Christmas Eve Dinner - Sous Vide Filet Mignon and Lobster Tail

Holidays are probably the most challenging as a vegan. It is not the fact that I cook meat but rather it is difficult not try the food that I'm eating. I do taste/nibble the food that I cook to ensure that everything is well seasoned. There are times I'm tempted to eat more than a nibble :)  A good example is a lobster tail! I have to admit being a daily meat eater for 46 years of my life I am still tempted at time to eat meat. I love being vegan knowing that it is a more healthy lifestyle, I can maintain a healthy weight, and it is a way to detox my body. As I mentioned before it is not a moral reason that I am vegan or else I wouldn't be cooking meat at all.  My friend Jen gave me a nickname that was quited suited for me, "Versatile Vegan". It is a great nickname that really describes who I am -- Thanks Jen! 

Okay, enough about me.  I asked my wife earlier in the week what she wanted for dinner on Christmas Eve. She was in the middle of cleaning the garage so I am not sure if I caught her at the best time but I asked anyways. I gave her a few choices -- surf and turf, seafood hot pot, or some form of lamb. She chose the surf and turf. I wanted to cook it differently so I decided to sous vide both the filet mignon and lobster tail. Both were difficult to find since it was close to Christmas and I wanted stay away from most grocery stores. I did manage to make it to Trader Joes to pick up the filet mignon and QFC for the lobster tail.  I was not pleased with the end results because the filet mignon was a bit odd tasting (vegetarian diet) and had a different texture between the two pieces that I cooked. TJ is not always known for the best quality meat.  The lobster tail was from the Dominican Republic. I find these type of lobster to be a bit bland. A cold water lobster tail like from Maine or from Australia tend to be sweeter. 

For the lobster tail, I sliced the 8 oz tail in half and added a couple of slices butter and vacuumed sealed it. I sous vide the tail in a water bath at 140 degrees for 30 minutes.  Any longer would produce a mushy texture. I wanted to make a gourmet version of a lobster roll so I used a sliced of herb seasoned french bread w/ butter and toasted in a oven for about 10 minutes. I made a saffron cream sauce using chopped onions, chopped garlics, chicken broth, heavy cream, and a pinch of saffron. It wasn't exactly low calories but it was Christmas Eve!

I can't imagine how this would have tasted with a cold water lobster tail! Btw, have I mentioned that I was vegan? ;) 

The filet mignon I sous vide at 130 degrees for 2 hours seasoned with just salt and pepper. After taking the meat out of the vacuum pack it looks unappetizing! This is common with sous vide cooking. Generally I would take a blow torch to it or sear it on high heat. That evening I decided to sear it at high heat for about 90 seconds on each side. I added a demi-glaze sauce on top of the meat.  Yum!!

I also made some Yukon gold potatoes seasoned with crushed garlic and Cajun seasoning baked in the oven for 50 minutes at 400 degrees and asparagus that I also baked in the oven at 400 degrees for 12 minutes.  I topped the asparagus with a bread crumb recipe that my friend Joey gave me:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 clove garlic (chopped)
• 1 tablespoon thyme (chopped, or sage)
• 1/4 cup bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup parmigiano reggiano (grated)
• 1 pound green beans (trimmed, steamed)


Heat the oil in a pan. Ad garlic and thyme and saute until fragrant, about one minute. Ad the breadcrumbs and parmigiano reggiano and saute until golden brown and toasted. Remove from heat and toss with the steamed green beans.

Note: This was for my wife and my step-daughter only. I had leftover tofu and cabbage over brown rice :)
 
Enjoy!!

For The Birds! - Part 2

Sorry it has taken so long to continue with the blogging of the 8-course dinner party. Life got in the way as usual :) I believe we were on course #5 the cranberry sorbet with frozen grapes. This was the palate refresher and a way to relax after having 4 courses in the last 90 minutes. My friend Dottie actually made this dessert so I can't take credit. I did suggest adding frozen grapes since I actually seen this on a recipe once. The presentation of this is aesthetically beautiful!

I like the use of green since it feels organic and fresh. The palate refresher had a great balance of tartness from the cranberry and sweetness from the frozen grapes.

The next course was probably my most challenging. I never cooked with pheasant before and it was difficult to find great recipes. I decided to brine it for about 3 hours with thyme and salt water to keep it moist. I did read that pheasant has a tendency to be dry when cooked. 

I used a stove top smoker that I bought at Sur La Table. I never used it before and I'm still learning :)  At first I undercooked the pheasant and then I overcooked it was challenging to control the temperature. I should had used it before the actual dinner party ;)

I served the smoked pheasant on a bed of cooked spinach on top of wild rice with Chanterelle mushrooms.

The next dish was the Moroccan Goose stew pot pie. Have I told you how much I LOVE my pressure cooker?  Goose is a very challenging bird to cook since it has a lot of fat! I deboned the goose and there wasn't a whole lot meat and it wasn't cheap. I pressure cooked the goose for about 25 minutes on high (15 psi) with Moroccan spices like cumin, Cinnamon, chili powder, etc. The meat was then shredded and then placed in a small terrine. I topped it with a puff pastry (store bought) and then baked in the oven at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes.

I made a mango lassi to go with the goose stew to offset the spiciness. I have to thank my co-worker on the team for the recipe! It was quite easy to make and I had smack a few people around since they were drinking it up before I could serve it! 

The last dish was dessert that my wife made. It was a sticky toffee pudding.  As a vegan it was very hard to say "no" even after 7 courses. 

This was served with vanilla ice cream. Almost all dessert seem to taste better with vanilla ice cream :)

Enjoy!!

Cold Smoked Salmon - Scottish Style

I remember growing up as a child (a few moons ago) my parents would take my sister and I to the Sheraton Hotel in San Francisco for Sunday brunch. The one item that stuck in my mind was cold smoked salmon or Lox. I recall taking a few slices, topping it with cream cheese and capers -- yum! I was in heaven with the delicate flavor of salmon, a slight hint of smoky flavor, and a bit of saltiness. Since then I have always enjoyed cold smoked salmon. I find that hot smoked salmon can be dry and the texture less desirable for my palate.

I never made cold smoked salmon until recent. I decided to try the dry-brining method also known as the Scottish-style smoked salmon since I remember having it in New York. It is a little more salty than the Nova Scotia salmon that you normally find in a grocery store. Nova Scotia salmon is not actually smoked but rather cured similar to Gravlox. 

I normally purchase Atlantic farm raised salmon from Costco because I know it is fresh and boneless. The problem is that I prefer the skin and the ones from Costco is skinless. It affects how much salt penetrates the salmon. 

The first thing I do is take a pan and place plastic wrap on the bottom. I then layer kosher salt on the bottom of the pan about 1/4 inch. I lay the salmon on top and add another 1/4 inch of salt on top of that. I was doing two filet of salmons so I then added another layer of salmon and salt.

The photo shows the salmon after curing for about 10 hours. The last batch that I cured for 12 hours was too salty so I reduced it to 10 hours. If the salmon had the skin intact 12 hours would have been perfect. The salt will draw the moisture out of the salmon and penetrate into the flesh.

The next thing to do is rinse off the salmon and soak it in ice water for exactly 1 hour. After the 1 hour slice off a couple pieces and taste. If it is too salty soak in fresh ice water for another 20-30 minutes. If it is not salty enough then salt cure for another 1-2 hours. At this point you have Nova Scotia style salmon. If I added dill to the curing if would be considered Gravlox. 

Once you are satisfied with the saltiness pat dry the fillet with a paper towel and place it on a rack overnight in the refrigerator uncovered before smoking. The color and texture is just amazing!

There are many ways to cold smoked salmon and many devices that will cost over $200. I decided to Google Bing a cheaper device for smoking. The best device that I found was using a soldering iron and a tin can. I modified the Internet design a bit to fit my needs. I took a 1/2" drill bit and drill a hole near the bottom of a large tin can. I used a larger tin can so I don't have to keep refilling with smoking chips. I used a multi-wattage soldering and place the iron itself in the hole. I then add smoking chip almost 3/4 to the top of the can. 

Let's briefly talked about smoking chips. Hardwood like maple, oak, hickory and mesquite is preferred. So far I personally like mesquite the best. I hear oak is also very nice but I have not tried it yet. Mesquite has a nice sweet but not overpowering smoke flavor. I find hickory to be a bit harsh. 

I find the best way to smoke is on a cold day (10 months out of the year in the Pacific Northwest) inside a BBQ. You never ever want the temperature to be above eighty degrees or else you will cook the salmon! Place the salmon on a rack in the BBQ and the soldering iron/tin can contraption as far away from the salmon to keep the heat away. For my soldering iron I set the iron at the highest temperature until I actually see smoke coming out of the can. Once a good smoke is flowing I switch the iron to the lowest setting and close the lid of the BBQ.  I find the optimal duration for smoking is between 90 minutes to 2 hours.

After the smoking is complete wrap it up in plastic wrap and let it set for a couple of hours in the refrigerator before slicing. Letting it set in the refrigerator allows the salmon to mellow out a bit and for the smoke to penetrate deeper in the flesh. 

Here are Milo and Tessa giving me the saddest look, "Give me some salmon!"

I would recommend that you eat the cold smoked salmon within 1-2 weeks. Store it in a vacuum pack in the refrigerator if you are not going to eat it right away. It can also be frozen for up to 6 months in a vacuum pack. Most store bought smoked salmon (lox) are previously frozen and will not lose its texture or taste. 

Enjoy!

For The Birds! - Part 1

It's been too long since I've udpated this blog! Life sometimes takes over but no excuses :) About 3 weeks ago I did another multi-course dinner party at a friend's house -- for the birds! The theme of course was different fowls. This was probably my most difficult challenge since I haven't cooked with many of these meats before. As the dinner party date got closer I was starting to stress a bit with what to cook. It was for 15 people and I knew preparation was key to success. The biggest surprise was my sister from CA flew up to Seattle and surprise me the day before as my sous chef!!  I was quite happy to see her for multiple reasons -- 1. it's always nice to see her when I get a chance and 2. she was willing to help me with this crazy dinner party.  I'm not going to provide recipes for all the dishes in this blog entry but talk about the food that I cooked. Here was the menu:

As you can see there were 8 courses on the menu so I started to delegate. My friend Dottie was responsible for the Cranberry Sorbet and my wfie Therese was responsible for the Sticky Toffee Pudding. Everything else I created from scratch! To make things more challenging one person in the party is vegan and myself as well so I had to modify a couple of recipes for us. 

The first dish was the chilled chicken and prosciutto aspic. I'm generally not a big fan of aspic but I wanted to take a childhood dish that I enjoy and transform it. I used enjoy eating boiled white chicken as a child and I used to make it a lot before I turned vegan. It is basically a slow cooked boiled chicken normally served with green onion and ginger sauce. I wanted to take those elements and make an aspic. I sous vide fresh chicken thighs at 145 degrees for about an hour. Chilled and sliced the thighs in a bowl with prosciutto. I served these with the traditional green onion and ginger sauce. Can we say yum! The intensity of the flavor was amazing!

I also added chopped salted boiled duck egg on the side. It was a bit too salty and I would probably have only use the whites next time. The micro greens on top gave it a nice color and I could have used cilantro instead.

The second dish was the pancetta cassoulet soup w/ duck confit. Both of these elements were quite new to me and fun experiments. For the duck confit I brined the duck for 3 hours and then sous vide the duck in rendered duck fat for 10 hours at 176 degrees. The end result is one of the most tender and moist duck confit you can imagine. I used a Home Depot blow torch to sear the outside.



I made a white bean cassoulet using roasted carcasses from 2 turkeys that I deep fried earlier in the day for my work office. I started first with cooking down chopped leeks, onions, and added pancetta. Everything tastes better with pancetta similar to bacon!  Then I added the white beans, broth and let it simmer for about 1-2 hours. Turned out to be great comfort food for the winter!

We also found some incredible rosemary rustic bread that I drizzled with rosemary and garlic infused olive oil as a side dish to the soup. If you noticed I topped the soup with the duck confit.

The next dish that I made was the crispy duck breast sous vide w/ organic spring mix. I'm really putting my sous vide machine to good use. I didn't brine the duck breast time but I wish I did. It still turned out wonderful! I seasoned the duck breast with salt, pepper, and a little of cajun spice. I sous vide the duck breast for 3 hours at 129 degrees. I then remove the duck breast from the bag and then seared it on high heat on a pan. We created bowls made with asiago and parmasean cheese, added organic greens, sliced duck breast and drizzled with a rasberry vinaigrette dressing.

If you're like me the best part of the duck breast is the skin! Oh wait, I'm vegan -- I have to be careful not to go over to the dark side again :)

The next dish is the ground ostrich slider. I had ostrich meat many moon again and I remembered how tender the meat was. I thought about taking something simple like a burger and transforming it into something for a tasting dish and yet elegant. Since ostrich meat is so lean I decided to add bleu cheese directly into the patty before frying them. This turned out to be one of the top favorites for many of the guests! It was simple but yet very tasty! I decided to use sweet potato fries just to be more healthy and for the color on the dish. My sister suggested carmelized onion to top the burger and an aioli dipping sauce for the fries. Okay, I cheated and had a tiny bite to verify that it was edible :)

The ostrich was cooked medium rare to keep the meat moist. These sliders were an addiction for many. At this point we needed to rest a bit since there were 4 more dishes to go! 

To be continued....