Time to try Sous Vide! Scallops with Mache and White Wine Reduction, Salmon with Beure Blanc and Gorgonzola Polenta

I bought a vacuum sealer for my birthday partially for food storage and partially to try out sous-vide cooking. Since I don't have a sous-vide controller setup, I figured that seafood was the best bet since it doesn't call for watching the water temperature for 24 hours. I only did the scallops sous-vide but wish I had have done the salmon as well. There is so much information to look at to evaluate sous-vide equipment setups but this ended up being relatively easy. The water in my large stockpot stayed pretty consistent on low after it got to target. Then if it got too hot I could bring it down 1°F at a time by adding 4 ice cubes.

Scallops were seasoned with salt, pepper and a little dried thyme, then vacuum sealed with some dabs of butter. I cooked them for about 50 minutes at 122-124F. I then opened the bag and used the liquid to make a quick pan sauce and seared the scallops in a cast-iron pan. Served with mache salad and a Rueda from Spain.

Nothing too fancy here. Got to try my new Shun Yanigaba knife to remove the skin from the salmon. Super sharp!! Can't wait to try it with sashimi. Salmon with a beurre blanc and gorgonzola polenta. First time making polenta and it was very tasty but the gorgonzola was a bit overpowering for the salmon. It would be great with a red meat. Garnish is a bit of the salmon skin that I crisped with the blowtorch.

Butter Poached Lobster, Truffled Mashed Potatoes

My first meal back after not being able to eat solid food for 5 weeks!! Of course the staple: butter-poached lobster tails. Again not the Atlantic Canada lobster so nowhere near as rich and meaty but it will definitely suffice!

Mashed potatoes with truffle oil and the veal/lobster reduction to finish it off.

Can't have a celebration without some bubbles: Veuve Clicquot Yellow label accompanied by Go Canada mittens for the Olympics.

40 Days and 40 Nights of Soup

Placeholder for now. Soup listing to come shortly.

Xmas Dinner 2009 - more text to come

First Course - Dungeness Crab, Fennel, Grapefruit Salad (2007 Wolfberger Pinot Blanc)

Second Course - Roasted Chestnut Soup (Chandon NV Blanc de Noir)

Third Course - Duo of Fish - Grilled Arctic Char, Cauliflower Puree, Strawberry Basil Sauce, Olive Oil Poached Halibut, Wilted Spinach, Beurre Blanc (2006 Kendall Jackson Pinot Noir)

Fourth Course - Salt and Pepper Crusted Smoked Prime Rib, Fresh Horseradish Sauce, Pureed Potatoes, Spaghetti Squash, Sauteed Brusselsprouts with Pomegranate Seeds (2005 Valdisante Toscana)

Fifth Course - Chilled Strawberry Soup with Homemade Fresh Mint Ice Cream (2006 Botrytised Semillon)

Home Made Bacon

Have been reading many blogs about curing and charcuterie and decided to try my own bacon. I bought pork bellies from the Asian grocery store and followed the instructions in Michael Ruhlman's book for a 7-day cure. I don't have a smoker only a Weber gas grill and wanted to do more of a cold smoke so I put the cured belly on the rack at the back, put a aluminum tray full of water underneath and had a smoker packet of applewood on the front burner and smoked it this way for a couple hours. Would keep adding a bit of ice to the water to keep the internal temp of the bbq cool with the burner on high enough to create smoke.

The bacon on it's own was a bit salty probably based on the thickness of the belly (I managed to eat a lot of it though). Used in soups or carbonara this is fine instead of adding additional salt but to eat on its own the best thing to do is blanch it quickly and then thinly slice and cook. This will definitely become a staple as well. I don't even think you can compare the mass produced stuff and home cured and smoked bacon. They don't even taste like the same food item!

Anniversary Dinner! - Butter Poached Lobster, Wild Rice

Ok I am getting a little uninventive but damn butter poached lobster is good and for some reason I have been able to find these 4oz lobster tails for 4 bucks a piece. There is no such thing as too much of a good thing when it comes to lobster.

I just boiled some wild rice to go under this which is honestly better in soups than in a prep like this. In the last post on the lobster stock - veal reduction I didn't really mention where the idea came from. I had dinner at The Kitchen Restaurant in Sacramento a while ago which is honestly the most amazing dining experience I have ever had. One of the courses had a sauce like this and I thought it was an odd combination but was incredibly rich and delicious. Veal stock has the reputation of adding richness without adding overpowering flavor. Since I didn't have lobster stock I made a quick lobster stock from the shells of the lobster tails and reduced it down and then added some veal glace that I bought from Marczyck's in Denver. Combined, whisked some butter in and voila. This is definitely a standard for the repertoire.

Champagne to go with the meal is a Laurent Perrier "La Cuvee". I-N-C-R-E-D-I-B-L-E.

Surf and Turf v4

I am back from a hiatus so need to get updating. Am very behind!! This is starting to become a trend being up to version 4 already! I think I like the mixture of having a lot of but varied protein and this is the best way to do it.

Turf is a grilled USDA prime ribeye steak topped with garlic-herb butter.

Broccoli roasted with a bit of olive oil separates the two.

Surf is butter poached lobster tail with the lobster veal reduction sauce. The lobster was not as delicious as the first time butter poaching but I think that had more to do with the fact that it was a rock lobster tail and not an Atlantic lobster tail.