Posted by Unknown on
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
My mum is visiting from Malaysia at the moment, so I have a captive test subject to try out a few new recipes on. This recipe we caught on Rick Steins Far Eastern Odyssey on TV last night. It looked pretty good and I love duck, so I decided to give it a try tonight. I popped into Springvale during my lunch break and bought a whole duck from the meat market and a bag of fresh oranges. Well it was a great success - the flavors are awesome, the star anise and orange juice are a great combo with the duck, It is also pretty easy to put together. I highly recommend giving this one a go!
Ingredients
- 1 Duck, cut into serving pieces
- 2 tbsp Vegetable oil (or duck fat)
- 3 Cloves garlic, peeled & sliced
- 3 cm Root ginger, peeled & sliced
- 3-4 Spring onions, cut into 4 cm lengths
- 6 Star anise
- 3-4 Whole chillies
- 1 Stalk lemon grass, bruised
- 2 tbsp Fish sauce
- 1 tbsp Palm sugar
- Juice of 3-4 oranges
- A “good grind” of black pepper
- Cornflour
In a large cast iron casserole dish or similar, sauté the duck pieces in the oil until the fat is rendered and the skin is browning and beginning to crisp. Pour off all but a tablespoon of fat.
Add garlic and ginger and stir, then add the orange juice, enough to not quite cover the duck. Add fish sauce, star anise, chillies, lemon grass, palm sugar and black pepper. Stir well and simmer covered until duck is tender(~1 - 1.5hrs). Add the spring onions about 10 mins before the duck will be ready.
Remove the lemon grass stalk and discard. Remove the duck pieces and spring onions to a warmed serving dish. Mix a little cornflour with some water and add to the sauce to thicken.
Serve.
I served it with some basmati rice and stir fried Bok Choy.
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Duck,
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Recipes,
Vietnamese
Posted by Unknown on
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Caught up with a friend last night at Aoba Japanese Cafe in Malvern, I found the establishment on Urbanspoon after searching for Japanese in Malvern - it had very good reviews and was open Monday night so fit the bill!
Aoba is a quaint little casual Japanese cafe on Glenferrie Rd, a little more casual and small than I anticipated when I picked it out but as my dining partner commented "It's cute!"
I was tempted to order a Sashimi platter but decided to try something different and went for the Beef Tataki, of course preceded by some miso soup. Wow, I'm a major fan! The miso was basic but flavorsome - I have been making miso soup at home lately and now have a new benchmark to aspire to! The Beef Tataki was brilliant - clean crisp flavours with the ponzu sauce, I'm going to have to try it at home, although it will be hard after having the bar set so high already!
Prices were very reasonable for the quality of the food, a great little casual Japanese dining experience. I only wish it was closer to where live so I could make it a regular! Sorry I didnt get any food pics - was too busy chatting and eating!
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Beef,
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restaurant,
Review,
soup
Posted by Unknown on
Friday, April 23, 2010
This is a quick, simple marinade with Moroccan flavors that I really like. I often use it to marinate chicken breast strips for grilling on the BBQ. It might also work well with fish, but I haven't tried it yet.
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup lemon juice (freshly squeezed)
- 2 tblsp olive oil
- 1 tblsp honey
- 2 cloves garlic (crushed)
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground tumeric
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1/4 tsp of cinnamon
Combine all the ingredients and mix well, ensuring the honey dissolves. Add chicken or desired meat, cover and refrigerate for min 1hr. I occasionally baste the meat with the left over marinade whilst its grilling to get an extra flavor kick.
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Chicken,
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Mediterranean,
Morocco,
Recipes
Posted by Unknown on
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Although I had admired Shigefusa knives for a while, and browsed longingly at images of Shigefusa knives in other peoples kits, it was a not a knife I had planned to 'try' and aquire in the immediate future. For those not familiar with Mr.Iizuka Tokifusa's work, here is a quote taken from www.japan-tool.com: Shigefusa (Iizuka Tokifusa and his two sons) is the one of the most famous houchou (Japanese style chef's knife) blacksmith in Japan. Shigefusa has trained under the famous tamahagane razor maker Iwasaki Shigeyoshi for 10 years, and before he became independent he received several months of training by another very famous swordsmith Nagashima Munenori by the recommendation of Iwasaki-san.
By the age of 38 he had already been celebrated as the best houcyou maker in Japan. The beautiful poished look of Shigefusa knives are acheived by applying the special Japanese sword poishing technique creating the hazy polished look. Now with his two full grown sons beside him, Shigefusa has achieved an unrivaled state as a houchou maker.
Now to acquire a Shigefusa knife, you basically have 2 options. First is to order one through a retailer or middle man who places the order with Mr. Iizuka Tokifusa(Shigefusa) himself, then you wait for the knife to be made. Being hand made and hand finished using natural Japanese whetstones, the current wait for a Shigefusa knife to be produced is about 1.5yrs. Or the other option, you find someone who already owns a Shigefusa knife and is willing to sell it to you.
So as it happens, the other day I stumbled across this knife listed on eBay from a seller in Japan and at a very reasonable starting bid. It is a 270mm Yanagiba 'Kitaeji' version which has damascus or 'ink' patterned steel and was described as 'new'. I thought about it for a couple of days and decided I probably wouldn't get one for that price again so set a sniper bid and waited to see what happened and I won it! Well since then I have been waiting impatiently for it to arrive and today it finally did! I'm not disappointed, it is an awesome blade.
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Knives,
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Posted by Unknown on
The only thing I like about Melbourne winter is home made soup, otherwise the whole season is pointless and a major inconvenience! This basic soup recipe is definitely a staple meal for me during winter, it's easy, healthy, cheap and prep is relatively quick and painless(especially if you have a collection of knives you enjoy using!). The qty here is what I generally make up in one batch and will last me about a weeks worth of work lunches! This soup actually improves after a couple of days in the fridge, if you are storing it any longer than 3 days I would freeze it. It thaws and reheats well.
Ingredients:
- 2 x tblsp Olive Oil
- 1 x smoked bacon hock*
- 1 x smoked bacon bone*
- ½ packet of Italian soup mix
- 1 liter of beef or chicken stock(home made is best!)
- 1 x 400g can of diced tomatoes
- 2 x carrots (peeled & coarsely diced)
- 1 x parsnip (peeled & coarsely diced)
- 1 x turnip or swede (peeled & coarsely diced)
- 1 x brown onion (finely diced)
- 2 x sticks of celery (chopped)
- 1 x leak (finely sliced)
- 4 x cloves garlic (finely chopped)
- Salt and pepper to taste
*Smoked bacon hocks/bones are available from my local supermarket delicatessen in winter. Try to find to the proper dry cured ones, avoid the ones that are packaged/vacuum sealed if you can. The hock will provide most of the meat for the soup and the bone is more for the flavor.
Heat the olive oil in a large stock pot, then add the onion and leak. Saute for a few minutes then add the garlic and continue to saute until the leak and onion gets some color.
Add the carrot, parsnip, swede and celery. Saute for another couple of minutes to sweat the vegetables, mixing it around with a wooden spoon.
Score the bacon hock with a sharp knife.(I slice the skin around the circumference about 3 times, through to the bone, this helps later when removing the meat from the bone.) Add the stock, the can of tomatoes(inc. the syrup), the Italian soup mix, the bacon hock, bacon bone and an extra 2 cups of water. Bring to the boil, then reduce heat to a simmer. Cover and simmer for about 2hrs.
After ~2 hrs and add salt & pepper to taste. Simmer for another 1 hr or until the meat is falling off the bone. Turn the heat off leaving the pot on the stove. Remove the bacon hock and bacon bone from the soup. Separate the skin and fat from the hock and feed to the dog, shred the meat with a fork and return it to the soup. Also remove any meat you can from the bacon bone and return it to the soup. Discard the bones.
Serve steaming hot, with crusty buttered bread!
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Bacon,
Ham,
Recipes,
soup
Posted by Unknown on
Monday, April 12, 2010
Just a gratuitous knife photo! Some prep for a beef stir fry using my Yoshihiro Yanagi.
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Beef,
Knives,
Yanagiba
Posted by Unknown on
Thursday, April 8, 2010
I was lucky enough to spend some time in Northern Africa and Southern Europe early last year, a great experience! I was skimming through some the photographs I took and picked out some interesting ones relating to food I thought I would post up. These ones are from Morocco taken at a various medinas(markets) we visited in Marrakesh and Fez.
It is interesting to notice how in our built up modern western cities, people are paranoid about food hygiene, storage and handling practices. Some of the scenes in the following photos would shock some people, but in reality - if the food is fresh and prepared properly, I do not see any problem. This is the way people have traded food for thousands of years.
The best tasting dried apricots I've ever had!
A couple of meat chicken stalls. Note the cat in the first picture.
Lamb hanging in the street, you walk up and buy a cut right off the carcass. Camel anyone?
Berber woman preparing bread for us in an earthen oven.
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Market,
Morocco,
Travel
Posted by Unknown on
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
I'm a bit of a green tea fan. I make up a vacuum flask of green tea every afternoon at work and slowly sip away. My work mate is Burmese and whenever I'm running low on green tea 'stocks' he always comes through with a new batch from somewhere! Here is the latest one direct from Myanmar(Burma) - nice strong 'smokey' flavor to this one. Thanks Naing ;-)
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Green Tea
Posted by Unknown on
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Thanks to "Dr Howard" from Foodie Forums for posting this recipe. Its a reasonably common recipe but I had not come across it before. I have a made a few changes but its basically the same. A mate and I used to enjoy a Savory Mince "one pot dinner" packet meal from the supermarket, I always wanted a recipe that replicated the meal but was made from scratch, not using a packet pre-mix! This comes pretty close to it, but of course using all fresh natural ingredients instead of a packaged pre-mix, it is also much better.
Ingredients:
- 1kg beef mince
- ~300g green peas (fresh or frozen)
- 2 x large onions (finely chopped)
- 2 fresh chillies (chopped)
- 8-10 cloves of garlic (minced or finely chopped)
- 1 tblsp grated ginger
- ~8 dried curry leaves
- 1 tsp black mustard seeds
- 2 tblsp Garam Masala (Make your own - its easy and worth it)
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 3 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 tblsp peanut oil
- 2-3 cups beef or chicken stock
- Fresh coriander (chopped)
In a heavy based saucepan or casserole dish, heat the oil. Add the curry leaves and the mustard seeds and fry until the mustard seeds start to pop. Turn the heat down a little and add the onion, garlic and ginger. Fry until the onion softens and starts to color. Add the garam masala and fry for a minute until fragrant. Add 2 tblsp of the tomato paste and fry for another minute.
Add the mince and fry until it browns. Add the cinnamon stick, the remaining 1tblsp of tomato paste and enough stock to barely cover.
Cook for 1/2 hour with the lid on stirring occasionally. Add the chilli and cook uncovered for another 1/2 hour or until most of the liquid has reduced. Add the peas and chopped coriander(save some for garnish) cook for another 5min.
Serve with rice or mash potatoes. Leftovers are also great on toast as a quick snack.
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Curry,
Indian,
Mince,
Recipes
Posted by Unknown on
Saturday, April 3, 2010
This is absolutely the best lamb marinade ever! I love making this for grilled lamb kebabs and its even good for marinating lamb chops before grilling them on the bbq.
Ingredients:
- 3 tbsp plain greek yoghurt
- 1 large brown onion
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp ground coriander seed
- 1/2 tsp fresh thyme
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
You will need to juice the onion, I peel and coarsely chop the onion and run it through a vegetable/fruit juicer but you can also process the onion into a pulp using a food processer and then strain the pulp through a sieve or some cheese cloth to separate the juice. There will be tears, a lot of them! Your eyes will burn and you'll cry like a baby, but it'll be worth it!
Combine the onion juice and the other ingredients in a large bowl and and mix thoroughly. Add the lamb (diced lamb for kebabs, chops or whatever cut you want to grill). Cover and marinate in the fridge for min. 2hrs. Grill and enjoy!
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Greek,
Lamb,
Marinade,
Recipes
Posted by Unknown on
Friday, April 2, 2010
After waiting almost 3 months for my King combo stone to arrive, I was chomping at the bit to finally try my hand at freehand whetstone sharpening. The Kanemasa E Honcho gyuto was originally purchased as a knife I could use to make mistakes on whilst learning to sharpen, being a relatively cheap knife and high carbon which is supposedly easier to sharpen using whetstones. It also comes from the maker with a very obtuse almost single bevel, the back bevel is almost undetectable. Obviously a blank canvas meant for the end user to work into the edge they so desire.
I colored in the edge with permanent marker so I could see what I was doing and went to work with the Beston #500 stone to set a new bevel, then onto the King 1000 until I got a burr happening on each side, then finished off with the 6000 side of the King. I was stoked with the result - it looked great and sliced paper easily and cleanly. The end result was much better than I expected for my first real attempt. I'm looking forward to giving the new sharp edge a run on the next meal prep!
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Knives,
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Posted by Unknown on
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Two thumbs up for Keiichi from
BluewayJapan. I ordered this whetstone from him 'originally' over 2 months ago! But it never arrived. When I ordered it I chose the cheap "SAL" slow shipping option with no tracking number or insurance over the faster insured, but more expensive "EMS" method. ETA on "SAL" shipping was 2-5 weeks.
After 5 weeks I was getting worried and was in desperate need of a sharpening stone so emailed Keiichi to check if it was normal. He replied quickly saying that it usually didn't take that long, if it wasn't there in another couple of weeks he would refund my money! A couple of weeks later, still no whetstone. I emailed Keiichi again to inform him that it still had not arrived, but because I was still without a stone(above my Beston 500) to sharpen with, and knives that were getting duller by the day, I asked if instead of a refund could I just pay the extra for the EMS shipping and have another stone sent. He agreed and less than a week later the stone finally arrived.
Great service - he was under no obligation to provide a replacement for a shipping loss when I chose an un-insured, un-tracked shipping method, I am grateful he was willing to help me out. I will definitely be happy to deal with him again.
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Posted by Unknown on
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
I had some Osso Bucco in my freezer. The last remaining cuts of beef from my house mates cattle which were slaughtered a few months ago. The Osso Bucco was left because I was not sure of the best way to cook it. Well the weather has started cooling off in Melbourne and I started getting the urge for some hearty home made soup. So I concocted this simple recipe from a few other recipes I found on the net and it turned out really well!
Ingredients:
- Olive oil
- Osso Bucco (I used 2 x large pieces with about 2l of liquid)
- 1 x small onion (finely diced)
- 1 x leek (finely sliced)
- 2 x cloves garlic (finely chopped)
- 2 x carrots (diced chunky style)
- 2 x sticks celery (sliced)
- 1.5L Beef stock (I used 1L of beef stock and 2 cups of home made vege stock I had in the feezer)
- 1 x 400g can of diced tomatoes
- 3 x dried bay leaves
- Salt and ground black pepper
Splash some olive oil into a large pot and fry the Osso Bucco pieces, one a time for a couple of minutes on each side until they are sealed. Place them aside.
Splash some more olive oil into the pot and throw in the onion and leek. Saute for a couple of minutes then throw in the garlic and saute until the onion and leek are softened.
Add the carrot and celery. Saute for another couple of minutes. Then add the stock, can of tomatoes, bay leaves and the Osso Bucco pieces. Bring to boil and cover and simmer for about 2 - 2.5hrs or until the meat is tender and falling off the bone. I added ground black pepper about 1.5hrs in after tasting it - I decided it didnt need any extra salt as the beef stock was salty enough, but add to your taste.
Once the meat is ready, turn off the heat and remove the Osso Bucco pieces leaving the pot on the stove to keep warm. Remove the meat from the bone, chop it into chunky pieces and put it back into the pot, discarding the bones and any gristle or fatty bits.
Ready to serve with some crusty buttered bread!
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Osso Bucco,
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