La Lot - Grilled Beef wrapped in wild betel leaves.

The first time that I recall having this dish was at a briefing session for Tony Tan's first Gourmet Tour of Vietnam in 1998.

I had eaten a lot of Vietnamese food in Footscray and Richmond, but never seen these tasty little morsels. The restaurants possibly only served them to their special clients.

The little parcels should be wrapped in wild betel leaves, which can be sourced from Asian grocers, but with a little effort. The traders in Victoria Street in Richmond, in Springavle and in Footscray certainly have sold them to me over the years, but they are generally not obvious and not always available. Some planning may be necessary.

If you want to try the dish, but can't find wild betel leaves then there are alternatives such as perilla (shiso/beefsteak plant), vine leaves, or even large spinach leaves will work.

The taste is enhanced when they are cooked over charcoal as they are in Vietnam, but even when cooked in a frypan, the fat melting and mixing with the leaves and becoming charred gives a superb flavour.

They are worth the effort.




La Lot – Grilled Beef Wrapped in Wild Betel Leaves

Ingredients:

1/4 cup red shallots, (or red onion) roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic
1 small red chilli, seeded and roughly chopped
2cm piece lemongrass
500g beef, preferably rump, cut into chunks and partly frozen
100g pork back fat, cut into chunks
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 Tbsp fish sauce
1 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt

30 large “la lot (pepper leaves) or red perilla or grape leaves
Wooden skewers soaked in cold water

Method:

Place the shallots, garlic, chilli and lemongrass into the TM bowl and mince for 20 seconds on Speed 8. You may need to scrape down the sides during this process.

Add 300g of the beef and mince by placing the speed control to Closed Lid and hitting Turbo 3 or 4 times. It needs to be a little pasty, not like ground beef.

Remove the mixture and add the remaining beef and pork fat. Again mince by hitting Turbo 3 or 4 times.

Add the oil, fish sauce, sugar and salt to the TM bowl with the remaining beef mixture and blend for 20 seconds on Reverse and Speed 4. You may need to use the spatula through the top to help combine the mix.

Place the betel leaves dark side down on a work surface and place about 1 tablespoon of filling in the middle of the leaf and roll up into a tiny cylinder, making sure that the meat is all covered by the leaf. Thread onto a skewer so that about 6 – 8 cylinders are lined up, side-by side.
Place the skewers in rows along side each other onto greased metal griddles, as shown, if cooking on a charcoal burner.






If you prefer, just cook on a metal plate or even in a frypan.

During cooking, to reduce the likelihood of burning, turn the parcels twice, until cooked through, about 8 – 10 minutes. Watch carefully as they tend to char if the heat is too high.

Serve with greens, rice paper rolls and dipping sauce.

Nuoc Cham Dipping Sauce

Ingredients:

1 clove garlic
1/2 teaspoon chilli, seeded and roughly chopped
1 tablespoon sugar
4 tablespoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
Juice of 1 lime
pinch salt

Method:

Place garlic clove and chilli into TM bowl with sugar and chop for 10 seconds on Speed 8 until fine. Add remaining ingredients and mix all together for 5 seconds on Speed 3.

Tongue with Two Sauces in Thermomix

Ox tongue is the sort of offal that many people will eat, if they are not told exactly what it is, or, if they don't see the preparation.

The texture of cooked ox tongue can be so soft and velvety that few really could resist it, if they are fed it "blind".

I love it and so decided to try cooking it in the Thermomix. It worked well for me, so please consider trying it, if you are a tongue-lover.


Tongue with Two Sauces

Ingredients:

1 ox tongue
1 onion, cut in quarters
1 carrot, roughly chopped
1 stick of celery, roughly chopped
1 garlic clove
1 bay leaf
Sprig of thyme
1/2 cup white wine
Few black peppercorns
2 whole cloves.

Method:

Wash the tongue and trim any excess from underneath so that you can place it in the TM basket. Place onion, carrot, celery and garlic in TM bowl and chop for 10 seconds on speed 5. Add remaining ingredients and place the TM basket with tongue into the TM bowl.

Add water or stock to cover the tongue. Place lid on and cook for 60 minutes at 80°C on speed soft. After that time, carefully remove the tongue and turn it over, add more stock or water to ensure the tongue is covered and cook for another 60 minutes at 80°C on speed soft. The tongue should be cooked and a skewer should slip into the tongue without resistance. Remove the tongue to a bowl and cover with the poaching liquid and allow it to cool enough to be able to be handled.



Once cool, the tongue needs to be peeled and trimmed. The bulk of the “skin” can be stripped off and any remaining pieces removed with a vegetable peeler. The gristly bits from underneath also need to be removed.




While peeling the tongue, strain the poaching liquor back into the TM bowl and boil for 10 minutes at 100°C on speed 2. Place the cleaned tongue into a clean bowl and cover with the poaching liquor until needed.


Salsa Verde

Ingredients:

1 cup fresh parsley
2 cloves garlic
2 anchovy fillets
2 gherkins
1 tablespoon capers
1/2 cup olive oil
20 ml lemon juice
Freshly ground black pepper

Method:

Place parsley in TM bowl and chop for 15 seconds on speed 7. Add remaining ingredients and blend for 45 seconds on speed 6. The sauce should be very thick, you may add some more oil, if too thick and then extra lemon juice to taste.

Cumberland Sauce

Ingredients:

Zest and juice of 1 orange
2 tablespoons redcurrant jelly
200 ml red wine
100 ml port
20ml lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon prepared mustard
Salt and pepper to taste.

Method:

Place zest into TM bowl and grate for 30 seconds on speed 9, scraping down the sides every 10 seconds. Add the jelly and wines and cook for 8 minutes at 100°C on speed 1.

Add the orange and lemon juice and cook for a further 5 minutes at 100°C on speed 1.
Blend for 30 seconds on speed 9 before straining into a bowl. Stir through the mustard and season with salt and pepper. Serve warm.

Classic Janni Kyritsis Beef

This is a dish was described in the last paragraph of the page on Janni, in Mietta O'Donnell's "Great Australian Chefs" , as a classic dish. It was on the menu at Berowra Waters , Bennelong and MG Garage.

It is a dish that shows the versatility of the Thermomix as it can be wholly produced from base ingredients in the machine. It is almost as if Janni had created the dish for the Thermomix.

Many may not know of Janni Kyritsis, photographed above after lunch service at MG Garage, the week before he retired from full time work as a chef. He can be seen in the July edition of Australian Gourmet Traveller with Stephanie Alexander in France. Janni has produced a cookbook "Wild Weed Pie" in which this recipe appears. I recommend the book, but to get a quick, non-Thermomix version you can check out Janni's recipe online.

The dish requires some preparation, but is not beyond the home cook, like myself. One of the biggest positives is that most of the preparation is done a day or so before service. This is a dish to have for a relaxed dinner party while impressing the guests, especially when you know the history of it.

Janni says that it is "Australian beef flavoured with Mediterranean tapenade, wrapped around English bone marrow dumpling, served on spinach wilted in an Asian wok, with a classic French Madeira sauce, and all created by a Greek chef who used to be an electrician." Well, I didn't use the wok, but now you can also say that is can be prepared in a German machine by a . . . .(insert Nationality and profession here).

Please share it with friends and honour Janni.

Steamed Fillet of Beef in a Bone-Marrow Dumpling
With Tapenade & Madeira Sauce

Serves 4

Ingredients:

600 g piece of beef fillet, trimmed from centre of large piece
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
400 g baby spinach
30 g butter
Freshly ground nutmeg
Salt & Pepper, to taste

Tapenade:
125 g black olives, pitted (nicoise)
25 g drained anchovy fillets
25 g small salted capers, blanched
1 clove garlic
1 tablespoon strained lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 firmly packed cup basil leaves
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
30 g fresh breadcrumbs (prepared as per TM book)

Bone Marrow Dumpling:
75 g clean bone marrow (I got it from some beef shin and used the meat to make osso buco in the slow cooker)
150 g fresh breadcrumbs (prepared as per TM book)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 extra large egg, lightly beaten
60ml 35%-fat cream
1/2 tablespoon chives
1 teaspoon thyme leaves

Madeira Sauce:
1/2 cup dry Madeira
1/2 cup veal glaze
Pinch ground allspice
Salt & Pepper, to taste

Method:

Start with cleaning the bone marrow by leaving it in salt water in the fridge for 2 days if possible.

Two days before, make the tapenade by firstly placing the garlic into TM bowl and chopping for 3 – 5 seconds on speed 7. Scrape down the sides of TM bowl and add all the remaining ingredients except olive oil and breadcrumbs. Process for 10 seconds on speed 7. Set to speed 4 and, while blades are running, gradually add the olive oil to form a paste. Finally add the breadcrumbs and process for 5 seconds at speed 3 to incorporate. Refrigerate until required.

To make the bone marrow dumpling mixture, pass the bone marrow through a fine sieve to remove any spicules of bone. Keep 50g of the marrow and blend for 20 seconds at speed 7 before adding the herbs. Process for 5 – 10 seconds on speed 7 until herbs have been chopped. Add remaining ingredients and process for 10 seconds at speed 3 to combine. Do not over process. Divide dumpling mixture into 4 portions and refrigerate.

Cut tenderloin into 4 pieces and sprinkle with the allspice and pepper. Spread 1 ½ teaspoons of tapenade on each end of the fillet. Place a piece of plastic film on the bench and spread a piece of the dumpling mixture out into a 3cm wide strip that will be long enough to just enclose the piece of fillet. Place a piece of the fillet on the dumpling at one end and roll so that the dumpling encloses the fillet with tapenade exposed at each end. Roll very tightly in the plastic film and twist ends like a bonbon. Wrap each of these in some aluminium foil twisting the ends to close tightly.



Place these in the refrigerator overnight (or at least a few hours).





When ready for service remove the fillet parcels from the refrigerator and leave for about 20 minutes to reach room temperature.

To make the Madeira sauce, place the Madeira in the Thermomix bowl. Set to 15 minutes at Varoma temperature on speed 4. The Madeira should be reduced by half. Add remaining ingredients and cook for 5 minutes at 100°C on speed 2. Remove from bowl into container to keep warm.



Without cleaning Thermomix bowl, add 750ml water, replace lid and position Varoma. Place parcels in Varoma and cover with lid. Set to 20 minutes at Varoma temperature on speed 3. Test beef by inserting a metal skewer into the centre of the beef. Leave it there for a count of 10 and then touch against your skin just under your bottom lip. For medium-rare it should feel warm. Steam for another 5 – 10 minutes if needed to reach desired state. Place in Thermosever to keep warm for 5 minutes.

While Thermomix is still warm place spinach in the Varoma and set for 5 minutes at Varoma temperature on speed 4. Remove spinach when wilted and mix through butter, nutmeg, salt and pepper to taste. Keep warm.

Take the rested beef and unwrap from the foil. Using a very sharp knife, cut the beef in half across the grain of the beef. Place with cut side down on a spatula and remove plastic film. Turn fillet over and place in centre of plates. Surround with some spinach to hold bone marrow dumpling in place. Pour some sauce over beef and spinach.