Smoked salmon, potatoes and herb pancake
Ingredients:
Two eggs; 200ml milk; 30g butter; 60g flour; and four tablespoons of freshly chopped herbs.
For filling: five large potatoes peeled; two cloves of garlic; one red pepper; one green pepper; 60g shallot; 250g smoked salmon; 100g butter; and seasoning.
Method:
Combine all ingredients in a food processor for 30 seconds. Scrape down and turn on for another one minute. It should be the consistency of double cream. Rest for 30 minutes in a fridge. Heat a crepe pan on medium high heat, brush lightly with oil and ladle three tablespoons into the centre of the pan and swirl around the mixture until it covers the entire surface. Cook for about one minute and turn over and cook for one more minute. Turn the crepe onto greaseproof paper and continue to make crepes this way.
For the filling: cook potatoes until they are tender, drain, and return to heat to dry. Puree the potatoes and add the melted butter. Beat it until smooth and light. Finely dice the peppers, shallots, garlic, and smoked salmon. Lightly fry and add to potato. Season to taste. Spread the potato mixture evenly over the crepe and roll up like a Swiss roll. Cut out end diagonally for presentation and stand up in the centre of the plate. Garnish.
Steak and blue cheese parcels
Ingredients:
One pound of sirloin steak; two tablespoons of oil; 75g blue cheese; one tablespoon of chopped tarragon; four tablespoons of single cream; pepper; five large sheets of filo pastry; 50g butter, melted; and lemon juice to serve.
Method:
Heat a pan and seal the steak which has been flattened out thin and halved and allow to cool. Soften the cheese with a fork and mix with the tarragon, cream, and black pepper. Spread the mixture over the cooled steak. Brush one sheet of filo pastry with butter and wrap around one steak to enclose it completely like a parcel. Place on a baking sheet and brush with butter. Repeat for the other steak. Continue wrapping the parcels with buttered filo sheets. Chill for about 20 minutes. Bake in the oven at 220 degrees Celsius for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown. Squeeze lemon juice over the cooked parcels and serve with fresh tossed mixed leaf salad.
Lime and ginger cheesecake
Ingredients:
1250g cream cheese; 450g sugar; nine limes; nine leaves of gelatine; 875ml whipping cream; and four egg yolks.
For biscuit base: 1,250g digestive biscuits; 375g butter; 200g brown sugar; 50ml water if needed; and 20g ground ginger.
Method:
Whip cheese and sugar together until smooth. Juice and zest the limes and warm slightly and dissolve the gelatine into it. Cream the egg yolks and add to the lime juice mix. Add this mix to the cheese and sugar mix and fold in semi whipped cream. For the base, melt the butter and sugar together and add the ground ginger and biscuits. Place the base in a cheesecake tin at the bottom. Add the cheesecake mix and refrigerate until set.
This cheesecake would be nice served with a scoop of lemon sorbet.
