When European chef Heinz Beck travelled to Australia recently for a series of exclusive dinner events, he left an indelible mark on the Sydney food scene and recipes for all to enjoy.
Beck, whose distinctive brand of fresh, balanced Italian cuisine has won him international acclaim and a three-Michelin star rating at his restaurant La Pergola in Rome, has cooked for a host of A-list celebrities including George Clooney, Nicole Kidman, John Travolta and Michelle Obama.
His cookbooks are renowned worldwide and he even has his own television show in Italy. So, when Beck presented his latest additions at Caffe Sicilia in Sydney, he delighted all with a traditional Sicilian menu
Readers of The Retiree Magazine aren’t missing out. Beck is sharing these recipes for us all to enjoy. You will need time and technique, but the results will be decadent.
Orange jelly with basil pearls and bergamot ice cream
Ingredients
For the orange jelly:
1 litre freshly squeezed orange juice
2 sheets of gelatin
250 grams of sugar
For the vanilla custard:
250 grams of fresh cream
1 pod of vanilla
150 grams of egg yolk
50 grams of sugar
For the basil pearls:
1 litre of water
2 sheets of gelatin
300 grams of fresh basil
For the orange granita:
1 litre of orange juice
300 grams of sugar
For the bergamot ice cream:
500 grams of milk
500 grams fresh cream
250 grams of sugar
40 grams of dextrose
2 drops of pure bergamot essence
Method
Orange jelly:
Let the gelatin soften in iced water for 10 minutes,melt it gently on the double boil and add it to the orange juice that has been filtered and sweetened with the sugar. Let it set in the serving plates for at least 8 hours in the fridge.
Vanilla custard:
Pasteurize the cream at 80 degrees with the pod of vanilla opened and scraped, pour it on the sugar and yolks previously whisked with the sugar, place back on the double boil gently stirring with a flat folder until creamy and velvety. Let cool down and chill in the fridge.
Basil pearls:
Blench quickly in boiling water the leaves of basil and immerse them in iced water. Blitz them into a fine pulp after being drained properly. Add in the litre of water and pour in the gelatin which has been pre-softened in iced water and melted on the double boil. Set in the fridge for 8 hours.
Orange granita:
Whisk the orange juice with the sugar, filter and pour in a stainless steel bowl, place in the freezer and repeat whisking it every half hour until completely crystalized.
Bergamot ice cream:
Churn the ingredients after being pasteurized at 80 degrees, pour in a stainless steel container and leave in the freezer for 8 hours.
How to serve
Put the basil sauce and the vanilla custard in two separate piping bags cutting with a pair of scissors a fine extruding hole.
Lay on the orange jelly 7 drops of each sauce in a decorative way.
In the middle of the dish, prepare a nest of orange granita by scraping it from the bowl, obtaining a snow-like consistency.
Next, scoop the bergamot ice cream letting roll the firm surface of it onto a wet spoon and then place it softly on the nest of orange granita.
Garnish with two edible flowers.
Sea Bass Crispy Connolo with Melon and Celery Salad
Ingredients
For the Sea Bass:
600 grams of sea bass
1 lemon
1 bunch of chives
100 ml of cream
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt
For the lemon jelly:
100 ml of water
1 lemon
5 grams of sugar
1 sheet gelatin
Salt
For the crispy cannolo:
4 slices of toast
Fish stock
1/2 kg of fishbones, best sole or turbot
100 grams of celery
100 grams of carrot
100 grams of onion
1 sprig of parsley
2 cloves of garlic
100 ml of white wine
1.5 litre of water
Extra virgin olive oil
Melon and celery salad:
2 stalks of green celery
Melon, best cantalupo
1 bunch of chervil
1 bunch of tarragon
50 ml of fish stock
Salt
Porto wine reduction:
100 ml of Porto wine
Method
The sea bass:
Gut the sea bass and thread.
Reduce into tartare 3/4 of the fish and season it with lemon juice, chives and salt.
Cut the rest into small pieces.
Add the cold cream and blend.
Season with salt and lemon peel grated.
Lemon jelly:
Wash the lemon and remove the peel. Put it in boiling water and repeat the operation twice, changing water each time.
Boil water together with the sugar and add lemon peel, leaving it in infusion for 1 hour.
Filter the lemon syrup, add the gelatine previously soaked in cold water and season with salt and lemon juice. Once cooled, cut into stripes.
The crusty cannolo:
Slice the toast and spread over the slices the sea bass filling.
Place the sea bass tartare and the lemon jelly stripes in the center of each slice of bread.
Roll each slice to form a cannolo. Fry it in a very hot pan with extra virgin olive oil until it is crispy.
Fish stock:
Wash the vegetables, cut them into small pieces and brown them in a pan with extra virgin olive oil and the garlic.
Add the fishbones and sprinkle with white wine and boil until it is completely evaporated.
Add the water then resume cooking. Simmer for half an hour and filter.
The melon and celery salad:
Wash the green celery, peel, dice and brown it in a pan with a little of extra virgin olive oil.
Sprinkle with the fish stock and keep on cooking until the celery is tender.
Peel the melon, cut in 2 parts and remove seeds.
Dice half of the melon and cut the other half part in pieces.
Blend the pieces and dress with lemon juice, salt and pass through a fine strainer.
Add the celery, the melon, chopped herbs, a little melon sauce and, if necessary, season with salt.
Porto wine reduction:
Boil the wine until it is reduced at 3/4. Cool it.
How to serve
Draw two lines of reduction of Porto on the plate with the help of a brush.
Plate the salad of melon and celery in the middle.
Add the cannolo and garnish with the melon sauce.
Fagottelli Carbonara
Filling:
5 Yolks
60 grams of Pecorino cheese
80 ml of whipped cream
Salt
White pepper
Fagottelli pasta:
160 grams of flour
80 grams of semola
2 yolks
1 egg
Salt
Veal stock:
1 Kg of bones and trimmings of veal
Extra virgin olive oil
2 onions
120 grams of carrots
1 stalk of celery
5 Cherry tomatoes
1 bunch of rosemary
10 shells of white pepper
3 litres of water
Dressing:
35 grams of Roman bacon, (Guanciale)
100 grams of zucchini
2 tablespoons of Extra virgin olive oil
25 ml of white wine
50 ml of veal stock
40 grams of Pecorino cheese
Garnish:
Tellycherry pepper (Tellycherry pepper is an Indian origin pepper, particularly suitable for this dish thanks to its distinctive aroma and particular fragrance.)
Method
The filling:
Beat the yolks in a double boiler and add little by little the grated Pecorino cheese to eggs.
Add the white pepper, the salt, let cool and incorporate the whipped cream.
Put the mixture into a sac-a-poche (pastry bag) and keep cool in a refrigerator for 1 hour.
The Fagottelli:
Mix the flour with the semolina, add the egg yolks (keep 1 egg white aside), one egg, a pinch of salt and water (enough to obtain a solid dough).
Work the dough for a long time and form a ball; wrap it in plastic wrap and cool it in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
Roll out thinly the dough and cut into 7cm squares with the help of a square mould.
With the help of a spoon, spread the filling over the dough and close it in the shape of a cigarette.
Press the dough with fingers, fold and cut out the “Fagottelli” with a toothed wheel.
The veal stock:
Cut into small pieces the trimmings of veal; break the bones and put everything in a pan that can go in the oven with a little of extra virgin olive oil.
Put in oven at 190°C and brown until the bones and trimmings become gold. Remove from oven, drain the oil in excess, add the vegetables previously cleaned and chopped, the rosemary, the shells of white pepper and continue to cook few minutes. Remove from heat and make cool.
Cover the bones and the trimmings of veal with cold water and bring to a boil. Cook for about 2 hours on low heat, skimming during cooking to remove the impurities that rise to the surface. Pass the veal stock through a clean cloth place over a fine strainer.
The dressing:
Cut the Roman bacon into julienne strips, dice zucchini and skip all in a !pan with a little Extra virgin olive oil Sprinkle with white wine, bring it to a boil and add the veal stock
How to serve:
Cook Fagottelli in abundant salted water, add to the sauce and whisk it with Pecorino cheese, Extra virgin olive oil and add Tellycherry pepper.
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