Conrad Gallagher Newsletter April 2005

Pea and mint soup with sour cream

50g / 2oz shallots, chopped
450g / 1lb fresh peas, shelled
25g / 1oz fresh thyme, chopped
75ml / 3fl oz single cream
25g / 1oz fresh mint leaves, finely shredded, plus a few whole leaves to garnish
150ml / 1 ¼ pint sour cream

Serves 4

Bring 900ml / 1 ½ pints of water to the boil in a pan and add the shallots, peas, thyme and single cream. Simmer gently for 8 - 10 minutes until peas are completely tender and season to taste.

Purée the soup batches in a food processor or with a handheld blender and then pass through a fine sieve for a smoother, more velvety finish, if preferred.

If serving warm, pour back into a clean pan, add the mint and season to taste. Reheat gently or just stir. Otherwise, just stir in the mint and chill for at least 2 hours. Ladle into wide-rimmed bowls and swirl the soured cream into each serving. Garnish with a few mint leaves and sprinkle with black pepper to serve.

Cod on smoked lentils with chorizo oil

4 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
310g / 11oz Puy lentils
440g / oz piece of smoked streaky bacon, chopped
4 x 150g / 5oz cod fillets, unskinned
1 raw chorizo sausage, cut into slices (about 200g / 7oz in total)

Serves 4

Heat a deep-sided pan. Add two tablespoons of the olive oil and then add the onion and thyme leaves. Sweat for 3 - 4 minutes until softened but not coloured. Then, tip in the lentils, stirring for 30 seconds until they are well coated. Pour in enough water to cover the lentils by 7.5cm / 3in. Add the bacon and simmer the lentils for 40 - 45 minutes (or according to packet instructions) until the lentils are tender but still firm, then strain.

Add the chorizo to the pan and cook over a low heat for a minute or so on each side until chorizo is sizzling and cooked through. Meanwhile, spoon the lentils into warm wide-rimmed bowls and place a piece of cod on top of each one, skin side up. Arrange the chorizo slices around the edge of each bowl and drizzle the pan juices on top. Garnish with small mounds of dressed rocket leaves, if preffered, and serve immediately.

Pumpkin and pecan crème

450g / 1lb slice of fresh pumpkin
50g / 2oz unsalted butter
150g / 5oz pecan nuts, plus extra for decoration
6 egg yolks
75g / 3oz castor sugar
500ml / 18fl oz double cream

Serves 4

Preheat the oven to 190ºC / 375ºF / Gas Mark 5. Scoop out the pumpkin seeds using a large spoon. Then, cut the slice of pumpkin in half and again crossways. Smear half of the butter all over the flesh and arrange on a baking sheet. Roast for about 1 hour or until completely tender when pierced with a skewer. Remove from the oven and leave to cool, then scoop out the flesh (discarding the skin), and pass it through a fine sieve or vegetable mouli. (This amount will give you 50g / 5oz - the amount you will need for the recipe.)

Remove the bain-marie from the oven and leave to cool completely. Then, cover each ramekin with cling film and chill for at least 2 hours or overnight. To serve, briefly dip each ramekin into boiling water and turn out on to a serving plate. Decorate with any leftover pecan nuts and serve immediately.

Pea and mint soup with sour cream

Springfield Special Cuvée Sauvignon Blanc

The fresh garden flavours of peas and mint would be very well matched to a Sauvignon Blanc - and it is made even more appropriate since one of the hallmark flavours of certain sauvignons is a 'peasiness' - especially when they are a year or two old. A winning combination would be the Springfield Special Cuvée Sauvignon Blanc or Durbanville Hills Biesjes Craal Sauvignon Blanc, both made in a classic style.

Cod on smoked lentils with chorizo oil

Award-winning Thelema Merlot.

Breaking away from the traditional white wine with fish rule, this is the ideal dish for a light red wine that's packed with earthy, meaty flavours - like merlot. The smoked lentils and chorizo will be the dominant flavours here, so a supple merlot is just the thing, it will also not overpower the rich flavour of cod. Laibach makes a superb Merlot, or try the award-winning Thelema Merlot.

Pumpkin and pecan crème

Joostenberg Chenin Blanc Noble Late Harvest

This richly flavoured dessert needs a similarly complex sweet wine and the pumpkin flavour will work very well with a wine made from Chenin Blanc. It contains those deep yellow flavours within itself. Try the Joostenberg Chenin Blanc Noble Late Harvest or the Villiera Inspiration, the perfect match and the perfect ending.

SMOKE FOOD...SIMPLY IN AN OVEN

Home smoked food has undeservedly been considered a difficult and untidy method of cookery when, in actual fact, it is a fast and easy method of cookery which will allow you to create a great variety of dishes. 'Hot smoking' is a method of cookery that flavours and cooks food but does not preserve them like 'cold smoked' salmon.

All you need is a heat resistant container with a rack and cover, a smoking agent and a source of heat, such as, a barbecue, oven or gas top burner on a stove. You need not buy a special smoker. You can smoke food successfully in a wok with a cake- or steaming rack and cover, or an oven tray with a cake rack and a cover.
To create the smoke, you will need pure sawdust, wood chips (available from shops selling barbecue products), tea leaves, dried herbs and/or spices. The agent used depends on the flavour you wish to produce.

Tip: Sugar may even be used as the smoking agent. Once the sugar heats up and burns, a wonderful smoke will rise. When smoking food you need to be careful not to overcook it as this will dry the food and leave a strong, unpleasant flavour. You may use marinades, dry spices and rubs, such as those you would when barbecuing foods. Marinate drier foods such as rabbit and chicken breast and use dry spices on naturally oily foods, such as, mackerel and tuna – easy, unconventional and downright smoking!!!

Vanilla is the extract of fermented and dried pods of several species of orchids.
There are eight different sizes of champagne bottles and the largest is called a Nebuchadnezzar.
Almonds are members of the peach family.

ODE TO SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, FORM AND DESIGN Since science and technology play an important role in food preparation today, I decided to take a conceptual and scientific approach to this month's tabletop décor. Therefore, covering the table with a century-old fabric - corduroy - lent nicely to this idea, as well as incorporating other objects reminiscent of scientific forms, such as lab beakers and unusually shaped ornaments. For plates, I chose Ben Seibel's china (a big name in mid-century plate design), which added a retro-feel to the table - I liked the playfulness of this "décor mix-up". Mustard coloured napkins, from a local interior store, went well with the other dominant colour on the table...cranberry. A lab glass measuring cup, similar to a test tube, with gradations, acts as a great drink-mixing tool, with pipettes (lab stirrers) adding a quirky touch for guests to mix their drinks with instead of conventional swizzle sticks. To funk things up a bit for sauce containers, I used lab beakers to pour gravy from and the mustard coloured sauce boats for condiments such as butter balls or salt and pepper. For the centerpiece floral arrangement, I wanted to keep it simple with a sparse arrangement of linear type flowers and for fun an arrangement that resembles a bunch of cherry tomatoes (Nerine Reds and Craspedia's). These both are held in vintage retro pottery, which I sourced from a local antique market. Décor design tips: Don't be conventional Source interesting pieces from markets and antique stores Mustard and cranberry are two colours that work well together for fall and winter celebrations Interesting and quirky ornaments serve as great place settings for guests - adding an element of fun to the table

CONFIT

"Confit" seems just about the most misused word in the culinary lexicon, what with lemon confit, salmon confit, pepper confit, tomato confit - one is bound to get confused!
Confit refers to an item of food that is preserved, usually a meat, like duck, goose or pork. The meat is salted and cooked slowly in its own fat. It is then packed into a pot and covered with the cooking fat, which works as a seal and preservative. Confi,t as a preparation, is not applied to meat alone; For example, a head of garlic or a lemon can be cooked and preserved in oil or lard.

TOSS AND CHOP

The new way to chop food in a bowl! It's simple, safe and easy-to-use, the Toss & Cop is a unique tool designed to quickly chop salads, vegetables, fruits and much more, right in the bowl. Made of high-quality, heat-treated stainless steel with micro-serrated edges that will never require sharpening, this tool is a serious timesaver.

BLOODY MARY HISTORY

Created in 1920 by Fernand Petiot, at the time this young bartender at Harry's New York Bar in Paris, a popular nightclub boasting a distinguished clientele that included the likes of Ernest Hemingway, George Gershwin and F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Contrary to popular belief, the drink was not named after Queen Mary I, whose nickname was 'Bloody Mary' for her persecution of Protestants in the 17th Century, or even after the silent movie actress, Mary Pickford. The drink was actually named by one of Petiot's customers, entertainer Roy Barton, as homage to the Bucket of Blood nightclub in Chicago, where he once performed. The first version contained just vodka and tomato juice.
Petiot left Paris for the US in 1925 and found employment as Assistant Manager at Canton City Club in Ohio, where he married a local girl named Ruth Johnson.

In the early 1930's, the couple moved to New York City, where Petiot was hired as a bartender at the King Cole Bar in Manhattan's Hotel St. Regis. Here, he mixed his drink for Serge Obolensky, the hotel's noble-born President, who pronounced it "too fla"'. Petiot mixed him another and added salt, pepper, lemon juice and Worcestershire Sauce and so the classic drink was born.

Try one of my three very distinct versions:

FRESH BASIL MARY

INGREDIENTS:

50 ml Grey Goose Vodka
2 dashes Worcestershire Sauce
2 dashes Tabasco Sauce
Pinch salt
Pinch freshly ground black pepper
20 ml fresh lime juice
1 bar spoon horseradish
200 ml tomato juice
1 inch cucumber
4 basil leaves

METHOD: Shake together the first 7 ingredients and strain over ice. Then, shake the next 3 ingredients and float on top. Garnish with cucumber, horseradish, a lime wedge and black pepper, serving in a hurricane glass.

CLASSIC

INGREDIENTS:

50ml Ketel One Vodka
2 dashes Worcestershire Sauce
2 dashes Tabasco Sauce
Pinch salt
Pinch freshly ground black pepper
20 ml fresh lime juice
200 ml tomato juice

METHOD: Shake and strain the first 7 ingredients and top with tomato juice, garnishing with horseradish, a lime wedge and black pepper, serving in a high ballglass.

CRYSTAL MARY MARTINI

INGREDIENTS:

50 ml chilli-infused Belvedere Vodka
150 ml clear tomato juice
5 ml lime cordial

METHOD: Blanch 5 fresh tomatoes, peel the skins off and then blend them. Place the contents of the blender in a muslin cloth and hang over a bowl. (It will take approx. 24 hrs to drip through.). What you are left with is crystal clear tomato juice. Shake and strain with the vodka and lime cordial and dust with black pepper. Serve in a martini glass, garnishing with two cocktail tomatoes.

Conrad Gallagher has designed a range of top quality gift hampers. These hampers contain a variety of specially produced and blended gourmet products that are beautifully presented in a handwoven basket. Included in each luxury hamper is a range of original recipe vinegars, rubs, jams as well as Conrad's cookbooks, One Pot Wonders and Take 6 Ingredients, New Irish Cooking, A Taste of Southern Africa and In 3 Easy Steps as well as Cooking with Conrad Gallagher aprons, making the hamper an ideal corporate or personal gift.

You can also custom design individual hampers tailor-made to your own personal or specific company branding requirements. For further information contact Conrad Gallagher (details below). A full hamper comprising of the above ingredients are priced from at R1250. (excl. VAT).

[t] +27 21 434 6100
[f] +27 21 434 6106

P.O. Box 157
Green Point, 8051
Cape Town, South Africa

conrad@conradgallagher.com
www.conradgallagher.com

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