Seasonal menu: pizza with goat cheese, short ribs with pasta salad and apricot soufflé

STARTER

Pizza with goat cheese, served with a salad

MAIN COURSE

Short ribs with pasta salad and grilled tomato

DESSERT

Apricot soufflé

Pizza with goat cheese (one day in advance)

Put half the water in a small bowl and dissolve the yeast and sugar in this. Mix together the flour, salt, olive oil and the remaining water in a bowl. Add the dissolved yeast mixture and knead into a pliable, elastic dough. Cover the bowl with cling film and leave overnight in the refrigerator.

Short ribs and the pasta salad (one day in advance)

Remove the membrane from the hollow side of the ribs, or ask the butcher to do it. If doing this yourself, start by inserting the point of a knife between the membrane and the meat. Then pull the membrane loose. Peel the garlic and pluck the leaves from the thyme and chop finely. Mix with the harissa and rub into the short ribs. Place the short rubs in the Rectangular Drip Pan, cover with cling film and allow to marinate for at least 6 hours in the refrigerator.

Short ribs and the pasta salad (on the day itself)

Ignite the charcoal in the Big Green Egg and heat to 160°C. In the meantime, remove the cling film from the Rectangular Drip Pan and cover with aluminium foil so no moisture can evaporate during the first stage of cooking.

Set up the convEGGtor and place the Stainless Steel Grid inside the EGG. Place the Drip Pan with short ribs onto this and close the lid. Placing the convEGGtor and the Drip Pan means the temperature of the EGG will fall to around 110 °C; adjust if necessary. Allow the short ribs to cook slowly for around 6 hours at 110°C until the meat comes loose from the bone.

Remove the aluminium foil once the ribs are cooked, and coat with the liquid released from the Drip Pan. Keep repeating this regularly until there is no more liquid in the Drip Pan. It may take up to an hour before all the liquid is consumed.

Meanwhile, bring a pot of lightly salted water to a boil on the stove. Add the pasta and cook as indicated on the packaging. Drain, rinse with cold water and leave to drain. Sprinkle with a dash of olive oil and mix together. Cover and store in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

Remove the Drip Pan from the grid with the EGGmitt. Remove the short ribs from the Drip Pan, allow to cool and keep covered in the fridge.

Apricot soufflé

Bring the temperature of the EGG (with the convEGGtor and the grid) to 150°C. Bring a pan with water to the boil on the stove. Slice into the apricots crossways and blanche them briefly (and carefully) in the boiling water. Allow to cool slightly, and remove the skin. Halve the apricots, remove the stones and place them with residual liquid in the Round Drip Pan.

Sprinkle the apricots with the honey. Slice open the vanilla pod lengthways, distribute the seeds over the apricots and also add the vanilla pod. Place the Drip Pan with the apricots on the grid and close the lid. Allow the apricots to cook for around 10 minutes and remove them from the EGG using the EGGmitt. Remove the vanilla pod and pour the liquid from the Drip Pan into a dish. Allow the apricots to cool and store covered in the refrigerator.

In the meantime, melt the butter in a frying pan on the stove, stir in the flour and allow to cook to form a roux. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the milk. Add the quark, the sugar and the liquid from the Drip Pan. Separate the eggs and stir the yokes through the mixture. Store the egg whites for use later. Allow the quark mix to cool and store covered in the refrigerator.

Extinguish the EGG by closing the draft door and dual function metal top or, after the preparations for the soufflé are complete, proceed directly to preparing the menu. In that case, arrange the EGG as indicated for preparing the pizza.

Pizza with goat cheese

Slice around one third of the narrow side of the courgettes (for use as a pizza topping). Slice the remaining pieces of courgette lengthways into fours. Halve the little gem heads. Sprinkle these and the pieces of courgette with a little olive oil. Cover and store in the refrigerator until needed.

Pizza with goat cheese

Ignite the charcoal in the Big Green Egg and heat, with the Cast Iron Grid to 200°C (or, if immediately after preparation you plan to continue to prepare the menu, remove the grid and the convEGGtor with the EGGmitt. Use the Cast Iron Grid Lifter to put the Cast Iron Grid into the EGG and bring to a temperature of 200°C). Halve the lemon and remove the goat cheese from the refrigerator so that it can reach room temperature. Place the courgette pieces and lemon halves on the grid of the Big Green Egg. Close the lid and grill the courgettes and lemon for around 8 minutes, turning them around every 2-2.5 minutes. After 6 minutes, place the halved little gem heads on the grid and grill them on both sides for around 1 minute. Close the lid following each action.

Remove the vegetables and the lemon from the grid. Place the vegetables in a dish and keep separate from the lemon halves. Use the Cast Iron Grid Lifter to lift the Cast Iron Grid from the EGG. Place the convEGGtor and the stainless steel grid in the EGG and place the Baking Stone on top. Close the EGG’s lid and increase the temperature to 300°C.

In the meantime, knead the pizza dough together and divide into four equal portions. Sprinkle the work surface and a rolling pin with flour. Roll the portions of dough on this into four thin pizza bases. Stir the goat cheese into a smooth paste and spread this onto the pizza bases. Sprinkle around 10 slices of the courgette that were kept separate over each pizza. Tear the leaves of the sprigs of thyme, sprinkle over the pizzas and drizzle half a table spoon of honey over each pizza. Sprinkle with freshly ground pepper.

Slide the first pizza onto the Flat Baking Stone using the Aluminium Pizza Peel. Close the lid of the EGG and bake the pizza for 5-6 minutes until the crust is nice and golden brown. In the meantime, squeeze the juice of half a grilled lemon over the grilled courgettes and little gems. Sprinkle with olive oil and season generously to taste with salt and pepper. Toss the salad, sprinkle with yoghurt and the smoked almonds.

Use the Aluminium Pizza Peel to remove the first pizza from the Baking Stone. Slide the next one onto the Baking Stone and bake in the same way. Cut the first pizza into slices using the Compact Pizza Cutter. Serve the first pizza with the salad and the second lemon half, for those who want it on the pizza or over the salad. Bake the remaining pizzas, so there is always deliciously hot pizza on the table.

For the short ribs, remove the grid and the convEGGtor, and use the Cast Iron Grid Lifter to put the Cast Iron Grid into the EGG. Bring the EGG to a temperature of 200°C. Do this immediately after each pizza has been baked, as it can take a while before the temperature of the EGG has dropped.

Short ribs

Remove the short ribs and the pasta from the refrigerator. In the meantime, halve the tomatoes lengthways and coat the cut edge with olive oil. Chop the spring onions and the basil leaves finely and mix together with maple syrup and the balsamic vinegar.

Place the short ribs on the grid of the EGG and grill until heated through. While grilling, sprinkle them regularly with the maple syrup and balsamic vinegar mixture. At the same time, grill the tomatoes on both sides.

Remove the tomatoes and the short ribs from the EGG. Dice half of the tomatoes and stir them, the finely chopped spring onion, basil and a dash of olive oil through the pasta. Season with salt and pepper and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Slice the short ribs between the bones into pieces.

Serve the short ribs with the pasta salad, the grilled tomatoes and the remaining maple syrup and balsamic vinegar mixture.

Apricot soufflé

Remove the quark from the refrigerator and allow to reach room temperature. Use the Cast Iron Grid Lifter to lift the Cast Iron Grid from the EGG. Place the convEGGtor and stainless steel grid and bring the EGG to a temperature of 180°C.

Beat the egg whites stiff with an electric mixer and fold through the quark mixture. Grease a 2 litre oven dish with butter and sprinkle with half of the chopped almonds. Pour in the quark mixture and place the apricots into this. Sprinkle with the remaining almonds.

Place the oven dish on the grid, close the lid of the EGG and bake the soufflé for around 35 minutes until golden brown and done. Serve immediately and enjoy!