SPRING // Recipe for four
River bed sorrel, eucalyptus and frozen goat’s milk yoghurt
One of my favourite things to collect and eat is fresh sorrel from the local river near Biota; when the water is running the young sorrel in the river is at its best. In this recipe it’s paired with goat’s milk yoghurt – which is equally good in springtime.
FROZEN GOAT’S MILK YOGHURT
5 egg yolks
80 g (23/4 oz) fine cane sugar
80 ml (2½ fl oz) white wine
300 ml (10½ fl oz) cream
280 g (10 oz) goat’s milk yoghurt
200 ml (7 fl oz) juiced sorrel
Put the egg yolks, sugar and wine in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water, making sure the base of the bowl isn’t sitting in the water. Gently whisk until pale and foamy. Remove from the heat and chill in the fridge.
In a separate bowl, whisk the cream until stiff. When the egg mixture is chilled, add the whipped cream, yoghurt and sorrel juice. Pour into a shallow tray lined with baking paper and leave to set in the freezer.
Put the eucalyptus leaves in a saucepan with 600 ml (21 fl oz) water, cover and place over low heat. Leave to steep for 3 hours. Stir in the sugar and chill in the fridge. Add the gellan gum and heat to 84°C (183°F), stirring constantly. Pour into a container and then chill and leave to set in the fridge. Remove the leaves, purée until smooth in a blender and then keep chilled.
CHOCOLATE CRISP
270 g (9½ oz) fine cane sugar
135 g (43/4 oz) glucose
150 g (5½ oz) dark chocolate, broken into pieces
Put the sugar and glucose in a saucepan and heat to 160°C (320°F). Remove from the heat and stir in the chocolate until melted. Spread into a paper-lined shallow tray and leave to cool in the fridge.
Once cold and hard, break into pieces and blend to a fine powder in a food processor. Preheat the oven to 170°C (325°F). Sift the powder onto a paper-lined tray and bake for 11 minutes. Remove from the oven and cut into fingers.
PLANTS TO FINISH
Cherry blossom flowers
Smoking
The smoking of food dates back to the time of primitive peoples. As caves and simple shelters lacked chimneys, these dwellings could become very smoky. Our ancestors would often hang meat up to dry and keep safe, and they soon became aware that meat stored in smoky areas acquired a different flavour and was better preserved than meat that had been simply dried out.
Over time this process was combined with pre-curing in salt or brine, resulting in a remarkably effective preservation process that was developed by numerous cultures around the world. In those early days smoking was quite harsh and ‘heavy duty’ as the main goal was to preserve the food. Large quantities of salt were used in the curing process and smoking times were quite long, sometimes involving days of exposure.
Smoking food changes its texture and its flavour profile. We enjoy smoking lots of different ingredients at Biota, including dairy products, fish parts, animal parts and even fruit. It’s a versatile technique that makes for some interesting flavours. We are lucky enough to have a wonderful selection of local wood to smoke with. We use different timbers depending on the season and ingredient; some of my favourites are peach, apple and pine wood.
There are also different ways to smoke ingredients. The method we use most commonly (we find it gentle and not so overpowering to the food) is cold smoking. The food is smoked over damp timber at a temperature of between 20 and 30 degrees Celsius. We use two types of smoker: my favourite is the most primitive method of digging a pit, lining it with either rocks or an old wine barrel and building a small fire in the bottom. A damp piece of cloth or hessian is draped over the pit to smother the fire and reduce the amount of oxygen – this makes more smoke. This method is fantastic for smoking fish by the river or in the backyard. The other method we use is an offset smoker that I built when the restaurant opened. It is made from an old stainless steel refrigerator. We smoke almost everything in this: it has racks inside for hanging meat and trays for smoking liquids.
To build a smoker fairly easily at home, take a deep oven tray and build a small fire of twigs or cuttings in it. Smother the fire by putting a flat tray on top of the deep tray, locking in all the smoke. Put the ingredients for smoking on a wire rack (in a bowl if necessary), lift off the flat tray and put the wire rack on the smothered fire. Replace the flat tray to lock in the smoke. Leave for about an hour (or however long it specifies in the recipe). Remove the rack and ingredients, and build another small fire in your deep tray. Repeat the process twice more, until the ingredient is smoked to your taste.