Seafood Extravaganza - Lobster Bisque, Salt Baked Tilapia, Fried Potato Slices, Mushroom Spinach Puff Pastry with Snow Peas

Tonight's theme on seafood was inspired by an Iron Chef episode where one of the iron chef made a salted dome fish. The response from one of the judge was it was the best thing she had eaten because the flavor of the fish was so intense.  That's my main motto when it comes to cooking: freshness, natural, and flavorful. I always believe the flavor of the main ingredient should never be overwhelmed by other spices or poor cooking technique. 

I decided to make a healthy version of lobster bisque. That sound like an oxoymoron since it's not really that possible! I started with a leek, couple of shallots, 4 garlic gloves, 2 tomatoes, and half an onion chopped up and cooked with olive oil and butter. I added chopped lobster shells that I had from a previous dinner party. I cooked everything together for about 15 minutes and then added about 3 tbs of flour. I had some chicken stock that I made awhile back and added about 6 cups to the base. I cooked it down for another 45 minutes until the broth had thickened. I then added about 1/2 cup of cream and simmer for another 10 minutes. The worse thing I hate about lobster bisque at a restaurant is the absence of lobster in the bisque!  I took at 8oz lobster tail and split it in half. I sous vide it with 4 tbs of butter in a vacuum bag at 140 degrees for 20 minutesn

It is absolutely the most tender and flavorful way to cook lobster. It is very similar to the butter poached method used by Thomas Keller also known as a beurre monte'. I have used this technique in the past but decided to sous vide it this time around. They were both very similar in taste and I would probably not be able to tell the difference. The result of the bisque was refreshing and yet it didn't taste too rich. I also added a dab of creme fraiche. I wish I had chopped chives and caviar to add for plating presentation.

The salt dome fish was fun to make!  I wanted a fresh fish so I went to local Asian market not too far from the house. I didn't see anything I liked on display and I also checked most of the gills. The fish weren't too fresh at all. There were a few fish that had the gills remove - a very bad sign!  Fresh fish should smell like the sea and the gills need to be bright red in color. They had swimming tilapia in the tank so I pointed to the guy behind the counter that I wanted the largest one. It can't get fresher than that!  It ended up being a 3.5 lb tilapia for $4.99/lb. Not bad since nothing else was in season. I had it cleaned and scaled but kept the head and tail intact for presentation. I also bought 6lbs of sea salt to encase the fish. I mixed 2 egg whites and about 1/4 cup of water to the sea salt to give it a nice pasty mixture. I lined a pan first with parchment paper, added about 1/2" inch of my sea salt mixture and place the fish on top. I stuffed the fish with a few sprigs of dill and 6 slices of lemon. I then covered the fish with the rest of the salt until it was completely covered.

It was then baked at 450 degrees for about 30 minutes. After removing it from the oven, I let it cool for about 10 minutes. I then took a spoon to remove the top of the salt casing and gently removed the skin from this fish

The meat on the fish was very tender, moist, and cooked to perfection!  I wanted a nice sauce to complement the fish so I made an orange miso butter sauce. I took 1 cup of orange juice and reduced it down until it was syrupy -- about an hour. I added a tablespoon of white miso, couple teaspoon of soy sauce and let it simmer for about 5 minutes. I cut in about 4 tbs of cold butter and whisked it in the sauce. The sauce is unbelievable and perfect for the tilipia. It doesn't masked the flavor of the fish but enhances it with a citrus buttery sauce.

I made 3 other side dishes. Sliced potatoes cooked in duck fat from my duck confit I made a week ago, oyster mushroom spinach puff pastry, and pan fried snow peas. The potatoes I topped with a dab of creme fraiche with a few chopped scallions. I would have preferred to use chopped chives but I didn't have any in my fridge. Here is the final dish:

I know, one of these days I need to get professional lighting for my camera :) 

Enjoy!! 

Chicken, Quail, and Duck - Experimentation!

Blogging about food is a lot of fun. I just wish I had more time doing it! I wanted to blog about tonight's food because it special to me -- it was about spending time with friends, trying new dishes, and taking a simple comfort food and adding a gourmet twist to it. It literally took about 7 hours to prepare this dinner but it was all worth it. It was a three course dinner focused on poultry cooked 3 different ways:

Most of the items on the menu I never done before. Duck confit was one that I always wanted to do. I found inexpensive duck quarters at the local Asian store. I cured it a day before using a garlic salt paste and refrigerated over night.  I rinsed off the salt and garlic and then submersed it in vegetable oil. I wish I had actual duck fat instead or save the goose fat I had from Christmas. I put it in the oven at 225 degrees for about 5 hours before the meat was fork tender. I pan fried it before serving.

  

This was served with a parsnip soup. We had some parsnip that was part of the product box from last week that I wanted to make a soup. I started first with a garlic and onion aromatic cooked down in olive oil and then added the chopped parsnip. I added in homemade chicken stock that I made earlier in the morning. Boiled it tender for about an hour and used an immersion blender to blend the soup down into almost a puree. I then added a touch cream and cajun spices -- it was perfect!  Next to the duck confit, I cooked down some oyster mushrooms in a butter olive oil mixture. It complemented the soup very well. 

The appetizer dish started off with my desire to make a celeriac (celery root) salad. I picked some up from a farmer's market a week ago and wanted to use it for something. I wanted to pair this with a game bird to offset the the strong taste of the celeriac salad. The salad consisted of shredded celeriac that I blanched in salt water for about 2 minutes, soy sauce, sesame oil, rice wine vinegar, dijon mustard, scallions, pepper, and tangelo. It was outstanding! I also made quail. This was marinated with 5 spice, soy sauce (dark and light), sweet rice vinegar, chicken broth, sugar, and salt. The quail were split and then in the marinade for about 5 hours. It was then deep fried at 350 degrees for about 3 minutes to prevent overcooking.  Lastly, quail does very well with fruits. I found some fresh bluebeeries and made a simple syrup gelee. It was a perfect pairing of the all the different ingredients. I reduce down the marinade for the quail and spoon a couple of teaspoons on top of the quails

The colors were amazing.  I could have topped it off with a few sprigs of parsley or cilantro for more height.

The main course was focused on chicken. This was a take on traditional chinese cooking and adding the gourmet twist. I have always wanted to sous vide chicken breast. I have sous vide every other meat you could think of instead of chicken!  The chicken breast was first brined for 2 hours using 1/4 cup of salt, 1/4 cup of sugar, and about 2 cups of water. I then rinsed off the chicken and vacuum pack the breast wtih gray salt and a few slices of ginger. It was sous vide for 1.5 hours at 140 degrees. The result was amazing! It was the most tender and moist chicken you can imagine. I served it with slices of Virgina (Smithfield) ham in a ginger scallion sauce but to be perfectly honest it really didn't need the sauce because the chicken was so flavorful.  The baby bok choy was cooked with a soy miso sesame sauce. The shitake mushroom was braised for 5 hours with oyster sauce, dark soy, light soy, and a little sesame oil. I would have added a couple star anise if I had some in the pantry. The flavors from the mushrooms were earthy and very intense.  It was unbelievable! I also wanted to do a rice cake, similar to a risotto cake. I cooked the rice in a chicken broth and then added scallions. They were pan fried and topped with chinese sausage and a fried quaill egg. If you never cracked a quail egg before it takes practice! I recommend using a very sharp knife to cut the top off and pour the egg out. A good caviar would be wonderful with the egg. 

I like to make dishes that brings up the freshness and flavor of the main ingredients instead of masking it with spices. This is a good example of using simple ingredients and yet blending all the flavors and cooking technique to make great dishes. It is also one of the main reasons why I enjoy sous vide cooking since it about cooking foods in its on juices.

Enjoy!

Roasted Lamb!

Two posts in one night - what is up with that! I have 3 other recipes that I am going to blog this coming weekend because it covers one of my favorite cooking methods - Sous Vide! I'm going to blog about Sous Vide cooking later in the week since it will be a very very long post and I need to be somewhat awake to write about it.

Yesterday I decided to try this recipe from a cookbook that I recently acquired at Harbor Books in Friday Harbor. The book is called, "Pure Simple Cooking" by Diana Henry. My wife and I make it an annual event event to visit Friday Harbor for New Years and we always check out this local bookstore. The owner of the store, Keith is also a foodie and he always suggest great cookbooks for me to purchase and try. I ended up taking care of my addiction spending $100 on 3 cookbooks on this last trip. I promise my wife that I would get rid of some cookbooks that I didn't use anymore. I managed to find 5 cookbooks that I haven't touched in awhile and gave them away to Goodwill for a good cause.

I love lamb for the flavor and sweetness of the meat. Some people complained about the wild gamey taste but if you cook it right and removed most of the fat, you won't have that taste.

Ingredients for the stuffing are as followed:
-6 oz of soft goat cheese, crumbled
-6 oz sun dried tomatoes packed in oil, drained
-2 oz of fresh basil leaves, torn
-1 clove garlic, crushed
-3 tbsp olive oil

I purchased my boneless leg of lamb from Costco. Price is $3.99/lb and I usually find one between 3 and 4lbs. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Open the lamb and butterfly it so that you can roll it up easily. Season the flesh with salt and pepper. Spread the stuffing into the lamb and roll it up. Tie it up with good kitchen twine. I added an herb crust to the lamb that wasn't part of the recipe that consisted of 8 cloves of garlic, olive oil, black pepper, French sea salt, and fresh rosemary.

Cook for 15 minutes and then decreased the oven to 375 degrees. The recipes calls for another 50 minutes but I would recommend an additional 30 minutes. I like my lamb medium rare where the temperature of the meat is approximately between 130 and 135 degrees. It's hard to do since it is generally more well done on the outside of the lamb. I used the convection mode in the oven this time around and I wasn't as happy with the roasting. I should have dropped the temperature down to 225-250 degrees and let it slow cook in the oven for a more even cooking. I'll explain later why Sous Vide cooking is so much better!  My suggestion is pull the lamb out at about 125-130 degrees and then let it rest for 15 minutes. The lamb will warm up inside an additional 10 degrees before eating.  

You can also make a really nice mushroom gravy with the drippings from the pan with red wine.

Enjoy!

Spineless Turkey

I am so behind in blogging these days! I am 5 recipes behind and I need to catch up!  Set the time machine back to Thanksgiving when I decided to make my famous boneless turkey stuffed with a sticky rice meat stuffing. I have been making this recipe now for about 10 years now and it is still a favorite!

It takes awhile to make but definitely worthwhile! The trick to this turkey is brining. I ALWAYS brine all my turkey before cooking. It keeps the moisture in and it's not salty at all after it is cooked. Alton Brown also highly recommends brining the bird before cooking. Usually I'll brine it overnight in a mixture of kosher salt, brown sugar, and aromatics like onions and garlic. I will also add bay leaves and whole peppercorn to the brine. Usually I'll brine the turkey first before removing the bone.

Removing the bone from the turkey is not easy. It takes awhile to get it just right. The trick is to remove the rib cavity and the thigh bone while keeping the breast skin intact so you stitch it up with the stuffing while keeping its shape. Remember to keep the bones to make a stock!

Stuffing is one of my favorites! I normally cook 3 cups of sweet rice and 1 cup of long grain rice. I generaly mix the two types of rice to prevent it from being too sticky. I'll usually add rehydrated shitake mushrooms, chinese sausages, green onion, and dried shrimp. Mix all together and add dark and light soy sauce to taste with a dash of seasame oil. I usually cook it in a wok and then add the cooked rice into it. 

After completing the stuffing, stuff it in the bird. Most of the stuffing will fit in a 12-14lb bird. You can use bamboo skewers with kitchen twine to tie up the turkey!

Roast it in the oven at 350 degrees until the temperature in the thigh meat reaches 160 degrees. Carving the turkey is easy since there are no bones to worry about!

Enjoy :)

Hungry Man Pot Pie

When I think about pot pies the first thing that comes to my mind is my childhood memories of eating frozen pot pies from Safeway. I remember my mom would buy a 6 pack of these pot pies that would take about an hour to cook in the oven. The crust would be burnt on the edges and anyone could tell that it was your typical frozen veggies mixed in with machine processed chicken in a high sodium sauce -- yumm...not! 

I started to experiment with pot pies about 8 months ago when I was looking to do something with leftovers and my wife was pulling a weekend shift. There is so much you can do with puff pastry and seafood that is quick and easy. What I decided to make one day is a lobster tail pot pie with wild mushroom as a filling and a lobster tail as a center piece.

I found some great 8oz lobster tail at the local QFC for $10 a piece. I believe they were from Thailand.  They were quite beautiful! 

As you can see in the photo I removed most of the shell of and kept the tail intact. The filling was made with a wild mushroom sauce with morrell, porcini, and cremini mushrooms. I made the mushroom sauce first using a standard roux with flour and butter. I also used shallots, garlic, and green onions as my aromatics.

I cooked the aromatics first with butter, added the mushrooms, and then cooked it down until almost all the liquid was gone. About 3 tablspoon of flour was added until mixed until slightly brown. I then added the rehydrated mushroom liquid and about 2 cups of chicken broth and let that cook for at least 15 minutes until thicken.

I placed the lobster tail in a buttered baking dish and poured the mushroom sauce on top.

Baked the pot pie in the oven for 15 minutes at 400 degrees and here is the end results.

As a side dish I also roasted asparagus with garlic and grated parmesian cheese. 10 times better than your standard Hungry Man Pot Pie :)