Pasta with Confit Turkey, Garlic and Onion in a Caramelised Semidried Tomato Sauce
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Friday, August 01, 2008
Abalone
Export quality green lip abalone from Australia sells for $175 per kilogram. Most oriental dishes with abalone require braising or boiling for several hours to achieve the tender melt in the mouth texture. Canned abalone is often recommended in recipes.
Fresh abalone needs scrubbing to remove the green and/or black coating. When cleaned, the abalone looks creamy white. Before cooking, tenderizing with a mallet is recommended.
Thin slices of fresh abalone needs only a few seconds in a hot pan to cook. Should the abalone turn rubbery on over cooking, convert the dish into a soup or continue with braising.
Abalone is easy to confit in a flavoured oil. Chef Neil Perry's recipe cooks at 60 degrees Celsius for 2 to 2.5 hours, while Chef Stephanie Alexander's "Cooks Companion" indicates 125 degrees Celsius for 3-4 hours. The abalone texture at the end should be "soft as butter".
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Paper Chef 31 - Another Fish Tale
Paper Chef 31 : walnut, chickpea, oregano and fish steak.
At "An Electronic Restaurant", where there is unlimited drama, the script continues...
The entry is just about done as Noodle Cook recalls some walnut oil, chickpea flour and oregano in the pantry. Just a dash to the shop for a piece of swordfish, and behold the Paper Chef entry??? URRrrgh, Noodle Cook opens the pantry and discovers stale walnut oil, chickpea flour in a falafel mix, and oregano, DRIED, which doesn't qualify or taste right with the spices in the falafel mix. Dial 000 for John to save the day evening. The swordfish ends up beautifully grilled and served with steamed beans and caramelized yam bean slices. A Paper Chef entry not to be.
Kudos: Owen (Tomatilla!) the inventor, Ilva (Lucullian Delights) the successor, Hank (Hunter, Angler, Gardener, Cook) July 2008 judge.
For all the monthly fun with a Paper Chef challenge where you star in your own kitchen stadium like an Iron Chef, check out the details in the Paper Chef Blog. This month's roundup can be found here. Read about the winner here.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
The Sharp Knife
According to those in the know, it's the SHARP chef's knife that makes a great chef. For that chef's knife, you need the most expensive brand on the market preferably costing in excess of $200, otherwise it isn't the real chef one. Just about every top chef thinks the chef's knife is his/her favourite kitchen tool, and it will be so for yourself if you own one. Check out Chef Benjamin's website for a chance to win a Japanese Chef Knife.
While such a luxury is beyond the means of most, the next best is a StaySharp cook's knife, as invented by Wiltshire. It's the Aussie invention of "a spring loaded sharpening block inside a sheath or scabbard, which sharpened the knife every time it was taken out or replaced". This 1969 invention resulted from a 1964 survey that showed 80% of Americans didn't know how to sharpen a knife.
Noodle Cook's cheap & reliable Wiltshire knife comes without the sharpening scabbard, and logically, for the knife to remain sharp it needs sharpening. The 1964 survey seems to hold true downunder in 2008, some 44 years later. After 2 hours of negotiating the knife on both coarse and fine sides of an aluminium oxide sharpening stone ($2.20 from oriental stores), it is clear the sharpening technique that Noodle Cook uses, does not work. The factory bevelled knife's edge starts to disappear while sharpness remains same, that is, not sharp enough to cleanly slash newspapers. Perhaps technique has nothing to do with the tough metal designed to reduce the need for sharpening? It's time to get the man of with steel, aka John the villain in this blog, to rescue the knife from doom. John is an expert at sharpening knives for hunting in the Canadian Prairies before Staysharp inventions.
Leigh Hudson's (Chef's Armoury) professional tips for sharpening on a stone:
Monday, June 30, 2008
Roast Chicken for Dinner
Every chef has a favourite kitchen tool. If yours is a good knife you have yet to own, then you can try winning one at Chef Benjamin's website if you register for the newsletter.
Noodle Cook's favourite used to be a pair of secondhand cast iron skillets with seasoning still intact thanks to the previous owner. That was until IKEA reduced their "Made in France" 5 litre enamelled cast iron cocotte to $59.95, a mega 25% savings. At such a bargain price a cheap skase like Noodle Cook has no choice but to queue up and grab. Why wait for a La Creuset or La Chasseur sale? After all, there are only two factories in France making cast iron cookware and the IKEA one probably comes from one of brand name factories. The Kitchen Warehouse sells discount price La Creuset and La Chasseur which you can order online.
There is just one slight problem with this marvellous piece of cookware: Noodle Cook has never used one before! The instructions come with no recipe. OK, you fry some milk in oil to prepare for first use, then what???
It is now up to sly Noodle Cook to hatch a dinner plan for the weekend...
It doesn't take too long for John to announce roast chicken and suddenly out comes the cocotte! John was thrilled with the prospect of cooking with a "camp oven" again, ever since he was volunteered into cooking for the field crew out in the bush. The downside of having John as executive chef means Noodle Cook does the peeling and cutting.
An executive chef cooks to perfection, so a recipe must be found. The first Google attempt returns "Le Poulet de Muriel" by Chocolate and Zucchini, a roast chicken scented with garlic, lemon, thyme and rosemary. An incredibly simple bung it into the oven at 150 degrees Celsius for 3 hours and uncover to brown at 220 degrees Celsius. Before long the Google searches proclaim that it takes 50 minutes per kilo of chicken plus 25 minute at 180 degrees Celsius to French roast a chicken in a Le Creuset cocotte.
Just as Noodle Cook reaches out for the calculator to work out how long it takes to cook a 1.8 kg Mt Barker free range chicken, John interrupts that dinner must be started NOW as it takes 2 hours to cook the chicken his way: it must not be overpowered by garlic, it must have chilli, remove the fat but not the neck, stuff with lemon blanched in boiling water in a pot heated on the stove...
Under intense supervision, Noodle Cook makes one mistake by cutting the blanched whole lemon, intended for stuffing, into halves instead of just slashing the skin which makes the flavouring sour instead of just lemon scented. Like Chocolate and Zucchini's recipe, there really is nothing to the recipe:
... and WOW, what an awesome dinner, from a simple chicken scented with intense flavours of onion, lemon and roasted chilli. If there is any secret to roasting to perfection using the crocotte, then it lies in keeping the ingredients dry while letting heat and enough moisture from the ingredients themselves to infuse the aromas.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Boneless Beef Shin
There's only one foolproof way of transforming a frugal cut like boneless beef shin into a restaurant meal to please the worst food critic in town, such as John the villain in this blog. The secret is slow cooking at low temperature to melt the tough gristle into sumptuous gelatine.
To get this beef cut, check out Wing Hong, at 402 William Street in Northbridge which offers it at $7.79/kg.
Lightly oil the beef. The oil keeps the roast moist rather than develops the flavour during cooking as the temperature is not high enough.
Season with salt, pepper and fennel if liked.
Refrigerate overnight or up to 72 hours. Bring to room temperature before cooking in an oven preheated at 75 degrees Celsius. Place the meat in a ceramic container which retains the heat well during cooking.
Allow 6 hrs to bring 600 g of meat to 60 degrees Celsius for medium rare. Check that the meat is cooked to your liking using a meat thermometer or a skewer to test the juices. If you like medium to well done, the juice should run clear.
Rest for at least 30 minutes before serving. It is best to under cooked as the meat will continue cooking while resting. The cooking can always be finished off by searing in a hot pan
The cooked beef looks pink on the inside and brown on the outside. Don't be fooled by the colour: the meat looks pink even when well done.
A juicy roast tastes great with horseradish sauce and creamed broccoli, cauliflower or spinach as part of a main course. Thin slices, cut after lightly freezing, works well in cold entree platters.
Monday, May 26, 2008
Behind Every Success is ...
Ever wonder what happens behind the scene that brings the electronically delicious dishes at this restaurant? There is this reluctant critic acting as the guinea pig, a kind of diner with "attitude" who ensures only quality food gets served. OK, it is the backseat driver!
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
Easy Glutinous Rice Bowl
Ever thought of reproducing that fancy glutinous rice dish wrapped in lotus leaf that you eat at "yum cha"? Here's the cheat method for 4 small cappuccino cup serves:
1 cup glutinous rice (the white opaque chalky rice also known as "sweet rice")
1/2 cup boiling water
2 tablespoon stock
1 teaspoon sesame oil
2 teaspoon soy sauce
2 teaspoon olive oil
1 Chinese sausage, sliced
1 cup chopped vegetables (or chicken and shiitake)
Rinse the rice to remove some starch. Soak for 2 hours until translucent. Drain in a sieve.
Put the rice in a souffle dish. Pour the boiling water to the level of the rice. Place a dish over to cover. Microwave on 30% power for 15 minutes.
While the rice is cooking, render the fat from the sausage using the olive oil. Add the vegetable and saute for 2 minutes.
When the rice is done, stir in the stock, sesame oil and soy sauce. Next stir in the cooked sausage and vegetables.
Put the mixture in cappuccino cups while still hot. Turn the cup over a sauce. Leave the cup on to keep the meal warm. Microwave for 2 minutes if necessary to heat the meal. Remove the cup at the table just before serving.
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
Happy New Year 2008
As the nightmares of the past year fade with the incoming new year
If there are three wishes to be granted for 2008
Let them be better health, quality time and peace.
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