The next dish on my "To Do List" was a strange looking dish with expensive ingredients which made it difficult for me to gain the enthusiasm to cook it. The dish was an Asian Style Salmon which sat on top of a Noodle Broth with a Beansprout Salad on the side and a Lychee Dessert.
I am personally not a fan of watery broth style soups and then to put a piece of Salmon on top; well, not really my cup of tea. But I was wrong..very wrong. This meal was quite delicious and the broth was not as runny as I imagined it would be (I reduced it a bit more than Jamie). The whole meal, including the side salad, was full of punchy flavours and although it was a bit messy to eat, it was worth the effort of cooking it.
As for the dessert, well I couldn't find any Lychee's (not even canned) and with the high price of Blueberries, I gave it a miss. My husband later told me that he does not like Lychee's, so maybe it was a good thing to leave out. There was no real technique to the dessert, cut blueberries in half and add to Lychee's, smash up some sesame snaps and sprinkle on top!
The next meal I was looking forward to and I cooked it the following week. Only one stumbling block with the ingredients which was getting Chicken Breast with the Skin ON! I tried a couple of places, but decided I would buy a whole chicken and just "break it down" like they did on Masterchef! It looked quite easy to do, so I bought myself a nice free-range chook, sharpened the knives and away I went! Well I certainly butchered that chook! It was not as easy as it looked on TV, but in the end I had two breasts and two thighs which I decided to turn into Jamie's "Jerk Chicken" along with Rice with Black Bean, Chargrilled Corn and a refreshing chopped salad.
I was happy to find some tinned Black Beans in the Asian section of our local supermarket, an ingredient that I had never used before and had been previously told was very hard to find. I made this recipe using our home grown chillies and salad and when I tasted the Jerk sauce after first blending the ingredients, my mouth was on fire and I thought this was really going to be a "killer" alright. However, after blending, I added a little water to the blender to ensure I got all the sauce into the roasting pan. This may of reduced the fire of the sauce as once it was all cooked, it was really really lovely to eat and not painfully hot as I had previously tasted.
The rice was really nice also with the black beans but really really salty, even though I rinsed the beans before putting them in with the rice. Something to note for next time. The recipe also included some yoghurt with coriander to "put out the fire" that was suppose to be in the mouth. I made it, but it really wasn't necessary so I put it in the fridge and used it for another dish that did need it, a Pumpkin Curry.
As for the rest of the chicken, I froze the legs and wings for another day and with the carcass, I'm proud to say that I made Chicken Stock! With the stock I made a pumpkin risotto and a vegetable soup, both of which were delicious! I can see the benefits now of making your own stock, but not sure I can justify the time required to do this regularly.
I have been making a lot of pumpkin recipes of late, as we grew an amazing 7.1kg pumpkin and I knew that once I cut it open, I would need to work fast to use it all up before it spoils. So far I have made Pumpkin Soup (obviously), Pumpkin Risotto, Pumpkin & Feta Salad, Pumpkin Relish, Pumpkin, Lentils and Chickpea Patties and a Pumpkin Curry. With only a few pieces left, I can still make either a pumpkin pie or cook a roast with some roast veg including Pumpkin. It has been great to have the challenge of cooking different meals with this core ingredient.
So my next recipe is another Asian inspired dish using Rib-Eye Steaks and Noodles. Should be interesting. This will now be my 18th recipe and I have noticed that the TV episodes are being repeated already after only showing about 30 meals (interesting?). So I guess if that's all of the TV shows, I will need to finish the book without watching Jamie make the meals first, which is fine, but you do get a lot of tips along the way, which are not included in the book.
Til next time...happy cooking (or eating if you are my husband!)
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