How to eat cauliflower

Never been a huge fan. Mom usually stir fried this with garlic and too much water (sorry mom). I chanced upon a recipe from a new cookbook from 25 degrees (if you could call it a cookbook), Tony Botella's Cocktail Cuisine.

Simple enough, I used a third of a head of cauliflower simmered in whole milk with a pinch of salt and pepper. Processed in Cuisinart, pipped into a pastry bag and chill. I also added a splash of truffle oil.

I used some of the sweeter white peach and minced it to 1/8th inch cubes.

The original recipe called for mango but the ones I picked were better for a salad or pickling.

Assembly. The peach was layered on the base of the cup, followed by a nice shot of chilled cauliflower, and then lump fish roe.

Great combination of sweet, earthy, creamy and slightly briny (in a good way) sensation on the palate.

Cornento

I saw these baby ice cream cones sold at the local store. Always wanted to try Keller's version, but I figured I have a better chance at making my own version than flying out to California for one of his.

I piped a pastry bag with creme fresh, mixed with mirin (asian palate needs some sweetness), shallots, chives, lime zest, maldon, and a touch of pepper).

I honestly forgot to get the salmon belly from the Japanese market (duh!) when I went to get the scallops and uni. I improvised with some lightly smoked trout from Tetsuya's home line. Tossed with some olive oil, lime (asian), and zest, it was perfect.

I chilled it to let it set so I could use a round measuring spoon as a scooper!

It was fun! I had to stop at two servings per guest so we could use the rest of the cones for the gelato later!

Poached Egg, and Asparagus Soup

A simple enough concept. I had tried this soup at the Tippling Club, and their soup was called a "Mock Turtle Soup". It incorporated sous vide-ing eggs for an hour in 62.5 degrees, puree of herbs, sliced Cepes, and the 8 hour broth was poured table side.

I wanted to do something similar but not as elaborate. My version would be to highlight some Thai grown White Asparagus, mated with a soft centered poached egg, finished with a home made broth.

The components of the dish were:

eggs - sous vide for an hour at 62.5 degrees, kept warm at 55 degrees for 30 more minutes. I would've preferred a firmer egg white. I suspect collecting the eggs in a steamer insert inside the water bath didn't give them the best water bath.

White Asparagus, and Carrots - I pre cut them, sealed them in a vacuum bag with a tiny pinch of Maldon sea salt, and a pat of butter. Chilled until it was ready to steam for 20 minutes at 85 degrees.

Broth - chicken and pork bones simmered with carrots, onions, and leeks. Added some home made veal stock to it as well.

Bacon Bread Crumbs - Whizzed pre cut bacon bits, with a whole grain baguette in the processor. Spread it over a baking sheet, 185 degree oven until toasted. Microplaned some parmesan on the hot mixture and baked an extra 10 minutes. Cooled down, broken into small chunks and stored until needed.

Bacon Powder - bacon drippings whizzed with maltodextrin. What you get is an amazing white powder like a less refined powder sugar, but with all the bacon flavour!

Breaking my comfort zone

On March 16, we hosted a "small plates" dinner. Mrs. I wanted something different, and I wanted to challenge myself. The Menu was as follows: White Peach Bellini Cocktail, Smoked Trout Cornetto, Scallop Ceviche, Cauliflower "Soup", Duo of Pasta, Poached Egg and Asparagus Soup, Karubi Kobe Beef, Chocolate Coffee Ribs, Savoury Profiterole and Chocolate Truffle.

The whole affair was a study of new ideas for me. I wanted to try out some new techniques.

In the end, I was very happy with the outcome, except for some missing key photos! Hence, the title, I cook better than I shoot!

2nd Serving, Respecting the Ingredients

I got these tomatoes from my regular purveyor.  Was probably picked within this week from down under.  I remember reading that tomatoes lose their flavours once refrigerated.  I kept them on  my fruit bowl, gave a light wash, sliced it, tossed with some Maldon and baby basil leaves, a drizzle of olive oil, a twist on the pepper mill.. You get this sweet and contrasting bright and earthy tomato taste punctuated by the salt and basil, pulled together by the olive oil! Mother Nature's gifts.

Respecting the ingredients

             

This is a food diary.  I hope to document what I cook, how I cook it and how i grow as a cook.  This is an evolutionary discovery and learning of good cooking using all sorts of ingredients.  I will try to respect the cultures and history that these food comes from.

Its a warm saturday and what more ideal than a plate of vine ripened tomatoes, and pasta with pesto.  In the era of over con-fusion and molecularized cooking (a fan..but it can be taken to the wrong level), nothing evokes great cooking than something so simple as a plate of pasta with home made pesto and a side of tomatoes.

Ingredients

handful of basil

pine nuts

one to two cloves of garlic

cup of grated parmigiano

pinch of coarse sea salt

good olive oil

Equipment 

mortar and pestel

A few words on the ingredients.  The basil was plucked less than 48 hours ago from down under. They smell like basil, with dirt and sun on them, not some tasteless bland looking hydroponic plant. The olive oil was Spanish, not italian..just because it tasted better than the Italian in my larder.  When you cook, taste your raw ingredients if you can, this will connect you better to the food and gives you a better understanding of how each ingredient contributes to your final dish.  In this case, it was the basil, olive oil, pine nuts, coarse salt and cheese.. each component tasted great by itself.

A note on the equipment, use this! Don't use a food processor or a blender. The blades chops the basil very fine but it will not release the basil's maximum flavour nor aroma. The cutting motion of the blades in a food processor closes or blocks the veins of the basil, the heat produced by the rapid rotation of the blades causes the delicate oils to evaporate as well.

Now for the assembly. Take one clove of garlic, skin and trim the end, lightly smash it in your mortar. The first few pounding will break the garlic up, releasing its essence. The subsequent pounding will break it into a paste. Slowly add a few basil leaves and a pinch of the salt.  The salt will act as an abrasive to the leaves, helping it break down as you slowly pound it.  Keep adding leaves bit by bit until you've used them all up.  Once you see the leaves all broken down, rotate your pestel around the mortar, this will smear the leaves and the garlic, giving you a nicer consistency.  Throw in about two teaspoons of pine nuts (If you want a nuttier taste, add more. If you want a richer flavour, gently toss them in a dry warm pan to give it some colour).  Pound and rotate until you get a nice consistency from all the ingredients.  Add a quarter cup of olive oil and use the pestel to incorporate the ingredients.  If you find it too thick, add a bit more olive oil.  Then finally, add in your grated parmesan.  The parmesan will absorb some of the olive oil at this stage.  Keep incorporating the cheese and the other ingredients together and adjust the olive oil as necessary.  It is adviced that you may use some of the pasta water to thin the mixture.  I prefer to keep a thicker paste and thin the mixture when i'm tossing it with pasta.

Application

Box of Barilla #5's (or whichever you prefer)

Coarse Salt

Plenty of water

Boil plenty of water for your pasta, throw in your salt, about a tablespoon worth. When you get a nice boil, put in the desired amount of dry pasta in. Use a pair of kitchen tongs to coerce them pasta in the water.  Follow the timing instructions on the box, #5 pasta literally cooks in 5 minutes.  Stir the pasta to prevent from sticking.  The oil in pasta water gig just don't work.

Drain pasta, place in a wide bowl, throw in a couple of tablespoons of pesto and toss the whole thing together.  If its too pasty, use some of the pasta water to thin it.  A few twists on the pepper grinder, and you have heaven on a plate!