Duck Confit with Crisp Beetroot Salad
The salad to go along side this is easy too and involves no more than whisking a dressing together and grating the beetroot on a mandolin.
Duck Confit with Crisp Beetroot
Salad
Spiced Lamb Pistachio and Beetroot Salad with Orange Dressing
Spiced Lamb with Pistachio and
Beetroot Salad with Orange Dressing
The lamb itself was tender and cooked to just pink with a brilliant
sumac based spice rub and the orange and honey in the dressing
balanced out the beetroot. A bit of cumin in the dressing tied it
in with the lamb and a bit of honey did the same for the
yoghurt.
Spiced Lamb
Pistachio - Serves 2
2 lamb back-straps
2 garlic cloves
2 tablespoons of olive oil
½ tablespoon of coriander seeds
1½ tabelspoon of cumin seeds
1½ tabelspoon of allspice
2 tabelspoon of sumac
¼ cup of shelled pistachios, crushed
Mint Yoghurt
½ cup of yoghurt
1 tabelspoon of finely sliced mint leaves
½ tabelspoon of honey
Beetroot Salad with Orange Dressing
1 beetroot, diced
1 potato, diced
½ cup of grated carrot
½ tabelspoon of fresh ground cumin seeds
1 teaspoon of orange zest
juice of 1 orange
½ tabelspoon of honey
2 handfuls of salad leaves
Starting with the beetroot salad; steam the beetroot for about an
30-45 minutes or until it’s fairly tender but still has a bit of
resistance. Add the potato and carrot and continue to steam until
all is tender and the tip of a knife has no resistance left to it.
Toss through the salad leaves and put aside until serving. Mix the
remaining salad ingredients into a bowl for the dressing.
For the mint yoghurt, mix it all together. Put aside until
serving.
Lamb. Toss the lamb, garlic and oil together and stand to marinade
for two hours. Grind and mix the spices together. Once the lamb has
marinaded for the set time, rub the spice mix all over the meat and
fry or bbq on medium-high for 5 minutes each side. Take the lamb
off the heat and wrap in foil for 8-10 minutes to rest.
Dress and plate the salad. Slice the lamb back-strap on the
diagonal and plate. Sprinkle with the pistachios and drizzle around
the mint yoghurt.
Curry Dusted Sea Scallops with Roasted Beetroot Salad and Baby Pea Puree
I'll admit, tonight I cheated and bought the roast beetroot salad from David Jones, but it seems fairly simple to make. It just looks like carrots, beetroot and new potato all diced to bite sized chunks and roasted together in a foil jacket with a splash of either chicken stock, white wine or verjuice until tender (I guess 180°C for 20 minutes and check for tenderness). I really just got it for colour and texture contrast from the rest of the dish. Having served this with them I really think it needs the balance, it would have missed something with out it.
Curry Dusted Scallops with Baby Pea Puree -
Serves 2
300g frozen baby peas
2 spring onions, sliced finely
Knob of butter
Squeeze of fresh lime juice
8 Sea Scallops without roe
2 teaspoons of curry powder
Salt & pepper to taste
Boil the peas in some lightly salted water until done and drain of
almost all of the water. Add the spring onions, butter, salt and
pepper and whiz in a blender or with a stick mixer until a rough
puree is formed, taste and add lime juice enough to give the mix a
slight sharp and fresh taste.
Mix the curry powder and salt together on a plate and roll all of
the scallops in the mix until they're evenly coated and fry off in
a hot pan with butter for 1 minute on each side.
Plate with a few spoonfuls of the pea puree on a plate, topped with
the beetroot salad and finally the scallops.
Serve with a dry white wine such as the
2007 Vasse Felix Classic Dry White from
the Margaret River I
had. It's a very nice light white wine with a subtle passionfruit
flavour.
