Produce Experimenting - Taro and Bacon Hash

I bought a taro the other day. I saw it at the greengrocers and had never seen one before in the shops, so I got excited and bought one. Then realised I had absolutely zero idea of what I was supposed to do with it. I remember seeing it in recipes and on menus, but I couldn’t pick enough of a memory to know what to do with it. A quick google search indicated that as a tuber it can be cooked pretty much like a normal potato. But that it absolutely must be cooked to get rid of a chemical that has a toxicity that causes gout-like issues. Not a problem, I prefer my tubers cooked. It’s also used extensively to make desserts. Before I contemplate getting into taro desserts, I thought I’d cook one up in a more traditional-potato manner in order to get a feel for what it’s taste and texture is like. That also meant curries and stews were out.

So, that somewhat narrowed down what I was going to do with it. And it was another cold, rainy night which automatically lends itself to comfort food. I have said it before and I’ll say it again…I love breakfast. So breakfast for dinner is a pretty huge comfort food for me. Taro Hash with eggs it was. Add some bacon – because it’s bacon. And some ginger, pomegranate and chilli for a pop of brighter flavours and you have a pretty amazing dish.

Serve with some fresh parsley and sumac scattered over the perfect yolks. Then eat with hot sauce. The taro cooked this way developed a slightly chewy texture and it has a nutty, somewhat earthy flavour which worked really well. I’m thinking I might need to try some more taro recipes in the future. Have you tried taro before? What’s your favourite way of preparing it? Comment below or email me!

Taro and Bacon Hash

(serves 2 big servings)

1 large taro, peeled and cut into 2cm dice

1 brown onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
Generous grind salt and pepper
Thumb sized piece of ginger, peeled and grated
Juice of 2 limes
1 pomegranate, seeded
4 rashers eye bacon, diced
2/3 cup corn kernels
1 chilli, minced (or to taste)
4 eggs

Heat a tall-sided pan that can also go into the oven to medium heat and add a generous splash of olive oil. Stir in the onions and salt and pepper, and cook 10 minutes or so until caramelising and soft and sweet. Stir here and there to make sure it doesn’t catch. Add the minced garlic and bacon and stir through.

Heat the oven to 175C

When the bacon is starting to colour and render out it’s fat, add the grated ginger, chilli and lime juice. Stir through the taro and corn, coating it in the oniony-mixture. Pop the pan into the oven and cook for 20 minutes or until the taro is mostly cooked and softer. Stir through the pomegranate seeds, then carefully crack the eggs into each ‘quarter’ of the pan. Pop back in the oven for 10 minutes or until the egg is cooked to your liking. I like runny yolks!

Sprinkle with some fresh parsley and sumac. Eat, curled up on the couch watching your favourite show!

Christmas in July - Cloudy Mulled Apple Cider

This mulled apple cider is all Lance’s design. Traditionally we’ve made a mulled wine for Christmas in July, but having had mulled cider a few times over the last couple of winters, and loving it, Lance decided he wanted to give that a go. He wanted it to be a delicious cloudy cider and achieved this by adding apple puree. The spices are the same traditional mulled wine spices, but with more emphasis on the ginger and vanilla. I used homemade vanilla vodka, but use whatever you have at hand. Or, in a pinch, you can use vanilla extract (or add a vanilla bean in the mulling spices). Choose a drier style cider so it's not overpoweringly sweet.

I like this as the first drink of the night. It’s quite sweet, but it is a very warming welcome in to your home for a Christmas in July party. If you reheat it or make it in the slow cooker and keep it warm, it also makes a good end-of-the-night, most people have gone home, sit on-the-couch warming your hands in a mug and chat til 4am drink.

 

 

Mulled Cloudy Apple Cider

(serves 8-10 depending on glass size)
1 pink lady apple (or granny smith), peeled, cored and finely diced
90mL vanilla vodka (3 shots)
1 cup + 2 tbsp sugar (divided)
juice and peel 1 lemon
juice and peel 2 oranges
2 cinnamon sticks
5 cloves
2 bay leaves
thumb size piece of ginger, peeled and sliced
1 tsp whole allspice berries
8x 330mL bottles apple cider

Put the apple pieces, vanilla vodka, citrus juices and sugar into a small pot and bring to the boil. Simmer for 20 minutes until the apple has completely softened. Carefully blend this mixture to a puree in your blender. You can leave it to cool first if you want it to be safer to blend.

In a large pot, add I cup sugar, peel, cinnamon sticks, cloves, bay leaves, ginger, all spice berries and one bottle of cider. Stir over a medium-high heat until the sugar dissolves, then simmer on low until the mixture becomes syrupy and all of the spices infuse – around 20 minutes. Stir through the puree and remaining apple cider and keep on the low heat until the drink is warm. Serve in mugs, with cinnamon sticks for swizzle sticks. Try avoiding the spices when ladeling into mugs.

For an extra kick, try adding a shot of spiced rum such as Coruba or Captain Morgan!

This can also be made in a slow cooker. Follow the above stages with the insert on burners and at the stage of adding the puree and extra cider, put the insert into the slow cooker and leave it on low for the duration of the party to keep it warm.

Christmas in July - Chocolate Salted Caramel Pavlova

This is Lance’s current favourite food. I first made it for Mothers' Day and now he requests I make it all the time. If it didn’t mean I ended up with 8 egg yolks to deal with, I probably would! It is a brilliant dinner party dessert because it can all be pre-made and assembled on the day. The caramel and peanut praline can be made a few days in advance, the meringue is best made the day before to allow it to cool fully. I have made the meringues 3 days in advance too, as long as you store them in airtight containers, it works fine. Just don't assemble until a maximum of a few hours before serving.

The pavlova is rich and sweet and creamy, with the best combination of crispy meringue, sticky caramel, silky cream and crunchy praline. You only need a small slice, but then you go back for more. It’s so addictive! It looks both impressive and rustic at the same time.

 

 

Chocolate Salted Caramel Pavlova

(serve 8-10)
8 egg whites

400g caster sugar

4 tbsp cocoa powder (unsweetened)

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

60g dark chocolate (I use Chilli Lindt, which happens to be equal to 6 squares), finely chopped)

600mL heavy cream (alternatively, 500mL whipping cream, whipped to firm peaks)

1 batch salted caramel (recipe below)

1 batch peanut praline (recipe below)

Position your oven racks in the middle two rows. Preheat oven to 180C

Line 3 baking trays with baking paper. On the back of them, trace a circle around a dinner plate around 24cm in diameter with a thick dark pen. Lightly spray the inked side with cooking spray and place ink side down on the trays. This helps stop them moving when you are adding the meringue.

Put the eggwhites in the bowl of your standmixer with the whisk attachment and whisk until soft peaks form. With the mixer still running, add a tablespoon of sugar at a time and continue beating until it goes stiff and glossy. It’s ready when you can lift the head of the mixer and the eggwhite mixture doesn’t drop off the whisk.

Take the bowl out of the machine and sift the cocoa powder, vinegar and chocolate. Gently fold this through the eggwhite mixture until it is an even pale brown colour.

Divide the mixture evenly between the 3 circles and then smooth with a spatula or back of a spoon to create flat, even layers.

Pop the trays in the oven and reduce the temperature straight away down to 140C. Cook for an hour. Don’t open the door at all during this time. When it’s ready, it will be crunchy on the outside and a little golden on the edges. Turn the oven off and leave the door of the oven ajar (use a wooden spoon to prop it open if necessary) and leave to cool completely inside. This will take a few hours.

To assemble, place one meringue on your serving plate and spread ½ of the caramel sauce over it. You’ll need to be very gentle so you don’t crush the meringue. Spoon 1/3 of the whipped cream on top of the caramel and spread. Top with a second meringue, then caramel, then cream. Finally add the third meringue, spread the remaining cream and sprinkle the chopped peanut praline over the top.

Salted Caramel Sauce

1 cup sugar
4 tbsp water
55 g butter
100mL cream

½ tsp fine sea salt

Add sugar and water in a medium saucepan over low heat. Stir until sugar has dissolved. Increase the heat to high, every so often, swirl the pot to keep mixture moving, but do not stir. The mixture will then start turning a nice caramel colour, when this happens, remove from the heat and add the butter, salt and cream. Whisk to combine, set aside to cool.

Peanut Praline

¾ cup raw peanuts

1 tbsp butter

1 tbsp brown sugar

¼ tsp salt

Melt butter and sugar in a frypan and stir until the sugar dissolves into the butter. Add the salt and stir through, too. Add the peanuts and stir to cover in the sugar mixture. Leave to toast for 2 minutes or so, then toss to toast the other side of the nuts. When the mixture smells toasty and nutty, spread out onto a lined baking tray and leave to cool and harden.
Break up/cut into smaller pieces to put on top.

 
 
 

Christmas in July - Chocolate Peppermint Coquito

As part of Christmas in July, Lance and I offered a mulled cider that we served as people arrived. A nice warm mug of spicy deliciousness welcoming them in from the cold. Stay tuned for that recipe! Then with dessert I served this chocolate peppermint coquito and my sister in law made egg-nog. Traditional Puerto Rican coquito is sort of a rummy coconut egg-nog. This chocolate version is barely adapted from Always Order Dessert's recipe for a chocolate coquito. I made mine minty as peppermint is such a "Christmas" flavour and it's impossible to find candy canes this time of year. They would make awesome swizzle sticks if you make this for your December Christmas. You could use Creme de Menthe instead of a peppermint extract but it would add extra sweetness and it would be the only reason for me buying a whole bottle of Creme de Menthe. The only other change is that I used unsweetened coconut cream instead of the sweetened version, I don't really drink super-sweet drinks.

The end result is a sort of more grown-up version of a peppermint Baileys. Perfect for sipping on the rocks and dunking your gingerbread into. I served them in cute little red shot glasses to add to the festivities (and take away from dishes).

This makes a little over a litre and lasts in the fridge for around 2 weeks.

Chocolate Peppermint Coquito

1 can coconut milk
100g dark chocolate (I used Lindt 85%)
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 can coconut cream
2 cups rum (I used Havana Club Anejo)
1/4 - 1/2 tsp peppermint extract
2 cinnamon sticks
2 tsp vanilla extract

In a small pot, add the coconut milk and roughly chopped dark chocolate and place over a low heat. Stir to melt the chocolate and form a ganache. When completely amalgamated, set aside to cool to room temperature.

When cool, place the coconut cream, sweetened condensed milk and rum in the blender, blend to combine. Add the chocolate ganache and vanilla extract. Blend well to combine. Add 1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract, mix then taste to see if it needs extra.

Pour into glass bottles with lids (like leftover rum bottles), add a cinnamon stick and pop in the fridge until it's really cold. Serve dusted with cinnamon if you'd like.