#109 - It's a little bit Korean, a little bit Chinese and a little bit Cajun...

Therapy (but not)

I've heard lots of people self medicate - drinks, shopping, drugs...I find cooking really therapeutic and calming.  Much more productive, I think - and a big change from how stressed out I used to get at the end of class when it was time to present plates and my sauce was not reducing quickly enough.  My parents are getting used to hearing "I had a bad night/day - I'm making dinner tonight".  We don't have far to go to find the silver lining.  There's something meditative about cooking when it's on your own schedule.

(FYI:  although help in the kitchen is always appreciated, it does have to be help.  This means that if you offer to help, get assigned a job (or several) but you disappear and don't do the thing you said you would do, you're not only not helping, you're being a pain in the ass because you're actually holding me up.  Get out of the kitchen because you're messing up my happy mojo!)

Cooking for 6

I was feeling a little bit lazy earlier - not really wanting to cook (yes, really lazy but I had a good excuse - really...). The good thing about promising to cook for friends is that it's a way to keep from giving in to the lazy feeling.

Anyway - I have a recipe in my slow cooker cookbook which calls for sirloin.  Yes, yes - some purists would say you use a crappy cut of meat for the chili since you cook it forever on low heat and you use the sirloin for steak.  Steak is all well and good, but having tried this recipe with sirloin and with chuck steak, all I can say is that the sirloin one is better.  Since I plan on feeding friends with very sensitive French palates and, most likely, my parents - I had to dial the heat factor back a bit.  It's a 9-hour (read:  overnight) cooking time so it should be fine by tomorrow morning.  It will even have tomorrow to sit in the fridge and so the sitting in its juices which makes stews and other things so much better on the second day.

Anyway - dinner to be served with rice, salad and the chili with assorted toppings - cilantro (coriander), green onions (spring onions), sour cream and cheddar cheese if people want it.  Not to mention fresh chili...a friend who happens to be a bit of a foodie / critic is going to give the chili a test run tomorrow - hopefully it will live up to his high standards.

Fusion food...

In the meantime, dinner for tonight - one of the chefs at the Cordon Bleu in London is not a big fan of "fusion cuisine", mainly because so many people seem to be confused about what it actually is.  Keeping his prejudices in mind, my dinner was more like French technique, Cajun seasoning, Mexican pico de gallo and served like a Chinese sang choy bao / Korean ssam (food wrapped in lettuce).  Back when the Atkins diet was such a big deal, I remember thinking it sounded kind of boring (lots of protein, no carbs, etc. etc.) but if they had had food like this, I might have actually tried it.  The one day I thought about not eating carbs, I immediately started to crave pasta and lots of bread / sandwiches - interesting and uncharacteristic, seeing as how I don't really eat sandwiches or much bread.  If you think about it, this is pretty friendly for most dietary restrictions:  gluten free, sugar free, nut free, dairy free...

And now - back to the A-team and looking forward to a day of friends, dancing, food and fun tomorrow.

Until next time, happy weekend!

#108 - Cooking for 1 and other little excuses for a happy dance

In which a little excursion out of the centre of the city leads to  an unexpected discovery...

There's always a bit of excitement when you find something unexpected - in this case, mini-Madeleines at this little bakery in Cammaray (on the North Short of Sydney).  Don't ask, I'm usually not out that far - definitely away from my usual haunts (and much further than my very small slice of Sydney which extends from Bondi Junction to Central to...perhaps, Wynyard).  Anyway - how can you not buy these for a little sample when they're so cute and the person in the bakery speaks with a French accent which reminds me of  my London days and the chefs back at Le Cordon Bleu?  Anyway, they tasted pretty good if you like sweets (personally I only bought them for the nostalgia factor because I'm not much of a cake person as a general rule) - a bit dry by themselves but perfect with a cup of tea on a Saturday afternoon.  I suppose there's a reason why they're tea cakes.

Cooking for 1...(aka "because no one should watch Iron Chef on an empty stomach")
Some friends were giving me a bit of grief because I don't tend to make an effort when I'm cooking just for myself.  Also - rice and seaweed can get a little boring after a while so I made pasta one night - inspired by the fresh pasta at the deli but dictated by the fact that I didn't have a lot of time or patience to cook since I've been getting home later than I've wanted for the past few nights.  Shrimp (or prawns, if you're going to speak like they do here) with chili, garlic and spinach is pretty standard here - and a bit predictable so I went the scallop route.  Add a little bit of sweated shallots, lemon juice and parsley - it takes the same amount of time to prep and cook everything as it does to boil the water and cook the fresh pasta (they said 1 1/2 - 2 minutes but it was much more like 7 minutes).  Absolutely no excuse not to cook dinner - and of course, it tasted pretty good, even if I do say so myself.  Besides, there wasn't much time because I wanted to watch Iron Chef and no one should watch that on an empty stomach.

Litany of kitchen fails...
Trust me, there have been some pathetic failed experiments in the kitchen - as much as I hate to waste food, the Cake Mix fiasco of 2001 and the Frozen Pizza fails (yes, multiple - and frozen pizza!) of 2003-2006 and the Burnt-Outside-Still-Raw-Inside-after-45-minutes-in-the-oven Cupcakes-from-a-Mix drama of 2006 all resulted in those attempts ending up in the rubbish because they were completely inedible.

Slow cooker happiness!
Thank goodness someone taught me how to cook!  And if not, you can always make it up a little bit.  Thanks to a good friend of mine, I just chucked in bits and pieces into a crock-pot and left it on overnight.  In the morning, voila!  Spaghetti sauce...and since my parents happen to be in town, I could call them up for a little bit of stomach assistance.  How nice to be able to toddle up the hill with vegetables and sauce in a bag and produce dinner in a matter of minutes...of course, you have to be careful what you say to BS because he pays attention and a chance remark led to the very kind gift of the slow cooker which is one of my best friends during the cool/cold winter months.  (Yes, I was a little lazy, I just stuck the veggies in with the pasta because I didn't want to clean another bowl, but really, what does it matter?  It all tastes the same...)

Oh what a beautiful morning, oh what a beautiful day -
Some of you may recognize the first line of a famous Rogers and Hammerstein song from Oklahoma! but what else can you say on a foggy morning that looks like this?  Foghorns were going in the distance and normally this view would show you a water line stretching across somewhere around the middle of this photo.  On this particular morning I woke to a glow in the sky (the horns came later).  The fog burned off a couple of hours later but it was pretty while it lasted.

Sometimes you forget to appreciate what's exactly in front of you until something reminds you to stop, take a deep breath and have a look around.  Suddenly there are leaves on the ground and some of the trees have turned red.  The colors might not be as spectacular as they get somewhere colder, but we get the great mix of a fall while the plumeria trees (aka frangipanis here) start to blossom again.

So until next time - have a nice day and give someone a smile.  As the saying goes, "Everyone can afford to give away a smile."

#107 - Mom's birthday dinner (What a wonderful world)

It's been a little while since I cooked anything worth posting but it was my Mom's birthday last night.  A bit of a rush since I made dinner after work but it's all in the preparation - last minute sauce but mise-en-place done before and/or most of the major cooking, which means the only things I actually had to do was make the sauce, reheat and flash the duck, supreme the orange, re-heat the broccoli, toast the almonds and plate.  Easy 60 minutes (only because the sauce takes a while).

Happy birthday Mom!
The result was a group effort - Dad made salad to which I added a few bits and pieces (roasting the almonds took the longest, surprisingly enough), Mom made the rice and I did the duck, sauce and veggies.

And I found out why you trim the duck's legs before you cook it.  Trying to trim them after - well, the bones shattered into pieces and the ugly end was still attached.  The confit leg may not have looked very pretty but apparently it tasted really good.  Frankly, I couldn't face eating any duck after smelling the duck fat while it was cooking.  Don't get me wrong, the duck fat actually smells really good but it's such a rich smell, all I wanted for dinner was a little rice and all veggies.

No madeira for the sauce.  Oddly enough, the liquor store / bottle shop didn't have madeira.   ("What?  No madeira?  What kind of bottle shop doesn't have madeira???")  They had port but I forgot it at home so I cheated - red wine and orange juice.  Substituted chicken stock for brown duck stock.  Yes, shock horror - but it all still tasted pretty good so happy faces around the table.

Dad's pretty salad to the right with cherry heirloom tomatoes - just right with the toasted almonds and vinaigrette.  The crisp greens were a perfect antidote to the duck fat smell.  I think I would have been happy just to eat salad and nothing else.  Why is it that there's so much pleasure in cooking but sometimes, the pleasure in the eating is just not there?

And then of course, dessert.  You can't have a birthday without dessert...but I didn't have time to make it so I bought it from the deli.  I have dessert guilt.  On the other hand, this was gluten free and my gluten free repertoire is (thus far) very limited.  Mousse, anyone?

 In any event, a lovely night with the parents and they got to eat something they don't cook at home and isn't necessarily on a restaurant menu.  Ah, Cordon Bleu was definitely not a waste, according to them.  A true pleasure for me to have more people who like to eat!

(I am off to pick up some dinner - yes, yes, cheating but all in a good cause - I don't cook Chinese food at home.)

So until next time, happy Mother's Day, happy eating and a very good night to you all!  

#106 - Every Day Food

Feeling Guilty
There's this TV show in Australia called My Kitchen Rules.  Sometimes it's inspiring (I can do that, why don't I?) but mostly it's annoying (seriously, what's with the whining?) and I feel guilty for not making anything more complicated than rice with seaweed.  Hey, I'm not cooking for anyone else so I can have what I want for dinner.

Fresh Ingredients
The problem with having yummy fresh ingredients drilled into you is that it makes crappy food no longer enjoyable.  If the list of ingredients is longer than the blurb of the ingredient / mix / whatever, I don't use it.  If there are numbers in the ingredient list or unpronounceable chemical-ish sounding names, I also don't use it.

Unfortunately no photo of my chicken soup, but I figure you already know how to make it and you don't care about the chicken soup.  All that's left to say is that fresh dill is delicious and makes it super yummy. I have to admit that I cheated and used an already made chicken stock because it takes a lot of time to make my own.

As you know, I don't really do midnight snacks.  Or rather, my idea of a midnight snack is probably a bit more substantial than what most people would have at midnight.  Case in point: the avocado on toasted ciabatta bread and a tomato/cucumber salad with fresh mint and cilantro (coriander for those of you who speak the Queen's English).  Totally inspired by lunch with some friends who happen to be vegan.  The fresh herbs were so delicious you don't need anything else.  Otherwise I would have added  salt or extra virgin olive oil and possibly some garlic.

Easy Dinner - No Excuses...
Because I can.  And also because as I may have mentioned, I was feeling a bit guilty for not cooking something slightly more complicated than rice.  Hence - fresh deep sea perch a la meuniere (slightly altered), seared scallops and broccoli.  Sorry, couldn't get the flash to work for a brighter picture.  Anyway, no excuse for you not to do this at home on grounds that it's too complicated - 7 steps for 4 parts.  10 minute prep (if that) and 20 minutes to cook (while the rice is cooking).

Traditionally you're supposed to dredge the fish in flour before you fry it but I don't think that's necessary and this way it's gluten-free friendly.  Also, I sprinkled parsley on the fish after I cooked the sauce instead of adding it to the sauce while still cooking it.

Ingredients
1 fillet of fresh fish per person (perch is delicate - you might want snapper which is a bit firmer but still flaky and light)
Fresh scallops (as many as you want - 3 per person seems about right)
Unsalted butter - at least 50g (1/4 stick)
Broccoli - cut into florets
Chopped parsley
Steamed rice

Method
1.  Cook your rice.
2.  Salt your fish.  Melt butter in a hot pan and fry your fish fillets - skin side down (or bone side down first, if your fish has been skinned).  Baste with the melted butter as it cooks.
3.  Meanwhile, cook broccoli in boiling, salted your water.  Drain and put in ice water until ready to finish the dish.
4.  Remove fish and set aside.  Add a bit more butter to the pan if you need to - cook until you see some brown spots.  Squeeze in some lemon juice and pour over the fish just before you serve.
5.  Salt scallops and grind some fresh white pepper on it.  Fry in screeching hot pan until they're just warm through the middle.  Remove and set aside.
6.  Toss broccoli in melted butter until warm.
7.  Serve and eat.

So until next time, happy cooking!  If you try the recipe, let me know how it worked for you.

#105 - Fast food (but not)

It's amazing how fast time flies.  I finally managed to catch up with a girlfriend whom I haven't seen in over 6 months - and got to meet her son for the first time.

Persian food
Such a treat - I got to taste my first Persian food after a lovely fig and manchego salad with a really nice walnut oil dressing.

They threw an elegant dinner party while getting their little son to bed and entertaining company.

 
There was a lamb stew made with dried limes, basmati rice (and the yummy crunchy bottom layer - centre photo), a Shirazhi salad (tomatoes and cucumbers), then a really nice dessert.  CT wasn't happy with her dessert but I finished the whole thing, a record for me since I'm not huge on desserts.  The stewed plums were particularly good with the heavy cream.  What is is about cream which makes dessert so delicious?

(Almost) Vegetarian but delicious
Both CT and KN are huge foodies so they were a bit horrified when I told them I occasionally make 2-minute noodles.  A chest infection sent me home for a few days on antibiotics which you have to take with food - but cooking when you're sick isn't that much fun.  CT, as horrified as she was by my 2-minute noodles, wasn't too horrified by my 4-minute noodles (that's how long it takes the noodles to cook).  Lest ye all be completely against vegetarian dishes, this had fresh tofu in the soup rather than meat.  Easier on the stomach and the fresh herbs really pick up the flavours.

I was torn between being completely vegetarian and the old remedy of chicken soup - compromise by using chicken stock but vegetarian ingredients.  It was a variation of the chicken long rice broth from a few weeks ago:

Ingredients
500ml (2 cups) chicken stock (use vegetable stock for vegetarians);
a few pieces of tofu;
2 - 4 leaves of bok choy;
1/2 zucchini, sliced;
1-in piece of ginger, grated;
1 garlic clove, grated;
sliced spring onions (green onions if you live in the US);
a few leaves of coriander (cilantro) for garnish.

Method
Bring stock, ginger, garlic to a simmer.  Add tofu and simmer another 5 minutes (until warm).  Add bok choy and simmer for 4 more minutes.

Pour over steamed rice and sprinkle with spring onions and coriander to serve.

Perfect for a cold night when you need a little soup.

Happy eating!

#104 - Great Expectations

Beanless Chili
Finally a sighting of my chili!  It's been a bit like the search for Bigfoot or a Yeti - this is the first time a sighting has been made (less the fresh jalepenos, cilantro/coriander and spring onions/green onions).  My ever reliable food chronicler sent this one through a couple of days after I left.

See post #103 for more about the chili - and my sister sent me a message tonight saying it still tops the list of things she wants when I come home, followed closely by the veggies below.

Passover
I have been invited to a Passover Seder on Tuesday night.  See this link for more information about the seder - http://www.chabad.org/holidays/passover/pesach_cdo/aid/1751/jewish/The-Seder-in-a-Nutshell.htm.

Zucchini "spaghetti"

No pressure, but my invitation to seder made a point of challenging my cooking skills in requesting a vegetarian side dish which complied with requirements to be Kosher for Passover.  Surprisingly enough, the thing that took the longest amount of time was the tomato sauce - especially since I had to look up the recipe because I forgot it and had left out the garlic and tomato paste.  It took forever to pass it through a sieve because I don't have a chinois here.  It was easier to make everything from scratch than to have to doctor something from the correct Kosher section or to check I didn't breach any rules (except the tomato paste, which I ran past my hosts).

Vegetarian "spring" roll - named by my sister

I can't get people to choose between the variations but hopefully some tasting by independent third parties will tell me if one of them is better than another.

The vegetarian "spring roll" and the veggie stack are both wrapped in savoy cabbage leaves, which were surprisingly hard to get in Hawaii for the family Christmas dinner and a previous attempt at something like this.

Veggie stack (aka vegetarian stuffed cabbage)

The veggie stack will somehow need to be changed slightly because it's meant to serve 26 people.  So far the Mise-en-place consists of 9 red bell peppers, 8 tomatoes,8 shallots, 2 bouque garni, I'm not sure how many zucchini, 1 savoy cabbage and...I think I forgot something.

Everything needs to be cooked just a bit more but I think it may just be a matter of getting the balance of the different vegetables and the sauce right.  There may not be enough sauce for the zucchini spaghetti so that may or may not make it to the dinner.

So until next time, happy Easter / Passover and food in good company.

#103 - Comfort food

Not your stereotypical chicken noodle soup
There's something about comfort food when it's cold and dark outside or when you're not feeling your best...or sometimes, just because.  In this case, it was a combination of nostalgia, laziness and a photo on Facebook.  A classmate of mine had made chicken long rice for her sick husband.  Chicken long rice is basically chicken stock, some seasoning (ginger, garlic and onion) and bean thread noodles - they say just enough stock to make the noodles float.  I didn't have bean thread noodles but I had everything else.


It's hard to get motivated when you're cooking just for yourself.  I have no problem making things for other people but somehow I often can't be bothered to do the same for myself - probably because it's always more impressive when someone else does it so it's hard to impress yourself.  Anyway - this is easy, tastes good and has a fast clean up!  No shiitake mushrooms so not quite as delicious looking as the one my high school classmate made, but good enough to inspire several rounds of the same over the next week or so.

Eating with family and friends
And then of course there's the obligatory cooking for family and friends because sometimes you just feel like it.  Or they request it.  Or someone knows how to make something you've always wanted to learn.  Or you go out somewhere and everyone has favorites they want to have...lucky for me, we happen to know who's quite good at documenting our foodie forays - when she manages to get the photos before people all dig, anyway!  A sample of a Friday night out with the girls (and B).  I think the pesto pasta was a bit of a disappointment because we had all expected there to be more pesto (can you see it in the photo?  I can't) - we were kind of looking for the pesto in the midst of all the cream.

For instance, the same friend who is so good at the food documentation also happens to be an excellent cook.  She made things which I never learned (sometimes you just have to learn these things from your Mom and this isn't what mine makes, although my Mom makes excellent roasts).  So we actually had a Sunday night in which we both contributed - some more (her) than others (me).  The result was very satisfactory though and we were all very, very full at the end of the meal.  I'd like to say it was an "elegant sufficiency" as my Mom and grandmother say, but there was nothing elegant about how we felt at the end of this dinner.

By request...
Despite having studied French cooking, the most requested item when I come home is beef chili.  I got the recipe from a cooking classmate - see the link below for her recipe - http://thefeastingfoodie.com/2012/11/07/let-it-snow/.

My parents are gluten free so instead of beer I use red wine (about 1//3 bottle or 250ml per 4 lbs / 2 kgs of beef) and no beans.  My sister and I don't like beans so we just make up the difference in weight with more meat, although I suggest 1 small can of tomato paste per 4 lbs / 2 kgs of beef.  We have yet to take a photo of the chili in its many incarnations as it always gets eaten before anyone manages to run for a camera.

The rest of the time we tend to do easy things for family meals because when you're cooking for kids and they have a bedtime, you can't fuss around too much.  We needed something a little more substantial than chicken noodle soup but the flavoring is very similar to the Chinese cold ginger chicken so I just did a quick stir fry instead.  Broccoli with the same flavorings and of course, evidence of some snacking also made their way onto this plate.  I didn't happen to have the bread or the cheese because I had been cooking at the time but I am told it was very good.  French bread from a bakery run by Japanese people - might sound weird but it's some of the best bread I've had outside of France.  And any time babies and little children like the chicken and broccoli is a cause for celebration since they can be such picky little eaters.

They say better a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith.  We had a very happy and contented dinner, complete with laughter and finishing with hugs and kisses.  So until next time, happy eating with family and friends.