Steak Fondue - Alpine style

I have had many Asian steamboat/ hotpot but never an Alpine style fondue until my recent snow holiday to Austria, where I sampled a divine steak fondue and am determined to recreate this in my own kitchen. 

On the chalet host's day off, we were booked into Kitzloch in Ischgl for a fondue night. Between the cheese and steak options, I opted for the latter and it most certainly did not disappoint. To get our appetite going for some tasty meat, we were served grilled ribs, garlic bread, chips and plenty of fine wine to begin with. A huge plate of thinly sliced fillet steak was then brought to our table, along with 5 different dipping sauces: cocktail, curry, mustard, horseradish and herbs. We forked our slices of steak, dipped them into the tasty beef broth and cooked to our individual taste. I prefer mine quite rare so a quick 10 second dip was good enough.

In the UK, fondue was a popular choice for entertaining guests in the 80s but the enthusiasm soon faded, as most found the preparation arduous. The American popularised chocolate fountain in the 2000s which was originally designed to use in the hotel and resort industry. This trend has indirectly helped to revive the fondue scene: instead of purchasing yet another kitchen novelty, this gives most of us a great reason to blow the dust off that fondue set given by Aunt Bessie some years ago and has been sitting in the attic since. Moreover, dipping fruits into warm, melted Belgian chocolate has made consuming 5-a-day a more enjoyable experience.

The set I have uses methylated spirit burner. There are a variety of fondue set available on the market to suit your preference. Electrically heated ones would be most convenient of all and as for the tea light ones, well I never quite grasped the concept of that.

I made the below simple beef broth the day before. Alternatively, good quality read-made beef stock or consomme are just as good.

1 beef bone marrow
1 carrot, halved
2 stalks of celery, halved
1 onion, halved
2 bay leaves
3 cloves of garlic
6 whole peppercorns
1 leek, halved
0.5l good quality beef consomme
1L boiling water

1. Heat a drizzle of rapeseed oil in the stockpot. Brown the vegetables for 5 minutes.

2. Add in the bay leaves and peppercorns along with the bone marrow. Cook for a further 5 minutes.

3. Pour in the beef consomme and bring it to simmer.

4. Pour in the boiling water. Bring it to boil and let it simmer on a low heat for a couple of hours. Season with sea salt to taste.

As for the dipping sauces, I compared a number of recipes and generally can't go wrong with the following combinations. Of course it all depends on your own taste and the number you're catering for.

Horseradish Sauce

3 tsp of horseradish
1 dash of Worcester sauce
1 dollop of sour cream
1 dollop of mayonnaise
Pinch of cayenne pepper

Curry Sauce

2 tsp of curry powder
1 tsp of cayenne pepper
1 dollop of sour cream
1 dollop of mayonnaise

So, the key ingredient that is fillet steak. I bought 550g of fillet steak from a local butcher and asked them to be thinly sliced.

I also made some potato wedges to go with the meat:

And here we have a steak fondue feast :)

Ratatouille with roast chicken legs

Ratatouille is a colourful Provencal vegetable dish that is flavorsome and wholesome enough to serves as a main dish, with a rustic French baguette; or it would make a fantastic side dish to go with any roast meat. It is debatable as what an authentic and traditional ratatouille should contain, but having studied various recipes, the key ingredients are aubergine, courgette, onion, tomato and garlic. Do avoid chopping the vegetables too small or risk them being dried up.

I served mine with a whole corn fed free range chicken leg. This dish would go nicely with a roast leg of lamb or pan fry fish. It is a hassle-free dish, great for entertaining friends and family over this Easter weekend!

Serves 2

Courgette, roughly chopped

Red onion,  roughly chopped

Red pepper,  roughly chopped

Yellow pepper,  roughly chopped

Leek,  roughly chopped

3 garlic cloves, leave whole

Punnet of button mushrooms, halves 

Tomato passata 

Pinch of Herbes de Provence 

Lemon, thickly sliced

Pinch of thyme 

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200 degree.

2. Prepare all the vegetables and place them onto a roasting tin. Drizzle a generous amount of rapeseed oil, season with salt & pepper and Herbes de Provence and massage the vegetables gently. 

3. Place the lemon slices in a separate roast tin and put the chicken legs on top. Drizzle rapeseed oil, season with salt & pepper and sprinkle a pinch of thyme over the meat. 

4. Place the vegetables and chicken into the oven for approximately 45 minutes or until cooked through. Check them periodically and turn the vegetables over every 20 minutes or so. If the chicken became dry, spoon the chicken and lemon juice over the skin to dehydrate. 

Enjoy!

Italian Kitchen - Homemade Pizza

The proper traditional Italian pizzas usually have a very few toppings and not dripping with cheese like the one we have in the UK. Nonetheless, I must admit I love to overload mine with everything, especially cheese! Being with someone who is lactose-intolerant means I seldom have pizza as dinner, unless it is homemade, of course. Yes, 'His & Hers' pizza is the best way, no arguments over who should have the last slice or how much olives should go on it etc.

This one clearly is a 'Hers' pizza :D 

Making your own pizza is rather therapeutic process: choosing ones favorite toppings and leaving out the capers and pineapple (yuck)! The dough was machine-made by bread maker following its manual. Depending on individual's preference, my base was rolled out as extra-thin. The tomato sauce was made by the ex-pizza chef (the other half) and as for the toppings I opted for: sliced mushrooms, sliced onion, roasted red pepper, sliced black olives, spinach, tinned anchovies and A LOT of grated extra matura cheddar AND parmesan! 

I was in pizza heaven that evening :) 

Courgette Noodles with Avocado Sauce

It depends how you interpret the name of this dish, it can be read as 'courgettes one of the noodles' ingredients', similar to that of spinach pasta; or, 'noodles entirely made out of courgettes'. In this case, it is the latter. Please do not be put of by the greenness of this dish (in colour and in health), it is surprisingly flavorsome, with an in depth creamy nutty taste. 

Our body deserves a little detox now and then!

Serves 4

2 courgettes, chop into matchsticks (I used a mandolin slicer) 

Punnet  of chestnut mushrooms, thinly sliced

Dozen of brazil nuts

3 garlic cloves, crushed

1 lime, juiced

Handful of pumpkin seeds

2 avocados, de-stoned and diced

Bunch of fresh parsley, roughly chopped

1 tbsp olive oil

1. Heat oil in frying pan, add in crushed garlic and mushrooms. 

2. Meanwhile, place the brazil nuts in food processor and blend until smooth-ish. Add in the avocado cubes, olive oil, lime juice and a pinch of salt and blend again. If the sauce is too thick, dilute it with some water to the right consistency. 

3. Add the courgette noodles into the frying pan, cook till half cooked and pour in the source. Season to taste.

6. Sprinkle with parsley and pumpkin seeds. Serve.

Harvey Nichols Risotto Kit with White Truffle Seasoning

Ah it has been a while since I last updated my blog. In most industry quarter 4 is always the busiest of all, winding down before year end and planning for the next financial year.

Of course no matter how busy one gets, food will always be on ones mind. With less time on hands to prepare delicious homemade dinners, I did result to instant alternatives on a number of occasions.

I have this Harvey Nichols Risotto Kit in the kitchen cupboard for a while but can never find the right moment to consume this. It would seems that I have saved it for just the right occasion!

The kit contained a bag of risotto rice, seasoning and white truffle oil. All I had to do was to boil the kettle, cook the risotto rice and seasoning in boiling hot water until soft. I mixed in some baby spinach leafs and blanched some fine beans to boost up my 5-a-day! Seasoned with black pepper, pour over the  white truffle oil and sprinkled some parmesan on top!

It has a very strong truffle flavor which I love. It must have been a physiological barrier in stopping me to enjoying it fully, knowing it pretty much came out from a packet.... wroth a try thou! 

Sesame Minced Pork (麻醬肉蓉)

A simplistic dish with sesame sauce and sesame oil being the key ingredients, it is well worth a try especially as a mid-week dinner, best to accompany by plain noodles or steamed rice.

Serves 4

500g minced pork (I used Blythburgh free range)

1 banana shallot, minced

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

1 courgette, sliced

1 tbsp light soy sauce

1 tsp cornflour

4 tbsp sesame paste

2 tbsp sesame oil

Pinch of sugar

1. Marinade the pork with light soy sauce, sesame paste and cornflour for 30 minutes.

2.  In a frying pan, fry the shallot and garlic until golden. Note: It might be tempting to use sesame oil at this stage to enhance the flavor. Nonetheless, it has a low smoke point which burn easily, and will develop a bitter taste when burnt.

3. Add in the minced pork and ensure it is cooked properly. Season to taste.

4. Take the meat off the heat and mix in the sugar and sesame oil.

5. In the same frying pan, pan fry the sliced courgette until cooked then mix in with the meat.

Great to serve with rice or plain noodles.

Minestrone Soup

Cold nights, fancy something comforting, quick, tasty and economical for dinner? (Not asking a lot here!) This is just the right recipe to fit the bill. Everybody likes a minestrone soup now and then, it is hearty, filling, packed with goodness and non-pretentious, you know exactly what to expect and not often let down by it.

Depending on your personal taste, most vegetable should goes well together.

Serves 6

2 onion, chopped
2 carrot, chopped
2 courgettes, chopped
4 garlic cloves, crushed
200g garden peas (fresh or frozen)
1 tin of white kidney beans
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 bay leaves
1 tsp dried thyme
Tomato puree, 50g
1.5l boiling organic vegetable stock
100g minute pasta such as orzo, puntine

To garnish:

3 garlic cloves
1 bunch of basil leaves
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp chili oil
Pinch of sea salt

1. In a large stockpot, heat the oil and cook the garlic and onion until soften.

2. Mix in the bay leaves, dried thyme and cook for 5 minutes.

3. Add in the onion, carrot, courgettes and the tomato puree, cook for further 15 minutes or until the vegetables are soft but not cook through.

4. Add in the white kidney beans and stock, turn the heat down and allow it to simmer for 20 minutes.

5. Meanwhile, in a small food processor/ choper, add in the garlic cloves, basil leaves, salt and both the oil. Blitz the content until fine like a paste. Season to taste.

6. 10 minutes before serving, add in the peas and minute pasta. Once they are cooked then the soup is ready to serve, with a dollop of the basil garnish.