Read Gordon Ramsay's Ultimate Cookery Course Online
Authors: Gordon Ramsay
Gordon Ramsay's Ultimate Cookery Course (23 page)
SLOW-COOKED
BEEF SHORT RIBS
SERVES 2
Short ribs are going through a real renaissance, just like lamb shanks and pork cheeks have before them. They are a cheap cut full of fat and sinew but that disappears as you slowly cook them in red wine and stock. Roasting the tomato purée – or ‘cooking it out’, as we say in kitchens – rounds off the tart notes you sometimes get in tomatoes.
Olive oil, for frying
6 thick-cut meaty beef short ribs
1 large head of garlic, cut in half horizontally
1 heaped tbsp tomato purée
1 × 750ml bottle red wine
1 litre beef stock
150g pancetta lardons
250g small chestnut mushrooms, trimmed and halved
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Chopped flat leaf parsley, to garnish
1
. Preheat the oven to 170°C/Gas 3.
2
. Heat a deep-sided roasting tray on the hob and add a glug of olive oil. Season the short ribs thoroughly, then fry for 10–15 minutes to brown really well on all sides.
3
. Add the halved garlic head, cut side down, pushing it to the bottom of the pan. Add the tomato purée and heat for a minute or two to cook it out. Pour in the wine to deglaze the pan, scraping up the bits at the bottom. Bring to the boil and cook for 10–15 minutes until the liquid is reduced by half, then add stock to nearly cover the ribs (you’ll need less stock if your roasting tray isn’t very large). Bring to the boil again, basting the ribs with the juices.
4
. Cover the roasting tray with foil and cook in the preheated oven for 3–4 hours, basting now and then until the meat is tender and falling away from the bone.
5
. About 10 minutes before the short ribs are ready to come out, fry the pancetta for 2–3 minutes until crisp and golden. Add the mushrooms and cook for 4–5 minutes until tender. Drain off any excess fat.
6
. When the short ribs are ready, remove from the oven and transfer to a serving dish. Squeeze the garlic cloves out of their skins and pass through a sieve. Spoon off any excess fat from the beef cooking liquid, then strain it through the sieve and mix with the garlic. (If the sauce is too thin, reduce the cooking liquid by heating for 10–15 minutes more after straining.)
7
. Serve the short ribs topped with the hot pancetta and mushrooms and the sauce poured around. Garnish with chopped flat leaf parsley.
BLONDIES
MAKES 9 SQUARES
As the name suggests, blondies are a white chocolate version of brownies. I find them a bit more subtle in flavour and they make a great end to a meal, especially with a few chewy cranberries thrown in for texture.
230g butter, plus extra for greasing
340g dark brown sugar
Pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs, lightly beaten
280g plain flour
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp baking powder
240g white chocolate, chopped into small chunks
4 tbsp dried cranberries
1
. Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas 4. Lightly butter a 23cm square cake tin and line with greaseproof paper.
2
. Melt the butter in a saucepan and whisk in the sugar and salt. (A good whisk now will make the mixture slightly lighter and fluffier.) Add the vanilla extract and whisk again. Remove from the heat.
3
. Add the eggs to the butter mixture and stir well. Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda and baking powder into a large bowl, then whisk in the egg and butter mixture a little at a time. (It’s important to do this in stages so that you don’t get any lumps.)
4
. Leave the mixture to cool slightly, then fold in the chocolate chunks and the cranberries. (If the mixture is too hot, the chocolate will melt.)
5
. Spoon into the prepared cake tin and spread out evenly. Bake for 35–40 minutes until the outer edges are firm and the middle still a little soft.
6
. Leave to cool on a wire rack for at least 10 minutes, then cut into squares before serving. Once cooled, the blondies will keep in an airtight container for up to a week.
HOW TO BAKE WITHOUT STICKING
Lining the tin with greaseproof paper acts as an insurance policy to stop the blondies from sticking and means you can have a higher ratio of chocolate in the mix. Remember to smooth out the top of the blondies when you fill the tin so that they cook evenly.
CARAMELISED FIGS
WITH RICOTTA
SERVES 4
Slow cooking benefits not only meat: it allows fruit to develop its natural sugars too. The figs here are basted in a balsamic vinegar caramel and then roasted gently in the oven. True, we’re talking about 15 minutes here, not several hours, but it is still enough to transform the fruit. Serve with ricotta to keep the dish light.
4 woody rosemary sprigs
12 fresh figs
4 tbsp icing sugar
3 tbp balsamic vinegar
6 tbsp caster sugar
30g butter, cubed
TO SERVE
150g–200g ricotta cheese
4 tbsp toasted chopped almonds
Zest of 1 lemon
1
. Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas 4.
2
. Remove the leaves from all but one end of each rosemary sprig and trim a point at the other. Use the pointed end to pierce through the figs, inserting horizontally through their tops, about 1cm below the stalk. Thread 3 figs onto each sprig.
3
. Place the threaded figs on a plate and dust generously with icing sugar. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon of the balsamic vinegar.
4
. Heat an ovenproof frying pan on the hob and add the caster sugar in an even layer. Cook for 3–4 minutes until the sugar has completely melted and is starting to caramelise. As soon as it begins to take on a dark golden colour, remove it from the heat and whisk in the butter. Add the remaining balsamic vinegar and 2 tablespoons of water and whisk to combine.
5
. Add the figs to the pan and baste with the caramel until well coated. Place the figs in the preheated oven and cook for 10–15 minutes, basting now and again as they cook.
6
. Place the figs on a serving plate, spooning over the caramel from the pan. Serve immediately with a spoonful of ricotta, toasted almonds and a sprinkling of lemon zest.
MUCH AS I LOVE BIG-OCCASION COOKING –
THE SOCIABILITY, THE CHANCE TO SHOW OFF A BIT
– THE REALITY OF DAY-TO-DAY LIFE ISN’T LIKE THAT.
Much more often it’s about coming back late from work and needing to get dinner on the table quickly, and that calls for a whole different set of skills. It’s easy to be motivated when you’ve got the promise of an appreciative audience who will make all the right noises, but when you are cooking just for yourself or perhaps a partner, you can quickly lose heart and see the whole process as a chore. That’s when the temptation to fall back on ready-meals is the strongest.
Don’t be ashamed if that sounds like you – I’ll let you into every chef’s dirty little secret. When they get home after evening service, what is the thing they are most likely to whip up before going to bed? A home-made burger? A cheese soufflé? I wish. No. Baked beans on toast. Half of them don’t even bother warming them up, they just spoon them out of the tin. I know, I know: it’s late, they’ve spent all day in the kitchen and they just want to collapse into bed. But it does show that it isn’t skill or know-how that gets in the way of proper cooking, it’s convenience.
So the solution to cooking for small numbers is to make it as easy as possible – so simple, in fact, that picking up the phone and waiting for the pizza boy to deliver will seem like too much of a hassle in comparison. That’s my aim here. We think of fast food as being what comes in cardboard boxes from the takeaway, but in this chapter you’ll find a bolognese sauce that will be ready before the pasta’s even had time to boil (
see here
), fishcakes you can assemble from a few tins and jars (
see here
), and a chilli hotdog that’s in another league to anything you’ve had before (
see here
). When everyday food is this fast and tastes this good, it soon becomes a pleasure. If you want cooking to be hassle-free, you’ve got to start at first principles, and make the shopping as uncomplicated as possible. Dishes should focus around two or three key flavours on the plate, maximum, as in Mushroom and Leek Pasta (
see here
). Any more and you’re not only making extra work for yourself but you’ll be confusing your palate.
In my years of filming
Kitchen Nightmares
, in which I go around restaurants trying to sort out failing businesses, this has been by far the most common mistake. Young chefs, in particular, feel they have to put their all into every plate, and tend to overcomplicate their cooking to show what accomplished cooks they are. In fact the opposite is true. The best cooks know not to hide behind lots of competing flavours and are happy to let their main ingredients shine. Mushroom and leek pasta, for example, should taste of mushrooms and leeks. You might like to add some tarragon, perhaps, which marries the two ingredients together, or some bacon, but there really is no need to start throwing in lots of other strong flavours. It doesn’t need them. Respect your main ingredients and they won’t let you down.
A happy side effect of this is that the shopping is much easier too – even more so if you keep a well-stocked store cupboard. Think of this as the springboard for your cooking, so you need only pick up a couple of main ingredients – some sausages, say, or some eggs – to then take your cooking in whichever direction you choose when you get home.
BASICS
I’ve listed opposite the kind of basics you might like to keep. The list by no means exhaustive, but the main thing is to build it up as you go. I wouldn’t recommend you go out and buy everything in one massive shop. You’ll soon see the kind of things that crop up in the recipes you like, and before you know it you’ll have built up an arsenal of ingredients that arm you for happy evenings of cooking.
BEANS AND PULSES
I use a lot of haricot beans, cannellini beans, chickpeas and lentils. It is always better to soak and cook your beans from dried as the flavour and texture will be better (you can add flavourings, such as thyme, bay and smoked bacon, to the water when you boil them, but never salt as this will make their skins tough). That said, tinned beans and pulses are very useful standbys, especially when you are cooking on the spur of the moment.
CHOCOLATE
By using good-quality dark chocolate, with a minimum of 70 per cent cocoa solids, you have much more control as you can always let it down with more sugar and/or milk if you find it too bitter. Valrhona is my favourite brand.
OILS
As a minimum, you need a good extra virgin olive oil for drizzling over finished dishes and making vinaigrettes, light olive oil for frying, and a neutral-flavoured oil for when you want a less discernible flavour. Groundnut oil is ideal, but rapeseed oil is increasingly popular and has a very high smoking point, meaning you can cook at higher temperatures without it burning. Hazelnut, sesame and truffle oils are useful for drizzling.
POMEGRANATE MOLASSES
Pomegranate juice that has been boiled down to a dark brown, sweetly tart liquid. Essential to much Middle Eastern cooking and available from Persian or Asian grocery shops, or online.
RICE
Long-grained basmati, which cooks and tastes better than other varieties; short-grained for puddings; bomba and calasparra rice for paellas; and risotto rice, which contains more starch and maintains the bite you need. I prefer carnaroli, but arborio is also good.
SAUCES
Naturally fermented soy sauce and fish sauce are essential in Asian cooking for delivering a salty kick. Other store-cupboard essentials include Tabasco, tamarind extract, English and seeded mustards, Worcestershire sauce, and good old tomato ketchup.
SPICES
I cover these in more detail
here
, but remember, they lose their flavour quickly, so buy little and often. Asian shops tend to be cheaper than supermarkets, and because of the higher turnover their spices are likely to be fresher.
TINS
Italian tomatoes (preferably whole, as the quality tends to be better); cannellini beans; anchovies; sardines; and mackerel.
VANILLA PODS
Fresh vanilla pods impart much more sweet, perfumed flavour than vanilla extract. Look for plump, oily pods from Madagascar. Once you have used the seeds, place the empty pod into a bag of sugar, which will take on the vanilla aroma and be ideal for baking.
VINEGARS
Essential not just for vinaigrettes and dressings but also to deglaze pans. Sherry, balsamic, white wine, cider and red wine vinegars all have distinctive flavours. Rice vinegar is slightly milder and sweeter, and much used in Chinese and Vietnamese cooking. Malt vinegar is best left for your fish and chips.
Other staples I never like to be without are: flours (plain, strong bread flour, and self-raising); pasta; maple syrup, leaf gelatine (easier to use than granules); instant (dried) yeast; capers; and nuts (like spices, they go stale very quickly, so buy in small quantities).