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.