Burma style pork stew

One new recipe just to try to not forget, I made it up with what was available and turned out delicious:

• 2 pounds of pork butt (shoulder) sliced in 1' cubes 
• 1 large onion cut in 1/4' chunks 
• 1 red bell pepper cut in 1/4' chunks 
• 5 Serrano chillies (might want to go to 3 for the sensitive palates) 
• 2 pieces of ginger 1' each 
• 6 cloves of garlic 
• half a stick of lemongrass, shredded 
• 1 tablespoon of tamarind paste 
• 2 tablespoons of molasses 
• 1 teaspoon of turmeric 
• 4 tablespoons of fish sauce 
• 1 tablespoon of rice vinegar 
• 1 tablespoon of oil 
• 3 cups of water 

In a large pot, stir fry the onion, the ginger, bell pepper, lemongrass and the chillies (left whole), reserve. Stir fry the meat, add the garlic, once they start to brown add back the reserved veggies. Add the turmeric and fry it. Dissolve the tamarind paste in a cup of warm water and add it to the pot. Add the fish sauce, the vinegar and the molasses and enough water to cover the meat. Reduce the fire and simmer for 3 hours covered. Stir once in a while and add water if it thickens too much. It's better if it's not too liquid so towards the end remove the lid and reduce it a bit.

Serve with rice noodles or sticky rice or jasmine rice, enjoy.

This was kind of inspired by Pok-Pok's Kaeng Hung Leh and Wata Majeedi.

Goat leg roast

Reposting here so I don't lose this home made recipe :).

Ingredients
-6 garlic cloves
-1/4 preserved meyer lemon
-4 tbsp olive oil
-1 tbsp sweet paprika
-1 tbsp cayenne (you can go lighter if you don't like too hot)

-1 goat leg roast (or lamb)
-a few slices of bacon

-1 lemon juice
-parsnips
-turnips
-potatoes

Crush the garlic,preserved lemon, paprika, cayenne, and blend in olive oil with a bit of thyme. Coat the meat and let it rest (longer is better, it can be a day). The entire roast should be nicely coated by the red mix. My proportions are approximated (as usual) so you might need more oil and spices (if it looks like too much just coat it with a thicker layer).
Cover the bottom of your oven proof dish with a few slices of bacon, add parsnips, turnips, potatoes (leave them whole or in 2-3 inches pieces) to the side of your lamb/goat leg, add a cup of water and the lemon juice, you should not need to add any salt as the preserved lemons should already be salty enough. Put in the preheated at 300F oven, covered with foil tightly so water doesn't evaporate too fast, reduce the temperature to 260F and bake for 7 hours. Baste once in a while (I did it mostly at the end last time so you can leave it unattended for a while without any problems) and add water so it doesn't dry up. Finish at 350F until browned nicely. Veggies should have soaked lots of yummy juices. I didn't turn nor move anything, the bacon prevents anything to stick to the bottom, and veggies are so tender that you would mash them in any attempt to move things.

To make preserved lemons, cut organic lemons (so the skin is not full of chemicals) in 8, layer them in a jar, add like a tbsp of salt per layer to coat the lemon. Once jar is full of lemons fill it with olive oil. Let it rest for 3 months. You can use the oil in salads or to cook, it's delicious. The lemons lose all acidity and are great to incorporate anywhere you could add lemon. We love to use Meyer lemons for this, they're the best.

Cooking utensils that make a difference on the way food taste

I know I still haven't finished telling about my sabbatical (missing the end of the France trip and Chile) but I'll go on a small digression. For our wedding and our birthdays we received a lot of food related presents (well we asked for them :) and I have been utilizing many new utensils, pots and in general cookware. I have found some of them to not really provide much, but on the other side I found some of them to really make a difference so I figure I would list them here, and if I find a new one keep the list up to date.

I will start by not listing knives that actually cut because this is a prerequisite :).

• The first one is a terrine, you can make pate without one, but honestly it doesn't taste the same and if you want something that tastes good (like real fresh pate), use a terrine. I verified this last weekend, when I had way too much meat and had to prepare some in a regular oven pan. The result, using the same meat and spices mix is one is average, and the other one is really good.
  

• The second one is a cast iron dutch oven, it just doesn't cook things the same way... I use ours for pretty much all stews now, and especially dishes that need to go from the stove top to the oven. Things cook faster, more homogeneously and taste better (same thing, I once had too much for the dutch oven and cooked the rest in a regular pot on the side, and it was not the same at all in the end).
  
  

• The third one is a perforated metallic pizza pan, I had never managed to get the crust crispy enough, probably because I tend to load my pizza too much, but with such a pan it is just better.
  

• The fourth one is a cast iron griddle, the meat cooked on that thing is just better, I've never managed to get it as good in a regular pan or in the oven. You can probably get the equivalent on a grill, but a griddle is so much easier. This is also pretty much the only way I manage to get asparagus to have the right texture.
  

That's all for now, for the rest of the tools it helps a lot with the enjoyment the cook gets but it's harder to taste the difference in the plate.

Patisserie course

As a wedding present, M got a pastry course at the Oregon culinary institute. She spent Sunday morning baking and baking more. As I had bought nice hood strawberries and raspberries we decided it was time to put her newly acquired skills to good use as well as our newly acquired tart pans.

And yes I had quite some fun playing with the macro lens, the tripod and the remote flash :).

Daylight saving time

Last week has been pretty busy at work but the main event is that we switched to summer time. The benefits are two-fold, first we're getting to see sunrises again in the morning, second it is still bright daylight when we drive back from work and that is very nice !


Last week we started receiving some of our wedding presents. Among them was a nice "terrine" from Le Creuset that I put to good use last weekend and baked my first pate ! We had visitors over for dinner and they seemed to enjoy it, we did and after distributing slices around to other friends it's already almost finished. It was such a success that I'll do more.

The recipe was as following:
- 1/2 onion chopped
- 2 shallots shopped
- parsley chopped
- juniper berries (genievre)
- 1 nutmeg grated
- 1 glass Calvados
- 1 glass white wine
- 0.5kg chicken livers
- 0.5kg ground chicken meat
- 0.5kg ground pork meat
- 1 egg
- 1 tbsp sour cream
- salt, pepper

Mix ground meats, vegs and spices with the wine and calvados and marinate them, marinate the livers separately. Let it rest for a bit (1 day would probably be better but I didn't). Mix everything together and fill the terrine, let it rest again (goal is to get things well packed). Prepare a "bain marie" in the oven at 400C (a large pan filled of water that you heat before putting the terrine in). Cook it for 90 min. Let it cool down slowly with weights sitting on it to pack it tightly, refrigerate. Serve the next day (it was actually better 2 days after than the next day). Yumm.

X-Mas 2009

We drove to Seattle to spend this year's Christmas with M's dad. As we arrived we were welcomed by his bright decorations.


The next day we started early to prepare the dinner's feast (which was less Gargantuesque than Thanksgiving I have to admit). We started with an Avocado-shrimp-mushroom salad.


Followed by a stuffed roasted orange duck


and a chestnut-chocolate "buche" with candied orange peels


The next day we drove around to M's hometown and made a stop at the unfortunately (I've been told) closed XXX root beer stand


And we finished with a nice view on Mt Baker and Lake Samamish


Merry Christmas to all of you !

T-Day

We just had a 4 days long weekend for Thanksgiving. We drove north to Seattle and joined M's dad for what is traditionally a family style holiday. This time the kitty came with us and I don't know if it's that he likes my car more than hers or the fact that he was sitting on her lap the whole trip but he seemed to not dislike the trip as much as his previous ones.

So what is this Thanksgiving about ? Well besides whatever Wikipedia says, it's about gorging yourself as much as you can with turkey. As turkey is pretty hard to eat in large quantities without dying of thirst, it becomes about all the dishes you eat with the turkey in order to be able to gorge yourself. This year was my first real traditional T-day, and M prepared a masterpiece for me to feel like a true local :).

So we drove north with a car full of food and after a restful night we woke up and started a day of marathon cooking (pretty much 6 hours of preparation). You'll be able to follow this marathon in images and I'll publish the recipes that we all thought were perfect and could not be improved. For the rest we'll be trying other recipes next year.

We started the day with the preparation of the cranberry sauce (recipe courtesy of New Seasons, improved by us by forgetting to put some ingredients).
-1 cup (1/4 l) apple juice (not from concentrate)
-3/4 cup sugar (was 1c)
-12 oz (350g) of fresh cranberries
In a medium sauce pan, bring the apple juice to boil. Allow to simmer, stiring occasionally, until berries start to "pop" (about 10-12 minutes). Stir in sugar to taste. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

The nice thing is that the pectin of the apples help giving a really nice texture to it once it cools down. 1 cup of sugar would have been too much for us. It tasted really good, but having fresh cranberries definitely made a big difference.

We then starting preparing the stuffing. The first part was to boil chestnuts.


Small break to feed the cat, he's eating turkey too today !


Greg after an unsuccessful cranberry sauce tasting... The shirt said yummy!


Peeling chestnuts took us almost 1 hour with 6 hands. They definitely didn't want to end up being stuffed in a turkey's rear end.


I know it doesn't look like that much...


We had 3 turkeys, 1 to be eaten and 2 for company. Those 2 became the best friends ever.


We had an apple pie planned for desert, so here we are peeling and slicing some granny smith.


M's preparing the dough for the pie crust.


-1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie
-1/2 cup unsalted butter (one glass)
-3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
-1/4 cup water
-1/2 cup white sugar
-1/2 cup packed brown sugar
-4 Granny Smith apples - peeled, cored and sliced (recipe called for 8, we used 4)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in flour to form a paste. Add water, white sugar and brown sugar, and bring to a boil. Reduce temperature and let simmer. Place the bottom crust in your pan. Fill with apples, mounded slightly. Cover with a lattice work of crust. Gently pour the sugar and butter liquid over the crust. Pour slowly so that it does not run off. Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Continue baking for 40 minutes, until apples are soft. We found the baking in 2 times hard at first then cooler and longer to give the best crusts. We added a little cinnamon between the layers of apple just because... (it tastes better as long as there's not too much).


M braiding some crust on top of the pie.


Pretty! Pouring some sauce inside the pie.


Looking through the window. Quiet neighborhood, everybody's preparing turkey !



Chopping herbs for the stuffing. The little machine worked great and survived me slamming it like crazy. Made in Switzerland, maybe that was it.


More herbs. I discovered savory (apparently related to Za'atar that I enjoyed so much in Israel), it has quite an interesting smell and taste.


Seems like the pie is ready to free the oven.


Cooling down with the cranberry sauce.


Removing the turkey from the brining bag where it marinated for the last 15 hours.


Stuffing it.


No giblets, just the neck for the gravy.


In the oven. Notice all the desperate attempts at keeping it juicy, after marinating it for half a day we bake it inside a special bag to keep it moist... hopefully.


Yams ready to be baked. Wait, aren't we forgetting something ?


Preparing green beans for the casserole.


Cooking the green bean casserole. These were absolutely fantastic. This was probably the best dish of the evening. I strongly recommend the recipe.
For the topping:
- 2 medium onions, thinly sliced
- 1/4 cup flour
- 2 tablespoons bread crumbs (hammering on the remains of unused stuffing bred totally works)
- 1 teaspoon non iodized salt
- Nonstick cooking spray (I can't believe I'm saying that, but it's probably the best way to oil a pan without using crazy amounts).

For beans and sauce:
- 2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
- 1 pound fresh green beans, rinsed and trimmed
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 12 ounces mushrooms, trimmed and cut in 2 (champignons de Paris)
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1 cup half-and-half (mi-creme mi-lait)

Preheat the oven to 475 degrees F. Combine the onions, flour, bread crumbs and salt in a large mixing bowl and toss to combine. Coat a sheet pan with nonstick cooking spray and evenly spread the onions on the pan. Place the pan on the middle rack of the oven and bake until golden brown, approximately 15 minutes (the recipe called for 30 minutes and we had a nice pile of carbon after less than that so retried and watched it closely). Toss the onions 2 to 3 times during cooking. Once done, remove from the oven and set aside until ready to use. Turn the oven down to 400 degrees F.

While the onions are cooking, prepare the beans. Bring a gallon of water and 2 tablespoons of salt to a boil in an 8-quart saucepan. Add the beans and blanch for 5 minutes. Drain in a colander and immediately plunge the beans into a large bowl of ice water to stop the cooking. Drain and set aside.

Melt the butter in a 12-inch cast iron skillet set over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms, 1 teaspoon salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms begin to give up some of their liquid, approximately 4 to 5 minutes. Add the garlic and nutmeg and continue to cook for another 1 to 2 minutes. Sprinkle the flour over the mixture and stir to combine. Cook for 1 minute. Add the broth and simmer for 1 minute. Decrease the heat to medium-low and add the half-and-half. Cook until the mixture thickens, stirring occasionally, approximately 6 to 8 minutes.

Remove from the heat and stir in 1/4 of the onions and all of the green beans. Top with the remaining onions. Place into the oven and bake until bubbly, approximately 15 minutes. Remove and serve immediately.


The dishwasher worked really hard. In his own words, we've used every single piece of cookware I own... And he washed them all at least once !


Preparing some mashed potatoes, just in case the rest is not filling enough.


That's what we were forgetting for the yams !!!


Yes, Marshmallows. I was dubious but it worked better than I expected at first.


Turkey's ready !


It was missing a little broil.


Table is ready. In order from the bottom left corner: Biscuits, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, gravy, stuffed turkey, candied yams, mashed potatoes and some additional stuffing.


Proud !


Time to gorge ourselves !


Done...


Mmm, there's still some desert, but the turkeys have an eye on it.


If the next morning you feel like a little turkey sandwitch, that's how it can look like (it apparently tastes better than it looks though).


That was sooo hard!!!!!