Pork Medallions with Red Pepper Sauce

This is an old favourite that I’ve upgraded over the years.

Pork:
- Pork Fillet
- Sour Cream
- Red Pepper Corns
- Wasabi

Roast Potatoes:
- Potatoes
- Rosemary
- Garlic Cloves
- Flake Salt
- Olive Oil

Pan fry pork fillet with butter will outside is browned. The intention is not to cook the pork. Remove from pan and cut into inch thick medallions.

Place sour cream, red pepper corns and wasabi into fry pan and bring to temperature. Place pork medallions into sauce (as per photo).

Mean while roast sliced potatoes with rosemary, garlic cloves, flake salt and olive oil.

Score: 3 chefs

Pork has subtle pepper flavour.

Roast potatoes taste great.

Overall its a high quality meal for the very short amount of time it takes to cook. Very little mess too.

Wine tasting with Gordon Ramsey and Cliff Richard

Spicy Calamari with Bok Choy and Tofu

This one was a big experiment that ultimately failed. A result that was not completely unexpected, given that I was using a large number of new ingredients.

The intention was to make spicy calamari with a bok choy and tofu stir fry. It failed! That said the photo looks pretty good.

^spoiler^
Topping:
- Pineapple cut calamari
- Szechaun Pepper
- Paprika
- Salt
- Olive oil

Stir Fry:
- Baby bok choy
- Shoe string Tofu
- Mushrooms

Stir Fry dressing:
- Ginger
- Garlic
- White Wine vinegar

I’m not going to tell you how to make a bad dish!

^end spoiler^

Score: One Beaker

Because I used frozen calamari they contained a small amount of water which destroyed the spicy flavour. Next time I’ll add some cornflour and pan fry them.

The tofu was awful! I can’t think of any way to save that one. Fresh tofu for sure next time.

The bok choy and mushrooms were ok, but pulled down by the tofu. The bok choy could be enhanced with some oyster sauce.

Overall, very ordinary. But only one beaker.

In terms of mess, it doesn’t help when I drop a few calamari on the floor. Overall it was a bit fiddly.

Snow Pea Leaf Salad with Persian Feta

I found two fabulous products this weekend in my rounds. The first being snow pea leaves and the second being baby bok choy. Both were been sold by the kilo along side baby spinach and wild rocket and at the same price. Given the rather tasty salad I’ve turned the snow pea leaves into, I think might be passing over the spinach for a while.

When I get the chance I’m going to try something a little different with the baby bok choy. Although, I’ll have to be careful, it might breach this month’s tidy food challenge.

Whale Car

Recently the UK car show Fifth Gear ran a competition to design a concept car. The winner was the Michelin five star seafood restaurant inside a car the shape of a whale. Designed by a ten year old the concept is inspired.

This truly awesome restaurant (after all it does have five Michelin stars! An achievement that not even emulated by Gordon Ramsey) features David Beckham as a chef, George Bush and Tony Blair as waitresses (I did realise cross dressing was their style), television placemats and an integrated water spout for crowd control.

I really hope they build this as a concept car.

Party: Turducken with Raspberry Sauce

Had a small gathering at my place on Friday night, which gave me the perfect excuse to cook a big lump of meat. So when it comes to big lumps of meat, turducken has to be the winner.

My truducken consisted of raspberries and pine nuts wrapped in duck fillets which were inturn wrapped in corn feed chicken breasts which were wrapped within a turkey breast. The resulting monster weighed about 4kg and was suffering from an identity crisis as I began its’ 3 hour therapy session.

The turducken was served with beetroot, sweet potato and walnut filo pastry cups covered with a goat’s yogurt and cumin dressing. The whole thing went down a treat.

Simple Lamb Salad

As I’m really busy at the moment I’m thinking of making my next challenge, low mess cooking. Most nights I really don’t want to spend any more time than necessary cooking. Although, you’ll hardly every find me ordering takeaway as an alternative. So I’m currently playing around with oven roasting of vegetables and meats as a means of mess minimization.
The simple lamb salad is the first attempt at a low mess meal. You’ve seen this one before as a Lamb Salad and now we have a simple version which although lacks the aesthetics of the former, but only required a bowl, chopping board and an oven tray to make.

Recipe:
- Lamb Strips
- Swiss Brown Mushrooms
- Cherry Tomatoes
- Red Onion
- Baby Bocconcini

Sundries:
- Balsamic Vinegar
- Flake Salt
- Olive Oil
- Pepper

Roast Lamb (seasoned with olive oil and pepper) and Mushroom (seasoned with flake salt and olive oil) on backing tray in the oven at medium heat for 15 minutes.

Combine lamb, mushrooms, chopped onion and tomatoes in a bowl with dressing of balsamic vinegar, olive oil and flake salt.

Score: 2 Chefs
This recipe could end up been better than the original. Next time concentrate on the seasoning of the lamb. It seems to be the linchpin in this recipe for flavour.

World Cup: Lygon Street (Italy vs Germany)

On a cool Wednesday morning at 4am I ventured down to Lygon Street (Melbourne’s Little Italy) to watch the football. Following the massive crowds of the previous week I expected to find a fair sized contingent. Alas, there where little more than half a dozen bars and coffee shops open. Either way we had a diehard group of Italian supporters and the atmosphere was al the better for it. Also helps when Italy wins!

And it must be said that Lygon Street was by far the better location with regards to food. I think the photos show the contrast to take away food at Fed Square.

I'll be back there on Monday morning at 3am for the final.

“Restaurant” Review: Ibuki

Friday night, saw me enjoy a rather decadent Japanese feast at Ibuki. Ibuki is not a restaurant but rather a much admired and long since retired Japanese chef.

Mr Ibuki now caters to guests at his Melbourne home where he has constructed a small kitchen, dinning and karaoke den.

Fueled by sake and a collection of raunchy karaoke videos, Mr Ibuki whips up at least five massive courses that easily feed the 14 of us. From trays of melt in your mouth sashimi, to abalone, crumbed lamb chops and succulent tiger prawns. The whole experience is best described as memorable.

Yet, quite frankly this type of Japanese banquet is something we can only experience in Australia. From my holidays to Japan a meal like this would have nearly bankrupted me.

I guess the question now is where to next?

Score: 4 Chefs