Still Alive….

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Things They (or I) Do Behind Camera..

My Executive Chef had a cooking show interview with some telly program. I was not sure of which channel anyway. But what I know is that he presented his Seared Salmon with Aubergine Ratatouille and Stuffed Baked Salmon with Creamed Spinach.

After that of course in the kitchen I revamped something. I definitely do not mean that his dishes are not good, but rather I would say an inspiration for me to revamp it. As usual, I never copied dishes but I break down and reconstruct.

Acknowledgement: The Aubergine Ratatouille is Chef Chew’s recipe/idea. His classical cooking is uber commendable. The one that showed me the execution was Chef Tan, my direct superior/friend/sifu.

Pan-seared Salmon: I covered it with Pesto Crumbs and bake it.

Rolled Salmon with Creamed Spinach: I served it with Kakiage instead of Ratatouille

The Pesto Crumbs and Salmon Skin shows a very distinctive definition of crunchy/crispy. They define it differently but still as equally good.

Smoked Salmon, Plum Aioli

I was given a whole smoked salmon and asked to serve it during dinner. Like the old saying goes, “if we are given lemons, we make lemonade out of it.” Well, if I am given a smoked salmon, I think I can turn it into noodles. A poor man’s salmon noodle do not use transglutaminase (commonly known as meat glue). My binding agent would be egg whites and a little corn starch. Cons are that the textures will not be as spongy as the one using meat glue. But on the bright side, everyone can do this regardless, poor kitchen or home kitchen!!

Picture shown is a noodle made with smoked salmon served on a pool of plum-aioli. The smokiness against the sweet-pungent aioli is just heavenly. The aioli is whisked like how one would. Only difference is that caramelized plum sauce is added in after the garlic paste. The flavour of the aioli have so many dimensions which made it a great aioli!!

Portabello Risotto, Kakiage

I do not know the answer as to why I like to integrate Asian influences into Western dishes. I never meant to adulterate or dilute Western or Asian cuisine in whatever I do. They both reign supreme! I just felt that diners come from diverse backgrounds, ethnics and culture over here. Thus I wanted to create something that is able to relate to everyone. Something that when someone eats it, certain elements of it brings them to the memories of home, their culture, backgrounds or so on. At the same time, they experience a different level of dining experience. Something different, something surprising.

Another item for the buffet line: – Portabello Risotto served with Kakiage

The stock for the risotto was made using dried shitake mushroom that had been boiled for hours then added into chicken broth. The preparation for the risotto is pretty much the same just I used a stock that is already enriched with mushroom. Kakiage is basically vegetable fritters but the vegetables are finely julienned then coated with flour and bind with tempura batter. Lastly it is deep fried in a medium hot oil. Risotto may look like a baby food thus kakiage is served together to create a contrast in texture and to give crunch when people consume it. The kakiage is so aromatic that I do not need to use mirepoix in making my chicken broth!!!

Photoshooting

Had a photo shoot for the the hotel’s monthly promotional brochures. This time is the promotion for the new a la carte menu. The new menu includes many items but we only decided that for the photo shoot we will select these 2 gorgeous.

Seared Salmon, Vegetables, Herb Cream, Wakame-Arare

Salmon steaks that are lightly seasoned and then seared. Salmon always goes well with seaweed. This can be proven very true in Japanese cuisine where a Teriyaki Salmon typically is served with Hijiki (a type of seaweed). The seaweed will somehow draws the rich flavours of salmon out. So what I did was utilizing a dehydrated wakame (another type of seaweed) with arare to give the dish a contrast at the same time helps to draw the flavours of salmon out. Besides texture, it gives a pleasing visual making people curious about what is the “one line of tiny rocks”.

Rigatoni a Provence, Parmesan Froth

Rigatoni pasta served with tomato-based sauce and accompanied with fillet of salmon, mussels and prawns. And the froth is there to tell diners that Parmesan is not necessarily only good in its grated form!! At the end of the day..remember..always ask “why not”.

Acknowledgement: Beautiful shots are done by Cynthia. She makes just about anything look sexy with just her camera.

Treasure Land

My chef brought me to a book store and I suddenly felt like a kid in a candy store. The shelves are all glowing and calling out to me. I felt like I am drawn to the shelves and that I am one with the shelves…pffftttt. OK too much imagination.

My chef introduced a book store to me hidden in the mall in PJ. They sell really inexpensive books. Yes, dirt rocking bottom low prices!! I bought 3…for the time being. Although good books may not be available so soon or may not ever be available there. However, there are some good books in which I am glad I did not buy from Kinokuniya or Borders for 3 times the price!!

Salmon, Tomato-Parmesan Rind

I was browsing through the chiller today and needed to do some cleaning/clearing up because I can never be comfortable working in a disorganized and dirty condition. To me, kitchen, chillers, station tops and chopping boards must always be in an uber clean condition. Besides keeping the food clean and safe, it does help in human engineering, ergonomics and the mind works better. In the process of cleaning up, I saw a bag filled with Parmesan rinds. So, I have 2 options:- Throw it away or use it in one my dishes. Of course the answer is clear. USE IT.

What I did with the rinds is that I thinly sliced them up and deep fry them into chips for garnish. And most of the rinds I threw them into a pot of chicken stock and added in tomatoes. bring it to the boil and let simmer for few hours to extract all the tomato-Parmesan goodness. When I have the stock, I can use them in making sauces or as poaching liquid, foams, sparkling tomato-parmesan rind champagne, powders, jellies and the list goes on.

Thus for buffet tonight, I made a dish of salmon in which the sauce will be composed using the stock that I have made.The salmon is seared with a little salt and dried pink peppercorn. It is served with the sauce and to contrast the texture I use the Parmesan chips.

Tomato-Parmesan Rind Stock

(1 pot of 5 litres)

1kg Parmesan rinds

500g Tomatoes cut into half

100g Tomato paste (sautéed with 50g onions and 1 stalk thyme)

5 L Chicken stock (1 whole chicken carcass, 500g celery, leek, onion)

1. Prepare chicken by putting all the ingredients into a pot and bring to a rolling boil

2. Sauté the tomato paste and then add into the chicken stock

3. Add in the Parmesan rinds and tomatoes

PS: Sorry for the low quality picture as I do not carry DSLR to work all the time

Salmon, Tomato-Parmesan Rind

I was browsing through the chiller today and needed to do some cleaning/clearing up because I can never be comfortable working in a disorganized and dirty condition. To me, kitchen, chillers, station tops and chopping boards must always be in an uber clean condition. Besides keeping the food clean and safe, it does help in human engineering, ergonomics and the mind works better. In the process of cleaning up, I saw a bag filled with Parmesan rinds. So, I have 2 options:- Throw it away or use it in one my dishes. Of course the answer is clear. USE IT.

What I did with the rinds is that I thinly sliced them up and deep fry them into chips for garnish. And most of the rinds I threw them into a pot of chicken stock and added in tomatoes. bring it to the boil and let simmer for few hours to extract all the tomato-Parmesan goodness. When I have the stock, I can use them in making sauces or as poaching liquid, foams, sparkling tomato-parmesan champagne, powders and the list goes on.

Thus for buffet tonight, I made a dish of salmon in which the sauce will be composed using the stock that I have made.The salmon is seared with a little salt and dried pink peppercorn. It is served with the sauce and to contrast the texture I use the Parmesan chips.

Tomato-Parmesan Rind Stock

(1 pot of 5 litres)

1kg Parmesan rinds

500g Tomatoes cut into half

100g Tomato paste (sautéed with 50g onions and 1 stalk thyme)

5 L Chicken stock (1 whole chicken carcass, 500g celery, leek, onion)

1. Prepare chicken by putting all the ingredients into a pot and bring to a rolling boil

2. Sauté the tomato paste and then add into the chicken stock

3. Add in the Parmesan rinds and tomatoes

PS: Sorry for the low quality picture as I do not carry DSLR to work all the time

Chicken, Avocado

The chicken is an inspiration of Morimoto’s Angry Chicken. However, I do not use so much chilies as Morimoto did. I made it milder because I do not want my diners to have the most important tool during dinner, the tongue, to lose its function throughout dinner. It is served with Avocado Cream, quick ratatouille and crispy chicken skin. The skin made using inverted pans. Salted, dried and fry to perfection. It taste like the salted fish in which the Chinese eat with their porridge. The cream has a cooling function to balance out the heat from the chicken and vice versa.

Prawns, Pineapple Curry

The Pineapple Curry is already composed!!! I not only cooked it at home but I used this item as one of the items in the hotel I am currently working at. But I changed the dish when I presented it in the hotel. I used a mixture of seafood of mussels, prawns and squid. I used Shelly Beach 2007 Chardonnay. Yes, it is an Australian wine. The wine screams fruitiness so loudly that even the deaf can hear it. The tartness is just nice to accentuate the sweetness of the pineapple. The curry is mild and yet full of characters and each element plays a great part to uplift the whole dish.

For the first time ever (not the last definitely) I post a full recipe plus cooking method in this blog.

Prawns in Pineapple Curry

(5 pax serving) – all measurements can be adjusted accordingly to taste since taste is subjective and according to preferences

1kg Prawns, de-veined with shell on

1 no Pineapple (ripe and sweet), blended

Ingredients A:

500g Shallots (have more definitive flavour for curries)

100g White Onion (for some sweetness)

50g Shrimp Paste or Belacan

100g Lemongrass

50g Galangal

10g Ginger

5g Tumeric

500g Red Chili

50g Bird’s Eye Chili

50g Green Chili

100g Kaffir Lime Leaves

200g Lime Juice

50g Nam pla or fish sauce

100g Dried Shrimp

Ingredients B:

Oil for sautéing

Anchovies stock powder and pepper for seasoning

320g Fish or seafood stock/broth

100g Whipping Cream

500g Shelly Beach 2007 Chardonnay

Assembly:

1 no Pineapple, flesh dug out

100g Dried Shrimp, flash fried

200g Kaffir Lime Leaves, deep fried and roughly crushed

To cook:

1) Blend all Ingredients A with a tablespoon of oil

2) Heat oil until a little smoke comes out from the oil then quickly put in all blended ingredients and keep stirring

3) Sauté until aromatic then add in the prawns

4) Add in the broth or stock and let simmer for 3 minutes covered

5) Add whipping cream and stir well

6) Add in the wine and then continue simmer for another 3 minutes

7) Taste and season accordingly

To assemble:

1) Place cooked items into hollowed pineapple

2) Sprinkle dried shrimp and kaffir lime leaves in top