På gamla dar
Nu när jag har lyckats att uppnå åldern av 40 år ska jag äntligen ta itu med mitt körkort……
Mitt liv är över
Idag har jag hämtat hem en hundvalp, snott honom rakt framför nosen på hans mamma. Inte för att hon verkade bry sig, lite som de Madonna adopterar från – om det bara finns tilläckligt med pengar i påsen……. Det är var en jävligt dyr adoption, nu får jag bara hoppas att han är värd det.
Tusen år senare
Det känns nästan som om jag aldrig haft den här bloggen. Men nu måste jag komma förbi och pissa revir. Kanske det hjälper att komma igång igen.
Fortsättning följer (eventuellt)…
Chicken paté on a salad with almonds, springonion, bacon topped with a savory tuile.
Ok, this is my entry for this month’s Paper Chef. Usually one would work to enhance the flavours in a course. By using sweet, salt, sour and so on one can lift an ingredient up to become it’s on star in a meal.
This time I must admit that I was trying to conceal the taste. Is that a good thing? I would say no. But sometimes it is the sum of the parts that can make it work . At least that is my excuse. For the Paper Chef challenge one had to use:
- Liver, Oregano, Chestnuts, Cheese
So first of all, I would never never order liver at a restaurant. I would never never come up with the idea to cook a slab of liver. Ok, I have once or twice made a chicken liver crostini but that has not been due to salivating taste buds, more curiosity. Second, the idea of liver and cheese in a combination could make the most insensitive person gag. So here is how I got around that.
Dirt Easy Chicken Paté
200 gr chicken live
500 gr minced chicken
200 gr crème fraiche|
2 eggs
2 tblsp cognac
1 onion
1 clove of garlic
salt
thyme
Fry the onion, garlic and roughly chopped liver for a little while. Mix minced chicken, salt, thyme, eggs and the crème fraiche and the booze til a smooth batter. Then the only thing left to do is add the onion/liver- mix and stir. Put it all in a bread loaf tin and in it goes in the oven on 200 C for one hour.
Let it cool down properly before eating it, trust me it gets better if it gets to settle.
Salad
The salads is rather straight forward. I used a bag of pre-cut (shame on me) that I found in the fridge. A little bit of raspberry vinegar and some olive oil, then I lightly fried some bacon, springonion and almonds with oregano – didn’t find any chestnuts. Tossed it all around and that was it.
Savory tuile
One of the best things with Paper Chef is that it make me try out new things. Before this I had never before made a tuile, but I had to get the cheese incorporated in the dish. And what better way that to make a crispy light tuile with some parmesan sprinkles.
65 gr flour
teaspoon of salt
teaspoon of sugar
some black peper
2 egg whites
110 gr softned butter
Whisk the butter til it is really soft.
Mix the dry ingredients, add the egg whited and stir til smooth, now add the butter bit by bit until you have a smooth and homogenous batter.
Make thin, and I mean really thin, rounds on a baking sheet and sprinkle these with the parmesan cheese. In it goes in an oven at 200C for 4-6 minutes. 
So what are my own thoughts about it.
Well, by using chicken liver and making it into a paté I sort of masked the heavy liver taste which I just can’t stand. Next time I would put more stuff in the paté like bacon, mushrooms, springonion etc. But it is a very fine tasting dish, and for the amount or work and money it should earn a place in most homes.
The salad was kind of boring, but the saltiness of the bacon breaks the taste of liver and my substitute for chestnuts gave texture to the dish.
The tuile was a good solution, now the cheese didn’t get any prominent position but added saltiness to a cracker that was welcome change to the otherwise rather soft texture of the dish.
I could make this for guest, but probably not again for myself.
Paper Chef 34 – The winners
So this is the moment you all have been waiting for. Me too to be honest. The feeling of power surging through my veins at this moment is impossible to describe. I can be the dictator of taste. I like it!
However, I wish we could have several winners since there could be winners in different categories.
There are the ones that could win due to the simplicity of their creations. Using just the 4 ingredients in a Paper Chef challenge is not always easy. Less is more, but not always simpler.
Denise, Mike and Tricia were all three of them keeping it straight forward with no fuss but still delivered excellent meals.
Then there is the category where the cooks have added some twist to it, or reconstructed the ingredients.I like how Tori used minced turkey meat and incorporated the others in to the mince. Natashya’s filled turkey roll also shows a different way of using the ingredients. Terry took a whole new approach to the lentils and made griddle cakes.
There is one more person who would fit in here, and that is Hank. But he gets his own personal mentioning since he already before me giving my judgement has won. He is the winner of the People’s Choice. Congratulations, Hank!
What I liked a lot with his entry was the ‘double-cooking’, first braising in broth to enhance the flavour and then frying to get the change of texture. But I think I loved Holly’s snake shooting the most. ….
So this leads us to the third and last category, the ‘over the top’ entries.These are entries that were very creative, a lot of work and splashed out with several courses or versions.
Here we have Ilva’s 3 course menu with some interesting twists were of one would be the turkey in the dessert. It sounds weird, but it might just work. I am curious. Tanna filled about everything she could find in her kitchen. She filled the peppers but also flipped things around and filled a pumpkin. Robin might have been late with her entry but she impressed with making 3 different mains.
But who will be the winner of this month?
The category ‘over the top’ kind of appeals to me. Ilva made a menu which I personally find very interesting and makes a full circle entry. Then we have Tanna who was the only one to use the herb that I think goes the best with a winter squash/pumpkin – sage. That is a marriage made in heaven. Then the pomgranate to that. Robin did 3 different types of hot meals that impressed me. Another favourite and a bit of an underdog with it being a single course is Terry and her griddle cakes. I thought it was a fantastic idea, simple yet surprising.
If I could I would have two winners, Terry and Robin. Terry for the wonderful idea of the griddle cake and Robin/Dave for their multifaceted cooking.
In the end I will go for Robin and Dave at Belly Timber.
Congratulations guys!
Paper Chef – the roundup
I have put the roundup on the Paper Chef blog. Go there and have a look at all the great dishes people came up with.
You can also vote for the People’s Choice!
