manna cafe bakery and catering

Beef Stock
Beef & barley soup
Cafe de Paris
CHICKEN WITH POLENTA
FRENCH ONION SOUP

Hollandaise Sauce
PASTA FAJIOLI

SPAGHETTINI with Anchovy, Parsley, Olive Oil and Parmesan
Tarragon dressing

Cheese Cake
Hazelnut Torte
Chocolate Torte






HOLLANDAISE SAUCE - MANNA STYLE
This is a very simple recipe for a delcious Hollandaise. For a classic Eggs Benedikt, toast an English muffin, then top it with a layer of warm shaved ham, a poached egg, then add the Hollandaise sauce over the white of the egg. As the sauce is the same colour as the yolk, the top of the muffin will appear a seamless golden colour. Juice of one lemon 4 egg yolks 3/4 - 1 cup hot melted butter salt and pepper Blend lemon juice and egg yolks for a couple of seconds to combine. While machine is running, add the melted butter slowly, gradually increasing the flow as the mixture starts to thicken. Add salt and pepper to taste.
TARRAGON CREAM DRESSING (spoon dressing with cherries added into a lettuce leaf and serve with cold roast chicken. Delicious!) 1 egg 2 rounded tablespoons castor sugar 3 rounded tablespoons tarragon vinegar Salt & pepper 250 – 300ml double cream 500g stoned red cherries Break egg into bowl and beat with a fork. Add castor sugar then gradually add tarragon vinegar. Stand bowl in a pan of boiling water and stir mixture until it begins to thicken. Draw off heat and continue stirring. When mixture has consistency of thick cream, remove from pan and stir for a few seconds longer. Season lightly and leave until cold. Partially whip double cream; fold this into cold dressing and season to taste, (This recipe can be made in larger quantities – omitting the cream – and stored in a screw-top jar in refrigerator for up to 3 weeks, then add whipped cream just before serving). Gently fold in the pitted cherries just before serving. Isobel Negri
	Sergio de Pieri's Recipes A select group of people enjoyed Sergio's first cooking class on Thurs 23rd April 2009 at Manna. Sergio cooks from the heart. His passion for food and overall joie de vivre infused the evening with a joyous spirit. The copious amounts of wine drunk didn't hurt. Sergio's recipes derive from his childhood in Treviso. The son of a poor farming family, he still enthuses about the simple dishes of polenta and beans his mamma used to prepare. Many of the dishes he enjoyed then have now become staples at fancy restaurants, but according to Sergio, not many are done right - pastas are over-cooked; risottos are soggy; sauces lack flavour... Essentially one needs fresh produce and good quality ingredients to produce sensational food. Fancy cuts of meat, and complex saucing do not make a better tasting dish... Some of the recipes below can be made in a matter of minutes. Some like the bean soup, you can walk away from and come back to in a couple of hours. Some like the risotto require more constant vigilance - in this case, invite a friend over for a drink and every so often, go over to your pot and have a little stir...
CHICKEN WITH POLENTA Finely chop 2 onions Finely chop 3 cloves of garlic 1 tablespoon olive oil ½ cup white wine Add the above to a large casserole dish and cook 3 to 4 mins until the onion is soft. Add the chicken pieces (ask your butcher to cut up the whole chicken into about 10 pieces) Also add 1-2 carrots, chopped finely Add celery stick, chopped finely Add torn basil leaves and rosemary leaves Add more white wine (about ½ cup) Add 5-6 fresh tomatoes or you can use good quality canned whole peeled tomatoes. If you are using fresh tomatoes, don’t bother to peel and seed them. Also add potatoes cut into large pieces You may also add more water if you want lots of sauce. Cook all of the above in the casserole on top of the stove for approx 45 mins to 1 hour depending on the quantities used. Once the chicken is cooked, serve the chicken in a wide bowl and add a large tablespoon or two of polenta on top of the chicken and serve. Some people at this stage add white wine vinegar Grated parmesan cheese Black pepper Chopped fresh chilli PASTA FAJIOLI - The soup of northern Italy Ingredients: 2-3 carrots chopped into chunks 2-3 onions chopped 3-4 garlic cloves, chopped Begin the night before: soak borlotti beans in lots of water overnight. Next day: Drain the beans and add to a large saucepan of salted cold water. add the other ingredients and bring to simmer. Continue summering until beans have melted away. POLENTA The only ingredients are: Polenta – pre-cooked Water Salt Working on serving 4 people Heat up a small pot of water and when boiling add approx 200g of polenta and stir. Keep stirring until polenta comes away from the sides of the saucepan (approx 3 mins). Additional ingredients: You can add milk to the polenta after cooking to make it more creamy. RISOTTO Ingredients: Stock – either vegetable, chicken or beef Arborio rice - 2 handfuls of rice per person Garlic, chopped finely Salt/pepper 1 tablespoon olive oil ½ glass white wine parsley chopped finely 2 handfuls chopped mushrooms. Lemon – juice and some zest chopped finely. Warm up stock in a saucepan Add all of the above to a heavy-based frypan and simmer gently. Add water and continue cooking for 10 minutes until mushrooms are still firm but cooked. Add Arborio rice to this mixture, keeping the cooking at medium. Stir slowly adding salt and pepper to taste Add the broth slowly, stirring the mixture and then add more broth (about a couple of tablespoons). Don’t let the mixture stick to the bottom of the pan. Add parsley and grated parmesan cheese and stir. Add the juice of a lemon and the zest. The secret is to keep tasting until you are happy with the combination. You may need to add salt, parmesan, or more parsley. Wait until the rice is al dente – not too soft, but not too hard! SPAGHETTINI with Anchovy, Parsley, Olive Oil and Parmesan In a frypan warm the olive oil over a low heat, add 2-3 cloves of finely chopped garlic small tin of anchovies chopped parsley (including stalks) few fresh chillies green or black olives cut into 4 lemon zest As the oil warms, move the ingredients around in the frypan, and when the garlic is cooked, remove from the heat. Meanwhile, cook the spaghettini in plenty of salted boiling water. When al dente, drain pasta, mix with all other ingredients and add parmesan cheese and serve. This method is also excellent with fresh tomatoes, finely chopped garlic, olive oil, a little chilli, salt and pepper and fresh basil leaves. The secret is to cook the ingredients slowly and do not cook either of the above for a long time. It only takes about 5 mins to cook each recipe.
BEEF AND BARLEY SOUP (serves 8) olive oil, a shaky pour 500g gravy beef ripped apart 1 large onion, finely chopped 3 teaspoons sweet paprika 3 carrots diced 2 swede, peeled, and diced 2 sticks celery slivered 4 cups chicken stock 4 cups beef stock 1 pack pearl barley soaked overnight Heat oil in a large, deep saucepan over medium-high heat. Add a third of the beef and brown. Add remaining oil and onion to pan. Cook until tender. Add paprika. Add carrots, swede, celery, stock, red wine, barley and beef. Bring to the boil. Skim scum. Reduce heat and simmer, partially covered, for 1 1/2 hours FRENCH ONION SOUP Beef stock (see below) 1 litre onions 8 off sugar, a pinch cafe de paris, 30g (recipe see separate listing) baguette 8 slices gruyere cheese 100g shaved red wine glass for soup, rest of bottle for the chef whisky, a swig tokay, another swig Slice fine cross-sectional half rings of onion, while lapping on the red wine as commiseration for the tears the onions bring to your eyes. Fry the onions in a hot pan with the sugar and cafe de paris, until they turn golden and translucent. Meanwhile simmer the stock. Add a glass of red wine - after all, why shouldn't the onions have some fun? Add a swig of tokay for sweetness and a swig of whisky (not to impugn the cockmanship of the French male, but whisky, not cognac, gives this onion soup its manly thrust). Slice the onions into the broth and simmer for thirty minutes. When ready to serve, add some slivers of cheese to the soup and stir. For the crouton on top, put some more gruyere cheese on a 1cm slice of baguette and grill. Serves 4. BEEF STOCK It's perfectly acceptable to show some contempt for your stock but I hope you never become so world-weary as to give up making it and use store-bought stock cubes instead. Beef bones, 1kg Swede, Turnip Potato Carrot Celery Onion Garlic Red wine - a given. I oftentimes also pour in a cup of black tea. Herbs-rosemary, thyme, oregano are nice but you can add anything really. Neglect this simmering brew for an hour and a half and go play sodoku or attempt a cryptic crossword. CAFE DE PARIS 1 kg butter left outside the fridge so as to be soft. Heinz tomato sauce, two swigs Dijon mustard, two dollops capers (in brine), 10 off or 4 large caperberries Brown shallots, 3 off Fresh curly parsley, a large snap Fresh garlic chives, 10 off Dried marjoram, a pinch Fresh dill, a pinch Fresh thyme, a pinch Fresh French tarragon, a pinch and a half Ground rosemary, a pinch Garlic, 2 cloves chopped very finely Anchovies, contents of a small bottle including the oil Brandy, a slurp Madeira, a slurp Worcestershire sauce, a splash Ground sweet paprika, a few shakes of the bottle Keens curry powder, a generous spill Cayenne, a pinch maybe two Green peppercorns, 8 off Lemon, juice of one Zest of ½ lemon Zest of ¼ orange Salt, a shake Mix all ingredients with the exception of butter in a glass bowl and leave to its own devices for a day, then purée the mixture in a blender and push through a strainer to isolate the chewy bits. Foam the butter and mix with the purée. Form the butter into a log, freeze it and cut off slices as you need them. Theoretically, this delicious butter log can keep for ages but it won't last you that long. Try grilling fish with it or add a pad to steak - yum! Cheese cake 1 lb cream cheese 6 eggs 1 cup of sugar 1/4lb unsalted butter 2 tablespoons of lemon juice Pastry beat up 6 yolks and 2 whites in a vitamiser. Add gradually cheese, lemon juice and melted butter with part of the sugar. Beat 4 whites with the rest of the sugar. Mix together with cheese and pour into pastry. Hazelnut Torte Grind 1/2lb of hazelnuts. Beat 8 egg yolks with 1 cup sugar until light n thick. Add the nuts, the rind and juice of ½ lemon and ½ cup stale cake crumbs. Beat the 8 egg whites until stiff and fold into batter. Bake in 2 ungreased layer cake tins in slow oven (325F) 126C for 30 minutes. Put the layers together and cover the top with butter cream, which has been flavoured with 1 tb of lemon juice and coloured a pale yellow. Chocolate torte Beat the yolks of 9 eggs with one cup of powdered sugar until light and thick. Stir in ½ lb of melted sweet chocolate, 1 teaspoon of vanilla and 1/2lb of ground walnuts. Beat the whites of the 9 eggs until stiff and fold into the batter. Pour into an ungreased tube pan and bake in a cool oven 325F or 163C for 1 hour. Cover with any desired chocolate frosting and garnish with walnut halves.

BEEF AND BARLEY SOUP (serves 8)