Experiental food

I wanted to have some fun today so I thought this up. Last summer I had a great roasted chicken leg at Chow restaurant. Poirier has such a fine touch with his cooking that Chow is one of my favorite restaurant in this great restaurant town. It was a boned leg roasted to perfection. Here I boned three drumsticks leaving the knee end intact. They are then seasoned with garam marsala, salt, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic and ginger. Since there is a hole in the middle, I stuffed some carrots and fresh shiitake mushroom into them and then tied them off. They are roasted in a 450℉ convected oven until the skin browned and crisped. The result is almost as good as Poirier's, but not quite.

Good for you

Here is my version of a classic Cantonese soup. Cantonese thinks of soup not so much as a part of a meal as a health tonic. Green papaya, black eye pea and chicken feet is one as healthy as it is tasty. I don't have any chicken feet lying around so I make it with a very lean piece of pork. To further the taste and goodness, snow mushroom 雪耳, peanuts and barley went into the pot also. Tasty and soothing.

Trois Couleurs: The Happy Version

On the left is curry beef tendons, in the middle is rice and on the right is green papaya and carrot salad. The curry is my standard but this time I made some garam marsala with coriander seeds, black pepper, hot pepper flakes, cinnamon, cloves, cumin and all spice. The marsala is sautéed lightly in a little oil before the tendons are added with frozen peas to reheat. The salad is basically an Indian recipe I remember from one of Jaffrey's cookbooks. Black mustard seeds are popped in a little hot oil with hot pepper before adding to shredded carrots and then finished with salt, pepper and lemon juice. I mixed in some green papaya because I have a green papaya. Good combo.

Pepper from afar

When I was in Hong Kong last summer, a friend gave me some pepper seed she got from her trip to Bhutan. I started some of them in a pot because she wasn't able to tell me much about the growing habit of these peppers. This way it would be easier if they take longer to mature than our summer allows. It will be fun to see what these guys are like.

It's been so long

Haven't made pizza for a while now, kind of missed it. I was a little lazy though, so I used the bread dough I have already made to do this one. Because it has been rising for a day or so in the fridge, it puffed up even after some serious rolling. For the sauce, I also went the quick route by simply taking a few cans tomatoes drained in a colander with salt, pepper, hot pepper, oregano and garlic added. With most of the water gone, it is a pretty nice fresh sauce without going on the stove. The result is more a bread with topping than a pizza strictly speaking but good eat nonetheless.

Ginger Scallion Oyster 姜蔥生蠔

This may well be the most popular oyster dish in Cantonese restaurants. The oysters are dusted with corn starch and then quickly fried. Ginger and garlic are put into a very hot pot with a little oil. As soon as they smell good, add oyster in with them. A sprinkle of Shaoxing liquor is added before a little dark soy sauce and sugar. Put the lid on and a couple minutes and it is done.

Banana Almond Bread Muffin

I have these two semi-blackened bananas, so I thought, like most people, banana bread time. It is not enough to make a good size loaf so out comes the muffin pan. The recipe is again from Allrecipe.com. I use only half measure. The result is good. Walnut would have been better but I happen to not have any handy, so almond ain't bad.

Dongbo Pork 東波肉

Su Dongbo 蘇東波 is one of the greatest poet, essayist, philosopher, poet, calligrapher... in Chinese history. One less seriously thing he is famous for is eating--he was a great gourmand. This dish is named after him. The other half of the bacon cut after the cold bath was put back into a pot and sautéed without browning with garlic and star anise. Shaoxing liquor was added and then a solution of sugar and dark soy sauce. Braised slowly until very tender but not falling apart and it is done.





Cut into smaller pieces and serve.

Like butter, and just as fattening!

White Cut Pork 白切肉

I don't usually buy or eat the bacon cut but I did today. I cut the piece into two part and one is made into this. The whole piece is put into boiling water and cook for a good half and hour. When it is just done, take it out and put into icy water immediately. Let the cold water chills and tighten the meat for half an hour at least. The result is a clean and crisp thinly sliced. The sauce is lots of crushed garlic, sugar, dark soy sauce, hot oil and sesame oil.

Fried Oyster

I used corn starch this time to fry these oysters. Turns out quite good, light and crispy, doesn't have the bite of flour but very crisp.

Something to Look Forward To

These are not exactly food, as least not yet, but they say spring is here. While it is still cold and rainy outside, I am already slightly late in starting these seeds. Here I have 4 different kinds of peas, 4 kinds of lettuces and arugula. The lettuce seeds are a little old, so I am not sure if they will sprout properly. If not, I still have time to start more. Come to think of it, when isn't a good time to start some lettuces? Well, the anticipation is kill me.

Happy like a...

I don't know if these clams are happy, I seriously doubt it. I once had an argument with my French aerospace engineer house mate about whether dolphins had a constant smile on their faces. I said no and he said I was heartless. I would prefer to think that clams are not happy otherwise it would be too cruel to eat them, like destroying a child's happy dream. But then, nothing a little spicy black bean sauce can't fix.

The Other Side of the rib

I still have the hard bone side of the rib so I decided to try slow roast it. Put on a kitchen sink kind of dry rub (chili, garlic, onion, cayenne, cumin, coriander seed, all spice, thyme, oregano, powders all, and salt, pepper and brown sugar). Roasted at 225 for 7 hours. It dried quite a bit but fall-off-the-bone tender. Brushed with a cider vinegar, liquid smoke and hot chili sauce a few times towards the end. I think I will put in less salt and partially cover it next time but otherwise it is quite good.

Repackaging

This looks good but just a reheating job. The ribs and bamboo are leftovers but put together like this, it is like new. Almost restaurant looking, doesn't it.

Quick Sandpot

I was making a soup with some pork shoulder but had to defrost too much so I cook the leftover in the sandpot. Most basic cooking, brown lightly, add a little ginger, some shaoxing liquor, sugar, salt, dark and light soy sauce, star anise and cloves cook cover until tender and pull from the bone. It is a lean cut but with some nice tendons so it works well.

Loots

Part of the loots from this year's Playhouse Wine Festival. What is frustrating about the festival every year is that the trade people get into the shop before everyone else and before anyone get a chance, many of the wines are gone. I like that restaurants have great wine lists but I would like some of that at home too! They should safe a few cases for the general public, on the first day at least. The upside is that with 180+ wineries present, they is always some good ones left. Of all these, I am particularly impressed by the Lumen from Illuminati, the wine making family not the all powerful secret society, at least that is what I think...

Ragù

I think the best cut for a ragù is oxtail. Here I browned the meaty half of the tail before adding celery, onion and carrot. A little thyme and hot chili were added when the soffritto had softened. A can of tomato was then added. Since I was doing it quickly, I locked the pressure cooker and waited 40 minutes. After it cooled I shredded the meat into the sauce, reduced it a little and there it is.






I was too lazy to make my own pasta so spaghetti would had to do. Bind it all together with Pecorino and it is a simple dinner

First taste of a Rack

Bought a full rack of ribs today. It is too much to eat in one go. I cut off the tender ends and make this classic--sugar and vinegar ribs. It is pretty easy to make. Sauté the ribs with a big piece of ginger until it lightly brown then add shaoxing liquor and cover for a minute for the ribs to absorb the flaour. Uncover and let the remaining liquor evapoate. Then add star anise, cane sugar, sweet vinegar, sharper vinegar (here I used sweetened vinegar 添丁甜醋 and Shangxi aged vinegar 山西老陳醋). Cook covered until the meat is tender then reduce the sauce as needed. I like it sweet but some like it less. The soft bone is the best part.

Stewed Bamboo Shoot 炆冬筍

I forgot and left two large winter bamboo shoots in the back of the fridge for a week. They are still good but have grown a little fiber. They are not good for quick soups or stir fries anymore. I figure if I cook them long then they would be more tender. Shanghai people stew bamboo shoot in the winter and it is a easy thing to do. I boiled the peeled and trimmed shoots for an hour before sautéing them briefly in hot oil. A little Shaoxing liquor is added and sugar, salt, dark and light soy sauce went in after a few second. Some shiitake mushrooms were also added. Water were added to cover and cooked for a couple of hours. The result is a great side dish. Here I have it at lunch with Cantonese roast pork. The soup is the liquid from boiling the bamboo with some sauce from the roast pork added.

Sand Pot Fish 豆豉龍躉煲

I bought a sand pot for $3 in Chinatown and have been having great fun with it. Here is an example. A nice thick piece of ling cod is seared in a frying pan. Because ling cod is such a bland fish, I decided to cook some flavour into it, and sand pot is just the thing to do it. The pot works like a tiny oven and contain flavours very well. I sautéed big pieces of ginger and scallion in the very hot pot before preserved black beans are added with a chili. The browned fish is added and a little Shaoxing liquor is poured. The lid is added for a couple of minutes before a little sugar and soy sauce go in. Keeping the lid on, I remove the whole thing from the heat for a couple three minutes until the fish is cooked. Very tasty indeed.

Punished Steak

I like cheaper cuts of steak, not only because they are cheap but also their flavour. They tends to be richer so there are good with richer sauces than a striploin or a ribeye. Here is a top sirloin steak. Because if is tougher than the prime cuts, I pounded it to half of its thicken first then marinated it with pepper and Worcestershire Sauce briefly before searing it quickly. Because it was thinned out and its structure loosen, a brief sear and a few minutes of rest made it perfectly medium and tender. The sauce is just pan juice made with a little water and mustard. Add a couple potatoes worth of home fries and a pretty classic meal is done.