Make medieval cuisine -- with a modern twist!
Celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal owns "The Fat Duck" in London, named one of the world's top restaurants for four years in a row! He's now also putting a very modern spin on historical English recipes at his new hotspot, called simply "Dinner."
And on "The Early Show" Tuesday, Blumenthal and his head chef at "Dinner," Ashley Palmer Watts, along with Marc Meltonville, food historian at Hampton Court Palace, served up some medieval fare you can make at home. And these aren't just any dishes - they're the stuff of royal feasts!
Co-anchor Erica Hill, in London to cover Friday's royal wedding, sampled the results.
RECIPES
HAY-SMOKED MACKEREL
Serves 4
To make the pickled lemons:
- water 2/3 Cup
- chardonnay vinegar 1/2 Cup
- sugar 3-1/2 Tablespoons
- Amalfi lemons 2
For the mayonnaise:
- Egg 2-1/2 Tablespoons
- Dijon mustard 1-1/2 Tablespoons
- arachide (groundnut) oil 1/3 cup
- chardonnay vinegar A dash
- salt A pinch
- lemon juice 1/6 Cup
For the garlic and anchovy sauce:
- garlic cloves 5 tablespoons: peeled and de-germed (take out green sprout)
- semi-skimmed milk for blanching the garlic 4 x 1 1/3 cups
- semi-skimmed milk 1 Cup
- Panko breadcrumbs 1-1/2 Teaspoons
- anchovy fillets 3 1/2 Tablespoons
- olive oil 1/2 pint
- lemon juice- A dash
- mayonnaise (see above)
To cure the mackerel:
- sugar 2 Tablespoons
- salt 5 Tablespoons
- bergamot zest 1 1/2 Tablespoons
- lime zest 2 Teaspoons
- coriander seeds 2 Teaspoons
- black peppercorns 1/2 Teaspoons
- fresh mackerel 2
- meadow sweet hay
To serve:
- pickled lemon slices
- grelot onions 6, peeled, blanched and cut in half
- radicchio leaves
- Bull's Blood leaves 16
- endive leaves 8, cut in half
- olive oil - 1/8 cup
- bergamot juice - 1/8 cup
The pickled lemons need to be refrigerated for 48 hours before using. To pickle the lemons, in a pan over a gentle heat, mix the water, vinegar and sugar together. When the sugar has dissolved, remove from heat and cool. Thinly slice the lemons, discarding the seeds, and place into the pickling liquid. Place in the fridge for 48 hours.
To make mayonnaise, combine the egg and mustard in a bowl. Gradually incorporate the oil, whisking continually to emulsify. Add the vinegar, salt and lemon juice and mix well. Refrigerate.
To make garlic and anchovy sauce, cover garlic with 300ml milk and add a dash of cold water. Bring slowly to a simmer then drain and rinse garlic under cold running water. Return garlic to pan and repeat process three times.
In a pan, cover the garlic with the 200ml semi-skimmed milk and bring to a simmer. Cook until garlic is very soft and milk has reduced in volume. Remove from heat and pour into a jug. Blitz using a hand blender until smooth, then add breadcrumbs and anchovies and blitz again until smooth. While blitzing, slowly add the oil and lemon juice then pass through a fine sieve.
Weigh garlic and anchovy mix, add 30% of the total weight of mayonnaise, mix well. Refrigerate.
To cure the mackerel, place the sugar, salt, bergamot and lime zest, coriander seeds and peppercorns in a food processor and blitz until finely ground.
Gut and fillet the mackerel. Run the tip of a sharp filleting knife down either side of the pin bones and bloodline in the centre of each fillet and remove this area by pulling it away with fish tweezers.
Spread the bergamot cure on to a tray and place the fish fillets on it, flesh-side down. Cover with clingfilm and refrigerate for 2 hours. Rinse the fillets under cold running water to remove the cure then pat dry with kitchen paper.
Place a layer of hay (available from pet shops) in a fish BBQ clamp and lay the mackerel fillets on top. Cover fillets with more hay and close the clamp.
Do the next step outside! Using a blowtorch or simply placing over a lit BBQ, ignite the hay, then place on a tray and allow the flames to die out. Remove fillets and trim. Place fish in the fridge.
To serve, cut each fillet into four pieces. Spread a tablespoon of the anchovy sauce on each plate and place mackerel on top.
Garnish with the lemon slices, onions, radicchio and bull's blood leaves and endive. Whisk together the oil and bergamot juice and drizzle over dish before serving.
For the recipe for Meat Fruit, go to Page 2.
MEAT FRUIT
For the chicken liver parfait:
* Heston Blumenthal makes this with foie gras and chicken livers, but advises home cooks to use just chicken livers)
- 2/5 cup shallots, finely sliced
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic 1 tsp
- 2 cups sprigs of thyme, tied with string
- 3/4 cup dry Madeira
- ruby port 2/3 cup
- white port 1/3 cup
- brandy 1/5 cup
- table salt 1 tablespoon
- chicken livers (trimmed weight) 1-4/5 cup
- eggs 1 cup
- unsalted butter, melted 1-1/5 cup
Place the shallots, garlic and thyme in a saucepan with the Madeira, ruby port, white port and brandy. Set aside to marinate for 24 hours.
Heat the marinated mixture until nearly all the liquid has evaporated, stirring regularly to prevent the shallots and garlic from burning. Remove from the heat and discard the thyme.
Preheat the oven to 100 degrees C/gas mark 1/4. Fill a bain-marie with 5 cm water and place in the oven.
Preheat a water bath to 50 degrees C.
Sprinkle the table salt over the livers and put them in a sous-vide bag. Put the eggs and the alcohol reduction in a second sous-vide bag, and the butter in a third. Seal all the bags under full pressure, then place in the water bath for 20 minutes. Remove the bags from the water bath.
Combine the eggs, alcohol reduction and meat in a Thermomix and blend until smooth at 50C. Slowly blitz in the butter and blend until smooth. Pass the mix through a fine sieve using the back of a small ladle.
Pour into a terrine dish and place in a bain-marie and cover the bain-marie with aluminium foil. Cook the parfait until the temperature in the centre reaches 64C.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Refrigerate for 24 hours before serving.
For the mandarin jelly:
- leaf gelatine - 3 tablebspoons
- mandarin purée - 3 1/3 cup
- glucose -2/3 cup
- mandarin oil -a dash
- paprika extract- a pinch
Place the gelatine in cold water to soften.
Gently heat the mandarin purée and glucose in a pan to combine.
Add the softened gelatine and stir well until dissolved.
Remove from the heat and add the mandarin oil and paprika extract and stir well.
Pass the mix through a fine sieve and reserve in the fridge until required.
To make the fruits:
Using a spoon, fill dome moulds with parfait, ensuring there is enough pressure to create a completely smooth surface. Level off the tops so that they are flat, and cover with clingfilm. Gently press the clingfilm directly onto the surface of the parfait. Place in the freezer until completely frozen.
Gently de-mould the parfait domes. Place on a board with the flat sides facing upwards. Very briefly run the flame of a blow torch over the flat side, being careful only to just melt the surface of the parfait. Join two halves together and compress using a square of clingfilm. Wrap well in clingfilm and place back in the freezer until required.
Gently push a wooden cocktail stick into the middle of the rounded surface and re-wrap until all the parfaits are complete.
Gently melt the mandarin jelly in a saucepan and allow to cool to room temperature. Remove the clingfilm and dip each ball of parfait into the jelly and stand the sticks, covered in clingfilm, into a piece of Oasis (the green material you get in florist shops to help the flowers stand up). Place in the fridge for a minute, then repeat the dipping process.
Dip three times, then gently remove the cocktail stick and place the balls onto a tray covered in clingfilm. Place a lid over the tray and leave in the fridge to defrost for at least six hours.
Once defrosted, gently push the top of the ball using your thumb to create the shape of a mandarin. Place a stalk and leaf in the top centre of the indent to complete the fruit.