Whats Cooking? 2012

My version of surf and turf
Rib eye steak from Grass fed cow, the other 1/4 of the cow is still sitting in my freezer
Poke made up of leftovers from yesterday's sushi dinnner.

that looks great! tonight it was seared duck breast with cherry/balsamic/port sauce with fingerling potatoes and carrots roasted in duck fat. The legs and thighs are going into a cassoulet tommorow, i'll try to get some pictures.

Loosely based on Indonesian "Ayam Cabe Hijau", which is chicken in green chilli sauce (ayam being chicken and hijau being green). Made a marinade with 4 big green chillis, deseeded as the missus is a wimp, 2 cloves garlic, whole coriander seeds, salt, white pepper and a splash vegetable oil, blitzed to a paste. Chicken breasts into bite sized chunks and into the marinade for about 3 hours.

Heat a wok with a little vegetable oil to about medium then one sliced onion, finely chopped garlic clove and a sliced green chilli, fry till soft. Add a teaspoon of ground coriander seed, then the marinaded chicken. Fry until nearly cooked through, and add enough water to make a bit of a sauce and stir to mix thoroughly. Check for salt and serve with a handful of chopped coriander leaves. The sauce should have the fragrance of the chilli but no real heat.

I made a few chapati to go with my curry lentil soup. You have to love the ingredient list. Atta flour and water. Two cups of flour made 14 chapatis.

Nice presentation Mike!

Looks delish.

Prime Rib Sliders for dinner. On a whole wheat stone crust baguette. Whole grain mustard, home made ketchup , melted cave aged gruyere and a touch of lettuce.

fried up mini porcinis in the beef fat to top the sliders off in the ol Griswold.

Finished with truffle salt and cubeb pepper.

Making some corned beef tonight, and frying up some zucchini pancakes as the veggie.

Remember to cook up some beets so you can make Red Flannel Hash with the leftovers!

Poulet Basquaise last night. When I was in France last year, I bought some Piment Basque from a market stall - the lady there blended spices mixes and salts and things, I also bought some truffle salt but that's another story - which has a mixture of the Espelette peppers, and a bunch of other stuff, so inspired by Anthony Bourdain's recipe in his Les Halles Cookbook, I seasoned some chicken legs with this mix, plus salt and sauted in oil and butter till a nice colour, then set aside.

Let the pan cool a little and in with a chopped onion and 2 cloves of minced garlic, saute for a few mins then in with finely sliced red and green peppers. I added another teaspoon of my Piment Basque and stirred it all in. As I stood there I realised that the colours in the pan were the same as those on the Basque flag and must say it looked jolly pretty. I carried on sautéing for a further 4 or 5 mins then sprinkled a little cornflour on to help thicken the sauce later, stirred so it was all cooked through and in with some white wine, and chicken stock. Chucky-chuck back in, bring to a simmer and cover for about 40 mins or until it is cooked through.

Take the chicken out, put somewhere warm while you finish the sauce. In Singapore, my kitchen is usually hot enough but you may want to place in a warm oven... Crank up the heat, and reduce the sauce till it's quite thick, and finish with a knob of butter. Place sauce and peppers on a plate and the chicken on top of that, dress with some saffron salt and serve to wild applause from the missus. Drink the rest of the white wine with it.

Sounds like a fantastic dish!

@ Rushman2112 ... you should put a cookbook together ... YUMMIE!

Thanks guys, it turned out quite well.

Roast chicken for Sunday lunch today which I have had brining in 2 litres of water and a 1/4 cup each of salt and sugar overnight. I will take it out and let it dry for an hour in the fridge before roasting. Potatoes and parsnips in duck fat to go with it. Then we will have whatever is left with salad tonight.

So even after having a fair bit of the meat at lunch and the legs with a salad, there was still enough meat on the carcase for Monday night's dinner. I made a simple bechemel by melting some butter in a small pan and adding flour, cooking it to a smooth paste then in with some milk, whisking until I had a nice creamy sauce. Seasoned with salt and white pepper, and kept warm.

In a large frying pan, saute sliced onions and minced garlic until the onions were soft and translucent, then in with sliced mushrooms, and a baby leek that I found in the fridge left over from Saturday night's dinner. Once these had taken on some colour, in with the chicken which was aleady in bit-sized bits, stir through until it is heated through. I thought it lacked a little colour so I tossed in a handful of frozen peas. Seasoned with salt and black pepper this time, and a generous amount of dried tarragon, and stirred in the sauce.

Heat everything through nicely and serve with steamed rice. Voila, chicken fricasse. Well, one version anyway...

4th dish will be a soup I made with the stock from the carcase but that's in the freezer for the time being as the missus has just left for a business trip and I am out on the razzle the next two nights, huzzah.

Low Fat Moussaka!

Layers of grilled zuchinni and eggplant, lightly steamed potatoes, ground beef cooked in san marzano tomatoes , beef stock and special seasonings topped with feta

I drowned it in this low fat cheese sauce i made which included Parm Reggiano .. Mmmm... and into the oven she goes!

Spinach chicken pizza with alfredo sauce, fresh shredded mozzarella and parmesan.

I'm heading off to the kitchen now to cook an Anniversary dinner for us. My wife will be home shortly and we will start with a nice bottle of Champagne. A little prawn and mango starter followed by a spinach salad and then beef fillet and veal chop with pan-roasted potatoes. I'm really looking forward to the bottle of 1998 Penfolds RWT!
With luck I will have photos to share later....
The food was good (even if I must say so myself ) but the wine was the highlight of the evening. Thanks for looking!

Keeping it simple after a long day: roasted steel head trout filet with roasted fennel and onion. Not in the pic, but it was drank with a nice bottle of Savenniere.

I used the new Emile Henry Grilling/Baking stone for both. I have a feeling that this is going to be a very versatile and frequently used piece of equipment. This weekend, it gets put to the test as a bread stone.

Elia wanted me to do the poulet Basquiase again last night, so I tried to take some photos. A lot are blurred again so I have had to be selective but you will get the idea!

1 - my little packet of spices
2 - my new chef's helper
3 - chicken browning nicely
4 - veges ready
5 - sauting the veges

1 - the garlicky mashed pots
2 - plated up
3 - the debris

I broke in my new to me Descoware fish au gratin this evening. Roasted a whole Branzino stuffed with garlic, meyer lemon, thyme and fennel.



The finished product.



Made a classic Parisian Tarte Au Citron with key limes. My pastry bag skills leave much to be desired though.