Patrick and Quincy Horan

Chef Michel Nischan, Chef Joel Viehland

Outstanding in the Field is a “roving culinary adventure – a restaurant without walls”. Established since 1999, they have toured all around the USA in farms (and the occasional rooftop and greenhouses) to honor the farmers whose good work brings nourishment to the table.

Ingredients for the meal are almost all local (most sourced within inches of my seat at the table) and prepared by a celebrated chef of the region. After a tour of the site, we all settle in: farmers, producers, culinary artisans, and diners sharing the long table, served family style.

The 180 seat table extends down the beautiful surroundings of the Waldingfield farm in Washington CT as our restaurant decor, old friends and new found it to be something rather special. We give a sigh of relief to the one unwelcomed guest who didn’t turn up = the 40% precipitation warning from The Weather Channel.

Mushroom bruschetta with Beltane Farm’s ricotta salata

Gazpacho shooters from Walker Rd Vineyard, Gertrude’s Garden

Waldingfield farm fresh cucumber daiquiri

Heirloom tomato salad with cheese, balsamic reduction & olive oil

Chopped salad – fresh plum, sea island peas, baby carrots, chèvre, toasted almonds, frisée & mustard vinaigrette

Longmeadow Farm pasture raised chicken with heirloom onions, peppers, kale & chimichurri sauce

Kettle macaroni & cheese, farmstead cheddar, Pleasant cow cheese, house cured pork belly, artisan bread crumbs

Dressing room meatloaf, caramelized onion gravy

Walker Road Vineyard Red

Rosemary corncake with fresh blueberries and herb cream

Waldingfield farm was originally bought by Patrick and Quincy’s great grandfather originally as a dairy farm. Nowadays, it is the largest certified organic farm in Connecticut, stretching across 20 acres of land. Amongst a large selection of vegetables and herbs, there are over 30,000 heirloom tomato plants of different varieties that grow and flourish on Waldingfield Farm. Clever planting such as surrounding the fields with sunflowers draw bees into the area to kill off pests.

You can also purchase their amazing produce by visiting their farm stand.

Proceeds from the dinner we enjoyed also goes to forward thinking organization called Wholesome Wave – which helps low income communities get access to local nutritious foods, purchasable by foodstamps (with the built in incentive for shoppers of DOUBLING the value of those food stamps). The other program they have is the Fruit and Vegetable Prescription Program, where community partners and Wholesome Wave are actually honoring prescriptions from doctors, in exchange for fruits and veggies at farmers markets.

For future events, visit:

http://outstandinginthefield.com/events/2011-tour/

Restaurant manager James Spreadbury explains the Noma signature dish

René Redzepi was quoted about his experience working at the previous number one restaurant in the world, elBulli:

“I didn’t come back to Denmark thinking: I’m going to put a gel of a gel of a gel on my monkfish liver while I whip my guests with burning rosemary,” he said. “I just came back with a sense of freedom.”

The restaurant is situated by the water near the town of Christianhavn, in a converted warehouse space by the water. The whitewashed, exposed wooden beams and contrasted by the smooth dark wood floors. The decor is organic yet modern with very distinct Scandinavian designs – smooth wooden chairs with no perfectly straight lines and fluffy sheepskin throws on every other one, smoked oaked tables with no linen and the changing natural light from the floor to ceiling windows, first bright, then dusk, and then swallowed by the warm glow of the votives lightly reflecting off natural surfaces.

We were seated at our table, beautifully located on a window corner, decorated with a vase adorned with green, leafy herbs and branches, and usually large stalks of what looked like a cross between lemongrass and heart of palm across our charger plates. After navigating through a long list of boutique organic and biodynamic Champagne houses did our server explain that the first two ’snacks’ of our evening were in fact the ‘decorations’ on the table. The serving of the ’snacks’ move quite quickly, a different shared plate is presented in front of each diner, making it quite an interactive experience of exchanging your plate with another until everyone on the table has had their share.

While there was a shorter, seven course menu available, we opted for the twelve course ‘Noma Nassaaq’ menu for the full affair.

Bulrush
dipped in goats curd and hazelnut praline

Malt flatbread and juniper
Dipped in fresh cream

Moss and Cep

Cookie with lardo and currant
Presented in an old fashioned cookie tin

Mussel
Where the bottom shell is edible (made with malt flour and moulded in between 2 mussel shells)

Rye bread, chicken skin, lumpfish roe and smoked cheese
Served on felt, crisp rye bread on top, dry crisp chicken skin on bottom.

Seabuckthorn leather and pickled hip rose petals
Seabuckthorn is a type of berry which tastes in between passionfruit and apricot. The ‘leather’ is made similar to a fruit roll-up: pureed and air dried into thin sheets. This was very delightful!

Pickled and smoked quail eggs
Smoked on apple wood, the smoke puffs out like a magic show as you open the egg shaped box. Instructed to be eaten within 10 seconds of opening.

Radish, soil and herbs
A classic Noma dish – A terracotta pot plant with green leaves popping out from soil. We are told that everything is edible, by hand. Once we pull a cluster of leaves out, a rosy pink radish is revealed, alongside a brilliant green cream beneath the “soil”. The soil is made from beer, hazelnut and malt flour, the green cream made from sheep’s yoghurt flavoured with tarragon, chives and chervil.

Toast, herbs, smoked cod roe and vinegar
The crispy toast was sprinkled with salt and vinegar powder, which was a nice contrast to the fresh herbs

Æbleskiver
A common Danish Christmas dish, but in a savoury variation – warm beignets with baby herring and cucumber filling

Söl and rye bread
Warm bread served with lard and pork shavings

Shrimp and sea urchin powder
frozen, finely grated sea urchin, raw sweet baby prawns atop frozen seawater and river pebbles, dressed with dill oil and fresh biodynamic cream. Garnished with wild flowers and regional herbs. One of my favorite dishes of the night.

Scallops and beech nut, Watercress and grains
The dried scallop slices reminded me of the Chinese dried scallops, but sliced very thinly as a cross section. A very peppery and fresh cut grass sensation of raw watercress puree with lentils

Tartar and sorrel, Juniper and Tarragon
Another famous Noma dish that used to be made with musk ox instead of Danish beef. It is eaten with the hands as you use the sorrel leaves to pinch some of the tartare, smearing it in the tarragon sauce and then swabbed onto the juniper powder.

Langosines and seawater
Oyster mayonnaise, parsley and seawater emulsion, and rye crumbs. The Noma signature dish, where the barely cooked, seared to perfection langoustine is served on a warm basalt stone and is eaten by hand. The flesh is like nothing I have tasted in a shellfish before, perfectly sweet and plump, bursting with juices upon biting into the white flesh.

(added photo from Rene’s twitter account)

Oyster and the ocean
Steamed oyster sprinkled with horseradish, capers of elderberries, wild onion seeds, beach cabbage served in a pot filled with sea shells and pebbles. When the lid is lifted we are filled with the aroma of the sea through the hot steam.

White and green asparagus, Cream and Pine
Green asparagus sauce, pine tips (made with pine vinegar, pine oil and smoked with pine wood)

Pike perch and cabbage, Stems and ramson

The hen and the egg
This was a very interactive and fun dish where each person fries their own sunny side up duck egg. A side plate of herb butter, spinach, ramsons, and herbs was placed at our table. A hot skillet placed on hay was served alonside s a duck egg, a half eggshell containing salt, and some potato crisps. Our server squeezed a drop of hay oil onto the hot skillet and we were told to break the egg on top. A timer was set to 2 minutes on the table, and once the time was up, we added the herb butter and the spinach to the skillet. A sorrel sauce was poured over afterwards, and we crushed the potato crisp and sprinkled over the top. I seasoned mine with the salt provided.

Veal sweetbread and peas, Forest shoots and grilled garlic

Milk slice, sorrel
A perfect palate cleanser, where the sorrel carried us over gently to begin the desserts with frozen milk slices.

Carrots and sea buckthorn
Sea buckthorn flavored frozen spongey ice cream, shaved dried carrots, soft herbs

Brown cheese with beetroot ice, freeze dried black currents

herbal infusion tea, flødebolle
soft meringue covered in chocolate

Chocolate covered potato chips with fennel seeds

Bone marrow caramel
A package was given to us wrapped in brown paper, and revealed 2 hollow bones inside. With your fingers, you have to pop out the caramel on the bottom of the bone, sized like a smaller scallop, is a chewy caramel made with bone marrow. Different, and delightful.

One of the most striking differences I found at Noma was the relationship between the kitchen and the waitstaff. It does not follow the strict French institutional rules of a restaurant, nor does it have the heated, time constrained kitchen under pressure to please. To my delight, the floor and the kitchen work together harmoniously as one. Each chef knows just as much about the diners on each table as the servers (also largely due to the fact that each table, bar two, can be seen directly from the glass kitchen, which is a luxury that most restaurants do not have), and the chefs who are preparing the food are actually serving it directly in front of their patrons, explaining in detail how things are prepared with first hand knowledge. You can hear the genuine passion in their descriptions and not once do you get a snooty French accent giving you long fancy words while making you feel stupid if you asked for a definition. Once would think that this disruption between the front of house and the back of house would create some sort of chaos, but the semblance of it all was so effortlessly harmonious at Noma.

We didn’t get to meet Rene this time around, he’d just become a father to his second child only two days ago and thus he’s taking some time off. He also spends another bulk of his time researching and creating new menu items on his boat, which is berthed outside the restaurant. During our kitchen tour, Sam Neil has explained that Rene has trained each and every one of his chefs to taste every ingredient prior to cooking, so that Noma’s patrons are sure to be presented with each single ingredient at its very best.. All staff members take turns partaking in foraging trips three times a week, to travel to different parts of the country and collect edible plants of all sorts. Sometimes they would pick herbs on their way to work, or alternatively, a company van is available for any staff member to use on foraging trips. Sam explained the importance of tasting something at the prime of its season, and used the example of the broth he makes with onions that are in season – the taste simply cannot be replicated all the time. When he uses onions that are picked later in the season, the flavor profile changes, and he has to adjust the amount of onions used in the same dish up to triple the amount used previously, just to extract the same depth of flavor. At this moment, they have begun pickling fresh ingredients for the winter months.

Sam Miller and the indoor herb storage

We are told the story of Roderick Slone, the Scotsman who lives in Norway. He was originally trained as a cook, but now, in the bitterly and harsh cold winters, Roderick hand dives for sea urchins exclusively for Noma in -10°C waters, moving to the rhythm of the waves and placing each urchin inside a linen sack. The below freezing temperatures of the water means he can only dive 30 minutes at a time, one session after another, up to ten hours a day. The sea urchin we get to enjoy arrive from Roderick’s bare hands in the bottom of Nordic sea and onto our plates in under 48 hours, exclusively for Noma.

After an extensive tour of the various kitchen equipments, tasting different ‘ice creams’ from the paco jets, ingredient storage and just generally trying to enquire about the recipes for each dish, we stumbled upon a group of young stages, preparing for the bi-weekly project presentation. Each young chef is encouraged to design a project that they can present to their peers to express their creativity, their use of ingredients and the flavor of the project they create. Tonight, a hopeful razor clam dish served on celery halves is being prepared for the project.

Many people have asked, “how does Noma compare to elBulli?”. I have no answer, just as I have no answer to whether a wild valley is more beautiful then a perfectly manicured garden. The meal at Noma was profoundly delivering the heart and soul of true Nordic cuisine; and unless you are there – it is quite impossible to replicate such an experience, with the local ingredients, the setting, and most of all, such a heart warming team of passionate individuals who collectively deliver the Nordic terroir onto our plates. We all return home with very fond memories of this gastronomic experience.

Chefs at Noma

Can a girl be any happier?

Noma
Strandgade 93
1401 Copenhagen, Denmark
Tel: +45 32 96 32 97

Spoil-her Series: Simple recipes for men.

Under 5 ingredients, Under 20 bucks. Maximum brownie points.

Ingredients:

• Sashimi grade tuna, 1 fillet
• onion (white onion and green onion)
• ginger and garlic
• condiments – Soy sauce¹, sesame oil and chilli
• Optional: seasame seeds, avocado, jalapeños

Directions:

Finely dice white onion, green onion, ginger and garlic. If you do not want to use a knife, you can use a grater (I recommend a microplane.

Cut the tuna, against the grain, into 2cm cubes.

Combine all ingredients in a bowl.

Add 2 teaspoons of soy sauce, 2 teaspoons of sesame oil.

If you would like to add a twist to your poke dish, toast a few teaspoons of sesame seeds for that extra crunch.

To pack some heat, add chilli sauce, chilli flakes or jalapeños.

Mix well and serve! It also compliments nicely with crackers or tortilla chips as a nice appetizer.

¹Use tamari instead of regular soy sauce for the gluten free version.

There were two bottles that sparked my curiosity, mainly because it would be too risky to store them for another prolonged period of time, and that I couldn’t bare the thought of losing them either! So the date was set, my 1982 Dom Pérignon and my 1988 Château Mouton Rothschild were to be enjoyed prior to me leaving the beautiful city of Sydney.

We brought them along to Lotusbar for pre-drinks, followed by a wonderful degustation dinner.

The 1982 Dom Pérignon still had a lovely array of bubbles gently sparkling through the crystal flute. A beautiful golden color dressed with nice honey scents on the nose. The flavors are just bursting with a great chardonnay fruit, fresh, lightly creamy and incredibly toasty with some sweet nutty fruit and butter. Balanced and beautiful like a ballet dancer tip toeing gracefully on our taste buds.

The 1988 Château Mouton Rothschild was another bottle that needed to journey out of the cellar before my departure. Much to my dismay, the cork was slightly soaked through, and slightly pushed out (probably due to a sudden change in temperature during the buying process) and I was rather worried about possibility of a corked Mouton. I even brought the battered bottle over to the Ultimo Wine Centre for Jon Osbeiston, W.D.(wine doctor) to diagnose with a 55% chance to live, due to the heat damage. The thought of keeping it cellared for my intended event in 2012 would just be foolish, so a date was set for the unveiling of the Mouton. It was a gamble, where the odds were only slightly working towards our favour, fingers were crossed and we hoped for the best.

Peggy Lee Dampney, Amanda Ibrahim

After an hour of decanting by Frank (the cork crumbled and needed to be strained out), the familiar and eager Bordeaux flavors came out in a bout of earthiness. This may not be a perfect wine, but the quality is undoubtedly elegant. It’s rich and fruity, with loads of currant, truffles, roasted herbs and cedar on the nose and palate. Full-bodied, with invisibly silky tannins and an a long finish. I could go on and on, as we savoured every drop and exchanged and challenged tasting notes around the table, just ask my knowledgeable friends! (One of them being the Queen of hospitality - Peggy Lee, I can’t imagine sharing something so special with anyone else.)

When paired with Dan Hong’s roasted duck, still plump and pink in the centre, accompanied with beetroot, purple kale, olive and orange jus, it was a match made in heaven.

A toast to new beginnings! Stay tuned while I settle into the city that never sleeps – New York here I come.

There are many recipes out there for Bolognese sauce, and we all have our own favorite. There are master combinations of pork/veal/beef mince, blend of vegetables to make a killer sofritto, cooking time that goes on for hours and hours… which produces divine results. But for all those times where we just want to prepare a simple meal that’s loved by all, with the same heartwarming effect but half the work, I’ve put this recipe together for you… with a little secret ingredient that really lifts the flavours.

Ingredients:
450g Beef mince
1 jar Barilla Arrabiata sauce
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 brown onion, finely diced
1/2 bunch sage, roughly chopped
1 packet of mushrooms, sliced
1/4 Organic butternut squash, grated
1 packet Barilla Integrale spaghetti n.5
1/2 bottle of good red wine
Parmigiano Reggiano to serve

We want to start of by softening the garlic and onions with a good amount of olive oil in a saucepan. When the onion turns clear and the aroma starts to rise, tear the sage leaves into the hot oil and let the perfume infuse into the oil.

Pour in the mince and brown the meat in the saucepan, making sure everything is cooked through and there are no lumps. Add in the mushrooms along with a little extra drizzle of olive oil, stir it through, and then tip the entire jar of Arrabiata sauce in. I chose the arrabiata because of the extra heat from the chilli’s, and also reduces overall cooking time. And now for the fun part, empty just under half a bottle of red wine into the saucepan – and saving the other half for dinner time.

It’s time to add the secret ingredient. Grate a few slices of a butternut squash with a microplane and add it to the sauce. The sweetness of the butternut really adds to the flavour of the sauce and I’ve always been reluctant to add sugar to cooking. It will all melt into the sauce, and you won’t actually taste the butternut, but only the rich sweetness that is left behind.

Give it a good stir, cover and simmer on low heat for one hour. During that hour, I’ve always found that it’s a great time to work out, because there’s a lot of carbs coming your way!

After an hour, the sauce would have reduced into a much thicker consistency. Cook the pasta according to packet instructions. I chose a semolina flour Spaghetti n5 and cook it just 2 minutes under the instructions for a good al dente texture. This is something that was taught to me by Chef Massimo Bianchi, you have to account for the time when you stir the pasta into the saucepan because it continues to cook.

Stir the pasta into the sauce, grate some parmigiano reggiano to serve and bon apetito!

We started off with some Fat Duck-esque ‘Rice crackers’ where the flavour is spritzed with a sea salt and vinegar atomiser, almost like a deep fried quilted tissue.

The Rangers Valley sirloin roll on toast and wasabi crumbs also makes a great accompaniment for your pre-drinks, just like beef tataki in bite sized pieces

The freshly shucked rock oystrers with lemon ice and soy dressing was ever so refreshing, the lemon ice like a fine powdered snow atop a creamy oyster.

Martinovic’s play on Asian flavours in the roast Red Gate farmed quail with chilli, coriander and roast pineapple creates a tongue in cheek joke about naff Asian takeaway food. His use of humour in his menu and invoking your memories and nostalgia must be something he’s picked up from Heston, but Martinov shows you that you don’t have to do it with a giant conch and an iPod to get the point across.

The sweetness from the grilled QLD king prawn celery perfectly balanced with the tartness of the apple dressing  with avocado.

this is one of my personal favorites: The poached Comboyne hen’s egg is apparently cooked in a waterbath for 70 minutes at 62 degrees until it reaches a texture like panna cotta, served with mustard, grilled king brown mushrooms and paper thin “toast”. Incredible!

The roast tinder creek duck breast was cooked pink to perfection, served with olive oil sponge, baby beetroots, sliced and perfect for sharing. I could’ve sworn he’s borrowed the sponge cake recipe from Ferran, where the batter is siphoned with nitrous oxide into a plastic cup and microwaved! (but correct me if I’m wrong)

The O’Connor scotch fillet with grilled mango, chives and bone marrow was also a winner and equally great for sharing, but I suggest you claim dibs and bagsies on the bone marrow!

The egg pappardelle was presented beautifully with Jannei goat’s curd, broccolini and anchovy, but it was over shadowed by the showmanship of the other dishes on offer. There is also no vegetarian options available on the menu, unless this was ordered sans anchovy.

Let’s move on to our crinkle cut chips! These were triple cooked to achieve the perfect crunch on the outside and the soft steaming potato inside. It was truly like eating mash wrapped inside potato crisps. As you can see we’ve ordered way too much for ourselves, and even when the table was being cleared, I held onto the bowl of chips with separation anxiety.

Yes. However full we were, we make sure every last piece was stomached.

This leaves room for only one dessert on the menu:

The vanilla cheesecake topped with cheese jelly, mulberry sorbet was a fun way to finish the meal. The cheesecake was whipped into the lightest of textures, with the shortbread crumbs smashed against the airy cloud as you chew with the “cheese jelly” cubes. We felt like a kid eating candy for the first time.

We also saw the fig carpaccio on the dessert menu, which used to be one of my favorite desserts at Koi. I was wondering where it had gone when I visited Koi again recently – well now we’ve found it again, it left with the chef.

Kitchen hard at work

There’s no reason why nouveau scientific cooking has to be served in a posh restaurant with white tablecloths and a 1 month waiting list. Martinovic brings the “perfect food” right down to an accessible casual setting, which is what I enjoyed most about my dinner. His spontaneous approach to cooking and importance to have a great time creating his dishes really shine through. Never stop having fun, I say!

The Doltone House Group has just launched a brand new food emporium named Signorelli Gastronomia. The family owned and operated company has a significant portfolio of waterfront entertainment and catering venues, including Jones Bay Wharf and Darling Island Wharf. Signorelli Gastronomia is located on the lobby floor of the new Accenture building in Pyrmont on a lovely waterfront location, not too far from the Good Living Grower’s Markets (held every Saturday). Good living described the location to be similar to Harrod’s Food Hall in London, but I would say it’s a lot less commercial, with a familiar Italian family touch.

Wine room (left), Cheese room (right)

They described it to be a place where “visitors can buy, taste and learn about high quality food and drink… enjoy foods grown within a 100mile radius of Pyrmont that respects local farmers, maintaining a menu that is seasonal and diverse“. The space consists of a shop which stocks gourmet products such as cured meats, fresh pasta, premium gelato and dried herbs; a dining area that seats no more than 30, with mostly bar or communal table seating; a wine room and a cheese room. I appreciated the open layout of the place as we sat close to the pizza station, watching the chef kneading pizza dough on a floured marble bench.

Being day three of opening, there were the much expected service hiccups, but the staff were all incredibly friendly and the service was professional. With our sore heads from the previous night’s activities we were craving some hearty Italian food.

We ordered the ham hock and foie gras terrine served with watercress, baby carrots and toasted sourdough to start, which was delightfully flavoursome, and less rich than the usual chicken liver parfait served by other restaurants. The addition of the baby carrots inside the terrine was a nice touch (perhaps it made me feel healthier?).

A selection of fresh oysters (Pipe Clay, St Helens and Sydney Rock), some served with prosecco granita.

The aroma from the pizza station got the better of us. It was like our minds were read, and the waiter came around and offered us a sample of some freshly made garlic pizza that just came out of the wood fire oven while we were waiting for the next course.

For our mains, I opted for the tagliatelle that was on the specials (something that our waiter initially forgot to mention, but I had overheard the dish mentioned for the next table and changed my choice due to food envy). It was served with chorizo, dried chilli, ricotta and wilted sprouts. This is normally a little too oily for my liking, but it sure hit the spot.

My partner, equally fragile at the time, opted for the sage crumbed 250g veal cutlet with wild rocket, fresh lemon cheeks and capers, fried to perfection with a batter full of flavour.

And what better side dish than the duck fat fries with smoked sea salt? The smoked sea salt added a wonderful dimension, like it had been barbecued over wood chips. I’m sure the smoked sea salt can be purchased from their store. The chips however, I thought were too chunky to be enjoyed, unlike the version from Sean’s Kitchen.

The squid ink risotto, Hawkesbury cuttlefish and soft poached hen’s egg from the next table looked salivating, with the soft centered yolk oozing into the warm rice. One should always leave a reason for a second visit!

There was a great selection of desserts on the menu which I also thought should be saved for my second visit, so we ordered an Affogatto for a quick sugar and caffeine hit. Little did we know it was going to be so fun!

The affogatto was served in a mini copper pot

Instead of the usual liqueur poured in with the ice cream and espresso, the frangelico was encased in a jelly membrane which explodes in the mouth, made with a method of spherification a technique made famous by Ferran Adria.

My only complaint is that the ice cream melted much too quickly and it should have been pressed down and frozen with the copper pots.

James, the chef brought over a few additional “shots” of these jelly explosions that had a bit more kick to the ones inside the dessert. He informed us that they will be holding classes for this new and modern style of cooking later on, which could be quite fun.

Whist we were eating, we spotted a giant block of cheese with a diameter of a barrel that was being carefully divided for the cheese room, and it turned out to be Sovrano di bufala (aged buffalo milk cheese) – one of my favorites! I bought plenty to stock up and share with friends.

Signorelli Gastronomia proves to be a promising food emporium with authentic Italian cuisine and fantastic gourmet products, similar to the style of Fratelli Fresh and Bacco Wine bar.

Along with the grower’s markets, could Pyrmont be the next food hub?

Signorelli Gastronomia
48 Pirrama Road
Darling Island Wharf
Pyrmont NSW 2009
Tel: (02) 8571 0616
www.signorelli.com.au

Sydney seems to be catching up with this new seafood trend, as I noticeably received a lot less “ewww” from fellow Aussies when I talk about uni. Coming from a time when most Australians found the concept of raw fish and dried seaweed revolting, their willingness to try new things have dramatically increased.

”I’ve sold more sea urchin in the past 12 months than I have in the past four years,” says Wayne Hulme from Christie’s Seafood.

Fresh high quality sea urchin flesh is delicate and just firm enough to hold itself together, and just like pudding, it quickly melts in your mouth. Unfortunately, the taste is initially funky and reminiscent of pungent seawater, and that’s when the unadventurous start to gag. However, just like smoking your first cigarette, after a few more puffs, you start to acquire the taste. Sea urchin flesh is delicious: subtle, sweet, creamy, and sea-salty bitter rather than fishy – If an oyster made love to custard.

You can buy fresh washed urchin roe in pre-packaged trays from the fish markets.

Ingredients: (serves 4)

500g dry spaghettini

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, more for drizzling

2 cloves garlic, peeled

1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon crushed red chili flakes

1 punnet grape tomatoes, halved, ripe and room temperature

Sea salt & black pepper

1 tray of sea urchin

I packet of Muji urchin cream pasta sauce

Shredded dried nori (also available in most Asian grocery stores) for garnish

1. Bring a medium pot of water to a boil over high heat. Meanwhile, in a skillet large enough to hold pasta later on, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic, reduce heat to low, and tip the skillet to submerge the garlic in olive oil, brown it on all sides so it flavors the oil.

2. Raise heat under skillet to medium, add chili flakes and simmer for around a minute. Add tomatoes, face down, cook until just until wilted and stir gently.

3. When water boils, add a couple of tablespoons of salt and cook pasta according to packet instructions, minus 2 minutes. Stir well and bring back to boil. When pasta is cooked through but still firm, drain, reserving 1 cup cooking water (this water contains starch and is useful later for the sauce)

4. Turn heat under skillet to low. Add pasta sauce (optional: just replace with butter otherwise). Add about 3/4 of the tray of sea urchin to skillet with a sprinkle of salt and a splash of pasta cooking water to your favored consistency. I like it quite thick and creamy. Add pasta to skillet and toss thoroughly but gently over low heat, adding pasta cooking water and more oil to taste if mixture is dry. Don’t forget to season!

Serve hot, decorating each serving with remaining sea urchin and top with dried shredded seaweed.

The sweetness of the grape tomatoes compliments beautifully with the flavor of the urchin roe.

Ingredients

• 1 ½ tsp. Sugar
• 1/4 cup warm water
• 1 tsp. Active dry yeast
• 1 egg
• 1 ½ cups lukewarm milk
• 1 cup Self raising flour
• 3/4 cup buckwheat flour
• ½ tsp. Salt
• 1/4 cup butter, melted

Directions

In a small bowl, dissolve ½ tsp. Of the sugar in warm water. Sprinkle in yeast and let it stand for approx 10 minutes until the mixture appears to be frothy. In a separate larger mixing bowl, beat egg, milk and remaining sugar. Add flours and salt (I like to sift this in) and beat for 1 minute. Beat in the yeast mixture and half of the butter. Cover the mixing bowl with glad wrap; leave it to rise in warm place until it has about doubled in size (takes around 1 hour).

Heat nonstick skillet over medium heat; brush lightly with some of the remaining butter. It’s really just like making tiny little pancakes. I find that it gets a little messy spooning small amounts of batter onto the pan so I used a piping bag. You can also transfer the batter into a zip lock bag, seal it and cut a small corner on the bottom to pipe with.

I piped ‘blobs’ of batter around 4cm in diameter. Cook until bubbles form on top, then carefully flip each one over and cook until bottoms are golden brown.

Makes around 50 blini. It may seem like a lot, but you’ll be surprised how quickly it goes!

Traditionally, you would serve these with caviar. Sturgeon roe is just one of the most divine flavours that make me weak at the knees. Unfortunately, due to illegal fishing, the numbers of wild sturgeon has dramatically decreased over the years. The Beluga sturgeon is currently considered to be endangered, causing the United States Fish and Wildlife Service to ban in 2005 the importation of Beluga caviar which originated in the Caspian Sea and Black Sea basin. Sterling, a Californian company, have started farming white sturgeon caviar that is almost similar to Ossetra caviar. Do not forget to handle caviar with a mother of pearl spoon, as metal utensils tend to impart an unwelcome metallic taste to the delicate and expensive roe.

You can purchase Sterling Caviar (pictured) from Simon Johnson for around $605.00 for a 125gm serving with your whole family on a special occasion. They also have 30gm servings at $163.00, which is a perfect size for two people. (Hint: Valentine’s day is coming up!)

My favorite condiments to accompany caviar on the blini are finely chopped hard boiled egg yolks, egg whites, chives, creme fraiche, capers, and red onions.

You can also serve blini’s with smoked salmon, making it a great canape at parties.

If you ever have chance to get your hands on Beluga – I would suggest not embellishing the flavour of the roe with anything at all. Known to be the largest sturgeon, it can measure up to six meters in length and consists of very large eggs, which makes it very desirable. Even though Beluga weighing up to 600 kilograms existed in the past, the endangered species rarely come in those sizes nowadays because of overfishing.

I just wanted to let my wonderful readers know that the reservations for elbulli season 2010 is now open, so send your emails to try your luck in scoring a table at the world’s best restaurant!

This is from the elbulli website:

Reservations information – 2010

You can send your request to bulli@elbulli.com from the beginning of January.

All the requests that we receive until the middle of January will be considered to be received at the same time. We will start reviewing reservations at that moment.

We are obligated to forewarn you that, due our limited room capacity for one season, it will be impossible to fulfill most of the requests even those received at the beginning of January.

We will give you an answer as soon as possible but the revision of reservation requests is a very complicated and slow moving process

elbullireservations: bulli@elbulli.com

As I mentioned before in my previous posts, emails written in Spanish normally have a better chance, as 50% of the tables are reserved for those from Spain, and the other 50% for the rest of the world. Your chances are much higher if you appear to be a local!