Kathy's Menu for December 2000

Starter : Salmon Mousse

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Main Course : Turkey Breats with White Wine and Grapefruit

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Pudding : Meringue Roulade with Christmas Fruit Ice Cream

Salmon Mousse
Serves 8

Ingredients

7 floz (400ml) fish stock
2 sachets gelatine
1lb smoked salmon
1 small jar (2oz/50g) jar of red salmon caviar or lumpfish roe
24 floz (650ml) double cream
salt and pepper
juice of 1 small lemon

8 individual ramekin dishes

Method

1. Make collars for the ramekin diahes with a double thickness of oiled greasproof paper. Wrap around the dish and secure with an elastic band around the middle.
2. Bring the stock to boil in a pan, turn off the heat and whisk in the gelatine until completely dissolved. Allow to cool but not to set.
3. Put the smoked salmon and a little of the stock in to a food processor or liquidiser and make a fine puree. Turn the mixture in to a bowl and add the remaining cool fish stock. Fold in 1.5oz(40g) of the caviar. Whip the cream, adding a little salt, pepper and lemon juice, until it stands firm but not too stiff peaks.
4. Cut and fold the two mixtures together. Pour in to individual ramekin dishes fitted with collars. Chill until set, which will take about 4 hours. Garnish with the remaining caviar.

Turkey Breasts with White Wine and Grapefruit
Serves 8

Ingredients

8 turkey breast pieces
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon mace
3 pink grapefruits, segmented
8oz (225g) seedless white grapes
one quarter of a bottle of dry white wine
2 teaspoons ground coriander
16 cherry tomatoes

Method

1. You might need to cook the turkey in two batches, depending on how large your frying pan is. Heat the oil and butter in a large frying pan until it is smoking and seal the breasts for 1 minute on each side until golden brown. Season well with salt pepper and mace. Reduce the heat and continue cooking for about 5 minutes each side until cooked through, turning regulalrly. Keep warm in a serving dish.
2. Strain the juices in to a clean frying pan. Add the grapfruit segments, grapes, white wine and season well with slat, pepper and coriander. Heat through and then remove the fruits to the serving dish with the turkey. Add the tomatoes to the pan and let the sauce bubble until it reduces to about a quarter of a pint (150ml).
3. Serve the turkey with the sauce spooned over it. Serve with a selection of seasonal vegtables or salad selection.

Meringue Roulade with Christmas Fruit Ice cream
Serves 8

Ingredients

For the meringue
1 level teaspoon of cornflour
quarter level teaspoon ground cinnamon
10oz (275g) caster sugar
5 large egg whites
1 teaspoon fruit flavoured vinegar

For the Christmas fruit ice cream
1.75 pints (1 litre) good quality vanilla ice cream
2oz (50g) sultanas
2 tablespoons marsala
3oz (75g) candied peel
2oz (50g) natural glace cherries
0.5 oz (10g) crystallised angelica

For the Marsala Custard
2 tablespoons marsala
8 large egg yolks
6oz (175g) caster sugar
1 level teaspoon ground cinnamon
1.25 pints (725ml) full cream milk

Swiss roll tin 14x10 inches (35x25.5 cm) lightly oiled and lined

Method

1. To make the ice cream. Put the sultanas and the marsala in a bowl then chop the candied peel, cherries and angelica into small pieces and mix thoroughly with the marsala and sultanas. Leave to macerate for 4 - 24 hours.
2. To make the custard, beat the egg yolks, sugar and cinnamon together until thick and pale. In a large sucepan, heat the milk to simmering point, then whisk into the egg and sugar mixture. Rinse out the milk pan and return the custard to it, then cook over a medium heat, whisking all the time, until the custard thickens and is nearly boiling. (Do NOT let it boil). Remove the pan from the heat and plunge the base in to some iced water. Continue to whisk the custard occasionally until it has cooled enough to be in no danger of curdling, then pour in the marsala and taste. Add a little more marsala if desired. Pour the cooll custard in to a jug, cover with clingfilm and refridgerate until ready to serve. (It can be kept for up to 48 hours in the fridge).
3. To make the meringue, first pre heat the oven to 150C (300F, gas mark 2). Sieve the cornflour and ground cinnamon into the sugar, combine thoroughly and leave to one side. Whisk the egg whites until they form firm satiny peaks and then whisk in the vinegar.
4. Pour about a quarter of the sugar mixture in to the egg whites and fold in with a large metal spoon. Repeat with the remaining sugar a quarter at a time until it is all thouroughly inocporated. Spreda the meringue mixture in to the prepared swiss roll tray keeping a 0.5 inch (1cm) gap around the edges to allow for expansion. Cook in the pre heated oven for 20 minutes, then reduce the heat to 110C (225F, gas mark 0.25) and cook for 25 - 30 minutes or until the meringue is a light golden colour and firm. Renove from the oven and allow to cool.
5. Cut off a piece of clingfilm sveral inches longer than the baking tray and stretch it out on a clean work surface. Slide a knife around the edges of the baking tray to free the meringue. Turn the meringue (still with the paper on it) out on o the cling film, leaving a few inches of film showing at both ends. Peel of the baking paper.
6. To assemblethe roulade, transfer theice cream to a lrge bowl and add the soaked fruits and mix thoroughly. Working quickly, spreda the ice cream mixture over the meringue, leaving a small gap around the edges and abour 2 inches (5cm) at the least damaged short end. Roll up the meringue - starting from the edge where the ice cream reaches the edge. Use the cling film to help you roll, keeping the roll as tight as possible and finishing with the end tucked underneath. Wrap the cling film around the roulade and transfer it to a flat baking sheet. Put it in the freezer to firm up.
7. To serve, remove the cling film and transfer the roulade to a lipped shallow dish. Serve with the custard.

Cookery Book Recommendation of the Month

How to Eat by Nigella Lawson
"How to Eat" puts the British culinary renaissance into a more useful and realistic context. It takes cooking out of the hands of food professionals and makes good cooking a normal activity by explaining how to cook and enjoy food.

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