Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Bratwurst with Potato Gratin and Garlic Reduction
Today was a good day again. Work time was filled with food, which always fills me with joy. I got to review a very nice Austrian website selling wine, spirits and fine foods. Normally, I'm supposed to finish these jobs within an hour, but as there wasn't too much to do, I took my time and studied everything quite closely. Very nice, very nice indeed.I must admit, at times like these I regret that Irish drinking habits have led to alcohol being very expensive. I can understand the reasoning behind the laws and taxes and I do believe the government that some stupid young men would drink themselves to death. But I also think that the majority of people are quite capable of drinking responsibly and find it hard to accept that the bad behaviour of the few should spoil the enjoyment of the many. It is like this attitude that alcohol should be expensive to prevent drunk driving. No, the police should be active to prevent drunk driving. Breathalysers, publicity campaigns and tough sentences work elsewhere; why don't we have them here? I am all for respecting people's privacy, but to me privacy stops where the next person's liberty begins. And my liberty as a cyclist is definitely restricted by people who risk killing me just so they can have a drink. But enough of the unpleasantness, let's get back to why today was a good day.
In the evening I decided to have a look what's on the telly and only just caught a show that I had not seen before - Great British menus on BBC2. The program is all about finding the one great British chef who will cook for the Queen's 80th birthday celebration banquet in June. Every week, two chefs from the same region of Britain compete for a place in the national final, the winner of which will be chosen by the British public. This week, it was Northern Ireland's turn with Richard Corrigan battling one of my favourite cooks, Paul Rankin. I missed Monday's starters, but the repeat made it sound like I could definitely learn a thing or two from those two. The ingredients had to be sourced locally as far as possible and therefore were really similar to what I get here in Dublin: Smoked salmon with soda bread and Dublin bay prawn cocktail. Sounds kinda familiar, doesn't it. Well, except those guys gave it a bit of a Michelin Star twist that I will definitely have to try to copy.
I felt similarly inspired by yesterday's fish course. Paul made wild trout with citrus vinaigrette, a combination that made our mouths water. I felt so inspired I wanted to imitate, or rather re-interpret, the recipe right away. So off I went to the freezer and pulled out a bag of monkfish I had frozen a few weeks earlier. While that was defrosting, I got busy with the side dishes. Potato gratin, purple sprouting broccoli and fried mushrooms looked like a good idea. I started with the spuds and when they were in the oven, I went back and checked on the fish -- which had caught such bad frostbite it had to be thrown away. What now? Yes, you guessed it. First, I got angry, then I panicked, then I was deeply saddened and then I went back to the fridge to sort the mess out. I found a packet of Bratwurst and lots of garlic. This is how the strange combination of potato gratin and sausages came about, which, much to my surprise, actually tasted quite nice.
enough sausages for two people (Lofty normally has four, INot quite a dinner fit to serve to the queen, but maybe one the queen wishes she could have rather than all the poncy palace food. Yeah, right, dream on Christine!prefer 2½ to 3)
2 tbsp oil
2 handfuls of mushrooms (I used a mix of button mushrooms and shiitakes, but obviously wild mushrooms are nice while they are in season), sliced
2 handfuls of purple sprouting broccoli
a pinch of salt
For the white wine and garlic reduction:
1½ tbsp butter
4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
200 ml white wine
1 oxo cube
For the potatoes:
a small knob of butter
150 ml cream
1 clove of garlic, thinly sliced
2 large floury potatoes, sliced as thinly as you can (I use a little spiral cutter that I highly recommend)
4 tbsp grated cheese (I used cheddar, but a mix of mozzarella and Parmesan would be better)
salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste
Preheat the oven to 190 degrees Celsius. Grease two little soufflé dishes generously with butter. Lay half of the potatoes into the dishes, scatter with garlic and add the remaining potatoes. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg and pour in the cream. It should reach about 2/3 of the way up the dish. Scatter with cheese and bake in the middle of the oven until the potatoes are tender and the cheese is golden, about 1 hour.
About 20 minutes before the potatoes are done, get the Bratwurst on the go. Heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the sausages and gently fry until golden on all sides, about 10 minutes. They don't have to be cooked through, they will get more cooking time. During this initial phase, disturb them as little as possible; just turn them whenever the underside is golden.
At the same time, start the reduction. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium low heat. Add the garlic and cook until translucent, about 1 minute. Increase the heat to medium and add the wine. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat again and allow to simmer until reduced by half, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from heat and crumble in the oxo cube, stirring constantly.
When the sausages are browned add the mushrooms to the pan and continue frying until the liquid has evaporated and the mushrooms are going brown as well. Again disturb the contents of the pan only to prevent them from burning otherwise the mushrooms will not brown properly.
When you start on the mushrooms, also bring a large pot of water to the boil. Add a pinch of salt followed by the broccoli. Blanch until just tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Drain and refresh briefly in cold water to stop the cooking process and drain completely.
Christine at 8:50 am
