Gin & Tonic battered fish

Once a year I bust out and make battered fish & chips & onion rings. What better time to have fish than Good Friday!

I guess this is taking it to the next level. A beer batter is fairly common place. A few years ago I saw an episode of "In Search of Perfection" by Heston Blumenthal. In that episode he perfected the dish "Fish & Chips". His recipe uses equal parts of vodka and beer to make batter. Here a posting of his recipe

So I decided to take it up a notch and use gin in place of the vodka and tonic water in place of the beer. This recipe make a lot of batter and could be reduced and still make enough batter

200g all purpose flour
200g corn startch

1 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp honey
250ml (1 cup) gin
355ml (1 can) tonic water
2 filets of haddock
2 slices of a large onion
1 large potato

Basic Batter ingredients

1. Combine the flours and baking powder
2. Dissolve the honey in the gin and add to the flour mixture. Add the tonic and fold in to combine.

Ready to go.

3. Remember to dust the fish with flour so the batter adheres to the fish.

Here are the final results. It does make a crispy batter

Braised Cabbage & Beef Soup

Cabbage: Is there  any better value for your money. It is a very low calorie food and contains a good amount of protein.

I bought a cabbage last fall. I don't know how much it weighted then but I have bee gnawing at it and I took off over 1kg for this recipe and there is still a significant amount of cabbage left

This recipe is based on the Braised Cabbage soup with beef from the book "best-ever SOUPS" by Anne Sheasby, pg 193. I found that recipe lacking in liquid so I added 2 litres of chicken stock at the end to create a more soup like dish

Ingredients

Ingredients	Calories	Protein
1.26kg cabbage, shredded	279	16.7
1 large onion, diced (495g)	208	4.6
1/2 cup apple juice	53	0
43g brown sugar	162	0
20g garlic (4-5 small cloves)	30	1.3
1/4tsp grated Nutmeg	0	0
1 tsp caraway seed	0	0
1/4 cup red wine vinegar	0	0
4 cups beef stock	125	18.9
2 litres chicken stock	133	13.3
750g extra lean ground beef	1613	139.4

Yield 9 two cup servings
Total calories: 2603, Total Protein: 194.2g
Per serving: Calories: 289, Protein: 21.6g

What remains of the cabbage!

1.126kg of shredded Cabbage

1. Pre heat the oven to 300F. Combine the cabbage, onion, apple juice, brown sugar, garlic, nutmeg, caraway, and vinegar. Put in a large roasting pan, cover and bake for 3 hours. Periodically stirring the mixture.

Cabbage after braising

2. Fry the ground beef in you soup pot. Adding some salt and pepper to season the beef while it cooks. Fry the beef until it starts to brown a bit.

3. Add the beef stock and de-glaze the pan. Add the braised cabbage and the chicken stock. Bring to a boil and simmer for 30min to allow the flavour to develop. Taste and season as needed.

Final pot of soup

A bow of Braised Cabbage Soup

I found the flavour reminiscent of borscht, without the beets. On the whole a good soup.

Classic Steak Dish - Steak Diane

Time to bust out and flambé something!

I am always looking to the classic dishes to test myself. I want to know that I can make the classics and then move on to my own variation of the dish. Here we are with Steak Diane. The recipe I used is based on recipe made bu Emeril Lagasse. You can find it on the Food Network web site here - Emeril's Steak Diane

I have used to thick pieces of beef tenderloin. I will leave them thick sear them and then let them continue to cook in the oven.

2 Beef Tenderloin Steaks - 8oz each
salt, pepper, granulated garlic to season the steak

Raw Steaks, seasoned

1 tbsp bacon fat
2 minced shallots (~3/4 cup)
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 cup mushrooms
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup brandy
1 tbsp dijon mustard
1/4 cup half & half
1/3 cup reduced beef stock
2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
few drops of hot sauce

Put a pan over medium head and let it get hot. Add the bacon fat and sear the steaks on all sides to develop a nice brown crust. Remove the steaks and keep in a warm oven.

Add the shallots and garlic to the pan and cook for about 30 seconds. add the mushrooms and continue cooking. Add the water to deglaze the pan. When most of the water has evaporated add the brandy and ignite.

It was quite spectacular. This is where you need an assistant to wave a towel at the smoke detector. The following shows the dish when most of the flame had burned out.

Add the mustard, cream and stock and mix thoroughly.  Add the Worcestershire and the hot sauce and stir to combine.

This where I made my mistake. I forgot to return the steaks to the pan so they could continue to cook a bit in the sauce. As it was, some might say the meat was raw and wriggling. I plated the steaks and spooned the sauce over the steaks.

Here it is served with pan roasted potatoes and broccoli tenders.