After a minor setback yesterday evening my preparation of my take on meat and two veg for the Reading Town meal demo can get back on track today.
I've already had a run through of the dishes and I now have a clear image in mind of how it all should proceed, the only thing I'm really concerned about is getting the crackling right on the Pork......or not if the case maybe.
Because it takes such a long time to cook I had to purchase a rather large pork belly joint from my local butchers (Jennings in Hurst) so that I could prepare half for the actual demo and half for further practice and variations on how to get that crunchy crackling.
My idea so far has been to separate it into two joints, rub the skin side of each with sea salt the rest skin side down on a bed of salt for 24 hours to draw out any excess moisture. This is done and I think it's been a success, the skin feels more rigid and it's changed to a more pale colour.
The problem then was that I went to vacuum pack them and realised I'd run out of plastic vacuum seal bags! What followed was a manic drive to Waitrose to pick up all kinds of things I thought might do the job but none could. Thankfully an internet search pointed me to the Lakeland store in Reading where they stock a different brand to my normal supplier but I assume they are all much of a muchness. I'm glad I gave myself that extra day to prepare.
The added bonus of using my local butcher was not only the fantastic piece of locally reared pork that I purchased but I also bagged the rib bones. I had the butcher cut these out and from them I've made a terrific stock which will be perfect for making the rich Calvados sauce that'll accompany the meat and two veg.
The veg for the dish will be a simple savoy cabbage and bacon mix with an equally simple celeriac mash/purée. I took a trip up to Waltham Place farm shop on Tuesday to see what I could grab from there to use in the demo and I came out with some of their own back bacon and a couple of tremendously well packed cabbages.
The bacon is very nice indeed, of course I got far more than I needed because it's absolutely necessary to try it in a bacon sarnie before using it in a dish as elaborate as meat and two veg :-)
It's not organic bacon as it does contain sodium nitrate, this is very clearly stated on the packaging so it gives me confidence that they are trying to be transparant in all they do. As a small farm slaughtering maybe a pig a month I'm guessing this is necessary for preservation purposes. Having said that when I cooked it there was none of that white gunk you get streaming out of cheap supermarket bacon and the meat was firm and not at all likely to rip apart like some type of wafer thin processed ham. I really need to look into bacon production some more to get a proper understanding of the processes they use.
Best of all when I enquired as to whether they had any savoy cabbages the guy there jumped to his toes and exclaimed that this years crop were the best he'd ever had and ordered me to wait while one of is farm hands ran off into the fields to cut a couple fresh off the land, I'm really looking forward to using these, I think the could make the dish!
The real highlight of the demo preparation has to be concerning the dessert. I'm going for an incredibly simple dish of poached pears with raspberry sauce. It was the addition of a raspberry leaf tea bag into the poaching liquid that has proved to be a winner and I think with it's simplicity, it's taste and it's presentation I'm onto a real winner.
Overall I think I've hit the brief right on the head here. I'm cooking a classic family staple of meat and two veg using very affordable ingredients that have either been sourced within a 5 mile radius of where I live or are from the independent producers whom themselves are taking part in the event.
It's all kicking off in Forbury gardens from midday on Saturday (1st Oct) and you can get all the information from here
My demo is first up at 12:15 then I'll be followed by this years RSC finalist Rick Wyatt who'll be cooking up something that he's paid absolutely nothing for, his approach to food and cooking is really quite inspirational and it's well worth listening to his thoughts on foraging for food and using game.
After Rick it'll be Paul Clerehugh, owner of London Street Brasserie and the Crooked Billet in Stoke Row. He was voted Reading's first "Food Hero" and his work providing his local school with meals way before it was a twinkle in Mr Oliver's eye is just one of the reasons why this was awarded.
There is just so much going on for everybody to enjoy and the first 1000 people get a two course meal absolutely free which is being cooked up by the students at Reading catering college.
It might all sound a bit Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and it really is. It's all about what we can all do to help ourselves and of course it's mostly about the town of Reading and it's wonderful people.
Thursday 29 September 2011
Tuesday 20 September 2011
Meat and two veg........
With the Food4families cookery demo coming up I took the opportunity to meet up with this years RSC runner-up Rick Wyatt to discuss what we are going to cook and how the programme of events would pan out.
Rick is very much a "from the earth" cook, he sources most of his ingredients from his surroundings either foraging for vegetables and herbs or hunting for game in the countryside, it's quite inspiring really.
Food4families is all about growing your own produce and sourcing ingredients from your immediate surroundings and as a town Reading has so much to offer in that respect so it's not really all that difficult to come up with recipes that'll fit the brief. I suppose being inland that slightly hinders the choice of saltwater fish that you can source but we do have an abundance of lakes, rivers and fish farms which are well stocked with trout etc etc.
That's not to sat that you cannot get saltwater fish because the famous Smelly Alley fish company stock super fresh fish daily from the fertile British coast.
I was going to use fish but then again I was going to do three dishes which although achievable within my thirty minute slot is probably a bit too adventurous.
Instead I'm going to go for my take the great family staple that is meat and two veg and I'm going to follow that up with a dessert that makes the most of two classic British fruits.
For the meat and two veg I'll be pre-preparing some slow cooked pork belly and serving that up with a celeriac mash and some fresh peas. I'm also going to make use of the bottle of Calvados that I won at a recent raffle and create a sauce from that and as a little bit of extra pork flavour I'm thinking that I might crisp up some bacon then chop it up into very small pieces or grind into a powder then sprinkle over as a garnish.
For the dessert I'm going to do a simple dish of poached pears with raspberry sauce and chantilly cream, maybe shave some chocolate over the top too.
How does that sound?
Why not come along and have a taste for yourself? October 1st from around midday at Forbury Square in Reading town centre. Rick and myself will be leading up to a demo by Reading's number one chef Paul Clerehugh and there will also be plenty of stalls setup by people who have grown their own produce as well as local professional producers so it'll have a kind of farmers market/family fair atmosphere.
A great deal of the produce in the Food4families program is grown at local schools and it really gets the kid interested in producing vegetables and more importantly they get enthusiastic about eating their greens :-)
Toodlepip xxx
Rick is very much a "from the earth" cook, he sources most of his ingredients from his surroundings either foraging for vegetables and herbs or hunting for game in the countryside, it's quite inspiring really.
Food4families is all about growing your own produce and sourcing ingredients from your immediate surroundings and as a town Reading has so much to offer in that respect so it's not really all that difficult to come up with recipes that'll fit the brief. I suppose being inland that slightly hinders the choice of saltwater fish that you can source but we do have an abundance of lakes, rivers and fish farms which are well stocked with trout etc etc.
That's not to sat that you cannot get saltwater fish because the famous Smelly Alley fish company stock super fresh fish daily from the fertile British coast.
I was going to use fish but then again I was going to do three dishes which although achievable within my thirty minute slot is probably a bit too adventurous.
Instead I'm going to go for my take the great family staple that is meat and two veg and I'm going to follow that up with a dessert that makes the most of two classic British fruits.
For the meat and two veg I'll be pre-preparing some slow cooked pork belly and serving that up with a celeriac mash and some fresh peas. I'm also going to make use of the bottle of Calvados that I won at a recent raffle and create a sauce from that and as a little bit of extra pork flavour I'm thinking that I might crisp up some bacon then chop it up into very small pieces or grind into a powder then sprinkle over as a garnish.
For the dessert I'm going to do a simple dish of poached pears with raspberry sauce and chantilly cream, maybe shave some chocolate over the top too.
How does that sound?
Why not come along and have a taste for yourself? October 1st from around midday at Forbury Square in Reading town centre. Rick and myself will be leading up to a demo by Reading's number one chef Paul Clerehugh and there will also be plenty of stalls setup by people who have grown their own produce as well as local professional producers so it'll have a kind of farmers market/family fair atmosphere.
A great deal of the produce in the Food4families program is grown at local schools and it really gets the kid interested in producing vegetables and more importantly they get enthusiastic about eating their greens :-)
Toodlepip xxx
Monday 5 September 2011
Books I want....
It's slow days like this that draw my attention elsewhere and today it's been mostly drawn to Amazon and the cookery book section. I can't honestly remember the last book I purchased that wasn't about food. I think it was a rather crazy book called "Tomas" by James Palumbo who was the founder of the London superclub Ministry of Sound.
Brilliant book by the way, nothing to do with the dance music scene at all, it's a properly twisted fantasy about a psychotic murderer....strange really isn't the word but compelling reading nevertheless.
The first book I want was the reason I went to Amazon in the first place and it's "The French Brasserie Cookbook" by Daniel Galmiche whom I've had the pleasure of meeting a couple of times albeit very briefly. He's been along to the Eat Reading Live festival and demo'd for both of the years it's been running and he was recently back on the TV as a guest on Saturday Kitchen.
As executive chef at The Vineyard in Stockcross near Newbury he's taken classic French food and given it a contemporary twist using British ingredients, he's a massive fan of our coastal seafood and he has a real passion for supporting local producers and local events. All round top fella really and I just cannot do without his new book.
The next three books are linked to one of, if not "the" most famous and mostly decorated restaurants of all time El Bulli. The restaurant in Catalonia was opened way back in 1964 with legendary chef Ferran Adriá taking full reins in 1987 until it's "alleged" closure this year. It's whole future is pretty much shrouded in mystery and I don't think anybody other than Ferran Adriá truly knows what will happen. At the moment it is the El Bulli foundation but apparently it'll open as a restaurant once again in 2014.
The restaurant was mega exclusive in it's time, the entire final season was sold out in one day, that's 8000 covers to fill from 2 million requests....yep approximately 2 million people tried to book!!!
Not that it made an money mind you, it ran at a loss every year since 2000 with the most of it's funding coming from books, merchandise and public appearances by Mr Adriá himself. Hardly surprising for a restaurant that only used the absolute finest of ingredients and had the best part of 40 chefs in the kitchen at any one time serving up 30+ course meals at £174.00 a pop which I consider an absolute bargain.
The first of these two books "A Day at El Bulli" gives you an insight on how a day there actually worked and takes you into the mindset of not just Ferran Adriá himself but his whole team.
Next up is "The Family Meal" by Ferran Adriá. It's his latest offering and the title tells you what it's content will be about but other than that I'm not really sure as it's still a month away from release. Currently the only things I have relating to El Bulli in my house are a couple of bottles of flavoured oils bearing Adriá's moniker that I got from Wokingham food and drink festival a couple of weeks ago. I think perhaps having these books and those oils I might get about as close to the real El Bulli as I'm ever likely too.
The final book of this trilogy is not from Adriá himself but from one of the young chefs working behind the scenes. "The Sorcerer's Apprentices: A Season at El Bulli" by Lisa Abend comes from the perspective of one of those 40+ kitchen chefs who graduate through the El Bulli academy.
I'm fascinated to know just how these guys and girls train in order to provide perfection day after day and just how much they can take from the experience and apply elsewhere. There must be some that are just completely broken by it's regime but others must thrive under the weight of expectation.
Apparently it only contains one recipe and that is there purely to highlight the work and thought that goes into each individual dish produced at El Bulli.
My final book choice is not exactly a new book but it's by one of my favourite modern day food writers Matthew Fort. "Sweet Honey, Bitter Lemons: Travels in Sicily on a Vespa" was publish in 2009 and I vaguely remember watching another cooks program on TV when they actually bumped into Matthew on his Vespa when filming. At the time I thought to myself that I must look out for whatever book it was he was researching and today I found it.
I remember saying to somebody that although I love my Dad dearly and with all my heart if I ever had to choose somebody else to fill those shoes without hesitation it'd be Matthew Fort.......with Prue Leith as a step-mother :-)
Toodlepip xx
Brilliant book by the way, nothing to do with the dance music scene at all, it's a properly twisted fantasy about a psychotic murderer....strange really isn't the word but compelling reading nevertheless.
The first book I want was the reason I went to Amazon in the first place and it's "The French Brasserie Cookbook" by Daniel Galmiche whom I've had the pleasure of meeting a couple of times albeit very briefly. He's been along to the Eat Reading Live festival and demo'd for both of the years it's been running and he was recently back on the TV as a guest on Saturday Kitchen.
As executive chef at The Vineyard in Stockcross near Newbury he's taken classic French food and given it a contemporary twist using British ingredients, he's a massive fan of our coastal seafood and he has a real passion for supporting local producers and local events. All round top fella really and I just cannot do without his new book.
The next three books are linked to one of, if not "the" most famous and mostly decorated restaurants of all time El Bulli. The restaurant in Catalonia was opened way back in 1964 with legendary chef Ferran Adriá taking full reins in 1987 until it's "alleged" closure this year. It's whole future is pretty much shrouded in mystery and I don't think anybody other than Ferran Adriá truly knows what will happen. At the moment it is the El Bulli foundation but apparently it'll open as a restaurant once again in 2014.
The restaurant was mega exclusive in it's time, the entire final season was sold out in one day, that's 8000 covers to fill from 2 million requests....yep approximately 2 million people tried to book!!!
Not that it made an money mind you, it ran at a loss every year since 2000 with the most of it's funding coming from books, merchandise and public appearances by Mr Adriá himself. Hardly surprising for a restaurant that only used the absolute finest of ingredients and had the best part of 40 chefs in the kitchen at any one time serving up 30+ course meals at £174.00 a pop which I consider an absolute bargain.
The first of these two books "A Day at El Bulli" gives you an insight on how a day there actually worked and takes you into the mindset of not just Ferran Adriá himself but his whole team.
Next up is "The Family Meal" by Ferran Adriá. It's his latest offering and the title tells you what it's content will be about but other than that I'm not really sure as it's still a month away from release. Currently the only things I have relating to El Bulli in my house are a couple of bottles of flavoured oils bearing Adriá's moniker that I got from Wokingham food and drink festival a couple of weeks ago. I think perhaps having these books and those oils I might get about as close to the real El Bulli as I'm ever likely too.
The final book of this trilogy is not from Adriá himself but from one of the young chefs working behind the scenes. "The Sorcerer's Apprentices: A Season at El Bulli" by Lisa Abend comes from the perspective of one of those 40+ kitchen chefs who graduate through the El Bulli academy.
I'm fascinated to know just how these guys and girls train in order to provide perfection day after day and just how much they can take from the experience and apply elsewhere. There must be some that are just completely broken by it's regime but others must thrive under the weight of expectation.
Apparently it only contains one recipe and that is there purely to highlight the work and thought that goes into each individual dish produced at El Bulli.
My final book choice is not exactly a new book but it's by one of my favourite modern day food writers Matthew Fort. "Sweet Honey, Bitter Lemons: Travels in Sicily on a Vespa" was publish in 2009 and I vaguely remember watching another cooks program on TV when they actually bumped into Matthew on his Vespa when filming. At the time I thought to myself that I must look out for whatever book it was he was researching and today I found it.
I remember saying to somebody that although I love my Dad dearly and with all my heart if I ever had to choose somebody else to fill those shoes without hesitation it'd be Matthew Fort.......with Prue Leith as a step-mother :-)
Toodlepip xx
Cities.....
I'm going a bit off the foodie track for today........
I'm just back from spending a couple of days away in Edinburgh for a friends pre-wedding stag weekend. I've been to the city before but it was only for a couple of hours when I took a train over from Glasgow so I didn't really get to explore it nor did I get to experience the people.
Whenever I visit somewhere new I somehow visualise the city as a relative or person because to me all cities have their own unique characteristics. For instance I think of Barcelona as a favourite aunt. It welcomes you with open arms and you are really pleased to see it, it'll feed you healthily then want to show you photos, it'll enjoy a drink with you before tucking you in for a nice nights sleep.
Rome is a long lost relative, it's interesting to look at, you can stare at it for hours trying to work out which bits of it you recognise, it's a bit stand offish to start with and it takes a while for you to feel comfortable but once you have gained it's trust you feel accepted as one of their own.
Frankfurt is one of the cooler teachers at your secondary/high school, it reminds me of one of my physics tutors. It has an exterior of uniformity, it knows where everything should be but even so you know in the back of your mind that it likes to have fun once the working week has been completed.
Ibiza is your best friend, with it you'll have the absolute best times of your life. You'll also have some not so good and no doubt you'll fall out with it from time to time over something silly but you'll soon get over it and be inseparable best buddies again.
Edinburgh reminds me of a favourite uncle, it has interesting buildings that all have a story to tell, it'll treat you like a best friend and then most of all it'll take you out on the town and get you absolutely clattered giving you one of the craziest, wobbliest and rib achingly enjoyable nights out you'll have had for ages.
I'll elaborate more once I have the photos. I'm not sure the phrase "What goes on tour stays on tour" is applicable is this case because it was all very innocent fun.
Until then....toodlepip xx
I'm just back from spending a couple of days away in Edinburgh for a friends pre-wedding stag weekend. I've been to the city before but it was only for a couple of hours when I took a train over from Glasgow so I didn't really get to explore it nor did I get to experience the people.
Whenever I visit somewhere new I somehow visualise the city as a relative or person because to me all cities have their own unique characteristics. For instance I think of Barcelona as a favourite aunt. It welcomes you with open arms and you are really pleased to see it, it'll feed you healthily then want to show you photos, it'll enjoy a drink with you before tucking you in for a nice nights sleep.
Rome is a long lost relative, it's interesting to look at, you can stare at it for hours trying to work out which bits of it you recognise, it's a bit stand offish to start with and it takes a while for you to feel comfortable but once you have gained it's trust you feel accepted as one of their own.
Frankfurt is one of the cooler teachers at your secondary/high school, it reminds me of one of my physics tutors. It has an exterior of uniformity, it knows where everything should be but even so you know in the back of your mind that it likes to have fun once the working week has been completed.
Ibiza is your best friend, with it you'll have the absolute best times of your life. You'll also have some not so good and no doubt you'll fall out with it from time to time over something silly but you'll soon get over it and be inseparable best buddies again.
Edinburgh reminds me of a favourite uncle, it has interesting buildings that all have a story to tell, it'll treat you like a best friend and then most of all it'll take you out on the town and get you absolutely clattered giving you one of the craziest, wobbliest and rib achingly enjoyable nights out you'll have had for ages.
I'll elaborate more once I have the photos. I'm not sure the phrase "What goes on tour stays on tour" is applicable is this case because it was all very innocent fun.
Until then....toodlepip xx
Thursday 1 September 2011
Balls...........
Please excuse my lack of regularity in my blogging exploits, my longest recent hiatus was due to getting heavily involved in a deep game of Football Manager 2011. Once immersed in a new career I simply cannot turn the laptop on without having a game.
I have recently purchase a new laptop too which has only made me play the game more however that has developed a fault and is on it's way back to the manufacturer to get fixed......losing all my game data in the process :-(
Anyway since my last post I have been experimenting away in the kitchen trying to create some scotch quails eggs after being inspired to do so by my friends at LSQ2. My initial attempt was good but I put far too much casing around the quails eggs and this mean't that they were a bit heavy eating.
I also mixed in some brown shrimp with the tiger prawn casing mixture as well as a splash of Thai fish sauce which made it a bit too fishy and this drew some flavour away from the egg itself which in my opinion should be the star of the show.
Big pluses from this attempt though was the firstly the use of fennel seeds in the casing and then serving the completed scotch eggs with a teriyake glaze with I admit was a shop bought one from Waitrose.
LSQ2 serve their original version of this dish up with XO sauce which is very tasty and incredible rich, it also takes a multitude of ingredients to make which unfortunately I don't have in the store cupboard. LSQ2 have actually posted the full recipe for their original version on their Facebook page so go and have a look.
Preparation really is the key to making these scotch eggs. It's quite a delicate operation getting the quails eggs cooked and peeled before encasing them, getting them crumbed and finally deep frying them until golden brown.
Unlike the store bought scotch eggs you get these are cased in minced tiger prawns rather than sausage meat. It gives them a much lighter texture and the combination of fish and egg is a classic, a fish pie just isn't a proper fish pie unless it has hard boiled eggs in it and let us too not forget the time honoured curry flavoured breakfast classic that is kedgeree.
As I mentioned earlier I think that the star of this show is the quails eggs themselves. I think the whole point of this would be lost if you overcook them, it's absolutely essential to the success of the dish to have a runny yolk.
To achieve this you must first bring a saucepan of water to the boil and close to hand should be another bowl of iced water. Four whole quails eggs should be put into the water and cooked for exactly two minutes before being removed and put immediately into the cooling water to stop the cooking process. If you take them off the boil before the two minutes is up you run the risk of the egg white not being set enough to handle after shelling and if cooked for more than two minutes you will start to set the yolk.
After around 10 minutes of cooling carefully peel the shells from the eggs. You need to be really delicate here because you don't want the yolk sac to break. You may find that some of the egg white comes away with the shell but don't worry too much about this they can still be used. The casing will protect the yolk as long as that part of the egg is still intact. When done set them aside ready to be cased.
Next up is to prepare the actual casing and it really couldn't be easier. Just get all the ingredients list below and blitz up in a blender until its the consistency you want. Personally I like a bit of texture in mine rather than a smooth paste but it's entirely up to you, the flavours will be there regardless of how much you mince it up.
100g x Uncooked tiger prawns
1 x Good pinch of fennel seeds
1 x Small clove of garlic
1 x Pinch of ground ginger
1 x Slice of dried galangal (optional)
1/2 x Spring onion (slice lengthways leaving plenty of the green top)
1 x Pinch of sea salt and black pepper
The final part of the assembly if the breadcrumbs. You can get some already prepared from the supermarket or you can just make your own. I prefer the latter just because it's so easy. In our house we tend to use the "best of both" white/brown bread and all I do is take 2 slices of this which I harden up a little in a hot oven before blitzing up with some seasoning. Takes just a few mins from start to finish and costs pennies.
Empty the breadcrumbs into a bowl and alongside this have two further bowls one containing a beaten egg and the other some plain flour. No you are ready to get messy and form your scotch quails eggs.
Firstly take a piece of the prawn mixture and put it in the centre of your hand. Flatten it out a bit so it's between 5mm and 10mm in thickness then lay on top of this one of the quails eggs. Now very carefully build up the prawn coating around the egg until it's completely encased, it'll be very sticky but you'll get there eventually. Ideally once done it should be just a bit larger than golf ball size.
Drop the ball into the flour and give it a thin coating before double dipping in the egg and breadcrumbs. Double dipping means to coat the ball in the beaten egg, then cover in breadcrumbs and then repeating again to ensure you have a good crust.
Repeat this process for the remaining 3 eggs then you are ready to deep fry. I use rapeseed oil when deep frying but you could also use sunflower or vegetable oil. whichever you decide to use the most important thing to get right is the temperature at which you have the oil. Too cool and it'll make the finished eggs greasy, too hot and you'll end up with a raw prawn casing, especially if you have made the casing too thick.
I test the temperature of the oil by use a piece of bread. Just drop it into the oil and if boils ferociously it's too hot and if it just bubbles around the bread it's too cool, you want to get a happy medium between these too. Everybody knows hot oil can be dangerous so do be careful, make sure people stay away from the hob when you are doing this and at any time there is hot oil around afterwards.
Carefully lower the formed scotched eggs into the hot oil with a slotted spoon and fry them off until the are evenly golden brown all over. Let them stand for a few minutes on some kitchen paper the serve sliced in half and drizzled with teriyaki glaze.
Go on...give it a go....toodlepip :-)
I have recently purchase a new laptop too which has only made me play the game more however that has developed a fault and is on it's way back to the manufacturer to get fixed......losing all my game data in the process :-(
Anyway since my last post I have been experimenting away in the kitchen trying to create some scotch quails eggs after being inspired to do so by my friends at LSQ2. My initial attempt was good but I put far too much casing around the quails eggs and this mean't that they were a bit heavy eating.
I also mixed in some brown shrimp with the tiger prawn casing mixture as well as a splash of Thai fish sauce which made it a bit too fishy and this drew some flavour away from the egg itself which in my opinion should be the star of the show.
Big pluses from this attempt though was the firstly the use of fennel seeds in the casing and then serving the completed scotch eggs with a teriyake glaze with I admit was a shop bought one from Waitrose.
LSQ2 serve their original version of this dish up with XO sauce which is very tasty and incredible rich, it also takes a multitude of ingredients to make which unfortunately I don't have in the store cupboard. LSQ2 have actually posted the full recipe for their original version on their Facebook page so go and have a look.
Preparation really is the key to making these scotch eggs. It's quite a delicate operation getting the quails eggs cooked and peeled before encasing them, getting them crumbed and finally deep frying them until golden brown.
Unlike the store bought scotch eggs you get these are cased in minced tiger prawns rather than sausage meat. It gives them a much lighter texture and the combination of fish and egg is a classic, a fish pie just isn't a proper fish pie unless it has hard boiled eggs in it and let us too not forget the time honoured curry flavoured breakfast classic that is kedgeree.
As I mentioned earlier I think that the star of this show is the quails eggs themselves. I think the whole point of this would be lost if you overcook them, it's absolutely essential to the success of the dish to have a runny yolk.
To achieve this you must first bring a saucepan of water to the boil and close to hand should be another bowl of iced water. Four whole quails eggs should be put into the water and cooked for exactly two minutes before being removed and put immediately into the cooling water to stop the cooking process. If you take them off the boil before the two minutes is up you run the risk of the egg white not being set enough to handle after shelling and if cooked for more than two minutes you will start to set the yolk.
After around 10 minutes of cooling carefully peel the shells from the eggs. You need to be really delicate here because you don't want the yolk sac to break. You may find that some of the egg white comes away with the shell but don't worry too much about this they can still be used. The casing will protect the yolk as long as that part of the egg is still intact. When done set them aside ready to be cased.
Next up is to prepare the actual casing and it really couldn't be easier. Just get all the ingredients list below and blitz up in a blender until its the consistency you want. Personally I like a bit of texture in mine rather than a smooth paste but it's entirely up to you, the flavours will be there regardless of how much you mince it up.
100g x Uncooked tiger prawns
1 x Good pinch of fennel seeds
1 x Small clove of garlic
1 x Pinch of ground ginger
1 x Slice of dried galangal (optional)
1/2 x Spring onion (slice lengthways leaving plenty of the green top)
1 x Pinch of sea salt and black pepper
The final part of the assembly if the breadcrumbs. You can get some already prepared from the supermarket or you can just make your own. I prefer the latter just because it's so easy. In our house we tend to use the "best of both" white/brown bread and all I do is take 2 slices of this which I harden up a little in a hot oven before blitzing up with some seasoning. Takes just a few mins from start to finish and costs pennies.
Empty the breadcrumbs into a bowl and alongside this have two further bowls one containing a beaten egg and the other some plain flour. No you are ready to get messy and form your scotch quails eggs.
Firstly take a piece of the prawn mixture and put it in the centre of your hand. Flatten it out a bit so it's between 5mm and 10mm in thickness then lay on top of this one of the quails eggs. Now very carefully build up the prawn coating around the egg until it's completely encased, it'll be very sticky but you'll get there eventually. Ideally once done it should be just a bit larger than golf ball size.
Drop the ball into the flour and give it a thin coating before double dipping in the egg and breadcrumbs. Double dipping means to coat the ball in the beaten egg, then cover in breadcrumbs and then repeating again to ensure you have a good crust.
Repeat this process for the remaining 3 eggs then you are ready to deep fry. I use rapeseed oil when deep frying but you could also use sunflower or vegetable oil. whichever you decide to use the most important thing to get right is the temperature at which you have the oil. Too cool and it'll make the finished eggs greasy, too hot and you'll end up with a raw prawn casing, especially if you have made the casing too thick.
I test the temperature of the oil by use a piece of bread. Just drop it into the oil and if boils ferociously it's too hot and if it just bubbles around the bread it's too cool, you want to get a happy medium between these too. Everybody knows hot oil can be dangerous so do be careful, make sure people stay away from the hob when you are doing this and at any time there is hot oil around afterwards.
Carefully lower the formed scotched eggs into the hot oil with a slotted spoon and fry them off until the are evenly golden brown all over. Let them stand for a few minutes on some kitchen paper the serve sliced in half and drizzled with teriyaki glaze.
Go on...give it a go....toodlepip :-)
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