Xip's Tips

Food should be fun and a shared conversation, for me it’s often over a Monteiths so a couple of meals to go with my favourite brews.

Thanks, with this done the baby is born.

Peppered Atlantic Salmon Salad, - Perfect with Monteiths Golden Lager.

Ingredients
250g Salmon Fillet, 1 bunch Roquet, 1 bunch coriander, 1 cucumber, 1 red capsicum,, 100ml sweet chili sauce, 100ml soy, 100 ml teriyaki, 1 lemon, 100 g breadcrumbs, 100g cracked black pepper

Salmon:
To start we will mix the breadcrumbs and cracked pepper into a sml bowl, then we slice the salmon into bite size pieces and place in bowl of crumbs making sure the pieces are covered evenly.
Salad:
Once we have done that, prepare the salad, chopping the roquet into large pieces, slice the cucumber and capsicum, and pull the coriander leaves from the stem.
Dressing:
In a bowl we will mix soy, teriyaki, sweet chili, and the juice of 1 lemon.
Cooking:
Either in a pan or a flat grill bbq, add some oil and on med to high heat, sear the salmon for  approx 90 seconds on each side (cook longer if you dont like medium), remove from heat,
Toss all salad ingredients leaving some capsicum and coriander for garnish.
Place salad on plate or bowl, and stack salmon on top of salad, (height is a secret to make meals look special)
Stir dressing then apply all over, garnish with left over capsicum and coriander,

Now enjoy with a Monteiths Golden Lager!

Beer Battered Oysters with lemon chili aioli and  lil Monteiths Black

Ingredients
1 dozen oysters (Sydney Rock), 300g plain flour, 1 Monteiths Black,  2 table spoons whole egg mayo, 1/2 a lemon, 1 sml fresh chili, 1/4 bunch parsley.

Aioli
Finely chop chili, squeeze lemon, and then grate lemon zest, and mix altogether, place in ramekin ready to serve.
Batter
Chop parsley, then add Monteiths black to flour and whisk till lumps and bubbles disappear, add parsley
Cooking
Pre heat pan or wok on 180 with 150ml of rice oil,Take Oysters from shell and lightly coat in flour, then place in batter, remove 1 at a time and each time wipe oyster on the side of the bowl to prevent spillage, cook till golden brown, then serve in shell with aioli in centre with a wedge of lemon, season to suit.

Now enjoy with a Monteiths Black

Slow Roasted Spatchcock - Monteiths Pilsner
           
Ingredients
1 spatchcock, 1 bunch parsley, 1 bunch basil, 6 gloves of garlic, 1 large field mushroom, 2 potatoes, 2 carrots, 2 onions, 1 sml sweet potato, manuka honey, 2  cinnamon quill

Vegetables and stuffing
Peel and wash veg, then chop sweet potato, potato, carrots and 1 onion into uniform pieces.
Stuffing
Chop parsley, basil, mushrooms, 3 garlic gloves and 1 onion, mix together and stuff inside spatchcock.
Cooking
Pre Heat oven at 180, then add oil baking dish to your liking and place Spatchcock and vegies in dish and place into oven for 30 minutes, after 30 minutes remove from oven and carefully cover dish with lid or foil for 20 minutes.
Once 20 minutes has elapsed remove lid/foil and add honey all over spatchcock (turning is optional) and lightly over vegetables, add cinnamon quills and place in oven for 20 more minutes on 150 c.

Plate em and serve em! With a cold Montieths Pilsner!

RIBS
Over the years I have always been asked or told the best way to do Pork Ribs, as a little scrap I worked at a Rib House, I was shown many different ways, and the best way I found to do Ribs, was my way! Roast them in the oven until they are a nice pink/brown colour... then finish them on the char-grill, basting with your sauce of choice on low heat to give it a nice sticky glaze.

CALAMARI
I have been complimented many times on my calamari, my tip is to clean thoroughly, peeling the thin layer of skin, then i criss cross the calamari and marinate it in milk and garlic cloves, for best results at least 24hrs, if you have no time and your on the go then any citrus or acidic fruit can do it for you in 5 minutes, never leave too long as it will slowly cook.

FISH (fillet)
I always prefer to cook fish on a hot plate or pan with the skin on side cooking first, when serving I go skin up. When you first start learning to cook fish, a Tip that can help is to flour the flesh side of the fish, this helps keep the flesh intact, some chefs will say it presents better.

LAMB SHANKS
Love my shanks, problem most people find is they find them tough or stringy, I always sear of my shanks in a pan before i place them in a baking dish, I season and flavour them, Monteiths Black is a great little trick with shanks.Then I cover with foil and cook for 80minutes, med to hi heat, i then remove foil and turn and finish off for 30 minutes, every time without fail the meat just peels off....