Home Cooked Heston

Sorry it’s taken a while to to get going and start writing again. Its been a wild few months! In February this year I entered a little cooking comp called Cheflab at my good friends Ryan and Tania’s restaurant, Baby Mammoth. After being told numerous times to keep it simple (something I found hard to do but glad I did having to make close to 70 dishes) I decided to make my own version of Hestons “Meat Fruit”. It was crazy cooking in a real commercial kitchen for that many people and I hope to be included for round 2 soon.

INGREDIENTS

CHICKEN LIVER PARFAIT

– 120g Finely sliced shallots
– 3g Minced garlic
– 17g Sprigs of thyme, tied with string
– 140g Dry Madeira
– 160g Ruby port
– 80g White port
– 55g Brandy
– 18g Table salt
– 400g Chicken livers (trimmed weight)
– 240g Eggs
– 300g Unsalted butter, melted

MANDARIN JELLY

– 45g Leaf gelatin
– 500g Mandarin purée
– 80g Glucose

METHOD

FOR THE CHICKEN LIVER PARFAIT

1. Place the shallots, garlic and thyme in a saucepan with the Madeira, ruby port, white port and brandy. Set aside to marinate for 24 hours.

2. Heat the marinated mixture until almost all the liquid has evaporated, making sure to stir regularly to prevent the shallots and garlic from burning. Remove from the heat and discard the thyme.

3. Preheat the oven to 100°C. Fill a bain-marie with 5cm water and place in the oven. Preheat a water bath to 50°C.

4. Sprinkle the table salt over the livers and put them in a sous-vide bag. Put the eggs and the alcohol reduction in a second sous-vide bag, and the butter in a third.

5. Seal all the bags, then place in the water bath for 20 minutes. Remove the bags from the water bath.

6. Combine the eggs, alcohol reduction and meat in a blender and blend until smooth. Slowly blitz in the butter and blend until smooth. Pass the mixture through a fine sieve using the back of a small ladle.

7. Pour the mixture into a terrine dish and place in the bain-marie then cover the bain-marie with aluminum foil. Cook the parfait until the temperature in the centre reaches 64°C. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Refrigerate for 24 hours before serving.

FOR THE MANDARIN JELLY

8. Place the gelatin in cold water to soften. Gently heat the mandarin purée and glucose in a pan to combine.

9. Add the softened gelatin and stir well until dissolved. Remove from the heat and stir well.

10. Pass the mix through a fine sieve and reserve in the fridge until required.

TO MAKE THE EGGS

11. Using a spoon, fill the egg moulds with parfait, ensuring there is enough pressure to create a completely smooth surface. Level off the tops so that they are flat and cover with Clingfilm. Gently press the Clingfilm directly onto the surface of the parfait and place in the freezer until completely frozen.

12. For the mandarin jelly use a spoon to fill the yolk moulds with the mandarin jelly, ensuring there is enough pressure to create a completely smooth the surface. Level off the tops so that they are flat and cover with Clingfilm. Gently press the Clingfilm directly onto the surface of the jelly and place in the freezer until completely frozen.

13. Once frozen remove and place both the parfait and jelly into the fridge to defrost approx 30 minutes.

14. To serve, grill some sourdough and pour a dash of olive oil to dress. Place the parfait egg next to the toast and top with the mandarin jelly yolk. Garnish with sprig of parsley and enjoy!

Link below to original recipe.HESTON’S MEAT FRUIT

QUINCE, PECAN AND CRÈME CARAMEL TRIFLE

I was going to give Heston’s Trifle recipe a go but I left it a little bit too late and ran out of time to gather ingredients. I then went on a big recipe hunt and thought which Australian Chefs do I know that make desserts really well. The first that came to mind was Chef Peter Gilmore. I had learnt from last year to make sure to use ingredients that were in season and I think I got lucky as my little brother found the figs that were just coming into season in one of 8 supermarkets that we looked! So here is the recipe for Peter Gilmore’s Quince, Pecan and Crème Caramel Trifle with Honey Cream.

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INGREDIENTS

– 50g White Chocolate, cut into 4 pieces

– 150g (1 ¼ Cups) Pecans

– 50g Currants, Soaked in 150ml Pedro Ximénez Overnight

CRÈME CARAMEL

– Grapeseed Oil, for Brushing

– 380g (2/3 Cup) Caster Sugar

– 180g Egg Yolks (About 10 Yolks)

– 2 Eggs

– 1L (4 Cups) Milk

POACHED QUINCE JELLY

– 150g Caster Sugar

– 1 Vanilla Bean, Split, Seeds Scraped

– 200g Quince Paste

– 3 Titanium-Strength Gelatine Leaves, Softened in Cold Water for 3 minutes

SPONGE CAKE

– 150g (2/3 Cup) Caster Sugar

– 6 Eggs

– 150g (1 Cup) Plain Flour, Sieved

HONEY CREAM

– 375 ml (1½ Cups) Pouring Cream

– 1½tbsp Honey

METHOD

1. For crème caramel, preheat your oven to 160ºC and lightly oil eight 220ml ramekins. Stir the 200gm of sugar with 100ml water in a saucepan over a medium-high heat until the sugar has dissolved, then cook without stirring until it becomes a dark golden colour (6-8 minutes).

Caramel

2. Pour enough caramel into each mould to just cover the base and stand until set (10-15 minutes). Whisk the yolks, eggs, and remaining sugar in a bowl until the mixture is just pale in colour (1-2 minutes). Meanwhile you want to bring the milk close to the boiling in a saucepan over medium-high heat and whilst whisking, pour the milk onto eggs and sugar and whisk to combine.

Caramel

Custard Mixture

3. Strain mixture through a fine sieve and into a jug. Place moulds in a deep roasting pan lined with a tea towel (this prevents the moulds from sliding). Divide the custard evenly among moulds, then fill pan with hot water to come halfway up the sides of moulds. Cover with foil and bake until caramels are set and barely wobble in the centre when gently shaken (40 minutes to 1 hour). Remove from oven and leave in the water bath to cool for 10 minutes. Refrigerate overnight to chill. Dip moulds in hot water, then turn out and cut each into quarters.

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4. For poached quince jelly, whisk the sugar, vanilla bean and seeds, 500ml water and the quince paste in a flameproof casserole and bring to a simmer. Stir until sugar and quince paste has dissolved. Cover and refrigerate until required. Bring 300ml of the mixture (discard remainder) and 100ml water to the boil in a saucepan, squeeze excess water from gelatine and, off the heat, stir into quince mixture until dissolved. Strain syrup into a 500ml container and refrigerate until set (2-3 hours).

Currents and Pedro

5. Meanwhile, for sponge cake, preheat oven to 160C and line a 10cm-deep, 23cm-square cake tin with baking paper. Whisk the sugar and eggs in an electric mixer until thick and pale with a fine, firm foam (8-9 minutes). Sift in flour and fold to combine, then pour into prepared tin, spreading evenly. Bake until a skewer inserted withdraws with dry crumbs (20-25 minutes). Turn sponge out onto a rack to cool (20-30 minutes). Cake is best made on the day, but can be made a day ahead and wrapped in plastic wrap to keep fresh

6. Increase oven to 170C. Bake white chocolate pieces on an oven tray lined with baking or a silicone oven tray until chocolate is light caramel in colour (6-8 minutes). Cool completely, place in an airtight container, and refrigerate until required.

White Chocolate

7. Roast pecans on an oven tray until crisp (7-8 minutes). Set aside to cool, then break with your hands, leaving some whole to decorate the top.

8. For honey cream, whisk cream and honey in a bowl until soft peaks form.

9. Cut or tear the sponge and the jelly into 5cm pieces. To assemble the trifle, layer a 5-litre trifle bowl with half of the following: pieces of sponge, currants and soaking liquid, quince jelly, crème caramel, crumbled pecans and honey cream. Repeat with remaining ingredients, then cover trifle and refrigerate to chill and set (2-3 hours).

10. To serve, coarsely grate caramelised white chocolate over the top and garnish with pecans