Salmon Ceviche

Inspired by Gordon Ramsay and a conversation about cooking with lemon juice, apparently it is called denaturing.

So it can be done. Following Gordon Ramsay's recipe i added a lime juice and instead of coriander i used dill which was awesome. It pretty much to taste so the proportions are not important =) Gordon's tip for slicing salmon by freezing it for 10 minutes really worked as well.

I think I could have stuck to the 10 minute time for soaking, but it was more 30-40 minutes but still the texture was chewy and soft at the same time. It was very interesting to see the salmon change colour as if it was actually cooking probably would have changed less if i kept to the time limit. mmmmm. i wonder.

Fast, yummy and interesting! a new winner.

So i used it to make a salad (a major weakness for me).
Rocket, little tiny tomatoes, crushed macadamia nuts, peach, nectarine, parmeasan cheese and the lemon dill salmon. Good times.

my first congee. looks right? =)

with much more flavoursome condiments. YUM.

Cu Cai Carot Chua (Pickled Carrot Strips Recipe)

This is the 2nd time I've done this after making it very successfully to accompany chinese roast pork. Not having pork rolls much these days I miss the vinegarised carrots so I decided to see if i could make them myself. So drawing from the following sites I kinda made my own combination which seems to work for me.

http://fooddownunder.com/cgi-bin/recipe.cgi?r=45679
http://www.vietnamese-recipes.com/vietnamese-recipes/salad/pickled-carrot-strips.php
http://southeastasianfood.about.com/od/starterss4/r/carradishpickle.htm

Ingredients
2 giant carrots
1 cup of water
1/2 cup of vinegar (apple cider vinegar or something)
4 spoons of sugar
3 spoons of salt
3 cloves of garlic (very finely diced)
2-3 chillis (very finely diced)

This is all combined in a bowl. Combine all the ingredients before dicing / slicing the carrots as they change colour when exposed, so you can bypass this if its the last step.

I really want to add turnips and shallots/onions into the mix for the next batch, but otherwise very happy with this, will try to always keep a bowl of it marinating in the fridge.

long time no post...

upcoming...

fish in foil on the barbie and fish in that miso paste thing on the barbie.

"best stew ever"

using this as a base: recipe 1 and then the following 2 3 4 5 for inspiration. I enjoyed recipe 1's simpleness. Time was short and i was hungry so off we go.

Ingredients
4 Lamb chops, trimmed deboned and diced (save bones save some fat (dice finely))
2 sebago potatoes (fist size, diced chunky)
3 large carrots, peeled and cut into 1cm pieces
5-6 stalks celery, thinly sliced
3 cloves of garlic (crushed and divided into 2, gives flavour hit)
1 whole onion peeled
750ml reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 teaspoon italian herbs (when i say teaspoon i mean a good sprinkle)
3 teaspoon freshly ground pepper (when i say 3 teaspoons i mean a very generous portion)
A HEAP of dried parsley
1 teaspoon tarragon (same as italian herb)
1 egg
flour and water

Worthy additions that i did not have around
# 3 large leeks, white part only, halved, washed and thinly sliced (had no leeks but
# 2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
# bacon or pork belly slices

Cooking Directions
1. Prepare and combine all ingredients in pot. Add water to cover all ingredients.

A smarter way would be to leave the potatoes out and add them in about 45 minutes into cooking time. However sebago potatoes seem to do well in soups. While cooked all the way through they maintain their shape and texture. The potatoes are somewhat the highlight of this soup. If more care was made in the prepartion of the lamb through seasoning and flavouring, the lamb would have been more prominent.

2. Taste and season
3. Simmer for 1.5hrs on low heat
4. Dissolve 2 tablespoons of flour into water and add to soup in portions. Give time for soup to get thick before the next portion.
5. Repeat step 4 until desired thickness is reached. I do not like it too thick. Watery but not too watery =) I know that doesnt help, do it to your liking.
6. Scramble an egg and add to it, mix through. Why? chinese chefs do it, i like the way it looks.
7. Serve with cracked pepper.

Apparently its super yum as acclaimed by my french roommate, "best soup he's ever had". I think thats A BIT exaggerated, probably qualify that with "... that was not bought at a restaurant". I found it very enjoyable. The more then usual pepper and celery seem to make it very wintery and well the potatoes were very very good. Sebago all the way. Oh also diced up little bits of lamb fat or garlic give surprising boosts to the profile

A surprising success! I'd improve it with leeks, thyme, bacon and less lazy lamb preparation.

it's 11 and im hungry

chilli and garlic spaghetti with tomatoes
ahhh very aromatic and yummy. Simple and satisfying, perfect for when your hungry and stuck for ideas. No meat means no defrosting =P

Only try this if you know the tomatoes you have are fresh and awesome in flavour. Wont work otherwise.
1. Prepare onions (as fine as you can),  garlic (sliced to thin strands), chilli (i used 1, wasnt enough fire) and diced tomatoes.
2. Start pasta going (use plenty of salt in the water)
3. Use a bit of oil and fry up the garlic and chilli on medium heat. Wait till garlics are very brown.
4. Throw in finely diced onions and a little bit of oil. Brown.
5. Add a few dashes of paprika to colour, maybe a little cayene pepper.
6. Mix and take off heat. By now the pasta is done, drain and throw into the onions.
7. Mix thoroughly and add generous amounts of fragrant quality olive oil.
8. chuck in diced tomatoes, swirl around a little to absorb the residual heat.
9. Serve with a good load of cracked pepper. If done right, the spaghetti will be salty enough and no extra is required.

u can't go wrong with this one. =P

mango chicken

so it's been a while, it's not that i havent been cooking. Well perhaps slightly but nothing interesting of late besides my attempt at lamb shanks.

so mangos are in season right now, prices are still slightly inflated. Got myself a box of pretty sweet mangoes for $16 for 12. They were very ripe and sweet if not slightly bruised. Bowen mangoes seem to be the thing up here, feel firm smells sweet $3 for 2 (exxy).

so mango chicken as inspired by:
http://www.abc.net.au/nsw/stories/s703970.htm
http://thaifood.about.com/od/thairecipes/r/mangochicken.htm

They take a somewhat thai approach, unfortunately i dont have fish sauce or lime juice so I took it another way. The second recipe looks very interesting though.

Mango Sauce
3 cloves of garlic
1/2 knob of ginger
2 chillis (one sliced one crushed)
1 teaspoon dark soy sauce
1.5 teaspoons kecap mecap
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
2 teaspoons sake
1.5 diced mango (Save 1/2 mango for step 5)
some shallots or leeks


1. Process
2. Place on heat and simmer with leeks or shallots
3. Remember to taste and adjust (lime or pineapple juice, fish sauce are good additions that i didnt have around)


4. Take off heat and wait till almost serving time.
5. Add chunked mango, continue to simmer for 2 minutes

Fried Chicken:
2 chicken Maryland
Small amount of flour/corn starch

1. Heat work with 0.5cm of oil (or more)
2. Classic chinese preparation. Use chicken maryland or chicken thigh and chop chunkly, bones and skins are good.
3. Douse with sake.
4. Salt and pepper generously


5. Toss with flour


6. Fry a few at a time, to make sure oil stays hot
7. Once they are done put to side to cool
8. when rice is ready, heat oil and refry all pieces together
9. Throw into mango sauce and toss. Serve with rice


done
(was a little 2 sweet, use less mangoes next time)