Reopening of Fruitless

After my many trips this summer, Fruitless was reopened for business this weekend. I made a "lighter" summer menu with some flavors inspired by my Toronto adventures.

For a starter, I made chilled asparagus with vinaigrette and egg mimosa (featured before in my blog here). This time, though, I did not overcook the asparagus so it still had a bit of a crunch (which is the way I like asparagus).



The main course was a fish course. I managed to find some Chilean sea bass. I decided to marinate the fillets in a miso sauce (shiro miso, mirin, sake, brown sugar, and soy sauce) and broil them. I also made a miso foam to go along with it (part of the "light" menu). A little bit of lumpfish caviar provides a salty contrast to the dish. As a side dish I made some "tofu fries" served with some hoisin sauce. The fish was cooked very nicely and tasted excellent. Certainly one of the things to try again. The tofu fries may have been fried a bit too much, but I needed to fry them this much or they will not be sturdy enough and fall apart. Perhaps I should have fried larger blocks of tofu. But overall I am happy with the dish. Next time, though, I may try to get the skin really crispy.



The dessert was inspired by the basil ice cream I had at Hiro Sushi. It's a dessert "bruschetta": on the bottom is a piece of store-bought sponge cake. This is topped by a layer of chopped strawberry tomatoes that were lightly poached in a syrup (the tomato syrup is soaked into the cake). It is finally topped by the basil ice cream. I think it was very successful: it tastes kind of like bruschetta, just a bit sweeter. The basil ice cream and the tomatoes worked together very well. If I had more artistic skills I would make quenelles from the ice cream. Another thing to practice on.



So almost everything was perfect, and it was a good reopening event.

Cooking for friends Part II

The first meal was more or less "forced" out of me in the morning of that meal (okay, it didn't take much to twist my rubber arm). The second meal I cooked for my friends was actually a bit of a celebration so I put more thoughts and planning into it. I thought I would bring some Asian flavours into the meal.

For the first small appetizer, I marinated some shrimps in lemongrass, garlic, and sambal (a chili paste). This was quickly stir-fried until just cooked. Many of the people (including myself) did not like very spicy food, so I only used a little bit of sambal. The result was very good, even the guest of honour, Amelie, liked it (she said she doesn't usually like shrimps).



The shrimps were really just finger food. The first real appetizer is mushroom-filled won tons in a cream sauce with morel and chanterelle mushrooms. The brown piece on the left is actually a parmesan cracker. It actually tasted just right but the color seems to be too brown. We had another batch that was not as brown but the taste was not as concentrated. I decided to use the brown batch because it actually worked with the rich cream sauce. The mushroom filling has just four simple ingredients: finely chopped white mushrooms, thyme, salt, and pepper. I used won ton skins to bring in a "fusion" element, and I pan-fried them to provide a bit of contrast to the creamy mushroom sauce. This dish was a great success, though it could be presented better if I had better "soup plates".



The next dish was inspired by my recent experience at Rain: grilled miso marinated Alaskan black cod, with a ginger flavored risotto cake, and sauteed bok choy. I also made a miso sauce to go with the fish. Surely it wasn't as good as the one I had at Rain, but I still think that it was very successful. The fish was cooked just right---it had a silky texture and it was very moist. The only problem was that I did not manage to get the skin crispy. Amelie didn't like the miso flavour, but everyone else (including me) seems to think it worked very well. The ginger flavored risotto cake went quite well with the fish, though it could have been crispier (we had to cook them in advance to save stove space...). The bok choy also worked well to finish the dish.



Okay, the plating needs work. I still have no idea how to put things on a plate to make it look good. The sauce on the "frame" of the plate isn't my fault: it's all Dave's fault. :) Looking at it again, I should have put some sauce on the bottom on a "pool" to the side and arrange the cod pieces on top. I'm still not quite sure what to do with the risotto cake and the bok choy.

In addition to cake, I also made some black sesame ice cream. This turned out to be a bit of a disaster: due to the lack of time I did not extract the flavours by heating the cream. Rather, I just blended everything cold. I made a further mistake by putting a bit of the grinded hulls in an attempt to enhance the flavour. Instead the ice cream ended up having a strange texture and a slight bitter after taste. It wasn't inedible, but it was definitely nowhere as good as the one that I normally made. Amelie didn't like this one either.



So overall it was a reasonable but not perfect meal. To my own taste buds, everything except the ice cream was good. The presentation needs work, and perhaps I managed to teach Dave a few things to impress people with.

Cooking for friends Part I

I am back from my trip from Toronto and Waterloo. While I was there I cooked a couple of meals for all my friends.

The first meal was inspired mostly by what I saw at the Farmer's market at St. Jacobs. I made some roasted peppers of different colors:



and then I put the roasted peppers, some fennel, and monk fish fillets into a foil package on the grill. It was moist and nicely cooked. The only small problem was that it was just a little bit over salted, but it was not my fault...Dave salted the dish. :)



This turned out to be a very nice way to cook fish. We also grilled some eggplants and roasted some potatoes to go with the meal.

For dessert, I made a rosemary vanilla pana cotta which was a great success:



Yes, the ramekins don't match at all. It reminds me of the good old days when I didn't have all the fancy toys that I now have, and just used whatever I have available provided by the landlord. :)