Feaster Sunday

Firstly, I’ll need to apologise for the belated post. I have many excuses for this… all of which I will now recite below:

During the day I work for Opera Australia. I did sing opera for a number of years so when I quit singing and decided what to do afterwards, working in arts management seemed a logicial choice. I currently run the sponsorship team at Opera Australia and for those living in Australia, you will know that we have been rather busy mounting a massive outdoor opera on Sydney Harbour (complete with a stage in the water, giant chandelier with 10,000 Swarovski crystals & 3000 seat outdoor theatre). This has meant a lot of nights and weekends spent on site at Mrs Macquarie’s chair which has meant little time for cooking and writing. 

Added to this, by happenstance Scotty and I managed to get extremely sick a few days prior to opening night having contracted a severe case of the flu which lasted for two weeks and while I will not name names with who we think made us sick (cough Jo Gitsham cough) it made for a rather shaky start to the opera season – we almost didn’t make opening night!

This year, Scott and I hosted a small family Easter Sunday lunch. Mum and Dad were over from Perth and they joined us to share lunch with Scott’s mum. My brother and sister both have two kids each, so it is a rare occasion when it is just adults at a family celebration thesedays – and while I love my family, it was relaxing not having to entertain kids! (my sister’s family were in Avalon having lunch with her in-laws, and my brother and his family were back in Perth with his in-laws).

I wanted to make Easter Sunday lunch extremely special as I rarely get the chance to cook a three course meal for my parents so a few weeks ago I began planning the three courses. I scoured cookbooks and the internet looking for inspiration, recipes and ideas for table displays in the hopes that Easter lunch would be perfect! After a few hours of reading I came up with the following Menu.

FEASTER SUNDAY LUNCH

Entree – Homemade Ravioli Two Ways – Beetroot and Pumpkin
Main – Herb Crusted Lamb Racks with Potato Rosti, Green Beans and a Red Wine Jus
Dessert – Rose and Pistachio Persian Delight Jelly with Rose Fairy Floss

Entree – Homemade Ravioli Two Ways – Beetroot and Pumpkin

I needed to put together a menu where I could prepare two of the courses the day before and then just quickly cook/plate so that I could enjoy the company and not get too flustered. The ravioli were tested out a few weeks earlier so that flavour and timing could be perfected and so that I could figure out what I was going to put into each filling. The test cook went so well that I didn’t need to change anything for Easter lunch.

I prepared the ravioli the day before and then had them in the freezer over night to pop into the water when we were ready to eat them.

This worked brilliantly as I had the water simmering and ready to go when our guests arrived and while they were enjoying their first glass of French Champagne served by Scott, I was in the kitchen putting the frozen ravioli into the water, browning the butter in a pan and then throwwing in the sage to crisp up.

All in all I think it took about five minutes to cook and plate. Also, cooking the ravioli from frozen means they won’t stick together as much as fresh pasta will when cooking.  Given the recipe is already on the blog, I won’t repeat it but you can find it here.

Main – Herb Crusted Lamb Racks with Potato Rosti, Green Beans and a Red Wine Jus

Scotty and I had recently found this amazing meat place in Sydney called Establishment 218 (the retail outlet for the largest Australian-family owned beef abattoir, selling premium meat direct to the public at wholesale prices) so I knew I wanted a great meaty main course. After spotting some great lamb racks I knew I just had to buy them. I can’t really take credit for the Herb Crusted Lamb Racks recipe, these have to be attributed to Gordon Ramsay. The potato rosti, green beans and red wine jus were the perfect addition to the flavourful medium rare lamb racks.

Herb Crusted Lamb Racks

Ingredients:
2 large racks of lamb cut in half with 3 bones per serve
Salt & Pepper
Olive Oil
4 slices of stale bread made into crumbs
1/2 cup grated parmesan
Sprig parsley
Sprig thyme
Sprig coriander
Sprig rosemary
Sprig basil
2 tbsp English mustard

Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Place lamb on cutting board fat side up. Lightly score the fat layer with a sharp knife. Next, generously sprinkle the lamb with salt and pepper. Mop up the excess seasoning with the rack of lamb, ensuring it’s thoroughly coated.

Heat some olive oil in pan. Seal the lamb by holding each side in the oil long enough to develop color (careful not to burn your hands). Transfer the lamb onto a baking dish into the oven and bake for 7-8 minutes. Prepare the crust while the lamb is cooking.

Place all of the ingredients for the crust except the mustard into a blender and pulse several times until it looks nice and green. Make sure you don’t over do it with the olive oil, just a splash. Pour the mixture into a deep dish (bowl or plate) and set aside.

Remove the lamb from the oven and brush generously with mustard. Dip the lamb into the crust mixture coating it completely. Dip several times to ensure an even coating. Allow meat to rest for a bit.
Place it back into the oven for 3-4 minutes when you’re ready to serve.

Potato Rosti

Ingredients:
8 large (about 2kg) desiree potatoes, peeled
1 brown onion, coarsely-grated
60g butter, melted
Vegetable oil, to shallow-fry

Preheat oven to 100°C. Use the coarse side of a grater to grate the potatoes. Place in a colander and add the onion. Use your hands to squeeze out as much excess liquid as possible. Transfer to a medium bowl. Add the melted butter and season well with salt and pepper.

Stir to combine. Add enough oil to a large, non-stick frying pan to reach a depth of 1cm and place over medium heat. Spoon two, 1/3-cup portions of potato mixture into the pan. Use an egg lifter to flatten each portion to a 10cm disc. Cook for 2 minutes each side or until golden brown and cooked through.

Transfer to an oven tray lined with paper towel. Place in the warm oven. Continue in three more batches with remaining potato mixture, adding and reheating more oil if necessary.

Red Wine Jus

Ingredients:
1 rosemary sprig
1 cup dry red wine
2 cups beef stock

Without washing, to the same pan used to brown the meat, add the rosemary sprig and wine to the pan and bring to the boil. Add the stock and bring to the boil. Cook, swirling the pan occasionally, for five minutes or until sauce is reduced by half and thickens to a syrupy consistency. Strain through a fine sieve and discard the rosemary.

Dessert – Rose and Pistachio Persian Delight Jelly with Rose Fairy Floss

I have wanted to try my hand at jelly for some time, although I had always found it hard to find a jelly recipe that I thought had real finesse and class – that was until I came across this amazing rose and pistachio Persian delight jelly recipe from Rachel Lane’s amazing cookbook called Wobble. This recipe requires a lot of fiddling around to start with (namely blanching pistachios and then rubbing all the skins off) but once past this step, the rest is super easy and the finished product is spectacular.

Mid pistachio prep I had to wonder whether I would ever go to this much trouble again to make this dessert but just one bite in (and acknowledging the family murmers of “this is spectacular”) and I knew it would be a firm favourite. This dish was a wonderful follow up to the heavy main course and with a wonderful sweet and fresh flavour left the palate cleansed and refreshed.

Rose and Pistachio Persian Delight Jelly with Rose Fairy Floss
Recipe by Rachel Lane from her book Wobble

Ingredients:

PISTACHIO BLANCMANGE
3/4 cup (90g) unsalted, shelled pistachio nuts
1 cup (250ml) full-cream milk
2 1/2 leaves gold-strength gelatine, cut into quarters
3 tablespoons (60ml) sugar syrup

ROSEWATER BLANCMANGE
1 1/3 leaves gold-strength gelatine, cut into quarters
1/3 cup (80ml) sugar syrup
100ml full-cream milk
1 teaspoon rosewater
1-3 drops pink food colouring

Persian fairy floss to decorate

To prepare the pistachio blancmange, blanch the pistachios for 10 seconds in boiling water, then plunge into iced water to cool. Drain, and rub the pistachios in your hands to remove the skins. Place the pistachios in a small food-processor and blend, until finely ground. Combine with 3/4 cup (180ml) of the milk in a small saucepan over low heat for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside for 10 minutes.

Place the gelatine for both jellies in separate heatproof bowls. For the pistachio, add the remaining milk and the sugar syrup.For the rosewater, add the sugar syrup and milk. Set aside for 5-10 minutes, until the gelatine has softened.

Set each bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and heat gently, stirring occasionally, until the gelatine dissolves. Remove from the heat. To the rosewater jelly bowl, add the rosewater and enough food colouring to dye the mixture a soft pink.Add the pistachio-infused milk to the pistachio blancmange bowl and stir to combine.

Strain the liquids separately through a muslin-lined sieve (rinse the cloth between each batch). Cover the pistachio mixture and keep at room temperature until required. Pour two-thirds of the rosewater mixture into the mould and skim off any bubbles. Refrigerate for 15-20 minutes, until semi set. Add the pistachio mixture, pouring slowly over the back of a dessert spoon resting against the inside of the mould. Refrigerate for 15-20 minutes, until semi set.

Add the remaining rosewater mixture, pouring over the back of a spoon as before, and refrigerate for 2-4 hours, until firm set. Unmould and decorate with Persian fairy floss to serve.