The Gourmet Gent

Q:What is a Duxelle?

A: It’s a culinary name for finely chopped products or veg

 Ingredients

1 punnet of chestnut mushrooms

4 sprigs of thyme

4 drops of truffle oil

1 bay leaf

1 cap of red wine vinegar

1 shallot (finely diced)

1 table spoon of ricotta cheese

100 grams of parmesan or any hard Italian Vegan cheese

Knives at the ready…

1. First wash your chestnut mushroom and patch with kitchen towel, ready to chop; the two knife skills we shall be using are the rock chop and cross chop
2. Add your duxelles mushrooms to a large frying pan with NO OIL, as you want to draw out a little moisture.
3. Next add your thyme, bay leaf and cook for a further 2 minutes
4. To finish add a cap of red wine vinegar and your drops of truffle oil.
5. Once off the heat add your tablespoon of ricotta (otherwise you will curdle the mixture)

Pasta time…

Ingredients:

300 grams of 00 pasta flour

3 medium egg yolks

a pinch of sea salt

1. To start to make the pasta dough tip the flour and sea salt onto a cold surface, make a volcano shape in the middle.
2. Crack your eggs into a bowl and separate the egg whites from the yolks
3. Add your yolks to your flour volcano on your kitchen side, fork whisk and then gradually drag the flour into the centre. (Do not worry if it is starting to look crumbly and unworkable – this is normal)
4. Start using your hands to pull the dough together, work it with your palms, pushing with alternate hands, using your body weight to press down moving away from you.
5. After kneading for 10 minutes, your dough should be smooth and silky, wrap in cling film and rest in the fridge for 30 minutes, (if not for immediate use)
6. Having rested, its time to shape up your dough, you can use a rolling pin but a pasta machine is preferable, as the desired thickness can be achieved. (On pasta machines you tend to have three stages, begin on the widest, working it through 8 times)
7. Once you are happy that it is as thick as a £1 coin, drape it and leave it to air a little.
8. Now, cut your rolled pasta sheets to measure 15cm x 21cm rectangles.

N.B. flour the rollers with 00 flour and rope someone in to help you

Now lets fill!

1. Lay you pasta rectangles out flat on a clean work service
2. Start to lay generous portions of your Duxelle mix, in tablespoon measures along your rectangular sheets, leaving an 1 and a half inch spaces between.
3. Score cut lines between portions, and slice.
4. Roll each portion into cigar like shapes
5. Seal with a touch of water
6. Place a thin layer of your roasted red pepper and tomato sauce onto the base of your oven proof dish (as this stops the pasta drying out and sticking)
7. Start placing your Cannelloni pieces into the dish, allowing space for expansion in then oven when cooking
8. Pour the remaining roasted red pepper and tomato sauce on top
9. Next, marble your Béchamel sauce over the entire dish, now grate 100 grams of Parmesan generously.
10. Place into a pre-heated oven at 200°C
11. Allow to cook for 30 minutes, testing regularly to ensure the pasta is al dente and that the sauce is bubbling away.

Best shared with family and friends, accompanied by a glass of red or with a pint of Sharps Brewery’s Wolf Rock, as your tipple!

Buon Appetito!

Garden Pea, Broad Bean and Courgette Ribbon Risotto (Serves 6 people)

Ingredients:

1 large banana shallot – peeled and diced

250 grams of garden peas

250 grams of broad beans

500 grams of risotto aborio Rice

1.5 pints of vegetable stock

Knob of softened butter

Vegan hard cheese (grated)

2 courgettes peeled and sliced into small paysanne

1 courgette for ribbons for garnish

A pinch of salt

A pinch of black pepper

One unwaxed lemon (juice and zest)

Equipment required:

Heavy based metal pan

Wooden spoon

Measuring jug

Serving spoon

Pre-warmed artisan plates

Frying Pan

Kitchen towel

Method:

1. Place a heavy based metal pan onto the heat, once the pan is up to temperature add a knob of softened butter. Allow the butter to foam and colour a little but without burning. Next add your finely diced shallot to the pan, sweat the shallot in the melted butter ensuring not to burn the shallot as you want the shallot to release its natural perfume to the dish.
2. Next add the risotto rice into the pan allow to the cook until it has reached the POPPING stage (as this breaks down its outer casing allowing the starches to be released). At this point add a ladel of your vegetable stock when making a risotto you cannot rush this process, as this is where the creamy texture is formed. Also don’t be tempted add another ladel of the stock, wait until the last has been absorbed or otherwise you will over saturate the risotto rice. Carry on this process until all of the stock has been absorbed and the rice has reached a beautiful creamy texture (a little like rice pudding).
3. For the courgette paysanne- slice your washed courgette into quarters as this gives you the paysanne shape using your guide finely slice the courgette about the thickness of a one pound coin. Add into a pre-heated frying pan with a little oil and sauté like a pro! Tip out onto a piece of kitchen towel and allow to drain.
4. At this stage add the peas and broad beans to the risotto along with the sauté courgette paysanne (for this dish I used Waitrose duchy frozen garden peas and broad beans, frozen vegetables are still packed full of the important vitamins and minerals, as they are frozen in a matter of hours after picking.) Allow the vegetables to cook ensure that you don’t over stir the risotto as this can make your risotto go like glue. Add the juice and the zest of one lemon.

Time to Garnish! (Allow to cool a little before garnishing) As a chef your knife skills are paramount, if you are brave enough to slice thinly go ahead but WATCH YOUR FINGERS. I personally like to use a speed peeler, which everyone has laying around in the draw, normally only venturing out to peel the potatoes! Yet this tool is great for creating  vegetable ribbons which add both texture and interest into your dishes. For my risotto I peeled the ribbons of courgette and placed them onto a griddle pan as this gives them a charred appearance whilst enhancing their natural sweetness.

5. (Through trial and error I have found that adding the hard vegan cheese just before serving avoids it going sticky). Serve using a metal serving spoon, place a generous portion into the centre of the plate, to garnish add your griddled courgette ribbons  making the whole dish pop.

Most importantly…

6. Enjoy with family and friends, accompanied by a Brew Dog IPA.