Late Summer Starters

This season, the Granny Mouse culinary artists invite you to bring sun-drenched magic into your own kitchen with dishes inspired by the heart and soul of their kitchen.

SMOKED SALMON TARTARE
with goats’ cheese caprini, capers, dried cranberries and herbs served with a garlic melba

INGREDIENTS:

• 80g smoked salmon
• 30g goats’ cheese caprini
• 4g capers
• 6g dried cranberries
• 2g of chopped herbs (rosemary/thyme/parsley)
• salt and pepper to taste
• bread x 2 slices (any bread can be used; however, ciabatta or sourdough are preferable)
• olive oil
• garlic

METHOD:

For the garlic melba

1. Preheat the oven to around 100°C. Thinly slice two pieces of bread (should not be thicker than 2-3mm).
2. Place them onto a small baking tray and drizzle with olive oil. Lightly sprinkle over some crushed or minced garlic with salt and pepper, and pop into the oven until lightly toasted and crispy.
3. Once done, remove from the oven and set aside to cool whilst you prep the tartare.

For the tartare

1. To a bowl, add in the caprini cheese, capers, dried cranberries and herbs and mix together. Season with salt and pepper.
2. Cut up your smoked salmon into smaller pieces and add it to the goats’ cheese mixture.
3. Once combined, use a ring cutter to set into place on a plate and serve with the garlic melba.
4. To add extra flavour, you can make a lemon caper butter to drizzle over or deep fry some capers for added texture.

BEETROOT VOL-AU-VENTS
with whipped blue cheese and garlic mushrooms

INGREDIENTS:

• puff pastry (brands like Today’s Pastry are readily available at all local supermarkets)
• 100g all-purpose flour
• cooking spray
• 1 x egg (to egg wash pastry)
• 100g blue cheese
• 100g cream cheese
• 1 x large beetroot
• 8 x button mushrooms
• 20ml butter
• garlic
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2g chopped rosemary
• 2g chopped thyme
• oil for cooking

METHOD:

1. To start, grease your tray with cooking spray and set it aside, then preheat your oven to 180°C. To cut out vol-au-vent pieces, roll out the puff pastry on a board or counter, sprinkling some all-purpose flour on your surface first, so the pastry does not stick. Once rolled out to about 3mm in thickness, use a 10cm cutting ring to cut out your base layer. Once your base layers are cut, cut two additional 10cm pieces. Then cut out 9cm pieces. The outer lining must be placed on the first 10cm cut-out, and the 9cm cut-out can be placed additionally on your tray for baking. Essentially, you are creating a bowl and lid piece for your puff pastry. 
2. The pastry can now be brushed with a mixture of egg and water and placed in your preheated oven to be baked. Depending on the type of oven, this should take about 15-20 minutes once preheated. Once done, set aside until you are ready.
3. While your pastry is in the oven, you can begin your next step of boiling your beetroot with thyme. 
4. In a separate pan, preheat a bit of oil and butter and pan fry your mushrooms, cut into halves or quarters, seasoning generously with garlic, salt, pepper and rosemary. Once the mushrooms start to brown, they are done, and you can set them aside.
5. Once the beetroot is boiled, slice and pan-fry with thyme, salt and pepper.
6. Place the blue cheese into an additional bowl with a bit of cream cheese and whip them together. The cream cheese helps smooth out the blue cheese, improving the creaminess and overall taste of the cheese.

7. To assemble, place baked vol-au-vent pieces in the centre of your plate. Next, pipe or spoon in your whipped blue cheese mixture. Once this has been generously applied, you can arrange your beetroot into your filling and top with your garlic mushrooms. Finish off your plate with some herbs, microgreens, or even edible flowers.

And if this all seems too much, and you’d rather be pampered, book your table at Granny Mouse by contacting their reservations team.

Email: reservations@grannymouse.co.za