POTATO & DUCK BOMBS

INGREDIENTS

These ingredients will make 8 balls. Quantities can be change by doing 300 gr of potatoes per 100gr duck meat.

For duck meat mixture

100 gr duck meat
4 Star Anise
1tsp Cardamon Pods 3 Garlic Cloves

2 Cinnamon Sticks 1 tsp Fennel Seeds 2 Cloves
1L Olive Oil

For potato mixture:

3 Potatoes (Aprox 300gr) 50 ml cream
3 cloves garlic
For Crumbing:

200 gr Breadcrumbs 200 gr Plain Flour
2 Eggs
For the plum chutney: 500 gr plums

2 cinnamon sticks 150 gr brown sugar

METHOD

In a bowl mix together the star anise, cloves, cardamon pods, cinnamon sticks, garlic with 2 tbs of olive oil. Rub the spices on the duck then place in a deep baking tray and fully cover with oil.

Cover the tray with foil. I use the whole duck on in my restaurant because we require bigger quantities and the skin and bones release much more flavor but you could use 1 duck breast.

Preheat the oven to 220C and and cook for 2.5 hours or until the meat falls apart.

While that is cooking peel 6 potatoes and place them in a medium size stock pot with water. Bring to boil and cook until potatoes are tender and falling apart.

In another pot place the pitted plums with the sugar and the cinnamon stick for the plum chutney. Stir regularly and reduce.

When the potatoes are cool to handle, mash with 50 ml cream, 3 cloves of crashed garlic, salt & pepper to taste.

When the duck has cooled down take out of the oil and place in a mixing bowl.

Shred the meat removing skin, bones and any cartilages. Make sure no bones remain on the meat mixture.

Add 2 tablespoons of fresh chopped coriander, 1 teaspoon of ground cumin, 1 teaspoon of ground coriander, 1 teaspoon of sweet paprika. Mixed well through the duck meat and roll into 50 gr balls. Place in a tray and keep in the fridge.

Get 3 mixing bowls. In one bowl whisk 2 eggs in another shift 200gr of plain flour and in the third bowl 200 gr of bread crumbs and submerge the balls in the egg, then put them through the flour and last through the breadcrumbs.

Repeat this with all the balls and deep fry until golden color.

SERVES 8

Tortilla Espanola: Spanish Potato & Egg Omelette

Ummm I remember coming home at 4am after partying and finding if I was lucky some tortilla left from lunch. Put it in the middle of some true spanish bread and that was heaven. Best hang over, party hunger fix ever!

Some of my best memories from childhood are those of summer days on the beach and the family lunches. Russian Salad, tortilla and a salad of lettuce, tomatoes & onions always on the menu.

It is my experience that this is not as popular in Australia, mainly because anything "eggy" here it is usually consider breakfast or brunch food but nevertheless it wouldn't be my blog if I didn't share with you my love, passion and the secret for my finger liking tortilla espanola.

Ingredients:

6 eggs

3 big or 5 medium potatoes

50ml milk or cream (optional)

1 Onion

Olive Oil

Method:

1. Peel the potatoes and slice them thin. 

2. Fry the potatoes (You can do this on a pan but the potatoes need to be cover with oil so use plenty of it. Or you can fry quickly on a deep fryer). Do not fry too much. 

3. While the potatoes are frying which the eggs and milk or cream if you choose to use it. 

4. Add the potatoes to the egg mixture with a pinch of salt and leave to rest for 10 min. 

5. Pan on the stove and drizzle with oil. When it's hot add the onion and brown then to medium heat add the potato & egg mixture. With a fork mix the mixture so that it goes through it and use the base of the fork to them flatten the whole surface.

6. Get a round plate of the same size as the pan an turn over the tortilla into the plate and to the pan so it cooks on the other size.

7. You cook tortilla to personal taste. Some people like very runny eggs so cook it very little on medium heat. I like everything very well done so I cook mine longer. Serve it with a baby cos lettuce, tomatoes & spanish onion salad with extra virgin olive oil, salt & pepper. On a sandwich for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Cold, room temperature or hot. Add chorizo or braised beef. Drink it down with a Estrella Galicia Beer

Churros are served!

Sick with the flu now for over 5 weeks and with my whole body acking I am craving those lovely sugary, oily and chocolaty churros. Wishing I could be at home, with mum giving me all the attentions a sick patient needs and where I could so easy ask dad to go pass the churreria and buy two dozen churros (in a house with dad, 4 nieces, 2 sisters, 2 brothers in law and mum you have to order big!).

Churros are a type of fried long-shaped doughnut cover in sugar and with a ridge surface, traditional cooked for breakfast in Spain. They often also come accompanied of a thick chocolate to dip the doughnuts in and sold by street vendors or in churrerias. They are within doubt a great sugar fix!

Here in Australia even though is not accessible everywhere you can buy churros at http://www.sanchurro.com. It's nowhere near as good or cheap as an spanish churreria and not really design to have them take away but not a bad effort at all.

This delicious spanish delicacy can also be found on the dessert menus of most abroad spanish restaurants. Here are some:

www.movida.com.au 

www.bodegatapas.com

www.kika.com.au

www.menhir.com.au

www.capitantorres.com.au

www.delicadofoods.com.au

www.elbulli.com.au
www.encasarestaurant.com.au

If your rather have them on the comfort of your own home following my easy and quick recipe you now can!

There are many different of recipes for churros some containing milk, butter and more complex processes and some others as simple as just flour and water. 

I have come up with the recipe that I believe works best for the regular everyday cook and without the need for  professional equipment. They don't look like exactly like those long fried strings found in Spain but their rustic looks make them even more irresistible and special and the reward of making them yourself priceless. 

In the recipe below I have combined sweet and savoury ingredients to find what for me is the perfect balance. Not too sweet not to savoury just perfect to have churros as a dessert and dipped in chocolate.

CHURROS CON CHOCOLATE (4-5 serving each serving containing 4- 5 churros)

125gr Self Raising Flour

125gr Plain Flour

30 gr cornflour or 60gr for crunchy
430ml Water 

20 ml Milk
1T Melted butter
1T EVO (Extra Virgin Oilive Oil)

1 Cup full cream milk

1T Vanilla essence

1t salt
1T sugar
1t cinnamon

Cinnamon sugar to cover the outside (Just mix white sugar with a bit of cinnamon)

For the chocolate:

1L Milk
200gr Spanish Chocolate the taza (Spanish drinking chocolate that comes in a block and contains a little bit of flour to thicken. You can use another good quality and high in cacao dark chocolate and add flour to thicken)

Method

1. Combined dry ingredients in a bowl (flour, cornflour salt, sugar & cinnamon)
2. Boil water with oil and vanilla essence.
3. Add a little of boiled water with flour. Stir with wooden spoon.
4. Add melted butter & milk. Stir again.
5. Insert the mixture in a pipping bag with a start nozzle.
6. Pour the mixture in the deep fryer. Don't use the basket. The churros will float.
7. Melt the chocolate in hot milk while churros finish frying.
8. In a bowl place the cinnamon sugar and add churros so they cover well with the mixture.
9. Place the chocolate on a small bowl. I like add some fresh berries or a berry syrup to the plate to give it the freshness and sweetness of the fruit. Churros are now served!!!! Que aproveche!


Notes:

a. The consistency of the dough must be lumpy so do not mix too much.
b. If you want your churros crunchy add more cornflour. This will make them also more hallow and less doughy.
c. If you want them sweeter add more butter, reduce the amount of water and increase amount of milk. I like this better for breakfast churros as the milk & butter with result in a very soft & sweet dough also harder to work with on a pipping bag and too milky for dessert.

d. You can have longer, shorter, thinner or thicker churros. It's up to you. The thicker the more dough you will taste. The thinner the crunchier will be.
e. When ready to fry I prefer to pipe them out in front of the fryer as if you place the churros on a tray they will stick and loose their start shape which gives them crunch. I do not use the basket of the fryer either as same thing happens and churros will come to the surface as the float in the oil.
f. You can also purchase a chorus gun for domestic use. You can purchase this over the internet or in Sydney you can find them at www.elmercado.com.au  I personally prefer the pipping bag. It's easier to work with, holds more quantities, easier to store and to clean and you can buy nozzles of different sizes that might suits best the size of churro you wish to obtain. However with the gun as the dough is pushed out with more pressure the churros have a more star marked resulting in a more crunchier churro.
g. When you make the dough and place it inside the pipping bag you can store this just like that in a air tight container inside the fridge and it will last for at least 5 if not more.
h. You can freeze churros but I am not a big fan of freezing anything but if you must this can be done. The result if not the best but not bad. In fact a lot of spanish food suppliers sell frozen churros.


Ok amigos it's now time to seat down in front of the tv, watch a great movie and enjoy your churros con chocolate. Enjoy!