mushrooms

Wagyu Steak in Anchovy Butter

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Wagyu Steak in Anchovy Butter

Dinner time has been mostly steam fish this boiled vegetable that. So for tonight’s dinner, I am making a very simple wagyu steak in my favourite anchovy butter sauce.

I came across a rather large wagyu steak on offer at Cold Storage and knew at once that this was going to be a very nice dinner. It was on specials and honestly I couldn’t tell if it was any different from the normal priced wagyu steaks. So I got myself a whole slab. Yum.

The problem with steaks of any kind is usually the preparation of the meat. Cooking time is essential if not critical to the success of the dinner. You can fry up all the premium ingredients to complement the main, but if the doneness of the steak fails, you would have also failed miserably.

For the vegetables that accompanied the steak, I had stir fry Japanese button mushrooms, whole garlic cloves and white button mushrooms with boiled cherry tomatoes and baby potatoes. But what makes this steak really special is the anchovy butter sauce. So simple, just mix the anchovy with the butter in the pan with rosemary herbs and you have a very light butter sauce that works very well with the meat.

Recipe

Ingredients

Main
700-800 grams Wagyu Steak (if you’re not living near a specialty butcher, you could opt to order online Wagyu Kobe Steaks)
Sea Salt
Black Pepper
1 tbsp Olive Oil

Anchovy butter sauce
A small can of Anchovy in Olive Oil
20 grams of Unsalted Butter
A sprig of Rosemary (herb)

Assortment of Vegetables
A pack of Japanese Button Mushrooms
A punnet of White Button Mushrooms
A punnet of Red Cherry Tomatoes
6-7 cloves of Garlic
6 pieces Baby Potatoes
Olive Oil
Black Pepper

Method

1. Boil the baby potatoes in a small pot for about 10 minutes or until a skewer can pierce through. Once done, remove the potatoes and blanch the tomatoes for about 30 seconds. Then remove and arrange vegetabkes on serving plate.

2. In a wok, stir fry the Japanese mushrooms and mildly crushed garlic cloves in 2 tbsp Olive oil for about 2-3 minutes. Quart the white button mushrooms and add the whole lot into the same wok. Continue stir fry. Do this for another 5 minutes. Mushrooms shoukd either sear or shrink down in size. This is common as it loses water content. Once done, dish onto serving plates.

3. Sprinkle the steaks with sea salt and black pepper. In another pan, heat olive oil until smoking, then reduce heat to low. Place the steak into the pan and start pan-searing. 3 minutes on the first side and then another 2 minutes on the other side. Check doneness for medium rare. The meat centre should be a rose pink. If it is a dark red, then maybe you have to cook it a little longer.

The reason why I chose low heat as opposed to high heat is because I don’t want to over-cook the steak. So you have to time the steak strictly. Cut the middle to check for desired doneness. As the wagyu steak is very fatty, it is better to cook over low heat so that the fats will be tender. Once cooked to desired doneness, place it on serving plate.

4. In the same frying pan with the steak infused oil, add the butter and two fillets of anchovies. Break the anchovies and mash it into the butter. Throw in a sprig of Rosemary leaves. Cook until the sauce bubbles and spoon it into the steak. That’s it!

Pair it with a Cabernet Sauvignon or a spicy Shiraz.

Bon Appetit!

Mushroom and Ham Penne (Olive Oil)

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Mushroom and Ham Penne (Olive Oil)

Yesterday my wife and me took leave to go shopping and also have a little couple time together. We decided to have breakfast at our favourite sandwich shop called the sandwich shop and I pondered over the nondescript naming of the cafe. I guess there is no harm in calling a spade a spade.

But we were greeted with a smorgasbord of sandwiches and every permutation that we could imagine that could be placed on tiny shelves. There was roast beef, cold cuts and brie, egg mayo, wild rockets and crayfish.

Wifey wanted pasta and somehow the spirals with sundried tomatoes looked appealing as well. And so we decided on that and ate our breakfast. The pasta was cold and probably sat in the fridge chiller for a tad too long.

It was then that I vowed to myself that I would cooked a better pasta breakfast then that which we purhased at the shop. Here’s the recipe. Enjoy.

Recipe

Ingredients

1. 150 grams of Barilla Penne
2. 4-5 White Button Mushrooms
3. 2 slices of Breakfast Ham
4. 20 grams of Salted Butter
5. Pinch of Sea Salt
6. Sprinkle of Mixed Italian Herbs

Method

1. Cook the Penne in a small pot of boiling water for about 11 minutes to al dente. If you wanna make it softer, continue cooking for another 2 minutes. Don’t forget to add some sea salt.

2. In another pot, melt the butter over low heat, be careful not to burn it, and then add the sliced mushrooms to cook. Turn up the heat to medium. Flambé the mushrooms if you can. If you can’t, don’t worry, I understand.

3. Remove and reserve the mushrooms and add the shredded ham to cook in the juice of the mushrooms. Add a sprinkle of mixed Italian herbs. Cook till you can smell ham.

4. After that’s done, pour the ham and mushrooms into the penne pasta in the other pot and give it a good mix. It should look like the photo above.

Bon Appetit!

Boeuf Bourguignon

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Boeuf Bourguignon

“Boeuf bourguignon, French beef stew in red wine..” Says Julia Child, one of the most inspiring cooks (home cooks) that ever lived. She represents to me hope that anyone can take mastery of their kitchen and cook up awesome French cuisine from the comforts of their humble home.

Julia to me personifies French cooking for servant-less home cooks. A socially awkward lady yet adventurous and passionate in her craft, her example inspired many to try, fail and subsequently succeed in following her footsteps.

Maybe I might eventually do all the recipes that she has in her book. Well we shall see.

Julia Child – Boeuf Bourguignon

For this classic, I would usually take reference from her YouTube video and then make up as we go along. Some of the ingredients are not locally available but the spirit of Julia is always to make do with what you have.

I had fun making this dish my own, and I have been making it my own way for a while now and getting the same awesome results each time. I hope it will be the same experience for you as well. I don’t use the oven as the recipe calls for it, but I use a gas stove to cook the beef.

Recipe – serving for 4

Ingredients

Beef cubes (for making stew) 750 grams

Streaky bacon (ask for more fat) 50 grams

Garlic 10 wedges, 4 to minced, 6 to braise

Yellow onions (medium) 2 whole

Tomato paste 3 tablespoons

White button mushrooms 15 pieces

White onions (small) 15 bulbs

Carrots 2 whole

Thyme 5-6 sprigs

Bay leaf 2-3 leaves

Olive oil 2 tablespoons

Red wine 750 ml

Beef stock 4 cups

Salted butter 250 grams

 

Method

1. Add oil to a large pot. Heat till slightly smoking. Add sliced bacon to fry til crispy. This is to extract the fat from the bacon and saltiness.

2. Remove bacon and discard. Add beef cubes and sear beef till brown. The key is not to crowd the base of the pot or they won’t brown. Once done, remove from pot to allow the beef to rest.

3. Add minced garlic to pot and fry till fragrant. Then add chopped onions to fry until soft. Then add beef cubes into the pot. Now pour in the beef stock about 2 cups. Add the red wine about half a bottle. Add thyme, bay leaf, tomato paste and continue to stir. Add carrots, remaining garlic. Continue to cook at high heat.

4. In another pot fry the mushroom in salted butter and olive oil mixed. Fry until mushrooms are slightly brown. Reserve the mushroom aside and continue to cook the white onions in salted butter and olive oil. Cook until onions are soft.

5. Once the beef is sufficiently cooked and tender. Combine the mushrooms and onions together. Serve with baguette or steamed rice.

Bon Appetit!

Creamy Salmon Pasta with Portobello and Scallops

Ho Sim Lang

Creamy Salmon Pasta with Portobello and Scallops

I got home slightly later today because of an Excel test that I had to sit for. Managed to get a good grade which was nice. Anyway, so I realised the value of rushing back home during peak hour traffic. I can’t imagine having to fight with the same bunch of people day in day out for space at the MRT station. It can be quite a terrible thing especially if you have to do a long commute to get to work.

Thankfully I managed to get out of class at about 5.55pm which I reckon is the thin line between being caught in the rush at 6 pm or the calm before the storm. People in the city go back home on time surprisingly.

So the wife asked me what I would cook for her tonight, and I couldn’t decide, we had already run out of ingredients at home, so she said why not cook a cream based Salmon Pasta. I replied, “Yuck.” and just nice my phone ran out of battery. So maybe the message didn’t manage to get through.

So it came as no surprise when a packet of fresh salmon landed on the kitchen table-top and a packet of glorious Portobellos. Surprisingly she bought Scallops as well. It was a gathering of all my favourite friends.

Recipe – Serving for Two

Ingredients

Fresh Salmon – a fillet for me and a fillet for you.

Fresh Scallops – I like at least 5 pieces for my plate. You can have lesser if you like.

Portobello Mushrooms

Fresh Rosemary – 2 sprigs 

Lime

Garlic

Cooking Cream – 1 small packet will do.

Milk – 1 cup is sufficient.

Mixed Italian Herbs

Black Pepper

Cayenne Pepper

Sea Salt

Olive Oil

 

Method

1. In a pot, cook about 200 grams (dried) Fusilli Pasta (this type of pasta is fantastic for cream-based sauces). I use Barilla Brand because it is one of the better ones. Cook the Fusilli Pasta for 11 minutes in hot boiling water mixed with a generous helping of salt and a tablespoon of olive oil. Once pasta is cooked, strain it immediately and douse it in cold water to stop cooking. Pasta should be just nice.

2. Heat a saucepan of two tablespoons of olive oil until slightly smoking, then add in minced garlic (3 wedges) and stir-fry gently until the garlic is fragrant. Meanwhile, de-bone and slice the salmon against the grain and add to the saucepan once garlic starts to brown a little. Fry the salmon until flesh turns pinkish. Do not fry the salmon too long as it tends to become dry. Once all the salmon turns pinkish (which is about 3-4 minutes) remove from saucepan and set aside.

3. In a frying pan, heat a tablespoon of olive oil (you can use butter if you like, but be careful as it burns easily) and place the Scallops to allow it to sear and burn on each side. My wife bought 4 pieces! Remove the Scallops after a few minutes of frying over medium heat.

4. In the same frying pan, fry the sliced Portobello Mushrooms and rosemary leaves with a sprinkle of sea salt. Stir-fry the mushrooms, sea salt and rosemary until it starts to burn a little, then add a tablespoon of olive oil and sauté until the portobellos turn soft (and delicious).

5. Assemble the Pasta (weigh about 180 grams per portion, 200 grams if you prefer a heavier meal) with Salmon on top, scallops on the side, and the rosemary-infused portobellos. If you have some leftover baby spinach or rocket from yesterday it would be great!

6. Now in the saucepan, cooking about 200 grams of cooking cream and about a half a cup of fresh milk. Add black pepper, mixed Italian herbs and a little salt to taste. Allow the cream to cook until it bubbles and forms a thin layer. The cream sauce is ready at this point. Ladle the cream sauce onto the pasta and serve with a wedge of lime (I ran out of the lemon!). I like my Salmon with a light sprinkle of cayenne pepper.

Bon Appetit!

So you may ask, why go through all that effort for a simple meal – as in cooking everything separately and then assembling it later? Well, I like to taste my food, so that’s why I cooked them separately, it just tastes better that way don’t you think so? Furthermore, different ingredients have different cooking temperatures and I have to respect that. Seafood tends to be a little more temperamental and less tolerant of mistakes.

It was a good decision to cook it this way. The wife loves it, and I must say it’s not too bad either.