Asian Salad with Tuna Marinated in Vodka and Wasabi

Recipe:

Tuna

- Fresh lump of tuna – Sashimi Grade
- Vodka
- Wasabi
- Grated Ginger
- Sesame Seeds

Salad

- Bean Sprouts
- Garlic Shoots
- Capsicum
- Shallots
- Rice Vermicelli

Sundries

- Sesame Oil
- Soya Sauce

Place tuna in a close fitting dish cover with wasabi, ginger and vodka. Allow to sit in fridge for one hour.

Cook rice vermicelli, toss with a little sesame oil and cool in fridge. Slice vegetables (Asian style) lengthways. Mix with rice vermicelli, to create salad.

Remove tuna from marinade. Dry with paper towel. Seer tuna in pan on each side such that all the surface turns brown. This should take less than a minute.

Chop tuna into bit size chunks. Add sesame oil to pan and roast some sesame seeds. Mix roasted sesame seeds with tuna.

Serve Tuna with salad. Drizzly a little soya sauce over for taste.

Score: 3 Chefs

Pantry Essentials: S&B Sushi Wasabi

Unfortunately in Australia we have been stuck with the fluorescent green horseradish which is essentially the equivalent of paint striper to vodka.

I've only every had real wasabi once, and that was in Tokyo five years ago.

Last year while exploring the shelves of City Super in Hong Kong I discovered the S&B premium wasabi. It tastes a thousand times better than the paint striper, although I suspect that it’s made from horseradish too.

Now you can imagine me drooling like Homer Simpson when I found the same product at the Japanese supermarket this week. Although this ones not for novices. The packaging is written in Japanese!

Oyster Frenzy

In the spirit of seafood we headed to the Botanical Restaurant’s Oyster Frenzy tonight. Split between two seafood providers who brought along 400 dozen oysters each!

A couple of the guys where a bit sad to see the crabs been used as decoration. After a swift flick onto the open fireplace an extra snack was ready for the serving ;)

Miss Piggy, Jack and Myself

New York

I’m heading to New York for Christmas and in my search for some cool places to eat … and sleep I found the following interesting article on a restaurant that does not accept tips.

"The cost of a meal at a given restaurant is usually only tenuously connected to the work required to serve it. (It’s just as easy to open a hundred-dollar bottle of wine as it is to open a thirty-dollar bottle." New Yorker

And this very cool looking hotel:
"floors are arranged according to the Dewey Decimal system ... the lobby is an 1880 edition of the complete works of Shakespeare and the wall behind the reception desk is a card catalog" Library Hotel

Fish Chowder

Cumin Fish with Enoki Mushrooms

I stuffed this one up too. It was a little dry.
(Spoiler)
Recipe:
- Cumin powder

- Lemon Zest

-Butter

- Fish

- Enoki Mushrooms (any type of mushroom would do)

- Parsley

- Garlic

Mushrooms – Sautéed with butter, garlic, parsley in pan.

Cumin Butter – Mix butter, lemon zest and cumin in blender.

Coat fish in Cumin Butter and bake for 20minutes at 160degC.

I’ve actually got this one right in the past. But that was cooking chicken. I’ll have to practice with the ratios of cumin to butter. Its actually rather important for this recipe.

Score: Stays in the LAB

Ginger Duck

I’ve introduced our friend Beaker for experiments that don’t quite go right.
I’ve also being debating if I should post the recipe even though it didn’t work. … The decision is to post the recipe as a “spoiler” (black on black) so that next time I make something similar it can be improved.
If you’re curious just highlight the following text.
Recipe:
Duck Maryland
Sliced Fresh Ginger
Sliced Lime
Salt

Rub duck in salt and place on baking tray. Place ginger and lime on duck. Back at 240degC for 10minutes and reduce to 160degC for another 20min. Done

Failure:
As the lime and ginger where placed on the duck the skin did not cook. Even though it was at 240degC. Furthermore the duck only had a very light ginger flavour.

Score: It should stay in the LAB

Garlic and White Wine Scallops in Shell

Recipe:
- Scallops
- Parsley
- Double Cream
- Butter
- White Wine
- Crushed Garlic

Sauce – Mix a chunk of butter parsley and a generous splash white wine in a pan. Bring to Boil. Reduce heat and add cream, nutmeg and salt.

Grill Scallops in shell for 5 minutes.

Pour sauce into each shell and serve.

Score: 3 Chefs

Five Spice Duck with Polenta in Cherry Sauce

Recipe:

- Duck Maryland

- Five Spice Powder

Sauce:

- Cherry Juice

- Balsamic Vinegar (Black)

- Butter

Polenta:

- Polenta

- Onion

- Butter

- Oil

Duck – Rub Five Spice into duck. Preheat oven to 220degC cook for 10 minutes till skin is golden brown. Reduce oven to 160degC for further 20minutes.

Sauce – Mix ingredients in pan heat and reduce.

Polenta – Cook polenta in water (one cup polenta to two cups water) till water disappears. Place lid on pot and allow polenta to steam at low heat. Add some butter.

Sauté onion in fry pan with oil. Add polenta to fry pan. Mix and seer.

Mould polenta into a disc (round cookie cutter etc) and place in freezer for one hour. Cook in oven with duck in same tray to absorb some of the duck fat :)

Score: Three Chefs

Miss Piggy's Salmon with pumpkin and green beans

Welcome - Miss Piggy

My flatmate Miss Piggy has decided to join the party. She too is now recording her creations. If she gets time we might even get the recipes.

Pine Mushroom Challenge – Tarragon Sea Perch

What I used:
- Sea Perch Fillets
- Sprigs of tarragon
- Organic Butter (Tastes Great)
- Pine Mushrooms
- Double Cream

Wrap fish in aluminum foil with tarragon sprigs and a chunk of butter and some nutmeg. Place in oven for 20 minutes at 160degC.

Cut mushrooms into slices and sauté in pan with a chunk of butter, nutmeg and salt. Add cream and reduce on low heat.

Score:

Master Challange: Seafood

I haven’t mentioned this before, but each month I choose a cooking theme that will force me to learn new skills in the Kitchen.

Last months theme was French which worked brilliantly. I learnt how to bake everything in the oven then cover it in cream.

So this month is seafood month. This excludes sushi and sashimi which I eat almost daily.

Seafood can be a bit tricky and it is definitely one of my weak areas. Although I don’t think I have to worry about the food fighting back :)

Pine Mushroom Challenge – Tom Yum Goong

Dish One, Tom Yum Goong.

What I used:

- Instant Tom Yum Paste (Yeah I cheated on this one)

- Fresh Lemon Grass

- Dried Black Fungus

- Fresh Green Prawns

- Fried Tofu

- Pine Mushrooms

- Coriander

The tom yum paste said one tablespoon per three cups of water, So I added three tablespoon for good measure. Boiled that, chucked in the green prawns. I use the green ones because they absorb the spices as they cook. After about a minute added the fungus, fried tofu and the lemon grass. About five minutes after that its ready to serve.

Served this one with the pine mushrooms on top with some coriander. The mushrooms tasted awesome after absorbing some of the tom yum spices.

Score: 2 chefs

Pine Mushroom: Mini Challenge

During my raid of the Richmond markets yesterday, I discovered these interesting looking morsels.

After diving in and filling a bag, I was politely informed that they cost $40 a kilo, which equates to about $2 a mushroom. So I am now the proud owner of three mushrooms.

Pantry Essentials: Sirena Tuna

I love the stuff. Especially when quickly tossed in with some diced celery, mushrooms and feta to make a quick snack!

Food Sculpture

I tried food sculpturing when I was in Thailand albeit rather unsuccessfully. Turning tomatoes into roses and carrots into fern leaves required the steady hand of a calligraphy artist and the patience of a Nepalese reincarnation of Buddha. This digresses for my slice and dice approach to cooking.

So when I saw these picture this morning of bugs carved out of fruit I was rather impressed. Although, I’m not sure if I would be as impressed if the bugs were served on my food. Either way, this leaves something for me to aspire to create in years to come.

MORE HERE

Oven Break™ - Condom Fish with Spicy Miso

Didn’t finish my run tonight until 11pm, so fresh fish was a little to much to hope for at the supermarket. So being adventurous I ventured to the frozen fish section of the freezer isle. It appears that idea of cooking with frozen fish is a little bit of a novelty. Of the ten or so fish products on the shelf all but one where pre-sauced meals. So I guess by default I’m experimenting with Birdseye Cape Hake Frozen Fish. Each piece conveniently wrapped in little blue condoms.

So to the meal!

Spicy Miso paste:

Grind up 4 coriander roots, 3 tablespoons of miso, 4 cloves of garlic and some fresh ginger. Then splash with chili flakes to taste e.g. a lot in my case.

Fish:

Smear over fish and bake in oven.

Done! Well not yet mines still cooking, but you get the idea.

I’m going to serve this one on a bed of coriander leaves and uncooked butter beans.

BTW, the measurements are a complete guess. I never measure anything.

Hong Kong

Last year I went on a little bit of gourmet eating binge in Hong Kong. I’ve decided to list a few of the places for future reference:

Orange Space (Chinese food, Wan Chai) $ ** - Well the place is orange I can’t fault them there. Off street café with great drinks like mango and chocolate milshakes but marginal food.

Zomba (Café, Wan Chai) $$ ** - Not the place to be in a typhoon. A little to much glass ;)

Modern Chinese (Shichaun, Times Square) $½ *** - Yeah! I wanted some hot food and I got it!!! Two thirds of the dish was chillies!

??(OK I forgot the name!! Next time I’m in HK I’ll get the name) (Dim Sum Place, Tsim Sha Tsui end Hau Fook Rd Level 3) ½$ *** - Feed four people for $15HK. The place is awesome even better than City Hall. The Custard Buns are excellent.

Quanjude (Bejing Food, Wan Chai) $$ *** - Excellent Peking duck restaurant.

Zahara (Lebanese, Wan Chai) $$ **½ - Excellent Messa, didn’t even get to the main dishes.

Southern Provincial Chinese (Guess the food type, Wan Chai) $ **** - WOW, this place is amazing! It looks like a five star restaurant and the food is bloody good and the price is the same as the dingy hawker market down the street. Maybe it’s the same food ;)

Kyouki (Japanese, Causeway Bay) $ **** - Again a table full of sashimi, drinks, noodles and soup for $200HK. Nice view too.

The Peninsular Hotel (High Tea, Tsim Sha Tsu) $$$ *** - OK the food is great! But as an engineer I did notice the sewage pipe running across the lobby ceiling that they have tried very hard to
disguise. Hmm not what you expect for one of the worlds top hotels!

Tokyo Hip House (Japanese, Sendo Square, Macau) $$$ **** - It’s a bit hard to review this one as it didn’t actually open till the day after we ate there. The owner let us eat there to assist with training his staff. Ordering food was also a bit difficult as the kitchen was only half stocked. Either way the
food we did get was really really good! Sort of a modern twist on traditional Japanese food.

Photo of the opening festival the next day!

Felix (Fusion, Tsim Sha Tsui) $$$$$ ***** - I’m not exaggerating here. It is one of the top restaurants in the world and you pay for that. The view is awesome, drinking fine wine and watching the laser show over a central is something that you can only do at Felix. With floor to ceiling glass throughout (including the toilets) you feel a little like a goldfish on the top of a very high building. BTW, leave your modesty at the door because the view from the toilets goes both ways!!

City Hall (Yum Cha, Central) $ *** - Another awesome yum cha restaurant. They are all great this one just costs more.

Tetsuwan Atomic

Experimentalism is the name of the game! I’ve been experimenting with food since I was two years old … and eating it since five. In hindsight standing on a chair pushed up against the stove in order to cook breakfast may have been a little foolhardy. You just can’t get between a five year old and a bacon and egg breakfast.

Skip a few years and many a culinary disaster … and due to my very poor memory. I have decided to keep an online record of my experiences and experiments. This could end up being anything from my latest fine dinning experience to my 4am quest for the perfect souvlaki.

Let the fun begin.