faire.Cuisine

I've Moved...

2010-02-03T22:03:00.000-08:00

Come and join the fun!

=(

2010-01-30T20:15:00.000-08:00

Hello readers! (if there are, in fact, any)

Sorry about not posting recently. Yes, I have been cooking. Unfortunately, blogspot is not letting my pictures upload for some bizarre reason. I'll keep trying, but if it persists in malfunctioning, I may have to switch to a new host. We'll give it a few more days, though.

Béchamel Sauce

2010-01-27T18:50:00.000-08:00

Béchamel (ie. the basic white sauce) is one of the four mother sauces of French cuisine. It looks deceivingly easy to make, having only 3 ingredients, but making it smooth and without lumps is going to get you at least once. Tonight was my first time making it, and I had lumps.

If you do get lumps, there are two ways to fix it.

1) strain it through a sieve

2) add in other things to the sauce to distract the eater from the lumps

Traditionally, one uses flour and butter for this sauce. I used cornstarch and margarine instead, because that's what I have. Cornstarch has twice the thickening power of flour, so just double or halve the recipe accordingly.

What makes béchamel sauce indispensable to the aspiring chef is that it serves as a base for basically any cream sauce. You can add cheese, flavour it with herbs, or put in whatever creative combinations you can think of. I used thyme and basil for mine.

When working with fresh herbs, make sure to research their uses. For example, thyme takes time for the flavour to come out, so I put it in to the sauce early on. Basil, on the other hand, loses its flavour very quickly, so I put it in at the end.

I also added onions, mushrooms, and a bit of turkey (all sauteed first in margarine) at the end before pouring it on rice to make it more of a feel. You can also use it as a pasta sauce, or even pour it onto meat.

Basic Béchamel Sauce

1 tbsp margarine
3/4 tbsp cornstarch
1 cup milk

Melt the margarine in a non-stick pot. Do not let it burn! Use medium-low heat.
Add in the cornstarch and stir until mixed. It will form a clumpy paste--do not panic, this is supposed to happen. It's called roux. Cook it for 2 minutes.
Add a ladle-full of warm milk (different recipes vary here, some say to use cold milk, others say room temp., and others warm. I tried room temp. and it was lumpy, so try warm). The roux will absorb some of the milk and make seem to get clumpier. Clumpy is okay, lumps are bad. Keep stirring to mix the milk with the roux.
In fact, if you can get someone to help you, one person should stir and one should pour the milk. Just don't stop stirring. Add another ladle of milk and stir some more. Continue slowly adding milk until it's all smooth.
You're now going to simmer until the sauce thickens, about 10 minutes. Make sure the heat is still on medium-low or the milk will burn (easy to check by tilting the pot, the burnt milk will be stuck to the bottom). I added the seasonings such as thyme, salt, pepper, and garlic powder here.
Add the other flavourings near the end, like cheese and basil. Add vegetables last. Heat through for a minute or two. Make sure to taste it before you serve!

Makes 1 cup of sauce.

Shepherd's Pie

2010-01-23T19:10:00.000-08:00

I've been wanting to make this ever since I ate it on the plane coming back from the Dominican Republic. Smooth creamy mashed potatoes, savoury ground beef, mmh! Very hearty, very comforting. It's a bit of work, but don't worry, it ain't Julia Child.

There are two components to this dish: the mashed potato and the beef filling. Do all your chopping and prepping first, and you can cook them at the same time.

A quick word of advice: make sure the pan is 11 x 7 inches. Mine was 12 by 9 inches, and everything was spread out a little too much (aka the layers weren't as thick as I would have liked). It'll also affect your ability to spread the mashed potato and seal it off.

Shepherd's Pie:

Mashed Potato

1.5 lbs russet potato
1/4 cup milk
4 tbsp margarine
1 egg yolk (use the egg white to make meringue or something)
1 tsp parsley

Filling

1 cup chopped onion
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1.5 lbs ground beef
1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper
1 tbsp cornstarch
2 tsp ketchup
1 cup chicken broth
1 tsp thyme, 1 tsp italian seasoning, 1 tsp basil, 1 tsp parsley
1/2 cup corn, 1/2 cup peas and carrots

Cut potatoes into 1/2 inch cubes. Put in a stainless steel pot, cover with cold water, and boil on high heat. Once it boils, turn the heat down to medium and simmer for 10-15 minutes.
Preheat the oven at 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
Saute the onions in oil in a pot for 3-4 minutes, then add the garlic.
Add the meat to the onions, add salt and pepper. Cook until the beef is cooked through.
Add cornstarch and mix in well. Add ketchup, broth, and herbs. Bring to boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer for 10-12 minutes.
Remove potatoes from heat and drain. Mash.
Microwave milk and margarine together for 35 seconds on high and add to potatoes, along with salt and pepper. Continue mashing.
Add in the egg yolk and parsley. Continue mashing.
Pour the meat filling into your baking dish. Spread the mashed potato on top. Make sure that there are no gaps in the potato, especially around the edges. If you don't seal it off well, the filling will bubble up through the holes.
Put the dish on a baking pan to catch and drippage, and place in the oven.
Bake for 25 minutes.
Let cool for 10 minutes before eating.

Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Pseudo-Panini

2010-01-23T13:26:00.000-08:00

Nothing fancy today: just a plain old turkey and cheese sandwich. But a word about bread. Several of my friends are in the habit of buying a loaf of bread and throwing almost half it out because they can't finish it before it goes bad/stale. What a waste! There are some things you can do instead to use up the entire loaf:

freeze the bread--it doesn't have any liquid in it, so it won't get icy. Toast it and you won't notice a difference
make bread crumbs or croutons--drizzle stale bread with oil, put on a baking sheet, and bake (or toast) until brown and crispy. For crumbs, crush the bread. For croutons, cut the bread into smaller squares before baking
make french toast--stale bread absorbs liquids a little better, ie. the egg mixture

I went grocery shopping today (it finally stopped raining, thank God). I spent $44... which is a lot. But I got lots of good stuff that'll last me a while. Kraft sliced cheese (mozzarella and provolone) so I can stop using shredded cheese in my sandwiches. Chicken broth, only 69 cents a can (normally $1.10)! Fresh mint, basil, and thyme--my grocery store never has fresh herbs. Family pack of chicken and 1.5 lbs of ground beef, and I should be good on meat for a while.

Pseudo-Panini

2 slices of bread
margarine
2 slices of sandwich meat (I used turkey)
1 slice of cheese (I used provolone)
dijon mustard

Butter both pieces of bread. Heat up some margarine in the frying pan.
Put one slice of meat on each piece of bread. Spread some mustard on it.
Put the cheese between the two pieces of bread/meat. (Tada, sandwich!)
Put the sandwich in the frying pan. Put a pot on top of the sandwich to press it down. You may want to cover the bottom of the pot with plastic wrap, but be careful not to let it touch the frying pan.
Once one side is nicely browned, flip and continue cooking.

Makes 1 sandwich

French Toast

2010-01-21T11:18:00.000-08:00

Good days start with good breakfasts. Eat something healthy and filling and you won't be as hungry throughout the day. Okay, so this isn't very healthy, but it's pretty delicious. And I don't eat it often.

French toast is a simple recipe. Dip bread in egg (most recipes call for milk, but I didn't have any. It came out fine). Panfry. Add toppings. Easy and quick, how all the guys like them.

For my toppings, I sprinkled brown sugar on both sides of the bread before cooking. This gave it a nicer brown colour, as well as some sweetness and caramelization. After cooking, I used some Betty Crocker butter cream frosting as a spread. The parsley helps to cut through the sweetness.

French Toast

1 slice of bread
1 egg
1 tbsp margarine
2 tsp brown sugar

Toppings: I used cake frosting because I had that sitting in my fridge from ages ago. Other good choices are fruit, cream cheese, syrup, etc.

Set your frying pan to medium heat and melt the margarine in it. Swirl around to coat.
Beat the egg thoroughly in a bowl. Dip the bread in the egg, and make sure the bread is thoroughly soaked through.
Put one teaspoon of the brown sugar on one side of the bread and pat it in. Put the bread in the pan, brown sugar-covered side face down.
Put the rest of the sugar on the other side of the bread.
Cook until one side is nicely browned (but not burnt). Flip, continue cooking.
Once both sides are done, move to a plate and apply toppings.

Makes 1 serving

Chawanmushi

2010-01-18T15:56:00.000-08:00

What's this? Two posts in one day? How bizarre.

Studies show that eating a small snack at 3:00 will keep your metabolism up, which allows your body to burn more fat. The trick is to eat a small, healthy snack.

For my snack today, I made Chawanmushi, aka Japanese steamed egg custard, with chicken as my filling. The neat (and handy) thing about Chawanmushi is that you can put pretty much anything you want inside it. I like chicken, but you can also put shrimp, vegetables, soybeans, mushrooms--no limits! Whatever you have in your fridge. Depending on what you put in, though, you may have to cook it first. Shrimps will steam with the egg, but chicken definitely has to be cooked first.

You'll notice that Chawanmushi uses many of the same ingredients as Oyako-don. In fact, a lot of these Japanese dishes are built around the same sauce: dashi, soy sauce, and cooking wine. Egg is also such a useful ingredient because of its amazing versatility--fried, steamed, boiled. Always have eggs in your fridge!

For serving container, make sure you have two small heat-proof cups. I have two Japanese tea cups that I got for less than $2 each. Make sure you can pick it up and put it down with one hand. You'll also need a large stainless steel pot with a steamer, as well as a chopstick.

Timing is very important in this recipe. If you cook the custard on too high heat or for too long, you will overcook the egg and it will take on a bizarre, unappetizing shape. It will taste okay, but the texture won't be as smooth and it will be ugly. This recipe makes enough for 2, so it's perfect for date night :)

Chawanmushi

1 large egg
170mL dashi stock
1/2 tsp cooking wine
1/2 tsp soy sauce
1/4 tsp salt
parsley (optional)

Filling: Whatever you desire. I used a 1/4 chicken breast cut into small pieces and browned in oil on medium heat. Whatever you use, make sure to drain off the oil or margarine that you cook it in, otherwise it'll rise to the top of your Chawanmushi for a nice layer of grease.

Beat the egg in a bowl. Add in the stock, wine, soy sauce, and salt. Stir until thoroughly mixed.
Divide the chicken evenly between the two cups. Pour the egg mixture into the two cups, again dividing equally.
Put the steamer into the big stainless steel pot and add water so that the level doesn't quite reach the top of the steamer. Cover and turn the heat up to high.
When the water boils, take the cover off. Gently place both cups on the steamer. It will be very hot in the pot, so I wear rubber dishwashing gloves for this step. Once they're in the pot, cover again with a chopstick wedged in-between the lid and the pot. This is very important, because it prevents the temperature from getting to high. Cook for 1 minute.
After 1 minute (and do not go over 1 minute) turn the heat down to its lowest or 2nd lowest setting. Cook for 10 minutes.
After 10 minutes, poke a skewer into one of the cups. It should come out clean, and the liquid that wells up in the hole should be clear. If it isn't, let it cook for another minute and check again.
Once the chawanmushi is done cooking, take it out of the pot and let it cool. Garnish with parsley and enjoy!

Makes 2 servings

Oyako-don Improv

2010-01-18T12:24:00.000-08:00

So, last night I was all ready to make some delicious Oyako-don for lunch. I had my new instant dashi that I had brought back from Vancouver, which I was very excited to try out.

But turns out that the onion I thought I still had was in fact imaginary. Now how do you make Oyako-don without onion?!

Improvise. What did I have in the fridge... carrots, bok choy, apples, cabbage... hmm, cabbage. Crunchy, a little bit sweet. It might work.

And work well it did.

Yum! The cabbage worked quite well--just remember to simmer it long enough that it becomes soft and absorbs the flavour of the sauce.

Here's the recipe:

1/2 chicken breast cut into small pieces
50 mL of stock (Chicken, Dashi, Beef--your choice)
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp cooking wine
1/2 tbsp brown sugar
1/4 head of green cabbage ripped/torn into bite-size pieces
2 eggs
parsley (optional)

Put the stock, soy sauce, cooking wine, and brown sugar together into a large pot and set on medium heat. Stir to dissolve, and then cover the pot.
Once the sauce starts simmering, add in the cabbage and cover again.
In the meantime, beat the two eggs lightly with chopsticks. You don't want them frothy, but just thoroughly mixed. Over-beating will ruin the texture of the egg after cooking.
When the cabbage softens, clear a space in the middle of the pot and add in the chicken. Cover again, but watch it carefully through the lid. Flip the pieces of chicken when they are mostly cooked through.
After the chicken is safe to eat, add in 2/3rds of the egg. Let it cook for 5 seconds, and then gently stir everything in the pot. Cover, and let cook for another 15 slow seconds.
Pour in the rest of the egg mixture and cover. Count to 5. Turn off the heat, and then let sit for 10 seconds.
Immediately pour onto hot rice. Garnish with parsley if you desire.

Makes 1 medium-large serving.

Sunday brunch

2009-12-13T13:29:00.000-08:00

French toast, seasoned with balsamic vinegar, with a cream cheese filling. I only had two eggs left, so I only used one of them. It needed the other egg, though.

Happy Thanksgiving

2009-11-27T22:12:00.000-08:00

Sorry, I can't cook a turkey.

Lamb chops (shoulder blade cut): very stringy, not buying that again. Marinated in italian spices and parsley flakes, along with the usual, and balsamic vinegar. Balsamic vinaigrette made with balsamic vinegar and beef stock.

A Balanced Meal

2009-11-25T18:53:00.001-08:00

Fried tofu with soy sauce

Sticky Peanut Sauce Chicken and Onion

Salad: cucumber, onion, tofu, celery, avocado

Salad Dressing: lemon juice, sesame oil, sweet chili sauce, S&P

Monday lunch

2009-11-23T12:36:00.001-08:00

Tamago:

Jap dinner Day 2

2009-11-17T18:55:00.001-08:00

Oyako don - chicken and fluffy egg on rice, delicious!

Monday dinner

2009-11-16T17:37:00.000-08:00

Tonkatsu Pork with deep fried carrots

中国菜

2009-11-12T18:50:00.000-08:00

Ma po tofu: Diced firm tofu, chili garlic sauce, onion, somewhat shredded pork chops
Bok choy braised with garlic and oyster sauce

Monday dinner

2009-11-09T19:35:00.000-08:00

Sesame chicken: chicken, onion and garlic sauteed and then simmered in chicken broth with soy sauce and sesame paste added.

Monday lunch

2009-11-09T12:28:00.000-08:00

I thought I'd treat myself in honour of... the last month of school.

Panfried udon with carrots and corn in a tom yum spicy sour beef veloute sauce. Topped with two soft-boiled eggs.

saturday dinner

2009-11-07T19:53:00.000-08:00

Sauce pork chops: boneless pork chops pan fried, brown onion chopped and sauteed, add can chicken mushroom soup and 1/2 cup ketchup, stir until mixed, add pork chops, cover and cook for 5 min 很好吃

sunday Lunch

2009-11-01T14:08:00.001-08:00

Pork (pounded to oblivion) dipped in egg and milk and breaded in breadcrumbs seasoned heavily with paprika and cajun seasoning. Topped with cheese.

Terrible picture. Really, it looked much better than this. The sauce is a tomato basil cream sauce. I cooked it too long on too high heat, so the evaporated milk began to denaturize...

mac and cheese

2009-10-25T20:49:00.001-07:00

Baked, 3 or 4 cheese (depends if you count pre-grated marble cheese as 1 or 2), with carrots, green onion, cilantro, topped with bread crumbs

East meets West

2009-10-24T19:11:00.000-07:00

Black bean cream sauce on pasta, with chicken, cauliflower, and carrots

Smiling Pork Chop

2009-10-21T18:26:00.001-07:00

Finally figured out why my food all looks blue. Camera's white balance was on the wrong setting.

Leftover pork chop from the other night (middle of the plate).

Roasted potato medallions and tomato slices make the eyes and face. Mixed with oil, parsley flakes, onion and garlic powder, S&P, topped with paprika and grated cheese before going in the oven. Oven set to 450, 20 min.

Next time I would...

Use less oil on the tomatoes and potatoes.

Cut the tomato into thicker slices so it's easier to take them off the foil-lined baking pan.

Put breadcrumbs on top of the potato medallions.

Try making a napoleon with cream cheese as the filler.

Pork Chop Dinner

2009-10-18T19:16:00.000-07:00

My new signature dish:

Pork Chops in Apple Sage Monterey Jack Cheese Sauce with Roasted Paprika Potatoes

Pre-Sauce

Post-Sauce

Japan Fever

2009-10-11T20:40:00.000-07:00

Went to Little Tokyo yesterday, had Daikokuya for lunch (popular ramen place).

Salad: Really good. I'm not sure what's in the dressing, but it's very unique and tasty.

The Ramen (Kattori flavour broth-some Tonkatsu variant) - I would have liked a more flavourful soup, and the pork was a little lackluster. Very big bowl, though

Tuna Sashimi mini-don - It was ok. Not the best fish, but not fishy-smelling either.

No trip to Little Tokyo would be complete without a complete unnecessary purchase.

My first attempt at making sushi. I need a lot less rice and a lot more fillings.

Tuesday night dinner

2009-10-06T17:56:00.001-07:00

Sunshine "Steak" on a bed of romaine lettuce with oven-roasted lemon roast potatoes

Monday evening dinner

2009-10-05T20:53:00.001-07:00

Steamed broccoli (steamed too much)

Roast potatoes in lemon, oil, paprika

Ground beef with onions, garlic, tomatoes, ketchup, chili powder

It's been a while...

2009-10-04T18:40:00.001-07:00

Another version of my dry-rub many spice chicken. It was a bit salty, but the pan was a lot hotter, which is why the colour is so much darker. The vegetables are tomatoes, celery, onion and carrots stir-fried first, and then simmered in golden cooking wine with sugar and salt. Yummy!

Desert made at Vivian's. Apple and peach panfried in butter with sugar and cocoa powder. Once soft, I added caramel-cinnamon dipping sauce and milk to make a nice sauce, and let it sit on low heat for a while to thicken up.

Crappy picture, but great curry. Made with potatoes, apples, carrots, onion, garlic, beef sirloin tips cut thinly, and coconut milk. It was a bit too apple-y for me, I won't but them in until near the end or something next time.

Monday night dinner

2009-09-28T18:23:00.000-07:00

Vegetables: Braised romaine lettuce with green onion, minced garlic, and oyster sauce

Many-spice Chicken: All the spices in my cupboard and cornstarch, dry-rubbed onto chicken breasts, pan-fried in oil

Things to improve on: more vegetables (they sure wilt a lot), more salt in the dry rub, mix the chicken with the dry rub better, and more dry rub to coat the chicken better

Pasta Night

2009-09-25T19:24:00.000-07:00

Friday dinner:

Macaroni with Tomato meat sauce (garlic, onions, carrots, celery, fresh tomatoes, ketchup, canned pasta sauce)

Can you say juicy and delicious?

2009-09-21T17:53:00.001-07:00

Teriyaki steak (medium rare): Top strip loin marinated for 4 hours in teriyaki sauce, italian seasoning, and garlic powder. Teriyaki sauce made with teriyaki sauce (duh), garlic, margarine and some water, reduced in the pan after panfrying the steak.

Back from Big Bear Dinner

2009-09-20T17:34:00.001-07:00

General's Spicy Chicken and Clean out the fridge Fried Rice

Who this general is, I have no idea. But his chicken sure is good.

Diced chicken, two cloves of garlic (minced), 2 green onions in big pieces

Sauce: Soy sauce, sushi rice vinegar, chili bean sauce, sesame oil, sugar, hoisin sauce

Fried rice:

Rice, 1 egg, carrots, celery, enoki mushrooms, tom yum paste

They call it delicious...

2009-09-13T18:42:00.001-07:00

-ly simple.

Black bean chicken: Chicken, mustard greens, green peppers, celery, corn, black bean garlic sauce.

Saturday night Dinner

2009-09-12T18:27:00.001-07:00

Some sort of Jap-inspired Beef stew:

Beef sirloin tip (.75 lbs), 4 carrots, 4 white rose potatoes, one onion chopped, two cloves of garlic, enoki mushrooms, 2 green onions

Saturday Baking

2009-09-12T15:25:00.000-07:00

Duncan Hines Red Velvet cake mix

With Betty Crocker Butter Cream frosting on top!

Monday night dinner

2009-09-07T19:26:00.001-07:00

Macaroni, carrots, broccoli, chicken, green onions, cheese. It looks yellower than this in real life.

Sunday night dinner

2009-09-06T19:56:00.000-07:00

Japanese Curry with Broccoli, Enoki mushrooms, Carrots, Green Peppers, White Rose Potatoes, Chicken, Onion, Garlic

Sunday Dinner

2009-08-30T18:22:00.001-07:00

Dinner: Steamed carrots, ground beef (seasoned with salt, pepper, basil, oregano, sesame oil, soy sauce), celery and onion, rice.

Next time: steam carrots longer, cut celery smaller, cook celery longer, watch out for unpeeled onion skins

Meals from Week 1

2009-08-29T19:02:00.000-07:00

Dinner: Sunny-side up eggs, Edamame, Noodles with hoisin sauce, Frozen broccoli a la microwave

Lunch and Dinner: Fried noodles with scrambled egg

Dinner: Steamed (kinda) broccoli, rice, Lemon chicken with green onion

Day 1 - Cheese Omelette

2009-08-24T12:03:00.000-07:00

Lunch: