18 January 2010Watercress, Rocket and Sweet Pear with Blue Cheese Toasts

This is a lovely summer entree.  We find that the flavours in the recipe and those in our Pinot Gris are an excellent (even perfect!) match.

Ingredients

120g blue soft cheese

20  small slices of French bread

150g watercress

150g rocket

2 ripe pears, quartered. cored and sliced

100g walnuts lightly toasted

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 1/2 tablespoons good quality olive oli

Salt and pepper

Method

Place slices of bread on baking tray, crumble the blue cheese on top and bake in ther oven at 200 deg Celcius for 3 to 5 minutes, until cheese melts.

Mix rocket and watercress in a salad bowl, scatter over the slices of ripe pear, then drizzle the oil and lemon juice over the salad, toss well, scatter with walnuts and serve with the blue cheese toasts.

Note - The blue cheese toasts can be replaced with finely sliced parmesan cheese if preferred.

22 May 2009Hot Smoked Salmon Fish Cakes

Ingredients

250g hot smoked salmon

250g peeled and boiled potatoes

1 tablespoon cream

25g butter

1 finely chopped onion

1 egg yolk

Zest of 1 lemon

Hand full chopped parsley

Salt and pepper

Method

Flake salmon into a bowl; add zest of lemon and the chopped parsley.

Mash the potatoes with the butter and cream and then add to the salmon mix, add the egg yolk and season well.

Form into small patties and fry in olive oil with a small knob of butter till golden on both sides.

Serve with a lemon mayonnaise

Ingredients for mayonnaise

1 teaspoon sugar

2 egg yolks

1teaspoon mustard

Juice of one lemon

300mls olive oil

Salt and pepper

Method
Whisk sugar, mustard, lemon juice and egg yolks till light and bubbly, gradually add oil whisking all the time till right consistency is achieved. Store in fridge.

9 January 2011Marinade Duck Breast with Red Wine and Cherries

This can be done with a whole duck as long as you don’t mind carving the duck! Just double the marinade recipe and leave for about 10 hours to soak up the flavor.

Ingredients

2 duck breasts

3 tablespoons cherry jam-preferably non sweetened

300mls good red wine

100 mls stock

Marinade

½ cup brown sugar

½ salt

½ ltr apple juice

2 bay leaves

3 dried chillies

½ onion finely chopped

5 garlic cloves lightly crushed with the back of a knife

4 cloves

4 allspice berries- crushed

Method

Heat the apple juice with the salt and sugar, allow to cool. Add the bay leaves, chillies, cloves, garlic, onion and allspice to the marinade and pour over duck breasts or duck, cover and place

In fridge for up to 6 hours, the longer you leave it the stronger the flavor.

Remove from marinade and pat dry with paper towel, throw out the marinade.

For Duck Breasts

Heat oil in frying pan and sear the duck breasts on both sides, cook a further 3-4 minutes on both sides depending on how rare you like your duck.
Remove from pan and allow to rest in a warm place, remove excess oil from pan, add wine and allow reducing slightly, adding stock and the jam and removing from the heat.

Carve the duck breasts, arrange on plates and pour over sauce.

For Whole Duck

For a whole duck bake in the oven at 200deg for about 1 hour 10mins depending on the weight of the duck.

When cooked, rest covered for about 5 minutes, then carve and serve as for duck breasts.