Kathy's Menu for January 2002

Starter : Crisp Potato Cakes with Smoked Salmon and Goats Cheese

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Main Course : Quails with Cous Cous
served with Spring Cabbage with Garlic and Juniper

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Pudding : Individual Orange Souffles with Chocolate Sauce

Crisp Potato Cakes with Smoked Salmon and Goats Cheese
Serves 4

Ingredients

1lb (450g) potatoes, peeled
4oz (100g) mild goats cheese
5oz (150g) smoked salmon
2.5oz (70g) pack of rocket leaves
2oz (50g) butter
3 tablespoons olive oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. Roughly grate the potatoes and divide into 8 potato cakes. Heat the butter with half the oil in a large non stick frying pan until it begins to smoke. Add the potato cakes a few at a time and fry on both sides until golden brown. Transfer to kitchen paper.
2. Scatter a few rocket leaves on each plate and then add two potato cakes. Arrange the smoked salmon on top and then add a rounded spoonful of goats cheese on top. Serve immediately.

Quails with Cous Cous
served with Spring Cabbage with Garlic and Juniper
Serves 4

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil
8oz cous cous
2 tablespoons toasted pine nuts
2oz plump raisins soaked in brandy
8 quails
8 rashers bacon
red wine
salt and freshly ground black pepper
sprigs of parsley to garnish

For the Spring Cabbage with Garlic and Juniper
1 head fresh spring cabbage
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic crushed
2 shallots finely choppped
6 juniper berries, crushed
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. Put 10floz (300ml) water and a tablespoon of olive oil in a large saucepan. Add a pinch of salt and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat and add the cous cous, stir and leave to absorb the water for 15 minutes.
2. Syir the cous cous again and add the pine nuts and raisins. Stuff the quails with some of the cous cous mixture and secure each quail with a cocktail stick.
3. Cover each quail with bacon and place in a roasting dish. Pour in a little red wine and seasons with salt and black pepper. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 425F (220C or gas mark 7) for 8 - 10 minutes until tender.
4. Strain the sauce and serve separately. Pile the reheated remaining cous cous in the centre of a serving dish and surround with the quails. Pour over the sauce and garnish with sprigs of parsley

1. Shred the cabbage very finely, then place in a colander and wash and drain thoroughly. Heat the oil in a frying pan and saute the garlic and shallots until tender. Add the cabbage and turn it in the oil until it is well coated.
2. Place the cabbage and onion mixture in a casserole dish with the crushed juniper berries. Season with salt and black pepper and then place the dish on the lowest shelf in the oven and bake at 375F (190C, gas mark 5) for about 30 minutes, stirring once or twice

Individual Orange Souffles with Chocolate Sauce
Serves 4

Ingredients

6 large oranges
2 heaped tablespoons chocolate hazelnut spread (e.g. nutella)
1 dessertspoon cointreau
2 eggs separated
2 rounded tablespoons caster sugar

Method

1. Pre heat the oven to 425F (220C, gas mark 7). Put the chocolate hazelnut spread into a small glass bowl and sit the bowl over a pan of barely simmering water. Allow the chocolate to melt for 2 - 3 minutes and then add 1 teaspoon of boiling water and the cointreau. Stir until the chocolate has melted again and then remove the bowl from the heat and leave somewhere warm whilst the souffle is being prepared.
2. Cut a 1 inch slice of the tops of the oranges and discard. Using a grapefruit knife, remove all the flesh to a sieve set over a bowl. Squeeze the flesh to extract as much of the juice as possible. Transfer the orange juice to a pan and simmer until syrupy and reduced to two tablespoons of liquid.
3. Cut a very thin slice off the base of four of the oranges so that they sit flat. Neaten the insides of the orange shells by scooping out any remaining flesh with a teaspoon. Discard the flesh and rinse the shells, then dry the shells (inside and out) with kitchen roll.
4. Finely grate the zest of the two remaining oranges and put the zest in a bowl with the egg yolks and sugar. Whisk for a few minutes until thick and creamy and the add the reduced orange juice.
5. If a separate bowl whisk the egg whites until stiff and then fold them into the orange mixture using a metal spoon. Put the orange shells on to a baking tray and then spoon the souffle mixture into the shells, so that the mixture stops just below the rim. Bake for 7 - 9 minutes until risen and browned on top.
6. To serve, carefully put the cooked souffles onto warm dessert plates and make a small hole at the edge of each souffle and then pour in the chocolate sauce. Serve immediately.

Cookery Book Recommendation of the Month

Happy Days with the Naked Chef by Jamie Oliver
For Jamie Oliver, food is all about happy days - not just cooking superbly fresh and funky food, but good fun, great eating and top-quality time spent with friends and family. Now Jamie, one of Britain's best-loved chefs, gives us Happy Days his third book, to accompany his fantastic new series of The Naked Chef on BBC2. Jamie believes in finding the best ingredients and making tasty, easy, sociable food with the minimum of fuss. Like his first two books, Happy Days is filled with fantastic recipes for different occasions.

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