Acquacotta

The first time I made this soup was about 6 or 7 years ago. I followed the recipe to the letter from one of the River Café cookbooks. Nowadays when I prepare this dish I don’t refer to the book. In fact it has transformed over the years from their original formula (a bit like me).
The beauty of this soup is in the simplicity and that it doesn’t require stock, like most other soups do. Traditionally you use plain water instead. That’s why it is called “Acquacotta”. It literally means “cooked water” in Italian.
Mike and I adore this soup. It really is a feast. The poached egg makes it complete. It is also a fabulous hang over cure. When I was a single guy, I remember coming home after a night out on the prowl, desperate, dateless and very drunk. This soup tasted heavenly at 6am in the morning. Of course I didn’t make it from scratch at the crack of dawn (and in such a state of inebriation). I had the soup in the fridge, ready to go. All that was needed was to heat the soup, toast the bread and poach the egg. Even when I am blind drunk I can put together a good dish! Of course it tastes just as good without the hangover.

This is how I prepare my Acquacotta (enough for 4-6 serves):
Soak about 50g of dried porcini in boiling water.
In the meantime chop into 1cm cubes- 1 large red onion, 2 medium peeled carrots, 4 celery stalks and 200g swiss brown mushrooms.
Strain the porcini through a tissue lined sieve and reserve the liquid. Rinse the porcini pieces under a tap of running water and ensure all the grit is removed.
Place all your chopped veggies and a few spoonfuls of olive oil into a soup pot. Cover the pot and sweat the veggies for 30 minutes. Add a couple of fresh bay leaves and some chopped fresh rosemary and parsley too.
Open a tin of Italian tomatoes (400g) and crush them to a rough puree. Add the tomatoes with their juice and porcini liquid to the softened vegetables, and enough water to make a soupy consistency. Season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Simmer for 30- 60 minutes, the longer the better. Adjust the seasoning and correct the consistency by adding more water if it needs it. Not too thick, not too thin. Somewhere in between is right. Just like Goldilocks liked it…
Toast slices of dense crusty bread. I like to use my char grill, but a regular grill will suffice. Whilst the bread is toasting, poach one egg per serve (free range or organic please). Have ready a peppery and intensely flavoured green olive oil to drizzle.
For the final construction, watch my visual demonstration.



Until next time…

Porcini, Sage and Blood Orange Risotto

This risotto sounds bizarre in concept. But in truth it is soothing and comforting to eat and not unusual at all in flavour. I like to believe the flavours merge together quite harmoniously. Don’t think of this dish as orange flavoured. Rather think of it as orange scented. The porcini in itself is assertive, both in taste and aroma, with the orange part lending an agreeable subtle quality.
As for everything I cook, the quality of ingredients used in this dish is extremely important. Choose good meaty slices of porcini instead of small unidentifiable pieces. Yes, they are expensive, but a small amount will go a long way. It is more economical to buy a one-kilo bag instead of many small 10gram packs. The added advantage is you will have an abundant amount of porcini in the kitchen cupboard waiting to be used during the entire year. Somehow I don’t feel too guilty using an expensive product when I have a lot of it.
As for the oranges, I used a hybrid navel / blood orange I found at the green grocer. I didn’t think much of this pseudo breed. I much prefer the real thing. If you can get pure blood oranges use them. They have a distinctive and wonderful aroma.
Sometime ago I wrote in one of my posts that Arborio rice made a poor risotto, and that I preferred to use carnaroli or vialone nano rice for their superior grain. Since writing that post, I have experimented with one brand of Arborio produced in Italy. I am very pleased to now write that I have been producing excellent “risotti” with this particular product. I guess all Arborio rices are not of the same in quality. As patriotic as I am, Australian Arborio rice is terrible and I do not recommend it all. Do try out different brand names if you are not satisfied with the one you are using.
And on a final note, I am not going to pretend the unique idea for this dish is mine. It is from the renowned River Café in London. The original recipe is printed in their “River Café Cook Book Easy”. I have adapted the recipe to suit my own palate.

Ingredients
Homemade Italian style stock, 1-2 litre (stock cubes are unacceptable)
30g dried porcini
100g swiss brown mushrooms, quatered
Fresh sage leaves
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 small onion, finely chopped
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
200g arborio, carnaroli, or vialone rice
1 blood orange, zest finely chopped and juiced
Grana Padano to taste, freshly grated
Unsalted cultured butter, about 50g cut into small cubes.
Sea salt
Fresh black pepper

Method
In a small bowl, soak the porcini with enough boiling water to just cover, for 15 minutes. Strain the porcini, reserving the liquid. Rinse each individual porcino slice under a tap of running water. Porcini are notorious for harbouring dirt; taste a slice if you are unsure. Strain the porcini liquid through unscented tissue paper and add to the stock.
In a saucepan heat 1- 2 tbsp of oil over a low heat. Add the garlic; do not allow it to colour. Add the swiss browns and cook gently for about 10 minutes. Put in the porcini slices and continue to cook for another 10 minutes. Set aside. Heat the stock in a separate pot, and keep it hot.
In the saucepan you have chosen to prepare your risotto, gently heat the remaining oil with the onion. Cook gently for 5 minutes. Do not allow the onion to colour.
Add the rice, turn up the heat and sauté for 1- 2 minutes, or until the rice has changed colour slightly.
Turn the heat back to medium and add 1 ladleful of hot stock. Stir the rice and season with salt, keeping in mind that the cheeses added at the end is salty.
When the rice has absorbed the stock, add another ladleful. Continue in this fashion until the rice is plump, al dente and creamy. It will take about 20 minutes. Use as much stock as you think it needs. I haven’t given a precise amount of stock needed because I have never measured it, preferring to cook with my eyes and tastes buds. At this stage you can stir in the reserved porcini/ swiss brown mushroom mixture.
Turn off the heat. Add freshly grated grana to taste, the butter, orange juice and zest.
Mix gently to combine. Add more stock if you think it needs it- risotto should be moist and wavy.
Check the seasoning and serve. Enough for 2.

Chicken Story 2 - A Sinister Stew

My recipe today is based on the classic French dish- Coq au Vin.
However, I shall refrain from calling it such out of respect for tradition. My adaptation deviates from the genuine formula on a few essential qualities. I have chosen to name mine: The Sinister Stew, after a divine inspiration from the late Jennifer Paterson, of “The Two Fat Ladies” fame.
My version is not made with a “coq”, which is French for rooster. I use the superb chicken of which I am currently obsessed (see my previous post). I am assuming roosters are unobtainable in this country, although I have never asked. You could use pieces of wild rabbit leg. I have a feeling their taste may be comparable.
Nor do I use the proper “vin”. The true recipe originates from Burgundy. Therefore one should use a wine from this region in France. I have utilized Australian Pinot Noir. Use whatever wine is appropriate to your country and personal taste. When I come to think of it, this dish may be good done with rosé wine. Pink meat with pink wine sounds good to me.
To thicken the stew, the blood is drained from the coq and added to the stew. I find this creepy practice too vampire-esque for my liking. Instead I take lead from acclaimed French chef Paul Bocuse, and use a puree of chicken livers to thicken and enrich the stew. Do not skip this step. It makes a considerable difference to the end result, both for flavour and texture.
I have been cooking this dish since I was a teenager. It appealed to me then, just as much as it appeals to me now, 20 years later. I read recently in the current issue of an Australian food magazine that this particular dish has come back into style after an extended hiatus. Really? I think this is nonsensical. Does anyone really care for food trends? I certainly don’t. The only trends I care for are ones to do with beauty and fashion. When it comes to food, the only thing, which matters to me, is how it tastes. A sinister stew, but a classical one.

Ingredients
1 kilo corn fed, free range, organic chicken (use thigh and leg, skin removed and cut into smaller pieces)
750ml Pinot Noir
Bay leaves, parsley and thyme
Flour, for dusting
100g pancetta, cut into 1 cm cubes
1 tbsp duck fat
1 red onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
50g chicken livers, cleaned
50ml cognac (I use brandy)
Fresh black pepper
10 pickling onions, blanched for 5 minutes in boiling water and peeled
50g unsalted cultured butter
1-2 tsp brown sugar
10 small shitake mushrooms (or use swiss browns)

Method
Firstly, you need to marinate the chicken pieces for 24 hours. Simmer the entire bottle of red wine for 15 minutes. Turn off the heat. Add the bay leaf, thyme and parsley stalks. Allow the herbs to infuse the wine, and cool. Pour the cooled marinade over the chicken pieces. I use a plastic container or a glass bowl. Refrigerate for 24 hours.
Select a braising pan that will be able to accommodate all of the above ingredients. Over a low heat, fry the pieces of pancetta with the duck fat for 10 minutes or until lightly golden. Add the finely chopped onion and garlic and continue to cook for another 10- 15 minutes until they too have gilded.
In the meantime, remove the chicken pieces from their wine and herb bath. The chicken pieces will be stained a dark shade of burgundy. Pat the pieces dry, dust the lightly with flour. Strain the marinade and reserve. Discard the herbs.
Remove the pancetta, onion and garlic to a small plate, and set aside. There should still be some fat left in the pan, if not add more duck fat. Seal the chicken and livers on a higher heat, about 1 minute each side or until lightly golden. Remove the livers once they are golden. Puree the liver with the reserved marinade in a food processor or blender.

In a separate pan, begin to caramelize the pickling onions in the butter. Do this slowly; it is vital the butter does not burn. The process should take about 30 minutes. When the onions are tender, add 1 tsp of sugar (towards the end). Set the caramelized onions and their golden fat aside. You can do this step earlier if it saves you hassle or stress.
In a tiny saucepan, gently heat the cognac or brandy. Set it alight and pour the flames over the chicken pieces. Return the reserved pancetta and onion mix to the chicken and brandy. Pour over the liver and wine mixture. Add more bay and thyme. Put in the mushrooms too. Season with pepper. Simmer gently until the chicken is tender, and beginning to fall of the bone. Towards the end, add the pickling onions and all their fat. It may seem like an excessive amount of fat to add to a dish, but it balances the acidity from the wine. Add more sugar if you think it needs it. The end result should be succulent chicken pieces in a dark and rather ominous looking sauce. Do not be deceived by the sinister appearance; the aromas and flavors are divine. Sprinkle with parsley to brighten the dish.

I don’t serve this dish with anything but crusty bread. I find the flavours too dominant and complex to go with anything else (even potato puree). Serve with the same wine, as used in the braise. Serves 4.

Mushroom, Sausage Meatballs and Potato Gnocchi

Australia does have a winter, and it has finally arrived. It is currently 9am and 8C, here in the metropolis of Melbourne, Australia. It is glacial! Well not quite arctic, but it is bloody cold! Citizens from other countries imagine that Australia is a tropical paradise with kangaroos hopping about in our backyards. I blame the Australian tourism industry for selling such a bullshit image of my charming country to the rest of humankind. Yes it is true, that Northern Australia is a steamy territory, but here in the southern state of Victoria and Tasmania, we definitely experience the four seasons.
Anyway, for today’s recipe I have chosen a true winters day dish. Well actually my partner in life and food blogging chose the subject for me. You see he decided to write of his grandly successful gnocchi yesterday, and as I made the sauce for those delicate little potato pillows, I have no choice now but to write about my delectable accompaniment. Thank you Mikey! I would also like to mention that Mike has an innate gift for producing superior homemade pasta of all types- tagliatelle, tagliarini, ravioli and gnocchi. For an individual who did not grow up eating home produced pasta (Mike is of Russian descent), he is doing very well indeed. I guess he has a wonderful instructor (myself!).
I must warn you- this is very rich. I would only make this dish for a chilly winters evening and then enjoy it in small quantities.

Ingredients
50g unsalted cultured butter
50ml extra virgin olive oil
50g pancetta lardons
15 small Swiss Brown mushrooms, halved
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 red onion, thinly sliced
300g pork and fennel seed sausage meat
150ml meat stock
200ml porcini stock
200g Béchamel sauce
1 tsp white truffle oil
Grana Padana cheese, finely grated
Fresh black pepper
Freshly grated parsley
1 quantity Mikey’s gnocchi

Method
Over a low heat, gently cook the pancetta, mushrooms and garlic in half the butter and oil, for 20 minutes. The mushrooms and pancetta should brown lightly.
In a separate pan melt the remaining butter and oil and caramelize the onion slices for about 30 minutes, over a low heat.
Whilst the onions are gilding, roll the sausage meat into little balls, the same size as the gnocchi.
Once the onions are done add them to the pan containing the mushrooms.
Brown the sausage meatballs in the remaining fat used to fry the onion.
Add the browned meatballs to the mushrooms.
Deglaze the pan used to brown the onions and meatballs, with the meat stock.
Add the reduced meat stock and porcini stock to the mushrooms, onion and meatballs. Simmer for 15 minutes.
Mix the teaspoon of truffle oil into the béchamel sauce.
Turn the oven to the highest temperature.
Gently mix the gnocchi with the mushroom and meatball sauce.
Place into a baking dish and dot with the truffle scented béchamel sauce.
Drizzle over with grated Grana cheese.
Bake in the oven until the dish is a lightly golden brown, about 10 minutes. Scatter with chopped parsley and black pepper. Eat at once. Serves 4.

Roast Snapper with Duxelles and Potato

The inspiration for this dish came from The River Café in London. I have also seen Jamie Oliver do a similar dish, which is not surprising, as he worked at The River Café at some point during his illustrious career. However this recipe truly is my own version. I don’t copy the work of other chefs and I would not dream of reprinting recipes which have already been published elsewhere. I just don’t see ay merit in doing so.
This particular dish I am fond of because it goes straight from the oven to the table. I don’t think it requires anything else to go with it apart from bread, wine and a dinning partner of course!
Duxelles is chefs jargon for onion and mushrooms sautéed in butter, used to flavour dishes. I have used imported porcini mushrooms because Australia does not have native mushrooms that are of outstanding taste. I know porcini are an extravagant ingredient. If your budget doesn’t allow for such an indulgence, substitute with slices of fresh fennel instead.
If you are fussy about fish like I am, choose a whole fish at your fishmonger. Then have them fillet the fish for you. You are then certain of two equal sized fillets, of the freshest choice fish, along with the bonus of the bones and head for making stock.

Ingredients
500g waxy potato, unpeeled and thinly sliced
A ladle fish stock, or water
30g dried porcini, soaked, drained and rinsed of all grit
1 red onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 tsp fresh thyme, finely chopped
1 tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped, plus extra
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (peppery), plus extra
100ml white wine
30g cultured butter
2 snapper fillets, about 400g
Sea salt
Fresh black pepper

Method
Preheat the oven to 200c.
Oil a baking pan. The size of the dish is important. It should be able to accommodate the potato slices along the base in one layer. Mine is 30cm by 35cm.
Layout the potato then drizzle some more oil over the potato slices and season with salt and pepper. Ladle in some fish stock-just enough to moisten the base of the pan.
Bake the potatoes for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside.
Turn up the oven to 230c.
Prepare the duxelles- in a wide pan and over a low heat, sauté the porcini, onion, garlic, thyme and parsley with the butter and olive oil for 20 minutes.
When the mixture is quite dry add the white wine and allow to reduce for 2 minutes or so. Season with salt and pepper.
Spoon the duxelles over the potato slices.
Place the snapper fillets on top of the potato slices and duxelles. Drizzle over with more extra virgin olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
Roast for about 15 minutes or until the fish is just cooked.
Sprinkle over parsley and serve straight from the baking dish. Serves 2.

Mushrooms Baked with Thyme and Butter

Food writers often complain cultivated mushrooms lack flavour and body. And to an extent this is true. These mushrooms are definitely delicate in taste compared to their wilder cousins, but here in Australia, we don’t have much choice when it comes to funghi. Certainly there are limited amounts of Slippery Jacks and Pine mushrooms available during autumn. Cultivated Truffles from Tasmania are available during winter (I await in anticipation), and wild Morels during spring. They are all expensive and you need to know where to find them or be acquainted with an informed supplier. Otherwise the options we have in Australia are to use dried Italian porcini or canned Chanterelles from France. Trompettes de mort and Girolles are available in the dried form, and numerous European oils infused with Cepes and both black and white Truffle.
In the meantime, I don’t mind cooking with the cultivated version. Patience is a virtue, and that is the beauty of cooking with seasonal produce. Good things come to those who wait, and I look forward every year for these culinary delicacies.

Ingredients
6 large flat mushrooms
120g cultured unsalted butter
Fresh thyme
Sea salt
Fresh black pepper
6 cloves garlic, unpeeled

Method
Remove the stalks from the mushrooms. Freeze the stalks for stock. Lay the mushrooms in a baking dish.
Place 20g of butter in the center of each mushroom.
Lay a few sprigs of thyme over each mushroom and scatter the baking dish with the cloves of garlic. Season with salt and pepper.
Bake at 200c for 45min to an hour or until tender.
The mushrooms will decrease in size, and thus improve in flavour, whilst absorbing all the luscious butter.
Serve immediately. Enough for 2 people as a side dish.

Tagliatelle with Mushroom and Ham

Sometime during December, I was presented with a brand new pasta machine. I’m not quite sure for which celebration that was though. Was it my birthday, or Hanukah, Christmas, my partners and I anniversary or New Years Eve? Yes, they all fall in December, and for this reason, that month will remain a fuzzy memory of debauched acts. My brain cells have only just recovered…
As a child, I was more acquainted with fresh, homemade pasta than I was with the dry packet version. That’s not to say, one is better than the other. They are just different. Dry commercial pasta is sturdy and bold and combines well with aggressive flavours, like extra virgin olive oil. “Pasta fatta in casa” is lighter and more delicate, elegant but rustic at the same time. It needs little to bring out these beautiful qualities and I prefer it with simple butter based sauces, like the following:



Ingredients
150g mushrooms (wild or cultivated, whatever you can get)
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced or finely chopped
50g ham, chopped
60g unsalted butter
A slash of extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt
Fresh black pepper
Parsley, chopped
200g homemade tagliatelle
Fresh Parmesan

Method
Wipe the mushrooms clean and slice them 1cm thick.
Over a low heat, melt half the butter with the garlic and ham and a splash of olive oil. Cook gently for a couple of minutes. Do not allow the garlic to brown.
Throw in the mushrooms and cover the pan. Allow the mushrooms to braise gently in their own juices until cooked through. Mine took about 15 minutes, but that will depend on the type of mushroom you are using. Season well. Keep warm.
In the meantime, cook the tagliatelle in plenty of boiling, salted water until just al dente. Fresh, homemade pasta will take about 2 minutes.
Drain quickly and tip into the pan with the mushrooms.
Add the parsley and the rest of the butter and toss everything together.
Check for salt and pepper and serve immediately with Parmesan cheese.
A dish with honest flavours and exquisite textures. Serves 2.

Chicken & Prawn Salad

The following salad is an idea I borrowed from the late Elizabeth David. It is a perfect dish to have on balmy evenings with good, crusty bread. The addition of prawns and horseradish take this chicken salad to another dimension. The only ingredients I bothered to measure, are the main ones. That is equal quantities of chicken, prawns, mushrooms and potatoes-200g of each for 2 people. Being the purist that I am (in the kitchen, that is), I prepared all the cooked ingredients myself. I am sure you could do it with shop cooked chicken and deli marinated mushrooms. I wouldn’t by cooked prawns though- that’s a bit scary. And while on the subject of scary things, I would not use commercially prepared mayonnaise either. Make your own if you can. The homemade stuff is worlds away from the sweetened glue that is passed of as mayonnaise. But I will leave that up to you. I do realise most people would not be inclined.

Ingredients
Cooked chicken
Mushrooms, cooked or raw as you prefer
Cooked baby potatoes
Cos lettuce
Cooked prawns
Fresh parsley leaves
Extra virgin olive oil
Lemon juice
Salt
Fresh black pepper
Mayonnaise
Horseradish (I used jarred)

Method
Tear the chicken into chunks.
Put them into a bowl with the mushrooms, potatoes, and prawns.
Drizzle over some olive oil and seasoning. Cover and leave.
In the meantime take some mayonnaise (2 heaped tablespoons for 2 people ), and flavour with some horseradish. Thin it out with a bit of water to give it a pouring consistency. Spoon into a small serving dish and reserve.
When you are ready to eat toss the chicken and etcetera with the cos, parsley and lemon juice. If you add too much lemon, just correct it by adding more oil.
Serve on flat plates and drizzle with the horseradish dressing at the table, as you wish.

Chicken ala Queen

The original title of this dish is “Chicken ala King”. I discovered this dish as a teenager in a Womens Weekly French cookbook. Back then, this was my idea of posh. And I used to cook it all the time. However I wondered about its origin. I have never come across it in a French cookbook. Perhaps it was Australian. Maybe it was a Bernard King recipe? After doing a google search, I found many recipes. Mainly American and mostly revolting-containing canned soup, cooked chicken breast and thickened with cornflour. I think you get the idea…Over the years I have tweaked with the recipe and refined it a bit. And what is better than a king? Well, a queen of course. So here I present the new and improved version, “Chicken ala Queen”.

Ingredients
1 tbsp oil
½ white onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove
500g boneless chicken thighs (free range)
1 red pepper
150 g shimeji mushroom (available from supermarkets)
300ml thickened cream
1 egg yolk
Salt and fresh pepper

Method
Over a low heat, cook the onion and the garlic for a few minutes. Do not allow to colour.
Cut the thighs into chunks and add them to the pan. Cover the pot and braise them over a gentle heat.
Whilst your chicken is cooking, peel the pepper. This is easily done with a peeler, much the same way you would peel a potato. Cut the pepper into 3cm squares.
After the chicken has cooked for ten minutes, add to the pot the peppers and the mushrooms and continue to braise (lid on) for 10 more minutes.
Your chicken should be cooked now. Add the cream and season to taste. Allow to simmer gently for a couple of minutes and then turn of the heat.
Beat the yolk in a small bowl and add a bit of the creamy sauce to the egg-2 or 3 tablespoons.
Tip the yolk mixture back into the pot, stirring. Be careful not to curdle the sauce. I wait about a minute after turning the heat off. I have been impatient in the past and messed up the sauce. If you do too, don’t worry too much. It will still taste good but the sauce will be a bit lumpy from the egg. Its not the end of the world and you will be smarter for it next time.
I serve this in bowls with buttered long grain rice.
Note- Shimeji mushrooms (pictutred above) have a mild but tasty peppery flavour. Substitute with any other white delicate mushroom