Recipe: Sauce Duxelles

It has been said that one of the great triumphs of French cuisine is the sauces. There is a huge variety of sauces to accompany just about any dish. The problem with authentic French sauces, though, is that they are not exactly the easiest things to make. Not only do they require lots of wine and stock, occasionally they need rather specialised ingredients like truffles, port and milk. Okay, so milk isn't specialised, but who has so much milk to spare!

Anyway, I decided to try a different sauce for the Roast Rack of Lamb; instead of a red wine sauce, I'd try a Sauce Duxelles, or mushroom sauce. Once again, it's Julia to the rescue.

Ingredients

1 cup finely miced fresh mushrooms
2 Tb shallots or green onions
1 Tb butter
1/2 Tb oil
1/2 cup dry white wine or 1/3 cup dry white vermouth
1½ brown sauce (or brown stock)
1½ tomato paste
1 to 3 Tb softened butter



Instead of white wine, I decided to use Verjuice, this rather strange non-alcoholic white wine. I mean, isn't that grape juice? Anyway, I was intrigued by EatzyBitzy's use of it, so I thought I'd give it a try.



Saute the mushrooms with the shallots or onions in the hot butter and oil for 4 to 5 minutes. The mushrooms should produce copious amounts of fluids.



Add the wine, or verjuice, as the case may be.



Boil down rapidly until the wine has almost reduced completely. I believe the idea of this is to boil off the alcohol, leaving the residual taste of the wine, but with verjuice, what are you boiling off?



Stir in the brown sauce and tomato paste and simmer for 5 minutes. Correct seasoning. The sauce is likely to be rather salty, so you'll need to be liberal with the sugar. If you're using stock rather than sauce, you'll need to simmer it for much longer than 5 minutes, but the downside is that then it really gets salty.



This is what I landed up with eventually. A good sauce, but I'm not sure if using Verjuice made any difference.

Technorati Tags: Recipes, Sauces, Mushrooms, Sauce Duxelles

Review: CafeBiz

We were supposed to go to the Chocolate Buffet at the Esplanade on Friday, since none of us had ever been there and we were all craving chocolate (at least, I was), but unfortunately it turned out to be fully booked. So resourceful Keith managed to find us a reservation at CafeBiz at Traders' Hotel, where apparently they have a chocolate fountain, in addition to a buffet dinner ($42).



CafeBiz is a pretty relaxing place to eat, especially if you get to sit next to the waterfall. The layout is like most buffets; with different stations serving different types of food, from Chinese to Western. Lighting and arrangement is used to good effect though, everything looks very ergonomic, even the palette-shaped plates that are cunningly hidden beneath the stations.



Talk about ambience. The funky violet light behind the bar counter changes colour ever few minutes. Good thing the light's pretty muted, so the effect works well, else the place'd look like a disco.

I'm too lazy to blog about each counter in detail, so I'll just be posting pictures with short commentaries.





The salads and breads are placed together in one bar. There wasn't much I really liked here, as I'm not much of a salad person. I did try the tomato and mozarella salad, but that didn't really do it for me.



And here we see the sushi and crustacean bar. Funnily enough, I'm not a sushi or crustacean fan either, so the only thing I had from here was the California Maki, which Keith scoffed at.



Now this was undoubtedly the oddest station in the buffet. Initially I thought it was a satay bar, but it turned out to be lots of raw food skewered together. What the hell, I thought. This must violate at least five AVA regulations right there.



As it turns out, right next door was this station with lots of vats of boiling water, for the sole purpose of boiling the bejeezus out of your skewered meats. So basically, your meat goes from this:



To this:



Unfortunately, this steamboat method does seem to result in rather bland food. Even the sauces they provided didn't do much to improve the taste. Strangely enough they give you satay sauce even though there aren't any satays.

It's beginning to sound like there isn't much that's good to eat, which is unfortunately the case at most buffets. CafeBiz has spread itself too thinly, and most of the food has stayed out for too long, leaving them somewhat less than fresh.



What was good was the Indian food. The garlic naan, vegetable dhal and tandoori chicken were pretty wholesome, and prepared on the spot, which certainly helped, but in entirely too small portions.



What really took the cake, pun intended, was the dessert bar. Not only was the presentation fantastic (just look at all those petit fours on those chinese spoons!), some of the stuff was really very good. The mousses, in particular, were delectable. The white chocolate mousse was absolutely smashing, and I'm definitely making it my dessert when I next cook.

The chocolate fountain was pretty good as well, but somewhat wasted on the cheap fruits they served. It's surprising how much difference an unripe strawberry makes to chocolate.

In terms of location, Trader's Hotel is right on the outskirts of Orchard Road, so there shouldn't be any problems getting there.

Service doesn't really come into play, since it is, after all, a buffet.

CafeBiz (Buffet)
1A Cuscaden Road
Tel: 6381 4374
Website
Location: 4/5
Service: 3/5
Ambience: 4.5/5
Food: 2.5/5
Overall: It's a buffet, after all

Technorati Tags: Restaurant Reviews, CafeBiz, Buffet, Singapore

Recipe: Pork Stew

Busy busy busy. I have been busy. The problem with having a car and being able to drive is that you suddenly find many more things to do, and consequently you find that much of your time is not your own, paradoxical though that may be.

I've been so busy I've even had to miss the recent SG Bloggers' Con, and the upcoming Floggers' Lunch. Actually I missed the former because I was reading Harry Potter, and I'll be missing the latter because of work, but it's the same thing.

At least I managed to do some cooking over the weekend.

Since I had been instructed to bring something that I had personally prepared for my class gathering on Sunday, I racked my brains to think of a suitable contribution. My first thought was a tiramisu, but where would that leave you, my dear readers? Ploughing through something you're already intimately familiar with.

So, feeling inspired by June's stew, I decided to try a stew of my own.

Like her, stews are one of my comfort foods. Slow cooking appeals to me as the lazy man's way of cooking. Like soups, stews need minimal attention and produce prodigious amounts of delectable aromas that waft through your entire house. Perhaps it was all the cartoons I watched in my salad days, with the evil witch chopping up assorted vegetables into the big cauldron, waiting to catch Bugs Bunny and have a lovely rabbit stew for lunch.

This stew appears to be a family recipe, and is somewhat fusion in character, but very Western in appearance. Goes well with bread or rice.

Pork Stew (Serves 5)

1½ kg or about 20 pieces of pork ribs
2 potatoes, cubed
2 carrots, chopped into chunks
2 celery stalks, chopped
2 onions, sliced
1 medium-sized turnip, chopped into chunks
4 bay leaves
1 Tbsp cornflour
½ tsp cumin seeds
½ tsp dried thyme (or fresh)
½ tsp dried rosemary (or fresh, chopped)
350ml red wine

5 Tbsp cornflour
5 Tbsp olive oil
2 cups water or stock, plus more to cover
2 Tbsp tomato ketchup
2 Tbsp oyster sauce
2 Tbsp pasta sauce
1 Tbsp light soya sauce



I know this seems like a formidable list of ingredients, but once you've chucked them all in they'll sort themselves out. You can also add your favourite vegetables, legumes and funghi if you wish.



Marinate the meat, vegetables, cornflour and herbs in the wine for 3 – 4 hours, or overnight.



Make sure you've mixed them all up, otherwise only your meat will get the benefit of the wine treatment. Marinating softens up your meat and vegetables, so it's worth the effort.



Remove the meat and dry thoroughly. This helps the browning process later, but if you're in a hurry, it's not really essential. Remove the vegetables, dry thoroughly and reserve separately. Keep the marinade for later use.



Heat the oil in a large pan or wok and brown meat on all sides, working in batches. If you're not health-conscious or only have a few more days to live, use regular cooking oil which improves the flavour of the pork.



Once each batch has been decently browned, remove the ribs to a large pot or casserole. Please make sure your pot is big enough to accommodate all the ingredients, or you'll just have something extra to wash.



In the same fat (or add more oil if you've run low), brown the vegetables and add them to the pot.



Try and mix the meat and the vegetables so that they're more or less evenly distributed. Pour in the red wine marinade, and enough water or stock to nearly cover the meat and vegetables. Personally I'd go for water, as the stew is flavourful enough as is.



Add the tomato ketchup, oyster sauce, pasta sauce and soya sauce and mix into the liquid. Doesn't it look like the little piggies are bleeding something awful?



Bring to a boil, and either simmer, covered, for 2½ hours, or continue boiling, covered, for 45 minutes, whichever suits your patience levels. For those of you who don't have a clock in your kitchen, or simply can't be bothered to keep track of the time, cook till the pork ribs are soft and tender but not disintegrating. This is a stew, not bloody Bovril.



This is a complete meal in itself, plus it refrigerates well, plus it tastes even better the next day.

Technorati Tags: Recipes, Pork, Stews

Review: Sebastien's

Le Dîner au restaurant Sebastien

As we were in the mood for French food tonight, my sister and I decided to pay a visit to Sebastien's at Greenwood Avenue, a fairly new French bistro, which was very conveniently open from Monday to Sunday. It's run by its eponymous owner Sebastien Reullier, another Frenchman who has found success in the Singaporean food industry.

When we got there, I was really surprised to see how crowded it was, especially on a Sunday evening. Generally though, a crowded restaurant is a good sign, assuming you ever manage to find a parking lot, which we did eventually.



It was even more packed inside then I had imagined. Thankfully, we were still seated promptly, and bread arrived seconds after we were seated, I kid you not. I was very impressed. Unfortunately, the bread could do with some work, as it was crusty beyond reasonable expectation.

I took a walk around, and was astonished to see that the gourmet shop that used to adjoin the restaurant had been replaced by a wine shop, and the gourmet store, rather than closing down, had simply moved to a new location. Coupled with the obvious popularity of his restaurant, it's a clear sign that Mr. Reullier has hit paydirt.

True to form, Sebastien's serves traditional bistro favourites like boeuf bourguignon and pot-au-feu. While the prices here are not exactly bargains, they are pretty reasonable. But enough of that, let's get to the good stuff.



To start, I had the Cassolette D'Escargots aux Champignons et Beurre Parseille, or baked escargots with mushroom and parsley butter ($15). The escargots were stuffed into cremini mushroom caps and baked. Now, I'm not very fond of baked mushrooms, as they tend to dry out in the oven. These were no exception, and the whole thing was a bit on the bland side, which I felt had something to do with the departure from the traditional garlic butter to parsley. All in all, I thought it was rather comme si comme ça (3/5). On the upside, they're fairly generous with the snails, providing eight instead of the usual six.

For the main course, I was originally going to order the boeuf bourguignon, until I espied an entry on the menu that read Riz de Veaux... I thought it was rice with veal, but it turned out to be sweetbreads, which I am sure are Ris de Veau, but pardon my French. I'd been searching for a place that served sweetbreads for ever, but apparently they were unavailable. Dammit.



Oh well, the boeuf bourguignon ($28) was a chunky beef stew that came with mashed potatoes. I've been meaning to make this myself, so I wanted to see what it was supposed to look like before attempting it. It's basically a beef stew with lots of red wine. Sebastien's version was authentically French, right down to the lardons in the stew. The beef came apart easily, and the portion was just about right. My only gripe was that the tomato paste was a little too overwhelming, masking the taste of the wine. The mashed potatoes were delightfully creamy, and the entire dish was very satisfying (4/5). I did think, though, that if Sebastien priced dishes like this a little lower, he'd soon have more customers than his restaurant could accomodate.

When it came to dessert, I had no doubt whatsoever what I was going to order. I absolutely had to have the Ile Flottante ($7). It was almost mocking me. I was determined to see what a proper floating island should look like and if it was worth the trouble I took to make it. I even asked the waitress if the meringue was baked, like a true French Floating Island, or poached, a la an English Floating Island. All she could tell me was that it was fluffy, like a marshmallow.



I needn't have worried. The floating island came out just as I thought it should, a pristine mound of snow-white floating elegantly in a pool of creme anglaise, decorated artfully with caramel streaks, strawberries and blueberries.

One bite and I decided this was one of the most brilliant desserts ever devised and executed (5/5). The meringue was indeed baked (of course), and it was fluffy and sweet, just like a giant marshmallow. It had absolutely no hint of egginess about it, and its ephemeral sweetness contrasted superbly with the gentle custard sauce. Even my sister was converted, after her initial suspicion that it "looked weird". I have to make this again. Mr. Reuiller, if you read this, be so kind as to give me the recipe! At $7, it's a steal.

In terms of ambience, Sebastien's exudes all the quaintness of an authentic French bistro, right down to the piped music and convivial atmosphere (although some of the red curtains and light-shades did make it look a bit like a bordello). At its fullest, the restaurant had about thirty people eating and chattering, though thankfully with very few small children to mar the experience.

The location in Greenwood Avenue is certainly convenient, only a few minutes off the main Bukit Timah thoroughfare. I like the way all these eateries are starting to spring up in otherwise quiet housing estates. It's somehow very pastoral.

Clearly, as the place is owner-run, service is pretty decent. Sebastien himself is very on the ball, personally seeing to every table, but the waiters could do with a little more training.

See also the account of a birthday dinner held at Sebastien's.

Sebastien's (French)
12 Greenwood Avenue
Tel: 6465 1980
Website
Email
Location: 4/5
Service: 3.5/5
Ambience: 4/5
Food: 4/5
Overall: J'ai passé un bon dîner!

Technorati Tags: Restaurant Reviews, Sebastien's, French Food, Singapore

Recipe: Pan-Roasted Steak

Everyone who's anyone has a steak recipe. In fact, probably not just one, but a few to suit the occasion, so I feel like I'm missing out or something. Besides, I'm running kind of low on recipes to fill up the 'Main Dishes' section.

Now, a steak is something quite remarkable. It's not just a slab of meat - that's what a steak starts out as. It needs to be treated with love and care before it turns into something magical. There is something tremendously visceral about biting into a chunk of beef, knowing that millenia ago, someone very much like you, though with more hair and less intelligence, was doing exactly the same thing.

Now steak can be done in many different ways; it can be grilled, pan-fried, braised, etc. I'm partial to pan-roasting, which is searing it on the stove just to give it a nice crust, and then chucking it into the oven to let it finish cooking there. I find this tends to make for a juicier steak, as very little moisture escapes during cooking. It also allows you to cook many steaks at the same time, rather than having to serve them one at a time for want of cooking space. The drawback, though, is that not much flavour is developed, so you have to make up for it with herbs and spices.

Pardon the disorganisation, but I was in a bit of a rush, as my friends were due and there was much left to do.

Basically I marinated the steaks with red wine, worcestershire sauce, garlic, thyme and cummin seeds overnight. If you ever use cummin, remember that it is an extremely strong spice, so use sparingly. And remember to turn your steaks some point during the marinating process (marination?)



There is no mise en place because, firstly, I didn't have time, and secondly, the marinade can be anything you want. Well, almost anything, obviously arsenic doesn't count.



Of course you don't throw away your marinade - you pour it into a sauce pan to reduce, reuse and recycle it as part of the accompanying steak sauce! Don't reduce it by too much, as long as it's reduced by half or a quarter, that's more than sufficient.



I've been told that you should always dry your meat after marinating it, otherwise, you'd merely be steaming it rather than searing it. And there's nothing more insulting to meat than being steamed. It needs to be treated with love and care, remember?



After which, commence sizzling! Make sure the pan is nice and hot, and the steak nice and dry, then proceed to sear the life out of it on one side. Typically this takes my stove about 30 - 45 seconds or so. Different stoves and different pans may heat up faster or slower, so experiment.



Once one side is done, flip the steaks over. Ideally they should be very slightly charred, but since my stove isn't all that hot, I'd rather it not be charred than risk overcooking the steaks. Love and care!

The second side should take roughly the same amount of time, or perhaps even a little less as the pan is a lot hotter now.



After you've finished searing the steak on all sides (even the edges, if you can manage it), chuck it in a preheated oven to cook to medium or medium-rare. Anything else is a travesty that should not be allowed. My steaks take about 6 minutes in a 180ºC oven to reach medium-rare. The problem with cooking by time is that it's very imprecise - the timing could change depending on whether you marinate the steaks, how large your steaks are, whether you took a shower the day before, all kinds of things. If you have a handy-dandy meat thermometer, that'll tell you what temperature the meat should be, and if you don't, tough luck.

While the meat is roasting, deglaze the pan you used to sear the steaks with your reduced marinade, stirring up all the good bits. Steak goes well with carrots and potatoes, so I pre-cooked a few and chopped them up into bite-sized chunks, cooking them together with the sauce to warm them up.



Once your steaks are cooked, take them out of the oven and place them on plates, dividing up the carrots and potatoes and spooning the sauce over. It is exceedingly important to let your steaks rest for a minute or two on the plates, as this helps redistribute the internal juices to make them tender and succulent.

Technorati Tags: Recipes, Steak