SALMON EN CROUTE

Yes, it's Daring Cooks Challenge time. Decembers' host was Simone of Junglefrog Cooking
I have been planning on making this but never got the chance to do it. Thanks to Simone, the procrastination is over=;) We love love it!

I didn't have time to make the shortcrust pastry so i used the store bought puff pastry. I wanted some acidity on the filling, i decided to use piri-piri sauce in lieu of the orignal filling.

The only issue I wanted to address the next time i make this are the sides, they were half baked because they were thicker than the middle part. Maybe i should have baked it a bit longer?, but then i was worried that the salmon will be overcooked. I will definitely try Audax suggestion to cover the middle part with foil and bake the sides a bit longer.

I wanted to make the beef wellington before the reveal date but due to time constraint i just couldn't do it. I am planning on making them New Year.

Pls. check HERE for the entire recipes (Shortcrust Pastry, Salmon En Croute and Beef Wellington)

PIRI-PIRI SAUCE

Y: 1 ½ Cup
4 red bird’s eye chilies, take out seeds and ribs on two. (Original calls for 8 but I find it too much)
½ C fresh lemon juice
1 preserved Meyer lemon **
Cilantro (few bunches)

Parsley (few bunches)
3 garlic cloves
½ C olive oil (add more if needed)

Instructions:

Puree the ingredients until smooth. Add oil in a slow and steady stream until you get the right sauce consistency.
**I added 1 whole homemade preserved Meyer lemons.
**Store in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 2 weeks.

PRESERVED MEYER LEMONS RECIPE HERE

Parsley, Cilantro, Sundried Tomatoes, Preserved Meyer Lemons

Pureed Piri-Piri Sauce

Check my other dish using the piri-piri sauce Shrimp Piri-Piri

Alaskan Sockeye Salmon

Spread the Piri-piri sauce with chopped sun dried tomatoes then top it w/ the other half of the salmon

Salmon En Croute ready for the oven

Fresh off the oven

Served this beautiful Salmon En Croute w/ Pan seared Asparagus with Sun Dried Tomatoes. Check HERE for the recipe

Clementine Spice Cake and Cup Cakes

Got the inspiration from Katie Goodman . Clementines are in season which means it's sweet and what a wonderful way to use them as the main ingredient to a cake.

For my version i used a yellow cake mix and added the spices. If you want to make this using a cake mix i would suggest to use a Spice Cake Mix so you don't have to add the necessary spices. The clementine juice, the molasses and the spices were a perfect combination. This is a beautiful cake.

The only problem i had was the cream cheese toppings. Katie's instruction is to spread the cheese topping to the cake batter. It didn't work for me, as i was spreading the cheese the batter tend to mix with the toppings which is why it was hard to spread the cheese. So i decided to bake the cake halfway enough to harden the top part of the cake which made it easy to spread the toppings.

Ingredients:
1 box yellow cake mix (follow the ingredients of the box mix)
1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup molasses
1 cup fresh squeezed Clementine juice
zest of 2 Clementine

Creamy Citrus Cheese Topping:
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
zest of 1 Clementine

Garnish:
2 Clementine, peeled and sliced into rounds


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a mixer beat together the cake mix ingredients, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, nutmeg.

Add in the molasses, scraping down the sides with a spatula as needed.

Add the Clementine juice and the zest.

Spray a spring form pan with spray oil to grease. Pour cake batter in pan, set aside.

Using a mixer, beat together the cream cheese, sugar, egg, and Clementine zest. Set it aside.

Bake the cake half way or when the top of the cake is hard enough to pour cream cheese mixture over top of cake batter. Spread the cream cheese mixture evenly over the top, leaving a half inch border.

Lay slices of Clementine a top the cake, bake cake at 350 degrees F for 35 minutes, or until cake is set. Cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Remove outer ring of spring form pan and cool an additional 25 minutes.

Porkloin Calabrese

I don't know about you, but i like to brine pork loin before i stuff and roast them. I like a moist porkloin hence the brining.

Brining Ingredients:
Kosher Salt
Water
Apple Cider
Sugar

Pls. check How to Brine Pork .

Stuffing Ingredients:

Boneless loin of pork about 5 lbs.
2 T chopped parsley
2 T chopped rosemary ****
2 garlic cloves minced
1/4 lb. sopressata diced
1/4 lb. prosciutto diced****
1/4 lb. fontina cheese diced
2 T capers minced
1/3 c olive oil and extra for coating
S&P To taste

***** I went easy on the rosemary since i bought prosciutto cotto with rosemary.


1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
2. Mix ingredients except porkloin in a bowl w/ capers and 1/3 C olive oil.
3. Butterfly the porkloin: slice the length of the loin, so that it unrolls with an even 1/2-1/4” thickness.
4. Spread stuffings evenly over the meat.
5. Roll up pork and tie with butchers' twine at 2-inch intervals.
6. Rub pork with olive oil and season pork all over with salt and black pepper and transfer to prepared pan.
7. Place pork in a roasting pan and roast for 20 minutes. Lower oven temperature to 350 degress F and roast for 1-1/2 hrs. or until meat thermometer reads 145 degrees F.
8. Remove pork from the oven and let rest for 10-15 minutes before slicing.

FONTINA CHEESE, ROSEMARY, PARSLEY

STUFFINGS: HOT SOPRESSATA, PROSCIOUTTO, FONTINA CHEESE, CAPERS, GARLIC, CAPERS AND OLIVE OIL

SPREAD STUFFINGS EVENLY

ROLL PORK LOIN TIGHTLY W/ A BUTCHERS TWINE

PETITE PALMIERS

These are easy to make. Great for gifts! A no recipe recipe once again.
I was thinking of baklava ingredients as i was making this sans the pistachio.

Ingredients:
1 sheet of puff pastry
mixture of sugar and cinnamon
honey or corn syrup ( i prefer honey)

DUST YOUR BENCH W/ FLOUR SO PASTRY WON'T STICK

SPRINKLE THE CINNAMON SUGAR MIXTURE AND PRESS USING THE ROLLING PIN SO SUGAR MIXTURE WILL STICK TO THE DOUGH. REPEAT PROCESS ON THE ON THE OTHER SIDE.

FOLD AND ROLL OPPOSITE SIDES UNTIL EACH ROLLED SIDES MEETS AT THE CENTER.

CUT INTO UNIFORM SIZES.

ARRANGE SLICED PALMIERS ON THE BAKING PAN MAKING SURE YOU SET THEM FAR TO ALLOW THE PASTRY TO PUFF.

THEN DRIZZLE EACH PALMIERS W/ HONEY ABOUT A TSP PER SLICES.

BAKE IN A PREHEATED OVEN AT 365 DEGRESS F FOR ABOUT 10 MINUTES OR UNTIL BROWN.

ENJOY!!!!!

HASSELBACK POTATO

THIS IS A NO RECIPE RECIPE, THIS IS ONE OF THOSE "YOU EYEBALL THE QUANTITY"!

CUT ONE SIDE OF THE POTATO TO MAKE IT STAND. PLACE 2 CHOPSTICKS ON EACH SIDE OF THE POTATO. THINLY SLICE POTATO CROSSWISE. THE CHOPSTICKS WILL PREVENT THE KNIFE TO CUT THROUGH THE POTATO.

THERE ARE A LOT OF VARIATIONS ON WHAT TO COAT THE POTATOES. MY VERSION IS A COMBINATION/MIXTURE OF FLOUR, PANKO BREADCRUMBS (MY FAVORITE), PAPRIKA, SALT AND PEPPER, GARLIC AND ONION POWDER.

COAT THE POTATO W/ OLIVE OIL, THEN THE DRY MIXTURE. GINGERLY PUT SOME OF THE MIXTURE IN BETWEEN THE SLICES.



ARRANGE POTATOES IN A BAKING DISH; COVER W/ FOIL AND BAKE FOR 30 MINUTES. REMOVE THE FOIL AND BAKE FOR ANOTHER 15 MINUTES TO MAKE IT CRISPY.

I TOPPED THE POTATO W/ COMPOUND BUTTER (CHIVES, PARSLEY). THIS WAS CRISPY AND MOIST IN THE INSIDE! YUMMY! AND NICE PRESENTATION OFCOURSE

ANOTHER VERSION W/C I MADE THANKSGIVING 2009! SIMPLE YET MOIST AND CRISPY. SPRINKLE POTATOES W/ OLIVE OIL AND ONION AND GARLIC SALT.

ZEBRA CAKE MY WAY

Zebra Cake? huh? I had no clue that this kind of cake existed until i stumbled upon AZ Cookbook. What a beautiful cake. I wanted to make the cake ASAP but didn't have all the ingredients available but i have a lot of cake mix box.

I figured why not try the cakemix, if i fail then i'll do it again by following the original recipe. So here goes my experiment.

Ingredients:

1 Yellow Cake Mix
3 eggs
1/3 C oil
1 1/3 C water
3 T Hersheys Cocoa Powder
1 square of Bakers semi sweet chocolate (grate the chocolate by using microplane)

1. Follow the cakemix instructions
2. Divide the batter into 2 portions.
3. Keep one portion plain, then add the cocoa powder and grated chocolate into the other portion. Mix well until.
***It is imperative to follow this next step to achieve the zebra effect. Do not stop and wait until the previous batter spreads. Do not spread the batter or tilt the pan to distribute the mixture. It will spread by itself and fill the pan gradually. Continue alternating the batters until you finish up all the batter.***

4. Scoop 3 tablespoons of plain batter (you can also use a ladle that would hold 3 tablespoons) into the middle of the greased baking pan. Then scoop 3 tablespoons of cocoa batter and pour it in the center on top of the plain batter.

5. Bake in the oven for about 40 minutes. Do not open the oven door to avoid the cake to shrink and will not rise. To check if the cake is ready, insert a toothpick into the center. It should come out clean when ready. Remove from the oven. Immediately run a small thin knife around the inside of the pan to loosen the cake, then invert the cake onto a cooking rack. Turn the cake back over and let cool.


***WELL..THE CAKE WAS A SUCCESS, BEAUTIFUL AND MOIST. I WILL MAKE A GANACHE OR BUTTERCREAM FROSTING THE NEXT TIME I'LL MAKE THIS***

****ALSO, I HAD AN EPIPHANY MOMENT AS I WAS SLICING THE CAKE. I WILL DO THIS AGAIN FOR OUR CHRISTMAS PARTY BY USING CHRISTMAS FOOD COLORS! OH I CAN'T WAIT TO DO THIS AGAIN****

SLOW COOKED SPICED LAMB SHANKS

This is another Jamie Oliver recipe that we love. This dish is from his Naked Chef Cookbook. I've cooked lamb shanks in different ways but this is my favorite so far.

The recipe calls for baking but i opted to cook it in my slow cooker so i don't have to babysit the dish while cooking and the aroma around the house..hhmmmm...yum!! Should you decide to cook this in yor slow cooker follow the step up to 9, then set your slow cooker according to how long you want it cooked.

Y: 4 servings

4 lamb shanks
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
1 small dried red chilli or 2 teaspoons chopped fresh chilli
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary
1 teaspoon dried marjoram or oregano
1 tablespoon flour
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
1 large carrot, quartered and finely sliced
6 sticks of celery, quartered and finely sliced
2 medium/large onions, quartered and finely chopped
1 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
170ml / 6fl oz dry white wine
6 anchovy fillets (I used the anchovy tube paste)
2 x 400gr/14oz cans of plum tomatoes
1 handful of fresh basil, marjoram or flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
***Mushrooms -this is my addition to the the recipe


1. Season the lamb with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

2. Smash up the coriander seeds and dried chilli and mix with the chopped rosemary and dried marjoram.

3. Roll the lamb in this mixture, pressing it in well.

4. Dust the lamb with the flour.

5. Heat a thick-bottomed casserole pan, add the oil, brown the meat on all sides and then remove from the pan.

6. Add the garlic, carrot, celery, onions and a pinch of salt and sweat them until softened.

7. Add the balsamic vinegar and allow it to reduce to a syrup.

8. Pour in the white wine and allow to simmer for 2 minutes.

9. Add the anchovies (these really seem to intensify the lamb flavour) and then add the tinned tomatoes, kept whole. Shake the pan and return the lamb to it.

10. Bring to the boil, put on the lid and simmer in the oven at 180C/350F/gas5 for 1 1/2 hours, then remove the lid and cook for a further 1/2 hour.

11. Skim off any fat and taste for seasoning.

12. Finally, stir in a handful of roughly chopped fresh basil, marjoram or flat-leaf parsley.

You can serve this with mash potatoes, rice, couscous or polenta.

Browning the shanks!

YUMMM!!!!! Spiced Lamb Shanks w/ Polenta

ENJOY!!!!

BEEF BUNS SEMI-HOMEMADE

The holidays are upon us w/c also means food festival ergo lots of left overs, well, that's my opinion. I thought of sharing another or one of my morphed dishes.

I've thought of "morph" to avoid the " YMCA's"..Y-esterdays M-eal C-ooked A-gain. Don't get me wrong i do re-heat food but there are some times that you get tired of same old same old, but if you morph your dishes, your family will never know you have served them YMCA.

Bun also called Baozi is a taditional Chinese stuffed bread. These could either be steamed or baked stuffed w/ pork or chicken.

Now, my version is a semi homemade. The bread is a store bought crescent roll, the beef is from my left over pot roast.

FILLINGS (SAVORY OR SWEET) MUST BE COLD SO YOU CAN SEAL THE DOUGH W/O A MESS.

BAKE W/ SEAM SIDE DOWN.

FOLLOW THE CRESCENT ROLLS BAKING TEMP AND TIME.

EGG WASH AS SOON AS THE BUNS STARTS TO DRY UP, PUT BACK IN THE OVEN UNTIL BUNS ARE BAKED AND GOLDEN BROWN.