Hopping Back to St. Honore

Now that we have the Kitchen Aid mixer, I feel like the culinary world has just opened another set of doors for me.  I suppose when I used to say I did not like desserts was only because I only liked certain kind of desserts.

My co-worker Joanna introduced me to this website where this lovely Chinese lady, an auntie as we like to call them, demonstrated all types of Chinese cooking including desserts.

It must have been years since I had a coconut tart.  And this time I baked them myself.

Coconut Tarts

I must be getting old because it seems everything is nostalgic, but these tarts do bring back childhood memories.  I used to be sent, more volunteered, to pick up tarts and cakes for afternoon teas on the weekend at home with my parents and their friends and their children.  More specifically this bakery named St. Honore a few blocks from our apartment in Happy Valley, Hong Kong.  Often you would see me, sometimes with my sister hopping along in our flip flops to pick up tarts, cakes and cream puffs.  Any excuse to get outside was always a fun time when you are young, and there was never any snow and ice on the ground.

Their egg tarts are legendary but the shopping list also included coconut tarts.  Before baking this past weekend, I shopped everywhere for these small tart moulds but had no luck.  Julius suggested using just the muffin pan but I explained the flutes on the side is the classic look!  I eventually settled on these shallow muffin cups.

I managed to mould the dough into these flimsy paper fluted cups and they actually turned out ok! Our oven must be a little different  since an extra 11 minutes were needed to have them slightly browned.

They looked far from perfect but I have to say they are not bad for a first try!  The recipe works and and they tasted like St. Honore's.

Tarts 8/10

http://wantanmien.com/coconut-tart-%E6%8F%B6%E6%92%BB/

http://www.sthonore.com/en/about.html

The Perfect Meatballs

I would like to share this recipe because it has been perfected by 4 generations in Julius' family, starting with his great grandfather, the founder of Unico foods.  This recipe was written by his grandmother Georgina for a promotional cookbook by Unico.

Julius has made these time and time again and they always turned out incredible. The addition of salami and red pepper flakes gave them a touch of heat that I simply love.  I look forward to them every single time.

Meatballs:
1/2 lb ground beef or veal
1/2 lb ground pork
hot salami
2 eggs, beaten 1/2 cup fine bread crumbs
1 sprig parsley, minced
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
3 tbsp grated cheese
1 clove garlic, mincedd
red pepper flakes

Spaghetti Sauce:
1/2 cup oil
1 clove garlic
1 onion, chopped coarsely
1 tin tomato paste 5.5 oz
1 tin tomatoes 28 oz
2 cups water
1 tsp salt
pepper to taste
1 tsp oregano and/or sweet basil
1 tsp sugar (optional)

Combine ingredients for meatballs: mix well.
Heat oil in large frying pan; add garlic and brown gently.
Moisten hands, then shape meat mixture into small round balls; cook on all sides until brown.
Remove garlic and place meatballs in a large saucepan.
Gently fry onions in oil until soft, and add tomato paste.
Cook for 1 minute, no longer.
Pour into saucepan; add tomatoes and water, bring to a boil.
Add salt, pepper, spices and sugar.  Allow to boil briskly for 3 minutes, then reduce heat to low.

Cook sauce partly covered for 2.5 hours, stirring occasionally, in a slow boil.
This is sufficient sauce for 2 lbs spaghetti.

Meatballs 10/10

Poor Julius has been working a lot of overtime lately, even on the weekends.  One Sunday afternoon while he was at work I recreated the meatballs following this recipe and they also turned out amazing.  There is nothing like some comfort food after a long week.  I made lots of extra meatballs and had them for breakfast all week!!

Testing Our New Toy In The Kitchen

It was the Bay's famous one day sale: Kitchen Aid Ultra Mixer for $188.99, reduced from $399.99.  I ordered one and it arrived in 2 days.

Now that we have this great new addition, it was time to try it out.

Barefoot Contessa's Coconut Cupcakes

I invited Julius to join me in the kitchen for this adventure, he has a much longer history with desserts afterall.

Watching that machine go I wondered how much more of an effort it must have been in the olden days to make a dough.  I would probably never bake in the olden days.

The cake portion came out of the oven looking very promsing but as we tasted one it was a little bland.  We have put less coconut as recommended.  But then we made the frosting....

Then frosting was sweet.  It was very sweet.  I could only ate 2/3 of my cupcake. Having said that, if one has a sweet tooth, they were probably right on the mark.  My co-workers seemed to think so.

I often skipped desserts because they were too sweet but now that I can control the amount of sugar in the process, who knows? Maybe it is time to keep an eye on my waistline.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/coconut-cupcakes-recipe/index.html

Cupcakes 7.5/10

Bringing Thai Street Food Home

A couple weeks ago Julius bought me this most gorgeous coffee table book - Thai Street Food by David Thompson.  As I was flipping through it, the beautiful pictures were enough to make me drool.  Thankfully there were recipes as well.  For the size of it, this book certainly belongs to a coffee table. I do imagine it will  soon be covered with splatters as I attempted the various recipes.

Ramen Soup with Crab Meat Dumplings and Barbecue Pork

The soup is a pork bone soup which has very simple ingredients: pork bones, daikon, coriander roots, spring onion ends, star anise, soya sauce, salt and pepper.  It took a few hours to reduce the stock from 3 litres to 2 litres.  I was tasting it along the way because of the aroma in the kitchen was just too tempting.

The crab dumplings were made from crab meat, minced pork, coriander and chopped chives buds (my addition).  I learned a lesson about dumpling wrappers: I was using leftover ones which I defrosted from the freezer and they turned out to be a mess.  Parts were dry and chipping while parts were soggy.  Never freeze leftover wrappers again.

Disclosure: we bought BBQ pork from T&T but one day I will try to make that myself.

The ramen was dried organic brown rice ramen that I found at Sobey's and I added some Shanghai Choy Sum.

It was simply srumptious!

Stir Fried Geoduck with Black Bean and Chilli Sauce

That morning I woke up thinking about razor clams, sadly they were not in season and I had to substitute with frozen geoduck.  Geoduck is also a clam, in fact one of the largest clam that are very popular in Asian cuisine, it is in fact best eaten raw when fresh.

Like I explained to our guests John and Nick, it is very typical for Asians to eat a bowl of noodle soup with a dish of stir fried seafood in any street food stalls for a simple meal.

As I was shopping for dinner, I also picked up some chives buds.  They are one of my favourite Asian vegetables for its texture and taste, and they have these cutest little buds at the end.  

The frozen geoduck turned out much better than I anticipated but it took a few extra minutes to cook on our cooktop.

This was a perfect compliment to the ramen soup and we cleared our bowls and plates!

http://www.randomhouse.com/book/201153/thai-street-food-by-david-thompson

http://www.lifestylefood.com.au/recipes/2941/stirfried-razor-clams-with-black-bean-and-chilli-sauce

Ramen Soup 9/10

Geoduck 8/10

Duck Pastrami

When I think of pastrami, I picture beef slices in a sandwich with some coleslaw.  This recipe took it to another place.  A delicious place.

Duck Pastrami with Rapini

I made new friends with juniper berries but do they like to play hard to get.  I wandered in the grocery store a few times and just about to give up on this recipe when I finally spotted dried ones in the spice aisle.

Fun fact: gin is made from juniper berries.

The only challenge with this recipe was that I had to wait 48 hours for brining.  It was definitely worth the wait.  The flavour was rich and the meat was tender.  I would have preferred the meat to be slightly more rare, mine was in the oven for about 14 minutes.

A side dish of sauteed rapini with garlic was served as suggested by Chef Froggett.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/food-and-wine/recipes/keith-froggetts-duck-pastrami/article4632449/

Duck 9/10
Rapini 7.5/10

Sherman's Got His Swooth Back

What is "Swooth"? That is my new word for sweet tooth.

The title is a little misleading because I never lost my sweet tooth because I have always said that I did not have one and I often skipped desserts.  And that is why it took this long for me to give desserts a try.

It only took one stunning picture of a soufflé to change my mind.

Grand Marnier Soufflés

When I first opened up the cookbook from Royal Caribbean Cruise, I could not stop going back to the picture of this dessert. It just seemed heavenly. So one day I set up to pick up some ramekins and decided it was time to venture into desserts.

I was simply amazed how a little eggwhite can be whipped into these cloud-like peaks.  We did not have a machine but between Julius and I and some elbow grease, it was like magic!

And the anticipation while they were in the oven was really the best part, watching these babies grow.  I was also reminded to clean the oven because it was getting hard to see through the window...

Twenty minutes later and out come these cute little puffs. A dusting of powdered sugar and here they are:

After enjoying my first dessert, which had great flavours but a bit stiff inside, I looked over a few more soufflé recipes and realized there might have been too much flour in the recipe I used.  They were in no way perfect, but like a first born, they will always have a special place in my heart.

Lemon Custard Cake

Now I have these ramekins, I decided to use them often.  I found this recipe online after a search for "desserts in ramekins".

I had never have custard cakes before and really did not know what to expect, and so I told my guests.  Who would know they would be such a hit!

The steps were so simple and I could prepare ahead of time to let them chill in the fridge.  They did shrink a bit as seen in the photo but that did not ruin the flavours at all.  

It was a cake. No, it was a custard. No, it was both!  It was a layer of cake with custard underneath.  Most importantly, not too sweet but simply heavenly!

In fact, I made these again the following week and served them with some fresh whipped cream on top with the mint, it was perfecto.

http://www.food.com/recipe/lemon-cake-custard-329390

Soufflé 6/10

Custard Cake 9/10

Il Semplice (The Uncomplicated)

A few weeks ago, I bought 2 cookbooks.  Well, they were of course on sale.

One was Guy Mirabella's Eat Ate, I was attracted by the gorgeous cover and the absolutely beautiful layout within.  Priced at $12.99.

I also picked up Friday Night Dinners by Bonnie Stern.  I have been a fan of her recipes in the National Post and thought it was time for a copy of her book, for $9.99.

Then one night I took the liberty and matched up one recipe from each book and made a lovely meal.

Chicken with Rosemary and Garlic

Linguini with Zucchini, Spinach, Lemon and Pine Nuts

I am always weary of grilled chicken in fear of a dry and tasteless piece of meat.  I did not get that with this recipe.  It was so flavourable because there were also red pepper flakes, lemon peel and salt and pepper in the marinade.

I grilled them on an iron skillet and they turned out perfectly.  The leftovers were great on a salad as well!

Chef Mirabella mentioned in his book that this is the most popular pasta in his café and I absolutely understand. It looked and tasted uncomplicated and down to earth. I could picture us enjoying this alfresco somewhere in Italy with some lovely wine, watching life goes by....

http://www.bonniestern.com/bonnies-cookbooks/friday-night-dinners/

http://www.styleathome.com/food-and-entertaining/recipes/recipe-linguine-with-zucchini-spinach-lemon-and-pine-nuts/a/29164

Chicken 9/10
Pasta 9/10

Soup, Soup and more Soup!

Summer is definitely over, how sad it is since I have never been a fan of the colder seasons.  The only upside to the chillier climate is none other than soup, soup and more soup!

Julia Child's French Onion Soup

I still remember my first time having French onion soup: I was a child in Hong Kong and we ate at this really really dark restaurant in Causeway Bay.  It was nothing like I have ever had before because it was a broth yet it was also thick and mushy.  That was when I began my love affair with French onion soup.  I never thought I would ever make such a fancy soup on my own.

The last few years I have been stopping by M&M frozen foods market to stock up on one item: you guessed it, French onion soup.  It may sound odd but their version is actually quite spectacular, and it only takes 8 minutes in a microwave.

My attempt took just a bit more than 8 minutes to make but it was well worth it. To be exact it took about 40 minutes to soften the onions at medium-low heat. I learnt that patience is the key - that applies to everything in life doesn't it? 

Add the home made croutons and Gruyère and voilà!

http://www.thedailybeast.com/videos/2009/08/12/julia-child-french-onion-soup-1.html

Nigella's Soup made with Garlic and Love

My friends were coming over for dinner and I wanted to make a soup. I looked in the cabinet and there was garlic, and I have lots of love, so why not?

I know it seems that I say that all the time but sometimes the simplest food is the most delicious.  Who knew lots of garlic would make a lovely soup?  It can be made ahead of time and it is a perfect leftover the next day!

http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=1328573

New England Clam Chowder

If soups are lovers, then I am very promiscuous.  I love chowders too. Clam, shrimp, lobster -  I love them all!

It was a miserable day when it had been raining for over 48 hours straight. A heart warming soup was definitely called for.  Afterwards I realized the key to a great chowder is bacon bits and a little bit of flour to thicken the clam juice.  I did find the potatoes took twice as long  to tenderize as the recipe's suggestions, about 20 minutes of simmering. A pinch of paprika just before serving was the key to this almost perfect soup.  My one mistake was that I scraped the saucepan too much and there were some slightly burnt pieces of onions and bacon that I had to pick out at the end.

A great thankyou to my mother's friend who gave me this inspiring cookbook from the Royal Caribbean Cruise.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0979728215/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&seller=

Onion Soup 8/10

Garlic Soup 8/10

Clam Chowder 9/10

A Break from Turkey

Over Thanksgiving weekend we had two wonderful Turkey meals. I enjoyed them a lot but I was happy to find a recipe to take a break from the bird.

We have had Andrea Nguyen's "Into the Vietnamese Kitchen" for a while and what better time to test one of her recipes?

This is meant to be an appertizer but for a weekend of heavy meals, this turned out to be a perfect light dinner.  I served them with a creamy broccoli  salad with sunflower seeds. 

My mistake was that I roasted them in the oven instead of using a barbecue or a iron skillet, they were cooked but missing some smoky flavours.

They also reminded me of spare ribs at dim sum, which are usually steamed. 

Notes to self: more lemongrass and some serious grilling.  Can't wait!

Riblets: 7/10

http://www.vietworldkitchen.com/blog/2009/04/vietnamese-restaurantstyle-grilled-lemongrass-pork-thit-heo-nuong-xa.html

Piggyback

I love bacon.  What I did not know was what place it has other than for breakfast.

I heard of this recipe from Michael Smith's show "Chef At Home" on the Food Network. Bacon, pork tenderloin, mustard and spices: sounded simple enough.

It was actually a lot of fun preparing the roast, almost like wrapping a present. A present for us!

Thirty minutes later and we had one delicious main course.

As you can see from that lovely juice which seeped out once I sliced the roast.  I can still taste it as I am writing this.
Between two of us, we ate the entire 2 pound pork tenderloin!  Piggybacking never tasted this good!

Pork 9/10

http://www.foodnetwork.ca/recipes/print.html?dishid=12886#

Peking Duck Breast...the Challenge

It was 3:30pm on a Saturday and we had no dinner plans.  What was one to do? Peking duck for dinner, of course!

I always wanted to see if it was possible to emulate Peking duck but with only duck breasts that one often find at an everyday grocery store.  And this is what I learnt.

Peking Duck Breast

After looking through a number of recipes online, there are a few recipes out there but I had to say none had the final product that I was thinking of.  I again combined a few ideas and hoped for the best outcome.

I marinated with star anise, Chinese five spice, xiao xing wine, vinegar etc., similar to the one for roast squab. One problem was that I only had a couple hours to marinate the breasts.  Then, with a hair dryer, I tried to speed up the drying process.  I read that in the classic recipe, the duck would be poured over continuously with boiling ginger and spring onion-flavoured water prior to roasting.  So I did that for 5 minutes.  After roasting for 30 minutes at 350 degrees, they came out looking quite promising, but missing the crispy skin.  I then used a hand torch to toast the skin further to see if that would give me a crispy skin. It did darkened the skin further but it was  sadly not crispy.

The problem may have been these were Magret duck breasts which were quite fatty since these ducks also produced foie gras. There was an excess amount of fat under the skin.

They were served with spring onions (beautifully curled in iced water prior), cucumber and hoisin sauce.  We wrapped them in either Bibb lettuce or Tortilla wrap.  The flavour was a little weak and the meat a little overcooked.

Was it Peking duck? No.  Did we enjoy it? Yes.  Especially the next day!  Next time I really need to try a whole duck.

Shrimp Chowder Lite

This was a recipe I had been saving for a while. Unfortunately I could not find fresh head-on shrimps in my local grocery stores that day and I really needed to head home to start my duck.  I decided to use frozen shrimps.

The shrimp broth was weak even I used more shells and reduced from over 2 litres to less than 1 litre.  I would imagine with the heads the broth would have a stronger flavour.  I did try to do a "lite" version so half and half cream was used and only a touch of heavy cream.  This is also the low carb version without the potatoes.  The consistency reminded me of  Thai coconut soups but without the coconut flavour.  It was definitely light but had a nice kick with the cayenne pepper.

http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Maine-Shrimp-Chowder-

Duck 6.5/10
Soup 7/10

Runner Ups to the Birthday Feast

Here are a couple other recipes I have considered before the big night last Sunday.

Onion Soup  à la Beurre Noisette

I have always loved onion soups, especially French onion soups.  It did not take much to convince me to try Lucy Waverman's onion soup.

Like Lucy said, it is the modern twist of the classic soup, inspired by the version from a bistro Parisien.  I loved the idea of the toasted chorizo but i did miss the onion bits after it was pureed.  The flavour was definitely right on but was a bit heavy for the Birthday feast I was planning.

I cannot wait to try a version without the puree and see how that turns out.  

Clams with Linguini in A White Wine Sauce

Here is another version of clams and linguini.  Again from the same cookbook, I have to say this may be a better recipe than the one from Martha Stewart. (See Mollusks from May 2012) One thing for sure I was able to see if the clams are cooked, one at a time in an open pot.  There were about 4 that refused to open at the bitter end.  I also added some canned clam meat to the mix to top up the protein quotient.

http://www.lcbo.com/lcbo-ear/RecipeController?language=EN&recipeType=1&action=recipe&recipeID=4041

The link is a very similar recipe by Waverman that replaced cherry tomatoes with onions.  This dish did not make the cut because I thought it was not special enough.

For improvements, more garlic and chili next time, with both tomatoes and onions.

Soup 7.5/10
Clams 8.5/10

A Birthday Feast

Even though it seems I have not posted much lately, I had actually been very busy testing new recipes for a very special dinner last Sunday.

My father, my sister and myself were all born in September, it has been a tradition that we celebrate together with a big fancy dinner.  Instead of eating out, I was nominated to host everyone for a change this year.  I was thrilled to try more new recipes and I gladly obliged.

The evening began with a charcuterie plate from Pasquale bros. with prosciutto, spicy sausages, gruyere, brie and fig cream.  I cannot take credit for it since I did not make any of those but they were all undoubtedly very appertizing.

Scallops and Spinach with Tarragon and Orange Sauce

I tested this recipe on a weeknight and thought it was very straightforward, like other recipes I have tried from Lucy Waverman's A Year in Lucy's Kitchen. The taste was simple and fresh, albeit not too exciting.  I thought it was a good dish to start the night with.

My second evaluation of the same dish would be slightly blend.  Ideas for next time include adding shitake mushroom slices, or shrimp slices, or caviar etc.

Sweet Corn Soup with Crab Meat

After 2 different soup recipe trials, this is the soup that was finally served.

Although the South African Mealie soup was a great tasting soup, it was too heavy for tonight's menu.  The more brothy Chinese version with home made chicken stock was definitely a good decision.  It was the most successful course for that night, even though it lacks the look of the restaurant version. Mine was more cloudy and not thick enough since I only added half the cornstarch.  There was, however, definitely no MSG!

http://joelens.blogspot.ca/2009/09/mealie-soup-with-crab.html

http://chinesefood.about.com/od/chinesesouprecipes/r/sweet-corn-soup.htm

Red Snapper with Mango Chili Shrimp Salsa

I chose to serve this as a third course because I could make the salsa ahead of time and red snapper takes minutes to cook.  Also, I had the most amazing red snapper for our final dinner in Lisbon this summer and I was hoping to recreate the experience.

For the trial, I cooked the red snapper on an cast iron skillet and it took over 10 minutes, not 4 as indicated on the recipe.  This past Sunday I chose to cook all 8 fillets on a griddle since we have a modular cooktop but it was still taking a long time.  My dad suggested to flip the fillet and cook on the flesh side as well and that sped things up, well probably too much.  A few of them were overcooked slightly.
Looks like I would need to buy a few more red snapper to perfect the cooking time.

http://uktv.co.uk/food/recipe/aid/617605

Pork Belly Ssäm with Mustard Seed Sauce

Unless you have been in a cave, you will know that Momofuku is hot.  After making a mark in New York City, it has arrived in Toronto with 3 restaurants at the brand new Shangri-La Hotel.  I happened to have a copy of Chef David Chang's cookbook, and apparently I am not alone.  There are many postings online where us home cooks attempt to reproduce his masterpiece.

If I had read them I may have chosen to alter the cooking temperature to a lower one.  I followed the recipe and the pork belly was burnt on the outside.  I was quite stunned since I have had another experience with pork belly and it turned out perfect. At that point it was too late to restart since the marinating took an overnight.  I removed the burnt parts and soldiered on.

The sauce was a saving grace and do I love sauces especially that day. This one was extra special for the effort in pickling the cucumber and the mustard seed.  A mixture of Dijon mustard and an XXX hot mustard from the best mustard company in the world, Anton Kozlik's Canadian Mustard, was used.  Grilled pork belly with the mustard seed sauce wrapped with fresh Boston lettuce (Ssäm means 'wrap' in Korean) is pure genius.  What a way to end the meal.  Only if they saw the burnt piece of meat that afternoon!  My poor father was so full by that point he had to force himself to have one serving. Well, he does not like pork that much either generally.

http://www.mustardmaker.com/

http://www.amazon.com/Momofuku-David-Chang/dp/030745195X

And that was my first venture into serving a 4-course meal. I would say my choices were good and the timing was acceptable, with the meal served in about 90 minutes. Until next time, and more new recipes!

Scallops 7/10
Soup 8/10
Fish 7/10
Pork 8/10

A Thursday Night Barbecue

Thursday nights are our family night that we all meet for dinner.  And what would be a better night to have lobsters and wings?

Grilled Lobster with Cilantro Chile Butter

Lobsters have been in abundant supply this summer and the prices are low.  In Maine, lobsters are cheaper than deli meat.  The medium-sized ones I picked up were at a great sale price of $9.99/kg at T & T supermarket, about $12 each.

I wanted them fresh and alive but I also needed to "prepare" them before grilling them.  After some internet research,  I put them in a freezer for 45 minutes, which supposedly should put them in a comatose state. Just in time for me to prepare the Panzanella salad and the cilantro chile butter.

After my experience with soft shell crabs and sea urchins, I was ready to tackle live lobsters. Maybe the freezer was not cold enough or that these crustaceans were ice dancers, they were still moving around a bit when I halved them. I apologized to them for my hungry family who was ready for some serious bonding over food.

The lobsters turned out amazing: butter makes everything taste good.  One minute on the flesh side to retain the juice, and 7 to 8 more minutes on the shell side.  The surprise bonuses were the claws which had no seasoning at all. Once the shell was cracked open completely, the meat was soaked in this sweet and salty juice that was simply to die for.  Never found in boiled or baked claws.

http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Grilled-Lobster-with-Cilantro-Chile-Butter

Chipotle Mango Barbecue Chicken with Cilantro Chimichurri

This is a  weekend cooking recipe from the Food Network magazine and I understood why after the preparation the night before. Most ingredients were easy to find except for the chipotle chile peppers in adobo sauce.  My usual grocery store did not carry it but I managed to find it in the Mexican section at Loblaws,  I was impressed.

The preparation took almost an hour with all the cutting, chopping and blending.  It was so worth it. The sweet, tangy flavour with a little peppery kick was so complex, even without the chimichurri sauce they were divine.

I know things went well when my twenty-month-old nephew, who has just begun to eat regular food, asked for more of both the lobster and chicken meat .  He has a very specific developing palate and he always likes lobsters but not usually chicken. It gave me so much pleasure that he liked the chicken that night. Oh the joy of cooking...

(Apologies for the not so perfect pictures, we were feeling ravenous by that point.)

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/guy-fieri/chipotle-mango-barbecue-chicken-with-cilantro-chimichurri-recipe/index.html

Lobster 9.5/10
Chicken 9.5/10

Civic Holiday Weekend

Over the civic holiday weekend, our friends Erik and  José  came up for a visit.  I wanted to have a special dinner upon their arrival, after all, they have been driving for 9 hours form Brooklyn, New York.  Having said that, they may not be up for my usual culinary adventures with new and untested recipes, which sometimes do not turn out as planned.  The dinner menu was Panzanella Salad, grilled beef sirloin and ribs and cold cucumber yogurt soup.  I could not help but to test one new recipe with them.

Cold Cucumber Yogurt Soup

I prepared the soup the night before to make sure that it would be perfectly chilled and the ice cubes would be ready to go.  Oh those ice cubes with mint were such a delight!  Unfortunately it was not one of those nights that retain the heat from daytime, the melting ice cube would have added more minty flavour in the soup.

The soup was definitely a success, another new favourite for summertime.  The mosquitoes that joined us during our alfresco dinner, not so much.

http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Cold-Cucumber-Yogurt-Soup

Grilled Garlic Artichokes and Gilled Skirt Steak

On the holiday Monday I had Lee joining me in the kitchen.  I had been planning and dreaming up an amazing meal of grilled lobsters until we arrive at Whole Foods and discovered that they do not sell live lobsters. Apparently, lobsters are not fed while kept alive in the tank and that was too cruel for Whole Foods.  Eating them is probably a lot more cruel, if you ask me.

At last minute we picked up a beautiful piece of skirt steak because I remember a recipe from Chef David Lee that I had wanted to try.  We also purchased some artichokes for sides -  they always seem to be the most interesting vegetable that one sees.  Too bad about cooking them

The last time I had the artichoke challenge it did not go very well.  It was a lot of work, a little to eat and just simply not worth the trouble.  We decided to give it another chance on the barbecue but sadly I had to say artichokes are better off as decorative items because they did look spectacular.  We followed the recipe but the leaves were hard and the edible section was minimal.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/grilled-garlic-artichokes/

Skirt Steak, hanger steak and flank steak: I had tried them all at restaurants but I could not recall the difference, except they are fairly thin but flavourable.  I chose skirt steak upon the butcher's recommendation for that night, it was less than $15 for a sizable piece of beef.  Further research shows their great difference and I really need to try the other two very soon.

http://www.goodfoodstories.com/2012/02/27/hanger-skirt-flank-flatiron-steaks/

Chef Lee's recipe had stressed not to marinate the meat before hand, which I thought was a little odd.  I imagine the reason is to let the flavour to come out on its own.  The cooking time was a bit short too even for someone who loves medium rare, I ended up throwing it back on the grill for almost twice the time.

The meat was definitely full of flavours but there were some small tendons that ran lengthwise that were so stiff that required some snipping with scissors. Next up: hanger steak!

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/food-and-wine/recipes/david-lees-hanger-steaks/article4204167/

Soup 8/10
Artichokes 4/10
Steak 7/10

Cooking with Andy

My good friend Andy was visiting home after spending a year teaching in India.  My first taste of beef tartare was actually prepared and served by Andy many years ago.  What a better time to spend some time in the kitchen with him?  I did prepare a couple things ahead of time because they are best served chilled.  After all, hot summer days and cold dishes are the best combination.

Yellow Tomatoes Gazpacho

As most people know, I am famous for having the television on while at my "desk at the office".  Patients generally enjoy the distraction and I can focus on my work without having to have a one-sided conversation.  I mean, have you ever tried to chat with your dentist while your mouth was wide open?

One day on the Marilyn Denis Show, Christine Cushing was talking about her version of a gazpacho, with vodka. I could not wait to try it out for myself on a hot summer day. Considering I am still using a hand blender, my first gazpacho turned out pretty close to hers.  I did get a little excited and forgot to add the sweet onion.

Yellow tomatoes gave it a greenish yellow colour which I have to say was not the classic hue, almost a little unappertizing. Andy thought I was too light on the salt department too.  Perhaps I need a classic recipe for next time.

http://m.marilyn.ca/mobile/Segment.aspx?segid=35658

Pork Milanese with Couscous and Cucumber Salad

While I was on vacation with my friends, we took turns making dinner every night and each meal was a special treat.  Jon made a wonderful couscous and cucumber salad that I enjoyed so much I had to try it out myself.  I never knew "cooking" couscous was more like rehydrating it: just add boiling water and wait 5 minutes.  Again, I am shocked how something so simple can yet taste so good!

Last month I bought a copy of the Food Network magazine, I urge you to pick up a copy because it is full of excellent recipes and fun ideas like "snacks that taste better frozen".  It made me drool while flipping through it poolside.

The Pork Milanese from it was perfection.  With some cooking tips from Andy in coating and frying for 8 minutes ("Shake that skillet! Shake it!"),  we had an amazing entree.  How amazing?  Julius joined us after having supper already and still had a whole slice!

(Photo by Andy)

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/couscous-and-cucumber-salad/

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/pork-milanese-recipe/index.html

Gazpacho 6.5/10

Salad 8.5/10

Pork 9/10

I love summer!

Summer Days

It has been such a spectacular summer this year, hot and sunny at most days, just the way I like it.  Even though we have been renovating our kitchen, I was able to cook at least once while away on vacation at a cottage on beautiful Fire Island, New York.

I repeated some of my tried recipes: cream corn salad, Singapore chilli shrimp and beef tenderloin, but I also attempted a new one.  One I have been dreaming about.

Water Melon Bisque


A few years ago, I cannot recall where, I was served a bowl of water melon bisque.  It was a warm day and I thought how perfect that was.  Unless you do not like water melon, but how can anyone not like water melon? (Except for my friend Nick)

A few minutes of prepping and then turning on the blender and you have a perfect summer appertizer.

(Photo by Mark)

We were celebrating Canada Day and how festive it was to have a chilled red soup to start our meal!

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/food-and-wine/recipes/watermelon-bisque/article647312/

Panzanella


Julius's mother sent me a link to Saveur magazine's website last week and it was full of inspirations.  It also has a section on techniques which is a big plus for the novice in me.

I have never heard of Panzanella but I think I found a new best friend in it.  It was simple and delicious, other than cutting the tomatoes and onions, I tore up basil leaves and Italian country-style bread.  Just like Mamma used to make,  ok maybe not my Mamma, but some other Italian Mamma.

Interestingly,  Julius's mom had the leftover the next day and it turned out to be better when it has sat for a while. "Scrumptious!" was her comment.  The recipe suggests to let it sit for 10 minutes, next time perhaps a few hours will let the ingredients soaks up the dressing for a tastier salad.  And more time to enjoy the gorgeous outdoors.

http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Panzanella-Bread-and-Tomato-Salad?cmpid=enews072312&spPodID=020&spMailingID=4660310&spUserID=MjcxOTk3MDc1NjMS1&spJobID=279258729&spReportId=Mjc5MjU4NzI5S0

Bisque  9/10
Salad 9/10

Summer Barbecue

It was a double celebration of my mother's 65th birthday as well as Father's Day.  I really wanted to make them something special.  But then one can only plan so much, at the end it is the execution that counts.

Oyster with Sea Urchin and Caviar


I was very fortunate to get a copy of Susur Lee's A Culinary Life recently.  The book is full of his ingenious ideas and one I was glad to repeat.  I have been shucking and eating so many oysters in the past weeks, I was thrilled to serve up something so decadent on this special occasion.

Also on this special day, I opened an sea urchin for the first time.  Under the watchful eye of my father and a pair of scissors, I went for it with full gusto. It turns out the shells, albeit spiky, are very crackable like nuts once snipped from the soft spot in the middle.  To get the delicious part, the "roe", I needed to wash off the rest of the insides, which resembled a mini oil spill, all black and slimy.

Then I topped an oyster (Bluepoint and Virginica) with some Uni and a spoonful of caviar.  I used very inexpensive caviar which costs $7.99 at Diana's.

It was mouth watering good! The saltiness of the caviar and the mix of different texture was simply brilliant.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9Kkb3Gfaqg

Planked Seafood Medley with N'awlins Creole Spice Rub


My friend Lee served this at his party and the spiciness was perfect for a summer night.  So I thought why not give it a go?  The spice was easy to prepare and cedar planks were easy to find at the local grocery store. I did marinate the salmon, scallops and shrimps a few hours ahead of time before grilling.

The only excitement was the cedar plank starting to catch fire after a couple minutes, even though I have soaked them in water for hours.  The issue was that I was not familiar with my parents' grill, with flames much closer to the actual grill.  With the garden hose, water mist put out the flames and I repositioned the planks to a higher shelf.  Phew!


The N'awlins spice was just the right amount of spiciness, except for a few seafood pieces that somehow caught more spice than others.  My poor sister had one of those. The smoky flavor from the cedar definitely added more interests.

http://www.flyertown.ca/flyers/longos-experiencemagazine?sf_any=true&flyer_run_id=954&type=1&locale=EN&postal_code=n1G5l5&store_code=25

Stuffed Squids with Prosciutto and Asiago 


This was a lot of work.  It took an hour and a half to prepare and stuff the squids with chopped cooked tentacles, and prosciutto and shredded asiago.  The opening for most of them are so small I had to use the end of a chopstick to tackle the stuffing.  None of that was mentioned in the current issue of Cucina Italiana.

The unfamiliar grill had cooked them a little more well done than my liking but otherwise they were not bad.  I would like to try a different stuffing next time because there are hundreds of variations online!

Oysters 9.5/10
Planked Seafood 8/10
Stuffed Squids 7/10

"Holy CRAB!"

My newest discovery in the city, Diana's Seafood, is my new hot list entry, thanks to my father who introduced it to me.  Oysters galore for less than $2 each.  After last week's visit, I had to go back for more.  And then there were those enticing soft shell crabs...

Soft Shell Crab Sandwich


My experience with soft shell crabs has always been in Japanese cuisine, I never thought I would actually cook them one day.  The fresh ones only come once a year while they have molted the hard shells and the new shells are still soft and completely edible.  They are in season now, so lucky me and not so lucky for the poor crabs.

These cute little crabs look oh so innocent sitting on a bed of ice at the store.  I bought them unknowing of what is in store for me.  First of all, they turn out to be very much alive. An excellent web video showed me how to "clean" them, what really happened was I had to terminate them just before cooking.  There was some minor squealing, from me, as I trimmed off the eyes and the apron when its legs started to move.  It was a dirty job, but someone's got to do it.

Back to the good part, Lidia's dressing was remarkably simple since I toasted the garlic instead of roasting them in the oven.  We were hungry.  Even though during that time, 18 oysters were shucked and consumed.  We had Kumamoto, Virginica and Shigoku.  Virginica was added to our new favourite - crisp and meaty.  The Shigoku, not so much, just too fishy.

Cooking the flour-and-cayenne pepper-dusted soft shell crabs was so easy! 5 minutes over medium heat and they were ready.  I was light-handed on the dusting this time but a touch more flour will probably give it more punch.  Final score: 9/10

I think I have gone to seafood heaven! Two weeks in a row and two incredible brunches, I am a happy man.

http://www.dianasseafood.com/
http://video.about.com/fishcooking/Clean-and-Cook-Soft-Shelled-Crabs.htm
http://www.lidiasitaly.com/recipes/detail/1127

Mollusks

One thing I noticed ever since I started cooking: other than learning about food, I am also learning many new words.  Like mollusks, which I usually clump into the shellfish category.  They might live in the sea but they are definitely not shellfish!


Sautéed Whelks with Aioli

While I was cleaning up the kitchen cabinet, I found a newspaper clipping from August, 2010. It was the article on whelks and a recipe.  I remember at the time I thought I should save that just in case I wanted to make it one day.

Well, that day has arrived.  At T&T, there was an abundant supply of whelks.  At my next visit I need to find out if they are seasonal.  The preparation was fairly simple.  I put 1 tablespoon instead of the recommended half of garlic in making the aioli because it was a bit weak.  If you like whelks, this is another perfect summer salad.  Otherwise the snail-like texture may make you say, "Ah! Interesting.....would you like some of mine?" And that was Julius's reaction.


The aioli was so delicious, it must have a place in many dishes that await me to try.  I mean who can say no to a bright yellow sauce? 

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/food-and-wine/chefs-recipe-sauted-whelks-with-aioli/article1668646/


Clams in Cartoccio


Another simple recipe that required perhaps 30 minutes preparation time.  Until I tried to start our barbecue, when I realized we are out of propane!!  At least we had electricity for the oven.  It took a few try but a combined cooking time of about 20 minutes at 425 degrees, most of the clams welcomed us with their open shells.

The sauce was very flavourable and I decided to pour each packet over a bed of linguini.  It was perfect!

http://www.marthastewart.com/332783/clams-in-cartoccio

Whelks 8.5/10
Clams 8/10

Lobster Two Ways

My visit to T&T last night was to confirm that they have Manila clams and whelks that I had great plans for this weekend. As I was browsing through my favourite Asian supermarket with all the neatly stacked merchandise and exotic items, I realized I simply love being there.

As all my friends know, I am a deal seeker.  Also, my mother always said if I were to wear glasses instead of contact lenses, I would stop seeing at the extreme corners of my eyes.  Am I glad I was wearing my contact lenses because out of the corner of my eyes, I saw in the open fridge packages of some lobster pieces. They were $3.00 each, and the pieces are from some gigantic lobster and I am not kidding. Each claw was bigger than my hand.  Of course I bought 4 of them, not sure what I was going to do with them yet at the time.

I went home that night and cooked two packages according to Rick Stein, 15 minutes in heavily salted water. A reduced lobster broth was made too for what you will read about next.

Lobster Salad

Today was a record breaking day of heat here in Toronto.  And what a perfect day that I planned for a Lobster Salad.  I used half of the cooked lobster, the chunkier pieces, and also some shrimps along with the lobster broth, and made the best summer salad yet.  While sipping our Rosé wine, we almost felt like we were back in south of France.  Or was it just the amount of butter that we were consuming?

The fresh Boston lettuce leaves from Whole Foods, with roots still attached when purchased, were so fresh and crisp.  It was heaven.

http://www.chow.com/recipes/29307-lobster-salad

Lobster Cakes

"What else can I do with the lobster meat?", I thought to myself last night.  I flipped through Rick Stein's cookbook and saw a recipe for crab cakes.  I have never made any but I did not see why lobster meat would not work.  Another adventure!

I prepared them a few hours ahead and I have to say they were looking mighty fine. With half the lobster meat ($3.00!!!), I ended up with 5 well-sized pieces.  Not a bad deal right?

But then I had to cook them.  It was a better record than the quenelles but 3 medallions survived.  2 somewhat broke into unsightly pieces.  However, they were all delicious!

If anyone has tips on how not to break them during the frying, I would love to know.  Again, the tarragon butter sauce with tomatoes was a very nice side compliment.  Next time I will probably add some sautéed onions and red pepper flakes to give the cakes a little more kick.

http://www.fabulousfoods.com/recipes/rick-stein-s-maryland-crab-cakes-with-tarragon-and-butter-sauce

Lobster Salad 8.5/10
Lobster Cakes 7.5/10

Tomorrow I will be shucking oysters for lunch.  More seafood this weekend, I cannot wait!