Spring Asparagus - Trash Band 1987 pie

I love asparagus…I would rate it within my top 5 vegetables.


Asparagus was prized by the ancient Greeks and Romans for its unique flavour, texture and alleged medicinal qualities. Famous figures, such as Julius Caesar and Louis XIV's, love of asparagus is renowned. Asparagus is often called the "Food of Kings."  King Louis XIV of France was so fond of this delicacy that he ordered special greenhouses built so he could enjoy asparagus all year-round.


The Emperor Augustus coined the phrase ‘velocius quam asparagi conquantur’, meaning to do something faster than you can cook asparagus.


It’s Spring now which means it’s asparagus time!


Last year I moved out of home into a unit in Highgate and hosted a succession of dinner parties. I used to play in a local Perth band between 2003-2006 and one night I had a Trash Band 1987 reunion, I invited my trashers over to my new crib for dinnertimes and games. 


Some trashers are vegetarians so I had to cook something for dinner that was vegetarian-friendly. In the end I decided on a Trash Band 1987 themed vegetarian pie.

So what’s in this pie? Blanched asparagus spears on a bed mashed egg.

It’s simple but tasty! Mash up some hard boiled eggs together with a little butter, mayonnaise, salt and pepper…it’s not a science, there doesn’t need to be exact quantities, just taste and adjust, taste and adjust. 

On the bottom layer of the puff pastry, place the egg mixture in a square (build an asparagus wall around it) and then place blanched asparagus spears on top. Brush some egg around the edges and then lay the top piece of puff pastry over the filling and seal.

That’s the easy part and now to the hard part….

I wanted to make a Trash Band 1987 themed pie so I decided to decorate the top of the pastry with a girl, a trash can and a guitar. This was modeled on a Trash Band 1987 tshirt design. 

I used a small knife to cut into a piece of puff pastry to create the shapes. It took some time but it turned out well.

Glaze pie with egg and bake in a preheated oven at 180C until nicely brown.

Rock’n’Roll music forever \m/

Trash Band 1987 RIP 2003-2006

RTRFM In the Pines 2004

 Related post - Fridey at the Hydey - Trash Band 1987

…..from a young age I exhibited a lot of trasher potential.

Japanese Tofu Salad

I have never eaten tofu in a salad until I traveled to Japan. Tofu was not really something that I associated with a salad. I have eaten tofu fried, steamed and braised but never just as is, chopped up, and in a salad. 


Eating vegetables with soft pieces of tofu is quite refreshing.

Ingredients
• Gourmet salad mix 
- baby spinach
- cos lettuce
- rocket
- fancy lettuce
- watercress
- snow pea sprouts
- cherry tomatoes

• Soft-firm tofu, cut into bite-sized pieces

• Garnish with roasted sesame seeds and dried seaweed (shredded nori)
• Japanese style dressing
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce (kikkoman brand)
- 1 ½ teaspoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon mirin
- 1 teaspoon sake
- 2 teaspoons grated ginger
- 1 tablespoon apple vinegar
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil


Whisk together all the dressing ingredients in a bowl, taste and adjust the seasonings to desired taste. 

In making the dressing I tried to recall the tastes that I encountered in Japan and there were certain elements that needed to be evident in the mix – soy sauce, ginger and hints of sesame.


On a plate, arrange salad and place pieces of tofu on top. Spoon the dressing over the salad and tofu. Sprinkle over the top roasted sesame seeds and then place some dried seaweed on top. 

VERDICT – My friends who I went to Japan with couldn’t stop eating this salad because it reminded them of Japan. 

Xintiandi on Francis Street

There are many Chinese restaurants around town. It's a popular cuisine. Many people like to have when they dine out or get take away. But the fact of the matter is that many Chinese restaurants actually serve pretty average food. 


Why is this the case? 


In my opinion, it’s because one of their main target markets are Westerners and ‘gwai los’ know shit all about Chinese food so you can feed them anything. I think this is probably why a lot of international cuisines served in restaurants are below par/watered down versions of authentic dishes…but it takes two to tango…it amazes me when I see restaurants which serve crap food actually have customers…I guess some (most?) people don’t care about how something tastes or what goes into their mouth…hmm this would also explain the phenomenon of fast food.


My dad is a chef so I’ve grown up with great tasting authentic Chinese food. I don’t often eat out at Chinese restaurants, there are very few Chinese restaurants around town that my family thinks is worthy.


When you are a chef and you earn your living cooking all day and night, it’s understandable that one of the most rewarding things for my dad is not having to cook. For Father’s day I decided to take my dad out for dinner. It’s always a hard choice deciding where to eat. 


We were aware that Jade Seafood Chinese Restaurant on 40 Francis Street, Northbridge had recently re-opended again after a complete makeover with a name change to Xintiandi (which means ‘new horizons’ in Chinese) and major refurbishments. The word out on the street was that the owners have hired a chef from Shanghai in order to offer authentic Shanghai/Sichuan cuisine. My family decided to check it out and judge the quality of the food for ourselves.

My family celebrated Father’s day on Monday night as this is the only night that my dad’s restaurant is closed. Chinese food is all about ordering dishes to be shared, between the 5 of us we ordered 8 different dishes, plus steamed rice (my family eats a lot!).


We consumed the following dishes (please note: I can’t remember the exact names of some of the dishes)

Started off with some Shanghai dumplings

Dry fried Sichuan green beans

Braised pork ribs

Seafood claypot (with prawns, scallops, sea cucumber, abalone)

Fried chicken

Fried scallops wrapped with black sesame seeds

Shui zhu - fish boiled in a spicy soup

Roast duck

Finished with dessert of sesame icecream

How was the food? Very good – there was a great selection of dishes to choose from, the food was cooked well and packed flavour. 


There aren’t that many Chinese restaurants that I could give a tick of approval to but I think that Xintiandi deserves praise and I hope people go and check it out.

Chilli Con Carne and Guacamole

On the weekend I tried cooking some chilli con carne. The name "chili con carne" is taken from Spanish, and means "peppers with meat." The recipe for chilli con carne is highly disputed, everyone has their own way of making it and there is much controversy over the type of ingredients which should or should not be included such as beans and tomatoes.


Every year the International Chili Society holds world championship cookoffs for chilli con carne all over America. Among other things, cooks are forbidden to include beans and pasta, and use any pre-cooked ingredients (see all the rules and regulations here) in the preparation of chili for the official competition.


I’m sure most people have heard of Heston Blumenthal…well he has made a version of chilli con carne but it was inelligible for the International Chili Society cookoff because it contained beans! 


Purists eschew the use of beans. A popular saying among self-proclaimed chili purists is "If you know beans about chili, you know chili ain’t got no beans".  


I used beans in my chilli con carne and I also used chocolate which was an ingredient that was used in some of the recipes that I read. It was the first time that I have used chocolate in cooking something that was not a dessert, initially I was a little apprehensive about adding something that seemed out of place but I think that the addition of chocolate to chilli con carne really makes the dish.


Here is my version of chilli con carne which I developed from reading a number of different recipes. I don’t think that it would be considered authentic but its essence is a spicy beef stew. Traditional versions of chilli con carne are made minimally with chili peppers, garlic, onions and cumin, along with chopped or ground beef. I included additional ingredients like using a mix of different meats, chocolate, wine and a variety of spices to achieve a more rich and intense flavour.


Ingredients
• Olive oil
• 150g bacon, finely diced
• 700g beef mince
• 350g pork mince
• 2 chorizo (~300g, skin removed, finely dice the meat)
• 2 shallots, finely diced
• 3 garlic cloves, finely diced
• Mix of chillies to desired hotness (2 jalapenos, 1 habenero, 1-2 birds eyes – all finely diced)
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
• 2 teaspoons sweet smoked paprika powder
• 2 sprigs thyme, chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 cup red wine
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 400g can diced tomatoes
• 1 red capsicum, roasted and diced
• 50g dark chocolate (70% cococa) coarsely chopped
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 400g can red kidney beans
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• salt and pepper to taste
• serve with pita bread, sour cream and guacamole

jalapenos and habenero chillies

chorizos from Spanish Flavours, Wembly

removing the chorizo meat and chopping finely

Method
Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large frying pan and cook the beef and pork mince, breaking up with the back of a spoon, for 5 minutes or until brown, transfer to a plate. Then cook the chorizo in the frying pan with the bacon for 2-3 minutes until it starts to brown.

In a large heavy based saucepan, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil and fry the shallots for a few minutes until softened, then add the garlic, chillies and fry for few minutes. Add spices to onion/chilli mixture – ground cumin, ground coriander, ground cinnamon, cayenne pepper and sweet smoked paprika powder and fry for 1-2 minutes until aromatic. 

Add the cooked beef mince, pork mince, chorizo and bacon into the saucepan. Add thyme and bay leaves. Mix together well.

Add red wine and cook for a few minutes until the wine has reduced.


Stir in tomato paste, diced tomatoes, capsicum and dark chocolate.


Add chicken stock, bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer for 2 hours, stirring occasionally. After 2 hours, add little sugar, season to taste with salt and pepper.


Add red kidney beans and cook for another 15-20minutes.

Serve with pita bread, with sour cream, coriander garnish and guacamole.

Guacamole

Ingredients
• 2 ripe avocadoes, halved/stone removed
• 2 crushed garlic cloves
• 1 shallot, finely diced
• 1 tomato, finely diced (seeds removed)
• 2 tablespoons coriander, finely chopped
• 1-2 birds eye chillies, deseeded/finely chopped
• 2-3 tablespoons lime juice (about half a lime)


Method
Put the shallots, garlic, coriander and chilli in a bowl. Scoop the avocado flesh into the bowl and use a fork to mash the avocado and combine it with the other ingredients. Then add lime juice and tomato into the bowl, season with salt and pepper to taste and mix together well. 

Kakuni – Japanese Braised Pork

I had some braised pork belly when I was in Japan, it was succulent and just melted in my mouth. I googled this dish and found that it was called kakuni. Kakuni is a Japanese braised pork dish which literally means “square simmered" – cubes of pork belly are simmered for a long time with dashi, soy sauce, mirin, sugar and sake. 


There are many different recipes for kakuni, some require days of preparation and cooking. I took elements of recipes which sounded like it would work well and attempted to cook some kakuni.


Ingredients 
• ~ 1 kg pork belly, cut into cubes
• 1 piece of kombu seaweed
• 1 medium sized daikon, grated with liquid (approx 3 cups)
• 1.5 inch piece of ginger, grated
• ¼ cup sugar
• ½ cup sake
• 3 tablespoons mirin
• ¼ cup soy sauce (kikkoman brand)
• 2 cups dashi stock
• salt


Method
Put piece of kombu in a pot of cold water. Soak the kombu for 30 minutes.


Add pork cubes into the pot of water with kombu and slowly bring to boil over medium/low heat. Once it reaches boil, take the piece of kombu out and discard. Allow the pork to simmer for another 2-3 minutes, then drain the pork and rinse. 


Mix the grated daikon and ginger together. In a heatproof dish, place a third of the grated diakon/ginger mixture over the bottom of the dish. Place the pork cubes on top of the grated daikon/ginger and cover with the remaining diakon/ginger. 

Place the dish over a steamer and steam for 2-3 hours (replenish the steaming water as necessary). The steaming flavours and tenderizes the pork.


Once the pork can be easily pierced with a skewer, remove the dish from the steamer. Place the pork cubes in a bowl of lukewarm water, gently rinse the pork cubes and let cool. 


Refrigerate the pork cubes for a few hours or overnight.


Add sugar, sake, mirin and soy sauce to a large heavy bottomed pot/dutch oven. Add cool, steamed pork cubes and toss the pork around so it gets coated with the sauce, then add in 2 cups of dashi stock and simmer for 2-3 hours, turning the pork occasionally for even flavoring and coloring. The pork pieces should all fit in one layer.

At the end I sprinkled in a little salt to round off the flavours and simmered for a few more minutes. 


Now it’s ready to eat!

After all the simmering, the pork should be very tender and be covered with a thick dark glaze (a reduction of the braising liquid). It’s great with some hot steamed rice.


Was quite happy with the result, there was a lovely depth of flavour where every stage of the cooking process – blanching, steaming and braising infused different flavours into the pork. 


Now that I have a basis for this dish, I definitely want to experiment with the flavours the next time I cook it – toying with the ideas of adding some star anise and also some fresh chillies into the braising liquid to add a hint of heat to the pork.


Kakuni tastes much better the next day as the pork cubes absorb more flavour.


Pork belly is one of my favourite things to cook, but seriously who can refuse pork belly?


Here are some of my other pork belly recipes:

• Vietnamese braised pork belly with eggs in coconut juice (Thit Heo Kho Trung)
• Twice cooked pork (Sichuan style)
• Roasted pork belly - sui yuk
• Braised pork spare ribs with pumpkin
• Braised pork belly with daikon
• Chinese BBQ Pork 
• Communist Pork (Red Cooked Pork)
• Baki Kecap (Indonesian braised pork in sweet soy sauce)

Middle Eastern Orange Cake

A few weeks ago a work colleague brought in a middle eastern orange cake for morning tea. I’d never eaten this type of cake before but with the first bite I was sold.

It was delicious, so dense and moist with a really intense orange flavour.  The texture of the cake is almost creamy like too, reminiscent of a pudding. Another bonus is that it’s not a very sweet cake. It also does not contain any gluten or dairy.


It's a classic Passover dessert drawing on the Sephardic traditions of Morocco, the Mediterranean and the Middle East (where citrus was more available).


I found a recipe for this cake and it’s very easy to make but is quite time consuming.


Ingredients
• 2 large oranges (buy really nice oranges, as you use the whole orange – skin, flesh and all)
• 6 large eggs
• 250g ground almonds/almond meal
• 250g caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder

Method
Preheat oven to 180C and grease cake tin with butter.

Wash the oranges and places in a saucepan with water to cover. Bring to boil and simmer for 2 hours. Drain, allow the oranges to cool, then roughly chop, removing any pips.

Blend the oranges in a food processor, then add in the eggs and blend to a smooth consistency.

In a large bowl, combine the almond meal, caster sugar and baking powder. Gradually add in the orange-egg mixture and fold until just combined.

Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin. Bake for around 45-50 minutes until the top is deep golden brown and a skewer inserted comes out clean, if the cake is still wet, bake a little longer. 

Allow the cake to cool completely in the tin before turning out onto a serving plate. 
Serve with thick cream.

This cake keeps well in the fridge.