Monday, September 13, 2010
Sole with Buerre Blanc
Laura had to practice her sauce making skills, and we made Buerre Blanc with pan-fried sole. Not much to say, nor did we do anything particular spectacular. But it was good.
Monday, September 6, 2010
Dinner
It's been a very long time since we hosted a fancy dinner.
For the first course, we wanted to try making panko crusted poached eggs that we had at Catch (Calgary). We decided to pair it with home made potato gnocchi, porcini and oyster mushrooms, and a little bit of truffle oil. The pairing worked brilliantly.
After the first course we served a tomato cucumber sorbet. For some reason my ice cream machine didn't work very well making the sorbet, and there were chunks of ice after trying to do it manually. The flavor was pretty good, but the texture needed work.
For the main course, it was roasted halibut marinated in miso-mirin, served on top of stewed daikon and in a chicken ginger consomme. We used chicken consomme because Laura needs to practice it for her weekly classes. It was my first time cooking halibut, and it was slightly overcooked despite pulling it out of the oven before what the recipe says. Maybe the fish pieces are not as thick...overall, the ginger consomme, the slight sweetness/bitterness of daikon, balanced well with the miso-mirin marinate.
The dessert was a chocolate terrine (from Thomas Keller's Bouchon book) with minor modification. We served it on a warm orange (zest only...not quite fruitless) creme Anglaise and garnished with toasted macadamia nuts. The warm orange creme Anglaise was a nice touch that balanced the rich chocolate terrine.
Overall, it was an adventurous dinner with a number of things that we have not tried making before. At the end the combinations worked but there was definitely room for improvement. Next time...
For the first course, we wanted to try making panko crusted poached eggs that we had at Catch (Calgary). We decided to pair it with home made potato gnocchi, porcini and oyster mushrooms, and a little bit of truffle oil. The pairing worked brilliantly.
After the first course we served a tomato cucumber sorbet. For some reason my ice cream machine didn't work very well making the sorbet, and there were chunks of ice after trying to do it manually. The flavor was pretty good, but the texture needed work.
For the main course, it was roasted halibut marinated in miso-mirin, served on top of stewed daikon and in a chicken ginger consomme. We used chicken consomme because Laura needs to practice it for her weekly classes. It was my first time cooking halibut, and it was slightly overcooked despite pulling it out of the oven before what the recipe says. Maybe the fish pieces are not as thick...overall, the ginger consomme, the slight sweetness/bitterness of daikon, balanced well with the miso-mirin marinate.
The dessert was a chocolate terrine (from Thomas Keller's Bouchon book) with minor modification. We served it on a warm orange (zest only...not quite fruitless) creme Anglaise and garnished with toasted macadamia nuts. The warm orange creme Anglaise was a nice touch that balanced the rich chocolate terrine.
Overall, it was an adventurous dinner with a number of things that we have not tried making before. At the end the combinations worked but there was definitely room for improvement. Next time...
Oxtail ragout
It has been a very very long time since my last update. Not that we haven't been cooking, just that we have been too lazy to take pictures and blog about it...
I got some good oxtails from the Farmer's market, and I decided to make an oxtail ragout (braised in red wine, tomato paste, juniper berries, and the usual stuff). The meat was shredded and the ragout is served on a bed of pasta. Garnish was a little bit of gremolata.
This was my first time cooking oxtail but the result was excellent. Once again the plating needs work, but it was a "family style" meal...
I got some good oxtails from the Farmer's market, and I decided to make an oxtail ragout (braised in red wine, tomato paste, juniper berries, and the usual stuff). The meat was shredded and the ragout is served on a bed of pasta. Garnish was a little bit of gremolata.
This was my first time cooking oxtail but the result was excellent. Once again the plating needs work, but it was a "family style" meal...
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Chinese New Year
Haven't updated my blog for a while. I made a few dishes to celebrate Chinese New Year.
A few appetizers. Shrimps in a ketchup sauce.
Drunken chicken:
Green onion cakes:
I made three "main dishes". The first one is roasted pork (with crispy skin) and some shrimp crackers.
Abalone, mushrooms, and lettuce:
Eggplant in a garlic vinegar sauce:
"E-mein": a type of noodle that has been fried first, and then it is stir-fried with Chinese mushrooms and oyster sauce. One of my favorite.
For dessert, a Chinese crepe with lotus seed paste (traditionally it's with red bean paste but my other half doesn't like that...):
Overall, a good meal and lots of fun. Not much "finesse" in the cooking, but still the flavors were good.
A few appetizers. Shrimps in a ketchup sauce.
Drunken chicken:
Green onion cakes:
I made three "main dishes". The first one is roasted pork (with crispy skin) and some shrimp crackers.
Abalone, mushrooms, and lettuce:
Eggplant in a garlic vinegar sauce:
"E-mein": a type of noodle that has been fried first, and then it is stir-fried with Chinese mushrooms and oyster sauce. One of my favorite.
For dessert, a Chinese crepe with lotus seed paste (traditionally it's with red bean paste but my other half doesn't like that...):
Overall, a good meal and lots of fun. Not much "finesse" in the cooking, but still the flavors were good.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Birthday meal
It's actually been a month since my birthday, and I have just been too busy to post the meal that I cooked for the occasion. I decided that I was going to make a meal with all the stuff that I have wanted to try for a while, but have been too busy to do so. The menu consisted of:
- brandade on toasted garlic baguette
- roasted chicken, roasted potatoes, and carrots
- chocolate mousse
I have always wanted to try brandade but for some reason never had (except for the fried version which has been featured in this blog before). For the roast chicken dish, I am basically following the recipes in Heston Blumenthal's In Search of Perfection series. Finally, the chocolate mousse recipe was from Herv´e; This.
First the brandade: I followed the recipe from Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles cookbook. This was served on toasted garlic baguette. I had to recipe more than what the recipe called for to achieve the right consistency. Other than that, it was great.
The main course was the main show: slow roasted chicken. I have actually brined it first (different from the recipe) before roasting. The chickens were roasted in an 160F oven (the lowest my oven would go). After 4.5 hours they were at 140F and "done" according to the recipe.
But I was chicken (pun intended) and decided to crank it up a little until they reached 165F. The birds look pale on the outside. They were then quickly seared in a pan to crisp the skin. Unfortunately I was not able to do this successfully (see a bit of torn skin in the picture) and the skin was brown but not crisp. The chicken was extremely moist and flavorful. Despite the fact that there is virtually no drippings for a sauce because of the low oven temperature, there is absolutely no need for a sauce. It was a little bit strange, though, to eat pink chicken and have pink juice running out when the chicken is carved. Overall it was very good, though perhaps it would be even better to finish them in a turkey fryer (as he tried on the show).
I also made some carrots in butter, and also roasted potatoes according to his recipes. Unfortunately, I grossly underestimated how good the potatoes were and had barely enough. The method of boiling the potatoes (with a bag of skin) until they almost break up and then roasting them gives a very crunchy outside and creamy inside. The texture contrast was great.
The dessert course was chocolate mousse. I used the non-classical recipe of Herv´e; This,
which involved melting chocolate with water and then whipping the mixture at high speed over an ice bath. The result was a very pure tasting chocolate mousse. I used semi-sweet chocolate, and I did not add any sugar. So for me it was a bit too much chocolate. As a result, I paired it with a raspberry coulis (just a few drops in my case) and it worked very well. Still, I discovered that the proportion for this chocolate mousse has to be scaled back because there is much less air and a small bit is already a lot!
Overall, I think it was a great meal. I am definitely happy with how it went.
- brandade on toasted garlic baguette
- roasted chicken, roasted potatoes, and carrots
- chocolate mousse
I have always wanted to try brandade but for some reason never had (except for the fried version which has been featured in this blog before). For the roast chicken dish, I am basically following the recipes in Heston Blumenthal's In Search of Perfection series. Finally, the chocolate mousse recipe was from Herv´e; This.
First the brandade: I followed the recipe from Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles cookbook. This was served on toasted garlic baguette. I had to recipe more than what the recipe called for to achieve the right consistency. Other than that, it was great.
The main course was the main show: slow roasted chicken. I have actually brined it first (different from the recipe) before roasting. The chickens were roasted in an 160F oven (the lowest my oven would go). After 4.5 hours they were at 140F and "done" according to the recipe.
But I was chicken (pun intended) and decided to crank it up a little until they reached 165F. The birds look pale on the outside. They were then quickly seared in a pan to crisp the skin. Unfortunately I was not able to do this successfully (see a bit of torn skin in the picture) and the skin was brown but not crisp. The chicken was extremely moist and flavorful. Despite the fact that there is virtually no drippings for a sauce because of the low oven temperature, there is absolutely no need for a sauce. It was a little bit strange, though, to eat pink chicken and have pink juice running out when the chicken is carved. Overall it was very good, though perhaps it would be even better to finish them in a turkey fryer (as he tried on the show).
I also made some carrots in butter, and also roasted potatoes according to his recipes. Unfortunately, I grossly underestimated how good the potatoes were and had barely enough. The method of boiling the potatoes (with a bag of skin) until they almost break up and then roasting them gives a very crunchy outside and creamy inside. The texture contrast was great.
The dessert course was chocolate mousse. I used the non-classical recipe of Herv´e; This,
which involved melting chocolate with water and then whipping the mixture at high speed over an ice bath. The result was a very pure tasting chocolate mousse. I used semi-sweet chocolate, and I did not add any sugar. So for me it was a bit too much chocolate. As a result, I paired it with a raspberry coulis (just a few drops in my case) and it worked very well. Still, I discovered that the proportion for this chocolate mousse has to be scaled back because there is much less air and a small bit is already a lot!
Overall, I think it was a great meal. I am definitely happy with how it went.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
octopus stew, bacon ice cream, and other adventures
Some recent adventures:
I made Chinese BBQ pork again, this time using pork butt instead of tenderloin. This is now absolutely perfect: the little bit of fat in between the meat was giving the perfect texture.
).JPG)
Octopus stew: I followed a Greek recipe (thanks to a book from "K"). The octopus was stewed in onions, tomatoes, vinegar, and red wine. At the end it was a bit too sour for my taste, but adding a little bit of sugar made it much better. I cooked everything in a slow cooker for 8 hours, and the octopus is definitely tender.
The star of the show: bacon maple syrup ice cream. This was somewhat inspired by Blumenthal's idea of bacon ice cream, though it is definitely not the way he would prepare it (e.g. I made the custard the normal way without intentionally overcooking it). The bacon was roasted in an oven with maple syrup, and the resulting bacon bits was mixed into a maple syrup ice cream. It was certainly very successful. When it hits your mouth, you first get the maple syrup taste (which is very good by itself). Then the smokiness and slight saltiness of the candied bacon bits come through. The combination was more successful than I would have imagined. Certainly one of the flavors that I would make again. Maybe I should serve it with french toast.
For the meal, I also purchased a frozen durian. I have not had durian for a long time (maybe for 20 years...), and even though it is frozen it is definitely strong. It actually tasted a lot
better than I thought. Having said that, the smell is really something and there was no way we were going to eat the whole thing.
I made Chinese BBQ pork again, this time using pork butt instead of tenderloin. This is now absolutely perfect: the little bit of fat in between the meat was giving the perfect texture.
).JPG)
Octopus stew: I followed a Greek recipe (thanks to a book from "K"). The octopus was stewed in onions, tomatoes, vinegar, and red wine. At the end it was a bit too sour for my taste, but adding a little bit of sugar made it much better. I cooked everything in a slow cooker for 8 hours, and the octopus is definitely tender.
The star of the show: bacon maple syrup ice cream. This was somewhat inspired by Blumenthal's idea of bacon ice cream, though it is definitely not the way he would prepare it (e.g. I made the custard the normal way without intentionally overcooking it). The bacon was roasted in an oven with maple syrup, and the resulting bacon bits was mixed into a maple syrup ice cream. It was certainly very successful. When it hits your mouth, you first get the maple syrup taste (which is very good by itself). Then the smokiness and slight saltiness of the candied bacon bits come through. The combination was more successful than I would have imagined. Certainly one of the flavors that I would make again. Maybe I should serve it with french toast.
For the meal, I also purchased a frozen durian. I have not had durian for a long time (maybe for 20 years...), and even though it is frozen it is definitely strong. It actually tasted a lot
better than I thought. Having said that, the smell is really something and there was no way we were going to eat the whole thing.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Chinese BBQ pork, water chestnut cake
I made a couple of Chinese dishes:
First I made the Chinese BBQ pork (char siu). The taste worked out just like the restaurant stuff, but I have chosen to use pork tenderloin instead. Since it is actually warm outside these are made on a real BBQ: that means good caramelization on the outside too. The pork is tender but very lean. The traditional BBQ pork has some fat in it. The next time I try this I will have to use the right kind of meat. As usual, plenty of red food coloring is added.
For dessert is a steamed and then pan-fried water chestnut cake. It is actually relatively simple to make because I just used water chestnut flour. After steaming and cooled, the cake is sliced and then pan-fried. Crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.
I also attempted to make shrimp dumplings, but the dumpling skin was really hard for me to deal with and it was a bit of a disaster. My skin was either way too thick or it was too thin and the dumplings broke. I am too ashamed to show any pictures. I guess making shrimp dumpling is not that easy after all. Maybe I will try again some other time.
First I made the Chinese BBQ pork (char siu). The taste worked out just like the restaurant stuff, but I have chosen to use pork tenderloin instead. Since it is actually warm outside these are made on a real BBQ: that means good caramelization on the outside too. The pork is tender but very lean. The traditional BBQ pork has some fat in it. The next time I try this I will have to use the right kind of meat. As usual, plenty of red food coloring is added.
For dessert is a steamed and then pan-fried water chestnut cake. It is actually relatively simple to make because I just used water chestnut flour. After steaming and cooled, the cake is sliced and then pan-fried. Crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.
I also attempted to make shrimp dumplings, but the dumpling skin was really hard for me to deal with and it was a bit of a disaster. My skin was either way too thick or it was too thin and the dumplings broke. I am too ashamed to show any pictures. I guess making shrimp dumpling is not that easy after all. Maybe I will try again some other time.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
