Ok, before we start lets get your head around the basics of seasoning. There are four ways to season. Like Duh.

Sour seasons

Sweet seasons

Salty seasons

Spice seasons.

This is easiest to see in Asian cooking, but look for these building blocks and you will see them in every jar in your cupboard, on every shelf in your fridge. Seriously, open your cupboard and decide which category every thing falls into sweet, sour, salt or spice. Or if it is balanced.Don't just look at it, TASTE IT! then decide. Then look at their ingredients and see the four building blocks with in them. (Don’t stress if the whole four seasonings are not present in each. Its just a learning exercise)

It makes experimenting easy and fun.

That’s why everyone loves ketchup/tomato sauce on hot chips/fries. Its full of vinegar (sour), sugar (sweet), concentrated tomato (spice) and your pour it all over salty chips.

Take Japanese. Sushi rice has sugar and vinegar to season it, dipped in soy (salt) mixed with wasabi spice. Pickled ginger the same. Vinegar, sugar salt and ginger is spicy on its own.

Italian, Carbonara Sauce. Bacon (salty) cream/onion/garlic (sweet) Parmesan (sour) and lashings of cracked pepper for spice.

Mash potato, cream (sweet), butter (sweet/sour), salt and pepper to taste.

You can balance these or let one shine through. You might like a balanced mash with steak, but something a little sour with fish or lamb. How??? Find something sour for goodness sake, what ever that may be. A squeeze of lemon, sour cream instead of regular, sun dried tomato, sumac spice!!! Go through what is in you cupboard and play. There is no wrong answer here.

Thai. Coconut milk (sweet), lime juice (sour), fish sauce (salt), chili (spice).

Indian gets interesting, sweet, salty and sour spices building on each other. Finished with yogurt (sour) or coconut milk (sweet) and on and on.

Find your balance between these elements. If some thing is sour, add sweet. Too salty, add sweet and sour. Bland, add salt or a little of the 4. The Dali Lama said cook with blind abandon so go to it, relax. You get this and then you're on your way, you will only get better and more experimental.

Why am I telling you this. Because these recipes are guidelines at best, you're using different ingredients to me, maybe your lemons are sourer than mine, so you’ll need to adjust for that. How to adjust for sour add sweet……its up to you though.

Got it!?

Mainly how ever I am terribly lazy and am in no mood to write every sordid detail down for you. You are a big kid now after all.

Ok, so now lets go and play.

Raspberry and Champagne Layered Terrine









                                                                                                                         

Ok I, hate writing out recipes simply because I don’t follow any, even for my desserts. Every thing included in this blog is 100% mine unless I credit it to another chef or restaurant.

Ill do my best to articulate method as best I can, but be sure when I make something, it’s a little different every time. I generally only use a chefs knife, a hand held electric mixer, hand held bar mix thing and the little food processor attachment it comes with.

I love this desert for many reasons. Its dead easy to make, does taste fantastic and lucky for me its my owners favorite. I first made it in the Philippines on a dive research icebreaker looking for a 15C sunken Spanish Galleon El Spirit De Santos. I messed it up and all the ingredients separated. Which turned out to be wonderful. I was never able to mange the recipe to separate on purpose like that again so I do it all separately now.

Ok here we go.

Lychee Jelly

440g can of Lychees and syrup

Tab sugar

2 leaves of gelatin

• Soak the gelatin in cold water.

• Pulp the lychees with syrup and pass through a fine sieve

• Heat the pulped lychees and syrup with the sugar. Squeeze water from softened gelatin and stir into the heated liquid with the sugar until both are dissolve. Pass through the sieve again.

• Pour equal amounts into 6 champagne glasses and refrigerate until set. The mixture will be a soft set.

Coconut Mousse

420 ml can of coconut milk

2 tab of sugar

200ml cream whipped

Tsp Vanilla essence

2 leaves of gelatin

• Soak the gelatin in cold water.

• Heat the coconut milk with the sugar and essence to a simmer but do not boil. Squeeze water from softened gelatin and stir into the heated sweetened milk until disolved, Pass through a sieve.
  

• Set aside to cool and until beginning to set (may want to refrigerate a little to speed up the process).

• Fold the whipped cream into the cool coconut mixture Half to begin with then the rest.

• Pour equal amounts through a funnel onto the set lychee jelly.

• Refrigerate until set.

Lime Syrup

Juice 2 limes

2 Tab of sugar

• Juice the limes. Heat the juice with the sugar and reduce by half.

• Set aside to cool.
  
• Just before serving at a little of the syrup and garnish with a sprig of mint or Toffee
  

Raspberry and Champagne layered Terrine 

Raspberry Layer                                                                                Champagne Layer

1.5 pounds Raspberries                                                                   1 1/4 cups Champagne

4 tbl spoons fine sugar                                                    3 Gelatin Sheets, soaked in cold water to soften 

3.5 Gelatin Sheets , soaked in cold water to soften                     3 1/2 tabls superfine sugar

3 tbls Champagne or sweet white wine

pinch of sea salt

Raspberry Layer

Puree the raspberries and strain the puree through a fine meshed chinois, using a small ladle to help move it through the strainer. Measure out 11/4 cups of puree. Add sugar to taste; the puree should be on the sweet side, but the amount will vary depending on the quality of the raspberries. Squeeze the excess water from the gelatin and place in a small saucepan with the champagne. Warm gentle, stirring to dissolve the gelatin. Mix it into the raspberry puree. Add salt. Place 6 tablespoons of the raspberry puree in the bottom a small metal bread mould. Refrigerate the mould so that the layer set completely.

Champagne Layer

While the first layer sets boil the Champagne for a minute to remove the alcohol, skimming off any scum, that rises to the top. Measure out 1 cup of the Champagne and discard the rest. Wring out the gelatin and place them in a bowl. Stir the hot Champagne into the gelatin, then stir in the sugar to dissolve. Let the Champagne mixture cool to room temperature.

 When the raspberry layer is set, spoon 6 tablespoons of the Champagne mixture until set. Continue the layering process until you have 3 layers. To remove quickly dip the mould into hot water to loosen the terrine. Unmould onto a cutting surface. Using a hot knife (dipped and wiped between each slice) cut the terrine into 1/2 inch slices. Finish with a quenelle of whipped creme fraiche and some small mint leaves