A modern kedgeree!
Originally, Indian kedgeree was a simple rice, lentil and fish entree that had a spicy black pepper flavor and there was no curry masala spice mix in the recipe. During the English occupation of India, the original Indian kedgeree recipe was modified for English taste. Kedgeree then became a popular breakfast entree in England during the Victorian age. Victorian English kedgeree was made with curry powder, lentils, rice, fish, eggs and broth with cream being an optional ingredient. Fresh curry leaves, coconut milk and yogurt were available in India, but they were not commonly available in England, so those items were not part of the Victorian age recipe. I posted a recipe for Victorian kedgeree in this blog. Several versions of kedgeree were created shortly after the English Victorian elite had popularized kedgeree as a breakfast entree. The Scottish made a very plain version of kedgeree that had no spices. Kedgeree versions were created in the caribbean and Australia. I posted a nice Jamaican style kedgeree recipe in this blog. Back home in England, kedgeree became a working class entree. Leftover fish, vegetables and rice from a previous meal transformed kedgeree from a classy entree that was popular with the English Victorian elite, to just another recipe that was good for using up leftovers. After a few decades, kedgeree pretty much became a thing of the past. Occasionally a chef would reintroduce kedgeree and home cooks that liked kedgeree kept the recipe alive through recent modern times. I worked as a chef at an English pub for 2 years and I found that very few English customers knew what kedgeree was. A few of the English customers and employees did say that they had heard of kedgeree, but they had no clue as to what the entree was. As an opportunist, I thought the timing was right to offer kedgeree as a special du jour at that English pub. I made the Victorian age kedgeree version with salmon and cream. The few English employees and customers that tried the kedgeree, really liked the entree! I only offered that version of kedgeree a couple times as a special du jour, because I always kept rotating and adding a wide variety daily specials. We had so many regular customers that returned on a daily basis at that pub, and regular customers like to see new entree specials offered everyday. The point of the matter is, the kedgeree did sell! Customers did become interested in kedgeree once again, after kedgeree disappeared from restaurant menus for nearly 75 years! Today's recipe will be the third kedgeree version that I have posted in this blog. This version is a modern style kedgeree creation that has a few classy ingredients that make it very appealing. I cooked this kedgeree as a personal employee meal at the Le Cordon Bleu campus Technique Restaurant and this entree is pictured in the photographs above. My personal modern kedgeree employee meal looked a little bit too good, I suppose, because when I showed this entree to the instructor that had a doctorate degree in culinary arts, he said "Thats looks really good! Put that on my desk for my dinner!" Ce est la vie! I was robbed again! Chefs like to eat my food and it is like a curse. When I cook a nice meal for myself in a restaurant, inevitably a chef confiscates my meal and makes it his own. That is how chefs like myself remain thin and fit. "Never trust a skinny chef?" Bah! Skinny chefs cook the best food! After the culinary arts instructor finished eating the kedgeree that was supposed to be my own employee meal, I asked if he knew what kedgeree was. I was not surprised to find that the chef had no clue as to what kedgeree was, so I told him the brief history of kedgeree. The chef said that he really liked the modern kedgeree version that I created. If I ever accept an offer to be the chef at an English pub again, I certainly will market this modern kedgeree version as a special du jour! As far as me eating this modern kedgeree version goes, I will make this at home sometime, because cooking a personal meal like this in a restaurant is useless. Chefs and restaurant owners have stolen my personal meals in the past so often, that I would have to secretly cook my meal and hide in some dark corner of a restaurant, just to make sure that my own personal dinner ends up in my own tummy! I never figured that kedgeree was a meal that was worthy of being stolen by another hungry chef, but it was!
Mango Chutney Recipe: This recipe makes about 3 cups of chutney! Boil 2 cups of water in a sauce pot over high heat. Add 3/4 cup of cider vinegar. Add about 3/4 to 1 cup of sugar. Taste the liquid. The mixture should taste like a balanced sweet and sour flavor. Adjust the amount of sugar or vinegar as necessary. Reduce the liquid over medium high heat, till it just starts to become a very thin syrup consistency. Reduce the temperature to low heat. Add 1 chopped peeled apple. Add 2/3 cup of chopped onion. (The apple and onion will help to create pectin to gel chutney.) Simmer till the apple and onion become very tender. Add water as necessary to keep the syrup base a very thin consistency at this point. Add 1/3 cup of minced dried fruit. (Dried cherries, cranberries, prunes, white raisons or dark raisons are best for making chutney. The dried fruit adds extra depth and flavor. This is not a dark fruit chutney, so so don't add too much dried fruit. I used a few dried cranberry and raisons to make this batch of chutney.) Add 3 tablespoons of minced fresh ginger. Add 3 tablespoons of lemon juice. Add 1 tablespoon of thin chiffonade strips of fresh lemon zest. Add 2 finely chopped green onions. (Only use the white sections of the green onions.) Add 4 minced cloves of garlic. Add 1/4 cup of chopped green bell pepper. Add 1/4 cup of chopped red bell pepper. Add 2 finely minced seeded jalapeno chile peppers. Add 2 cups of small diced peeled mango. Add 1/3 cup of mango puree or mango juice. Add sea salt and white pepper. Add 1/2 teaspoon of allspice. Add 1 pinch of turmeric. Add 1 pinch of Indian yellow curry powder. Bring the ingredients to a gentle boil over medium heat. Reduce the temperature to very low heat. Simmer the chutney, till it reduces and thickens to a rich jellied fruit preserve consistency. Place the hot chutney into an uncovered storage container. Cool the chutney in a refrigerator. When the chutney becomes cold, cover the container. Allow the chutney to sit undisturbed in the refrigerator for 3 days to 2 weeks. It takes time for the flavors of a chutney to mellow and meld! The chutney can be kept in a refrigerator for nearly 6 months!
Kedgeree of Salmon, Asparagus and Cannellini with Mango Chutney: This is a modern version of kedgeree! Cook 1 large portion of long grain rice ahead of time. (About 1 1/2 cups.) Blanch 3 or 4 peeled asparagus spears, till they become al dente. Cool the asparagus under cold running water. Bias slice the asparagus spears into large bite size pieces and set them aside. Heat a saute pan over medium/medium low heat. Add 4 pats of unsalted butter. Add 1/2 of a minced garlic clove. Add 1 teaspoon of minced ginger. Add 1 tablespoon of minced shallot. Add 1 tablespoon of minced onions. Saute till the onions start to turn clear in color. Add 4 to 6 ounces of salmon scrap or salmon filet that is cut into bite size pieces. Add 1/3 cup of bite size red bell pepper pieces. Stir and saute, till the salmon becomes halfway cooked. Do not allow the salmon to brown! Add 1 cup of chicken stock. Add sea salt and black pepper. Add 1 pinch of cayenne pepper. Add 1 pinch of turmeric. Add 1/4 teaspoon to 1/2 teaspoon of Indian yellow curry powder. (How strong of a curry flavor is up to you!) Add 1 pinch of coriander. Add 3/4 cup of cannellini. (white kidney beans) Simmer and reduce the liquid by half. Add 1 1/2 cups of the reserved cooked rice. Toss the ingredients together and break up any clumps of rice. Add 3/4 cup of cream. Rapidly simmer and reduce the liquid, while occasionally stirring, till the rice becomes coated with the sauce and there is no excess liquid. Add the reserved asparagus pieces. Add 1/4 teaspoon of lime juice. Toss the ingredients together. Keep the kedgeree warm over very low heat, till the eggs are poached. Presentation: Poach 2 eggs in salted water over medium/medium high heat. Mound the kedgeree on a plate and try to expose a few of the featured ingredients on the surface, so it looks nice. Place the 2 poached eggs on top of the kedgeree. Place an angel wing lime half garnish on the plate. Sprinkle a few pinches of a mixture of minced fresh Italian parsley, cilantro and chives over the kedgeree, garnish and plate. Spoon 1 1/2 to 2 ounces of mango chutney on top of the kedgeree between the eggs.
Viola! This nice modern version of kedgeree is very appealing and tasty. I never let old classic recipes die and fade away. It was about time that a modern version of English kedgeree was introduced to the Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts. I guess that I can take credit for getting Le Cordon Bleu French culinary arts instructor chefs interested in classy antique English comfort cuisine. Yum! ... Shawna
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