Along with the fish I made some "pickled" celery root. It's really just celery root cooked in just a bit of slightly sweet lemon broth. Not really a pickle, but it cut through the fattiness of the fish nicely.
2/25 Soy Poached Mackerel and Pickled Celery Root
I'm working a little outside my comfort zone on this one. Yesterday I bought a mackerel fillet at the Japanese grocery store. I decided to poach the mackerel in a soy/marin (japanese cooking wine) broth and made a very thinned out mayonnaise sauce with sambal (chili paste) and yuzu (asian lemony citrus). The fact that it didn't really ever thicken up was my fault, but in the end worked quite well with the fish and wasn't too heavy. According to my unhappy roommates the result was that the entire house smelled really bad (to me it just smelled like soy... but whatever).
Along with the fish I made some "pickled" celery root. It's really just celery root cooked in just a bit of slightly sweet lemon broth. Not really a pickle, but it cut through the fattiness of the fish nicely.
I also started some "real" brined pickles which should be ready in a weeks time or so... never made those before either, so we'll see how they turn out.
Along with the fish I made some "pickled" celery root. It's really just celery root cooked in just a bit of slightly sweet lemon broth. Not really a pickle, but it cut through the fattiness of the fish nicely.
2/19 Salmon Tomliatelle
Question: You've got an egg, some left over fish and an hour to cook dinner - what do you do? An omelet? Nah, that just won't cut it tonight. So with a little inspiration from old friend Jamie Oliver here's my solution to the problem.I got home from work at 5:45. After taking off my jacket I immediately mixed 3/4 cup flour with an egg. I added in a squirt of tomato paste and a heap teaspoon (as Jamie would say)
of fresh ground pepper. I gave it a whirl in the mini-cuisinart for 45 second and formed a dough. Some would call this a pasta dough. I let the dough rest 45 minutes in a covered bowl, which apparently develops the glutens or something technical like that. After 45 minutes I brought my water to a boil and started running the dough through the pasta machine. This takes just under 10 minutes - and I'm pretty bad at it. Miraculously, in that time the (well-salted) water had just come to a boil. I cut the pasta sheets into thickish strips. Tagliatelle? I'm not sure. I prefer to call them tomliatelle (because there's tomato in them of course).In any event, I dunked my pasta in the water and quickly made a sauce - butter, parseley, capers, anchovies, yuzu (more on this another day -
but it's an asian citrus fruit like a very flowery lemon) and the leftover steamed salmon from last night. Nothing here needs to cook - so 2 minutes on high heat was sufficient to melt the butter. Turns out this is exactly how long the pasta needed too - crazy how these things work out! Once done, everything was combined onto one glorious plate. Tomato-pepper tomliatelle and salmon. BAM! Parmesan? Nah... call me old-school but a drizzle of olive oil is the only other thing this dish needed.Dinner was served at 6:43.
chicken a la delicious
Not sure what to call this one. It was inspired from a few different sources and came out pretty well. I think we'll work up from the bottom. First, a base of.... polenta! Nothing fancy here, just some salt, pepper, olive oil and.... polenta!! Go figure! 
On top of that we have a Zuni Cafe radicchio and parseley salad with bread crumbs, anchovy vinaigrette, and a grated boiled egg? yup, grated. Apparently Judy Rodgers knows what she's doing. Next up we have the hero of the night - roasted chicken with a parmesan/breadcrumb coating. "This reasonably slowly roasted chicken was butterflied and baked with tender love and care." Sorry, just practicing my marketing skills... As it turns out, despite being Italian, parmesan ain't half bad. And finally, to pull everything together, we have baked onions and bacon which provided a nice cushion for the chicken to roast on and an even better topping. I did not need inspiration for the bacon... All in all, i think this dish deserves a solid A-. Very tasty stuff.
On top of that we have a Zuni Cafe radicchio and parseley salad with bread crumbs, anchovy vinaigrette, and a grated boiled egg? yup, grated. Apparently Judy Rodgers knows what she's doing. Next up we have the hero of the night - roasted chicken with a parmesan/breadcrumb coating. "This reasonably slowly roasted chicken was butterflied and baked with tender love and care." Sorry, just practicing my marketing skills... As it turns out, despite being Italian, parmesan ain't half bad. And finally, to pull everything together, we have baked onions and bacon which provided a nice cushion for the chicken to roast on and an even better topping. I did not need inspiration for the bacon... All in all, i think this dish deserves a solid A-. Very tasty stuff.
2/4 Vancouver: Guu!
Guu with Garlic... or maybe its Garlic Guu... I'm honestly not sure what this place is actually called, but it pretty much wrapped up the best day of eating ever. This is one of three related Izakaya restaurants in Vancouver. In short this is a Japanese tapas restaurant - but really, it's so much more.
Unlike the last meal, when I felt like Rachel Ray getting advice from the host at Salt (see below); this time, I felt like Anthony Bourdain, eating more food than one would think possible in a single sitting, while drinking my fair share of sake and simply taking in all the craziness around me for two solid hours.
When you first walk in to Guu, the first thing you notice is the noise. I literally felt dizzy after 5 minutes while waiting for a seat and had to step outside for a bit. It's loud.
Every single order is yelled out by every member of the staff from one corner of the dining area to the back of the kitchen. Actually it's not just the orders... every time someone enters or leaves the room, sits, gets up or is brought a dish - it's announced by the entire staff. To be perfectly honest, this actually cut my appetite at first. You really have to experience it to understand how loud it can get. However, after a few shots of sake, this all becomes very enjoyable.
Anyways, on to the food.
After I sat down at the end of the bar, my appetite quickly returned. I started off with an order of Ocha-Zuke (a Japanese rice porridge of sorts) and an order of Ton-Tore (salt cooked pork cheeks with a ponzu sauce and daikon). Both were excellent. The Ocha-Zuke was topped with Salmon and seaweed while the pork cheeks were very tender and extremely flavorful - kindda like the best pork chop you could imagine and then maybe a bit better than that.
When I'd made my way through those, I quickly ordered the Kaki-Mayo-Yaki (baked oysters with spicy cod roe, corn, and mayonnaise served in the shell) which were amazing. The oysters themselves were good, but the dish as a whole really puts any other baked oyster dish to shame. Really, really, good.
Before I was done with the two oysters, I had the courage to order Agedashi-Dofu (deep fried tofu in a soy based broth topped with spicy cod roe, green onions, and dried seaweed).
Now anyone who knows me realizes this is very uncharacteristic. The reason I opted to go with the dofu was simple: the chowhound post that had directed me to Guu in the first place had described this dish as a highlight despite the diner's ambivalence towards tofu. As it turns out - they were right. This was great. I didn't think it was possible, but I really, really enjoyed the tofu. The broth was very salty and the fried tofu was a perfect contrast. Really great.
I was on a roll now and couldn't give up just yet. I had room for one more dish. And so in came the sweet shrimp sashimi.
Fantastic. Actually, better than fantastic. These were ridiculously fresh and whatever it was that I sucked out of the heads was so sweet and briny I could have easily eaten ten more. There's no way I can do these justice so I'll just say that contrary to what others may have written once upon a day, you can have great seafood on Mondays.
So there it is - a truly tremendous meal. Memorable, simple, inspired and inspiring. Everything a meal should be.
Unlike the last meal, when I felt like Rachel Ray getting advice from the host at Salt (see below); this time, I felt like Anthony Bourdain, eating more food than one would think possible in a single sitting, while drinking my fair share of sake and simply taking in all the craziness around me for two solid hours.
When you first walk in to Guu, the first thing you notice is the noise. I literally felt dizzy after 5 minutes while waiting for a seat and had to step outside for a bit. It's loud.
Every single order is yelled out by every member of the staff from one corner of the dining area to the back of the kitchen. Actually it's not just the orders... every time someone enters or leaves the room, sits, gets up or is brought a dish - it's announced by the entire staff. To be perfectly honest, this actually cut my appetite at first. You really have to experience it to understand how loud it can get. However, after a few shots of sake, this all becomes very enjoyable.Anyways, on to the food.
After I sat down at the end of the bar, my appetite quickly returned. I started off with an order of Ocha-Zuke (a Japanese rice porridge of sorts) and an order of Ton-Tore (salt cooked pork cheeks with a ponzu sauce and daikon). Both were excellent. The Ocha-Zuke was topped with Salmon and seaweed while the pork cheeks were very tender and extremely flavorful - kindda like the best pork chop you could imagine and then maybe a bit better than that.
When I'd made my way through those, I quickly ordered the Kaki-Mayo-Yaki (baked oysters with spicy cod roe, corn, and mayonnaise served in the shell) which were amazing. The oysters themselves were good, but the dish as a whole really puts any other baked oyster dish to shame. Really, really, good.Before I was done with the two oysters, I had the courage to order Agedashi-Dofu (deep fried tofu in a soy based broth topped with spicy cod roe, green onions, and dried seaweed).
Now anyone who knows me realizes this is very uncharacteristic. The reason I opted to go with the dofu was simple: the chowhound post that had directed me to Guu in the first place had described this dish as a highlight despite the diner's ambivalence towards tofu. As it turns out - they were right. This was great. I didn't think it was possible, but I really, really enjoyed the tofu. The broth was very salty and the fried tofu was a perfect contrast. Really great.I was on a roll now and couldn't give up just yet. I had room for one more dish. And so in came the sweet shrimp sashimi.
Fantastic. Actually, better than fantastic. These were ridiculously fresh and whatever it was that I sucked out of the heads was so sweet and briny I could have easily eaten ten more. There's no way I can do these justice so I'll just say that contrary to what others may have written once upon a day, you can have great seafood on Mondays.So there it is - a truly tremendous meal. Memorable, simple, inspired and inspiring. Everything a meal should be.
2/4 Vancouver: Salt Tasting Room
We're gonna try something a bit different and blog about some of our dining adventures in addition to our standard cooking posts. We're gonna try to keep these interesting and only post about dinners that are particularly inspiring or memorable for some other reason. I think we're also going to stay away from "reviewing" the restaurant. This is more about what inspires us.I'm gonna start this off with my first meal in Vancouver, where I'm spending a few days. I solicited some recommendations from the chowhound message boards and received a number of great ideas.
I definitely recommend this approach if you want a local's take on great food when traveling. So off I went this morning in search of the Salt Tasting Room. Located in a back alley in the Gastown district, this is definitely not something you just stumble across. Basically the concept is that you create your own tasting plate from an ever changing list of charcuterie, cheese and condiments. There's a great wine list and they will pair wine's with your tasting plate.I was one of three patrons in the restaurant - which actually worked out really well. I saddled up to the bar where the plates are prepared and chatted it up with the host who had plenty of great recommendations.
He let me try some free extra bits and pieces and even served me a free glass of Merlot from British Columbia. He also gave me some other great dining tips. I'd be lying if I told you I didn't feel like Rachel Ray... My plate included Beef Tongue, Jamon de Ardennes (a very smoky cured ham) and Ginocchiaona (a salami cured with tiny bits of orange zest). All three were awesome and locally produced - the salami was especially tasty; the orange really made the difference. My condiments included Guinness mustard, quince paste and cipollini onions - all served with a big basket of bread. Not bad for $15.All in all, I couldn't have started my stay in Vancouver any better. If my remaining meals are anywhere near this great, it'll be a great trip.
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