Eating in the New Year 2017

Kikoklu-The last night of the Year 2016

2016 was slowly but surely coming to a close, I had spent my Christmas with my new Grandson (Aiden), daughter and her partner in Berlin, while Linda had flown off to sunny climes (Ireland) to spend it with her 96 year old Father. We had both arrived back on the 29^th (I had picked her up at Hamburg Airport) and so we spent the 30^th shopping (and eating at Gosh) and preparing our portion of the end of year feast.

It had been agreed that each member would make 2 (small) courses that made 16 courses, hold n a minute I hear you say, there are only 6 of you in the cookery club that in anyone’s reckoning is 2x6=12. Ah but what you did not and of course could not know, was that two guests had been invited.

At our last meeting we had agreed that Silvester would take place at Marianne and Martin’s, Linda and I would be spending the night there, that would be after visiting the Shauspielhaus to see in the New Year in style.

Though that has nothing to do with the theme in hand, food, it had a lot to do with enjoyment so without more ado let us get on with the first part of the evening, food.

Rich’s Roast Beef, Remoulade sauce and Papas Arrugades.

Ingredients for the Roast Beef  in a Herb Crust: 

1.2 kg piece of strip loin (rump steak in a piece) with a good covering of fat.

1 tsp fresh rosemary needles

1 tsp fresh sage leaves

1 tsp fresh estragon leaves

2 cloves of garlic

2 tsp olive oil

2 tsp mustard (I used Dijon, but whatever takes your fancy)

Fresh ground Salt and Pepper (about 1-2 tsp each)

Method

Grind or chop all the herbs, spices and oil together with a pestle and mortar, a stick blender or kitchen machine.

Using a pastry brush, paint the joint all over with the mixture and allow to rest for at least 4 hours in the fridge (better overnight) to infuse.

Remove from the fridge about 1 hour before the roasting so that it comes up to room temperature.

Turn your oven on full (230°C) and put the joint fat side up on roasting rack in the oven for 15 minutes.

Turn down the temperature to 175°C and cook until the inner temperature is  how you like it (rare 50C, medium rare 55°C and if anyone likes it any other way you shouldn’t have invited them). Use an oven thermometer anything else is just guess work.

Allow to rest covered in foil, for a good 30 minutes before carving, this will allow all the juices that have been driven to the centre of the joint to once again defuse throughout the meat. Carve in 3mm thick slices and drape across each dish, put a good dollop of homemade Remoulade sauce onto each slice, which brings me onto the next recipe.

Homemade Remoulade sauce.

1 large egg yolk

100ml of peanut oil

50ml cup of olive oil

1 tsp anchovy sauce (or made by crushing anchovies)

½ tsp of white wine vinegar

2 tbsp. of chopped cornichons

2 tbsp. of chopped capers (wash them prior to using, they could be very salty)

100ml Mixed herbs of Tarragon, Chervil, Parsley.

Lemon juice to taste

Salt and pepper

Method:

Add the egg yolk to a clean mixing bowl, beat the egg with a whisk, add the mustard and mix well. Now whisk in the olive oil a few drops at a time. When all has been incorporated to a mayonnaise, add the peanut oil in a steady stream while  whisking (it should thicken up quite a bit). Now add the chopped Cornichons and Capers. Chop the herbs together, add and mix all well. Adjust the taste with salt, pepper and lemon juice. I transferred to a plastic container and put in the fridge over night to allow the flavour to develop. Once again taste and adjust the seasoning.

Papas Arrogadas-Wrinkly Potatoes

1 ½  kg of small salad potatoes (Charlotte or similar waxy salad potatoes)

Loads of sea salt (at least 100mg)

Scrub potatoes and dissolve as much salt into the water as possible. Put onto the boil and when almost cooked through, pour off most of the water (leave about 1 cm) add more salt and boil vigorously until the water has all evaporated (careful don’t let them set on). Serve with a nice spicy salsa or sauce (I had made a spicy a nice one from the last of my tomatoes and chillies earlier in the Autumn.

Pasteis de Natas (not quite the same as the originals from Belem or even like Jamie Olivers)

1 roll of full butter puff pastry

1 tsp Cinnamon powder

4 large egg yolks

200 ml of full milk

2 dsp (heaped) cream fresh

2 tsp of mais flour

3 tsp of sugar

1 vanilla pod

1 piece of lemon peal

Roll out the sheet of puff pastry, sprinkle liberally with cinnamon powder, and reroll. Cut the roll in half, then each in half again and then again. You will have 8 pieces about 2 cm in length. Flatten with the heel of the hand and push into muffin tins, with your thumbs force the pastry well into the base and up sides. Put into a preheated oven at 180°C for 5 minutes.

In the meantime make the custard, take a couple of spoons of milk out and mix to a cream with the eggs, sugar and the cornflour. Heat the milk with the sliced through vanilla pod with the seeds scrapes into the milk, heat through to just below boiling, strain through a sieve and pour over the egg yolk mixture. Return all back to the pan and over a low heat, a low to thicken while continually stirring. When it reaches a thick pouring consistency, remove from the heat.

Your puff pastry cups will have risen, but don’t worry, with a spoon push the centres down (the pastry is only part cooked), into this cup pour in the custard and return to the oven to finish cooking about 10-15 minutes.

Now make your orange caramel glaze

4 dsp of castor sugar

Juice of half an orange

Heat the sugar in a small sauce pan, when it starts to melt pour in the orange juice and bubble up, when it starts to colour (I don’t like mine too dark) remove from the heat and drizzle over the Pasteis de Natas , back under a high heat to brown the caramel. I made these the day before and they had lost their crispness, so just prior to serving I put them into the top of the oven at highest heat just for a couple of minutes.

These would be served with accompanied by Linda’s Christmas Tiramisu.

400 g (2 pkts) of Spekulatius (or any other spiced Christmas biscuits)

300 ml Whipping cream

500 g Mascarpone

6 Oranges filleted

2 oranges juiced

Cointreau (you can use any other orange liqueur, but why spoil the ship for a hap’th of tar).

Crush a the Spekulatius,(place in a plastic bag and bash with a rolling pin, you could do this in a kitchen machine, but it’s more fun and gets rid of pent up frustration by bashing them).  

whip the cream until it is stiff, fold in the Mascarpone

Place a layer of crushed Spekulatius on the base of deep dish or glass trifle dish. Drizzle with the orange juice mixed with Cointreau (how much is up to you, this is a grown up pudding).

Next a layer of the cream/Mascarpone mix, spread some of the orange filets on top, then repeat the process until all of the mixture is used (or the bowl is full) finishing with a layer of cream/Mascarpone. Store in a cool place until ready to serve.

Linda had also made lamb Curry (made to Mamta Gumptas recipe)

We had been to our local Turkish butcher to get the Lamb, it was leg, which he very kindly  deboned and diced, there was far too much for the curry, so the rest is in the freezer for a nice lamb stew for a the coming weeks.

The slow cooker is perfect for this curry and in fact Mamta recommends it. This one pot curry cooked slowly over a number of hours and then reheated the next day allows all the herbs and spices to blend and infuse. If you don’t have a slow cooker no need to worry, cooked long and slow over a low heat will also give a very passable result. Added to this was a Red Lentil Dal and a Cucumber Raita

So Let The Feast Begin.

The 16 course Silvester Menu of the Kikoklu and guests 2016/2017

We opened the evening with a chat, olives, devils on horseback (dates wrapped in bacon) and a wonderful Sekt.

We all took our seats at the festive table.

Here is the menu:

Dietmar: Lentil Soup with lots of diced vegetable in a light curry note.

Marianne: A Spanish Orange-Fennel Salad (for those with an aversion to Fennel there was also a red onion version).

Carolyn: Marinated Salmon Tartar, with sliced cucumbers and fresh dill

Kalle: Asian skewered salmon, interspersed with sushi ginger rolled in black sesame seeds, lightly fried and served with a wasabi cream mousse.

Martin: Vietnamese Summer rolls (filled with prawns and fresh crispy vegetables) served with a spiced mango dip.

Next was two types of Beetroot salad one by Dietmar and the other by Carolyn, both totally different and both truly wonderful.
Dietmar: Beetroot with a Horseradish Mousse and a Cress and Walnut dressing.

Carolyn: Beetroot, lambs lettuce and goats cheese, with a pistachio nut brittle.

Martina: Kofta with Tabula and Tzatziki

Me: Roast Beef (strip loin) in a herb crust. With a Remoulade sauce, served with Papas Arrugadas and a piquant smokey paprika sauce.

Martin: Serrano baskets with fried egg and Raita

Marianne: Roast root vegetables, with roasted fennel seeds.

Linda: Lamb Curry, spiced red lentil dal (Masoor Dal-Dhuli) and  Chilli Raita served with Naan.

Desserts
Me: Pasteis de Natas

 Linda: Orange Tiramisu

It was after 23:00 when we got to the end of that little lot, we left Kalle’s Prickelender Finale until we returned from the Förde Fireworks, so suitably attired thick coats and hats we braved the wind and rain (it wasn’t all that bad but what with the wind and all that it wasn’t pleasant)and joined the throng of Kieler Burgers heading down to the Hindenburg Ufer.

We arrived about 5 minutes before midnight but already the throng was banging, fizzing and popping. We handed out the plastic beakers, opened the Sekt and as the ships sounded midnight on their sirens, the corks popped and we wished one another all the best for 2017.

All around us the fireworks went into overdrive, rockets, big exploding fire crackers, roman candles you name it they were going off tonight, money to burn.

We contented ourselves with lighting a sparkler or two. 

After braving the wind, the acrid smoke, the wayward rockets narrowly missing us, enough was enough, we headed back up the hill and to the warmth of Marianne’s and Martin’s apartment. We watched a bit of TV, some videos and listened to the late deceased George Michael. Kalle then served us with his half frozen.

We were all feeling weary, full and happy so we headed up the stairs to the guest apartment leaving the rest to make their ways to bed and the New Year.

It was quite late when we got up, showered and went down for the first  breakfast of the New Year. At about midday we loaded up our pots and pans into the car and headed back to Lübeck. That was a wonderful start to 2017. Thanks to all Kikokluers and our guests Martina and Dietmar, it was a memorable evening.