Daring Cooks' Salmon en Croute

The 2009 Daring Cooks challenge was hosted by Simone of Junglefrog Cooking. Simone chose Salmon en Croute (or alternative recipes for Beef Wellington or Vegetable en Croute) from Good Food Online.

I really need to tattoo the Daring Cooks' posting date on my arm or something... why do i keep thinking it's the 17th?? I guess i get too excited about the reveal date that i mix it up with the posting :( This is like the 3rd time thats happened, ughhh... i frustrate myself too much. But anyways, this month's challenge was hosted by Simone of Junglefrog Cooking and she picked Salmon en Croute for the December challenge. I've been meaning to make Salmon en Croute for a while now so thank you Simone for reading my mind! I was absolutely in love with everything about it that i actually made this a week after the reveal date (that's a huge improvement considering what a procrastinator I am). The recipe was very simple and everything went well during the process. My only complaint was that there weren't any fresh veggies at the grocery store the day i went shopping so i had to use frozen spinach instead. The cream cheese mixture turned out a little dry (squeezed too much out of the spinach) but that was okay since JLo and I don't pay too much attention to little details. I also made my own shortcrust pastry and used butterfly cookie cutters for decorations. Had to patch up some of the torn parts on my crust though, hope it isn't too visible on the pics XD. I would totally make this for Christmas dinner but since we'll be off on vacations, maybe for new years? We shall see!

Shortcrust Pastry

INGREDIENTS:

• 450 grams (3.2 cups) all-purpose flour
• 200 grams butter, very cold and cubed
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 - 3 tablespoons cold water

DIRECTIONS:

1. Sift the flour into a large bowl, add the butter and rub in with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
2. Stir in the salt and 2 -3 tablespoons of water and mix to a firm dough. Knead the dough briefly and gently on a floured surface. Wrap in cling film and chill while preparing the filling.
3. If you have a food processor: put the flour, butter and salt in the food processor and pulse until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. With the motor running, gradually add 2 - 3 tablespoons of water through the funnel until the dough comes together [picture 1]. Gather the coarse crumbs together and push to form a ball [picture 2]. Wrap in cling film and chill while preparing the filling [picture 3].

Salmon en Croute

INGREDIENTS:

• 150 grams cream cheese or mascarpone
• 120 grams watercress, rocket (argula) and spinach
  [i used frozen leaf spinach]
• 500 grams shortcrust pastry [recipe above]
• 500 grams salmon fillet, skinless
  [Check out Gordon Ramsay's video on How to Skin and Bone a Salmon]
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 medium egg, for eggwash

DIRECTIONS:

1. Heat the oven to 200°C/390 F.
2. Put the mascarpone or cream cheese in a food processor with the watercress, spinach and rocket and whizz the lot until you have a creamy green puree. Season well [picture 1. 2].
3. Roll the pastry out so you can wrap the salmon in it completely (approx. 2-3 mm thick) [picture 3]and lay it on a buttered or oiled baking sheet (it will hang over the edges). Put the salmon in the middle [picture 4]. If it has a thinner tail end, tuck it under.
4. Spoon half of the watercress/spinach mixture onto the salmon [picture 4].
5. Now fold the pastry over into a neat parcel (the join will be at the top, so trim the edge neatly), making sure you don’t have any thick lumps of pastry as these won’t cook through properly [picture 5]. Trim off any excess as you need to.
6. Make 3 neat cuts in the pastry to allow steam to escape and make some decorations with the off-cuts to disguise the join if you like [picture 6]. Brush with the egg glaze.
7. Bake for 30 minutes or until the pastry is crisp and browned. To test wether the salmon is cooked, push a sharp knife through one of the cuts into the flesh, wait for 3 seconds then test it against the inside of your wrist; if it is hot, the salmon is cooked.
8. Serve with the rest of the watercress puree as a sauce.

Salmon en Croute

Daring Cooks' Sushi Challenge

The November 2009 Daring Cooks challenge was brought to you by Audax of Audax Artifex and Rose of The Bite Me Kitchen. They chose sushi as the challenge.

When i first found out that this month's challenge was Sushi, i was like, oh crap, i'm gonna have to sit this one out...how am i supposed to enjoy making something i don't like! Ok, the thing is, i don't HATE sushi-- i'll eat it... but i just prefer anything else over it. I've always considered sushi to be more like appetizers / snacks instead of a meal. Having sushi for an afternoon nibble is acceptable, but i will not be satisfied with a plate of cold, bit-sized spirals of fish with rice for dinner. Give me a bow, l of steamy noodle soup or a casserole buried in smoldering cheese-- you and I will be BFFs for eternity. But after much contemplation, I came to the conclusion that the only 3 legitimate excuses to forgo a challenge would be 1) having absolutely no time on my hands, 2) having no access to the ingredients, or 3) having no access to a kitchen. But with all 3 criterion going for me, i just couldn't sit this one out with a good conscience. It probably took me twice the normal amount of time to finish these because I've never been good at rolling them. I remember my mom used to re-do all my sushi rolls for me cuz they were just too painful to look at, hahaha... i'm glad i have officially moved on from that stage. So thank-you Audax and Rose for hosting this challenge. I can now show these to my mom and let her know that her daughter has just reached another milestone in her life: rolling up presentable sushi!

PART 1: SUSHI RICE
(makes about 7 cups of cooked sushi rice)

INGREDIENTS:

• 2½ cups uncooked short grain rice
• 2½ cups water
• For superior results use equal volumes of rice and water

Sushi vinegar dressing

• 5 Tablespoons (75 mls) rice vinegar
• 5 Teaspoons (25 mls or 21 grams) sugar
• 1¼ Teaspoons (6.25 mls or 4.5 grams) salt

DIRECTIONS:
Rinsing and draining the rice

1. Swirl rice gently in a bowl of water, drain, repeat 3-4 times until water is nearly clear. Don't crush the rice in your hands or against the side of the bowl since dry rice is very brittle.
2. Gently place rice into a strainer and drain well for 30 minutes.

Soaking the rice

1. Gently place the rice into a heavy medium pot with a tight fitting lid (if you have a loose fitting lid use a piece of aluminium foil to make the seal tight).
2. Add 2½ cups of water and the dashi konbu.
3. Set the rice aside to soak for 30 minutes, during this time prepare the sushi rice dressing.

Preparing the Rice Vinegar Dressing

1. Combine the rice vinegar, sugar and salt in a small bowl.
2. Heat on low setting.
3. Stir until the mixture goes clear and the sugar and salt have dissolved.
4. Set aside at room temperature until the rice is cooked.

Cooking the rice

1. After 30 minutes of soaking add sake (if using) to the rice.
2. Bring rinsed and soaked rice to the boil.
3. Reduce heat to the lowest setting and simmer, covered, until all the water is absorbed, 12-15 minutes. Do not remove the lid during this process. Turn off heat.
4. Let stand with the lid on, 10-15 minutes. Do not peek inside the pot or remove the lid. During this time the rice is steaming which completes the cooking process.

Turning out the rice

1. Moisten lightly a flat thin wooden spatula or spoon and a large shallow flat-bottomed non-metallic (plastic, glass or wood) bowl. Do not use metallic objects since the vinegar will react with it and produce sour and bitter sushi rice.
2. Remove the dashi konbu (kelp) from the cooked rice.
3. Use the spatula to loosen gently the rice and invert the rice pot over the bowl, gently causing the cooked rice to fall into the bowl in one central heap. Do this gently so as not to cause the rice grains to become damaged.

Dressing the rice with vinegar

1. Slowly pour the cooled sushi vinegar over the spatula onto the hot rice.
2. Using the spatula gently spread the rice into a thin, even layer using a 45° cutting action to break up any lumps and to separate the rice. Don't stir or mash rice.
3. After the rice is spread out, start turning it over gently, in small portions, using a cutting action, allowing steam to escape, for about a minute.

Fanning & Tossing the rice

1. Continue turning over the rice, but now start fanning (using a piece of stiff cardboard) the rice vigorously as you do so. Don't flip the rice into the air but continue to gently slice, lift and turn the rice occasionally, for 10 minutes. Cooling the rice using a fan gives good flavour, texture and a high-gloss sheen to the rice. The vinegar dressing will be absorbed by the hot rice. Using a small electric fan on the lowest speed setting is highly recommended.
2. Stop fanning when there's no more visible steam, and all the vinegar dressing has been adsorbed and the rice is shiny. Your sushi rice is ready to be used.

Keeping the rice moist

1. Cover with a damp, lint free cloth to prevent the rice from drying out while preparing your sushi meal. Do not store sushi rice in the refrigerator leave on the counter covered at room temperature. Sushi rice is best used when it is at room temperature.

* Tip: To make sushi rice: for each cup of rice use 1 cup of water, 2 Tbs rice vinegar, 2 tsp sugar, ½ tsp salt and 1 tsp sake. For superior results use equal volumes of rice and water when cooking the sushi rice since the weight of rice can vary. Weight of 2½ cups of uncooked rice is about 525 grams or 18½ ounces.

PART 2: Dragon Rolls (aka Caterpillar Rolls)
Preparation time: 30 minutes, plus 1¾ hours to make the sushi rice
Cooking time: about 5 minutes (grilling the eel)
Yield: 2 inside-out (uramaki) sushi rolls

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 sheet 7”x8” (17.5cmx20cm) of toasted nori (dried seaweed sheets), cut into halves
• 1/2 Japanese cucumber
• 2 cups of prepared sushi rice
• Glazed Barbecued Eel (ungai) (about 3½ ounces or 100 grams)
• 1 Avocado (i used a cucumber)
• Vinegared Water – ½ cup of water combined with a dash of rice vinegar
• Various small amounts of sauces to use as the flames of the dragon (or legs of a caterpillar)
• 2 tablespoons (25 grams or 1 oz) Fish Roe (Fish eggs), optional

DIRECTIONS:

1. Cut cucumber into strips ¼ inch (6mm) x 7” (175mm) long, then salt, rinse & dry the strips.
2. Grill (broil) the eel for about 2-5 minutes until bubbling. Cut into two lengthwise strips.
3. Halve, pit and peel the avocado. Cut the avocado halves into thin even 1/8 inch (3 mm) slices. Fan out the cut avocado into a 7 inch (175 mm) overlapping pattern.
4. Cover bamboo mat with plastic wrap. Place a sheet of nori shiny side down, lengthwise, on the edge the mat.
5. Moisten lightly your hands in the bowl of vinegared water.
6. Place one cup of rice on the nori and gently rake your fingertips across grains to spread rice evenly. Do not mash or squash the rice onto the nori, the rice should appear loosely packed and be evenly distributed over the entire sheet, you should be able to see the nori sheet in a few places.
7. Flip the rice-covered nori over (so the bare nori is now on top) and place on the edge of the mat closest to you.
8. Arrange one of the eel strips across the length of the nori, not quite centred on it but a little closer to you. Place half the cucumber sticks next to the eel.
9. Lift the edge of the mat closest to you with both hands, keeping your fingertips over the fillings, and roll the mat and its contents until the edge of the mat touches straight down on the nori, enclosing the fillings completely. Lift up the edge of the mat you're holding, and continue rolling the inside-out roll away from you until it's sealed. Tug at the mat to tighten the seal. If the rice doesn't quite close the roll add more rice in the gap and re-roll using the mat to completely cover the inside-out roll. Place the roll on a damp, clean smooth surface.
10. Spread about 1 tablespoon of the optional fish roe along the entire top of the rice-covered roll. Using the plastic covered mat gently press the fish roe so it adheres to the rice.
11. Slide a knife under one fan of avocado and transfer it onto the top of an inside-out roll. Gently spread out the avocado layer to cover the entire roll. Lay the plastic wrapped mat over the avocado-covered roll. Squeeze very gently to shape the roll.
12. Lay a sheet of plastic wrap over the roll. Slice the roll into 6-8 equal, bite-sized pieces, wiping your knife with a damp towel before each slice. Discard the plastic wrap. Repeat the above to make one more roll.
13. Arrange the cut pieces on a serving plate with the sauces so the finished dish appears as a dragon breathing fire and flames (or a caterpillar with many legs).

* Tip: The most common mistake is having too much filling the golden rule is less is more when it comes to making sushi it is easier to roll an under-filled roll than an over-filled roll.
* Tip: Dampen your knife with a moist lint-free towel before every cut – this prevents the sushi rice from sticking to your knife.

PART 3 : Spiral Sushi Roll
Preparation time: 15 minutes, plus 1¾ hours to make the sushi rice
Yield: One Roll, cut into 8 pieces

INGREDIENTS:

• 2½ cups prepared sushi rice
• 2 sheets of toasted nori, each sized 7”x8” (17.5cmx20cm)
• Six assorted fillings, each filling should be the size of a pencil (see note below)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Join 2 sheets of nori by moistening the adjacent edges and overlapping them about ½ inch (12mm).
2. Place this double sheet shiny side down on a rolling mat, part of the nori will extend beyond the mat.
3. Using moist fingers place 2½ cups of rice on the nori and gently rake your fingertips across grains to spread rice evenly, leaving ¼ inch (6mm) nori showing on the both ends of the sheet. Do not mash or squash the rice onto the nori, the rice should appear loosely packed and be evenly distributed over the entire sheet, you should be able to see the nori sheet in a few places.
4. Using your fingers form six grooves (in the same direction that you will be rolling the mat) at even intervals across the bed of rice. Make the first groove about 2 inches (50 mm) from the edge of the nori sheet. Form the grooves by pushing the rice away, do not mash or squash the rice, leave a loose one grain layer of rice in the bottom of the grooves. Level the areas between the grooves where you have pushed the rice.
5. Place your fillings in the grooves. Fill the grooves a little higher than the surrounding rice bed.
6. Then roll the sushi up from the edge closest to you, this will form a spiral pattern of nori, rice and fillings inside the roll.
7. Slice into 8 pieces with a very sharp wet knife, wiping the blade with a damp cloth after each cut.
8. Place the pieces on a platter and garnish.

PART 4 : Nigiri Sushi
Nigiri sushi is the type of sushi most often made in sushi bars. In Japanese, nigiri means “squeeze”.
Preparation time: 30 minutes, plus 1¾ hours to make the sushi rice
Yield: 14-16 pieces of sushi

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 cups prepared sushi rice
• 8 pairs of assorted toppings, 200 gms/7 ozs total of fish, meat or vegetables (see note below)
• 1 tablespoon Wasabi (paste, reconstituted powder) or any other paste to adhere topping to rice

Optional

• Garnishes such as Ginger (pickled), chilli strips, vegetables flowers etc
• Thin strips of nori or vegetables (for tying topping on)

DIRECTIONS:

1. When handling sushi rice, make certain your hands are very clean. To keep the rice from sticking to our hands moisten your hands with vinegared water.
2. Form nigiri sushi by scooping up a small amount (about 2 tablespoons) of rice with your forefinger and second finger of your right hand and placing it in your cupped left palm.
3. Use the fingers and thumb of your right hand to form it into a long, narrow mound (about 2 inches x 1 inch wide or 50mm x 25mm) in your cupped palm.
4. Press enough to make the rice hold firmly together. Place the nigiri on a damp cutting board flat side down. Don't let sushi touch or they'll stick to each other. At this point, you can cover the sushi with plastic wrap, and they'll keep at room temperature (not the refrigerator) for several hours.
5. Smear a thin line of wasabi on top of the rice and place the topping piece on it. You may need to press the topping down lightly with your fingers and adjust the shape of the rice accordingly to form an attractive piece of nigiri sushi. If your topping is very loose like fish roe you can place a strip of nori (higher than the rice) around the nigiri and form 'battleship' sushi. The cavity that the nori forms holds the topping so it does not fall off.
6. Garnish as desired and use strips of nori (or vegetable) to tie the topping to the nigiri if needed.
7. It is customary to make nigiri sushi in pairs, so make two of each variety.

Daring Cooks' Sushi Challenge

Fish n' Chips

Here comes another acne-popping entry-- Fish n' Chips!Rodeo Drive at Stary Browar serves suuuuper yummy Fish n' Chips, but due to my 阿嬤心態, I've refused to order this since their 5zl price increase. Hahaha, but seriously, if you think about it, that's like a 60NT increase... 不整個就是黑店嗎?? But 好啦, i still go there pretty often cuz the food is still pretty good XD. So with their Fish n' Chips out of the picture, the only thing left to do was to... make my own! 2 huge panga fillets cut into 8 pieces (6.50 zl) + 5 potatoes (2.00 zl) + oil for frying (5.00 zl) + 1 bottle of beer (2.5 zl) = 16 freakin' zlotys + enough food to feed 3-4 people. BEAT THAT, 24.95zl Rodeo Drive! Muahahaha (ok, the grandma thing might be going a little bit overboard). I got the recipe off of: http://ifoods.tv/fish/Fish-and-Chips/87/ which also includes a great cooking video clip with super detailed instructions. If you're thinking about trying this sometime, you must watch the video. The fish and fries came out golden and crisp, and it only took me one try! The only tricky part would be maintaining the right temperature and thankfully, I had a cooking thermometer to help me out w/ that. I'll be making this again once my face clears up... arghhh, love and hate... love and hate... hahaha.

Fish n' Chips
from ifoods.tv

INGREDIENTS:

• 4 x 180g Fish Fillets (Panga)
• 5 Big Potatoes
• Oil for frying
• Salt
• Paper Towels
  Tartare Sauce:
• 1 Pickle
• 2 tbsp Capers (i left it out)
• 1 tbsp Chopped Parsley (i left it out)
• 1 Medium Red Onion
• 1 Juiced Lemon
• 250g Mayonnaise
• Salt & Pepper
  Batter:
• 2 Egg Whites
• 120g All Purpose Flour
• 30g Corn Flour (any type of starch)
• 250ml Beer

DIRECTIONS:

1. Chop the ends off the pickle and cut a fine dice into a large bowl to start the sauce.
2. Add some chopped parsley, fresh capers, lemon juice and a whole chopped red onion to the bowl.
3. Add the mayonnaise and bring the whole mixture together using a spatula. Cover the sauce and place in the fridge until later.
4. Peel and wash the potatoes before cutting uniform sized chips, it is essential that they are as uniform as possible as this will affect their cooking time. Place the chips in a bowl of water to avoid discoloration.
5. To make the batter place the egg whites into a large bowl and whisk them until they get to soft peak stage.
6. In a separate bowl combine the flour, corn flour and bring together into a smooth paste using the beer.
7. Fold the contents of the 2 bowls together. Make sure to gently fold the egg whites into the flour/beer mixture as you don’t want to lose the fluffy texture.
8. Bring the oil to 140C/280F and blanch the strained chips for 4 minutes until they are soft before removing them from the oil and drying on a paper towel.
9. With the temperature at the same level repeat the process with the fish. Dust it lightly in flour ensuring to shake of any excess before dipping into the batter and again shaking any excess batter before placing in the oil. Blanch for 2 minutes before straining on to the same towel as the chips.
10. Turn the oil up to 180C/360F and wait for it to heat up before adding the fish and chips back into the hot oil. Cook them both until golden brown (The fish may cook quicker than the chips here).
11. Using a slotted spoon remove them to a fresh plate with a paper towel to absorb any excess grease. Season both the fish and chips and serve immediately with a generous dollop of the tartar sauce.

Fish n' Chips
with tartare sauce

Salmon Pasta

I think almost everyone in Eskulap can unanimously agree that Donatello has the best Salmon Pasta in POZ. Not only is their pasta good, almost everything in there is worth a try. But maybe it's the fact that its located so close to the dorms, or the fact that its food delivery is so convenient... Donatello is almost never our 1st choice restaurant to dine in. Since i almost never go there anymore, i started missing their salmon pasta. I tried making it once in March but that didn't really turn out well- it was still salmon pasta, but just not quite right. So throughout the last month I've been keeping an eye on the veggie and fish section in PP cuz they rarely sell salmon and fresh spinach at the same time! (Or maybe they do, just that every time i go it's always sold out) Well, I gave up waiting on Saturday and decided make it without the spinach-- i mean, the salmon's the star of the show after all. I've googled and searched for many Salmon recipes trying to find one that fits most closely to Donatello's... it took me a while to finally mix and match a few and come up with my own. It's not exactly like Donatello's (not as good, of course... and ingredients might be different), but it's still Salmon Pasta... and satisfactory for something home-made. Here it goes:

Salmon Pasta
NOTE: I didn't use the exact amount as below, just guesstimate or use as needed.
INGREDIENTS:

• 3 small or 2 big pieces of salmon
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 onion, sliced
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 cup white wine, or as needed
• 1-2 cups of 12% or 18% cream, or as needed
• 2-3 tablespoons tomato concentrate/ sauce
• 2 tablespoons flour
• Fresh spinach (optional)
• 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Fettuccine pasta

DIRECTIONS:

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
2. Add fettuccine and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente.
3. Boil, steam, or pan fry the salmon until cooked.
4. Break the cooked salmon into small pieces, set aside.
5. Heat the olive oil in a pan and saute the garlic and onion.
6. Add in the salmon pieces, spinach, and a bit white wine and let cook for 1 minute.
7. Stir in the cream, tomato concentrate, flour, spinach (optional), and Parmesan cheese.
8. Add salt and pepper to taste and let simmer for 3 minutes.
   (If it gets too dry, add in more cream or white wine).
9. When the sauce is ready, add in the pasta and toss until coated.
   (Or you can just pour the sauce over the pasta).

Things you'll need:

Salmon pieces -- Fresh spinach -- Onions -- Fettuccine pasta

Parmesan Cheese -- Tomato concentrate -- Cream -- White wine

with onions

with spinach

Salmon Pasta

Tuna Salad Cucumber Sushi

JLo and I have been making stuff almost everyday... what can i say, there's just not much to do here but study. To give you an idea of how bored we were, we went all the way to Ikea today just to eat their 1zl hot dogs. Wow, how fun.

Okay, so it all started with <--this little thing that i dug out from my cupboard. My 姑姑 gave it to me last year when i went to Amsterdam for her wedding. She also gave me 2 other ones for triangular 飯團s that are still waiting to be found somewhere in my shelves. You've probably seen people selling these things on infomercials... all you have to do is fill it up with rice and press it down to form these cute little rice balls or sushis. Anyways, i WAS gonna make normal sushis out of these but after preparing all my ingredients, i found out i didn't have any seaweed sheets cuz my brother was sleeping and i couldn't get it from him. So i went online, found a substitute, and out came these cute little sushi munchkins:

Tuna Salad Cucumber Sushi
from mykoreankitchen.com
INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup sushi rice
• 1 can tuna, drained
• 1/2 an onion
• 3 crab sticks (optional)
• 3 tablespoon mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon Sriracha sauce
  (can be omitted if you don't like spicy food)
• 1 cucumber
  DASHI:
• 1 tablespoon sushi vinegar
• 2 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon rice wine

DIRECTIONS:

1. Cool down the rice for about 10 minutes.
2. Finely chop the onion, tuna, and crab sticks.
3. Put them in a bowl and add mayonnaise, salt, pepper, sriracha.
4. Slice the cucumber with a peeler carefully (about 0.2 cm).
5. Boil the dashi and pour half (or as needed) into rice and mix well.
6. Form the rice into 12 balls.
7. Wrap rice with cucumber and top with tuna mixture.
   

   
   Tuna Salad Cucumber Sushi
   Aren't they cute?!
   wahahaha, and definitely prettier than normal sushis too.