Slow Food
There is actually a movement called Slow Food which started
in Italy in 1986. Its motto is: ‘Good, clean and fair’. That can mean a lot of
things or nothing at all. It is about food and specially the promotion of
regional and traditional food. As the name suggests it is a counterpose to the
fast food culture that seems to take over the world.
The Slow Food movement since its inception has shifted into
many other aspects of food: its production, its sustainability, its ethical
preparation, its regionality and its protection of indigenous food traditions.
That might mean the support of local small cheese makers using raw milk or
fishermen landing their catch on the sea front of villages or towns in Europe.
It is above all about preserving the culinary traditions in
all corners of the world be that recipes of old preparations of local
specialities, ancient ways of preserving meat, of making cheese, of making
bread and pastry, of cooking and growing vegetables especially heirloom
varieties, of making wine and beer or cider.
It is about gardening, of growing vegetables locally, without using
pesticides and chemicals to grow things fast and big. It is also about a slower
pace of life, about a more conscious awareness and care for this planet Earth.
To repeat again the founder of the Slow Food movement, Carlo
Petrini, said that everyone has the right to good, clean and fair food. By good
he means a high-quality product with lots of flavour, by clean he implied that
the product was produced in a natural way and by fair that the price is
adequate both for consumer and producer. It is a highly idealistic thought and
whether in this world of more than 8 billion people it can or could be put into
practice is another discussion.
In a way the Slow Food movement is only a fringe
organization. There are branches in over
150 countries with 1300 chapters called ‘convivia’ but all together there are
only around 100,000 members. New Zealand has two convivia, one in Auckland and
one in Marlborough. They would be tasked among other things of promoting local
culinary traditions, forming maybe seedbanks of edible plants, or organizing
celebrations of local cuisine and products, of promoting taste education, about
the drawbacks of fast food and commercial agribusiness such as monoculture, and
about gardening skills and buying food in local food markets. It sounds all
like common sense, but it is often not convenient, it is hard, it is expensive,
it requires effort and dedication.
Could it be done? Could it really be done? Good, clean and
fair food, according to the definition of Carlo Petrini, for everyone? I would
love to believe that it is possible, but I have my doubts. We are so lucky to
live in New Zealand where these problems are not yet as acute as in other
places. There is the danger I must say that government can stifle a lot of
initiative in the chain of food production such as cheese making where
regulations and controls just about make it impossible for small scale
production of regional, and I say individual or unique, cheeses to occur. What
a shame we are after all a country of milk and honey!
So, what can I say? The dishes below are all about slow
cooking, about slow food. It is winter, and I just assume that you would have
some time to dedicate a few hours to cooking maybe on a weekend. It is my
belief that good cooking takes time. There is no 15-minute solution or fast and
easy. There is easier and faster but not with my dishes here. Not with most of
what I cook. The solution is to make cooking a passion, to make it as I said in
my book recreational. Make it a hobby.
Beef Bourguignon
This is a classic French preparation. Wonderful food, simple
and tasty. But it takes some time to do. Nothing this good comes easy! The
basic ingredients are beef, bacon, onions and mushrooms.
For the beef
1 kg of stewing beef
150g onions
100g carrot
3 cloves garlic
100g bacon
100 g celery
10g tomato puree
Butter
500 ml red wine
500 ml water or stock or 3 oxo cubes
Cut the beef into cubes or have the butcher do it for you.
The meat should be pretty lean and the pieces not bigger that 2 to 3 cm across.
Melt a knob of butter in a large non-stick fry pan and when
it bubbles add a third of the beef. Toss it constantly to brown on all side.
The more brown you get it the more flavour you will have. Spoon the beef into a
Dutch oven or any other casserole dish. Continue with the rest of the beef.
Add the chopped onions to the same pan and caramelize them
in a bit of butter. Add the cubed carrot, the celery and the garlic. Toss it
all for a few minutes. Add it all to the beef.
Cut the streaky bacon into strips and fry them in a pan to
crisp them up and to lose some of the fat. Add it to the beef. Fill the
casserole with the wine and the water or stock. Bring it to a simmer on the
stove and then put it into the oven and cook it at 180 celcius in the covered
Dutch oven for two hours or until tender.
If the stew is too thin drain off the liquid and reduce it
on the stove in a pot until thick and glossy. Add it again to the beef.
For the onions
200 g pickling onions
10 g butter
Pinch of sugar
¼ cup red wine vinegar
1/3 cup red wine
Salt and pepper
Peel the onions and cut them into quarters make sure not to
cut completely through the stem. They should still be intact as a quarter
onion. Melt the butter in a non stick fry pan, add the onions, toss them and
sprinkle some sugar over them.
Add the vinegar and reduce to a thick syrup. Then add the
red wine, cover the pan and cook the onions until tender. Remove the lid and
completely reduce the liquid. Salt and pepper to taste.
For the mushrooms
200g button mushrooms
20g butter
Salt and pepper
Melt the butter in a non stick frypan and add the quartered
mushrooms. Toss it all together and cook the mushrooms over low heat until they
are just cooked. Salt and pepper to taste.
For the garnish
carrots
2 baby carrots per person
Sugar
Butter
Salt and pepper
Peel the carrots and slice them lengthwise. Melt a knob of
butter in a saucepan and add the sugar. Just melt it and then add the carrots.
Toss them to cover them all in the butter. Put a lid onto the pot and cook the
carrots over low heat for about 5 minutes. Take the lid off, test the carrots
for tenderness and reduce any liquid to glaze the carrots. Salt and pepper to
taste.
To serve
When the beef is ready spoon a portion of it onto a serving
of mashed potatoes or pasta or even rice. Top it with the carrots, mushrooms
and onions.
This cake if you call it that is named after the patron
saint of bakers in France. Imagine that in France they have a patron saint for
bakers and pastry cooks! How serious they take it. Maybe in New Zealand we
should have a patron saint for Bluff Oysters.
It is much easier than it looks. Nevertheless, it is
considered to be at the high end of French patisserie. The kind of thing they
might use in a Masterchef competition. Just do it step by step and assemble it
about two hours before serving. What a birthday cake! I actually made it for
myself, for my own birthday at 65 years. How about that. It is a good thing to
do on a Sunday afternoon in the middle of winter.
For the choux pastry
125ml water
125ml milk
100g butter
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon sugar
150g flour
4 eggs
Put the water, milk, butter, salt and sugar into a large pot
and bring it to the boil. Sieve the flour and add it all in one go to the water
and milk mixture. Take it off the heat and with a wooden spoon beat one egg
after the other into the dough. Make sure that each egg is incorporated
thoroughly before adding the next.
Fill a piping bag with nozzle about 1 cm across with the
pastry and pipe small round balls onto a baking sheet. Bake the choux in the
oven at 200 celsius until well risen and golden brown. Set aside.
For the base of the
cake
1 sheet of puff pastry
Choux pastry
1 beaten egg
Cut the puff pastry sheet into a round of about 21cm
diameter and put it onto a wet baking sheet. Brush the edge with a beaten egg.
Pipe a cylinder of choux pastry all along the edge about 1 cm thick. Use a fork
to pierce the puff pastry to avoid it rising. Bake the base at 200 celsius for
15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool and set aside.
For the pastry cream
3 egg yolks
50g sugar
250ml milk
25g corn flour
Vanilla essence
100g cream
Put the egg yolks into a large bowl and add the corn flour.
Mix thoroughly. Bring the milk with the sugar and vanilla essence to the boil.
Cool slightly and add a bit of the hot milk to the egg yolks. Stir with a whisk
and then slowly add the rest of the milk.
Pour the mixture back into the pot and while constantly
stirring with the whisk bring it back to the boil. It will look like curdling
but just keep on stirring and it will form into a smooth thick cream. Cool.
When the pastry cream is cold push it through a fine sieve
into a bowl. Weigh out 200 g of it and beat 100 g of cream to a soft peak. Fold
the cream into the pastry cream. Set aside.
For the chocolate
mousse
200 g chocolate 50% cocoa
50 g unsalted butter
2 eggs
100 ml cream
Melt the chocolate in a large bowl over a water bath. When
the chocolate is all liquid add the butter and mix it thoroughly. Add one egg
yolk after the other and cool the mixture slightly.
Beat the egg whites and the cream. Gently fold in the cream
first followed by the egg white. Pour the mousse into a container and put it
into the fridge to set the mixture.
For the caramel
200 g sugar
Put the sugar into a small pot and melt it over low heat and
stir with a wooden spoon all the time. You have to watch it otherwise it will
burn! When small bubbles appear, and it looks all amber brown then it is ready.
It is in my opinion the easiest way to make caramel. Without the addition of
water.
For the choux pastry
balls
Pierce the choux pastry balls with a knife from the side
about half way through. Dunk them upside down in the caramel. Cool them on a
baking sheet. Make sure not to touch the caramel or you burn your fingers.
Fill a piping bag fitted with a small pointed nozzle with
the pastry cream. Fill the cold choux with the cream by pushing the nozzle into
the bottom and squeeze as much cream into it as it will hold. Set aside.
To assemble
Put the puff pastry base onto a large serving plate. Fill a
piping bag with a fluted 1 cm nozzle. Fill another piping bag with the same
nozzle with the chocolate mousse. Pipe the cream and the chocolate mousse into
the middle of the cake base.
Line the edge of the cake base with the choux puffs. Maybe
use a bit of pastry cream to hold them in place. Sprinkle some icing sugar all
over it. Voila!
Lamb fillets with garlic and polenta
This is a highly aromatic dish. You must love garlic but
having said that the long cooking of the garlic removes a lot of its pungency
and makes it nice and mellow and soft. So delicious I must say myself.
The lamb fillets are what is properly called a fillet. They
are very small and only about the size of a finger.
For the lamb
2 lamb fillets
Butter
¼ teaspoon cumin
Salt and pepper
Trim the lamb fillets of any silver skin that might still be
on it. Toss them in a little bit of cumin. Melt the butter in a non stick fry
pan and gently brown the fillets on all sides. Salt and pepper. Set aside.
For the polenta
100 g polenta
250 ml milk
250 ml water
50 g butter
50 g Parmesan cheese
Salt
Put the milk and water into a pot and bring it to the boil.
Slowly pour the polenta into the milk and stir constantly to avoid lumps being
formed. Cook the polenta until it thickens. Pour the mixture into an oven proof
dish and cover it with aluminium foil.
Bake the polenta in the oven at 170 celsius for 1 hour.
Remove the dish from the oven. The polenta should now be very thick. Add the
butter and mix it thoroughly. Add the cheese and salt it to taste.
Fill small cake tins with the polenta mixture and when they
are cool remove them from the dishes and put them onto a baking tray. Cook the
polenta for a further 15 minutes in the oven until they are slightly crisp on
the edges. Set aside.
For the garlic confit
The anchovies are essential for this sauce. So give it a go.
They add much flavour and you will not be able to see them as they dissolve
into the oil. For the oil I used the Good Oil brand made in Rolleston.
Beautiful oils they make. But you could use a local olive oil as well.
100 g garlic
100 g oil
20 g anchovy fillets
Peel the garlic and slice it very thinly. Put them into a
small pot and add the olive oil and the minced anchovies. Cook it over very low
heat until the garlic becomes very soft and the anchovies have dissolved into
the sauce.
To serve
Put the lamb fillet into the oven at 180 celsius for five
minutes. Remove and let them rest for a few minutes. Reheat the polenta as well
in the oven. Warm the garlic sauce.
Slice the lamb fillets at an angle. Put a polenta disc into
the middle of a plate. Stack the lamb on top of it and pour the sauce all over
it.
What a simple dish and I know you probably all have been roasting vegetables in one way or the other. It is delicious and comforting. An ideal preparation for the winter months. To me it would be a complete meal without any addition of meat except maybe a green salad tossed in olive oil and vinegar. Plus a slice of toasted and buttered ciabatta bread. Of course, you could add any other vegetable suitable for roasting. The point of roasting is to coax out all the flavours from the vegetables by reducing the water content.
200g parsnip
200g carrot
100g onion
100g red pepper
Sugar
Salt and pepper
Rosemary
Olive oil
Peel the parsnips and carrots. Cut them into fairly thick wedges. Cut the onion and slice thinly. Half the pepper and slice lengthwise. Put all the vegetables into a large bowl. Pour about a quarter cup of olive oil over it plus a ½ a teaspoon of sugar. Toss it all so that the vegetables are coated in oil.
Pour the vegetable into a large oven proof dish and roast them for around 1 hour at 180 celsius. Stir them every 15 minutes to avoid burning. Add the crushed rosemary towards the end of cooking. Remove the vegetables from the oven when they are tender and nicely caramelized. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve as side dish or as a main course.
Ravioli of pumpkin
This is a lovely winter dish. I was lucky I got a pumpkin
from our neighbour at Middle Rock and I was invited to get the walnuts from an
enormous tree on Snowdon Station. The sage I had in my garden and so it happens
that a few humble ingredients make a delicious meal. Local and foraged most of
it and all in the spirit of the Slow Food movement.
You need a pasta machine for this dish, but I am sure that
most of you have one of them somewhere in the cupboard probably still in its
box. Get it out. Now is the time to use it!
On the other hand, you might have strong arms and then you can roll out
the dough with a pin. Just remember a good raviolo is one where you can see the
filling through the pasta!
For the pasta dough
100 g flour, high grade
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 pinch of salt
Put the flour and salt into a food processor and with the
blade running add the egg and the egg yolk. Process until a dough forms. It
might need a little bit of water if the eggs are on the small side. Wrap the
dough in cling film and rest it in the fridge for an hour.
For the pumpkin
½ a medium pumpkin or 500g
50g butter
½ teaspoon sugar
½ teaspoon salt
Cut the pumpkin into slices, peel them and cut them into
cubes. Put them into an oven proof dish, add the butter, sugar and salt. Roast
the pumpkin in the oven at 170 celsius for 1 hour or until it is all tender.
Toss it every 15 minutes to make sure they do not burn. The point of the
roasting is to remove excess liquid from the pumpkin and thereby intensify the
flavour.
When the pumpkin is all cooked and soft put it into a
mouli-legume or a ricer or maybe a sieve and push it all through to get a
smooth paste of pumpkin. Test it for flavour and maybe add a bit more salt but
the mixture should rather be on the sweeter side.
For the walnuts
100 g walnuts
20g butter
If you have shell the walnuts and break them into small
pieces and put them into a small pot with the butter. Toss the walnuts in the
butter until well covered and heat them through. Slightly brown the butter.
For the sage leaves
20 small leaves of sage
10 g butter
Pinch of salt
Melt the butter in a small non-stick fry pan and add the
sage. Gently toss it together and cook the sage for 20 minutes on very low heat
until they become shiny and crisp. Sprinkle a bit of salt over it.
To assemble
Push the pasta dough through the pasta machine to number 6
which is very thin. Use a cookie cutter to cut out 8 discs per person. Put a
dollop of 1 teaspoon onto one of the discs and top it with a smaller one of
mascarpone. Take another disc and wet it with a brush around the edge and fold
it over the filling and press it down to the bottom disc. Make sure no holes
remain.
You can make these ravioli a few hours before serving. Just
put them onto a floured tea towel, sprinkle more flour over them and cover them
with another tea towel. Keep them in the fridge.
To serve
Fill a pot with water and bring it to the boil. Melt a knob
of butter in a non-stick fry pan and keep warm. Add the ravioli in batches to
the boiling water and cook them until they rise to the surface. Scoop them off,
drain them in a sieve and add them to the pan with the butter. Toss together to
make them shiny.
Heat the walnuts and the sage. Put four ravioli onto a warm
plate. Spoon the walnuts and sage all over it and garnish with a little grated
parmesan cheese.
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