, cover and cook until caramelised.

Drain figs and reserve the liquid, chop figs finely and add to shallots - cook for 5 mins. Allow to cool, reduce the liquid to a syrup. 

Top the pastry with the shallot mixture, then beetroot, top with goats cheese, season and drizzle with olive oil. Bake for 5min at 200C. 

To serve, drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, spoon some of the red wine syrup around the outside, with a green salad on the side. 

Love, B

Cooking with Bruce : Spicy vegetarian soup

So it's getting chillier (well it is here anyway), and I like spicy food. So in a nod to cultural norms that say autumn/winter is soup time, here's a spicy soup.

Ingredients
Spice Mix
Vege oil
onion chopped
3cm chopped ginger
3-4 cloves garlic
cinnamon (stick?)
2T toasted cumin seeds (I threw them in with the onion)
2 chillis - roughly chopped

Other Stuff
mushrooms - as many as possible
4-5 smallish spuds chopped
2x 390gm tomato tins
500ml vege stock


Cook the onion over gentle heat until soft. Throw all in blender, and process until smooth (may need a bit of water or oil).

Place into pan and cook until dry, add mushrooms/spuds/tomato and mix until boiling, add stock and simmer for 30-45 mins.

I added a bunch of other things (coriander leaves, asafoetida, tumeric etc), but hey, that's just me...

xx

Cooking with Bruce : Chocolate and Cherry torte

Welcome, again, to the occasional cooking with Bruce series. This time, overloading on chocolate and cherries.

I'd been ordered to make a chocolate cake, however telling me what I'm going to do and me doing it ... herding cats ... etc etc. Which is how I ended up with a chocolate torte, reasoning a) I wanted one b) it had chocolate and c) it's cherry season and I like them.

Not sure where I found this recipe, there's bits I've adapted...

Probably don't need to say it, but:

* chocolate : high quality and 75-80% cocoa

* cherry jam : again the better you can afford, the better the taste - cheaper ones don't have as much fruit and generally more sugar which can lead to bitterness when it's heated

Heat oven to 180C

Base

100g unsalted butter

300g flour

pinch of salt

1t bp

100g sugar

2 eggs

Butter and line a tin with baking paper - I think mine's about 20cm, and that got pretty high and took awhile to cook, so 24cm maybe better.

Place all (except eggs) into blender, pulse to breadcrumbs, add egg and pulse until it comes together. Press pastry over the base and up the sides of the tin. Refrigerate.

Chocolate

150g caster sugar

4 eggs

3T flour

500ml full cream milk

1t vanilla extract

200g 82% dark chocolate [minimum 70%] broken up roughly

200g fresh cherries, and stoned (man)

2-3T good quality cherry jam

1. Whisk sugar and eggs together until thick, stir in flour. 
2. Bring milk to boil, then pour into the eggs mixture while whisking
3. Add vanilla, and place over low heat
4. Add chocolate+jam and stir until mixture thickens and coats the spoon
5. Pour mixture into the tart, sprinkle cherries over the top

Cook for at least 45 mins (my 20cm tin = 70mins), allow to cool before removing and chopping up.

Even I will admit this doesn't need any cream. I know. I'm as shocked as you.

Tomorrow, you may get some indian food as I quite liked the ones I made last night...

Smoochies on your cherry [torte], me