Lamb with Saffron Rice

We grilled the Lamb and served them with Saffron Rice. This is a very good recipe. We started with a Nectarine, Spec and Burrata Salad.

Rozz Za’fran

Saffron Rice

The Foods of Morocco

Andalusian influence is obvious in this rice dish, which is popular in northern morocco. while Moroccans steam the rice - a lengthy process - the following uses the absorption method. a short or medium grain is the type used in morocco.

Wash the rice in a sieve until water runs clear, then drain well.

2-1/2    cups short-grain rice

2          tablespoons olive oil

¼         teaspoon ground saffron threads'

¾         oz butter

Over medium heat, heat the oil in a heavy-based saucepan and add the rice, stirring so that all the rice is coated evenly with oil. Add 3-2/3 cups water, the saffron and 1/4 teaspoon salt and stir well. Bring to the boil over high heat and boil for 1 minute.

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Reduce heat to low, cover and cook for 10-12 minutes or until all the/water has been absorbed. Steam tunnels will form holes on the surface of the rice. Turn off heat, then leave the pan, covered, for 10 minutes. Add the butter and fluff lightly with a fork. Transfer to serving bowl. Saffron rice is used to accompany fish dishes but can be used as a substitute for couscous.

Beef Loc Lac

One of our favorite Vietnamese / Cambodian meat preparation  is Beef Loc Lac. We first encountered it at Newport Seafood. It is sometimes called Shaking Beef. We came across this recipe. It was good but not as good as Newport Seafood. I am glad we tried to make it.

Charles Phan's Bu Luc Lac (shaking beef) is a signature dish at The Slanted Door. Cubes of tender filet mignon are sautéed with red onions and a vinaigrette and then served with a salt and pepper dipping sauce over tender watercress. 

Shaking Beef

Serves 4

1 1⁄2 - 2 pounds filet mignon, fat trimmed and cut into 1 1⁄4-inch cubes 

1       teaspoons ground black pepper 

½      cup plus 1 tablespoon canola oil 

1       cup thinly sliced red onion, preferably spring onions 

3       stalks green onion, trimmed and cut to 1-inch lengths 

1       tablespoon chopped garlic 

2       tablespoons unsalted butter

Stir-Fry Sauce

2 tablespoons white vinegar 

1⁄4 cup white granulated sugar 

1⁄4 cup light soy sauce 

1⁄4 cup fish sauce 

1 teaspoon cooking rice wine

Salt and Pepper Dipping Sauce

1 teaspoon kosher salt 

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 

1⁄4 cup of freshly squeezed lime juice 

1 bunch watercress, washed

1.   Marinate meat 1/2 teaspoon black pepper and 1 tablespoon oil for about 2 hours. 

2.   Meanwhile, make the stir-fry sauce by combining the white vinegar, sugar, soy, fish sauce, and rice wine. Mix until sugar is dissolved. Set aside. 

3.   Divide the meat into two portions, and do the same with the onions. Heat 1⁄4 cup of oil in wok or large sauté pan over maximum heat. (Don't overload the pan, or the meat will not brown properly. You may need to divide the cooking into batches depending on your pan size and the strength of your cooking range.)

4.   When the oil begins to smoke, add the first batch of meat in one layer. Let a brown crust form, and turn to brown the other side. Browning should take 3-4 minutes.

5.   Add red onion, scallions, and garlic to the pan. Shake or stir ingredients in the pan for about 30 seconds.

6.   Add stir-fry sauce. Continue to shake or stir ingredients. 

7.   Add butter, and continue to cook and shake pan until butter melts. Remove from heat. Wash your pan and cook next batch. 

8.   Make lime dipping sauce by mixing together salt and pepper in a ramekin. Pour lime juice over salt pepper mixture. 

9.   Serve beef over watercress with lime dipping sauce.

Salmon Cakes

Frying the salmon cakes

We had left over Salmon and made a favorite: Salmon and Dill Fish Cakes. You can find the recipe on our blog of: June 4, 2012. It is an excellent recipe and a great way to prepare left-over salmon. They fried up perfectly!

Smoked Salmon

Salmon in the Egg

Mixed Mushroom in Donabe Pot

We love smoked salmon. We smoke it at a very low temperature in the egg. We got a beautiful Copper River Salmon filet from McCall’s Meat and Fish. We used the recipe for Honey-Cured, Smoked Salmon from Cooking with Fire and Smoke by Phillip Stephen Schulz. You can find the recipe in our blog of: Jan 15, 2009. Click the date to get the recipe. This requires the salmon to be cooked low and slow in the egg.

With the salmon we served a Mixed Wild Mushroom Rice that we cooked in our Donabe pot.

Mixed Mushroom Rice Donabe

Kinoko Gohan

Torio

I love the earthy treat. I like to use a few kinds of mushrooms such as shiitake, king oyster, and shimeji. You can try with your choice of mushrooms. By adding sweet rice, the dish becomes nice and slightly chewy texture, but you can also make it only with short grain rice and it will taste very nice, too. For seasoning, I love white tamari, for its mellow and slightly sweet aroma, but you can substitute with regular soy sauce, too. For the cooking liquid, I used kombu & bonito dashi, but you can be creative with different kinds of stock. I have made it with chicken stock it was very nice, too!

Equipment

Double-lid donabe rice cooker, Kamado-san (3 rice-cup size)

Servings

4 - 5

Ingredients

1-1/2  rice cups (270 ml) short grain rice, rinsed

1         rice cup (180 ml) sweet rice, rinsed and drained (can substitute with short grain rice)

1-1/2  cups plus 2 tablespoons (total 390 ml) kombu and bonito dashi (can substitute with your choice of stock)

2         tablespoons sake

2         tablespoons white tamari (can substitute with soy sauce)

a pinch of sea salt

3 – 4  tablespoons peeled and very finely julienned fresh ginger

about 8 ounces (240 g) assorted mushrooms (shiitake, king oyster, and shimeji mushrooms are used in the photo), trimmed and cut into bite-size slices

Procedure

1.   Combine both kinds of rice, dashi, sake, and white tamari in Kamado-san. Let the rice soak for 20 minutes. Spread the ginger, then mushrooms over the rice.

2.   Cover Kamado-san with both lids and cook over medium-high heat for 13 - 15 minutes, or until 2 - 3 minutes after the steam starts puffing out of the top lid.

3.   Turn off the heat and let it stand for 20 minutes.

4.   Uncover and gently toss the contents with a rice paddle.

About The Measurements Used In Our Recipes

For rice measurement, traditional Japanese rice measurement is used.

1 rice-cup = 3/4 US cup = 180 ml

Other conversions (US to metric measures)

1 cup = 240 ml

1 inch (1") = 2.5 cm

1 ounce (1 oz) = 30 ml

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Tomahawk Pork Chop

What a Pork Chop!

Grilling on the Weber

Perfectly Charred

We love the Tomahawk Pork Chop at Chi Spacca Restaurant. We were at McCall's Meat and Fish and Nate let us know told us that he had Tomahawk Pork Chops, I had never seen them at the store before. We obviously had to buy one and grill it. We seasoned the Pork with Fennel Rub, just like they do at Chi Spacca.  Boy it was great!

Fish Steaks and Jeera Rice

We tried a new dishes from Nigel Slater's Real Fast Fish.  We didn't particular like either of the dishes. We thought the Broiled Spiced Fish Steaks were dry. The Jeera Rice was excellent. Oh well! 

Jeera Rice

Sanjeev Kapooir

Its versatility is unsung. There is not a dish that doesn’t taste great with a side of jeera rice. Cumin seeds and select whole spices sautéed in ghee add plenty of flavour to plain rice when cooked together. With a final garnish of fresh coriander leaves a plate of jeera rice served piping hot is the ideal form of comfort food. Have it with dal, sabzi, curry or just some yogurt and pickle – a jeera rice will always come through in satisfying your taste buds.

Basmati Rice 1 1/2 cups 

Cumin Seeds 2 teaspoons 

Ghee 1 1/2 tablespoons 

Bay leaf  1 

Black cardamom  1 

Cinnamon  2 two inch to cook 

Salt  to taste 

1.   Wash rice thoroughly and soak in water for half an hour. Drain. 

2.   Heat ghee in a pan. Add cumin seeds, bay leaf, cardamom and cinnamon. When cumin seeds crackle, add the rice. Add salt to taste.

3.   Stir till ghee coats every grain of rice and it looks glossy. Add three cups of water. Bring to a boil. Stir once. Reduce heat to minimum and cover the pan with a lid. Leave a little gap, otherwise water will boil over.

4.   Rice will be done when holes appear on the surface and water has been completely absorbed. Fork the rice out onto a serving dish. This will separate each grain. Serve hot with any curry.

Broiled Spiced Fish Steaks

Nigel Fast Food

Nigel Slater

A dish born while trying to recreate a similar dish I had eaten in India. If “fish steaks” sound a little anonymous, it is quite deliberate. Use whatever fish you have at hand; cod, tuna, swordfish, and halibut are all fine, and frozen will do. Serve with a side dish of sliced sweet tomatoes.

For 4

1       slightly heaped teaspoon garam masala

1       onion, roughly chopped

3       large garlic cloves

1       inch piece of fresh ginger peeled and grated

½      teaspoon hot chili powder

juice of 1 lime or ½ lemon

1-1/4         cups plain yogurt

salt

freshly ground black pepper
4       fish steaks, about 1/2 pound each, and 1 inch thick

2       tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

Put the garam masala, onion, garlic, and ginger in the bowl of a food processor. Whizz. Add the chili powder, lime or lemon juice, and yogurt and mix slowly, on a low setting or with a spoon or
spatula. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Place the fish steaks in a shallow dish and smother them with the marinade. Set aside for as long as you can, but 20 minutes will do.

Heat the broiler. Transfer the fish steaks to the broiler pan and cook for about 8 minutes, 4 inches away from the heat. Pull a little of the fish away from the bone, which is the test for doneness; if the fish resists it will need a couple of minutes longer. Eat hot, with a sprinkling of cilantro.

Steak!

This summer we have been eating a lot of steak! Once again we made: Rib-Eye Steak and Potatoes for Two. Rather than grill it, we have been making it in the house using a cast iron skillet. We love this preparation. You can get the recipe on our blog of: Feb 17, 2018.

Spaghetti with Tomato and Basil

We decided to make Scarpetta's Pasta again. This is a marvelous recipe. The pasta is only partially cooked and then added to the sauce. The sauce gets absorbed into the pasta to complete its cooking. The taste of the pasta is very intense. You can get the recipe from our blog of: August 6, 2015. Click the date to get the recipe. This is a pasta you should make.

We started with a Melon and Spec. It is very refreshing on a summer night. For dessert we had Cherries that are at their early summer peak.  I pored some Portuguese Cherry Liquor (Espinheira Jinja) on top of the Cherries to enhance the flavor.I don't know if it is because of the excessive summer heat, but it seems to me we had a very short cherry season this year.

Baked Greek Shrimp with Tomatoes and Feta

Sometimes the magic works and sometimes it doesn’t. We started with a Nectarine Salad. I had read this recipe for Baked Greek Shrimp and it had everything I like: Shrimp, Feta Cheese, Tomatoes, Oregano. We made it, but weren’t thrilled. We won’t make it again. Was it the recipe or us? Who knows. Try it if you wish and see what you think.

Baked Greek Shrimp with Tomatoes and Feta

New York Times

This traditional Greek recipe disregards the notion that seafood and cheese don’t mix, and it works beautifully, resulting in a harmonious balance of flavors. Though it can be made year round with canned tomatoes, it is sensational with fresh sweet ripe ones, so best prepared in summer. Serve it as a main course with rice or potatoes, or in small portions as an appetizer, taverna-style.

Ingredients

Extra-virgin olive oil

3       large shallots, diced, about 1 cup

4       garlic cloves, minced

Salt and pepper

2       pounds large ripe tomatoes

½      teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1-½  pounds large shrimp, peeled and deveined

4       ounces Greek feta cheese

½      teaspoon dried oregano

2       tablespoons roughly chopped mint

Preparation

1.   Put 4 tablespoons olive oil in a wide skillet over medium heat. Add shallots and garlic, season with salt and pepper and cook, stirring, until softened, about 5 to 8 minutes. Lower heat as necessary to keep mixture from browning. Remove from heat while preparing tomatoes.

2.   Fill a saucepan with water and bring to a boil. Add whole tomatoes and cook for about 2 minutes, until skins loosen. Immediately plunge tomatoes in a bowl of cold water to cool, then drain. With a paring knife, core tomatoes and slip off skins. Cut tomatoes into thick wedges.

3.   Heat oven to 400 degrees. Return skillet to stove over medium-high heat. Add tomato wedges and season with salt, pepper and red pepper flakes. Cook, stirring, until mixture is juicy and tomatoes have softened, about 10 minutes. Transfer mixture to a shallow earthenware baking dish.

4.   Put shrimp in a mixing bowl. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil, season shrimp with salt and pepper and stir to coat. Arrange shrimp over tomato mixture in one layer. Crumble cheese over surface and sprinkle with oregano.

5.   Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until tomatoes are bubbling and cheese has browned slightly. Remove from oven and let dish rest for 5 minutes. Sprinkle with mint and serve.

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