Lemon and Thyme Chicken Breast with Brussels Sprouts, Mushrooms, and Avocado

So, normally my girl and I don't have chicken as she's allergic to the additives in commodity chicken as such, chicken has become a rare treat and we only have it when I buy a whole free run or organic chicken. Which is not that often. However, on the suggestion made by a mutual acquaintance (*cough, my mom, cough*) I bought some Kosher chicken breasts under the premise that they would be kosher for my girl to eat. She ate this last night, and will be eating this all week, so here's hoping that she doesn't breakout and have any major histamine response.

Ingredients


Chicken
8 Half Chicken Breasts (Butterflied)
1 Chopped Onion
3 Lemons (Juice and Zest)
1 Tablespoon Granulated Garlic
1 Tablespoon Thyme
Organic Chicken Stock (Enough To Cover)
Olive Oil

Sauce
2 Lemons (Juice and Zest)
250ml Organic Chicken Stock
4 Cloves of garlic (Peeled and Sliced)
Pan Juices from Chicken
5g of Salted Butter
Salt and Pepper

Vegetables
800g Brussels Sprouts
450g Mushrooms
2 Tbsp Porcini Mushroom Powder
Salt and Pepper
Olive Oil




Directions

1. Prepare a marinade of the juice and fine zest of 3 lemons, 1 chopped onion, 1 tbsp granulated garlic, 1 tbsp dried thyme and enough chicken stock to cover. Butterfly, then marinate chicken breasts for 8 hours, any longer and the chicken breasts will start to cure too much in the acid.

2. Heat a large non-stick frypan or grillpan over moderately high heat for several minutes then add chicken breasts and grill on each side until browned, turn and flipping occasionally to promote more even cooking. Remove meat from pan once an internal temperature of 160F has been reached. Remove to plate and allow juices to collect. Notes: Do not force meat off grill as this will likely causing tearing, if sticking, wait. Brush raw side when turned up with olive oil before first flip.

3. In a small saucepan, reduce the juice and zest of two lemons, 250ml chicken stock, and garlic to a syrup. Add 50ml chicken stock, pan juices from resting chicken, add butter in small chunks and whisk till smooth. Season to taste.

4. In a pressure cooker, add the Brussels sprouts and about 300ml of water. Cook under pressure for 12 minutes.

5. In an 11" french skillet, add mushrooms and cook, covered, over low heat until mushrooms are soft and their juices have rendered. Sprinkle with porcini mushroom powder, salt, white pepper, and a splash of olive oil.

6. Quarter and peel an avocado, slice medium thin and fan out on serving plate.

Crispy Trout With Shallot White Wine Cream and Grapes and Lemon

So, about a month ago, I started taking weekend classes at George Brown College and this past week we were supposed to make trout poached in fish stock with grapes and shallots then turn the poaching liquid into a cream sauce. I tasted the demo dish and didn't really like it very much and almost wanted to leave the class early and not cook, and then I decided to make the dish my own. I'm glad I did. My girl loved what I made. And I thought it was delicious too.

Ingredients


1 Side of Trout Cut into 3 equal pieces (Bones and skin removed)
1 Lemon (Julienne Zest and Juice Reserved)
1 Handful of Seedless Green Grapes (Crushed)
3 Shallots (Finely diced)
60g Butter
20g Bread Flour
200ml Cream
200ml White Wine
250ml Fish Stock
1 Handful of Parsley (Chopped)
2 Tsp of Dried Tarragon
Salt, White Pepper
Olive Oil

1. Peel the lemon and julienne the peel. Crush the grapes and combine with the lemon peel. Squeeze half the lemon into the peel and grape garnish. Chill.

2. Prepare a mixture of the flour and 30g of the butter in a small bowl until a paste is formed, form into small pieces and reserve. Over medium high heat, in a small saute pan, add 30g of butter and the shallots, saute until softened. Add white wine and reduce for 2 minutes. Reduce to medium low, add cream, stir until combined. Increase to medium heat, add butter and flour paste in tsp amounts, stir until combined. Add until sauce has thickened enough that a line drawn on your stirring spoon stay separated but the sauce still runs off the spoon, if too thick, add more fish stock a tbsp at a time. Reduce heat to low then season to taste with salt and white pepper.

3. In a frypan over medium high heat, add olive oil and heat until rippling, add salmon fillets and fry for 2 minutes per side then break into small pieces and continue frying until crispy.

4. To serve, add sauce to warm plate, place fish in centre on sauce in neat conish pile, garnish with grape and lemon peel mixture, parsley, lemon juice, and dried tarragon.

Chocolate Croissants "Pate levee Feuiette"

So, I made these yesterday in my boiling hot kitchen (terrible for pastry, doubly bad for this one) and used a bad recipe, but they still worked out ok. See below, for what seems to be a really good recipe video, and one that I'm going to use next time around.

April

It's been a little while since anything has been posted as my sister was in town and I was doing stuff with her. The two of us made a fairly solid dinner for my parents, aunt, uncle, and of course, my girl. I don't have any photos but we had five courses of which my mother insisted I print a menu card for and make a copy for each person... uncomfortable... if I make anything from that meal again, I'll write up recipes and provide photos.

I was at the St. Lawrence Market yesterday and I got a whole piece of Peameal Bacon, and since I had a couple of buttermilk biscuits left over from the last batch in the freezer and a bunch of eggs and butter, eggs benedict happened again at her request. No need to repeat anything here from the previous post, but take a look here if you're interested. The only interested thing of note is when I prepared the Peameal bacon, I dry fried it with no other fat or liquid and after it had cooked on each side, I poured water into the pan to get the fond back onto the meat as a glaze and to add a feeling of moistness back into the meat as well without compromising the crispiness. I like to do the same thing when cooking chinese dumplings, but more on that another time.

Poached Eggs

So, having made three fairly perfect poached eggs this morning, two being for me, one being for David Bowie Papillion, I've realized that there is a great deal in the freshness of an egg as it relates to poaching. There's no real mystery to it, the fresher the egg, the better it will become a nice round globe. You don't have to swirl the water, you don't have to drop the eggs in at a certain speed, you don't have to fuss too much about the temperature of the water, or the ratio or type of vinegar used. You just need fresh eggs and water heated over medium heat. If you do have a thermometer, the water should be heated to around 82 degrees celcius, and if you do decide to add vinegar, any will do, any it's probably something like 30ml for every 1L of water. Also, if you crack your egg into a small bowl, or something before pouring it into the water, it's much easier. But that's it, use fresh eggs to make great poached eggs.

BEARTATO LASAGNA!!!! 50TH POST!!!!

BEARTATO!

BEARTATO LASAGNA!!!!

So, Beartato Lasagna. So, I've never eaten bear, never cooked with bear, never seen someone eat some bear, and now, I've cooked bear meat, and eaten it too. And, after all the things I've heard to the contrary, it was actually quite delicious. The meat I happened to get was from a town a few hours north of where I live from a co-worker who got it from a friend who got it from a bear that was apparently shot by a child. True story, or so I was told. As to why, I made Beartato Lasagna, literally, with real bear, and of course, real potatoes, I don't know, it just made sense. It feels wrong to me to even consider making a Beartato Lasagna  without using real bear, and so, I don't know if there is really a better use for bear meat. I'm going to have to freeze this bear until a friend of mine can come over for dinner and share it with my girl and I. Good thing I had more than enough bear meat to make a full size bear and potato lasagna as well for eating purposes in the near or immediate future.

Roast Pork and Mushrooms, Asparagus and Puree, Fondant Carrot, Parsnip Puree, Fried Cabbage and Spinach

So, this is going to be dinner for my girl and I for this week. I've never made fondant of carrot before, and now having made it, I can see how important consistency of cutting is, both in the thickness of each piece of carrot, and having a flat even surface. I made a gravy for this dinner from the drippings and from cooked mushrooms, but its so thin its invisible, I'm going to reduce it for next serving. Also, having asparagus with asparagus puree is  both funny, and delicious and a good way of using asparagus trimmings. 

Ingredients

1 Rolled Pork Loin

14 Mushrooms (Mix of White and Brown)

2 Large Parsnips

1 Giant Carrot

1 Bunch of Asparagus

1 Tablespoons of Pure Ground Porcini Powder

1 Head of Garlic

Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper

Lemon Juice

Organic Chicken Stock

Dried Tarragon

Directions

1. Rub the pork loin with salt, olive oil, and garlic. Sear on all sides, including ends, stud with garlic, season with pepper, cover with aluminum foil, bake at 300F until an internal temperature of 155F is reached. Deglaze roasting juices with water, reduce, reserve, season to taste.

2. Peel and cut carrot into thick discs. Place discs in saute pan, add chicken stock to cover, cook over medium high heat until carrots have absorbed the stock. Remove carrot, add olive oil to pan, heat, then sear carrots on both sides until lightly browned. Season with salt and pepper.

3. Peel and cut parsnips into large chunks, boil in salted water until tender, drain water, puree parsnips using immersion blender, season with salt, pepper, and a small splash of olive oil.

4. Trim asparagus and reserve trimmings, blanch stalks in water with a pinch of salt and a splash of lemon juice. Reduce liquid. Reserve. In a small saucier, boil trimmings until soft. In a blender, combine trimmings, and 3 stalks of asparagus, salt, pepper, and olive oil, blend until smooth. 

5. Clean and slice mushrooms. Heat saucier over low heat, add mushrooms and cover. Check periodically and stir to prevent excessive browning. After most of the liquid from the mushrooms has been extracted, add porcini mushroom powder, and stir to combine. Add reserved roasting juices Season with salt, pepper, olive oil, and tarragon. 

6. Remove outer layers of cabbage, separate leaves, slice into fine julienne. In a saute pan, heat olive oil over medium high heat, add cabbage, stir to prevent burning, cook uncovered until lightly browned, cover and reduce to medium low, check occasionally and stir. Cook cover for approximately 10 minutes or until desired tenderness is reached.

Homemade Pork Sausage and White Bean Casserole

So, to make this is fairly simple. I don't really have much to say, other than I've never made this before, it's not a cassoulet, and it is still delicious. Also, I don't know why I waited so damn long to make sausages, they're really not that hard to make, and are just so damn nice. The basic method is to season the meat mixture, add more salt than you'd normally use to season something to help the meat bind together, roll spoonfuls of the mixture in plastic wrap and twist then tie off the ends. Then simmer them in hot water until firm, then brown in a frying pan with hot oil whole. Then slice.

Pretty tasty.

Ingredients


4 Homemade Pork Sausages (Cooked and sliced)
300g Dried Navy Beans
2 Medium Sized Carrots (Diced)
2 Turnips (Peeled, Diced, Parboiled)
2 Stalks of Celery (Washed, Diced)
1 Green Pepper (Diced)
1 Medium Onion (Sliced)
1 Can Tomato Paste
Olive Oil
Granulated Garlic


Directions


1. Caramelize sliced onion over low heat in frypan, when caramelized, add carrots and celery. Cook for 5 minutes until slightly softened, add half can of tomato paste and mix until well coated.

2. In a roasting pan, add the parboiled turnips, the onion tomato paste mixture and the other remaining ingredients except the olive oil, garlic, and tomato paste. Bake covered at 300F for 30 minutes.

3. Uncover, spread remaining tomato paste over the top, add garlic, and a few splashes of olive oil then broil at 450F for 5-10 minutes until oil is no longer visible and tomato paste has darkened.

 

RAW! and wriggling. I should make these more often.

Ingredients

450g Ground Pork

1 Tablespoon of Fine Sea Salt

2 Tablespoons of Dried Herb De Provence

5 Cloves of Garlic

Directions

1. Wrap cloves of garlic in aluminum foil and roast in oven at 300F for 30 minutes. Mash out roasted garlic and press smooth.

2. Mix all ingredients. Then spoon onto plastic wrap and roll into cylinder, twist and tie off the ends.

3. Simmer in hot water until sausages are firm then remove the sausages to cold water.

4. Brown sausages in hot oil on all sides.

Seared Salmon, Roasted Cauliflower Puree, Bok Choy

So, this was really my first time cooking salmon at home and buying a whole filet, removing pin bones, and portioning. And also, this was really the first time I fully embraced the Four Hour Body Diet. I'm pretty sure this meal is compliant, and also fairly delicious and relatively simple to prepare. Both my girl and I have decided to try the diet and although we started only 4 days ago as of this writing, its already showing signs of working, especially on the scale. The salmon was seared in a hot pan with a bit of unfiltered olive oil and brushed with a bit of lemon, olive oil and dill, the bok choy was boiled and then coated with a small amount of sesame oil. The roasted cauliflower and garlic puree was made in the oven, then combined and pureed and again, mixed with a tiny bit of unfiltered olive oil and salt and pepper. The whole grain mustard is store bought.

Salmon in general, looks better than it tastes.

Steak, Turnips, Potatoes, Parsley

So, not much to say really, I'm going to make the Chili of Chili's this week for competitive reasons and here is a  steak that I made for my girl because she asked for steak, turnips and potatoes. The turnips were boiled, then smashed and mixed with butter and seasoned with salt and pepper. The potatoes were roasted in the oven in homemade chicken stock then seasoned. The steak was seasoned with salt and olive oil then pan seared and then seasoned again with some pepper. The parsley was torn and put on the plate. The steak was left kind of medium rare and was cut from a sirloin tip roast. It had an odd lateral muscle running through the entire bottom half. I'm going to have to be careful for stuff like that when butchering one again.

Pressure Cooker Pot Roast, Creamed Spinach, Instamash, Roasted Grape Tomato and Bread

So, this was a cheat dinner for me as I really didn't put much effort into making it really. Still good, but not especially elaborate. I do really love oven roasting tomatoes, they are explosions of flavour! The ratio of ease to deliciousness is through the roof. Statistically, they should be included in every meal. It really does work best with grape tomatoes though. They perform well under pressure and maximum performance is essential in a cheat dinner. Also, I have three bottles of unfiltered Italian olive oil that I love finding excuses to use as a flavour additive. This meal kind of happened because my mother went to the washroom at Costco before taking me home, and I bought a few things while I was waiting. Normally you can't really but small portions of things but I found a small (small for Costco) piece of Inside Round, which is pretty damn perfect for Pot Roast, and they had a delicious spreadable cheese, flavoured with Garlic and Herb de Provence called Boursin on sale, so I bought that too, and the rest kind of fell into place.

Ingredients

Baguette or other Crusty Bread

30 Grape Tomatoes

Unfiltered Olive Oil (Or other nicely flavoured oil)

Dried Basil

Inside Round Roast

1 lbs Spinach (Washed and Trimmed)

Instamash (Plus ingredients for instamash preparation)

100 ml Milk

100g Boursin

30ml Worsterschire Sauce

15ml Balsamic Vinegar

Salt and Pepper

Olive Oil

Directions

Roast Tomatoes on Bread

1. Roast tomatoes under broiler element on a sheet pan until softened. Remove and allow to cool slightly then drizzle with olive oil and basil. Serve on bread.

Pressure Cooker Pot Roast, Creamed Spinach, Instamash

1. Sear inside round on all sides. 

2. Combine Balsamic Vinegar, Worsterschire Sauce, and Dijon Mustard and 300ml cold water in pressure cooker and turn on, to heat up. Add meat when pressure cooker has heated and pressure cook for 40 minutes at full pressure.

3. Wilt spinach in a dry saucepan on medium heat in batches. Squeeze spinach to remove excess liquid. Clean out saucepan then add milk and boursin, heat on medium heat and stir until combined. Add wilted spinach and  stir over heat for 3 minutes. Then remove from heat.

4. Using an immersion blender, pulse cut the spinach slightly to make for a medium smooth texture.

5. Prepare instamash according to package directions.

6. Slice roast and plate with spinach and mash, season to taste, serve with more dijon mustard.

Veal Picatta, Roast Potatoes, Dry Fried Vegetables, Roast Mushrooms. Dobos Torte.

So, technically, this is not a normal post, as this was what I made for my mother for her birthday dinner. Since my girl was still there, eating with us, it still technically counts. My mother is Hungarian, and loves Dobos Torte and I never really understood why, as for me, Dobos always seems lacklustre, and I never really understood the caramel top layer as it was thick and impossible to cut through. Now, having made the cake myself, I finally get it. It was delicious. The bitter caramel balances out the rest of the cake and it becomes a balanced slice of deliciousness. Also, controlling the thickness of the caramel layer and keeping it relatively thin and allowing it to cool slowly and soak into the top layer really helps a fork get through. Also, for some reason, my mother really loves Veal Picatta, and although, I didn't love it, she really did, so that was good. I apparently put too much parsley on things. Also, I have to give credit to SmittenKitchen for her recipe for the Dobos Torte.

Veal Picatta with Confit Garlic and Fresh Parsley 

Delicious.

Ingredients

750g Veal Scallopini

250 ml White White

150 ml Chicken Stock

40g Butter (More for Cooking) 

Juice of 1 Lemon

Capers (Mostly Drained)

Floured Plate (For dredging the Veal)

1 Head of Garlic (Peeled and Separated)

1 Handful of Fresh Parsley (Washed, Chopped Semi-Coarsely)

Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper

Directions

1. In a small saucepan, over low heat, add olive to 1/4 inch full and add garlic cloves. Cover and leave to confit. About 40 minutes.

2. Dredge the veal, dust off, place on second plate.

3. In a large frypan, on medium high heat, heat olive oil and butter, when just barely smoking hot, add veal in single layer batches, brown on both sides, remove to clean plate and reserve. Continue cooking remaining veal in this manner. Add butter and oil as needed when absorbed or burned off.

4. With frypan on the heat, add white wine to deglaze and scrape the pan and stir the sediment into the sauce. Heat wine until reduced by half then add chicken stock, lemon juice, capers, and 40g butter. Stir until sauce has thickened then add the browned veal scallopini pieces to the frypan and fold them into the sauce. 

5. Cook for about 4 minutes, then add the confit garlic cloves. Reserve oil from confit garlic.

6. Remove and arrange veal pieces to serving plate, ladle sauce on and around the veal. Add parsley on top. Drizzle reserved oil from the confit garlic saucepan onto veal and around.

7. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot.

Oven Roasted Potatoes and Mushrooms

Oven Roasting is smart.

Ingredients

4 Large Russet Potatoes (Peeled, Washed, Cubed)

12 Mushrooms (Cleaned and Halfed)
Italian Seasoning  Really any spices works here.

Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper

Directions

1. In a large bowl, place, cubed potatoes, olive oil to coat, spices to coat. Mix to coat evenly.

2. Pour onto baking sheet and place in a 425F oven until crispy, turn occasionally to promote even browning.

3. Place the mushrooms, flat side down, on the baking sheet, with the potatoes after the first turning.

Dry Fried Vegetables

In general this is more of a technique than a recipe. And would work for most vegetables. 

People that say they don't like vegetables are cooking them all wrong.

1. Place vegetables in a dry non-stick frypan and cook over medium heat uncovered until some browning occurs then season with salt and pepper and cover. Cook until vegetables are tender crisp, turning occasionally.

Dobos Torte

This delicious cake is made from several alternating layers of very thin semi-firm sponge and chocolate buttercream; the top layer is caramelized sugar. Very simple, not really that many ingredients, but very delicious.

Heaven.

Ingredients and Directions

Sponge

200g Egg Yolk (10 Egg Yolks)

200g Egg Whites (7 Egg Whites)

454g Icing Sugar

15g Lemon Juice

95g All Purpose Flour

Butter for Greasing

1. Pre-heat oven to 425F and prepare 2 12"x18" baking sheets with buttered parchment paper.

2. In a large bowl, beat the egg yolks until pale and thickened. Add the sugar in 4 batches, beating until absorbed. Add the flour and beat until well mixed. Add lemon juice and beat until well mixed. Set aside.

3. In a separate bowl and with clean whips, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.

4. Fold the egg whites into the egg yolk mixture in four batches. Gently pour half of mixture onto each prepared baking sheet and gently spread evenly onto sheet to form one single thin layer.

5. Bake both sheets in upper half of oven for approximately 10 minutes, alternating shelf layer half way through. Bake until cake is golden brown on top and semi-firm to touch.

6. Remove sheets from oven, place flat side of a cake rack onto each cake layer. Flip sheet over leaving rack correctly oriented and parchment layer up. Peel parchment layer off completely, place second cake rack, flat side down, on back side of cake layer, flip again and remove cake rack from top layer of cake, leaving correctly oriented cake layer on correctly oriented cake rack. Also, apparently it works to somehow dust your cake racks with icing sugar, I didn't really see how that was possible as the icing sugar simple slips right off the cake rack.

7. Leave to cool then cut each sheet into 4 large rectangles to make 8 rectangles total. Layer each sheet with parchment in between and set aside to cool.

Chocolate Buttercream

454g Dark Chocolate

454g Butter (Softened, Salted or Unsalted)

80g Egg Yolk (4 Egg Yolks)

16g Icing Sugar

10ml (2 Tsp) Vanilla Extract

1. Melt dark chocolate in a double boiler or in a bowl over a pot of boiling water. Set aside.

2. In another bowl, beat the softened butter until smooth add the egg yolks, vanilla, and icing sugar, mix till combined. Then add the chocolate and mix again until combined. Allow to come to room temperature before spreading on cake layers.

3. To assemble the cake, place the bottom sponge layer on parchment paper and apply liberal amounts of buttercream icing on each layer, spreading with an offset spatula or knife from the centre outwards. Reserve and set aside 1 layer for the caramel top and spread buttercream icing on and around outside the cake to seal.

Caramel Top Layer

112g (1/2 Cup) Granulated Sugar

15g (1 Tbsp) Cold Water

1. Place reserved sponge layer on well lined parchment paper sheet pan.

2. Stir cold water and sugar in a cold saucepan till combined.

3. Heat on medium high heat until mixture appears medium amber then pour the mixture evenly onto the sponge layer. Allow to cool then place on top of the cake. Refrigerate before serving.

Sooooo nice!

Valentine's Day Ricotta Basil Tortellini in Tomato Broth and Beef Tenderloin Bearnaise and Wild Mushroom Risotto

Pretty, but too salty.

If you think dry Risotto isn't real Risotto, go f*ck yerself. 

So, Valentine's Day, a nice opportunity to justify a slightly nicer than normal meal, a good reason to spend a little more on ingredients for a single meal than one normally might.

Spicy Garlic Red Snapper with Peppers and Mushrooms. Bulgur Wheat.

So, not the most exciting combination of possible foods on the planet, but this meal was more about eating the Red Snapper that we had, and not having any rice, and taking a sudden interest in Bulgur Wheat after a wonderful takeout experience at a nearby Turkish restaurant. In general this meal was not entirely disgusting, it was just very purposeful, rather than lavish and decadent. I ended up eating this for lunch again, and since my girl had the day off today, she may have as well.





Ingredients
Assume all ingredients cut to relatively equal bite size pieces.

3 Small Fillets of Red Snapper
1/2 Each of Red, Orange, Yellow Pepper
1/2 Onion
1 Zucchini
1 Handful each of White Mushrooms and Oyster Mushrooms
4 Cloves of Garlic
Sriracha, Hoisin, Worstechire Sauces to taste
2 Tsp of Ground Ginger
Sesame Oil, Olive Oil

150g Bulgur Wheat
250g Hot Water

Directions


Stir-Fry


1. On medium heat. wok or large fry-pan on medium heat. Add a few splashes each of sesame and olive oil.


2. Stir-fry onions, peppers, and garlic for about a minute, add ground ginger. Continue cooking, add zucchini. Add sauces to taste, cook until ingredients are tender crisp. Then pour contents into bowl and reserve.


3. Clean wok or fry-pan, reheat on high heat, add a few tablespoons total oil, once smoking, add fish, allow to brown on both sides, season, return vegetables, add more sauce to taste, stir to coat. Add mushrooms.


Bulgur Wheat


1. In a heat proof bowl, add bulgur wheat and hot water, cover and allow to sit for 20 minutes.

Raspberry Chocolate Mousse Cake

So, my girl's birthday is two days after mine, and since she got me a cake from Dufflet Cakes, I decided to get her a cake from yours truly. It was actually the first time I made a raspberry chocolate mousse cake, or made a mousse from scratch actually. I managed to make this cake at my parent's place, and without a proper spring form pan to boot. In a pinch, I decided to use an empty aluminum food takeout container with the bottom cut out to use as a mold for the mousse, and a guide for the base, I lined it with parchment to keep the mousse from sticking and getting really disgusting.

No spring form pan, no problem. Kind of ugly though.

For the base layer, I used a Dobos Torte recipe from a really great blog called Smitten Kitchen. You can find it here. I basically just cut the recipe into a third as I needed only one small layer. To make the chocolate mousse, I basically followed the directions of John Mitzewich at Foodwishes, he is really, really, really good at creating video recipes that really work. You can see the video below. For the raspberries, you can obviously see them on top, but I also cooked some down with enough water to cover them in a small saucepan until they were soupy then strained them and spooned them onto the base layer. I used a 1/4 pint in total, reserving enough for the top as you can see. I left the cooked raspberries tart, not adding any extra sugar to them as they provide some balance to an otherwise sweet and rich cake.

Heston Blumenthal's In Search of Perfection

I've had this book for probably at least a year, and although I've attempted bits and pieces of it, and maybe a full recipe or two, I've yet to really get into this book. That's all changed, I'm going to execute every recipe in the book, regardless of time, and expense, although I may not try to get LaBresse chickens from France, I'll instead look for extremely good quality organic free run chickens here, in Toronto. I'm pretty sure, each recipe is going to take me at least a week, even after I've sourced the ingredients and equipment, and for equipment, off the top of my head, I'm going to need a soda siphon, a meat grinder, and a vacuum bag system (for the cake), oh I just remembered, I guess I also need a paint sprayer... And maybe after I've made everything in this book if I'm feeling strong, I'll make everything in The Fat Duck Cookbook (good luck Michael).

New Apartment and a Sirloin Tip Roast

Apparently it was June 17th when I last posted anything. I guess, not being a serious professional blogger and moving apartments got the best of me. And although, I moved in to my new apartment a little over a month ago, it's not even 50% unpacked, and very happening very slowly. And although I've been cooking, I haven't been blogging for lack of organization. There was a fairly tasty tray of nachos with freshly made yogurt cheese, cheddar, guacamole, cocktail tomatoes, fine herbs, and sirloin braised in fennel seeds and shao shing (since that's the only wine I seem to buy, I should really get something else). This was perhaps due to the recent purchase of a 5kg sirloin tip roast, that I portioned off into smaller roasts, steaks, stewing beef, and thinly sliced pieces for stir -frys. All for $30, not bad at all. Sirloin tip roast is not the most tender cut out there by far, but it has a good amount of flavour, and if marinated, it works out just fine. The night before saw steak frites with sauted carrots. A simple, and satisfying dinner. I also returned from my sisters' Montreal apartment, among the things made there was a blueberry tart which worked out especially well, considering it was an emergency tart, but not surprisingly when considering the blueberries were bought from the farmers market earlier that day. I have no photos, but I hope to start making proper posts again this week.

Sweet and Sour Crispy Pork with Pineapple and Mushrooms

So, this is basically one of the best dishes I know how to make. I really love Chinese food, and ate so much Chinese food growing up, that when left to my own devices, I seem to want to make Chinese food. I think this style of cooking would be Cantonese, I think. I'm not really an expert though on such things. A couple of key things to keep in mind with this dish... after frying the battered pork, put the cooked pieces in a 320F oven until ready to serve, also keep the sauce separate from the battered pork until serving. It maintains the deliciousness of both components. Also, it's really important, if shallow frying, to fry in small batches, turn the meat often, and to spoon small amounts of additional batter onto the pork as its frying. Also, I think there is a wide margin for variance in the sauce as long as it has nice sweet and sour flavours.

Look at that saucy pile of delicious mushrooms and fresh pinapple.

Just look at all that meat. So smooth. So fine.

Ingredients

Meat

2 Pork Tenderloins (Medium Small Chunks)

2 Cups Corn Starch

2 Eggs

1 Tbsp Sesame Oil

1 Tsp White Pepper

2 Tsp Ground Ginger

1 Tbsp Granulated Garlic Powder

Salt and Pepper

Beef Stock

Sauce

1/2 Fresh Pinapple (Medium Dice)

2 Small Carrots (Finely Sliced)

1/2 Onion (Large Slices)

1 Portobello Mushroom (Large Chunks)

8 Medium White Mushrooms (Thickly Sliced)

Combine

250ml Cantonese Garlic Chili Chicken Sauce

30ml Oyster Sauce

80ml HP Sauce

30ml Rice Wine Vinegar

10ml Sesame Oil

Directions

1. Add the corn starch, spices and oil to a mixing bowl and beat the eggs into it, once it is well mixed, add the pork. The batter should be thick and coat the meat well. If it's too thick to stir, add small amounts of beef stock until it loosens enough to stir, but still thick enough to coat the meat. Cover and place in fridge to chill for at least 30 minutes before frying.

2. Heat frying oil to 375F, carefully spoon battered meat into hot oil, do not overcrowd. Turn meat often, spoon small amounts of additional batter onto meat as it frys, turn meat to quickly set extra batter. Cook until batter is nicely browned. Remove to plate, and repeat until meat is cooked. Slide the cooked battered pork on a baking sheet into a 320F oven for about 20 minutes before serving. Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper after removing it from the oven.

3. While the meat is in the oven, prepare the sauce. Heat sesame oil in a work on high heat. Add the carrots and onions. Stir fry and cook for about a minute. Add the mushrooms, stir fry for about another minute. Add the combined liquid ingredients to the work. Cook for 30 seconds. Add the pineapple. Remove from heat, set aside until serving.

Serve with jasmine rice.

Flank Steak with Baked Potato

So, normally I would have taken a slightly better better photo of the food, but we started eating. Really, this posting should be about how much I like the Grill Pan and Induction Cooktop combo that I got two weeks ago. I previously made some really nice Strip Steaks and Spanish Chorizo, but I didn't bother blogging about them, and then, last night, Flank Steak. And I must say, the Strip Steaks and the Flank Steaks were easily the best steaks I've ever made at home. Induction and Cast Iron really is the way to go. Also, not to worry, this plate of meat, potatoes, milk-fat, and sugar was preceded by a simple green salad.

Mushroom Risotto

So, I think I'm probably going to make lots and lots of risotto before I ever decide to make a recipe, also the internet is so saturated with risotto recipes, that one more doesn't really seem to be neccessary. However, this is a fairly standard mushroom risotto that I made using the leftover "asparagus broth" that I "made" a few nights back when I made asparagus to go with the crispy haddock. Also, I made this with white stuffer mushrooms that I roasted in the oven first, and real mushroom powders that I got from Pistol River Mushrooms a while back which I've been fairly liberal in using, and I'm sure you'll notice them sprinkled throughout previous blog posts, and until they're all gone, you'll probably continue to see them. There's really not much to say that hasn't already been said ad nauseam about Risotto, so with that in mind... the end.