Im in Cape Town for decorex and I am doing demonstrations in the Live Chefs DSTV theatre as well as on the SMEG stand.
On friday I demonstrated...
Pan fried gnocchi with a porcini cream and crispy sage leaves
Parmesan crusted chicken skewers
Everyone loved the chciken skewers because instead of just doing a normal egg wash I added wholegrain mustard to the mixture which gave it a really intense flavour then instead of just doing the normal bread crumb layer I crusted the chicken with parmesan, place it under the grill and gratinated the skewer until it was a stunning golden colour.
With the gnocchi I blanched it first until it floated and then instead of just putting it straight into the sauce I toss them in a hot pan with butter until they had a golden crust, it makes the gnocchi lighter but gives it a good texture.
For the porcini cream to give it a even more intense porcini flavour the water that I soaked the porcinis in I added to the mushrooms while they were being panfried and allowed the mixture to reduce right down then I added the cream, it give the sauce a really strong mushroom flavour as well as a good colour as well.
