Saturday, March 28, 2009

Spicy Turkey Breast Steak, Baby New Potatoes and Brussel Sprouts

It is incredible that although turkey is by no means a great favourite of mine, two of the first five recipes included on this blog feature turkey! My local Morrison's supermarket selling turkey at such fantastic prices at the moment can be blamed for this scenario. This recipe, which was quite literally concocted in the supermarket aisle earlier on this evening, is incredibly simple but also incredibly tasty.

Ingredients (Per Person)

1 turkey breast steak fillet (1/2" thick)
5 or 6 baby new potatoes
5 or 6 brussels sprouts
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 tsp ground coriander
Generous pinch of dried dill
Knob of butter
Salt
Sunflower oil for frying turkey steak

Method

Put the potatoes on whole and unpeeled to boil in some salted boiling water. They will take thirty to thirty-five minutes depending upon their size.

While the potatoes are boiling, mix the dried spices together and spread them out on a plate. Gently dab the turkey breast steak in the spices, ensuring it is evenly coated with same on both sides. Cover and set aside.

Prepare the brussels sprout by chopping off the bottom and removing the loose outer leaves. Do not cut a cross in the base of the sprouts as this will cause them to partially disintegrate during cooking.

When the potatoes are ready, drain them well and put them back in to the pan with a knob of butter and the dried dill leaves. Swirl them gently around, cover and keep warm.

Put the sprouts on to boil in lightly salted boiling water. They should take around twelve to fifteen minutes, depending on their size. It is important not to overcook sprouts as they will become mushy, lose their flavour and lose most of their nutritional value.

Add a little sunflower oil to a frying pan or skillet and bring it up to a medium heat. Fry the spiced turkey breast steak for five minutes each side until cooked.

It is then simply a matter of draining the sprouts and plating up.

Have some respect

The waiter hugged each of us goodbye while the hostess looked on and a man entering the restaurant wondered aloud if everyone got such good treatment. I guess we were lucky to get a waiter who looked like a black Jack Black (he concurred) and shared with us his dreams of acting and tales of his troublesome younger brother. In between the gossip, he recommended our dinner choices (free range Amish roast chicken or roast duck with a side of duck confit rather than the short ribs) and wine selection. He told us about his employee discount - no free meals but at least he never took the food for granted. It seems that when you get it for free you don't have respect for it. The food, that is.

I don't usually write about restaurants but sometimes the food I eat in restaurants inspires my cooking. I can make cheese grits, one of the delicious sides we had (just keep adding butter and cheese and top with olive oil). I can make white chocolate panna cotta, one of the free desserts we had (did I mention that the waiter loved us?). I can make a risotto cake, one of the appetizers we had.

Okay, I'll admit that the risotto cake in the restaurant was fat and moist on the inside, not flat and a tad dry like mine. It was topped with a salad with a noticeable but light dressing and some plump grilled shrimp. I topped mine with shredded leftover Amish chicken.

Let's not forget that making risotto cakes is a two step process. See, you first have to make the risotto. Get a little Arborio rice, some shallots and garlic together in a pan, and fry up about five or six slices of pancetta in there too. Remove the pancetta and let it drain on paper towels. Once the rice has rolled around in the fat and flavoring for a bit, add a splash of wine. Cooking wine works just fine, but I usually have a bottle of something that was never finished sitting around. Now you're ready to start adding the hot broth. Sometimes I get this far before I realize I don't have any broth, much less hot broth. But this time I was prepared and had already dissolved a hearty bouillon cube in water in a pan on the burner next to my risotto pan. Now start scooping quarter cups of broth into the pan and let the rice absorb them. Do this slowly. It could take 20-25 minutes. Keep stirring. Drink some of the wine. Unless it's cooking wine, then don't drink it for god's sake. When the rice is creamy and cooked through - I always taste a few pieces and find them undercooked when I'm out of broth but just add some water at this point - then you can stir in the peas and the crumbled pancetta. Add some grated parmesan, salt and pepper.

Now here's the really important step: Don't eat all of the risotto. You may think this is obvious, but I'm telling you, you will want to eat it all and then what is left for risotto cakes? Nothing. You'll have to start over.

Save some of that risotto for tomorrow because you don't want to make the risotto cakes now, you're too busy eating risotto. When you're ready to make them, just mix in some beaten egg and cornmeal. I had a little trouble getting my risotto to stick together but I just flattened it down into the frying pan and once it started frying, it stuck together just fine. If you can make a pancake you can make a risotto cake.


I think they turned out cute and tasty, but I would never take a risotto cake for granted. Because when you make it yourself, you have even more respect for the food.

Asa Ichi

28 maret 2009, sabtu
Hari ini pas husband lg libur, so sempetin dah datengin Asa Ichi, yang cuman ada 2 kali dalam sebulan tiap sabtu pagi di minggu pertama n ke empat. Asa Ichi itu tempat pasar ikan, biasanya ga dibuka buat umum, jadi hari ini rameeeee banget da yang datang..
Di areal parkirnya, ada stand stand jualan juga, dari sayur mayur, telur, buah, mpe makanan mateng kayak okonomiyaki, thai meshi, tako meshi...nyam nyamm...
trus banyak banget yang ngantri buat bkin mochi...wak ga ikutan dah..antri da kayak ular...hahha





Disana ya t4 jualan ikan dah, dari ikan yg kcil mpe yg gede,dari kerang mpe gurita. Masih seger2, coz baru ditangkep pagi2 tadi...biar bisa dibkin sashimiii...iih, enaknyaaa...trus ada kolam ikan dimana kita bisa nyoba mancing, tentunya bayar si, tapi liat liat kemampuan mancing, boleh juga dicoba deh.