Sesame seed bread

Did a batch with sesame seeds.

Forgot to score the bread but no harm seems to have come from it.

The first days bread tastes ok.

I baked another the next day. This time I remembered to score it (I also baked it a little longer). It looks better now.

Bread in a Dutch oven

The basic dough treatment is my usual "no knead" one. But now I just drop the dough into a Dutch oven (pre heated along with my electric oven to 220C), cook it covered for 35 mins and then uncovered for 10 mins. The crust is pretty good though the interior is drier than I like (but that may be due to an error in my water proportion or perhaps I cooked it a bit too long).

Crumb (the interior holes) is acceptable.

The bread interior is yellowish due to the addition of tumeric powder.

Whistler trip 17

Last dinner before going home.

Whistler trip 16

Had a bunch of people over today (7). Did a roasted pork shoulder, a frittata, a beef bourguignon , a rice dish (tomatos, basil and corn) and a salad.

The pork shoulder I've done before, but today I wanted to try the capability of the apt's oven to go to 550F to do the pork crackling (instead of broiling it, which is my custom). Instead the intense heat started burning the fond below the pork shoulder. The resultant smoke caused the fire alarm to go off! Had to open doors and windows to clear the smoke. I think if I were to do this again, I would just insert the pork shoulder with a clean tray. Or else just use the broiler (which is only top heat).

Threw together a frittata from bell peppers, brocolli, onions and tomatoes. With flavoring from lemon juice and zest, and parmesean.

The beef stew was done fairly classic french style. Just this once, I took the meat out at the end and used a blender to liquefy the stewing vegs. Got a nice thick liquid to go with the beef.

D

Whistler trip 15

Simple meal this time.

Thai basil pork again plus stir fried Bok Choy with garlic. The blackish dish on one side is packet palak paneer from trader joes (not very nice).

Whistler trip 14

Steak meal this time. Accompanied by red cabbage coleslaw and rice.

The coleslaw was so so. I did it to get rid of some red cabbage leftover from the ribollita.  Was my first time with this cuisine variant. Will try again.

The steak was seared, then simmered in beef stock, thyme, and chopped onions until medium (for me) and well done (for Mw). The steak was taken out and the sauce was reduced (with red wine, a generous dash of pepper and a little butter) then thickened with flour.

Whistler trip 13

Did a duck ala orange with basil tomato basmati rice. Accompanied by canned corned kernels (the trader joe version is pretty good out of the can), and (for the last time) left over ribollita.

The rice was pretty good - garlic was fried in melted butter, then rice was added and coated in the fat. Add water and bring to boil. Then add cherry tomatoes and chiffonaded basil and leave the rice to finish covered in low heat. With salt and more veg it could have been a complete main dish in its own right.

The duck was cooked till slightly past medium. I started with this recipe for the sauce

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Duck-a-lOrange-102145

but added Thyme and even more orange juice and stock and a little sweet red wine, and reduced it even more.

Then I seared the duck breasts in a pan, added the sauce and finished cooking the breasts in a braise with pan covered, monitoring the internal temp till the doneness desired. Took the meat out and reduced the sauce a bit more then added butter and flour to thicken and enrichen it.

Whistler trip 12

Off day from skiing today.

So woke up and did a eggs Benedict with bagels and bacon. 

Initially the hollandaise separated but I rescued it by cracking another egg and dripping the separated mixture into it like I was doing it from scratch like butter. I had breakfast first (my poached egg placement is a little off). Sadly by the time Mw woke up, the hollandaise had separated but mw says it still tastes good.

When I did this at home, the hollandaise was much more stable. I guess it might be the lower ambient temp here at fault.

The cherry tomatoes goes well with a mouthful of the mains btw.

Whistler trip 11

Nothing really new or elaborate.

There was left over ribollita and a pasta made with sauce from left over beef short rib braise. The chicken was a variation of what I did the other day with a yoghurt marinate. This time the marinate had a bit of orange juice in it, which lifted the taste in a slight fruity direction.

Whistler trip 10

Did a thai minced pork basil stir fry, a baked ling cod, and a basic plain garlic stir fry bok choy.

The thai dish was ok (could have used a little more chili but I was conservative for Mw). Simple to make so it could form part of my asian repertoire such as it is.

The baked ling cod was improvised from ingredients at hand. The one thing of note was that it actually smelt rather fishy when raw (not too fresh), but a 15 minute soak in brine and a little vinegar seems to have removed most of the fishiness, so a technique to be filed away (of course you don't need it if you got fresh fish in the first place!).

Whistler trip 9

had 2 guests today. 

Had pork chops, salad, potato gratin and some of my leftover ribollita. So only 2 actual cooked dishes.

The pork chops was tough despite the gentle simmer in the sauce after the sear. Probably too lean. The sauce was sauted  bell pepper, onions, tomatoes and garlic, then creme fraiche, thyme, and white wine added, and reduced slightly.

The potatoes was pretty standard. Fairly nice but je lak.

Whistler trip 8

Pork rib soup and beef stir fry with bell pepper and broccoli.

Whistler trip 7

Cooked a big pot of ribollita. Cheated a little as it's not purely vegetarian. I added some braise from my beef short ribs. There are a million recipes for this so I shan't bother. Suffice it to say that fresh veg, good bread and olive oil are rerequisites. 

Whistler trip 6

The main dish was braised beef short ribs. Was pretty good. 

Beef short ribs are famously tough but flavorful. This one took 6.5 hours of braise! And still not perfectly tender (though acceptable). I suspect overnight in the oven at 100-120C will do the trick if I repeat this.

Cheap too - this much ribs cost about 12 CAD. Plus a little bit for the wine and other ingredients.

Method.

1. Brown the meat and remove.
2. Fry bacon and remove.
3. saute mirepoix (diced carrots, onions, and celery).
4. Add enough tomato paste to coat the mirepoix and add garlic. Continue cooking to ensure the paste caramelises.
5. Add back meat. Then pour half wine and half beef stock to just not quite cover the meat.
6. braise for 6.5 hours or until meat is tender.
7. Optional step (which I did). Keep in fridge overnight, then remove the congealed fat.
8. I added a bit of barley and lentils but I believe it is not necessary.

Whistler trip 5

Cooked sausage in tomato sauce linguine plus salad in yogurt vinegrette.

The tomato sauce is simple but quite nice. Worth repeating - sauté chopped onions and garlic till fragrant, then add a bit of tomato paste and caramelise, then add canned diced tomatoes and a little stock and thyme and reduce a bit.

Whistler trip 4

Did pulao rice, aloo Gobi and a yogurt marinated chicken.

The rice was ok, the aloo gobi was sort of a bit off, though still tasty (I think I missed something). The chicken was good though and worth repeating.

The marinate was Greek honey yogurt (nice tasting by itself and I got it for the honey to caramelise), tumeric powder, pinch of chilli powder, salt, half a lemon juice, and a spoonful of Dijon mustard. I let it marinate for about an hour before roasting it at 350F with the last few minutes on broiler to brown the skin. Juicy and tasty.

Whistler trip 3

We had après ski (beer and pizza) with the ski school class. After that i did a dinner while Mw rested.

Steak with red wine sauce and a vegetable soup.

The steak (one was enough for 2!) was seared on both sides, then cooked slowly in a 80C (the lowest it would go) oven till the meat internal temp hit 62C. Then I made a rough sauce by frying chopped onions in the pan, then adding a teaspoon of Dijon mustard, a glass of red wine, pepper and salt and reducing it down. The steak was pretty tender and just nicely cooked.

The veg soup is diced onions, bell pepper, celery, garlic, and 2 ginger slices, fried till fragrant. Then i added cooked bacon, diced potatoes, thyme, mushrooms, tomato slices and water.  Just before serving I added Bok Choy and briefly boiled it.

Whistler trip 2

The veg is simply done but mw says quite nice. It's nice and crisp - I just blanched it to just done, then shocked it in cold water, then seasoned with soy sauce and pepper. The freshness of the veg probably helped.

Poached pear dessert chinese style

Had this in HK during transit.

It's a poached pear, but done much lighter than western style in a light flavored sugar syrup. Mw likes it, will make a point of doing something similar.

Whistler trip 1

We are staying a few days in Vancouver followed by 3 weeks in whistler. I plan to cook most dinners.

Our vancouver apt has a nice oven which I cannot use! There are no oven trays. So I'm left with 4 electric heater coils, 2 non stick fry pans and 2 non stick pots. Thankfully, the coils are quite powerful.

On arrival in day 1, I did a quickie pork rib soup, rice and lap cheong omelette. No photos and nothing special except I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the cooked rice done without a rice cooker.

For the record, cook rice with about 1.25 to 1.5 times its volume of water at high heat until water is at a rolling boil. Then lower the heat to a simmer (transfer pot to unheated coil/gas ring if neceassary), and cover for about 15 mins. Then remove from heat and let it sit for at least 10 mins.

Day 2. Seared 1.5 to 2 in pork chops at high heat, then simmered in a concocted sauce until done inside. Accompanied by rice, boiled broccoli, carrots, and the sweetest corn I've ever tasted. The sauce was chopped tomatoes cooked down in thyme, garlic and oil, then fluid added in the form of Greek yogurt plus salt, pepper and sugar to taste then reduced over medium heat (seperate reduction was unnecessary because of the longish simmer time of the pork - I had to add a bit of water)