John Campbell's Formulas for Flavour

xxdilemmaxx

So, as part of my CDWM menu next month I am going to try out 2 recipes from this book.
Starter will be pea soup with homemade ham hock ravioli and mint oil. I have roped in an Italian colleague to help with the pasta making
Mains is slow cooked beef fillet (oven temp is less than 60 degrees for whole cooking time) this is served with confit vegetables, mash and onion ice cream.

The starter can be prepared in advance and frozen and most of the mains can be pre-prepared also.

Just wondering if anyone has tried either of these recipes? Or any of John Campbells recipes? Am I biting off more than I can chew, I am fairly handy in the kitchen but would not be the best presentation wise so this will be a challenge!

Also, if anyone had any ideas for an amuse bouche that would work well with this menu and preferably could be pre-prepared that'd be great!
There are 7 people for dinner :eek:

foodaholic

How about a single pan fried scallop for you amuse bouche you could serve it on a cauliflower puree. You could also wrap the scallop in parma ham.

The Hill Billy

For an amuse bouche - How about roasted ox marrow bones served with a good sprinkle of sea salt & a very thin slice of toasted homemade brown bread? Use espresso spoons for extracting the marrow.

Minder

I've made John Campbell's low cooked fillet of beef a few times. The fillet of beef is very forgiving if your oven temperature is not too variable. If you have any doubts, use a separate oven thermometer. I love the way the cooking time for the fillet is described in the recipe as about 55 minutes. In truth, the cooking time is irrelevant. At 60c, the beef will be rare - it cannot cook any more, because it needs a higher temperature to change to medium rare and so on... You just need to leave it long enough to get to 60c at the centre of the meat. It will be rare, and it will be rare from 2mm under the surface all the way through.

One point - don't season the fillet with salt before cooking in the oven - use pepper only. If you are in any doubt about the meat drying out, wrap it in a thin layer of tin foil and cook for the hour, (hour & 15 or hour & 30, doesn't matter). Once you are ready to plate, unwrap, pour the very small amount of juices into the rib meat sauce and dab the fillets dry, then season with salt & a little more pepper and pan fry again for a minute on each side. Carve straight away - there is no resting required as the beef isn't shocked tight with a very high temperature.

With the rib meat, try cooking the meat on the bone. If you are buying this from a butcher, ask for short ribs or jacobs ladder. Once cooled, you need to pick through the meat and pull the the well cooked beef shreds off the hard cartilage. If you just use the rib meat with the cartilage, you get some hard bits - not nice. If short ribs are not available, oxtail makes a good substitute. Cook it low and slow to get the same effect.

For the confit onions, your hob will be too hot (unless you have a super duper low temperature hob). So I would cook the confit onions in the oven - same as the beef, 60 to 65c. Do them the day before, leave them in the duck fat in a small pan and store it in the fridge, then put the pot in the bottom of the oven as you cook the fillet of beef.


For the presentation, the pictures in the book are a great guide to the sizing of the dish. Remember with a starter and dessert, the main doesn't need to be huge.

With the tortellini for the soup, if they are not coming together or the split as tou shape them, make a ravoli instead.

For an amuse bouche, I'd do breaded stuffed green olives and a sherry granita. The granita can be made in advance, the olives are stuffed with a lemon ricotta, breadcrumbed and deep fried. If you think this a goer, I'll post a recipe.

Lastly, whats a CDWM menu?

Oh and good luck, don't be daunted.

The Hill Billy

Come Dine With Me

Minder

Ta.

looperman1000

Minder: For an amuse bouche, I'd do breaded stuffed green olives and a sherry granita. The granita can be made in advance, the olives are stuffed with a lemon ricotta, breadcrumbed and deep fried. If you think this a goer, I'll post a recipe.


Post this pleeease, sounds gorgeous!

Minder wrote: »

I've made John Campbell's low cooked fillet of beef a few times. The fillet of beef is very forgiving if your oven temperature is not too variable. If you have any doubts, use a separate oven thermometer. I love the way the cooking time for the fillet is described in the recipe as about 55 minutes. In truth, the cooking time is irrelevant. At 60c, the beef will be rare - it cannot cook any more, because it needs a higher temperature to change to medium rare and so on... You just need to leave it long enough to get to 60c at the centre of the meat. It will be rare, and it will be rare from 2mm under the surface all the way through.

One point - don't season the fillet with salt before cooking in the oven - use pepper only. If you are in any doubt about the meat drying out, wrap it in a thin layer of tin foil and cook for the hour, (hour & 15 or hour & 30, doesn't matter). Once you are ready to plate, unwrap, pour the very small amount of juices into the rib meat sauce and dab the fillets dry, then season with salt & a little more pepper and pan fry again for a minute on each side. Carve straight away - there is no resting required as the beef isn't shocked tight with a very high temperature.

With the rib meat, try cooking the meat on the bone. If you are buying this from a butcher, ask for short ribs or jacobs ladder. Once cooled, you need to pick through the meat and pull the the well cooked beef shreds off the hard cartilage. If you just use the rib meat with the cartilage, you get some hard bits - not nice. If short ribs are not available, oxtail makes a good substitute. Cook it low and slow to get the same effect.

For the confit onions, your hob will be too hot (unless you have a super duper low temperature hob). So I would cook the confit onions in the oven - same as the beef, 60 to 65c. Do them the day before, leave them in the duck fat in a small pan and store it in the fridge, then put the pot in the bottom of the oven as you cook the fillet of beef.


For the presentation, the pictures in the book are a great guide to the sizing of the dish. Remember with a starter and dessert, the main doesn't need to be huge.

With the tortellini for the soup, if they are not coming together or the split as tou shape them, make a ravoli instead.

For an amuse bouche, I'd do breaded stuffed green olives and a sherry granita. The granita can be made in advance, the olives are stuffed with a lemon ricotta, breadcrumbed and deep fried. If you think this a goer, I'll post a recipe.

Lastly, whats a CDWM menu?

Oh and good luck, don't be daunted.

Minder

looperman1000 wrote: »

Post this pleeease, sounds gorgeous!

Sherry granita - keep in the freezer in a tupperware box, it keeps for ages.

50ml water
50g caster sugar
350ml fino sherry
175 cream sherry
a little lemon juice

Boil the water and add the sugar. Stir until the sugar is dissolved. Add both sherries and lemon juice to taste (2 tsps). Cool, freeze and rake with a fork occasionally to break it up. At -18c (freezer temp) it doesn't set hard, its more like a slushie. Serve in frozen shot glasses with the olives.

Stuffed breaded green olives. For 6

36 pitted queen green olives
150g ricotta
Grated zest of one lemon
25g finely grated parmesan cheese

Breadcrumb station

150g fine breadcrumbs of your choice
3 eggs beaten with 100ml milk
100g flour

Rinse the olives in fresh water and soak overnight in fresh water if they are particularly salty. Add the parmesan to the ricotta with the lemon zest. Add to a piping bag and fill the olives with it.

Flour, egg wash and breadcrumb the stuffed olives. Chill in the fridge for 15minutes, then eggwash again and breadcrumb again. Deep fry at 170 to 180c for 3 or 4 minutes until golden brown.

The olives need a minute or two to cool before you tuck in as they will be piping hot in the middle.

xxdilemmaxx

Minder thanks a million for your response, I don't know if I'm more or less daunted now

I will be doing a trial run in the next two weeks and may have more questions then if that's ok?
One more thing - did you make the onion ice-cream? Was it a success?
Thanks for the breaded olive recipe, but I'm thinking it might be a bit stressful to do considering everything else going on - I have a serious lack of counter space too so was hoping to have an amuse bouche pre-prepared, if you have any more ideas please feel free to share... I will defo be trying the olives and granita another time when it's not a competition, high panic levels and a deep fat fryer may not be the best idea.

Thanks for the tip re oxtails, I actually have some in the freezer that I got really cheap in tesco's so will try that out.

Any wine recommendations for that menu?

Minder

The recipe I used from John Campbell is Slow-cooked beef fillet with horseradish mash, wild mushroom tortellini and red wine sauce. So no onion icecream.

Wine suggestion - for a red to go with the main course, I think Malbec goes really well with beef. Catena is a good malbec.

Amuse bouche - Ceviche of tuna with avocado. Serve on a chinese soup spoon. Make in advance and chill until needed.