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Malt Brulee or to give it its full title, Malt Flavoured Crème Brûlée is a new dessert that is now a regular fixture on my small “Sweet Things I like” menu.

I love a good crème brûlée, and trust me, I have tried many! It´s essentially a rich custard with a crunchy caramel lid or topping. I love the smooth silky texture of the set custard and the sweet bitterness of the caramel.

The name Crème Brûlée is 100% French (though that does not mean it was invented in France, if you believe everything that you read it can either be British or Spanish in origin! :shock: ), in Spanish it can be called “Crema Quemada”, both translate to “Burnt Cream”.

It is similar to its culinary cousin “Crema Catalana”, which is sometimes incorrectly referred to the Spanish version of crème brûlée, when in fact it is a different dessert, flavoured differently and cooked differently. The similarity lies in the texture of the custard and the burnt sugar topping, which is achieved by using a hot iron for the crema catalana and a grill or blowtorch in the case of the crème brûlée.

Commonly the dessert is flavoured with vanilla, however it can also be found on menus flavoured with coffee, chocolate, mango, orange, jasmine etc…

Why malt?

The reason I choose malt is because I was very impressed with a dessert that I had at the vegetarian restaurant Vanilla Black in London during a visit in November 2011. On their menu was an “Iced Malt and Burnt Orange Marshmallow with Muscovado Sugar Meringue and Parsnip Purée”. It was the “Iced Malt” that got my attention. It was lovely!

My brother King who used to work there managed to get hold of the recipe for me, one of the key ingredients was malt extract (obviously!).

Its not easy trying to track down some ingredients in the countryside of Spain, so after a while I gave up and filed the idea in my head.

Then on a recent trip to Belgium and after ordering a crème brûlée in every restaurant I ate in (yep! lunch and dinner!) and seeing and tasting the difference in textures and flavours between different restaurant versions, my mind was made up… I wanted to have a version on my menu, the way I like it, so I could share it with my clients.

I knew then that I wanted to make a malt crème brûlée.

With that idea in mind I visited a few health shops thinking that it would be easier to find malt extract in a large city. Boy was I wrong.

Then it hit me! Actually it hit me over a few beers . There is no doubt that the best beers in the world are from Belgium!! It was over a discussion about the many different beers (all 1100 of them!) and how I used to brew my own that I realised that I knew exactly where to get hold of malt extract. I had some at home. I always had!!!

Once back in Spain I set about trying to make my “Malt Brulee” (no need for accents in my version!). After a few trials and errors I finally came up with a recipe that I liked.

This is a seriously rich dessert, loads of sugar, egg yolks and cream! But hey!, Sometimes you should spoil yourself. I know I do!

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Malt Brulee

Ingredients:

• 300g Dried Malt Extract
• 125g Milk
• 1 litre cream (at least 35% fat, in Spanish its called “Nata para Montar”)
• 2tsp good quality Vanilla Extract (or use 1 Vanilla Bean if you can get it)
• 150g Egg Yolks (from about 8 eggs)
• 120g Granulated Sugar
• Brown Sugar for topping

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Method:

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I use Extra Dark Spray Malt from my stout making days. This dark malt extract adds a nice caramel colour to the finished dessert, using a light spray malt will result in a lighter, golden coloured dessert which is equally nice.

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Like a lot of my recipes, ideas come from things that “I miss”.

I remember (back in the old days) my mother warming up some steamed rice and placing a few pieces of smoked mackerel on top. The heat of the rice would warm the smoked fish through. That resulted in smokey and fatty tasting flakes of fish, best enjoyed with some “Jeow Bong”. A remedy for a quick fix when you were hungry, or in our case, living on a tight budget.

Mackerel is much underrated. In my opinion it should get more attention on restaurant menus. It is rich in Omega-3 fatty acids which can reduce cholesterol levels, but above all, its tasty and cheap.

When we think of smoking (no, not cigarettes, pipes or weed!), there are two techniques. Hot and Cold. Not only is smoking a way of preserving foods, it also imparts a wonderful aroma and taste.

Cold smoking basically involves applying smoke to food without heat. Hot smoking, as the name suggests, involves applying smoke and heat, thereby cooking the food.

Many types of ingredients can be smoked, meats, fowl, vegetables, fish etc.. Mackerel is a great protagonist because of its oiliness.

Smoking foods at home is pretty easy, just make sure that you have enough ventilation to avoid setting off your smoke alarms!

I use rice and a few other ingredients to generate the smoke, but if you can get your hands on some wood chips, even better!.

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Get the mackerel cleaned and filleted, make sure you remove all the pin bones.

Salting the fish draws out moisture and allows the smoke to better penetrate the flesh.

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Spread some salt flakes and some sugar on a dish and place the fillets skin side down, then sprinkle some more salt flakes over the fish and allow to rest for about 5 minutes.

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Meanwhile, get your smoker ready. In this case I use a large pan lined with tin foil, this not only saves on cleaning, it also helps save the pan!

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To produce the smoke I use some uncooked rice, coriander seeds, star anis, ginger and some broken up cinnamon sticks. You could use wood chips or even tea leaves.

The pan is placed on high heat whilst I wash and pat dry the fish fillets.

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Olive oil is sprinkled on a dish and the fillets placed skin side down. This ensures that the fish doesn´t stick to the wire racks, the fish is then seasoned with a little salt and freshly milled black pepper.

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By now the rice and other ingredients are starting to release smoke. Scrunched up balls of tin foil will help support my wire racks.

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Once a good smoke is achieved, its time to lower the heat.

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The fillets are placed on to wire racks and carefully placed in the pan on top of the balls of tin foil.

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The pan is then covered with a lid. It takes about 5 to 7 minutes of gentle smoking to achive a juicy succulent fillet, which can be eaten immediatley or stored in the fridge for a few days.

On this occassion I am smoking them for a little longer because I have other uses for the mackerel.

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These fillets have been smoked for 10 minutes, which gives them a stronger smokey taste.

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Whats left behind is nice and charred. Preparing the pan lined with foil makes cleaning so much easier, and is much kinder to your pan.

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The fillets are allowed to cool then flaked.

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I wanted to make some “Rillettes”, so some finely chopped shallots and garlic are sweated in a pan with some butter. Once translucant, the mackerel flakes are added.

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After a minute or so of stirring, I added some (well, quite a bit) of butter. Once the butter had melted, I added a few spoonfuls of stock, made from the mackerel bones and some chopped fresh coriander.

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Everything is gently stirred until well combined, then removed from the pan and allowed to cool before being chilled.

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Later it is served up with some Cashew, Hibiscus and Nori Cheese with some toasts as a small starter.

It tasted so good (though I would say that!), I even caught the Service staff sneaking a few pieces…..

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I am watching you!

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Three Cheeses walked in to a crowded bar. The bar went silent.

“Why has everyone gone quiet?”, asked the new barman.

The manager called him over and whispered in his ear, “Everyone knows the Cheeses, don’t mess with them, they´re NUTS!“….

Okay, okay, its a bad joke, but I couldn’t think of another way to start this post, and when I came up with the punchline, I had a few laughs myself…

Cheese. Made from nuts. Nut Cheese. They´re NUTS! (lol again).

Ok, seriously though, they are made from Cashew Nuts.

On a recent trip to London I was introduced to a vegan restaurant by my brother. I was pessimistic at first as I am known for my love of big juicy bloody stakes as well as my unsavoury comments to my waiting staff when asked to cook something vegetarian out of the blue.

Ignorantly I had always thought that vegetarian restaurants only served salads, pastas and grilled vegetables. Even more ignorantly I thought that a vegan restaurant would only serve chickpeas and spinach.

I was so, so wrong. Not only was I pleasantly surprised and pleased with the gourmet meal, it was a real culinary eye opener. I have no intention about becoming a vegetarian or vegan, but good food should be shared.

Of the many starting dishes on offer was the Cheese Tasting Plate.

“Nothing vegan about this dish”, I started to think to myself, a bit confused. It was only when I was told that the selection of cheeses were in fact Cashew Cheeses, made from cashew nuts. (Cashew Nuts, no longer to be only used in Chicken Stir Fries or as salted bar snacks).

They looked like regular cheeses, had the same texture and same tangy creamy taste of cheese made from dairy products. They were so good that I knew that I would be making something similar on my return to Spain. “Good food should be shared”.

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Cashew Truffle Cheese.

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The basic recipe for these types of cheeses involves soaking raw cashew nuts in water overnight before straining them and blitzing them with lemon or lime juice and whatever other ingredients you wish to add. Once well binded they can be shaped in cling film and left to firm up in the fridge for a day or two. The taste gets better the longer you leave it, but they can also be eaten straight away.

My first batch was very basic and I only added salt and truffle oil. If I had some real truffles, I would have added them too, plus a few shavings on top.

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Cashew, Coriander and Tahini Cheese.

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This one tasted more “herby”. Loads of coriander, garlic and a blob of tahini gave this cheese more body. So good in fact that the testing dish was finished by the tasting staff (without knowing that it was made from cashew nuts!).

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Cashew Parsley Cheese.

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In order to get a more creamy texture I added more water to my blender, and also left it running a little longer than the other cheeses. This resulted in a very spreadable creamy cheese, great on toasted bread drizzled with olive oil and crushed nuts.

All in all I am happy about the results and will definitely be making more versions.

I also plan on rolling the cheeses in chopped herbs, adding liquid smoke and drying them out. Should be interesting!

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Basic Cashew Nut Cheese Recipe.

• 300g Raw Cashew Nuts, soaked in water overnight
• 1 or 2 Cloves of Garlic
• 50ml Water (you may need less or more depending one how creamy you want it)
• 50/60ml Fresh Lemon or Lime Juice (you may need more or less depending on how tangy you want it)
• Pinch of Sea Salt
• Pinch of White pepper
• Other ingredients or herbs of your own choice (fresh herbs such as mint, coriander, dill etc.. should be added towards the end of the recipe , powdered spices can be added at the beginning)
• MSG (only joking, we don’t use added MSG in our kitchens)

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Method.

1. Drain cashew nuts and rinse.
2. Place in to a good blender with the garlic and blitz until crumbly.
3. Add lemon or lime juice, continue to blitz, stopping the machine now and again to scrape down the sides.
4. Whilst the machine is running add water to reach your desired consistency, a drier cheese will be easier to roll and will set firmer.
5. Season with salt and pepper.
6. Add other ingredients that you have chosen and continue to blitz.
7. Taste and adjust seasonings. Remember that the flavours will develop and merge whilst being stored.
8. For creamy cheese, store in an airtight container, if rolling the cheese, place the mixture on to a damp cheesecloth and hang in the fridge for a few hours or overnight to help firming. Once firm enough to handle place the mixture on to some cling film and roll in to a sausage shape then tie both ends together. Return to the fridge.
9. Eat. Drink. Savour.

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I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

We must be NUTS!

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The absence of updates can be attributed to “not much happening in the kitchens“…

Over the past month (and up until the end of February) we have been catering to groups of international journalist that are at the hotel to attend a launch of a new car by a large motor company. Everyday different journalist arrive for the presentation, to test drive the cars, take photos and make films. Every night dinner is served in the restaurant, every night the food is the same. Its an easy month or so for the cooks!

However culinary mundane it appears, I take great pride that some Laotian dishes are being served day in and day out. The international reporters get to feast upon Larb Gai, Nham Dok, a very spicy Pad Kemou, and a whole host of other Asian treats.

January also saw the time when the Spanish give out their festive presents. On the morning of the 6th, wide eyed children wake to see what The Three Kings have left them. The Three Kings are more famous than Santa, who may leave them a small gesture on the 25th of December, but its the 6th of January that is the most important day for the children….. and adults!

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This year I gave away some homemade sauces. Buying presents is cool, but time consuming, making them yourself not only saves time, its also a pleasure.

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Small jars of homemade Chili Oil made with Spanish Ham. Slightly sweet, salty and spicy, a great accompaniment to any dish. The recipe can be found here.

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Chili Dulce (Sweet Chili Sauce), for all my Spanish friends who cant seem to get enough of it at their local Chinese restaurant. They eat this stuff with “everything”!

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Here is a recipe for something that has absolutely nothing to do with the restaurant. This dish is not served at the hotel, it would cost far too much to produce, plus its huge. Prepare to commit gluttony in the extreme!

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There is no real name for this dish, though it tends to get called the “Vienne Burger” by the other cooks, though I like to refer to it as The Effing Burger!

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But is it really a (Gourmet) Burger, or a Steak Haché on steroids? You decide…

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I do know a few things though, if it was for sale it would need to carry a Health Warning. Vegetarians and Weight Watchers should look away now… Those who would like to sometimes spoil themselves and indulge….read on….

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Its really easy to make and would probably feed two people, but where is the fun in that?

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Ingredients:

• 260g Beef Tenderloin
• 180g Fresh Foie Gras
• 80g Onion
• 25g Blue Cheese
• Slice of White Bread

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Only five simple ingredients to produce a mammoth supercharged unadulterated burger… yey! Burger porn…..

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The beef should be fresh as possible because it will be served rare to medium-rare. It should be cut by hand in to small chunks, but not minced, you want to to retain some texture.

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The Foie Gras should be cold so that it is easily cut, again in to small chunks. I have also been known to add beef fat  to the recipe, if you choose to do that, you will not need so much Foie Gras.

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Onion finely chopped, roughly the same size as the beef chunks.

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Blue Cheese, Stilton is the best, but if you cant get hold of it, any strong blue/green veined cheese will work equally well. Try to get as much of the “moldy part” as possible. Why cheese? Well the flavour it imparts on the burger reminds me of the wonderful Dry Aged Beef steaks that I had in NY and FL.

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Chopped white bread is used as the binding agent.

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Everything goes in to a clean bowl and gets gently kneaded together. No need to overwork the ingredients, you just want them to bind and not become mushy.

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Shape in to a patty. Its important that it should be at least 4cm´s in height. Wrap it up in cling film and place in to the fridge for 30 minutes to firm up, but not for longer otherwise the inside will become too cold.

To cook the burger carefully place it in to a greased hot pan. It will smoke quite a lot so make sure you have sufficient ventilation. When the bottom part is charred and crispy, carefully turn the burger over, being careful not to splash yourself with the fat that the goose liver will have released.

Do not. I repeat. Do not overcook it. If overcooked the Foie Gras will just melt and you´ll be left with a rather fatty soggy mince meat patty.

Once it has cooked, place on to a warm plate (its important to have warm plates) and season with Sea Salt Flakes. Serve. Enjoy. Yield to the pleasure. Get someone else to do the dishes. Be selfish.

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Cutting through the outer crispy charred shell, you´ll be greeted with a smooth luxurious combination of succulent meat and fat.

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The oozing Foie Gras just melts in your mouth….

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