My first entry in my food blog! I'm graduating off Facebook / Google+ photo albums and trying this out. I was having problems with Google+ / Facebook not presenting my write-ups very well, as well as reordering my photos. Also, one of my co-workers wants me to try writing a real food blog - so here goes!
For those who watch Top Chef - I was excited that Paul Qui won. Asian cuisine seems to be getting more and more recognition recently with Paul being a Japanese chef and Floyd Cardoz (Indian cuisine) winning Top Chef Masters. The head judge - Tom Colicchio - said that the Japanese inspired food Paul cooked in the finale was the best meal he has eaten in any Top Chef finale - including Masters. That's high praise!
The dish that Paul served as his appetizer 'Chawanmushi' looked interesting - and is also something that I've never seen offered in any Japanese restaurant in Vancouver. Which is not surprising. If you've been following my food posts from Facebook/Google+ you know that I have issues with the 'American Japanese' food being offered by the mostly Chinese/Korean owned and operated Japanese restaurants in Vancouver. So I thought why don't I give it a try? I'm not very experienced in asian cuisine as most cooking resources I have feature French / Italian food. But I learned French / Italian cooking mostly by researching on the Internet so I just had to do the same thing right? I just don't have any 'Gordon Ramsay' videos to follow but I found: Cooking with Dog!
- First marinate diced chicken pieces and shrimp (peeled and de-veined) in miran wine with a splash of soy sauce
- Create your dashi stock:
- Combine bonito flakes and konbu seaweed in a pot of water
- Bring up to a simmer on medium. Don't let it get to a boil.
- Strain through a Chinois lined with a coffee filter
- Beat 2 eggs with some white pepper.
- Combine eggs with dashi stock
- Put the marinated chicken and shrimp pieces at the bottom of a ramekin
- Pour in the egg/dashi mixture.
- Top with the parsley leaves
- Steam at high heat for 3 minutes, then bring down the heat to low for 15 min
So I liked how the steamed egg portion turned out, but the shrimp and chicken ended up overcooked. I would probably cooked it for 10 min instead next time. It's a very comforting dish.
Season 2 of Top Chef Canada is starting tomorrow night (March 12)! I'm excited!
