Category All Recipes

Experiment Day 1


LAMB BRAINS, SWEET BREADS AND CALF LIVER

What can I say other than this was fun! I am all for trying new things so when my cooking buddy suggested that we try a recipe from “The Complete Nose to Tail” by Fergus Henderson and Justin Piers Gellatly I knew what we were in for.  So when Matt said we should try lambs brains I thought why the hell not. Then off we went to Torre Butcher in Northbridge, Perth. These guys are awesome, we were expecting the offal to be frozen but it all came out fresh which made it even better.

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INGREDIENTS

– 2 Onions, Peeled

– 2 Carrots, Peeled

– 2 Leeks, Peeled

– 2 Sticks of Celery

– 1 Whole Head of Garlic

– Black Peppercorns

– Bay Leaf

– A Bundle of Fresh Herbs

– 6 Lamb Brains, Rinsed in Cold Water

– Plain Flour, Season with Salt and Pepper

– 4 Eggs

– Fine Dry Bread Crumbs

– Vegetable Oil for Deep Frying

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METHOD

Place all stock, vegetables and herbs into a pot of water and bring to a simmer for fifteen minutes. Gently lower the lamb brains into the pot, let them gently cook for six minutes. Remove the brains with a slotted spoon and leave to cool on a tray. When they have cooled enough and have gone firm you are then to separate the lobes.

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Meanwhile prepare 3 bowls. The first with the seasoned flour, the second with the egg whisked and the third with the bread crumbs. Then you want to heat the oil in a pot – you don’t want to let the brains get to soggy.

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Next you want to dip the brains into the flour, then the egg, into the breadcrumbs and then onto a plate lined with paper towel ready for frying. Once you have completed crumbing the brains and the oil is hot, pop them in until crisp. This will take a matter of minutes. Drain on a paper towel and serve hot with your desired sauce. We had them with some Home Cooked Heston spicy ketchup and lemon wedges.

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New to the Home Cooked Heston Blog is beer matching. My good friends at Mane Liquor here in Perth are going to start matching the beer and my cooking buddy Matt Power will be matching the wine. I will make a new category for the different types of beer and wine to match different foods. This week for the brains they have matched La Sirène Wild Saison and the Cullen Estate Sauvignon Blanc 2008

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Lastly because it was an experiment day, we also tried sweet breads, which we crumbed and deep fried some calf liver which we sautéed in a hot pan with some lemon juice and some of Torre’s nice big Italian pork sausages which were tasty.

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Full credit for the brains recipe to Fergus Henderson and Justin Piers Gellatly. Credit to Australian Wine Journal Blog for the Cullen photo I forgot to take one.

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PS. This book will be the death of me!

Duck À L’Orange


DUCK À L’ORANGE

I wanted to cook a great meal for my beautiful girlfriend Emma and I thought the best way to do this was to cook her something from Shannon Bennett’s cook book “My Vue” and take her back to our Vue de Monde experience. This was the second time I have cooked this dish but this time round I had a lot better of a recipe. I had to improvise a little but managed to produce a very good-looking dish. Duck being one of my favourite types of meat, it really was a spectacular dish. I did adapt this dish however because I had a whole duck to get rid of.

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INGREDIENTS

– 1 Whole Duck

– 2 Shallots

– 1 Garlic Clove

– 5 Sprigs of Thyme

– 4 Star Anise

– 2 Bay Leaves

– 100 ml of Grand Marnier

– 2 Cups of Freshly Squeezed Orange Juice

– Sea Salt Flakes and Freshly Cracked Pepper

– Grape Seed Oil

– 8 Thin Slices of Pancetta

– 1 Small Onion

– 100 ml of Double Cream

– Thermometer

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 180º. Cut the legs off with poultry scissors, place on a tray lined with baking paper and then season with salt and pepper and place in the oven until they reach 54º. Let rest and shred the meat and set aside for later.

Next remove the breasts. Heat a large heavy base frypan, season the breasts with salt and pepper and sear on all sides. Then place in the oven with a thermometer and cook until you reach a temperature of 54º remove from the heat and let rest. The temperature should rise to around 58º to 60º which is the temperature you want.

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To make the orange sauce you need to melt ½ a tablespoon of butter in a heavy-based sauce pan. Add the shallots, garlic, thyme, star anise, bay leaves and cook for 2 minutes. Add the Grand Marnier and reduce by two-thirds. Add the orange juice and reduce by half. Whisk in one tablespoon of butter which gives it a smooth, thick sauce. Strain through a fine sieve and season with salt and pepper. Place a thin slice of orange and a slice of pancetta into the oven this was the flower shaped garnish I used.

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For the sautéed cabbage heat one tablespoon of grape seed oil in a large fry pan. Add the pancetta, onion and sauté for two minutes without colouring. Toss in the duck leg meat, remove from the and set aside. In the same pan, warm the cabbage for one minute. Add a teaspoon of water to create steam to help cook the cabbage. Return the pancetta mixture to the pan and the double cream. Reduce for two minutes or until the sauce resembles mayonnaise.

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To plate up slice the duck into centimetre pieces and position on the plate. Spoon full of the pancetta mixture next to the meat and push the slice of orange on top. Lastly, place the curled pancetta on top of the orange slice and spoon the orange sauce over the dish as little or as much as you like.

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Full Credit to Shannon Bennett on this dish. I have made a number of recipes from his limited edition book and boy are they good!