Pork Jowl?!

I had no idea what the heck is pork jowl and how it would taste, a thick skin of fat, fat is good right?  My dad picked up the meat from my favourite Asian supermarket T&T and it stayed in our fridge till Sunday morning.  When I woke up I could not wait to work on our brunch!

I have saved this recipe from the Globe and Mail since January this year, during our kitchen renovation, and what better time to test it in our new kitchen!!

When I was at the grocery store on Saturday picking up the "smoked ham", I had no clue what kind to pick up because all ham seemed to be smoked!!  I ended up with some kind of smoked ham, a lot of it, in the fridge drawer.

I woke up quietly at 9am on Sunday morning and began my adventure.  My dad was also nice enough to pick up some super fancy wonton wrappers ("from my friend's company!", said Daddy) and he was right they were delicious.  A lot of the wonton actually fell apart, guess I need more practice, but that did not affect the final brunch that we had.  The broth was not as cleared as the one in the paper, not sure why.

Saved a huge serving for my father who loves soup, and he texted me: "Just had your soup, not greasy at all, very tasty, like the fresh veggies not overcooked". That was enough to put a huge smile on my face.  The joy of cooking.

Soup 8/10

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/food-and-wine/recipes/chef-matt-blondins-pork-jowl-dumplings-in-smoked-ham-broth/article6815723/

My Love Letter to Harissa

I have to admit, I have developed a huge crush with Harissa.  It may also be due to the fact that this fling can only go on a month at a time - each jar has to be consumed within a month once opened.


Fried Chicken Wings with Honey Harissa Sauce

Deep fried chicken wings became so much more diet friendly ever since we purchased an Actifry.  Forty minutes in the machine, a spoonful of oil and they came out crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside.

We love chicken wings because we enjoy different parts of the wings - I like drumsticks and Julius likes the "safety pin" portion in the middle.  It is a match made in heaven.

After taking the wings out of the Actifry, I tossed them with the honey harissa sauce. Shockingly simple and incredibly flavourful. I even had the time to put together a vegetable platter with homemade dip.

Perfect time to put on a movie and get our fingers dirty!  Best served with iced cold beer, we had Tiger beer from India.

My Best Butternut Squash Soup

The two secret ingredients to perfect the soup: parmesan cheese rind and harissa.

If you ever wonder what to do with a leftover piece of parmesan rind, here is one idea for you: throw in a piece during the simmering phase of the soup.  It helps to develop the umami in the soup and nothing goes to waste.

I also added 1 teaspoon of harissa at the end which gave the soup a hint of spice.

And of course it had to be strained to end up with the perfect silky soup:

I made the soup twice and by now I have pretty much used up the harissa.  Looking forward to more adventures with harissa when I picked up another jar!  I am obsessed with it, I could be a stalker!

Wings 9.5/10
Soup 9.5/10

http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/honey-harissa-chicken-wings-cocktails-2006

http://www.onceuponachef.com/2013/10/easy-butternut-squash-soup.html

Thanksgiving Dinner

It is hard to believe that Thanksgiving has come and gone.  And what a meal Julius's mom prepared.  I would not know where to start to prepare that much food for all of us.

We started with bocconcini, tomato and basil salad- something that is so simple yet so good!

And of course there were turkey and stuffing.  Served alongside with beef tenderloin, potatoes and mushrooms.

Christina baked an apple pie....

And a pumpkin pie!!

The pies were probably the best pies I have ever tasted. Perfection!

Shallot and Brussels Sprouts Compote

My contributions were two vegetable dishes.  I know brussels sprouts are supposed to be every child's nightmare but I never understand why.  For a vegetable they are super adorable and really tasty.

Roasted Rainbow Carrots with Harissa

And from the November issue of House and Home magazine I learnt about a Moroccan spice called Harissa.  I am simply obsessed with it!  More cooking with harissa to come!

These roasted rainbow carrots not only looked stunning but also a perfect compliment to turkey and beef.

If you have never tried harissa like me, please go get some and wow yourself!

Brussel Sprouts 7.5/10

Carrots 9.5/10

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/food-and-wine/recipes/shallot-and-brussels-sprout-compote/article14745191/

I love the LCBO! (And not just for the Liquor!)

Whenever our American friends come visit and realized that our provincial government actually is the exclusive distributor of most alcohol in this province, they will be amazed.  However the LCBO have come a long way from ordering from a small window with a little piece of paper, like an old pharmacy, to having one of the most spectacular liquor store in the world in Summerhill, minutes from our house.

The LCBO also publishes a free quarterly magazine Food & Drink.  There are recipes galore and the Autumn issue is where I saw my challenge for the week, one by Chef Jamie Stunt of Oz Cafe in Ottawa.

Seared Beef Tenderloin with Porcini-Pinot Noir Broth, Crispy Potato Sticks & Green Herb Aioli

As the name suggests this is not 5 minute meal but I will tell you it was worth it.  

I fried the potato sticks first and now I know rosemary fries are a real treat, I was snacking on them while preparing the rest of the meal.

The layering of the crispy sticks with the tenderloin was a brilliant concept that each bite was a party in my mouth.  

The broth was heavier than I imagined and perhaps I should strain and clarify it and also serve a bit less in each bowl, mine turned more into a sauce.

Regardless, we loved the meal. 9/10

http://www.lcbo.com/fooddrink/

Mussels Training

This past summer I was obsessed with Top Chef Masters on the Food Network, not to be confused with the other gimmicky show Masterchef.  On TCM there were real famous chefs competing with each other for their charity of choice.

On the finale, Chef Douglas Keane served a soup with the strangest name: Billi Bi. What on earth is in the soup? Mussels.  There was a whole section on Mussels in Cooking At Home by Julia Child and Jacques Pepin and so boldy I went for it even though I am only a Top Chef Observer.

Billi Bi Soup

The soup was created by a chef at Maxim's in Paris in the 1940's and named after a customer named William Brand.  The soup was creamy and silky but traditionally it is served plain with no mussels in it, but other recipes may suggest otherwise.

I served it plain because I had plans with the cooked mussels.

It is a heavy soup and only small portion should be served since it is made with cream but it was perfect on an early fall evening.

I was a bit heavy on the cayenne but that did not change the fact that it was silky and smooth and a great way to start a meal.

Mussels Ravigote

With the cooked mussels, I served them on shells, with extra meat in each.  Topped with a very simple to make ravigote sauce, and there we had some perfect hors d'oeuvres.

My friend Mark had the best description for them: an egg salad on Mussels. Yum!

Soup 7.5/10

Ravigote 8/10

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/saras-secrets/mussel-soup-billy-bi-recipe/index.html

http://books.google.ca/books?id=g8f0soQMewcC&pg=PA183&lpg=PA183&dq=mussels+ravigote+pepin&source=bl&ots=g2ee_267sA&sig=wctxqLuzhZcTiLSq-GrpvUE0_p4&hl=en&sa=X&ei=D-9jUtHyOa7K4APA3oHwDw&ved=0CFoQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=mussels%20ravigote%20pepin&f=false

I am back!

It has been a while since my last post but what a year it has been....

We renovated our kitchen from this:

to this:

It was a long long process but it was all worth it. As I ventured into the cooking world, I realized what was wrong with the the old kitchen and now it is a dream to work in it!

And then we also planned a wedding....

Making it official after 13 years together!

Throughout that time I was still cooking, repeating some old recipes but also attempted some interesting ones: 3 failed attempts in macaroons (only 1 perfect one in each batch of over 20), a moose roast, pomegranate parfait, razor clams and Bermudian fish chowder - I wish I had time to write about them!

Now my life is slowly heading back to normal, it is time for more adventures in the kitchen!

Crisp Skinned Salmon with Apple Compote

For a dinner party a couple weeks ago, I had a request to serve salmon as a main course.  I much prefer salmon raw, smoked or cured but I thought what the heck I will give it a shot!

I tested Lucy Waverman's recipe the week before and it went well but it just seemed a little bland.  So I kicked it up a notch for the party and fried the salmon in bacon grease instead of oil and also mixed up some bacon bits into the apple compote.  Apples are in season and there is an abundant supply, I chose granny smith which I will NEVER buy to eat but the compote was a hit!  Maybe everyone just wanted the bacon bits...

Watercress Salad with Sauteed Mushrooms and Truffle Oil

For starter we served a watercress salad.  While we were preparing the watercress we were deeply concerned with the bitterness, but with the sauteed mushrooms and freshly grated Parmagiano, mustard dressing by Julius and a few drops of truffle oil - it was delicious!!

White Chocolate Cream Cheese Mousse

For dessert we had a white chocolate cream cheese mousse with home made raspberry sauce. It was a lot of work with over an hour of preparation and a huge mess in the kitchen. The mousse was not stiff enough to form a nice peak even though the flavours were all there.  I know that because our friend Karen finished off all the leftovers!

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/food-and-wine/recipes/crisp-skinned-salmon-with-apple-compote/article647259/

http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/White-Chocolate-Cream-Cheese-Mousse

Salmon 9/10

Salad 9/10

Mousse 6/10

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