The wonderful world of smoke
Roasted Butternut with Smoked Yogurt and Dukkah
Ladies and gentlemen, if you don’t like smokey things, then please look away now! This newsletter is all about me dipping my big toe into the world of cold smoking.
Most things I do are last minute, mainly due to my ADHD because I can’t manage the time frames in my head, so I put things off. But what I do find is this helps my creativity flow and my hair-brain ideas arrive in the world. However, it does mean I'm writing this newsletter on the toilet at 7am on Friday because I need some focused time. Is that just a boy or an ADHD thing?
Anyway, if you want to hear about me and my smokey journey, then carry on reading as I think it’s really interesting as I've had so much fun with it,m ’m sure you would too. If you want support my ramblings and upgrade to paid that would be really lovely! It’s £4 a month, if you think it’s shit, then you can just leave, go quietly though as my emotions can’t take it!
This weeks recipe
This week’s recipe is my favourite veggie/could be vegan dish! Roasted Butternut with Smoked Yogurt and Dukkah.Yummmmmmmm!
Smoking things
I have done a bit of DIY smoking in restaurants where we took a metal tray, wood chips at the bottom, a cooling rack over the top, set the chips on fire then covered them with tin foil and smoke away.
This method of smoking is cold smoking, which infuses flavour but does no cooking.
This is straight from ProQ’s website as this is where I have been filling my brain with information.
Cold smoking is usually done at temperatures below 21°C / 71°F and foods are usually smoked for several hours. Some foods, such as pork and salmon need to be cured before they are smoked. Generally, either a dry cure or a wet cure (a brine) is used – the choice of curing method depends on the type of food and personal preference. Other foods such as cheese, salt, butter, nuts and garlic do not need to be cured before being smoked.
I have not smoked any fish or meat yet, so I can’t give any advice on this, but I have smoked loads of other things!
In my current set-up, I was gifted a smoking chamber for my birthday, and it sat there like a big shiny box for ages until I realised I needed to buy a smoke generator.
What is a smoked generator?
ProQ’s smoke generator is basically like a big incense burner coil, released in 2010, the generators are made from high-quality stainless steel and are used by top chefs, foodies, fishermen and hunters around the world.
You just fill the coil with ProQ’s Sustainably sourced dust which has been milled to a specific grade designed to work perfectly cold smokers - so you get a long, consistent smouldering burn every time.
They have a selection of different woods which give you different flavour profiles.
The smoking times..
So I have gone feet-first into the deep end and have just started smoking all sorts of things that I expect to work in my head.
Hot sauce, peanut butter, yoghurt, butter, oil, eggs, tahini, honey, and maple syrup to name a few.
The process I use is really simple, chuck it in the smoker and leave for a couple of hours, if it’s something I can taste then I have a little go-on it. But if it’s something that I have to guess the timings for I just suck it and see. I really love the experiment side of things and not knowing if it will work. One thing I did smoke, which everyone thought was bonkers, was ice!
I read an article about smoking ice, and it was really interesting; the way it was explained that if you were to smoke water, the top layer is the only surface that would be affected by the smoke unless you mix it constantly. But with ice, the smoke has more surface area to bind to, and then as it melts, a new surface area is there to collect more smoke. After about 6 hours of smoking, I was left with this delicious smokey liquid that I used as the base liquid to brine chicken in.
The opportunities are endless and open up the doors to adding smoke to dishes that you wouldn't necessarily think of. I always relied on liquid smoke, which, now tasting it again, kind of just makes everything taste like BBQ sauce!
Podcast Links
This week we talk about all things citrus.
New Youtube
This dish is another one of my favourites (there are many) so bloody get involved!
Recipe
Roasted Butternut with Smoked Yogurt and Dukkah.
This week's recipe is a dish that I cook all the time at home but with the added flex of a smoked ingredient which I have never done before. The interesting thing about this dish is the balance of flavour and taste, on a very basic level you need to think about the flavour that a vegetable is bringing to the party. So something like butternut squash when roasted brings a sweet element to the dish which can be balanced with something sharp or salty. In this case the smoked yoghurt… I always have some kind of “sexy topper” kicking about, or the ingredients kicking about to make one. So this topper is Dukkah! LOVE IT!
Serves: 4 (starter/side)
Ingredients
1 butternut squash
500g Greek Yoghurt
Handful of hazelnuts
1 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tbsp cumin seeds
½ tbsp fennel seeds
1 tsp cinnamon
Method
For the smoked yoghurt, set up your smoker and decant your yoghurt into a few tubs so there is not much volume in each container. Pop in the smoker and leave for 4-5 hours.
For the squash, cut into quarters, scoop out the seeds then drizzle with oil and a pinch of salt, roast in a hot oven at 200c for 30 mins or until nicely caramelised.
Meanwhile we are going to make a dukkah, so start by toasting off some hazelnuts in the oven for 5-8 mins, set a timer as they turn quickly. Remove when they are lightly toasted.
Grab the cumin, coriander, fennel and sesame seeds and pop them on a baking tray and slide them in the oven, again set a timer and cook for 4-5 mins, just so the spices are toasted.
Give the hazelnuts a rough bash and pop them in a bowl, then bash the toasted spices just to open them up, don't crush them so much they are a powder.
Mix everything together and TASTE - at this point, it will taste nice, but missing something, so add a good pinch of salt and a little cinnamon, taste again and enjoy!
To serve simply season the smoked yoghurt with salt and pepper, a little lemon if your yoghurt needs more acidity, then dollop it on the bottom of a plate, load up with the butternut squash and top with your dukkah!
Such a simple delicious dish and with the added flair of the smoked yoghurt I am in heaven!
Smash some fresh herbs ontop with some pickled red onions and this dish will be at home on any menu in East London for £23 as a canape!
Chef Notes
Like I said earlier really focus on the the taste of the roasted butternut so you know what will work with it.
Sometimes butternut squash can get paired with something sweet like maple but then is normally paired with acidic or salty ingredients.
You dont have to smoked the yoghurt but just adds that ceratin FUCK YEAH!
If you have a nut allergy make a herby dressing instead, you can use the spices, add some parsley, olive oil and little splash of vinegar
With the dukkah make it your own, chilli flakes, pepper maybe you just make that thing yours
The seeds from the butternut can be roasted up 10-15 mins 180c and they will be edible
Much Love
Mart xx
Smoked yoghurt big yes