Although raw food is in fashion, cooked food is the way ahead
Terry Durack, food critic, restaurant reviewer and cookbook author, posed an interesting question in his column in BBC's olive magazine, "What do you call cooks when they don't actually cook?" He was referring to the new sweeping popularity of eating uncooked food. My personal knowledge of raw food extends to sushi, sashimi and beef carpaccio, which I do eat, and to steak tartare, which I do not have the courage to eat, so far. But now crudo, Italian for raw, is the word to watch out for in a sophisticated menu. You could be offered cockles marinated in passion fruit, sea urchin served in the shell with olive oil, or pink snapper with black Hawaiian lava salt, to name just a few. And of course, carpaccio is no longer confined to beef. There are carpaccios of tuna, salmon, even beetroot.
You are not much amiss if you conclude, like me, that this new trend is fuelled by the obsessive desire, led by celebrities and followed slavishly by their devotees, to be thin. Raw food is indeed lower in calories, amazing in its magnified flavour and it does demand absolute freshness, but to say that eating uncooked food is healthy without further qualifications is maybe a touch irresponsible. The standard of freshness varies, and therein lurks the danger. I will also disregard Durack's musing when he said he realised with a shock that, "... cooking is a degradation, apply heat and you are, in fact, speeding up the process of ageing and decomposition." I don't think we have seen the last of the saucepan and frying pan just yet. Hardcore flavour junkies may adore uncooked food for the moment, but they will move on, and cooks will continue cooking.
To celebrate that very fact, I am reaching back to some very old-fashioned grub, the very opposite of sophistication. These are of the shepherd's/cottage/fish pie genre, the bangers and mash persuasion and the treacle tart varieties. Fish pies can sometimes elicit an involuntary "yech" out of family members and friends, especially if they've experienced a-tinned-tuna-and-Vegemite-sauce type of fish pie before. This is a chance to replace the horrible with the heavenly. The red snapper fillets in my creamy fish pie are poached in a wine bath fragrant with bay leaves, peppercorns, parsley stalks and celery leaves, which is then reduced and used as the stock for the sauce. The best thing is the topping, which is buttered bread cubes tossed with parsley and Parmesan, and baked to a crisp on top of the tender fish pie.
As of this writing, the English, Irish and Scottish are still clashing over ownership of the original shepherd's pie recipe, but one thing is unanimous. The pie consists of minced lamb and vegetables with a mashed potato topping. Make it with beef mince, and it becomes a cottage pie, which is what I've cooked today. This pie has the usual base, but the mashed potato is outstanding. It has butter, cream, Italian parsley and a lot of Cheddar cheese all blended in. Choose a pork sausage that you like for the bangers and mash, and if you hate sausages that split when fried, parboil them first. This recipe wraps some bacon around the sausages for extra flavour. The main attraction however, is the onion and sage gravy. Do go out of your way to get some fresh sage - it makes all the difference.
Treacle tart, the byword for extreme sweetness, is here modified and enhanced with the addition of lots of macadamia nuts. If this is your first taste of it, you might well turn into a fan. The blend of molasses and golden syrup is tempered with a generous measure of cream to give you a tender sweetness on top of a crust so crisp and crumbly. Bite into it and abandon all hopes of stopping at one slice.
So, keep raw food as special treats, but for daily, cooked is best.
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Creamy fish pie
To serve 6-8
Ingredients:
60g unsalted butter
2 leeks, white part only, sliced
500g fennel bulb, finely sliced
1 celery stalk, finely diced
1 garlic clove, crushed
1kg boneless, skinless fish fillets, such as snapper, grouper
80ml dry white wine
2 bay leaves
1 tsp white peppercorns
40g all-purpose flour
250ml milk
250g sour cream
2 tsp mustard
1 Tbsp lime juice
1 1/2 tsp finely chopped dill
A few parsley stalks
A few celery leaves
- Topping
16 slices of white bread, crust removed
75g grated Parmesan
1 handful of Italian parsley, finely chopped
Softened unsalted butter for spreading
Preparation:
1. Melt a third of the butter in a saucepan, add leek and fennel. Cook, stirring, until soft. Add the celery and garlic and saute' until the celery is tender. Remove the vegetables and set aside.
2. Put the fish, wine, bay leaves, peppercorns, parsley stalks, celery leaves and one teaspoon salt in a large saucepan, then add enough cold water to cover. Slowly bring to the boil, removing the fish with a slotted spoon as soon as it becomes opaque. Continue to cook the stock for a further 15 minutes, then strain and keep warm over low heat. When the fish is cool enough to handle, break it into large flakes.
3. Heat the remaining butter in the fennel pan; when melted, stir in the flour and cook for one minute. Gradually whisk in 750ml of the warm fish stock until smooth. Whisk in the milk and continue whisking until smooth and thickened slightly. Stir in the fennel mixture to heat through. Take the pan off the heat and stir in the sour cream, mustard, lime juice and dill. Season well. Carefully fold the sauce through the fish without breaking it up too much, then pour into a large, well greased baking dish.
4. Preheat the oven to 190C/fan 170C. To make topping, spread the bread with softened butter, cut into small cubes and toss with the parsley and Parmesan. Scatter evenly over the top of the fish mixture. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until the topping is crunchy and golden, and the filling is hot.
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Cottage pie
To serve 6
Ingredients:
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 carrots, finely diced
1 large celery stalk, finely diced
1kg minced beef
2 garlic cloves, crushed
80ml dry white wine
1 1/2 tsp finely chopped rosemary
2 Tbsp tomato paste
500ml beef stock
2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 bay leaf
100g thawed frozen peas
1kg potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks
80g unsalted butter, melted
185ml whipping cream
1 handful Italian parsley, chopped
85g sharp Cheddar, grated
Preparation:
1. Heat one tablespoon of the olive oil in a big saucepan. Add the onion, carrot and celery, and saute' until lightly golden, then remove to a bowl. Increase the heat and add the remaining oil. Brown the minced beef in two to three batches, remove each batch and add to the vegetables.
2. Add the garlic, wine, rosemary and tomato paste to the pan, stir well and cook for 30 seconds. Return the mince and vegetables, along with the stock, Worcestershire sauce and bay leaf. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 45 minutes. Take the pan off the heat and stir in the peas. Season to taste and allow to cool slightly before transferring to a wide, shallow, non-metallic four-litre baking dish. Refrigerate until completely cold.
3. Preheat the oven to 200C/fan 180C. Cook the potatoes until very tender and drain well. Add the butter and cream and mash together until very smooth. Stir in the parsley and cheese, and season to taste. Carefully dollop the potato over the chilled beef mixture and smooth it over or make decorative patterns over the surface. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until golden. Serve hot.
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Bangers and mash
To serve 4
Ingredients:
- Onion and sage gravy
2 tsp olive oil
20g unsalted butter
2 tsp finely chopped sage
2 large onion, sliced
1 1/2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp beer
375ml beef stock
1 tsp tomato paste
- Mash
1kg potatoes
100g unsalted butter, diced
185g sour cream
8 good-quality thick pork sausages
8 slices bacon
Preparation:
1. Gravy: Heat the olive oil and half the butter in a saucepan. Add most of the sage and cook for one minute, then add the onion and cook, stirring until the onion is softened and golden. Remove the onion and set aside.
2. Add the remaining butter to the pan, then stir in the flour and cook for one minute. Gradually whisk in the beer and stock, then whisk in the tomato paste and allow to come to the boil. Return the onion to the pan and mix well. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer, stirring, until gravy is thick, rich and flavoursome. Stir in the remaining sage and season well. Cover and set aside.
3. Mash: Cook the potatoes until very tender, drain well. Add the butter and sour cream, and mash until very smooth. Season to taste and keep warm.
4. Wrap a slice of bacon around each sausage and secure with a toothpick. Fry the sausages in a large, lightly greased frying pan for 15 to 18 minutes, depending on the thickness, until cooked through. Remove the toothpick before serving. While the sausages are cooking, reheat the onion gravy. Spoon the mash onto four plates, sit two sausages on top and spoon over a little sage and onion gravy. Serve hot.
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Macadamia treacle tart
To serve 4-6
Ingredients:
- Pastry
250g all-purpose flour
150g unsalted butter, chilled and diced
55g sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
- Filling
2 eggs
1/2 tsp lime zest
1 tsp lime juice
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
130g molasses
130g golden syrup
125ml whipping cream
40g breadcrumbs
80g macadamia nuts, slightly toasted and roughly chopped
Preparation:
1. Pastry: In a food processor, process the flour, sugar and butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the egg and one tablespoon water and process until mixture clumps together. Gather into a ball, cover with clingfilm and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
2. Preheat the oven to 180C/fan 160C. Put the pastry into an eight-inch (20cm) loose-based tart tin, and press out to cover the base and sides evenly. Line the pastry with foil and fill with uncooked rice or dried beans. Bake for 15 minutes, then remove the foil and weights, and bake for a further five minutes or until the pastry is pale golden. Remove from the oven and lower the temperature to 160C/fan 140C.
3. Filling: Whisk the egg, zest, juice and vanilla until foamy, then mix in the molasses, golden syrup and cream until smooth. Add the breadcrumbs and macadamia nuts, and mix until combined. Pour the mixture into the pastry tin and bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until the filling is slightly puffed and dry to the touch - it should still be slightly wobbly, not set firm. Let cool in the tin for 15 minutes before unmoulding. Serve slices warm with ice cream or whipped cream.
Reference By:
STORY BY PRISNA BOONSINSUKH, PHOTOS BY LOUIS BOONSINSUKH
Bangkok Post,http://www.bangkokpost.com/Outlook
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