Tag Archives: Heston Blumenthal

Heston Blumenthal’s Pumpkin Soup


PUMPKIN SOUP

While I would like to say this is a perfect dish with winter approaching, Perth has actually just had a 30° day with more warm days to come over the Easter Long Weekend. But if you are a big lover of pumpkin soup like me then you can enjoy this dish at any time. There are two simple cooking techniques that are used which add so much flavour and to be honest there is only a handful of ingredients used so this dish is very easy to make.

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INGREDIENTS

– 850g Pumpkin Flesh

– Olive Oil

– 200g Unsalted Butter

– 3 Onions, peeled and finely sliced

– 400g Fresh Milk

– 4 Sprigs of Rosemary

– Pinch of Cayenne Pepper

– 40g Sesame Oil (or to taste)

– 40g Balsamic Vinegar (or to taste)

– Salt

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METHOD

Peel and de-seed the pumpkin (I used three different pumpkins in my recipe as it adds to the flavour). You want to cut half into cubes, drizzle with olive oil and place into an oven that has been pre-heated (180°) and cook for approximately 40 minutes or until soft and caramelised. The other half cut finely with a mandolin or with a sharp knife and set aside.

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Next you want to melt the butter in a large pot and sweat the onions with the pumpkin slices for ten minutes or until the onions go translucent.

 In the meantime, in a smaller pot heat the milk until it is almost simmering, turn off the heat, add the rosemary and allow to infuse for 20 minutes. Strain the liquid and discard the rosemary. Add the infused milk, cold tap water and the roasted pumpkin. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer for ten minutes or until the pumpkin slices go soft.

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When the pumpkin goes soft, remove from the heat and liquidize with a hand blender. The recipe says pass through a fine sieve but I don’t bother as all it does is make the soup thinner.

 Season with cayenne, sesame oil, balsamic vinegar and salt.

 Serve with some crusty bread and enjoy!

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Full credit to Heston Blumenthal’s “Heston Blumenthal at Home”

Link below with the full recipe from BBC

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b015yt3v/features/pumpkin-soup

62° Egg


62° EGG

62° Egg is one of my most favourite recipes to cook in the SousVide (pronounced Soo-Vee). The SousVide is the best present I have ever received, and it is one of the most used appliances I own. This recipe is a simple one, and I know what your thinking “I don’t have a SousVide” BUT, there are two other ways you can make these eggs and achieve that same velvet like result and I will share this with you in the method part for you to follow and make these magnificent eggs.

62 egg 2

62 egg 1

62 egg 3

INGREDIENTS

– Eggs (Quantity up to you but the fresher the better)

– Water

– SousVide (If you have one)

– Thermometer (If you have one, Im lucky enough to have Heston’s Salter one)

– Small-Medium Saucepan

– Plate that will fit in the Saucepan

– Slotted Spoon

METHOD

METHOD ONE – This is the most accurate of the three methods. Fill the SousVide with water up to the water fill mark on the inside or so that the eggs will be well covered in water. Turn on the SousVide and set the temperature to 62° and wait until it reaches temperature. Once at the correct temperature, place the eggs in with a slotted spoon and leave to sit for one hour (SousVide has a timer).

When the timer goes off, scoop out the eggs with the slotted spoon and place on a laid out tea towel. Next you want to get the back of a butter knife and gently tap the egg and crack almost all the way around the egg. With little force the egg should split open and pour out onto the towel. There is a bit of watery egg (depending on how fresh they are) you do no want this and to get rid of it, that is why you crack them onto a tea towel. Once you have down then scoop them up with the slotted spoon and serve how you desire, I like them just on plain toast.

METHOD TWO – This method is pretty accurate however it takes some adjusting because you cannot set the stove top to a specific temperature. This method is from the idol himself Mr Heston Blumenthal and there are links at the bottom to his video and recipe. First you want to fill the saucepan with water and place the plate in upside down so it sits nice on the bottom (this keeps the egg from sitting on direct heat). You then want to stick the thermometer in and heat until the temperature reaches 80° (you must keep it at this temperature).

Once this happens you want to crack the eggs onto a slotted spoon over a bowel to catch and get rid of any extra water in the egg. Roll the egg off the spoon into the water and cook for four minutes. Once four minutes are up, fish out with the slotted spoon and place on a paper towel to get rid of excess water. Scoop back up with the slotted spoon and serve however you desire.

METHOD THREE – This last method is the least accurate but through experimenting you don’t need a SousVide and you don’t need a thermometer. You simply heat the water like in method two but until the water is boiling and then turn off the heat and place the plate in first then the eggs just like above. Wait four minutes (or you may have to test the timing but four minutes comes pretty close to the ones in method two.) Scoop out with a slotted spoon drain on a paper towel and serve how you desire.

Full Credit for METHOD TWO and my adapted METHOD THREE to SBS’s food section, Heston Blumenthal’s Recipes

VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pux9JRiGRHY

RECIPE: http://www.sbs.com.au/food/recipes/heston-blumenthals-poached-eggs