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The last couple of weeks in Thorndike Kitchen

As you know, I am going to move out of thorndike st in September, and this blog is going to move too. This kitchen is not big, a small counter space, dining table is not stable, no disposal, no dishwasher..( I can name a bunch of complains), but this is where I am learning and grow,  you can never forget a place like this. These are what happened in the last couple of weeks here

Baked plantain with cheddar cheese and tomato, spicy cilantro sauce

(inspired by plantain tomato pizza from vege planet)

Seared scallop with Champagne grape , red wine sauce, pesto, whipped feta cream

(this is champagne grape season!)

Sweet corn carrot, jalapeño soup with Parmesan scallion popover

( Inspired by Simon Pearce)  

marjoram sauce marinade UFO squash , fingerling potato, purple potato

UFO Squash:

( I like the fact they barely have seeds)

Deal with lean fish-Poached Fish

Oliver oil poached Halibut with pesto

(prosciutto wrapped Turkish fig with stuffed goat cheese)

Milk poached cod, scallion egg rolls with romesco sauce

Poach is a very delicate way to cook fish, and you can taste the original flavor of fish that comes from the ocean, also prevent from ovecooked( if you are really doing poach, but not boiling)

For lean fish, it's good to use oliver oil , butter poach, to make it more moisture and juicy. The point is to season the liquid well, otherwise your fish will be very bland.

Add some herb into your poach liquid, like thyme, bay leaves, peppercorn , season with salt, poach temperature( low heat for my stovetop), 5mins

Egg roll:

the secrete to make tender egg is to add some fat( like heavy or light cream) and some water( I used chicken stock), milk has too much protein. Some chef even discard egg white to reduce the protein.

This is a Japanese style egg roll, but I saw some recipe about romesco with omelette, so I guessed they would work too, and this is so true!

Romesco style red pepper coulis

One of my favorite sauce, needs some work. Roasted pepper, remove skin, boiling pepper and garlic and some shallot in chicken stock, smoke paprika, cayenne pepper , reduce the liquid,  then blend it together with some nuts( usually use bleached  almond and hazelnut, but I am so smart to use macadamia ~~. not sure if they will taste the same) also this is not very authentic remesco, usually it also has tomato. stale bread, vinegar. I would like to try this more authentic one next time:

 http://www.finecooking.com/recipes/romesco_sauce.aspx

the last thing I want to say is ...

it's so expensive to experiment on fish~~

Restaurant week dining rehearsal -ratatouille terrine

This is one of the dishes on the Stanhop's restaurant week menu

they call it as:

GRILLED SUMMER VEGETABLE TERRINE

AUBERGINE**, CHEVRE CREAM*, LEMONY PESTO DRESSING

(**:eggplant, *: whipped goat cheese cream)

So I made it myself first.

Grilled( on my griddle):

eggplant(peeled), golden zucchini, portabella mushroom

Stove top roasted:

red &yellow pepper

(this is an old picture about fire roast tomato and red pepper)

Picked:

Fresh basil

After everything is done, put them in a mode layer by layer, filled in tomato sauce and gelatin mixture( you can alway make over this by adding herbs)

chili for a couple of hours

Whipped goat cheese:

Goat cheese and heave cream  , blended in a food processor, and it will become 'goat mousse'

Super delirious, totally worthy the work

and next time, I will artichoke in it

Let's fry flowers!

This is zucchini flower I got from fresh market and she told me...

I can fry them!

so I decided to make tempura

prepare, I stuffed a piece of goat cheese in it

which proves to be not fit here

Batter: 1cup flour

1 cup buttermilk

1egg

about 1/2 cup cheddar

Italian herbs mix

1Tbs canola oil

salt /pepper

Look like chicken wings-_-'

if you ask me how it taste like

I would say 'savory Italian cheddar crispy batter with a very soft inside'

Battle of beans!

I got a present , home planted, beans! So I started a battle of beans myselft

Beans tomato, basil salad

beans with smoke salmon, oliver cream cheese in pita

prosciutto wrapped beans, pan seared. poached eggs and Hollandaise  sauce, crispy prosciutto crumbles 

( I made the Hollandaise   from scratch!)

Green beans tempura with tempura dipping( mirin, ponzo) 

I think , most of the places where you use asparagus, you can replace with beans, but beans have to be cooked in water until tender.And they come out good

Hollandaise  , first time, not very successful, I think, maybe too much butter, so the color is too yellow.

Hollandaise sauce is to use double boiler cook egg yolks and acid(vinegar) until emulsion formed, then carefully add melted butter as whisked.usually add some cayenne pepper

Mayo is made from egg yolks and oil

Worship Oleana(2)

Goat cheese rice cake ( with golden raisin and pine nuts), champagne grape red wine sauce , champagne grape and baby arugula 

Seared scallop with warm Fig, Fig jam, crispy prosciutto, tomato beurre blanc

The first one was a big success, I am very proud of myself ! In Oleana, it was a grape leaves stuffed with goat cheese rice with champagne grape sauce and champagne grape. I made it over by  adding golden raisin and pine nuts, skipping grape leaves but pan fried it to give it a crispy outside, creamy inside.

As for the sauce, I boiled and reduced red wine with butter champagne grape and shallots, chicken stock, a little bit balsamic vinegar and pomegranate concentration , then blend it and filter to get the silky sauce.

The second one, it was a warm Fig , seared scallop with fig pistachio jam, underneath was tomato kisir. and pistachio cream 

It was too sweet for me, so I added prosciutto , which goes well with fig. I made fig, walnut jam by reducing red wine with dried fig, walnut, and blend to make a jam.

Didn't make pistachio cream , instead make berrue blanc as the fatty/cream part

It was OK, don't think the combination is a keeper.

ps: glad I can get some cooking inspiration back. I was frustrated by dining out more but little progress in cooking, now it seems to start getting paid back!  I appreciate....

Worship Oleana(1)- Grilled Patty-pan squash with spicy cilantro mint sauce with crumbed pine nuts

After a wonderful dinner in Oleana, I think I totally fall into Turkish/middle-east cuisine, they have an amazing way to work on herbs and seems they use hundreds of varieties, For me, one of the most enjoyable things in cooking is to discover the 'lover' relationships between different ingredients. How I can't love them!

I have been reading Oleana and Sofra's menu and thinking about how to make them by myself.

The very first thing is I want to copy the dishes I had and make them over in my way. Because that was an chef tasting menu, not all of them are on the menu.  I asked the waitress about the ingredients of each dish, for the part I can't remember, I just figure it out in my way

The first one is about grilled 'zebra zuchini' ( does it really exist?)with spicy cilantro sauce with crumbed almond.

I found the cuttie patty-pan squash in store, aha, they are good candidates too!

The spicy cilantro sauce, I used cilantro, mint, a little bit parsley and basil, I pan-roasted garlic and jalapeño and blended all of them together. it's like a kind of pesto without nuts and cheese.I don't have almond, use pinenuts instead.

I marinade the sliced squash in the hot sauce and pan-grilled them .

It's very close to the Oleana's,  except I used little jalopano, also I will cut the squash thick next time, which  I believe will taste more meaty

I am going to do this series for a while, so ..Good start, cheers!

white gazpacho with pickled shrimp

white gazpacho with picked shrimp

A bad news, I think I have a procrastination problem. Overwhelmed by my new job, new life, still confused and unsure about the future, . Never stop planning, but really start doing anything. In the aspect of cooking, usually it's like when I do grocery shopping for a particular dish, I will come up with many other plans, some of which sound more exciting than my initial plan, then I buy them all. After I get home, I don't know which to start, then I probably only make one of them, all the other remain as 'planned'. Before, it seems I can cook anytime, but now, it becomes a very big thing, I have to be in a right mood, even need some 'determination', like ' OK, LET ME COOK today! i MUST'

This is not the only thing I cooked since my last blogging, I made some not pretty stuffs, had some failures in experiments, all those frustration are really killing  me , even this dish, I am not 100% satisfactory with it..

Before this, I also made a regular roasted pepper gazpacho, then I discover the white gazpacho, got intrigued, I have no resistant for pretty dish.

white gazpacho usually use grape ,bleached almond and stale white bread, some of them include cucumber too, so does mine, I also add Greek yogurt.But the problem here is I was too lazy to bleach almond , used tahini  and pine nuts instead. so maybe it was an  'wrong' substitution.

Also next time, I would blend all the ingredients expect bread first, then blend the filtered liquid with bread, that will make the soup thicker.

White gazpacho:

cumber: grape: bread:nut=1:1:1:0.5

Pickled shrimp:

Boiling sherry vinegar and water with sugar(1.5:1:1), add cumin, coriander , mint leaves, cilantro leaves, add shrimp, move it away from heat, chill at least 1hr. Or leave them in an airtight jar , can be used within two weeks

Paprika garlic oil:

heat oliver oil , add paprika add garlic , medium -low heat. 5-7mins

On National Ice Cream Day(7/19/2010)

National Ice Cream Day - 3rd Sunday in July
In 1984, President Ronald Reagan proclaimed July as National Ice Cream Month. He also established National Ice Cream Day as the third Sunday in the month.
( This is official , not something businessmen made up for selling more ice cream)

On the national ice cream day, we had a ' Fire and Ice' event.
Fire: Hot Pot
Location: Little Q Hot Pot
Address:196 Massachusetts Ave Arlington, MA 02474
Review: Very tiny serving size, be prepared to ask for multi serves if for a big group
Conclusion: In this country, I have to make my own hot pot party 
(There are several things that I have to make own in this country:
Korean BBQ, Bibimbamp, hot pot, chicken noodle soup and most of other kinds of soup..)

Ice (I): Toscanini's 

Location: Central square

We ordered 13 flavors of ice cream, unfortunately, they change the menu regularly, so some cool flavors got missed , like the spicy one and tea flavor( not an ordinary green tea one), I encourage everyone to try the spicy ice cream if you have a chance. It's very good balanced, if you are a fan of spicy mexican chocolate, you would love this one

right: maple cayenne chip( spicy)

Left: earl  grey(tea!)

Our ice cream is under prepared

Total 13 flavors, labeled

Beyond imagination, but I actually don't think it's a good combination, I couldn't taste fig very much

I would like to see salty chocolate ice cream with almond, as chocolate with sea salt

These two have very alike flavor, the hazelnut one seemed to have more blacksesame flavor than blacksesame ice cream,  whatever, we love it's nutty!

Christina's has a burnt sugar one, that is something either you love or hate

But this one, after the  first bite, it was nothing but 'burnt', we even doubted they forgot to put sugar in it

But later, some of us got to like it.

Some impressive but lack of pictures: 

lavender (****): very intense, but it didn't remind me lavender at the first place without looking at the label

Blueberry pancake: yes, that was pancake!(*****)

Ice(II): Christina's 

Location: Iman square

I thought we would have more flavors in Christina', but it ended up Toscanini has more exotic flavors.

But still, highly recommend green tea and red bean here, a while ago, they had rose flavor, but gone already

Total seven flavors

Sweet corn! 

I would like to follow up with more ice cream tasting report

Ice cream is sweet, cool, make you feel good, 

it's also Legendary !

Le Cordon Bleu open house and french cooking demo

I went to the open house in Le Cordon Bleu Boston , I got to visit the classrooms----actually kitchens, and had an French cooking demonstration. I know it's a place that I am supposed to be in, I am always most happy cooking in the kitchen, there were hundreds of nice gears and lots of fresh ingredients, I wouldn't notice how time passed if I was cooking or experimenting there. But I can't make myself move on to become a student here  and change my whole life. At least now, it's not a right time for me. Maybe I just can 'love cooking with abandon', but I think I can 'cook with abandon', and I am not afraid to claim that.

Those are the 'classrooms'

This is the restaurant 'Technique(tek-neek)' for students, they will do cooking, serving and all the other kinds things in real world restaurants there. I got to see the menu, which is very tempting French cuisine , but with a good deal

This is the kit box that every student will get one on their first day. Then they only need to carry this whenever they go to school, no laptop please!

After the tour, there was a French cooking demo, Chef demostarted salmon two ways for us: poached and sauté with vegetable(fennel, zucchini , carrot, tomato ragu and sweet corn puree)

The two big screens are showing what is going on on the cooking table, this is also how it works when they teach

1. Make sweet corn puree

chef said, using a larger flat container, so the sweet corn will only be in the container but not everywhere

Also, using the back of the knife to do it another time, to get the sweet pulps. Chef also revealed a secrete about food, the real flavor is always in an uneatable parts, which is the best for making stock

So we saved the sticks for corn stock( some onion, garlic, thyme, bay leaves)

Next step is to saute the sweet corns. Heat pan with butter,  instead of throw sweet corns into the pan directly, Chef used a technique here, removed the pan from the stovetop, then added the sweet corns , it will prevent the corns from being browned. Then added corn stock, let it cook for 10 mins until fully cooked, used a blender to make puree

this is the sweet corns in corn stock

2. Making ragout, this is French ragout (main-dish stew), different from Italian tomato sauce ragu. Heat pan and butter, put all the ingredients into the pan, add fish stock and let it simmer. Chef pre-boiled the carrot, because it usually takes long for carrots to be cooked, and if you want to get fully cooked carrots by saute, it will lose the bright color, so the best way is to pre-boil them

When ragout was simmering, Chef showed us how to dice tomato, skinless, seedless ones. It involves cutting a cross on the top of the tomato, boiling it for 5 seconds, then remove the skin.

For me, it's a kind of waste, oh well, this is how fine dining works. 

At the end, Chef added the parsley butter, he made a day ahead, so the ragout turns into vivid green

3. Prepare salmon. 

For poached salmon. we need to remove the skin, Chef said: "cut into the skin 1 inch, pinch it, flip, take the skin off'.........but I really had a hard time doing this. > <'

Season the fillets and let them rest a few minutes, pat VERY VERY DRY. Don't put the salmon in to the pan until the pan is VERY VERY HOT(  my problem is, my nonstick griddle can never be very hot :(( , time to get new gears!)

seasoning salmon, always in a higher position to season more evenly

poached salmon in fish stock(lower left), saute salmon( upper, right)

this is something new: after skin side is done, flip it, pour out the oil from the pan, then add some butter into it

splash butter onto salmon

4. Plating: add ragout, add corn puree in the center, put the fillet on

Really nice , real, really ...

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Now my turn:

Making parsley butter: picked the leaves and boil them about 5 seconds, immediately put them into ice water. using a blender to make puree, whipped into softened butter.

For some reason I didn't get very fine parsley puree, I don't know if I should blame my awkward blender or my skills. 

I ended up with something like this, and this basically predicts the failure of my ragout

get corns and make stock

refining the puree

diced tomato

you can tell from the pattern on the skin, I used griddle pan, also I think I need a cast iron pan to get that perfect crust. 

It's easy to tell the differences between mine and the Chef's . A long way to go, immature chef Gaogao, well, I will be back to make them again1!