【Meatless Tuesday】Warm Quinoa Salad with Roasted Vegetables and Feta Cheese

Mr. Bear and I were attending our dear friend's housewarming party last weekend.  The host requested that I bring over a warm salad and I came up with this Quinoa Salad with Roasted Vegetables.  I really liked it so I made it again for this week's Meatless Tuesday dinner.

Steak Tartare

Steak Tartare often receives very polar opinion.  Some people, like Mr. Bear and I, just absolutely love it while some others are simply disgusted by the thought of raw meat. I guess as Asians, we grew up eating sushi and all kinds of weird stuff so we never find eating raw meat a problem.

[Shinya Shodukou - Chapter 9] Sake Steamed Clams

The challenge for this week's Shinya Shodukou is Sake Steamed Clams (酒蒸蛤蜊), or in Japanese　あさりの酒蒸し (Asari no Sakamushi).

There is a Cantonese saying, "三分材料， 七分師傅", meaning for a good dish, only 30% comes from the ingredients, the skills of the chef accounts for the other 70%. However, when it comes to Sake Steamed Clams, this rule doesn't really apply. This is a very simple dish to make and the secret lies completely within getting the freshest quality clams. Determined to get the best clams out there, I got off work early one afternoon to go to the fresh seafood stall by the pier, only to find out that I forgot it was the fishing moratorium the whole June and July and there were NO fresh clams! I then went to two grocery stores in my neighbourhood and I couldn't even find any frozen clams either.

In desperate circumstances you call for desperate measures. I called up my favourite restaurant in town for white wine steamed clams and the owner/chef (let’s call him Chef N) was very kind to sell me some of their raw clams.  Their clams are freshly shipped from the US three times a week and I’m pretty sure these are some of the best clams I could possibly find out there. With these clams, I knew I was well on my way to success already! Chef N also generously shared with me the techniques of making the perfect white wine steamed clams that they serve in the restaurant. I took his advice but substituted the ingredients with what I think would add a bit of Japanese touch and the outcome was irresistibly good!  After we finished the clams, Mr. Bear made some plain white somen noodles to go with the broth to make sure not a drop of it is going to waste.

Because of how easy it is, this recipe is going into my collection of Lazy Man's Recipes, provided you get good clams, of course! ;)

Serves 2 as an appetizer, 1 as an entree 
Difficulty: Low 

Ingredients: 
500g (~1 lb) fresh clams 
150ml sake 
1 bunch of mitsuba (Japanese three-leaf parsley), cut stems into 1 inch strips and leave the tips (the three leaves as garnish) 
1 shallot, finely chopped 
2 tablespoons ginger, peeled and finely julienned 
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped 
1 tablespoon of butter 
1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil 
A dash of black pepper 

Method: 
1. Remove the sand from the clams by adding them into a bowl of heavily salted cold water (so that it tastes like sea water). Cover the bowl with damp newspaper. The clams will relax and spit out the sand. Rinse well before cooking. 
2. In a shallow pot with a lid (Chef N said the lid is the key!), heat the olive oil and melt the butter over medium heat. Add the shallot, ginger, garlic and mitsuba stems and fry until fragrant. Sprinkle black pepper. 
3. Add the clams to the pot and add sake until the liquid covers about 1/3 of the height of the clams. Cover and simmer for 2.5-3 minutes or until the clams open. 
4. Taste one clam, the juice released from it should be salty enough. If not, adjust the flavour by adding salt or water to match your taste. 
5. Scatter with mitsuba leaves and serve hot.

Let's take a look at other member's Sake Steamed Clams.

Jobe

 

為食二人組組圓

 

噹噹 

 

玻璃朱城 

 

OL醉愛廚房 

 

Helen 的方家小廚 

 

Sally Ho 莎莉豪 

 

KaKa@Serendipity 

 

 偽主婦ki琪

 

Jo 姐姐 

Mrs. Horse 
 

芝士 

 

鬼嫁 

流小妹 

黃金太太的廚房事 

 

阿咪 
 

[Shinya Shokudou - Chapter 7] Tomatoes Wrapped in Pork Belly

The assignment for this week's Shinya Shokudou cooking club is Tomatoes Wrapped in Pork Belly (五花肉蕃茄卷 or 豚バラトマト巻き). I'm glad that it's a simple challenge as I had been clocking quite a number of overtime hours at work this week. The dish itself is really nothing more than what the name suggests - you wrap tomatoes with pork belly slices and you grill them up, that's it. The tomato becomes soft and sweet after grilling and the natural fat from the pork belly actually enhances the flavour. They are always a crowd pleaser whenever we serve them at our family BBQ. Some people like to use bacon instead of pork belly slices because in that case you don't even have to worry about seasoning. To make it substantial enough as a dish for dinner tonight I threw in some leeks and Japanese green peppers I had in the fridge since I'm already firing up the oven anyway.

Ingredients: 
Cherry tomatoes 
Pork belly, thinly sliced 
A dash of salt and black pepper 
Bamboo skewers 

Method: 
1. Place bamboo skewers in water to soak. 
2. Cut the pork belly strips into half-length. Put the cherry tomato towards the end of the pork belly strip, wrap tight and thread them onto the skewer. Season with salt and pepper. 
3. Heat up the oven to 200C and grill until the pork belly turns brown and crisp, about 5 minutes on each side. For better results, use a grill (with medium high heat) Serve immediately.

Let's check out the other members' dishes this week!

維維媽

為食二人組

Mrs. Horse

噹噹

WongC9

Jo姐姐

芝士

偽主婦ki琪

Helen的方家小廚

Viviana 英倫廚房筆記

OL醉愛廚房

KaKa @Serendipity

\

Sweet 黃金太太廚房的事

鬼嫁料理手帳

玻璃朱城

:+:+:享受生活。涼粉子:+:+:

Jobe

阿糕糕CAKE 一CLICK

gywong

Tuna Tartare with Avacado

The weather is getting warmer and warmer these days and so Mr. Bear requested for some refreshing cold dishes for dinner tonight. For one of the dishes, I chose to make the popular Tuna Tartare from BLT Steak in NYC by Chef Laurent Tourondel. It makes a good appetizer for summer dinner parties. It's pretty easy to put together and definitely has an impressive presentation to wow your guests.

Adapted from BLT Steak in NYC by Chef Laurent Tourondel.

Serves 4
Difficulty: Low

Ingredients:
350 grams (12 oz) sashimi grade tuna, cut into 1/8-inch dice
2 tablespoons shallots, finely chopped
1 tablespoon flour
Peanut oil for frying shallots
1 teaspoon wasabi paste
2 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
1 1/2 tablespoon mirin
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon lemon/lime juice
3/4 teaspoon honey
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 ripe avocado, peeled and cut into 1/8-inch dice
Salt, to taste
Black pepper, to taste

Method:
1. Pour the oil into a small saucepan to a depth of 1 inch. Heat the oil until a small piece of shallot sizzles rapidly when added. Toss the shallots with the flour. Add the shallots to the oil and fry until golden, 30-60 seconds. Remove the shallots and drain on paper towels. Season with salt.
2. Stir together the wasabi powder and 1 tablespoon water. Whisk in the soy sauce, mirin, mustard oil, vinegar, and honey. Add pepper to taste.
3. Toss the tuna with the olive oil, salt and pepper to taste.
4. To mold, place a 3-inch tartlet ring or a cube pastry mold on a plate. Fill with a layer of avocado and top with the diced tuna and fried shallots. Lift off the ring gently. Drizzle the sauce around the tuna and serve.

Notes:
I don't have a tarlet ring or a pastry mold so instead I created my own mold using aluminum foil. Tear off a long piece, and fold it lengthwise in 3 inch folds, until you have a long strip 3 inch wide.  Form a circle or a square mold with this long strip.  After you've filled it up with your tartare, you can simply "peel" it off. My tuna tartare might not come out as perfectly shaped as you get it at BLT but I think they still look pretty decent! ;-)