Fire and Soul

Passport & Plate - Lamb and Seasonal Vegetables

Canada | Friday, March 6, 2015 | 5 photos

Ingredients
Red wine vinegar
Kosher salt
Red, golden baby Beets
butter
olive oil
carrots
White balsamic vinegar
apple balsamic vinegar
garlic
carrots
lemon juice
rack of lamb
honey
lemon juice
sugar

 

How to prepare this recipe
BEETS

Red and Golden Baby Beets
Ingredients:


v 200 g (7.1 oz) Water

v 12 g ( 0.4 oz) Red wine vinegar

v 16 g ( 0.6 oz) Kosher salt

v 120g (4.2 oz) butter

v 4 baby red beets skin on

v 4 baby golden beets – skin on



Procedure:


v In a small saucepan, combine water, vinegar, salt and butter over low heat. When the butter has melted, divide the mixture evenly between 2 large vacuum bags. Add the ref beets to one of the bags, and add the baby golden beets to the other bag. Arrange the beets into a single layer in each bag and seal on highest sealing.

v Cook en sous vide in large pool of water at 16.5°f (70°c) for 45 minutes, or until tender

v Transfer bags to a bowl of ice water to cool for at least 20 minutes, or until completely cool.

v Remove the beets from the bags, and place in separate containers. Add 30g (1.1oz) of the their perspective cooking liquids to the two separate containers

v Peel beets with fingers, keeping tails intact.

v Using a 3/4 – inch (1.9 cm) round cutter, trim the beets. Return to the containers with cooking liquid and refrigerate.

Pickle golden beets


Ingredients:

v 1 Large golden beet – peeled

v 2 tablespoons of white balsamic vinegar

v 1 teaspoon salt

Procedure:

v Slice the beet paper-thin on a mandolin. Use a 1½ - inch ring cutter to cut the slices into circles.

v Bring the white balsamic vinegar and salt to a boil and pour the whole liquid over the beet slices. Allow to come to room temperature.



Pickled Red beets


Ingredients:



v 1 medium reed beet, peeled

v ½ cup white balsamic vinegar

v 1½ tablespoon of salt


Procedure:

v Follow the procedure that was ascribed to the Pickled golden beets


Raw beets


v Slice finely on a mandolin. Store in ice water



Carrot crudités


Ingredients:

v 10 g sugar

v 40g water

v lemon juice

v apple balsamic vinegar

v 3 carrots thinly sliced



Procedure:

v Dissolve the sugar in the water, and then add the lemon juice and apple balsamic vinegar. Marinate the carrots in the lemon balsamic syrup.


Carrots
ingredients:

v 4 baby carrots


Procedure:



v Blanch all the carrots in salted water for 1-3 minutes depending on type and size

v Warm the carrots the smoked hay butter before serving





Potato compote with horseradish



v 100 g new potatoes/ Rossete, peeled

v Butter

v Salt

v 1 Teaspoon of horse radish



Procedure:

v boil the potatoes for about 30 minutes until tender. Drain, then dehydrate in the oven at 60 °C (140°F) for 10 minutes. Mash the potatoes with plenty of butter and 1 teaspoon of horse radish\, season with salt and pepper to taste.





Pickled onions

10 small shallots

100g dark beer

55 g apple balsamic vinegar

45g honey

1sprig thyme

1 bay leaf



Procedure:

Peel the shallots and cut them in half. Blanch for 2-3 minutes until soft, then cool in ice water. When cold, cut off the bottoms and separate into single petals.

Bring the remaining ingredients to the boil in a pan and pour over the shallots to pickle them. Store on a pickling jar, and keep at least for a week before using.





White Cabbage disc

1 white winter cabbage

smoked butter emulsion



procedure:

preheat the oven to 100°C (200°F). cut the cabbage into very fine slices, retaining the basic shape. Stack 4 slices on top of each other with small sheets of baking (parchment) paper in between, and brush all the slices with the smoked butter emulsion. Vacuum pack the bags in a single stack and steam them in the oven for 10 minutes.



Note: if you don’t have sou vide bags . steaming them with out it and adding the butter later can work too.





Smoked butter emulsion

100 g water

250 g butter

5 g hay finelly chopped





Procedure:

Heat the water in a medium pan, cut the butter into pieces and whisk it in to emulsify. Burn the hay with a smoke gun or a hand-held food smoker, fill the pan with smoke and cover with a lid. Let it infuse a few minutes until the smoke has disappeared. Repeat a few times until a smoky aroma emanates from the emulsion.



Note : if you don’t have either of the smoke machines. Heat the hay in a pan before burning it add it into a bowl that fits in the pot and close with the lid.

 

The story behind this recipe
WorldNomads Scholarship
March 5, 2015


Fire and Soul
Daniel Silva

To be frank, I do not really have a story to share with you today about a recipe handed down to me from my grandmother, or a memorable food recipe that is instilled somewhere inside of me. This is not because I have missed placed it, but because I want to share with you a recipe with a story that speaks deeply of me and my passion. One of the places that we often forget to visit is our hearts; our hearts contain a burning passion for what we mostly love and desire. This fire within our hearts guides us to endeavour that of which we long for, but often choose to forget. I believe in particular that passion should not be deserted or set aside in our minds and hearts, but unfortunately, it is almost always left unattended and forgotten due to our busy lives and worries that pile on top of it. I hope that you can experience and understand my passion through this dish.
I believe the only thing that can completely turn off that passion in your heart and your thirst for desiring more in life is yourself. Because truly, the only limits are the roadblocks you set for your self. Creating this dish has been an opportunity for myself to dig out that long neglected flame that had been stored away for a while, and that had been gasping for air for a long time. I sincerely believe that during the planning and preparation of this exquisite dish, the fire inside of me finally had the chance to spread and take its natural course of life; its radiance has indeed ignited in me and once again bring illumination to my passion.
Cooking is a personal act, for yourself and the people for whom you are cooking for; it becomes art in an individual expressionist way. My endeavour for this dish is that you get to know and understand me and the emotions that surround my ambition to acquire the taste of my true self again. I hope that you can experience and understand my passion through this extremely fine dish. The moment when you bite into a beet or a carrot, you simply understand my respect for the natural flavours and textures of a seasonal and locally grown vegetable that asks no more than just a soothing note to accompany it. The moment  the smoked hay butter coats your tongue, you will be teleported to an amazing winter out in the countryside of the breathtaking province of Alberta Canada, where round bales of hay fill in, to what seems to be an infinite landscape that truly inspires and touches your soul. Meanwhile, in your thoughts you reminisce the family gatherings on cold winter days, where all you could feel is the warmth of the house, the food, and the loved ones that surrounded you on those memorable and special cold winter evenings. Let the aroma of the slow cooked moist and tender lamb, and the mashed potato with a hint of horse radish recollect all those enjoyable moments . I hope I was able to take you on that journey now that I have been able to revive my spirit. I believe that food is powerful enough that it can connect you with people, memories and emotions. In other words I hope that this recipe allows you to see the spirit and intent of what I am trying to convey.