Cookery Club (KIkoklu) Autumn Meeting.

12 November 2016

Though the meeting had been agreed on a few weeks earlier, when it was quite warm, it had now defiantly turned from the golden Autumn to the cold, snowy advent of Winter.

It was Kalle’s turn to be host and so he was making Falscher Hase, the German mince beef loaf, for main, with Caroline doing the vegetable accompaniment, that left the remainder to sort out the rest of the menu.

I was originally going to do a soup, but I was a beaten to that course by dear Marianne so I decided on one of my old favourites, fish pie, these would be served in individual dishes.

Linda was doing a chicken liver terrine with homemade oat cakes and crackers.

Martin had decided on the dessert.

So without much more ado here are the recipes:

Linda’s Chicken liver terrine with blackcurrant jelly

500g chicken livers

2 shallots

2 garlic cloves

2 rosemary tufts

2 thyme twigs

6 juniper berries

1 bay leaf

3 cloves

6 allspice berries

10 black pepper corns

100 ml of Madeira

100 ml Port wine

200 ml of chicken stock

220 g of butter

Salt and pepper to taste

A couple of scrapings of nutmeg

125 g of single cream

For the jelly topping

3 leaves of gelatine

100ml of blackcurrant juice

50ml of chicken stock

100ml of Cassis (blackcurrant liquor)

The terrine was served with oat cakes and salted oat crackers (home made to Dan Lepard’s recipe)

Remove any fat and sinews from the livers, wash, dry and dice. Puree in a kitchen machine or use a blender stick. Rub through a fine sieve to remove any thick residue.

Dice the shallot and garlic, place in a small saucepan along with the thyme,  rosemary and spices pour over the Madeira and Port and by a very low heat reduce until there is only a teaspoon of liquid left. Add the chicken stock to the pan and again reduce until there is only 2 tablespoons of liquid remaining. Pour this reduction onto the puréed liver,  through a fine sieve, pressing the all of the juices out.

Melt the butter and pour onto the liver puree while stirring all the time. Add seasoning (salt, pepper and nutmeg. Whip the cream until quite stiff and mix into the puree.

Heat the oven to 120°C fan assisted (140°C normal heat). Line a form with cling film and carefully pour the liver into the form until it is about 1cm under the lip. Place the form into a deep roasting tray and fill it 2/3 full with boiling water. Put into the heated oven and bake for 75 minutes.

Remove from oven and allow to cool and then place in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.

To make the jelly.

Soften the gelatine in cold water. Put the black current juice and chicken stock into a small pan and warm through (do not allow to boil). Add the Cassis and the squeezed gelatine and allow to dissolve. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.

Carefully pour the black current/cassis liquor over the top of the liver mixture. Cover with cling film and place the terrine into the fridge for at least 12 hours.

To serve, place the form into hot water and then turn out (it should slide out with ease), remove the cling film and cut into 2cm thick slices, serve with the Crackers and Oat cakes.

Oat cakes

Oat cakes at the front and crackers at the rear

150 g wholemeal flour

50 g plain flour

50 g medium oatmeal

1 tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. salt

Muscovado sugar (for sweet ones 2 tbsp. or for not so sweet 2 tsp.)

A squeeze of honey

100 g of butter

4 tbsp. of milk

Sieve in the dry ingredients and rub in the butter.

Add the milk and mix in with a knife.

Knead very briefly on a floured board until it forms a dough

Roll out to a thickness of 5 mm and cut out with a biscuit cutter (the size is up to you). Keep re-rolling the off cuts until it is all used up.

Place on a baking tray (I covered it with a silicon baking mat) Bake in a 180°C preheated oven until golden brown.

Store in an airtight tin when cold.

Salted oat crackers

300 g plain flour

1 tsp. caster sugar

½ tsp. baking powder

¾ tsp. salt

25 g of softened unsalted butter

100 g of rolled oats

175 ml of milk

Flour for sprinkling on board when rolling

Flaked sea salt to sprinkle on top.

Put the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt into a bowl and rub in the butter, mix in the oats and milk and mix to a soft pliable dough. Cover and leave for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 200°C or 180°C if you have a fan assisted oven. Roll out the dough very thinly dusting with flour to stop it sticking to the board and rolling pin. Cut discs out with a pastry cutter (I would normally then roll these again to make them extra thin). Lay the discs on a baking tray covered with non-stick baking parchment or silicon sheet, very lightly dampen the top and sprinkle with a few salt flakes.

Bake for 14 minutes until the edges are just starting to turn a golden brown (keep an eye on them at the 10 minute mark, they tend to turn brown very quick).

These store well in an airtight tin for a few days, but they will not last that long, great to snack on instead of crisps.

Marianne’s Pumpkin Soup

My Fish Pie

For 6 servings in a oven proof form (about 300 ml)

I had a freezer full of fish from my last fishing trip, I also had some smoked haddock from a visit to the UK (here in Germany they smoke every other kind of fish, but for some reason not Haddock).

200 g of smoked haddock

300 g of boneless cod (I filet my own so can guarantee that it has had all the bones removed, but otherwise check by running your finger along the filet and pin boning any you find.

6 small squid (called chipirón in Spain) if fresh just slice the body bag open and remove the innards, cut out the beak and wash under running water.

1 large slice of Tuna, cut into 6 pieces

1 filet of hot smoked salmon cut into 6 pieces

18 medium prawns

500 ml of full fat milk for poaching

1 bottle of cooking cream (Rama, though ALDI have their own brand at 50% of the price)

50 mg of fish sauce paste (Jürgen Langbein or similar) you can make your own but

2 bay leaves

3 juniper berries

3 pimento berries

3 cloves

6 pepper corns

3 pieces of mace

1 cup of peas

2-3 hard-boiled eggs

1 kg of floury potatoes

More milk, butter and cream to make the mash

1 heaped tbsp. of chopped flat leaf parsley

Salt and pepper to taste

Pour the milk into a deep frying or saute pan, add the bay leaf and mace, crush the other aromatics in a pestle and mortar, add these to the milk, place in the smoked haddock and bring to the a temperature just below a boil (surface just moving), poach until you can split it easily and milky in colour. Remove and set aside while you poach the rest of the fish, starting with the firmest (chipirón) and ending with the softest (cod).

Evenly portion the fish between 6 oven proof bowls.

To make the sauce, strain the poaching liquor into a measuring jug and make up to 400 ml with the cooking cream, pour into a sauce pan and stir under heat until it thickens add the peas and pour over the fish. 

Allow to cool (it should set).

Add a couple of slices of hard boiled egg onto the top of each

Make a creamed mashed potato with parsley for the topping, this should be quite thin as you will pipe it on, but firm enough to hold its form.

To serve heat in a 100°C oven until warmed through, then place under the grill (or turn the oven onto grill function) and brown the top. Sprinkle with Bottarga (dried salted mullet or tuna roe), this is of course optional as you may not be able to lay hands on it.

Serve immediately.

Kalle’s Falscher Hase (hackbraten). - Mince meat loaf 

Recipe to follow! 

This recipe uses no bread crumb as one of our members is Glutin intolerant.

Vegetable Dish
Plain Boiled Potatoes and

Caroline's Italian Mangold Bake

Martin’s iced desert. 
Recipe and photo to follow!             

     

The evenings debris