November 8, 2009 - Oysters of a Chicken

Oysters of a chicken...hmmm. I saw Morimoto on Iron Chef carve these out of a pheasant and was intrigued. Apparently this is suppose to be the most tender piece of meat on the chicken. I had a whole chicken that I was quartering and deboning to use for stock and meals this week and I decided it would be worth while looking into this. The oyster sits in the scallop of the "hip" of the chicken where the thigh bone connects in. Go to this link for an explanation of it: http://yeschefnochef.blogspot.com/2008/03/oysters-on-chicken.html

I think this is something that is much easier comprehended with demonstration but I did fine based on the description above. I quick marinated the two "oysters" with sesame oil, soy sauce, black vinegar and cognac and pan seared them quickly. In hindsight it would have made more sense to do a morsel from a number of different parts of the chicken to compare since, although it tasted great, I can not necessarily confirm whether or not this is the best part of the chicken.

Moral of the story though is that this piece of meat has been getting left on almost piece of fowl that I take apart so it is definitely a new discovery.

November 1, 2009 - Winter Melon Soup, Seared Scallop, Korean Tacos, Braised Pork Bellies, Pear Sorbet and Sake Granita

Winter Melon Soup - I had never cooked with this before but saw it at the Asian grocery store and decided to pick it up. Winter Melon is more like a squash than a melon and the Chinese use it more as a vegetable. Apparently it is an extremely healthy food. Traditional soups made with this have some form of pork. I still had cured pork cheeks so I used this diced as a bit of fat and then added the melon and chicken stock that I infused with lemongrass, ginger, kaffir lime leaves and star anise. Garnished with cilantro. Very tasty and apparently very healthy!

Seared Scallop on Tomato Ceviche - Pretty straightforward here. I did marinate the scallop with some curry powder and olive oil and seared it. Topped on diced tomato with lime juice and the fancy little peeled cucumber bowl. A white Cotes de Rhone as accompaniment.

Korean "Tacos" - I bought some extremely thinly sliced eye of round beef from the asian grocery store. This reminded me of the Korean BBQ style of meat. It is hard to see on the white plates but I thinly slided daikon radish with a mandolin, seared the beef quickly and then added watercress leaves season with sesame oil and salt and pepper.

Braised Pork Bellies with Parsnip Puree and Enoki Mushroom Bundles - God I love pork bellies!! My typical prep but used the asian style infused chicken stock as the braising liquid with leeks, celery and carrots and added a bit of soy, chinese black vinegar, honey and ponzu. Braised for 4 hours then cooled and then pan-seared to crisp it up. The enoki mushrooms were held together with a strip of prosciutto and green onion tie and the sauce is reduced braising liquid.

Pear Sorbet, Sake Granita and Asian Pear Grapefruit salad - Took this recipe out of a Bon Apetit magazine. Bartlett pears poached in simple syrup then pureed and put in the sorbet maker. Sake was mixed with some gelatin and then thrown in the freezer. After setting it was scraped in a granita with a fork. This was topped with grapefruit and thinly sliced asian pear that was marinated in simple syrup.

October 30,2009 - Asparagus Bisque; Mussels in Belgian Ale, Fennel, Lemon; Braised Lamb Shanks and Pan Fried Monkfish, Pear Sorbet with Sake Granita

Asparagus Bisque with Lemon Foam - my first foray into a bit of molecular product. Used Soy Lecithin to produce a stable foam to top the dish. The soup was just asparagus, potato and onion with chicken stock then pureed and strained to make a light bisque. The lemon foam was actually a very good tang and contrast with this so will definitely do it again. The lecithin granules did not dissolve as I expected so I will need to experiment a bit with getting this to dissolve or buy some liquid lecithin.




Mussels with Belgian Ale, Fennel and Lemon Zest - No picture but this is one of the best mussel preparations I have done. Sauteed onion and Fennel, added some lemon zest and a Hoegaarden white Ale and a bit of cream and steamed the mussels in this. All mopped up with a bit of baguette.


Braised Lamb Shanks with Pan-seared Monkfish: The lamb shanks were braised for 6-8 hours. I didn't really keep track but it was partly overnight and then some. Au jus sauce is the reduced braising liquid with some red wine and port added. I have never cooked with monkfish before this. Very rich in taste and cut a fillet into medallions, dredged with flour and then pan fried in butter. I topped this with some sauteed mushrooms that I had to use up as well.

Check the next post for the dessert dish since I forgot to take a picture again!

October 27, 2009 - Osso Bucco (beef)

Quick write up here: Beef Shank steaks (or Osso Bucco for a cover-all term for and cross cut of shanks). These are braised for a few hours. This is served with spaghetti squash to mimic pasta and a fennel-potato gratin topped with crispy guanciale (see previous posts!) Osso Bucco is topped with a gremolata sans garlic.

Wine match is a Spanish Red from a place that starts with A (not Andalucia!)

October 25, 2009 - Tenderloin Tips

Got some tenderloin tips on sale and just let them sit with a salt and pepper rub then sliced them into mini-steaks, grilled and then put them on L'Atelier potatoes with some sauteed mushrooms and broiled cauliflower and broccoli. Bit of a demi-glace sauce on these to round things out!

October 18, 2009 - Boneless Cornish Game Hens

Cornish Game Hens are something that we always had as kids and I remember when we were in New Zealand, no one had a clue what they were. My dad got me hooked on de-boning poultry and after you have done this with quail and small-birds, it is hard to go back. I can probablyl de-bone a game hen in about 10 min now. I actually used to time this between periods during the NHL games. The other nice thing is that you have all of the bones to do a quick stock and sauce with.

Normally I truss up the birds and BBQ them. This is kind of painful and doesn't work very well so I decided to sandwich two of them together and then I used another cast iron pan to help flatten them out. Bricks wrapped in tin foil would work as well.. I took the stock and reduced it and added some mustard and spice. Brussel sprouts are sauteed with our famous pork jowels from the previous posts.

October 17, 2009: Guanciale Carbonara & Tres Leches

Per the previous post I bought "guanciale" which is cured pork jowels at Marczyck's as well. This is one of these items which I just buy because I have never heard of it and thanks to the internet I can figure out what to make. Adventurous? Kind of.

Since the previous post was halibut cheeks and this is pig cheeks I now dub this "Cheek Weekend"! Just in time for Shan's birthday today. The guanciale is very salty so must be used sparingly. I also added diced chorizo into the sauce as well. This is a simple Carbonara with those meats and I used some parsely and pecorino chees for this. Had a PHENOMENOL 1999 Gran Riserva Rioja with this meal.





Coconut Tres Leches Cake:
This is the GO-TO dessert recipe for a lot of delicious goodness. This is a straight-forward, simple but decadent and addictive dessert. Starts with a simple white cake and then marinated (for lack of a better term) with coconut milk, sweetened condensed milk, rum and evaporated milk. Topping it off is whipped cream and toasted coconut.