I want another enameled cast iron pot - part 2

A similar KitchenAid pot similar to the one mentioned in this post was on sale at CanadianTire again. Except this time it was 70% off (so cheap you almost wonder if people ever pay full price). For CD$30 we almost got nothing to lose; worst comes worst I can use it as a planter.

This KitchenAid cast iron pot is 3.5 qt (smaller than the 5qt Staub pot we have), in dark red. The handle is silicon/stainless steel so the whole pot can go in the oven. Although it has the glossy interior (like Le Creuset) and the self-basting dips (like Staub), the finish is not comparable to either. But hey! it's only 10-15% $ of the "real thing".

Comments after the initial use:

• TripleQ used it to make no-knead bread. It does produce thinner crust than with regular baking mold.
• I braised pork shoulder in it. The steam came out from the edge and over-flew. This never happens with our other pot.

(TripleQ) "What's the point of putting silicon on handle if I still need an oven mitt to lift the pot?"

KitchenAid cast iron pot

Brioche

After couple more batches of brioche, I finally figure out the formula we enjoy the most. So here it is:

Ingredients:

• flour, 3 cups
• sugar, 6 tbsp
• salt, 2 tsp
• butter, 10 tbsp
• eggs (medium-large), 5
• warm milk, 0.5 cup (or 60mL)
• dry yeast, 1 package (8g)

Process:

• Put all ingredients in a mixing bowl, stir gently with a spatula
• Mix with a dough hook in the lowest speed until it's well-blended (about 2 minutes).
• Increase the speed and mix for 5 minutes. Stop and scrape the side. Repeat 3 times (basically you make the mixer do the kneading for you)
• Cover the dough and let it sit for about 4 hours (at around 25 C)
• Divide the dough into 12 muffin cups. Let it sit for 1 hour. (The dough will continue to puff up)
• Bake for 15 minutes at 375 F in a convection oven. Turn off the heat and let brioche stay in the oven for another 5 minutes.

Lessons learned:

• Just for the record, I did try to follow the original recipe and store the dough in the fridge over night. The dough was hard enough that we could roll it into small balls (Baby Martini enjoyed doing it tremendously). If you go with this recipe, the dough will be too sticky and too soft to roll.
• For the dough stored in the fridge, the brioche turned out to be pretty dense (more like bread). But brioche from this recipe has the texture between croissant and bread.
• I added a handful of lavender bloom in this batch. It was subtle, like biting off lavender-scented clouds. I might get braver and start to incorporate more flavors in brioche.

Final verdict:

• Stick to this recipe! Some people might snarl at how simplified the steps are and claim the end result is not brioche. Fine, buttery bun it is. But this is the recipe the Martinis will go by.

Backyard garden plan 2010 June update

TripleQ has been working slowly but steadily to remove the lawn in the marked area.

Before the weather gets unbearably hot, I managed to salvage as many plants as I can from the triangular patch behind the house.

• Bleeding hearts have been moved to next to the compost.
• Geranium has not done well after being transplanted.
• A loner hydrangea (which came as a gift with foil wrap and ribbons and miraculously survives after being planted in the ground) is moved to the spot next to Iris. It is finally free from weeds, for a while.
• Moved 1 spirea to a pot temporarily

It has been the quintessential "survivor-the-fittest" in the triangular patch. It was so full (of weed) and lively but TripleQ is so fed up with the messiness. Being so close to the house, I have to agree that we should start with a clean slate. The current game plan is to transplant or remove all the plants in the area. Extend the gravel coverage (from under the deck). Planting will only happen within the circle made by wedge bricks. TripleQ has done an impressive job on clearing up the area. He even put in bricks to mock up the planting area. Now there are only one spirea and one boxwood on site. We'll move them when it's cooler.

More about the simple plan for the backyard:
Simple plan
Simple plan-revised
Victoria Day long weekend update

Brioche

Picture of brioche

I couldn't forget the wonderful brioche from Victoire I had when I visited Sydney, Australia. I decided to make one batch just to see how difficult it is. I found this link. The recipe seems to be straight-forward enough, judging by the first picture that all the ingredients are in the mixing bowl at the same time.

As straight-forward as it seems, I still made some modification (whether it's intentional or not). Here's what happened:

• I don't have milk powder at home so I have to improvise. I had 1/2 cup of warm milk to replace 1/4 cup milk powder and 1/4 warm water.
• instead of 1 tablespoon yeast, I put 1 package of instant dry yeast (8g).
• This is the second time our mixer reached its limit. Instead of using flat beater for 5 min after all ingredients were fully incorporated, I had to switch to bread hook to knead the dough after couple of minutes.
• The dough didn't go in the fridge for minimum 2 hours (to overnight); instead, it was sitting in the kitchen for about 2 hours (the first stage and last stage of fermentation were same as instructions in the recipe).

Results and lessons learned:

The end result looked similar to the pictures on the recipe page. It has the matte finish as opposed the "glossy finish" (by applying egg wash (egg yolk) on the surface of the dough).

Flavor-wise, it's neither sweet nor salty. I might need to increase the amount of seasoning next time. It goes well with marmalade or banana compote with orange juice reduction though.

In terms of texture, it is a tad dry (for brioche). Somehow I suspect it's due to the fact that I went the shortcut on the fermentation process. The dough wasn't stored in the fridge. Maybe I'll try to make softer dough next time as well.

Reference link for troubleshooting:
http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=007zip


Final verdict
It's unanimous (including Baby Martini's vote) that I should make it again.


Sapphire Martini, "How come the brioche from Victoire tastes so flaky and buttery?"
TripleQ, "I think you just mentioned the keyword."

Backyard garden plan 2010 Victoria Day

More updates on my simple plan:

Here's the original garden plan. In short, I can probably change the title to "Backyard garden plan 2010-2011".

The Victoria Day long weekend and the week before were the kick-start. We managed to accomplish the following:

• Removed as much lawn from the marked area as possible.
• Transplanted lamb's ears and snow-in-summer to the backyard
• Removed a big portion of forget-me-nots at the front so the star flowers and common thrifts can finally see the sun light
• Planted all new plants (annuals, herbs, tomatoes) in the planters & the voids (due to the removal of plants mentioned previously) in the front garden
• Father-in-law brought Irises from their garden and planted them for us :)

Snow-in-Summer
The survival rate of snow-in-summer by far is not that brilliant. It seems the whole cluster of snow-in-summer mainly depends on few deep roots; the rest are quite shallow and couldn't handle the shock. Let's just hope that the remaining part will thrive next year. I didn't have much faith in its survival the first year it was in our garden but it exceeds my expectation and has taken over a good portion of our front garden.

Picture of the void in the front garden

It is now filled by (starting from the left) Thai basil, marigolds and dills.
See picture here

Lamb's Ears
The progress on removing the lawn is a lot slower than expected (mainly due to the heat and high humidity). I transplanted 5 groups of lamb's ears in front of the dog woods. That's about half of the lamb's ears I plan to move. The other half is still pending. The lamb's ears look droopy over the new location; however, I have faith in their ability of multiplication. If they manage to put down their roots this year, they'll come back strong and conquer the world (back yard) in the years to come.

Although we didn't manage to remove lawn where the IncrediBall hydrangeas should be planted, we decide to plant them first. Just in case this project will really extend into the next year or so. Those two were the only plants which didn't get planted over the Victoria Day long weekend. They were sitting on the porch for one week.
Picture of IncrediBall hydrangeas in the pots

It's going to be a bit tricky to remove grass around them. But at least they are in the ground now. So we can take our time.

Iris
We got few hand-me-down irises from my parents-in-law. They are huge! And, another purple flower in the garden. It wasn't in the plan but it is a welcome surprise. Picture of Iris

Annuals
Vinca Cora Punch in a planter and marigold.

More about the simple plan for the backyard:
Simple plan
Simple plan-revised

Tequila braised beef with apples and onions

I find it's interesting that when some of my Mexican friends hear the brand José Cuervo, they have that same expression like the Aussies to Yellow Tail. Anyhow. I don't remember why I have a bottle of tequila (as suggested by my name, I'm a gin drinker). I do notice that I cook with tequila more often than drinking it. Tequila adds interesting flavor to a dish and its full body goes well with meat.

Ingredients:

• Beef blade roast (oven roast)
• onion, 1 large or 2 mediums, peeled and quartered
• 1 or 2 apples, peeled and quartered
• 1 bunch green onions, cut about 5cm-long
• Garlic, 4 cloves
• Sage. We have abundant supply of sage from our garden, so I use a lot. About handful of fresh leaves
• Seasonings: soy sauce, sugar, black peppers, Worcestershire and last but not the least, a generous splash or tequila!

Note: a bit of kick from chipotle, jalapeno or other chili peppers will be nice. Alas! that's too much for a 3-year-old.

Process:

• Marinate the beef (with seasonings, water and all the ingredients) overnight
• Heat the pot with a splash of olive oil
• Drain and pat-dry the beef, sear it in the pot until the brown crust develops.
• Remove the beef from the pot, deglaze with the marinade.
• Add all ingredients and beef back to the pot, cover with lid. Simmer for 2 hours

Picture of marinade

Picture of searing

There is no picture for the final product; everyone was hungry.

The verdict:
Not sure if it's due to the cut or the cooking. It was too tough to TripleQ's liking. It is indeed on the tough side, despite I cut against the grains. Maybe I'll try to cook it in the oven (with low temperature) next time.

The pot - Staub Dutch oven

I just realize that I never post any information about our enameled cast iron pot.
Picture from Staub USA website.

Staub round cocotte, size 26, 5qt. Royal blue.
This is probably the most versatile size: big enough for a chicken (and other trimmings) yet not too heavy to handle. And I love that glossy gradient blue.

MINI on duty

MINI's first nursery run

She was the only MINI in every nursery I visited today. No Smart car in sight. She was surrounded by SUVs, vans and grand sedans. Some people smirked at her presence in a garden center parking lot. WELL... how many plants can you fit in a MINI?

See here!

Quite a lot, actually. That's pretty much all the plants we need this year (I hope).

Carrot and potato stew

Picture of carrot and potato stew.

Earlier this year, I posted a different version of vegetable stew. This one takes a different direction (although still savory).

5 ingredients:

• carrots: peeled and chopped
• potatoes: peeled and cut in chunky pieces
• deep-fried bean curd: rinsed and drained. If you can't find this from your regular grocery stores, try a Chinese grocery store.
• garlic, about 3 cloves
• Chives: handful, about 0.5 cm long

Seasonings: sugar, soy sauce, garlic fermented black bean paste, worcestershire sauce, balsamic vinegar, cooking wine.

Process:

• Heat the pot with a splash of olive oil
• Carrots, in. Add a table spoon of sugar to help caramelization.
• Deglaze with balsamic vinegar and cooking wine
• Push carrots to the side, add bean curd.
• Deglaze with cooking wine
• Add potatoes, seasonings and water in the pot. Bring to boil. Cover with the lid then simmer with low-medium heat.
• Stir in chives prior to serving.

For this dish, I like to have the carrots cooked through and the potatoes all starchy and soft. So I'll let it simmer for an hour or so. And don't stress about the seasoning for this dish. If it's too
light, reduce the liquid further. If it's too salty, add water. No one will know what you do in the kitchen anyway. The only rule is you have to taste it and adjust the seasoning accordingly.

Note: for Buddhists who can't have wine, garlic and perhaps chives, replace the garlic fermented black bean sauce with regular one or vegetarian oyster sauce, and add minced ginger to this dish.

I want another enameled cast iron pot

Last week, CanadianTire had a promotion for KitchenAid (5qt oval?) enameled cast iron pot; it was $59.99 after 40% off. I wanted to get one but TripleQ was against the purchase.

"We have one already. And we don't use it that often."
"But this one is so much cheaper! It can be for everyday-use."
"Why can't the other pot (the one we have) be for everyday-use then?" (Implying that we don't use the pot that often because we just don't find the need for it.)

Just to prove a point (look! This pot is su-per useful in the kitchen!), I made three pots of stew/braised meat in one week! Notes and pictures for each dish will be posted separately.

Backyard garden plan 2010-revised

Updated my garden plan over the weekend. Changes are below:

• Corrected the hard landscape layout; I didn't include the stairs of the patio last time.
• Updated the border. After few rainstorms, it became obvious that grass is thinner in some area than others. Reduce the size of the flower bed on the left but expand it around the cherry tree on the right accordingly.
• Give up the purple leaf sandcherries; now in favor of Proven Winner hydrangeas (maybe Invinsible Spirit?).
• Plan to divide and reuse more perennials from other areas.

I am hoping to divide and transplant as many plants as possible not just to save money. The growing condition at the back is not too bad; a bit of gentle morning sun but scorching afternoon sun. Some shrubs (e.g. dogwoods) also suck up a lot of water and leave little for smaller plants. So it's time to turn to those trial-and-true survivors in our garden.

For the past few years the shady garden right behind our house is a testimony of Darwin's theory - Survival of the fittest. TripleQ has had enough of the "mess"; I think he lost it after seeing all the forget-me-not growing out of the shady garden boundaries and into the lawn. We will wipe out the whole shady garden and leave only 1 or 3 (in a roll) specimen plant(s). Unfortunately I don't have pictures of the shady garden in previous years. I think our shady garden was kind of cool though; the garden was ALWAYS full from late spring to fall. If I didn't like a plant, I just snipped it. But I agree that it could look messy when you are up and close.

There are snow-in-summer, forget-me-not and catmint (Nepeta mussinii) in the front garden and they all try to take over the garden. It gets a lot more crowded than the picture taken about half month ago, especially after the peony and herbs are back. Time to move big chunks of snow-in-summer, forget-me-not and catmint to the back so they can "run" wild. :-) Hopefully I can create a relaxed, low-maintenance pretty garden.

Backyard garden plan 2010

I am kind of proud of myself that I created this garden plan. It took me hours to design and draw, hopefully it works out as planned. (Will need TQ to help on execution.) TQ always teases me on going all out on planning. When I shopped for patio furniture, I cut out circles and squares in proportion to map out the arrangement and find out proper size of each piece of furniture. But hey! It works!! No money was wasted.

The lawn slopes away from the house at the back (6"-12"). In the ideal world, I would like to have a low retaining wall to hold the land and flatten the back. Replant the trees because the mistake from "the early years"(see note 1) is so evident. HOWEVER, we have NO budget for hard-landscape. And the little we spend on everything else, the better. So here's the plan. I want to move the spireas from the area close to the house (that's another problematic area; we'll have to clean up the patch and leave minimal plants). We have a lot of forget-me-nots, lamb's ears and catmint from the front that we can transplant good chunks of them and let them run wild at the back. The growing conditions at the back are not the best but hopefully they are hardy enough that they can be "unleashed". Actually we have A LOT of forget-me-nots growing among the grass or through the gravel in the backyard already; I am sure they will thrive. Yes, I know lamb's ears are taller than forget-me-not. The reason I plan this way is because forget-me-not tends to bloom while new lamb's ears are still small. Once it finishes blooming, its leaves are not particularly inspiring. So lamb's ears can block them.

I have been wanting to have purpleleaf sand cherry but I am not sure if they will be too big for the space. Still need some time before making the final decision. But hopefully they will be the only items we need to buy, in addition to dirt and mulch.

Note 1: mistake from "the early years": dogwoods and one snowberry are within the same border (why we did so really puzzles me, considering they are not even at the center). Two lilacs are next to dogwoods, another two are on the left hand side (and the adjacent ones don't even have the same color of blooms). WHY~~

Ice stick tulips

Ice stick tulips are one of pricier plants in our garden; pricey compared with a bag of tulip bulbs from Costco, or plants native to Southern Ontario (such as columbine, bleeding heart, etc) from my mother-in-law's garden (FREE!). The bulbs of ice stick tulips were ordered from The Breck's.

Back at the beginning of April I wasn't sure if we would see any bloom this year; the center stems got nibbled by some naughty critters. Photo was taken on April 3, 2010.


But time proves that the tiny damage will not impede its performance. See this picture taken in mid-April, 2010.

Here's a close-up (fuzzy) shot of ice stick tulip.

You can see so many colors in one flower: white, yellow, pink/deep pink, blue/green. Another great thing about ice stick tulips is that they bloom in early spring. When other's gardens are slow to recover from the winter/snow, they make your garden instantly stand out. ;-)

Spring April-May 2010

Many things remain the same from last spring except:

• Moss phlox is missing in action. I trimmed them all the way back last year in the fear that once dried, the needle leaves might be sharp and hurt Baby Martini. Its spot is currently occupied by a succulent recently transplanted from the deck planter (to make room for more herbs next to the kitchen this year.
• Cranesbill geranium kind of died last year. I planted an annual afterward but its spot is taken over by forget-me-not this spring.
• Mistake from "the early years"; we followed the instruction on the bag to space the bulbs but didn't realize this type (Darwin?) of tulips don't multiply much and they stay tall. I managed to move some along the border to group next to the forget-me-not. They look less awkward this year.
• This brings up another issue. Popsicle tulips (around the Japanese maple, bloom is gone) multiply every year so it gets really crowded around the J maple. Have to thin them out this year or next.

See full picture here.

Lamb's Ears

Photo date: April 2, 2010

For those who don't have a green thumb, I'll recommend to try planting Lamb's Ears. They are indestructible! Just keep coming back! The first year I planted one lamb's ear, I was really concern because it didn't grow much. Just when I wonder if it would come back the next year, it came back STRONG, lots of them! The bees LOVE their pinkish purple flowers.

I don't mind having lots of Lamb's Ears, as long as they don't take over my tiny front garden. I really enjoy stroking the silvery green leaves. They are so soft, it's really like patting a baby animal.

By the way, the picture was taken when the lamb's ears just started to grow after the long winter. That's why they look so tiny. With so many new plants tightly packed, I really don't know what to do with them once they grow bigger. Maybe I can divide them when I have chance. They are so hardy under full sun or part shade, I probably don't need to worry when will be a good time to separate them. :-p

Mysterious purple flowers

Picture was taken on April 2, 2010.

I was scratching my head when I saw this plant. Don't remember when I planted it but it for sure looks too pretty to be weed. It took me a while to realize that it's one of the mums I planted last fall. Why does it bloom now (early spring)?

Spring May 2009

Picture was taken last May.

• Light purple at front are moss phlox.
• Next to moss phlox are cat mints, super invasive!
• Blue are forget-me-not.
• The big bushy perennial at the back is bleeding heart.
• Purple on the right are grape hyacinths.

This is the most lively time of the year for our front garden. All the blooms after this are of "quieter" colors - white, muted purple and pink (hydrangeas).

Creme brulee

I'm so glad that Baby Martini might have grown out of the egg allergy. Creme brulee! soufflé! tira misu (ok, not this one yet)! Mama is going to show you what Mama is capable of!!

It has been a long time since I last made creme brulee. The recipe I use is from Michael Smith's "Chef At Home", one of my favorite cooking shows on Food Network Canada.

Use the best ingredients available to you when you make the original flavor of creme brulee. There are only few ingredients: cream and/or milk, egg yolks, sugar, vanilla and a pinch of salt. Any mediocre component will greatly impede quality of the end result. In Chef Smith's recipe he uses vanilla extract; however, he demonstrated more than once in his show on preparing home-made vanilla extract. This leads me to believe the flavor should be just as pungent.

Ingredients:
Please refer to this recipe. I used 1:1 in cream:milk ratio. Also, I used a vanilla pod instead of 1 tbsp vanilla extract.

Notes: (lots of notes!)
Armed with scribble of instructions quickly copied to a scrap paper and my memory of all the creme brulee making I've seen/read, my process actually deviated from the instruction.

• I didn't remember that Michael clearly specified that "the caramel will harden" after you pour the milk and cream in it. When I poured caramel into the milk/vanilla mixture (yes, I got it wrong, too), I heard caramel turning into hard sugar lump, like lava cooled down in the water. My brain just went blank. "How can I make freaking mistake like this?" I told myself. So I quickly scooped out sugar with a slotted spatula then started again. This time I kept the milk mixture in low heat while preparing caramel, then poured caramel in the milk mixture. I think I'll do so from now on unless someone convinces me not to.
• The end result yields more than 6 ramekins. Do I happen to have smaller ramekins or is it because the water in caramel wasn't reduced enough? (I did use less water than recommended to begin with, in case there was too much liquid)
• "Preheat oven to 325 degrees"...is this for a normal oven or a convection oven? I used "auto" setting on our convection oven so the temperature was automatically adjusted to 275F. My theory is it's better to use lower temperature for a creamier, more smooth texture. Still, I want to know.
• I covered the custard with foil during the cooking process. Combined with the low cooking temperature, it took about 50 minutes in the oven for the custard to set properly. And the texture was still on the soft side (a bit too runny).
• Last but not the least, I am getting unsatisfied with the mini torch but still don't feel comfortable to use a "regular" torch (from hardware store) in the house. I tried broil once and it didn't turn out well. Tough choice.

Verdict:
Really creamy and delicious. Too sweet if we finish one serving at once. I will need to reduce the sugar/caramel next time.
After knowing how simple to make creme brulee taste good (really, it's all about ingredients and patience), I don't think we'll order it when we dine out.

Braised pork shoulder

Picture of braised pork shoulder

It's time to do some braising with our almighty Staub cast iron pot!

TQ is so tired of my cooking with root beer (I'd love to use coke but it's caffeinated) so I try to come out w/ different sauce for braising pork shoulder. Unlike many other recipes, mine doesn't call for (lots of) vinegar.

Ingredients:
Pork shoulder (2 lb this time), onions, green onions, garlic, chives (for garnish), wine, rice vinegar, Chinese fermented black bean sauce, sugar, sesame oil, olive oil

Process:

• Heat the pot with sesame oil and olive oil
• Brown all sides of pork shoulder. Remove the meat from the pot to rest.
• Sautee onions, garlic and green onions in the same pot, deglaze with cooking wine and rice vinegar. Scrap gently to get all the goodies off the pot.
• Meat back to the pot, pour in the sauce mix (which is composed of wine, rice vinegar, Chinese fermented black bean sauce, sugar, sesame oil), cover the lid. Cook in the oven at 325F for 2 hours or until the meat is cooked thoroughly and tender.
• Garnish with chives and serve

Notes:

• The meat should be able to be separated by a fork with little resistance
• Lots of onions & garlic to boost up the flavor
• Taste the sauce mix before you add in. With a tight lid the liquid shouldn't reduce much
• There's probably no need to caramelize the onions since they will be after 2 hours of cooking
• I'll add more liquid last time, maybe 1" in the pot to begin. It was too dry when it first came out of oven. I had to remove the meat then "thin" the sauce with a bit of water.

Final verdict:
It is unanimous: DO IT AGAIN!

Banana compote orange juice reduction

We have ridiculous amount of bananas in the kitchen now so we have to come out with creative ways to eat them. I would love to call it banana flambee but I can't. I didn't set my kitchen on fire. No, I mean, I didn't ignite the rum.

Ingredients:
Bananas, sugar, butter, orange juice and (golden/dark) rum.

Process:

• Bananas halved & cut in big chunks
• Caramelize sugar (about 2 tbsp) in non-stick pan
• Add butter (it browns quickly at this stage)
• Add bananas, quickly flip them to coat the caramel
• Deglaze with rum. Remove bananas out of the pan soon after the alcohol is burned off so they don't become mushy
• Add orange juice to the same pan, scrape the goodies off the pan. Reduce oj until it becomes syrupy. (Be patient, it will get there)

Serve it with our equally surplus frozen cheesecake (made it originally for a party which got canceled at the last minute). Drizzle with the oj reduction.

Verdict:
I made two batches. Was planning to freeze the 2nd batch but it was almost gone after breakfast (served it w pancakes). I suppose I can use up the rest of the bananas by making more banana compote.

Coconut Shrimp

No this is not the deep-fried version coated with shredded coconuts. But it is just as satisfying. Good with pita, bread or just served over the rice.

I think the task I was facing when creating this dish can be a (quick fire) challenge for Iron Chef/Top Chef or any sort of cooking reality shows. How can u create a South East Asia-influenced dish WITHOUT using curry, licorice, cardamom, chili, cayenne, ginger and peanuts/peanut oil? There's a long not-eat/cannot-eat list shared among us:
(TripleQ) Peanuts, peanut oil, curry paste (some does contain ground peanuts or peanut oil),licorice, cardamom.
(Baby Martini) Nuts, eggs(except in baked goods), anything peppery or spicy.
(MIL) Meat (so there has to be at least one vegetarian dish on the table)
(Myself) Green onions (clearly no one cares), leek (again I just have to pick it out myself), goat cheese.

Sometimes I feel there's nothing I can make other than tofu and veggie stir-fry in teriyaki sauce.

Anyhow. Life goes on.

Ingredients:
Shrimp, mixed vegetables, cilantro, green onions, garlic, coconut milk(1 can roughly 400mL), sesame oil, olive oil, soy sauce, cooking wine, rice vinegar, salt, sugar, corn starch (optional for thickening).
Yes, I did cheat:

• Tiny bit of Chinese five spice. So it acts as "undertone" flavor.
• Ginger, grated. Strain with a sieve in the coconut milk mixture.
• Tiny bit of white pepper, stir thoroughly

Process:

• Shrimp, shelled and deveined. Marinate in salt and cooking wine.
• Slowly warm coconut milk in a deep pan, stir in spices.
• Sautee vegetables, garlic and green onions with sesame oil and olive oil in a separate pan, season with salt. Make sure the green onions are cooked through but not burned to bring out the sweetness. Pick out garlic before it burns.
• Move the vegetables to the pan where coconut milk simmers.
• Sautee shrimp with sesame oil and olive oil. Season with salt. Deglaze the pan with cooking wine.
• Move shrimp to the coconut milk pan. Toss in cilantro. Serve.

P.S. I think I added a splash of rice vinegar at one point. I don't remember when though. It is important to have vinegar to balance the richness of coconut milk.

The verdict:
A keeper. Baby Martini likes the shrimp. TQ also enjoys it; he thinks it's quite addictive (because of the rich coconut milk and seasoning?).

Vanilla Cheesecake with Berry Compote

As usual. I was going through the prerecorded TV shows while running like a hamster on the elliptical machine. This recipe from Gordon Ramsay's "The F Word Restaurant" caught my eyes. It looks pretty straight-forward and we happened to have most of the ingredients at home.

The process
I did few things differently from the original recipe:

• Used a rolling pin to crush the cookies instead of a food processor
• Replaced vanilla pod with vanilla extract
• Replaced digestive cookies with graham wafers
• Used only strawberries for the berry compote since we didn't have blueberries
• Used a stand mixer for both whipping the cream and cream cheese mixture. Gordon used a hand mixer for the cream and hand-blended the cream cheese, icing sugar and lemon juice. I'm too lazy to dig out the hand mixer from our kitchen.

Things I wish I have done differently:

• Use a food processor to generate finer crumbs
• Use a stainless steel pan instead of nonstick to make caramel. I know the sugar melting point (around 160C/320F) is way below the max temperature a Teflon pan can handle, I still feel uncomfortable to do so.
• I should have dumped out the crumbs instead of letting it sit in the frying pan and cool on the rack. Heat wasn't dissipated fast enough and they were a bit burned.
• Only make the berry compote right before serving, otherwise it discolor.

Results:
We all love the outcome. Baby Martini didn't like the crispy crumbs but she finished the cake in lightening speed. All the ingredients are pretty generic but it's the trial and true formula. I find that the sugar caramelisation before adding butter (for the crisp) and strawberries (for the compote) is a nice touch. So is to deglaze the berry compote with creme de cassis.

Another Cooking Channel report from Globe and Mail

This article was published late February (and yes, I have been going through newspapers slowly). Personally I have no problem with another food channel (the more the merrier, as long as they are not just re-runs). We have PVR so a 24-hour channel really doesn't matter to us.

What bothers me is certain terms used in the article, especially the phrase "food p@rn". I find it extremely offensive. Since I can't even bring myself to type this term, let's just call it FP.

I don't understand why some people think the current food tv is flooded with programs which only show you the fancy food you can not make at home. If you are content with frozen food, sure, that's out of your scope. When I was a student, I lived on KD just like many others. However, if you are interested in food and hand-on, it just comes naturally that you want to learn more about cooking. For me, it's so much easier to watch TV than to follow a recipe book; you get to see how to execute each step and how the food should turn out (e.g. Consistency of the sauce).

Obviously you can't learn much from reality shows such as Iron Chef America. You can, however, learn to prepare food from shows such as "Chef At Home", "Ricardo and Friends" and "Tyler's Ultimate", just to name a few. Those shows cover a lot of basics with interesting recipes. Actually the most informative shows by far are "Cook Like A Chef" and "Good Eats", some episodes do make me wonder "Who's going to do that at home?" That being said, I enjoy watching all those shows and get inspired to experiment in my own kitchen.

Now to think about it, if cooking something "out of ordinary" is FP, Ms Julia Child ought to be "the first lady of FP" in North America history because her work encouraged so many of us to fantasize about food. There are super FP stars who are known for their uber-cutting-edged, artsy creations. Examples are Ferran Adrià(El Bulli), Grant Achatz(Alinea) and Heston Blumenthal(The Fat Duck). Let's just say that the tools and substances they use and the complexity of their work discourage the mass from trying. Like the real p@rn which cater to different audience, there are FP stars who are classically-trained, they emphasize that things need to be "done properly" for the ultimate pleasure. Oh and of course, there are tv hosts who show you how to cook at home. They always like to tell you just relax and enjoy it.

Can we get any more DISRESPECTFUL than this? There are so many people who devote their life on perfecting their skills, to make delicious food (and pleasant for the eyes). They go through vigorous training, long hours of shifts with relatively low pay. Without the passion for food, I doubt this is a desired career path.
In my opinion that article doesn't provide any valid information; just a collection of quotations from various sources. Maybe that's why the author was eager to use provocative words to draw our attention, be it good or bad.

My battle with heels

FROM

TO

...in one month.

Pictures are from Aldo website.

Alright. For many women, that's no big deal to wear the second pair. For me, a person who normally runs around in loafers or all-things-three-striped, that is a HUGE obstacle to conquer. But I will have one month to practice until the big day. I might be able to find tutorial/videos online to teach people how to wear heels, walk and stay upright.

I never understand why women are willing to wear skinny stiletto heels. Is it like carrying weapon legally? If so, that's a weapon which tends to backfire as it hurts/immobilize the owner. Granted, in some horror (horrible) movies men can be killed by having a heel hammered in their heads. In most cases, it's the women who suffer.

Actually now to think about it, there are men who wear heels. Just do a quick search on the internet.

Food Network Canada Mobile app

I must say this is a really sleek app; Clearly a lot of efforts were put in designing the interface. I especially like the 3-tabbed layout. When you read recipes online, ingredients are first listed followed by the instructions. With the tabbed layout, you don't need to scroll all the way down on a small screen.

Pros:
- Recipes from Food Network Canada shows.
- Sleek and efficient GUI (user interface).
- This app also saves your laptop/desktop keyboard from being covered by sticky or floury finger prints!
- Pictures of recipes from the Rubino brothers' Made To Order look stunning!

Cons:
- Some units in the ingredients section don't show up properly. E.G. # of eggs. This is definitely a high-severity defect for a recipe app! How are we supposed to bake a cake if we don't know how many eggs it calls for?
- Some recipes don't show up after clicking it.
- Not all the recipes are included. E.g. No recipe from people such as Alton Brown, Gordon Ramsay, James Martin ("Sweet Baby James") and Tyler Florence.
- Why's Michael Smith's name in all capital letters? That looks odd.

The Food Network Canada Mobile App can be downloaded from
m.foodnetwork.ca

Five-spice roast chicken

We use this Staub pot so frequently it is really no point in counting.

Ingredients and preparation:

• Chicken brined over night, rinsed and dried (same as in this).
• Coating: sesame oil, olive oil, ginger, minced garlic, five-spice and soy sauce.
• Stuffing: lemon (juiced), cinnamon, cardamon, licorice, garlic and green onions
• A bed of vegetables: celery, onions and carrots. Seasoned w salt and coated with olive oil.

Cooked the chicken the same way as in this post.

Lessons learned:

• We found that even after it reached 160F the chicken juice didn't come out clear. Not sure if the probe wasn't inserted at the right place or we need to re-calibrate it.
• The vegetables were cooked at various speed so not a good combination. Carrots and potatoes will work better.

Final verdict:
The licorice or cardamon was too strong for TripleQ; he's never a fan of it. The flavor reminds me of the roast chicken I had when I was young (in Taiwan). I am kind of proud of myself that I was able to replicate the flavor (well, close enough) by memory of the taste. But since TripleQ isn't fond of it, ("I still prefer lemon garlic chicken") I won't have chance to perfect it.

My Perplexing Lemon Butter Emulsion Shrimp Pasta

Perplexing in a way that at the first glance, those ingredients don't go well together. I didn't have a clear idea what the dish should be, just tried to use ingredients available. Flavor was developed along the way.

Ingredients:

• lemon juice (leftover from making lemon curd)
• green onions (whole bunch of them for making Chinese scallion pancakes)
• garlic, sliced
• asparagus (another item to be used up ASAP)
• shrimp, peeled and deveined
• Chinese flat noodles which look like linguine
• salt, sugar, cooking wine, oil, butter

What happened:

• Marinated shrimp in salt and cooking wine
• Green onions + garlic + olive oil + butter in a frying pan, cooked until the green onion flavor mellowed. Seasoned with salt.
• Shrimp, in the same pan. Removed from the heat as soon as the shrimp was just done
• Prepared noodles according to the instruction on the package. Drained. Reserve a little liquid for later use.
• Cooked asparagus (more details below)
• Used the same pan which cooked the shrimp, added lemon juice and sugar mixture, added butter, gently whisked until uh...it looked good
• Tossed everything in a pot. Served.

The verdict:
Overall the response was quite positive. TripleQ requested less butter next time (again, I was just trying to use up the butter so I did put in a bit more butter than usual).

The what-was-I-doing moments:

• tasted the shrimp right after it was cooked. I had a bite and realized it was too hot. Just when I said "Hot!" it slipped down my throat. OUCH!
• instead of blanching asparagus in the pot, I dumped it in the pan which I was planning to prepare the lemon butter sauce. It turned out ok but really didn't plan to do so.

Lemon Chicken Simply Ming

I watched this episode of Simply Ming then decided to try the recipe.

Recipe is available on his website: http://www.ming.com/foodandwine/recipes/season-6/lemon-chicken-with-ginger-wild-rice.htm.

I absolutely do NOT want to pre-heat my Staub pot at 525F; instead, we first cooked chicken at 450F for 20 minutes, cover with foil and roast at 400F until the thermometer inserted in the thickest part of the thigh reaches 160F.

Instead of making the wild rice, we got lazy; just had root vegetables on the bottom to suck up the chicken juice/grease.

While chicken was resting, I deglazed the pot with wine, reduced and thickened. Vegetables, back in the pot. Stir and coat with the jus. Done.

Lessons learned:

• It is important to brine the chicken, overnight preferably. It adds a lot of flavor.


• We will season the carrots and potatoes and drizzle with olive oil before they go in the oven with the chicken next time.


• Some burned garlic bits were stuck on the chicken skin. We will try to use garlic-infused olive oil or mash the garlic next time

Birthday breakfast

I finally understand why TripleQ said, "You ate part of your birthday present!"

Normally I start my day by getting ready for work, packing breakfast/snacks, finishing cafe au latte then heading out. Today TripleQ asked me to take breakfast at home. And this was what awaited me.

Link on Twitter

Eggs Benedict! My all-time favorite breakfast!! Poached eggs topped with shredded cheese and HOMEMADE hollandaise on waffles. Eh, waffles? I took the last two English muffins to work the day before..me BAD...

It will be nice to have smoked salmon and cream cheese but again it will be just the icing on the cake. The fact that I received this as a birthday present makes me in good mood the whole day. Thank you, TripleQ, for getting up early to make this!

Vegetable stew

"Pot" 2 - second use of the Staub cast iron pot

My intention was to make a vegetarian dish; however, I poured in about 1/3 cup liquid from coq au vin leftover. So it was no longer vegetarian.

Heat the pot with a splash of olive oil.

Chop leeks and onions, surplus ingredients from making coq au vin. Into the pot. Lightly season with kosher salt.

While waiting for onions to become translucent, prepare the following ingredients:
- Carrots, peeled and chopped.
- Chinese mushroom, rinsed. (Reconstituted dried porcini mushroom would do too)
- Fried bean curd, blanched, rinsed under cold water and drained.

Deglaze with a splash of wine.

Carrots, in. Season with a bit of salt and sugar. Cover and simmer.

Mushroom and bean curd, in. Stir occasionally. Pour in coq au vin leftover liquid (optional). Cover and simmer for about 30 minutes.

Final seasoning to taste. Done.

Lessons learned:

• I was surprised to see the amount of liquid just from cooking leeks, onions and carrots. Self-basting feature really shines here.


• The lid smelled like staled Chinese mushroom and onions after rinsing with soap and hot water; it took several cycles to reduce the odor.


• Patience. Allow time to harmonize the ingredients and create big flavor.

Coq au vin

While I was shopping for an enameled cast iron pot, I also did research on what we could use it for (I suppose the later should have taken place first. Now it sounds like I just try to justify the expense).

Coq au vin seems the natural fit. The phrase had such magic that it was constantly chanted in my brain before I even got the pot. *chanting* Coq au vin...coq au vin...must...make...coq au vin *chanting*

Tons of coq au vin recipes out there. The one we eventually used is from the book "Gordon Ramsay's Maze". But WAIT! there's one line in smaller font: "recipes by Jason Atherton". Normally I would smirk at things like this. Do people really have to capitalize their name/brand to that extent? As I quickly flipped through the pages, one recipe caught my eyes: coq au vin! *chanting* Coq au vin...coq au vin...must...make...coq au vin *chanting* Before I realized what I was doing, I already swiped my credit card. Heck! Now we really have to make coq au vin.

According to the recipe, the chicken needs to be marinated in the red over night. So we did the prep work while seasoning the pot before its first use.

TripleQ did the cooking the next day. Originally I planned to do some errands after work. Got a message from him,
"You'd better come home straight from work."
"Why?"
"It smells so good there might not be any left."

Lessons learned:

• Pearl onions look pretty and have the delicate taste, but they're labor-intensive and slightly expensive. We can live with only leeks, onions and shallots
• We did not discard the vegetables, as instructed by the book. Instead, we scooped out the veggies before reducing the liquid. After a steamy hot bath in the wine, chicken stock and bacon grease, how can they NOT taste good?
• This is peasant food which makes any king green with envy. And serve it with the veggies from the same pot.