Stuffed Butternut Squash; Steak Tips Curry

Last Friday we had a spontaneous gathering of people we picked up at my department happy hour back to our place for wine and nibbles. Melissa and I have been discussing planning a dinner party soon (it's been a while since we did one that was really planned out with three or four courses and matched wines and all), but we just hadn't gotten ourselves together enough to get the ball rolling. So this temporarily satisfied the desire to gather our friends around us to eat and drink...

Melissa put together a nice plate of nibbles for the beautiful evening we spent mostly out on the patio. Double cream brie, drunken goat cheese (soaked in red wine), a little left over cambozola and a great emmenthaler; seasoned cherry tomatoes; smoked salmon with cracked pepper; arugula from the garden and fresh bread. Just the thing after some not-so-impressive bar snacks at happy hour.

Before hatching this plan for Friday evening, we had arranged to have Evan around on Saturday night for dinner and drinks. Melissa had issued him a challenge to bring a mystery ingredient upon which she would subsequently base the evening's dinner. Evan rose to the challenge and showed up with a large butternut squash and two green papayas. The papayas weren't really ready to eat (we all had to look up how to tell when they're ripe), but the squash was immediately put to use in a dish that seemed to take Melissa no time at all to formulate.

Mel has used butternut squash roasted and mashed in Thanksgiving dinners, pan roasted in large chunks as part of a roast vegetable medley, and in an excruciatingly fantastic butternut squash soup. This time she decided to roast and stuff it. First she halved, cleaned and roasted it flesh-side down in a roasting pan with some olive oil until it softened all the way through. In the meantime, she made a pork mince in the food processor with pork tenderloin, cumin, fennel seeds and half a tomato. A quarter onion was chopped and sauteed, then the pork mince and fresh chopped fennel (leaves and stem) were cooked together with the onions in the same pan. This mixture was spooned into the squash bowl and the whole thing was put back into the oven for about another half hour.

Melissa topped it off with crunchy croutons she made from some frozen bread pan-fried in butter, and a dollop of Fage Greek yogurt. I've mentioned this before, but this stuff is completely fat free and tastes wonderful -- look for it in your supermarket. Garnished with fennel frond and served up as open-face quarters. The squash was so well roasted you could almost eat the skin without even noticing, and the seasoned pork stuffing with Greek yogurt on top was rich with the aromatic fennel flavor. The croutons were a nice touch. We had a 2005 Jovly Vouvray Chenin Blanc with this dish, and the floral and honey notes of the off-dry wine worked out quite well with the aromatic and ever-so-slightly spicy character of the stuffed squash. After we finished this bottle, we went to a 2006 Monkey Bay Unoaked Chardonny (Marlborough, NZ) which, while it was entirely different from the chenin blanc (less floral and more fruity with peach and citrus notes), also worked quite well with the dish.

While divvying up the remains for second servings, Melissa decided on a better presentation for this dish:

Monday we had what I think was the best beef curry that has ever come out of our kitchen. Steak tips were chopped, coated in curry spice mix (see Melissa's approach to curry mix in a previous post) and seared to seal in the flavor, then stewed in a tomato base with garlic, fennel seeds and finely chopped almonds. Pretty simple (not that I could have come up with it), but the flavor was really special. Melissa says it was the way she made the tomato curry base: she cooked down a can of diced tomatoes (after she pureed them) in the pan she had used to sear the meat, with the slivered garlic and more curry spices, allowing the mixture to reduce dramatically and caramelize slightly on the bottom. Then the meat, some potatoes and extra water is added back and the entire stew was simmered until it became melt in the mouth tender. To this she added the almonds and a handful of fresh parsley just before plating it with some jasmine rice.

We always like to have a nice aromatic wine with Indian-inspired dishes, and this time it was a 2005 Sacred Hill Whitecliff Riesling from Marlborough, NZ. They do a lot of things right in Marlborough...

Steak Tips with Grilled Polenta; Tabouleh, Hummus and Callafels

Monday night Melissa made judicious use of the leftover polenta from Sunday's dish to form the base of a steak tips and roasted veggies dish. The dry rub that seasoned the steak consisted of onion powder, cayenne pepper, sea salt and dried thyme. Mel put the nonstick roasting pan on the grill outside and cooked the meat right in the pan, along with cherry tomatoes, whole garlic heads and quatered yellow onions doused in olive oil. The tomatos reduced to tart, concentrated little jewels, and the garlic and onions caramelized to perfection. She served the steak and veg on a wedge of grilled polenta and a bed of spicy arugula fresh from our little urban patch of dirt outside -- we're eating those greens as much as we can now that their days are numbered as the weather cools down. This dish was great with a Smuttynose Summer Weizen (Portsmouth, NH).

Last night we had a bit of a delay before getting dinner started, since we came home to the smell of gas in the basement level of our building. While I went back and forth about who to call, Melissa dialed 911 like a rational human being. The fire department responded in great time and shut off the gas to the laundry room, where the leak was located. We had locked out the cat and left the building as soon as the call was made, but apparently nobody else in the building was aware of what was going on below...

When all was clear we settled back into our apartment and Melissa made tabouleh using the coarse bulgar wheat she had bought on the way home, along with a variation on falafel using lentils and spinach as a base instead of beans (we officially dubbed this "Callafel" last night). The hummus made the dish -- Melissa used a little bit of curry mix in the hummus, something I've never tasted before but it was really fantastic with the Middle Eastern flavors on the plate.

A bottle of Matariki "Aspire" Sauvignon Blanc (2006; Hawke's Bay, NZ) rounded out the dinner...

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Melissa's Recipes and Notes

Tabouleh

½ cup of bulgur wheat
1 cup of water
½ tsp of salt
½ tomato diced
1/3 onion diced
1 large handful of parsley - chopped
2 tbsp of lemon juice

In pot add bulgur wheat, water and salt and bring to a boil. Turn down heat to low and cover saucepan for 20 minutes in which time bulgur wheat will absorb water. Once cooked I found the bulgur wheat quite gluey so I placed it in a colander and gave it a quick rinse with cold water to lighten it up. Add rest of ingredients to cooled wheat to finish the dish.

"Callafels"

Falafels are typically made using either fava beans or chickpeas. I like to make mine with lentils and spinach, so technically they’re not falafels, but I think the general idea is the same. Matt suggested I call them Callafels and I think I might just do that from now on.

½ cup of lentils
Salted water to boil lentils
½ tsp of coriander seeds
1 tsp of peppercorns
1 tbsp of cumin
1 tsp of salt
¼ onion
1/3 lb of spinach
2 tbsp of breadcrumbs for the mixture
1 egg
~1/2 cup of breadcrumbs to coat the patties
Olive oil

Boil lentils in large volume of water until cooked (~20 minutes). In food processor grind coriander seeds and peppercorns to fine meal. Add ground cumin, salt, onion and uncooked spinach and puree. Add ¾ of cooked lentils to food processor and puree with spices and spinach. Remove ingredients from blender and mix in remaining ¼ of whole cooked lentils. The whole lentils give the patties texture. Add egg and 2 tbsp of breadcrumbs. Form the moist mixture into patties and coat in breadcrumbs before frying in a non-stick pan with a little olive oil.

Hummus

½ can of chickpeas
1 tsp of sesame seeds
1 small garlic clove
2 tbsp of olive oil
1 tsp of hot curry powder
1 tbsp of lemon juice

Hummus is usually made with Tahini which is a sesame seed paste. While in New Zealand I found I could only buy tahini in large 1 lb tubs which, while it kept for a long time, was far too much for me to use the odd time I decided to make hummus. So instead I just keep sesame seeds around (which can be used for other things) to add the sesame flavour and add a bit of olive oil to smooth the consistency of the hummus. If you like it chunky or low fat the olive oil can be omitted. The method is easy, put all the ingredients into a blender and puree to the desired consistency. If you’re a fan of the plethora of hummus flavours you can find at your local supermarket exchange the curry powder for things like sun dried tomatoes or oven roasted garlic to make a better fresher tasting version of what you buy at the supermarket and at a fraction of the cost.

Pepper Smoked Prawns and Oysters with Grilled Polenta and Peach Salsa

This week we have failed to post because we really haven't had much to post. Late days in the lab for one or both of us have prevented us from having much in the way of proper dinners at home. We did have a couple of interesting bits to post (homemade pizza and crepes, on different nights) that I will not expound on further since I managed to lose the photos through some bone-headed techno-mistake that I still do not completely understand. Please accept our apologies for that tease, but rather than reconsruct the experiments without photo documentation, rest assured that we will repeat the dishes and post at a later date.

With that confession out of the way, I have to say that tonight's culinary marvel deserves a solo post anyway. We had the most spectacular weather in Boston today -- after weeks of intermittent clouds and thunderstorms, today was in the upper 70's and sunny; warm in the sun and delightful in the shade. We hit the gym at around 10 am (Sunday gymming is unusual for us), then enjoyed a relaxed coffee out on the patio before taking a nice walk through the Public Gardens. We ended up at a Charles Street photo gallery that we've been wanting to check out this week (the aerial landscapes from John Griebsch and the "drift" seascapes from David Burdeny are simply awesome).

On the way back home we parted company so I could put in a few unavoidable hours in the lab, and Melissa hit the supermarket with summer grilling on the brain. She had hatched a plan that involved a half-dozen live east coast oysters, a few giant prawns, a bag of cornmeal and a big handful of dried black peppercorns.

To back up a bit: after a show we saw on the Food Network a few years ago, we started using pepper-smoking as a way to add a little twist to our shellfish on the grill, and while our neighbors bristle at the teargas-like effect of the smoke that drifts in through their windows, we fell in love with the technique. Simply soak a large handful of black peppercorns in water for a few minutes, then drain and pack them into a foil pouch with some holes poked in it. Throw that directly onto the flame for the final few minutes of cooking prawns on the grill, and the flavor is divine. For the oysters, we shucked them fresh at home, then put the half-shells on the upper rack (or simply off-heat on the main rack) for just a minute or two to soak up the pepper smoke without actually cooking them. Here's a photo taken just after the heat was turned off (see polenta on the right and the peppercorn-pouch on the lower left):

Melissa served the shellfish on slices of grilled polenta with fresh arugula and a variation on the peach salsa that she debuted a little more than a month ago with grilled tilapia. The polenta was prepared with arugula and parmesan cheese, and would be a great vegetarian dish without the clam base she used when making up the cornmeal-based mixture (recipes coming soon).

The peach salsa is so fresh and clean-tasting -- it's quickly becoming a defining flavor of our summer grill. In this incarnation Melissa used fresh peach, yellow bell-pepper (capsicum), grape tomatoes, cilantro, basil, lemon juice and sea salt. The polenta mixture was poured into a spring-form pan and chilled for about an hour before being sliced into pie-shaped pieces and thrown onto the grill for some lines and a great pepper-smoked flavor.

We had a great wine with this dish. We don't often buy French wines for ourselves, since neither of us knows much about them and they are generally expensive enough that scattershot-purchases are dauntingly risky. Nevertheless, we occasionally receive a good bottle from a dinner-party guest, and this one came from our good friends Etienne and Angelique, who know a thing or two about French wines. The 2004 Coudoulet de Beaucastel Cote du Rhone Blanc paired beautifully with this dish. Melissa and I had each independently decided that we should have this bottle with tonight's dinner, although neither of us had read the notes on the label, stating that the "flowery, peachy nose and round, rich and full bodied structure"..."goes particularly well with fish dishes and other traditional provencal specialties." They were right about that.

We lingered long on the patio after out plates were clean, enjoying the wine and watching the sun go down on what at this time of year has to be considered one of the precious few perfect-weather days remaining in our New England summer season...

Spiced Pork Patty with Beets, Leeks and Eggplant; Olympic Chinese Food

Last Thursday night Melissa really outdid herself with one of her most beautiful original dishes yet. She was headed to the grocery store on the way home from the lab, knowing that I would be an hour or two behind, when she noticed an outdoor farmers' market set in Brigham Circle. We hadn't been aware of this until very recently, but it's apparently out there every Thursday during the summer months. As she often does, Melissa just bought what looked good and then formulated a plan based on some or all of the new ingredients.

In this case what caught her eye were some really nice looking beets, leeks and eggplant. Inspired by the fresh produce, the dish she put together was spiced pork patties and eggplant on a bed of arugula, with a relish of sauteed leeks and beets. The relish absolutely made the dish, both in terms of presentation and flavor. The beets and leeks were finely chopped and sauteed together with garlic and olive oil, with a splash of balsamic vinegar added for a bit of a kick. I love beets when they are roasted or otherwise caramelized -- what a great mixture of sweet and savory. The rich green arugula and deep red beets made for a visually impressive contrast, and the yogurt and fennel garnish topped it off in style.

Friday we decided to hang out at home to watch the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Summer Olympics from Beijing. Evan, Amanda and Jason joined us and Melissa made some Chinese food for the occasion.

Who doesn't love scallion pancakes? Having never made them before, Melissa decided to give it a stab and they came out really well. She couldn't find any scallions at the supermarket, so she used leeks instead, and none of us even noticed the difference until she mentioned it. The tortilla-like flattened dough was pan-fried to a crispy, flaky golden brown with a little chewy bit left in the center: perfect with the ginger dipping sauce.

After that intro we had a super-tasty beef (tenderloin) stir fry with chinese broccoli. The meat was so good that all it needed was a little soy sauce and pepper and a quick splash around the fry-pan.

Dessert, as it so often is for us, was an afterthought. Nonetheless, Melissa pulled off a pineapple and mango crumble with toasted coconut and a yogurt topping. As long as we keep a bit of frozen fruit around, she can work wonders in very short order. Her recipes are found below...

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Recipes and Notes

Pork patties on eggplant with diced beets and leeks

5 beets
2 inches of leek
5 cloves of garlic
olive oil
1 tbsp of balsamic vinegar
salt

4 slices of eggplant (~1 cm thick)
salt
olive oil

1 pork tenderloin steak
3 cloves of garlic
½ tsp of coriander seeds
½ tsp of fennel seeds
¼ tsp of nutmeg
¼ tsp of celery seeds
½ tsp of salt
½ tsp of pepper corns
2 feathery fennel leaves
a few sprigs of parsley

Yogurt and fennel leaves for garnish

Dice beets into small pieces. Heat olive oil in a pan, and when hot toss diced beets to cook and brown. Quarter lengthwise and slice leeks crosswise. Finely dice garlic and add leeks and garlic to pan with beets. Cook together until around half of the leek slices and garlic have turned golden brown. Add a splash of balsamic vinegar and continue frying until most of the liquid has evapourated while constantly tossing ingredients.

Salt eggplant slices and coat with olive oil. Grill/broil in oven until each side is golden brown

Combine all herbs and spices small foodprocessor and grind. Cube pork steak and add to food processor to make ground meat/mince with spice/herb mix. Form pork into patties and steam for ~10 minutes in bamboo steamer. Alternatively pan fry in olive oil.

To serve, put 2 eggplant slices on a plate and top with a pork pattie. Top this with the diced beet and leek mixture. Follow with a dollop of plain unsweetened yogurt and garnish with a feathery fennel leaf.

Olympic Chinese Dinner

When I embarked off to the supermarket I had visions of dumplings, steamed pork buns, and other Chinese goodies on my mind. The best place to find these things is at Super88, but there isn’t one within walking distance and I didn’t have much time to prepare. Alas, while the Prudential Shaws is pretty well stocked supermarket they didn’t have any frozen dumplings ready to steam. In fact they didn’t really have any sort of dim sum type stuff which I found kind of surprising. Not a problem, I can make my own stuffing, just point me in the direction of dumpling wrappers…. Hmm no wrappers either. I’ve thought about making my own in the past, but from what I’ve read online they need a special flour and are fairly tricky to get right. So I was starting to think this whole Chinese thing might have to be dropped, when scallion pancakes came to mind. They’re not something I’d encountered in NZ, but here they’re pretty popular from Chinese Takeaways. They’re not like a flour, egg and milk type pancake though, more like a thin bread dough. A phone call to Matt for a general idea about how they’re made and I was set. Scallions are spring onions (or green onions) so off to the produce section to pick some up. Can you believe it, Shaws is out of them too! But all is not lost. Leeks are very similar in taste once cooked and I already had some of those from the Farmers Market. All I needed was some canola oil as I suspected olive oil might be a little overpowering in this dish.

The recipe I went by is at this URL

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ming-tsai/scallion-pancakes-with-ginger-dipping-sauce-recipe/index.html

However I made a couple of changes. Firstly the scallions obviously: The leeks were finely chopped and I fried them in a little oil first till they were a little browned to give them a head start in the cooking process.

Second, the recipe implies that you coat the pancake with ½ cup of oil. I tried slathering it on quite thickly but I still couldn’t get more than around ¼ cup onto the dough. And then when I rolled the dough and twisted it I got a goopy mess and couldn’t get the dough to stick together to make an intact pancake. I had to add more flour into it to rescue the dough. I think a light brushing of oil would be fine here, but the recipe could do with some clarification in this regard. I wouldn’t skip oiling the dough altogether though as the thin layers of oil are important to keep the pancake flaky. I suspect you’re meant to brush the oil on lightly and use the left over oil for the frying process. Nevertheless they turned out beautifully. The dipping sauce was also great. I replaced the scallions here with some chopped garlic chives from the garden and the vinegar I used was rice wine vinegar.

Beef Stir Fry

This was an extremely simple recipe. It went down well, but it was not really my skill in cooking it. It was more to do with the eye fillet/tenderloin beef I used in the dish. We buy a whole eye fillet each time we go to BJs (our local wholesale store) so I makes it much more cost effective that buying small amounts at the supermarket, ie ~$9 per pound rather than $30 per pound at the supermarket. So unless you too buy your meat in bulk I suggest using something like sirloin or rump for this dish.

1 lb of eye fillet beef
1 onion
400g of mushrooms
1 lb of Kai Lan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kai-lan)
¼ cup light soy sauce
1 tsp of sambal olek
1/8 cup of rice wine vinegar

1 cup of jasmine rice
1 ½ cups of water

Cook rice as per instructions on packet. Briefly simmer rice in water for 20 minutes and cover for ten minutes before serving.

In steamer cook kai lan (or other type of green vegetable such as bok choy, or any kind of cale). ~6 minutes until wilted

Slice beef thinly. In bowl marinate with soy sauce, sambal olek (or any other type of chilli paste) and vinegar for around 30 minutes. Slice onions into half rings and mushrooms. In hot pan with a little oil fry mushroom and onions until onions are a little browned. While pan is hot drain beef reserving marinade and add beef strips to pan to flash fry. The more tender the cut the more rare the meat can be cooked. For the eye fillet I flash fried it until there was no red on the surface of the meat. While the pan is still hot toss in the marinade so it steams up and starts bubbling (~30secs). Remove from heat and mix in steamed vegetables.

Serve meat and vegetable mix on rice.

Pineapple Mango Crumble

For the filling

3 cups of frozen cubed pineapple and mango
½ cup of coconut
½ bicardi rum
1cm of mined fresh ginger root
2 tbsp of sugar

For the topping,

50 g butter
100g of whole almonds
3 tbsp of sugar
2 tbsp of lemon juice
¼ cup of coconut
~1/4 cup of flour (just enough to make the topping crumbly)

In a casserole dish mix all filling ingredients and toss. There’s no need to defrost the pineapple or mango. In a food processor whir up butter, almonds, sugar and lemon juice to make a paste. Rub in coconut and flour to make a crumble to top the filling in the casserole dish. Cook in a 180oC oven for 30-45 minutes. To tell when its done I go by smell, the toasty almonds and pineapple aromas will intensify as the cooking process nears an end. The top will also go a nice golden colour. I served the crumble in bowls with a little dollop of FAGE 0% greek-style strained yogurt on top and a little sprig of mint or fennel. Matt can’t believe the yogurt doesn’t have fat in it. Actually neither can I, but that’s what it says on the label… I prefer it to cream because of the tang it has.

Corn Fritters, Beef Curry and Thai Risotto

This last week has been a bit busy with long work hours and a great weekend trip for Melissa's Diplomacy tournament on Long Island. We've got three great dishes to report on, but first a bit about our weekend.

Friday afternoon we drove down to Bridgeport, Connecticut to catch the Bridgeport-Port Jefferson Ferry over to Long Island. The Woodring residence in beautiful Setauket, Long Island is the site of Husky-Con, an annual tournament of the war-strategy board game Diplomacy, of which Melissa is a world-renowned practitioner. And what an impressive venue. The Woodrings' three-story house sits on two acres of prime real estate with a beautiful view over Long Island Sound and a private dock at the intersection of Conscience Bay and Port Jefferson Harbor. While the diplomacy players diplomed late into the night, us non-gamers (collectively referred to as the "diplomacy wives" since most players are male) enjoyed the view, the wine and the inviting water. Don, Graham and Conrad are unbelievably gracious hosts, cooking for almost fifty people all weekend and providing sleeping space for every single one of them. Sitting out in a comfortable loveseat in their back garden on Friday evening, enjoying a glass of wine and watching the boats go by, I couldn't shake the feeling that I was Nick Carraway in the Great Gatsby, looking across the bay to the glitz and glamor of East Egg...

Check out the photos from the weekend at these two sites (flikr and picasa). Now to the food:

Last Thursday before we left for the weekend Melissa revisited a dish we have previously posted, and she made a few improvements. Her corn fritters were great the last time she made them, but this time she achieved a lighter, fluffier texture by whipping up the eggs and adding less flour -- see her notes below for the specifics. She also used some of her tomato, cucumber and cilantro salsa from last Monday's flank steak and mushroom dish (the salsa recipe is found in another post) to fill out the fritters. The tasty cakes were topped off with her home-made pesto aioli and ground black pepper. A great vegetarian dish.



We got back very late Sunday night from Long Island, and we were really feeling the weekend of wine drinking and constant grazing. But a good night's sleep cures a great many ills, and Monday night Melissa made a triumphant return to the kitchen with a steak-tips curry she put together using her own mix of curry spices (see below), served on a bed of arugula fresh from the garden with sliced tomatoes. Our arugula (a.k.a. rocket/roquet) is much spicier than what we buy in the supermarket, with pronounced flavours of black pepper and nuts. Who knows what makes the difference, but I'd rather not think about it given that the garden is often irrigated by the runoff from our apartment building... The beef was spicy and rich with intense flavours from the curry mix -- a perfect dish for Gewurztraminer. We had a 2006 bottle from Chateau Ste. Michelle (Columbia Valley, WA) that was still on our shelf from our recent Gewurz tasting.



Tonight we had a Thai-inspired risotto dish that has to be one of Melissa's best experiments in recent months. After pan-toasting the risotto rice, she simmered it in a mixture of chicken broth, coconut cream, lemongrass and green Thai chili paste for a nice kick. The consistency was perfect -- firm but not crunchy -- and the Thai flavors were evident from the aroma before even tasting the risotto. She served the risotto with wilted basil leaves mixed in, and topped it with diced tomatoes and stir-fried chicken she had marinated in fish sauce, curry paste and lemon juice. A garnish of feathery fennel leaves finished it off in style.

Wow, did I love this dish. Seriously, try it out...

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Melissa's Recipes and Notes

Corn fritters revisited

Last time I made corn fritters they looked fairly good, had good seasoning, but I thought they were a little rubbery. This time I attempted to fix this.

1 egg
1 can of whole corn kernels (don’t try sweet corn it’ll definitely be too stodgy)
½ cup of left over salsa (diced tomato, cucumber, mint, basil and lemon juice)
1 – 2 tbsp of flour
½ tsp of salt
1 tsp of fresh ground pepper
Olive oil

First up using an electric hand whisk I beat the egg until it was light and fluffy. I then folded in the corn, salsa, salt and pepper. Lastly I folded in the flour until I had a loosely bound mixture. In a non-stick pan I heated olive oil to a fairly hot temperature and then spooned in the corn mixture to make fritters. Once one side was nicely brown the fritters were flipped to cook the other. With the lower amount of flour, and the fluffy whisked egg these fritter were a lot lighter than last time.

Pesto Aoli

To top the fritters I decided to experiment with making fresh aoli. Aoli is basically mayonnaise without the lemon juice. I must admit I did add lemon juice so maybe mine would be better described as a pesto mayonnaise.

1 egg yolk
~1/4 cup of really good olive oil
1 small garlic clove
1 handful of basil leaves
salt and lemon juice to taste

Put the egg yolk in a tall narrow vessel. Whisk the egg yolk until light and fluffy with an electric whisk. Wide shallow bowls are not good at containing a single egg yolk for whisking, but may be used if the recipe is being bulked up. In a blender puree basil leaves, garlic clove and olive oil. Slowly add the oil/basil puree to the light fluffy egg while still whisking. Keep whisking egg and oil until stiff before adding more oil until all the oil is combined. Add salt and lemon juice to taste.

Serve spoonfuls of pesto aoli over the corn fritters to serve.

Beef with a curry rub over hummus and arugula salad

While the construction guys renovating the 4th floor of our building had done their best to kill my vegetable garden this year by draining all the rain from the roof directly into my patch of dirt, we got them to move their drainage pipe recently and finally got some arugula/rocket to grow. So while I hadn’t bought any fresh greens from the supermarket recently I managed to harvest enough arugula to make a little salad.

Instead of using potatoes, rice or pasta for starch in meals I’ve recently been experimenting with beans and lentils. I thought hummus might make a good substitute for mashed potatoes and thought to match I might make some steak sliced up and coated in a curry paste with a Middle Eastern inspiration.

~300g of sirloin steak tips – thinly sliced
little olive oil for frying

Curry rub

1 tbsp of curry powder
1 tbsp of cumin
1 tsp of coriander seeds
1 tsp of fennel seeds
1 tsp of whole black pepper corns
½ tsp of caraway seeds
½ tsp of celery seeds
5 garlic cloves
1 tsp of salt

Blend all ingredients in a grinder or with a mortar and pestle until a paste. Rub into thin slices of sirloin steak tips.

Hummus

½ can of chickpeas
1 tbsp of sesame seeds
2 garlic cloves
2 tbsp of lemon juice
Salt to taste

In same blender that curry rub was made (without rinsing) blend hummus ingredients until smooth. Add salt to taste.

After meat has marinated around ½ hour, flash fry in a hot pan coated with olive oil.

Salad

2 cups of fresh arugula/rocket leaves
1 tomato – sliced into thin wedges

Serve meat on bed of hummus surrounded by arugula leaves and a sliced tomato.

East meets West in an Italian-Thai fusion.

Coming home this evening I couldn’t quite put my finger on what I wanted to cook. Last night’s hummus flickered through my mind, maybe a little Turkish food with a yogurt dressing. While I was searching for the chickpeas that Matt froze last night my hand happened on the half tin of coconut cream frozen from last time I cooked a Thai Chicken curry. Last time I was at the supermarket I picked up some lemongrass (also frozen for future use) and then there’s always the John West Thai Curry Paste. Over to the pantry for the Jasmine rice only to be “Denied!” Alas, the Indian Feast used up all my Jasmine rice and there was only Risotto or Sushi rice left. Now that got me thinking, can you make a risotto using Thai Chicken Curry sauce instead of the standard chicken broth? And the answer is a resounding YES! Here’s the recipe.

Thai risotto

1-2 tbsp of olive oil
1 cup of Risotto Rice
1 cup of Chicken Broth
1 cup of Coconut Cream
1 tsp of John West Thai Curry Paste
~4cm of Lemon Grass

In a bowl mix chicken broth, coconut cream, and curry paste. Finely chop the lemon grass and reserve to add to the Risotto when the first ladles of broth are added. For the risotto find a big pot with a tight fitting lid. Heat the oil in the bottom of the pan and add the rice to stir fry it a little before adding any of the liquid. When the rice has been lightly toasted start adding the broth/coconut cream/curry paste mixture ladle by ladle while stirring constantly. Add lemon grass at this time. Wait for the rice to soak up all the liquid before adding the next ladle. Keep the rice on medium heat so the liquid can simmer, but not evapourate too quickly before it is absorbed by the rice. The rice will take around 20 minutes to cook. Keep tasting and look for the kernel to be firm without being crunchy. Matt was a little later coming home than I thought and so when the rice was almost ready I took it off the heat with a little extra liquid still to be absorbed and put a lid on it. While the rice is still hot it’ll continue to absorb moisture and cook that last little bit.

Chicken thigh stir-fried

1 tbsp of olive oil
~100g of thinly sliced chicken thigh
Couple of handfuls of whole basil leaves
1 tsp of John West Thai Curry Paste
1 tsp of fish sauce
1 tbsp of lemon juice
1 tomato diced and seasoned with salt and pepper
¼ cup of water

In a bowl combine chicken thigh slices, curry paste, fish sauce and lemon juice for a quick marinade. Heat olive oil in pan and stir fry chicken until cooked through. Add a little water and throw in basil leaves till wilted. With some water the basil leaves will wilt retaining their green colour. Without the water they will turn black because the heat is too high.

To serve place Risotto on plate and top with sliced chicken/basil mixture. Cover with diced tomato and garnish with a feathery fennel leaf.