Stunning starter cooked by 2012 Lancashire Young Chef of the Year Lewis Gallagher at Blackpool and the Fylde College on 29th March 2012.
Ingredients
- Yellison’s Goats Cheese
- Cumbrian Air Dried Ham
- Ormskirk Onions
- Pasta Flour
- Hens Eggs
- Soya Lecithin
- Semi-Skimmed Milk
- Mustard Cress
Instructions
- Finely slice onions on a mandolin, melt butter in a pan and confit until golden
- Make pickling liquor
- Cut down onions for pickling, pickle them on a rolling boil for 1-2 minutes then put in fridge until later
- Make pasta, fridge and leave to rest before rolling
- Whilst waiting for the paste, wrap ham slices on tubes and bake at 170 celcius for 5 minutes until crisp
- Blanch spring onions, refresh and fridge until later
- Roll pasta and make ravioli’s, fridge until later
- Add all ingredients together in thermo mix, blitz until clumps form
- Knead on bench until ALL of ingredients come together
- Put in fridge to rest
- Put the milk and pancetta in a pan and bring up to boil, simmer for 2 mins
- Take out pancetta from pan and add Lecithin, blitz and pass through fine sieve
- Fridge until later, when ready to use, foam up with hand blender
Additional comments from Lewis regarding his ingredient choices
- This starter shows a good display of chef skills across the board. The main preparation of the dish is making and rolling fresh pasta, as well as constructing the raviolis. Cooking techniques of the dish are confiting, boiling (simmering), frying, baking, steaming and pickling.
- The goat’s cheese is sourced right on the border of the North West in Skipton but it’s well worth the journey as the creamy taste and texture is hard to rival. This has been achieved by using a planned breeding programme using only three species of goat to mix the milk and get the right balance of flavour and for that reason, it is more than a fitting choice for my dish.
- Cumbrian air dried ham is similar to the more commonly used prosciutto and Parma ham, one of the gems of the north west, it is highly regarded by chefs from the region and this is why I have opted to use it.
- The onions are sourced from Ormskirk, Preston. This area is in abundance with rich soils that produce quality ingredients. My dishes from last year saw me travel to Tarleton which is within walking distance to Ormskirk and I couldn’t have been happier with the produce I used, so sourcing similar ingredients this year was an easy choice.
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