Black Eyes Blue Dragon
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Another challenge ingredient, this time the task was to include dragon fruit. If you've never heard of it before, and certainly i hadn't a few months ago, dragon fruit is an obscure looking beast that somewhat resembles kiwi fruit in both taste and texture, as well as visually once you cut inside that outer layer. Being quite mild, playing off the flavour of dragon fruit was always going to be a challenge; instead I decided to with its name as a launching point, and thus was born the 'Black Eye Blue Dragon', a reference in itself to a certain specific card game.
Both the choice of black eyed peas and blue cheese was also driven by name; where else did you think the name 'Black Eyes Blue Dragon' came from? In the context of this creation, black eyed peas don't particularly change the vlafour, instead mostly acting as a bind for everything else and a modifier to the overall texture. For the blue cheese I personally opted to use Fourme d'Ambert, a classic cheese from the Auvergne region of France, which I've then paired half and half with an aged Cheddar. The reason for this pairing is twofold: partly to prevent the blue cheese from overpowering the flavour of everything else, and partly as blue cheese doesn't melt particularly well on its own; aged cheddar solves both of these issues without dramatically altering the flavour.
Now that we've got our dragon, we need some fire to make it complete. This is where both the habaneros and ground cinnamon come in: habaneros to add the heat, and cinnamon for its sweet fiery flavour. Habaneros are amongst the hottest chilis sommonly available, but the fact that they are paired with cheese here acts to douse a lot of that heat, instead leaving just their sweet fruity flavour and only a mild tang.
For such a random assortment of ingredients, this actually comes together quite well. It's almost savoury is some respects, but that habanero kick adds all the excitement it needs. Enjoy. :)
Black Eyes Blue Dragon
Serves: 4 People
A blend of Fourme d'Ambert blue cheese and aged Cheddar, paired with dragon fruit, black eye peas, ground cinnamon and diced habaneros.
Ingredients
- 8 Slices White Bread
- 100g Aged Cheddar
- 100g Fourme d'Ambert Blue Cheese
- 50g Black Eyed Peas
- 1 Dragon Fruit
- 3 Small Habaneros
- 1/2 Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
- A Knob of Butter
Instructions
- Cover the black eyed peas with water in a pan, and bring to a simmer. These will take about an hour to cook, giving you lots of time for the next few steps.
- Coarsely dice the dragon fruit, and add to a bowl. Aim for cubes of about 5mm to 10mm.
- Dice the habaneros as finely as you can, and add to the dragon fruit.
- Add the ground cinnamon to the dragon fruit and habanero, then mix until all of the dragon fruit is coated.
- Finely grate together both the aged cheddar and blue cheese.
- Once the black eye peas have been simmering for about an hour, bring a skillet to a medium temperature and add a small touch of oil.
- Add the dragon fruit, habanero and ground cinnamon mixture to the skillet.
- Drain the black eyed peas, rinse with clean water and add to the skillet.
- Bring a second skillet to a low temperature, and melt in a knob of butter.
- Place the sliced bread into the buttered skillet, and fry lightly.
- Add a layer of dragon fruit, black eyed peas, habanero and ground cinnamon to half of the bread slices.
- Add the aged cheddar and blue cheese mixture on top of the dragon fruit, black eyed peas, habanero and ground cinnamon, then flip the free bread slices on top to complete each sandwich.
- Continue to cook each sandwich, turning occasionally, until the cheese has melted to your personal satisfaction.
Notes & Tips
Black eyed peas should ideally be soaked before cooking, allowing to soften up in advance. Either leave the peas in water overnight, or boil for a few minutes then allow to stand in water for an hour or two if you're tight on time. Remember to rinse them through and use clean water when you come to cook them. Habaneros are on the hotter end of the spectrum, but the cheese will defuse a lot of that heat. If it's still too much for you, then you can always take a step down to something like a scoth bonnet or jalapeno.
