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This week our Teen Chef’s will be making – Pan fried duck breast with blackberry sauce, served with gratin dauphinois.

Duck is very versatile and diverse and is widely loved for its rich, tender meat.

Duck has a succulence which lends itself well to sweeter flavours, which is why it is often served with fruit i.e. Duck à l’orange but it can also work well with mushrooms, or other meats.

In our recipe we will be serving it with a blackberry sauce which is fruity and satisfying, without being overly rich ideal with pan roast duck, especially in the winter.

Duck breast has a bold flavour, with rich flesh that can be served pink. While duck is known – and, indeed, loved – for being a rich, fatty meat, for the most part it is the skin of the duck which holds most of the fat. 

Did you know a skinless duck breast fillet is lower in both calories and fat than a chicken breast in addition to being rich in protein and iron. 

We will be serving our duck with gratin dauphinois, originally from the Alps, which has been adopted throughout France and lauded by the finest chefs, such as Escoffier. 

Since the 1800s, the term gratin was being used more or less the way we use it now: as a culinary technique that involves covering a dish in cheese or breadcrumbs and browning in the oven.  The process produces a dish with a tasty crust, gratin dauphinois is a classic French dish originally made without cheese. It is the starch from the potatoes, and the cream and milk, which give the dish its cheesy taste whilst the garlic gently infuses into the potatoes.

Gratin dauphinois, as its name would suggest is a speciality of the old Dauphine province of south-eastern France.

This week we will be using the following skills: Scoring, pan frying, cutting, slicing, washing, peeling, infusing, crushing, boiling and grating.  Layering, baking and making a sauce with fruit.

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See you Saturday Teen Chefs.

This week we will be making – Jambalaya!

Jambalaya is a French word that means ‘jumbled’ or ‘mixed up’.

Jambalaya is a hearty spicy dish. It’s the perfect dish to keep you warm during the winter and the Creole, version originating from the French quarter of New Orleans is pure comfort food jam packed with flavour.

This Louisiana dish varies from kitchen to kitchen, depending on the cook and the recipes that have been passed down from past generations. Jambalaya traditionally contains any of the following meats:

• Chicken or pork (or vegetable substitute)
• Sausage — andouille, chorizo or smoked sausage
  (for non-pork eaters it will be substituted with a chicken sausage or vegetable substitute, for our vegetarians)
• Seafood

This classic Jambalaya recipe starts off with the aromatic holy trinity of onion, bell pepper and celery.  Generally long grain white rice is used in making Jambalaya, raw rice is then added to a rich stock (chicken or vegetable) and the flavour is absorbed by the grains as the rice cooks.

There are two kinds of Jambalaya; Creole and Cajun. Our recipe will be the tomato-based Creole version.

This week we will be using the following skills: Weighing, measuring, chopping, crushing, mixing/combining, boiling/simmering and frying.

See you at the weekend Junior Chefs.

This week our Teen Chefs we will be making – Pan Fried Sea Bass with Sauce Vierge
Served with bay-scented smashed roast potatoes & garlicky buttered spinach

The name ‘bass’ is used for a handful of species, from the familiar European sea bass to the freshwater stripped sea bass with many more varieties in existence, all of which make for great eating.

Sea bass was one of the first sea fish to be farmed extensively in Europe and now rivals other farmed species such as salmon. Wild sea bass however is protected and therefore fishing restricted.

What to look for

Choose the freshest you can seek out bass with clear eyes, intact fins and bright red gills, firm to the touch and free of an fishy smell. Sea bass is a round fish, its flesh is firm and meaty and sweat. Larger fish have a stronger flavour and are more expensive per kg.

How to prepare

All ‘bass’ have sharp spiny fins and thick scales which must be removed before gutting and filleting. There are numerous ways seabass can be cooked.
Pan fried; with a light coating as in our recipe will help protect delicate fillets. The skin can be removed but chefs usually leave it on – it’s a great source of nutrients and takes on a lovely colour and texture once it meets a hot pan of oil. It can be baked or ‘en papillote’ a classic French way of cooking in a paper bag with lots of aromatics, this method protects the fish and keeps it moist.Steamed, poached are other methods. Or as a ceviche, where typically raw fish is cured in citrus juices, such as lemon or lime. Or an Escabeche a Spanish tradition which sees the fish marinated and cooked long and slow in in an acidic mixture.
These are just some to name but a few. Cook fish just long enough to set the protein and turn the flesh opaque, if overcooked it will be dry.

Sea bass is very versatile and pairs well with assertive ingredients found in sauce vierge which draws out the true brilliance of its sweet, textured flesh and gleaming, silvery skin; regarded as a delicacy by many.

This week we will be using the following skills: Blanching, deseeding, peeling, measuring, mixing, crushing, roasting, simmering, warming, dicing, slicing, chopping and juicing, zesting, melting pan frying.

See you Saturday Teen Chefs.

Happy New Year Junior Chefs!

This week we will be making – Savoy cabbage, chestnut & sage lasagne.

Winter creates a deep need for nourishing food; lasagne is a popular family favourite.

Salty parmesan and the subtle nuttiness of chestnuts are the ideal match for vibrant green cabbage in this fantastic winter dish. This recipe uses layers of cabbage, sage and chestnuts to create a tasty vegetarian main.

A member of the brassica family, savoy cabbage is a popular and versatile vegetable. With its deep green colour, full flavour and robust, crinkled leaves, it valiantly holds its own in any hearty dish. Savoy cabbage is a nutritional marvel a terrific source of protein, phosphorous, calcium and dietary fibre, it’s rich in vitamins A, C, K B6. Cooked correctly it is deliciously sweet.

At its best between October and February, savoy cabbage makes an ideal addition to cold weather comfort dishes, and is perfectly paired with game or pork.

How to cook; wilt with butter and bacon, shred for salad, sliced and stirred into soups, stir fries, with pasta or even a bubble and squeak.

This week we will be using the following skills: Weighing, measuring, chopping, crushing, grating, mixing/combining, whisking boiling/simmering/infusing, straining and baking.

See you Saturday Junior Chefs.

www.cuisinebynadine.co.uk

This week our Teen Chefs will be making – Pork fillet wrapped in Parma ham stuffed with sage, apple and chestnut served with orange & honey braised fennel

This is a lovely winter warmer with the Christmas flavours of chestnuts and oranges the juice and zest of which can be used to add a sweet, juicy tang to both sweet and savoury dishes.

In Season: Oranges are at their peak between December and April.

The most common variety of orange for eating is the navel orange, so named because the blossom end often resembles a navel. Choose fruit that’s heavy for its size and free of soft spots.

Fruits are traditionally served with pork to offset its richness. The pork tenderloin, also called pork fillet or Gentleman’s Cut, is a long thin cut of pork which can be roasted or braised with or without stuffing. This cut is the eye fillet that comes from within the loin. It’s a lazy muscle and as such is lean and very tender.

A jus can be made to accompany the meat by deglazing the cooking juices, we will be making a stuffing which will enhance the flavour of the pork which we will serve alongside orange honey braised fennel with its mellow orange aniseed flavour that is wonderful alongside the sweetness of the pork.

This week we will be using the following skills: Measuring, chopping, grating, squeezing, blending and roasting, sautéing. Trimming and preparing & stuffing a pork fillet, cooking the pork fillet to the required temperature and making a sauce by deglazing.

See you Saturday Teen Chefs.