Food, Random Food, Random

Shinies + burger

So it turns out it's not a good idea to watch a lot of shows with men in shiny suits, because spending money on suits as a hobby turns out to be really, really expensive! It also means I've acquired skills that I can't really use myself. It turns out there are only 85 ways to tie a tie, so I should learn what the shorthand means and memorise them all, not.So here's a shiny dump plus a gigantic burger called the Big Moo from Moo Burgers. I wish I had better lighting but THIS IS ALL YOU GET.

LIME HARVESTER

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Virtual Valentine

Virtual Valentine

Pomegranate and rose water, coconut and orange blossom water jelly - raspberry sorbet - mint - pistachio crumbs

This is its own post as it really does deserve it. I thought up this dish a few days before Valentine's Day, and really did want a themed dessert. It had to be red and romance-worthy. Hence, it had to have pomegranates because I was in excess of it, and roses. I originally wanted flowers on the plate too, however after doing some research, I didn't want to risk consuming pesticides that would be harmful from buying roses meant as Valentine's Day gifts.

This was my final challenge since I leave Adelaide soon. It's my most epic success yet as everything was made from scratch and done by hand. No ice cream machines, no blenders. As it actually worked, plus it's a dessert so by default, I've kept an ingredient list so that one day, it can be replicated.

Jelly:

Pomegranate rose water jelly (bottom)
200mL pomegranate juice (approx 2 pomegranates)
5.8g gelatine powder
2 tablespoons (approx) rosewater
Minimal boiling water to dissolve gelatine
The pomegranate layer was prepared first. The gelatine powder was dissolved in some boiling water. I have a feeling it was supersaturated, so the rosewater was added to the gelatine mix. The pomegranate juice was moderately warmed up by the means of a water bath, just to allow everything to mix. It was then left to set overnight. I am really glad I used real pomegranate here, as it gave a beautiful, rich, crimson colour. I do wish it was less cloudy, but I preferred it over the reconstituted bottled stuff that seemed more red than crimson.
Coconut orange blossom water jelly (top)
300mL coconut water (approx 1 coconut)
9.9g gelatine powder
3 tablespoons (approx) orange blossom water
Finely chopped coconut meat (visual gauge)
Minimal boiling water to dissolve gelatine

Like the above, the gelatine was dissolved in boiling water, and the coconut water heated separately. Orange blossom water was added, and then the finely chopped coconut was added until it looked like a good mix. I actually had a coconut when I thought this recipe up, but for the sake of not having to strain out random coconut bits and to maintain clarity of jelly, I cheated and used bottled coconut water. Would have had the same result, really :P. I kept swirling the mixture in the fridge every now and again, until the solution was starting to set - once the coconut pieces suspended rather than floated, I poured it onto the pomegranate layer. This also meant that the liquid was not hot enough to melt the pomegranate layer.Mint leaves were added at this point for an extra layer of visuals ad flavour. At this stage of jellification the mint leaves could still be pushed to the bottom of the coconut later, so they set perfectly in the middle.

Once fully set, I cut them into rough squares, so that one mint leaf was in each square. Due to the shape of the bottom of these containers, I also had to trim the uneven pomegranate bottom so that each piece was flat.

Sorbet:

Raspberry sorbet

250g raspberries, hand crushed and juice extracted
Approx. 1/2 teaspoon sugar, to taste
Appox. 50-70mL water
I actually checked online to make sure that this was possible, as I had no idea if sorbet could be made without a machine. Turns out the answer was yes, though I'm not sure why water was required. It did help with the volume and diluted the strong raspberry flavour. I just heated this till I felt I had no need to keep it on the stove - yes, I was that vague and clueless. I also went against the advice of the multiple sites I visited, and didn't add lemon/lime juice, though if anything this was more a flavour preference as well as a preservative that I didn't need.
Mixing was the easy part. This ended up making less than 300mL of sorbet, and I had to continuously mix every 30-45mins to ensure it didn't form the wrong kind of crystals. I had a backup plan to turn it into granita if all else failed, but I didn't need to. I was cutting it very close as I served it pretty much JUST as it had completed freezing. It had an excellent raspberry flavour, and I was happy that it was just sweet enough and had tang to it.

Crumbs:

Pistachio crumb

Handful of pistachios
1 teaspoon rosewater
I didn't measure the amount of pistachios I used. They were just finely chopped, then placed on the pan with a teaspoon of rosewater mixed in. When I tasted one of the pieces, it did have a rose fragrance to it, so it succeeded!
I had originally played with the idea of making sugared pistachios, but I didn't want to go through the effort of toffee-ing everything up. This was my next best alternative.
Sauce:
Blackberry mint sauce
125g blackberries (hand crushed and juice extracted)
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
Sprig of mint
I decided later on that I would need a sauce for presentation purposes. I also wanted to keep the theme of berries and red. I bought extra blackberries as they were way cheaper than raspberries (about half the price) in case I needed more juice for my sorbet. Luckily I didn't, so I could use these for sauce. I simmered this away until it was quite thick. When it was cooled, it was almost jam - but not quite. The mint just adds to the theme and makes the sauce refreshing. This was supposed to also be sweet compared to the sorbet as it was sparse on the plate.
Once it was all prepared, it came to plating! There was a love heart squiggle in the sauce, but then I placed a jelly. It looked pretty much how I envisioned it in my mind. I also can't believe that I pretty much managed to quenelle the sorbet AND that it held long enough that I could do a full photoshoot with it. I do admit some of this was due to also turning the aircon down to about 16 degrees, though it probably didn't make too much difference.
Mint leaves and pomegranate arils were added as decoration, but didn't detract as they were part of the main ingredients anyway. I also considered making candied mint leaves, but couldn't be bothered, as it involved raw egg whites and more sugar, and I wanted this dish as sugar free as possible, as the natural flavours should be enough - and they were! The end result was restuarant-worthy, my signature dessert, and also made with love and nothing artificial or unnecessary!
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Reine's cooking adventures part 3

2 months in Adelaide, and three posts about my cooking! If all goes well there might be a part 4 as I really want to make kingfish ceviche, but alas no kingfish fillets yet! I may consider buying a whole fish...Anyway, so I'm finding that I'm actually getting bored of cooking, not because of the cooking itself, but trying to find inspiration for new experiments (dishes). I've gone through so many different animals/meats that I'm running out of proteins to play with. I'm deliberately avoiding quail because I have no way to debone it.Instead of boring text, onto pictures! Since I've moved apartments I've had to transition from gas to electric cooking with mixed results (undercooking kangaroo), but for the most part I still have some magical godlike luck/ability to make fantastic, medium rare meats.Following straight off from my last cooking post, this was kangaroo with leftover zucchini flower. I had two that I accidentally damaged so I figured they'd look just as good as petals.

Upon reflection, I didn't like the way my first version of tuna tataki turned out in terms of presentation. So then of course, I had to do it again! I like version 2's plating a lot better. Plus watercress always makes things fancy.

I then took on the challenge of salt and pepper squid, a dish that is very popular with my brother and myself. I bet this would make him jealous, it turned out much better than I hoped! I remember reading up on how to make salt and pepper squid, agonising over the fact that I only had spelt flour and wasn't sure how or if it would work with a mass of salt and pepper. I didn't even know why I needed flour in the mix, being the nub that I am. However my ability to "cook by panicking" worked out better than expected! I was incredibly proud of this dish, though I don't think anything can surpass the visual glory that was my salmon and stuffed zucchini flower, but this was close!

However, I'm not just all about super fancy, so I can actually make stuff that's a little more normal.

Stir fried satay chicken with mushroom, carrot, snow pea, onion, capsicum:

Porterhouse steak with basil, tomato, radish, cucumber, tomato salad:

Salmon and prawn plate:

I got bored of buying normal steak so I opted for some aged stuff, which actually is tastier. I was still struggling with the cooktop so it was slightly too cooked on the outside and undercooked on the inside. I did find corn and pomegranate and they are sooo tasty when added to a fennel salad!

I was craving tomatoes, and I think mixed heirlooms just aren't in season, so I had to settle for red, yellow and black (black russian). I can't believe how tasty heirlooms are, compared to normal tomatoes. I also got some basil, because TOMATO AND BASIL. I struggled with fish because I was too early and they didn't have snapper. I couldn't wait any longer due to work, so I rouletted and chose monkfish! Not that I have any idea what that was. I still prefer snapper, after this adventure.

During my shopping I saw some gruyere, and just absolutely could not resist buying some. Which then reminded me I had a tasty tomato and taleggio toast from Paddy's Lantern, so then I had to buy some taleggio to go with the tomatoes I bought. For some reason I had this bright idea to mix the taleggio and gruyere together in a "sauce" to put  on the tomatoes... so I double boiled it to mix and then added some olive oil for who knows what reason! This all seemed to work nicely when it was warm and homogeneous, but as soon as it was on my cold tomatoes for too long it semi solidified into the funkiest textured... glooby thing ever. Whoops!

Last of all is my Venison Project! The most epic of all! I decided for some reason I would try my hand at venison, probably because I have a friend who shares psychic waves with me and venison is a meat that is common enough that it had to be experimented with. When I asked them what kind of meat it cooked like, I was hoping to compare it to something like beef, or pork, something normal. Instead, after thinking about it for a while, the shop assistant said kangaroo. Great. That meant it was a tricky meat! GOOD THING I HAVE COOKED KANGAROO BEFORE. So then I tried reading up on some cooking tips, and figured I'd just go with salt pepper like I always do. But then that night I got home late, and was too lazy to cook meat, so I opted for mussels, which I both cooked and devoured in 5 mins.

That meant more time to think about venison! So while walking through Woolworths I decided I'd grab a herb mix packet thing - labelled for flavouring lamb - and would completely flavourfy my venison. This mix contained fresh rosemary, thyme and parsley. I never knew thyme smelled like it did! It reminds me of olives. Anyway, so I rubbed the whole bunch onto both sides of my venison leg steak, poured some olive oil in it and left it to marinate overnight. Now also during this time I figured I'd try making something called orange butter sauce. Upon research, it turns out this was a real sauce! So I bought oranges and butter. Then the next day I bought another packet of herbs, this time containing marjoram, sage, tarragon, rosemary and thyme. I put some of that with a couple of oranges I juiced with my fist, as my apartment didn't have an orange juicer and I wasn't going to pay $5 for the only one available in the shops. I simmered it and added butter randomly, without even measuring exactly how much butter I was adding. By the end of it, it was nicely reduced and glossy. And possibly too buttery but hey, butter is butter is tasty. I tried it and was pleasantly surprised that it was tangy and orangey!

So back to the venison. So I rubbed some coarsely ground salt and pepper on it about an hour before cooking, cause I then took an hour to prepare my salad and make the sauce. Yes, I am ridiculously slow and inefficient since I still claim that I don't cook - I mean I've only been cooking for 2 months, and only for myself! When I was finally ready to cook the venison I had no game plan - just a little while on each side, while playing with the heat and trying to wing it as best as possible. People have asked me how I test the "done-ness" of my meat but my only reply is "I don't time it, I just panic and hope for the best!" I guess I really do have some sort of food god watching over me, as wow, my venison project was an absolute winner. Tangy orange butter sauce, great salad, and medium-rare-not-tough-at-all-super-tender venison! I was amazed that it was neither under nor overcooked! Beginner's luck I say!

I'm still not sure that orange butter was the best match for the meat, but it made the salad taste amazing. The venison had enough flavour from all the marinating it had been through, so I was happy with it all round. There's another achievement for my ego.

Now the only thing left to do is agonise whether I want to try going to an 8 course degustation at a restaurant here called Celcius (the head chef is ex Noma, Marque and know knows what else!), and the only way I can excuse myself for not going awkwardly by myself and forking out $130 for dinner, is to make something as visually epic and remotely nice tasting as the vegetable garden that was part of their menu when they opened.

Well, I never know what I'm going to eat till I go shopping, so that's all for now!

FOOD NUB EXTRAORDINAIRE

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