Kingfish carpaccio
Slices of raw kingfish
Capers
Sliced red onions
Lemon zest
Sloshed with fennel oil


 
Smoked Kingfish Pate
Smoked Kingfish
Whole Fennel Seeds
White Pepper Corns
Salt & Pepper
Crème Fraiche
Fennel Infused Olive Oil – (to Blend)
Lemon Juice – (to Blend)
Chilli – (with seeds)
Mix all in Blender
Cover and Refrigerate for 6 hours (until set)

 



Roast Belly Pork
1.5kg boned belly pork, skin scored in parallel lines cut down to the flesh and about 1cm apart
1 tablespoon fennel infused olive oil
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tablespoon fennel seeds
1 tablespoon flaky sea salt
 
Preheat the oven to 180C. Put the pork skin side up on a tray in the sink. Pour over boiling water. The skin will shrink away from the meat. This is a Chinese housewives’ trick to ensure perfect crackling. Dry the pork well with paper towels.
 
Brush the oil over the bottom of the roasting tin just big enough to hold the pork. Sprinkle the garlic and fennel seeds over the oil. Place the pork on top, skin side up and spread flat. Sprinkle with salt.
 
Place in the oven and roast for one hour, then increase the heat to 200C and roast for a further 30 minutes until the crackling is crisp. Remove from the oven. Rest the pork, covered in a warm place.
 
Serve with potatoes and cabbage with gravy or rice and rice and Chinese greens

 

Slow roasted loin of Pork with fennel, rosemary and garlic
1/4 cup fennel infused olive oil
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 sprigs rosemary, finely chopped
1 tablespoon fresh fennel leaves, finely chopped
Freshly ground black pepper
4 kg mid-loin of pork, skinned and released from the bone
Salt
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup water
12 chunks fennel
12 small onions
 
Preheat the oven to 180C. In a small bowl, combine 2 tablespoons of the fennel olive oil with the garlic, rosemary, fennel leaves and a generous quantity of black pepper. Open out the meat and rub the flesh all over with this mixture. Roll the meat back onto its bone. Rub any remaining mixture over the fat and sprinkle with salt.
 
Settle the meat into a baking dish, then pour over the wine and water. Cook for 2 hours, basting every 30 minutes, adding the chunks of fennel and the onions after the first hour. Strain the juices from  the baking dish into a tall jug and allow to stand for 10minutes, then skim off and discard all fat.
 
Increase the oven temperature to 200C and cook the meat and vegetables for a further hour. At this stage the meat should be perfectly tender and the vegetables cooked. Remove the meat and vegetables to a plate and keep warm. Strain the juices in the baking dish into another tall jug, allow to stand for 10 minutes, then skim off and discard all fat. Combine the 2 lots of juices.
 
Stand the baking dish over medium heat on the stove, then pour in the juices and allow to bubble up. Scrape and stir vigorously to remove any cooked on bits, then strain this jus into a warm serving jug. Carve the meat thickly. Moisten with the jus and share out the vegetables. Serve with stewed cannelloni beans.
 
Serves 12.

 

Chocolate Fennel Cake from Brian, Bobby Joe and Nigella

A delicious gluten and dairy-free Chocolate Fennel cake which is based on a Nigella Lawson recipe with tweaks from Brian and Bobby Joe, long-time customers, who have kindly allowed me to use their recipe.  Anise was commonly used by the Spanish in the 16th century to flavour chocolate and it’s a lovely combination using our fennel infused olive oil in a rich velvety chocolate cake.

150ml  Olive oil (75ml Fennel infused oil and 75ml EVOO)
50 g  Dutched cocoa powder (sifted)
125g Dark chocolate (Whittaker’s 72% Dark Ghana)
125ml  Boiling water
2 tsp Vanilla extract (not vanilla essence)
150g Ground almonds
½ tsp Baking soda
1  Pinch of salt
200g Caster sugar
3  Large eggs

Preheat your oven to 170°C/325ºF. Oil a 22-23 cm/ 9 inch springform tin with a little oil and line the base with baking paper.

Measure and sift the cocoa powder into a bowl or jug, add the chocolate broken into pieces and whisk in the boiling water until you have a smooth, chocolatey, still runny (but only just) paste. Whisk in the vanilla extract, then set aside to cool a little.

In another smallish bowl, combine the ground almonds with the baking soda and salt.

Put the sugar, olive oils and eggs into the bowl of a freestanding mixer and beat together vigorously for about 3 minutes until you have a pale-primrose, aerated and thickened cream. Turn the speed down a little and pour in the cocoa mixture, beating as you go, and when all is scraped in, slowly tip in the ground almond mixture. This can also be done with a hand-held electric beater.

Scrape down, stir the mixture a little with a spatula, then pour this dark, liquid batter into the prepared tin. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until the sides are set and the very centre, on top, still looks slightly damp. A cake tester should come up mainly clean but with a few sticky chocolate crumbs clinging to it.

Let it cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack, still in its tin, and then ease the sides of the cake with a small metal spatula and spring it out of the tin. Leave to cool completely and serve with a raspberry coulis or eat while still warm with some ice cream, as a pudding.

Note: you can substitute the ground almonds for 125g or 3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon of all-purpose flour, which means it’s no longer gluten-free.

White Chocolate, Preserved Lemon and Fennel Infused Olive Oil Mousse

This is an adventurous dessert concocted by Ruth Pretty for our Wellington on a Plate 2015 event - Perfect Puddings. It suits those who love fennel.

110g Whittaker's white chocolate tablet, coarsely chopped

90 ml Fennel Infused Olive Oil

50g castor sugar (1st measure)

4 egg yolks (lightly beaten)

4 egg whites

Pinch salt

50g castor sugar (2nd measure)

2 teaspoons finely chopped preserved lemon

Place chocolate in a bowl set over a pot of simmering water and stir until it just begins to melt. Slowly pour in the fennel infused olive oil, stirring as you pour. Continue to stir until the chocolate has completely melted and all the oil is used. Cool for a few minutes.

Place 1st measure of sugar and egg yolks into a small bowl and whisk until pale and fluffy. Place egg whites and salt into another larger bowl and whisk until soft peaks form. Gradually pour in the 2nd measure of castor sugar and whisk until it is incorporated.

Fold chocolate mixture and preserved lemon into egg yolk mixture, followed by egg whites and while the mousse is still fluffy and soft, fill the dishes or moulds of your choice. It would look lovely in china cups.

Serve with boudoir biscuits or shortbread.