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South America expedition


STARTER



Hot-smoked BBQ Salmon


Ingredients:

  • 400 g fresh salmon fillet
  • 1 tablespoon of beech wood fuel
  • Salt
  • 1 teaspoon of butter

Hardware:

  • 1 cake rack
  • 1 wok with lid

 
 


Preparation:

Remove any bones and skin from the salmon fillet before cutting into 8 strips of about a finger’s width each. Salt the salmon and lay it onto the cake rack. Put the beech smoke meal into the wok and heat until it begins to emit smoke. Place the salmon and the rack in the wok (don’t let the salmon touch the base) and cover the wok with the lid. Take the wok off the heat and let the salmon absorb the flavour of the smoke for 4 minutes before removing it. Just before serving, cook for a further 8 minutes at 180 degrees in a fan-assisted oven.



Cucumber rolls with lemon cream


Lemon cream ingredients:

  • Juice of half a lime
  • 8 tablespoons of crème fraîche
  • Salt
  • 1 large pinch of chopped dill

 


Preparation:

Mix all the ingredients together, mix until smooth and carefully season with salt to taste.


Cucumber rolls ingredients:

  • ½ cucumber
  • 1 teaspoon of finely chopped dill
  • 2 tablespoons of grape seed oil

 


Preparation:

Cut the cucumber into wafer-thin slices, as long as possible and a finger’s width in length, before placing in a bowl together with the oil and dill. Leave the mixture to steep for at least 2 hours. Finally, remove the excess oil from the cucumber and season with salt and pepper. Make a small roll out of each cucumber strip and fill with lemon cream. 



Potato and pumpkin salad


Ingredients:

  • 400 g of potatoes
  • 400 g of pumpkin (preferably Muscat pumpkin)
  • 1 tablespoons of sugar
  • 400 ml white wine
  • 2 tablespoons of light balsamic vinegar
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 2 cloves
  • 2 cardamom pods, crushed
  • ¼ vanilla pods, with the seeds scraped out
  • Pinch of salt
  • 1 tablespoon of starch
  • Freshly ground black pepper

 


Preparation:

Caramelise the sugar and spices together in a pan until golden before dousing with the white wine and vinegar. Bring to the boil, then leave to marinate for 10 minutes. Mix the starch with a little water and thicken the stock mixture with it. Peel the pumpkin and the potatoes and cut them into very small cubes. Boil the potatoes in salted water and add the pumpkin to the warm white wine stock. Drain the potatoes and add them to the pumpkin and stock, then carefully season to taste. The salad is delicious either warm or cold.

ENTRÉE

Salmon ceviche

Ingredients:

  • ½ apple, preferably Granny Smith
  • 160 g salmon fillet
  • The juice of 1 lime
  • 50 ml high-quality elderflower cordial
  • 1 splash of light balsamic vinegar
  • Salt
  • Sugar
  • 1 pinch chilli, finely chopped
  • 1 teaspoon of cornflour

 


Preparation:

Bring the elderflower cordial to the boil and thicken slightly with the cornflour. Add the lime juice, vinegar, chilli and salt, as well as some sugar if desired, until the mixture has a sweet and sour flavour. Leave the sauce to cool. Wash the apple leaving the skin on and cut into small chunks before adding to the sauce. Remove any bones and skin from the salmon fillet before cutting into 8 very thin strips. Add the salmon strips to the elderflower and lime sauce and make sure they are well covered. Cover and leave to cool in the fridge for at least ten minutes. Serve with the apple cubes and a little extra sauce. 


MAIN COURSE

Upside-down roasted fillet of beef with sweet potato mash



Upside-down roasted fillet of beef


Ingredients:

  • 600 g fillet of beef
  • 2 sprigs each of rosemary and thyme
  • 2 tablespoons of warm pressed olive oil
  • Vegetable oil for roasting
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper

 
 


Preparation:

Trim the beef fillet and rub the olive oil into the meat. Generously season with the pepper and herbs. Cook in a fan-assisted oven at 80 degrees, until the core temperature reaches 54 degrees (check with a core temperature probe) and brown on the grill or in a pan with a little vegetable oil. Season with salt and serve immediately.



Sweet potato purée


Ingredients:

  • 600 g of sweet potatoes
  • 1 small piece of star anise
  • ¼ vanilla pod
  • 2 cardamom pods
  • 2 cloves
  • 1 pinch of chilli
  • 1 very small piece of cinnamon bark
  • Salt and black pepper
  • 100 g butter
  • 300 ml of stock
  • 2 shallots
  • 1 clove of garlic

 
 


Preparation:

Peel the sweet potatoes and roughly dice, then peel the shallots and cut them into fine strips. Finely chop the garlic clove and crush into a purée with a little salt. Sweat the shallots, garlic, potatoes and half of the butter with the herbs in a pan, then add the stock, before covering the pan on a low heat until the sweet potatoes are soft. Take out the cinnamon, cloves and cardamom and add the rest of the butter before blending into a purée in a food mixer. Season generously with salt and pepper and keep warm until serving.



Radish leaf chimichurri with glazed radishes


Ingredients:

  • 1 bunch of organic radishes, including stalks
  • 1 clove of garlic
  • 1 small bunch of mint
  • 200 ml of cold-pressed olive oil
  • 50 g grated Parmesan cheese
  • 1 tablespoon of roasted pine kernels
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 tablespoon of butter
  • Ground nutmeg

 
 


Preparation:

Finely chop the garlic clove and crush into a purée with a little salt. Cut off the radish leaves and wash them under cold, running water. Remove the stalks and pat dry. Cut the stalks off the mint leaves and blend the leaves in a mixer together with the olive oil, Parmesan cheese, pine kernels and garlic paste. Blend into a fine purée and season with salt and pepper. Wash the radishes and pat dry, before cutting in half. Fry with a little butter and olive oil in a pan and carefully season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.



Burgundy reduction with beetroot


Ingredients:

  • 1 fresh beetroot (or beetroot juice)
  • 500 ml red wine
  • ¼ vanilla pods, with the seeds scraped out
  • Zest of half a lime
  • 2 crushed cardamom pods
  • 1 pinch Szechuan peppercorns
  • 1 tablespoons of sugar
  • 1 teaspoon of cornstarch

 
 


Preparation:

Caramelise the sugar in a heavy pan until golden, then add the herbs. Add the red wine and lime zest and reduce to a third of the volume before thickening slightly with the cornstarch. Peel the beetroot and grate finely before pressing through a cloth to release the juice. Add the juice to the red wine reduction just before serving. Pour through a sieve to serve.


DESSERT

Winter rocky road – Baileys and gin mousse with crumbled brownie



Brownie


Ingredients for 20 small slices:

  • 300 g dark chocolate
  • 4 eggs
  • 250 g of brown sugar
  • Pinch of salt
  • 200 g flour
  • 50 g of cocoa powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder

 
 


Preparation:

Break the chocolate into small pieces and melt on a low heat with 250 g of butter. In a separate bowl, whip the eggs, sugar and pinch of salt into a mousse for 3-4 minutes using a whisk. Remove the chocolate butter from the heat and fold into the egg mousse. Mix the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder together and quickly fold into the egg mixture. Place the mixture in a buttered baking tin and flatten out. Bake in a preheated oven for about 25 minutes. The brownie tastes best not completely cooked through with a gooey centre. Crumble up 4 brownie slices for this recipe. The rest can be stored for several days.



For the muesli


Ingredients:

  • 300 g of muesli of your choice
  • 100 g of white chocolate
  • 2 tablespoons of sugar

 
 


Preparation:

Caramelise the sugar in a heavy pan until golden, then add the muesli and let it heat for a moment. Remove the mixture from the heat and leave to cool slightly, then continue to mix, ensuring the muesli is completely covered by the sugar and the mixture becomes nice and crispy. Break the chocolate into small pieces and add to the warm mixture. Make sure the chocolate is thoroughly mixed in before leaving to cool.



For the frozen berries


Ingredients:

  • 50 g each of fresh raspberries, blueberries and blackberries
  • 3 tablespoons of icing sugar 

 
 


Preparation:

Lay the berries on a baking sheet and freeze for 20 minutes before serving. Sprinkle the frozen berries with powdered sugar before serving.



For the gin cream


Ingredients:

  • 6 tablespoons of gin
  • 300 ml of Baileys
  • 250 g of whipped cream
  • 2 tablespoons of sugar
  • 1/2 vanilla pod, with the seeds scraped out
  • 2 cardamom pods, crushed
  • Grated zest of a quarter of a lime
  • 3 sheets of gelatine

 
 


Preparation:

Soften the gelatine in cold water, then caramelise the sugar in a pan until golden, before adding the vanilla pods. Crush the cardamom pods and add to the pan along with the lime zest, then pour in the baileys and bring to the boil. Reduce to a low heat before adding the gin and removing the pan from the heat. Add the gelatine to the pan with the Baileys and gin mixture and stir until smooth. Pour the mixture into a bowl and leave to cool down until it begins to set. Then stir once more with the whisk and fold in the cream.

Divide the mixture evenly onto 4 plates and sprinkle the chocolate muesli and the crumbled brownie on top. Sprinkle the berries over the brownies and garnish with some sweet cress or chervil leaves if desired. 

The last step in making winter rocky road:

For a truly spectacular effect, why not clean some nice river pebbles in the dishwasher the day before, freeze them, and put them in a bowl to use as a centre decoration? Place a scoop of ice cream of your choice or the granita from the following recipe on top to wow your guests.


Coffee granita


Ingredients:

  • 100 g espresso beans
  • 1 vanilla pod and its seeds, scraped out
  • 2 cardamom pods, crushed
  • 2 tablespoons of sugar 

 


Preparation:

Grind the coffee beans along with the cardamom, sugar and vanilla to make a strong coffee. Pour the mixture through a filter and cool on ice until the liquid is almost completely frozen. Pour the coffee into a tray and place in the freezer. Stir the mixture every 30 minutes until fine ice crystals are formed.