Lobster Thermidor

Lobster Thermidor

Lobster in a luxurious creamy sauce - a classic and one of my all time favourites.

Overview:

A. Make the stock.

B. Make the sauce.

C. Grill the lobster meat in the sauce with Parmesan sprinkled on top.

A. Make the stock:

Ingredients for the stock: (For 6 portions)

4 live lobsters

500mls of the water in which the lobsters were boiled

200mls white wine

1 medium onion – cut into 4 pieces

1 stick celery cut into 2 inch pieces

1 bouquet garni (1 bay leaf, 1 sprig thyme, 1 sprig parsley, 1 celery flower)

5 black peppercorns

Method for the stock:

Bring a very large pot of water to the boil (enough to cover the lobsters).

Add the live lobsters and boil for no more than 15 minutes. (Or get your fishmonger to do this for you).

Remove the lobsters from the water.

Boil 500 mls of the water with all the other stock ingredients, then simmer over a low to medium heat for about 30 minutes.

Strain the stock.

When the lobsters have cooled down remove the meat and keep it aside.

Wash and clean out the lobster shells if you want to serve the lobster in them.

B. Make the sauce:

Ingredients for the sauce:

60g butter

60g flour

2 cloves garlic (crushed finely)

600mls fresh lobster stock

200mls fresh double cream

½ teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon mustard

½ - ¾  teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon black pepper (coarsely ground)

2 teaspoons pink coral (roe from the lobster – this is optional)

2 yolks

2 tablespoons grated Parmesan

1½  tablespoons brandy

Method for sauce:

1. Melt the butter in a large saucepan.

2. Add the crushed garlic.

3. Add the flour and cook for 2 minutes over a low heat.

4. Slowly add the stock, stirring well to prevent lumps forming.

5. After adding all the stock bring it to a boil for about 10 seconds.

6. Turn the heat down to low.

7. Add the cream.

8. Stir in the pink coral (roe), mustard, cayenne pepper, salt and black pepper.

9. Take the sauce off the heat.

10. Mix in the yolks. 

C. Putting it all together:

1. Pre-heat the grill.

2. Chop the lobster meat into ¾ inch pieces.

3. Sauté the lobster in 1 tablespoon of butter for about 1 minute.

4. Add 1 tablespoon of brandy and cook for another minute.

5. Add the lobster to the sauce.

6. Put it back into cleaned lobster shells.

7. Sprinkle Parmesan on top and place under a grill until golden brown (about 1 minute).

8. Serve immediately and enjoy!

Additional Information:

4 large lobsters should be enough for 6 people.  (I think restaurants allow only half a lobster per person).

If you have a good local fishmonger who can boil the lobsters, take the meat out for you and also give you the water in which it was boiled, then a lot of the unpleasant work is done (i.e. killing the lobster, removing it from the shell and half of the work in the making of the stock)! Also, many fishmongers don’t charge to deliver locally.

Unfortunately one doesn’t see lobster thermidor on menus very often these days

- it was apparently created in a restaurant in Paris in 1894 to honour the opening of a play called ‘Thermidor’. And the play, which is set during the French Revolution, was named for the eleventh month (Thermidor) of the French Republican Calendar.

Ruby’s Tiramisu

Ruby’s Tiramisu

The Italian equivalent of trifle, but easier to make - Tiramisu sounds more sophisticated than it actually is. I originally got this recipe from my good friend Ruby, (who sadly emigrated to Australia many years ago).

Ingredients for the coffee mixture:

1 cup boiling water (250mls)

4 teaspoons instant coffee

4 tablespoons sugar (60g)

5 tablespoons Marsala wine (or sherry) (80mls)

Ingredients for the mascarpone mixture:

4 egg yolks

3 tablespoons caster sugar (40g)

2 small boxes mascarpone cheese (500g)

4 egg whites

Ingredients for assembly of tiramisu:

1 packet sponge fingers (200g)

Chilled dark chocolate

A rectangular dish that is roughly 6” X 8” in size (and at least 3” deep)

Method:

First make the coffee:

1. Combine the water, coffee, sugar and Marsala wine in a medium sized bowl and keep it aside.

Then make the mascarpone mixture:

2. Whisk the yolks with the caster sugar on high speed until they are pale and creamy.

3. Add the mascarpone to the yolk and sugar mixture and whisk it in until it is smooth.

4. In a separate bowl whisk the egg whites on high speed (with a clean whisk) until they are stiff.

5. Add the whisked whites to the mascarpone mixture and continue whisking (on low speed) until they are mixed in.

Final assembly of tiramisu:

6. Put a single layer of sponge fingers along the bottom of the rectangular dish, and using a spoon pour half of the coffee mixture over the biscuits.

7. Then put half of the mascarpone mixture over the soaked sponge fingers and spread it out evenly.

8. Put a second layer of sponge fingers on top of the mascarpone mixture.

9. Spoon the remaining coffee mixture over the second layer of biscuits.

10. Spread the remaining mascarpone mixture over the second layer of soaked biscuits evenly.

11. Grate some chocolate on top of the final layer of mascarpone, (or sprinkle cocoa powder), and then chill in a fridge for a few hours.

Additional Information:

This recipe contains raw eggs, so if you have an issue with eating raw eggs then avoid tiramisu! The tiramisu needs to be stored in a fridge and eaten within 24 hours of being made because of the raw eggs.

Recipes for tiramisu abound on the internet – some have no egg white, some have cream instead of egg and various other combinations are out there – obviously I think my version is the best!

I’ve only recently been adding yolks and sugar to the mascarpone mixture - the original recipe that Ruby gave me has neither yolk nor sugar in the mascarpone - both versions taste very good. 

Aubergine, Tomato and Cheese Bake

Aubergine, Tomato and Cheese Bake

This is my variation of the classic Italian aubergine melanzane dish.

Ingredients (serves 4)

1 large or 2 small aubergines

Tomato sauce (see below for recipe)

60g mozzarella, thinly sliced or grated

60g fontina or cheddar cheese, thinly sliced or grated

40g grated Parmesan cheese

Olive oil               

Salt

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180˚C.

2. Slice the aubergines into circles, about 5mm thick.

3. Heat some olive oil in a large frying pan and cook the sliced aubergines for about 5 minutes on each side - until they are soft all the way through. (Aubergines need a lot of oil while being cooked – just keep adding oil until they stop “drinking it up”. After they have been cooked pat the slices dry with kitchen paper to get as much of the oil out as you can).

4. Sprinkle some salt onto the aubergine slices.

5. Put a layer of aubergine slices into an oven proof dish.

5. Spread some tomato sauce (see below) onto the aubergines, and then spread half of the Fontina (or cheddar), Parmesan and mozzarella cheese on top of the tomato sauce.

6. Repeat the process again – i.e. add a second layer of aubergines and spread the remaining tomato sauce, and then the remaining cheese on top of the tomato sauce (as on the first layer).

7. Bake it all at 180˚C for 15 minutes and then brown the cheese under a grill for a couple of minutes before serving.

Tomato sauce recipe:

Ingredients:

75g of tomato puree

75g tomato passata

2 teaspoons of dried mixed herbs

¼ teaspoon coarse black pepper

¼ - ¾ teaspoon of chilli powder

¼ teaspoon of salt 

Method for tomato sauce:

Mix all the sauce ingredients together well in a bowl.

Additional Information

Fontina is an Italian cheese that is rich and creamy with a nutty flavour, and it melts wonderfully. It was originally recommended to me by a local Italian delicatessen, and I haven’t looked back since! The combination of Fontina with mozzarella is superb; also the mozzarella reduces the cost of this dish as it is more reasonably priced than the Fontina. If you can’t get hold of Fontina cheese, use cheddar instead.

It is vital to make sure that the aubergine slices are thoroughly cooked during the initial frying process – the aubergine should be soft enough to almost melt in your mouth after being baked, which it won’t do if there are any raw bits left.

Health benefits of aubergines

Aubergines are strictly speaking classified as berries! They are a good source of fibre, folic acid, potassium and anthocyanins (an anti-oxidant) – all of which are beneficial to health.         

Banoffee pie

Banoffee pie

Ingredients:

3 ripe bananas

Toffee sauce (see below)

Biscuit base (see below)

Cream topping (see below)

Refrigerated dark chocolate for decoration (optional)

Toffee sauce

Ingredients for toffee sauce:

50g butter

75g brown sugar

50g white sugar

100mls golden syrup

150 mls double cream

Method for toffee sauce:

1. Heat the butter, sugar and golden syrup over a very low heat until the sugar is dissolved (this takes about 10 minutes). If you don’t have golden syrup, use an extra 80g of brown sugar instead. 

2. Next, add the cream and continue heating while it is gently bubbling for another 10 minutes, and then take it off the heat and leave it to cool down to room temperature. (Don't overcook the toffee sauce or else it will end up too hard when it cools down).

3. Make the biscuit base while the toffee sauce is cooling down.

Biscuit base for the base of the pie

Ingredients for base:

120g digestive biscuits

50g butter

Method for base:

1. Melt the butter over a low heat.

2. Crush the biscuits in a polythene bag (using a rolling pin), until they resemble fine crumbs, then add them to the melted butter and stir until the butter is evenly distributed.

3. Put the biscuit and butter mixture into an 8 inch (20 cm) diameter dish which is at least 3 inches (8 cms) high, and press it down to form a firm and even base, then put it into a fridge to set, which should take about 30 minutes.

4. When the toffee sauce has cooled down make the cream topping.

Cream Topping:

Ingredients:

200mls double cream

20g icing sugar

Few drops of vanilla essence

Method for cream topping:

Whisk the cream with the sugar and vanilla essence until it is thick and just starts holding its shape, but be careful to not over whisk it as the cream will separate out and curdle if you do.

Final Assembly of Pie

1. Slice the bananas and layer the pieces on top of the biscuit base.

2. Cover the bananas with the toffee sauce.

3. Cover the toffee sauce with the whipped cream.

4. Grate some chocolate on top of the cream for decoration.

5. Chill in a fridge for about an hour before serving.

Sea Bass with Miso Sauce

Sea Bass with Miso Sauce

Eating Nobu’s black cod inspired this recipe. I found it quite hard to get the ‘blackened effect’ – at first I tried grilling the fish, but that tends to dry it out, so instead of grilling it I first bake and then pan-fry the fish briefly in very hot clarified butter.

Ingredients (serves 4)

4 sea bass fillets

1 tablespoon clarified butter

Marinade for fillets:

4 tablespoons mirin

4 tablespoons soya sauce

Juice of 1 lemon (40mls)

Salt

1 or 2 finely chopped green chillies – optional

Finely chopped fresh ginger – optional

Finely chopped spring onion - optional

Few stalks fresh parsley - optional 
¼ teaspoon chilli powder - optional

Method

1. Pre heat the oven to 180°C

2. Marinate the fish in the marinade for at least 10 minutes.

3. Bake the fish with the marinade in a covered dish (with foil or a lid), for about 7 minutes.

4. Heat the clarified butter in a large frying pan until it is very hot but not smoking.

5. Drain the fillets from the marinade and then fry them for about 30 seconds on each side.

6. Serve immediately with a sprinkling of chilli powder and then a tablespoon of warm sweet miso sauce on top of each fillet.

Sweet miso sauce

Ingredients

25 mls sake

25 mls mirin

4 tablespoons (125g) white miso paste

4 tablespoons  (50g) sugar

Method for sweet miso sauce

1. Put the miso paste in a saucepan and add the sugar.

2. Gradually add the sake and mirin, stirring well to prevent lumps from forming.

3. Heat the mixture over a medium heat until the sugar has dissolved (about 5 minutes), stirring constantly all the while.

4. Take the pan off the heat and let the mixture cool down – it keeps well in the fridge for a few weeks.

Additional Information

The cooking time is crucial in this recipe – if you over bake or over fry the fish it loses the ‘melt in your mouth softness’ that makes this recipe so good. The cooking time in this recipe is based on fairly thin fillets -you could also use salmon or cod instead, but depending on the thickness of the fish, you would need to adjust the cooking time accordingly.

The chillies, ginger, spring onion and parsley do add a little bit of flavour to the fish – I have tried making it without these and it still tastes good, but the lemon juice, soya sauce and mirin are essential ingredients of the marinade.



Health Benefits of fish with soya sauce
An article in a newspaper on 18/11/09 tells about how adding soy sauce to baked fish enhances its omega-3 health benefits. According to the article, baked or boiled fish is a better source than fried fish of omega-3 fatty acids (which have been shown to protect the heart), and adding low salt soy sauce to a fishy meal enhances the benefits further. The researchers studied omega-3 consumption among nearly 200,000 people, as well as the different ways the fish was prepared; their findings were presented to the American Heart Association.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/6590817/Fish-with-soy-sauce-is-good-for-the-heart.html

Madhvi’s Naughty Cheesecake

Madhvi’s Naughty Cheesecake

For the base of the cheesecake
Ingredients
120g digestive biscuits
50g butter

Method

1. Pre heat the oven to 160°C

2. Melt the butter over a low heat.

3. Crush the biscuits in a polythene bag (using a rolling pin), until they resemble fine crumbs, then add them to the melted butter and stir until the butter is evenly distributed.

4. Put the biscuit and butter mixture into a 20 cm (8 inch) springform cake tin and press it down to form a firm and even base.

5. Bake it for 5 minutes at 160°C, then remove it from the oven and let it cool down before covering it with the filling.

For the cheesecake filling

Ingredients

400g full fat cream cheese

200g sugar

1 ½ tablespoons flour

Freshly grated zest of 2 oranges

Freshly grated zest of 2 lemons

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

2 eggs

3 tablespoons double cream

Method

1. Pre heat the oven to 240° C.

2. Blend all the ingredients (except for the eggs and cream) in a large bowl with an electric whisk.

3. Beat the eggs in one at a time.

4. Beat the cream in, but do not over whisk.

5. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake in a pre-heated oven at 240° C for 10 minutes.

6. Turn the oven temperature down to 100°C and bake for another 60 minutes.

7. Remove the cheesecake from the oven and leave it to cool down before chilling it in a fridge (still in the tin), for at least a few hours. (If the cake is a bit ‘wobbly’ when you take it out of the oven, put it back in for another 10 minutes or so - until it feels firm on shaking the tin. Don’t use a knife to check whether it is cooked through – shaking the tin is enough).

Lemon curd and cream cheese topping

Ingredients

100g unsalted butter

100g icing sugar (sieved)

100g full fat cream cheese

100g lemon curd (home made or ready made)

Method

1. Whisk the butter in a large bowl with an electric whisk – for about 1 minute - until it is soft and creamy.

2. Add the sieved icing sugar to the butter and continue whisking for another minute until it is thoroughly blended in.

3. Add the lemon curd and continue whisking for about half a minute.

4. Add the cream cheese and continue whisking for another minute until the mixture is smooth.

5. Spread the lemon curd topping onto the cheesecake and chill for at least another 30 minutes before serving.

Additional Information

This is indeed a very naughty cheesecake so I wouldn’t recommend making it on a regular basis, (unless you have growing teenage children who are ready to polish it off before you get tempted into having a large slice yourself!).

Instead of the lemon curd icing, you could put a fruit glaze or just leave the cheesecake plain.

Many recipes for baked cheesecakes have an extra egg yolk in the recipe – I have tried making it with and without the extra yolk and can’t tell the difference. If you have a spare yolk lying around then by all means chuck it in if you want, but it isn’t an essential ingredient as far as I’m concerned.

Anu and Madhvi’s Lychee Martini

Anu and Madhvi’s Lychee Martini

For 2 servings:
3 oz lychee liqueur

2 oz vodka

2 oz lychee juice

Optional – 2 fresh or tinned lychees

Chill all the ingredients, 2 cocktail glasses and a cocktail shaker in a fridge for several hours.

Mix all the liquid ingredients in the cocktail shaker (with or without ice), strain and serve in martini glasses with a fresh or tinned lychee.

Enjoy!

Background Information

You can buy lychee liqueur online - I bought it from a website called 'the whisky exchange' the first time, and from 'the champagne company' the second time.