cook
WITH BERN THE CHEF
www.bernthechef.com.au
Bern the Chef
is a local caterer who has been in the Lane Cove area for over 15 years. She has worke in many corporate catering positions as well as operating a small business. Bern love catering and the freedom that clients give her to do what she does best. Cooking is her forte and Bern loves the classics as well as keeping up to date with the latest foo trends. www.bernthechef.com.au
It’s the ideal time to get your roasting dishes out and let your house fill with warm spicy Autumn blissfareThere’s nothing quite like walking into a warm home with aromas aromas. Rich Christmas is warmly welcomed here at this time of a year. of baked puddings and roast dinner. With more time spent inside, the change of
season provides the perfect excuse to try new recipes. BY BERNADETTE KENNEALY. Upside Down Pear Cake Cooking is great for so many reasons, whether it be therapy; to crack open thatatgreat wine; or toplus grab a bunch of • 250 gm unsalted butter, roomred temperature, extra for greasing friends on a weekend afternoon for nourishment, a laugh and a bowl of comfort. • 200 gm (1 cup firmly packed) light brown sugar
Walking past the butcher’s daily offerings, are there meat cuts you wish you knew how to use? Perhaps skirt steak, pork • 1 kilo pears, peeled and cut into 2 cm slices cheeks or chicken Maryland? Pork cheeks are one of my• favourites and my ears prick up every time I hear of a new recipe. 300 gm (2 cups) plain flour Pears The version below would be delicious with rice noodles•and broth and meal is best made the morning of, or even go the well day before. 50 gm almond
with blackberries, • 2 tsp baking powder • 1 tsp ground ginger raspberries, • 1/2 tsp ground cloves pistachio, almonds, • 1/2 tsp salt ginger, vanilla, brie, • 300 ml milk blue cheese • 2 tsp vanilla extract • 360 gm white sugar & pork. • Oil for frying • Spice rub • 6 eggs, separated onions, finely chopped Roasted Pork, Cider &• 3Pears • 1 tblspn sea salt • 4 cloves garlic, peeled and Preheat the•oven to 170C. Melt 75gm butter over medium 1 tblspn smoked paprika Look for a free-range pork shoulder with the skin on. heat, add brown sugar, stir occasionally until dissolved finely chopped • 1 tblspn ground cumin Rinsed and dried, score the skin about 5 millimetres deep, • 2 carrots, chopped. (3-4 minutes). Spread in the base of a buttered 22cm x 1 cm across the whole piece. Carefully pour a roughly whole jug springs fresh thyme leaves 32cm cake •tin4 or baking dish, arrange fruit on top in rows, of boiling water over the skin, let it •drain & cheeks dry while you 1 kilo 6 pork - approx overlapping• slightly, setmustard aside. powder 1 tspn dry prepare the roasting dish. (or substitute with beef cheeks) Combine sifted flour, baking powder, ground ginger & • 1 tspn ground white pepper 2 peeled & roughly sliced onions, 2• 2lengthwise splitpeel carrots inches ginger, and slicecloves and salt in a large bowl and add almond meal. & a teaspoon of fennel seeds scattered on the Combine milk and vanilla in a separate bowl and set aside. • 1/2 cup lighttray soygives saucea delicious bed of flavour to sit the pork on. A tablespoon of Beat remaining butter and sugar in an electric mixer until • 500mls stockthe olive oil and salt rubbed into the pork skin tochicken encourage AnyAdd meategg cooked theat bone has more flavour. pale and fluffy. yolksonone a time, beating well Although it does driest flakiest crackle and place in •the at 160 degrees 1/4oven cup Shaoxing wine take longer to cook, the flavour intensity is worth after each addition. Mixing at low speed, add one-third of it! for around 2 hours for a 2-3 kilo piece. This recipe based 6 people. on one Maryland then is half the on milkfeeding mixture and mixWork to just • 3 pieces dried mandarin peel the flour mixture combine. Add per remaining person, skinflour on. mixture, then remaining milk (Asian grocer) While the pork is cooking, prepare your favourite mixture, mix to just combine, then transfer to a large bowl. vegetables. • 2 whole star anise Whisk egg white and a pinch of salt in an electric mixer Allowing enough for ½ a pear per person, & core (or to taste) • 2 driedpeel red chillies until foamy. Mix Whisking continuously, gradually add all spice ingredients together in remaining a bowl. Slash the pears, place in a roasting pan inside part facing up. Drizzle • 2 cinnamon sticks sugar and whisk untillegs, medium form. halfon thethe egg with extra virgin olive oil, plenty of freshly cracked black chicken placepeaks a couple ofFold slashes thigh and then • 1 tspn white peppercorns white mixture into the batter, then fold in the remaining egg pepper, sea salt and roughly chopped sage. Dot a teaspoon rub the spices into all the nooks and crannies. Place onto a white mixture. Spoon into the cake tin over fruit, spreading of butter on each piece of pear, sprinkle withdark a little • 2 tblspn soybrown sauce a single and and refrigerate forsprings a couple of hours. evenly. Baketray untilinthe cake layer is golden the centre sugar & add a bottle of pear cider. •Roast for 40 minutes 2 tblspn brown sugar Add a couple of wedge cut Spanish onions, smashed whole back when lightly pressed (50 minutes-1 hour), cool in the4tin along with the pork. garlic cloves, 1 punnet of cherry tomatoes (whole), and one • 6 mandarins, whole (10 minutes). Turn out gently. Delectable warm or cold with Baste the pears with the cider a couple of times while orange cut or into double cream, custard icequarters. cream. Drizzle with olive oil and place cooking. When your pork is cooked, remove it from the into a medium hot oven (160 degrees). ovenSauté and let it rest.inIf ayour crackle needs onions heavy basedstill pot with love, oil forpop 4-5itminutes Roast for 30 to 40 minutes. back into the oven to crisp up. Add a tablespoon of mustard until translucent. Add the trimmed pork cheeks and brown As that is roasting, sauté a couple of chopped bacon rashers and a dollop of cream to the cooking juices for gravy.
Mandarin and Ginger Pork Cheeks
on each side. Add the ginger, carrot and aromatic spices and cook stirring for another 3 minutes until the whole pot is 32 TVO fragrant. Add the stock and Shaoxing wine, transfer into an oven dish, cover and slow cook on 140 degrees for 2 hours. Add the whole mandarins, the dark soy and brown sugar,
Chicken Maryland with Bacon and Polenta
enjoy
in a heavy based pot. Add 2 cups of polenta and 1 litre of chicken stock, working quickly until a soft porridge consistency. Turn the heat off and cover. Leave for 5 minutes to absorb and soften, add 100gms butter, freshly chopped
