Slow cooked beef short ribs with spices and a heck of a lot of yumminess ...

I have been vaguely looking out for beef short ribs for a fair while now and have never seen them until the other day.  I bought two beautiful pieces with a cap of fat on each and used a Josh Emmet recipe to put them to the test.

The spices in this dish are star anise, cloves, black peppercorns, fennel seeds, coriander seeds, cumin and salt.  The whole spices are dry roasted, beef browned off, then a caramel is made with a small amount of sugar and sherry vinegar added, all thrown in an ovenproof dish (I used a good heavy bottom saucepan and double lined the lid with foil to create a tight seal), water or stock, then cooked (I cooked these for two hours but a larger piece would need 4 to 5).

The smell I have to say which they were cooking was divine, always a good sign.  When they were just falling off the base bone I took them out, strained the liquor and refrigerated this delicious juice in order to take off the fat layer that settle.  When I reduced this it made the most beautifully balanced sauce.  Removing the fat gives a clearer flavour and there's still plenty on the beef itself.  In my opinion sauce should be glossy not fatty.

I served these with some cauliflower and fennel puree, braised baby leeks and a small shaved fennel salad dressed simply with salt, lemon juice and a touch of Pastis (or Pernod).  The salad not only gave a crunch but a freshness to the whole dish.

This was one of the most beautiful meals we have ever eaten and we both agreed on that.  Simple to do but the balance of spice with acid from the vinegar (I have gorgeous Jerez vinegar I get in Spain (I get bottles of the stuff, it's my go to vinegar, very soft and oaky.  Once you've had great Spanish sherry vinegar I defy you to go back to balsamic) balanced with a touch of caramel from the caramelised sugar.....

I'm glad I only had one piece each as if there were more we would have scoffed the lot and that just means more kms around the Marina.  It's getting a bit hot for running more than 10kms now!

  

Lemongrass, star anise and fennel pork belly with dashi

Another from Cut the cookbook by Josh Emmet.  The crackling was just as I love it, chewy and perfect (it's personal I know but I like chewy not crunchy pork skin).  The lemongrass in particular was beautiful and not something I've paired with pork belly before.  I added star anise as I simply love pork belly and star anise.  An elegant dish that would be just as good with pork fillet and the same combination of spices.  The dashi adds a beautiful light touch that makes this a clean way to eat pork belly.  I served it here with braised fennel.

Confit duck leg, glazed cherries, shaved fennel salad, parsnip and saffron puree, parsnip crisps, roasted leek.

Yes I got this beautiful Josh Emmet cookbook from my bro and sis in law and absolutely love it.  And yes Andy's been doing a spot of cooking of late.  I choose recipes for him that I want to eat and that I know he'd enjoy cooking... this is one of them.

I had the duck already confit (and I admit I bought this lot although I have done a fair whack of confit duck amongst others and it's easy but you need to keep a keen eye on salt, home confit can be over salted with the wrong instructions).  Here Geant sells the most gorgeous confit duck at a great price which makes it hardly worth doing it myself in honesty.

OK so I thought Andy would enjoy cooking this dish.  He read the recipe and decided a parsnip saffron puree (from a veal recipe in the same book) would work with this along with the crisp cooked parsnips from the same dish.

Yes I've said before he's a bloody good cook and cooks so rarely it's even more impressive.  His palate is on the money.  Seriously.  The combination of parsnip and saffron puree (or mash or whatever you like to name it) with confit duck, cherries with pomegranate molasses (care of Josh Emmet) and fennel salad which Andy added a touch of pernod to at the end (divine)... and well roasted leek stems.

Really I say this with the wisdom of someone who's eaten a few meals (or more) with a keen eye on classic French.  This was one of the most glorious dishes I've eaten ever.  The cherries with pomegranate molasses is a dish that will stay with me now thanks to Mr Emmet.  The combination of the parsnip and saffron along with the cherries, duck and fennel with pernod is one that will stay with me thanks to Andy.

Cut cookbook is a seriously practical take on elegance and simplicity using beautiful proteins.  My husband has a palate that can see and combine with intelligence that is startling at times.  Together an amazing combination.

Confit duck leg, roasted leek, fennel salad, cherries with pomegranate molasses and parsnip with saffron, utter heaven.

Nguyệt's Phở

Phở  is one of my all-time favourite of dishes.  Light and utterly delicious.  Any time I can get near a bowl of brothy soupy spicy noodles, whether Vietnamese style, Thai style hot and sour, Singapore style hot and sour, Chinese style still hot sour but with less chilli heat.  It's all good stuff.  I can't pass up a bowl but Phở is really the ultimate.  It's simplicity is it's beauty.

Consisting of a stock with rice vermicelli and vegetables, the meat added back to the hot stock.  Chicken, beef, veg, it's all Phở meaning noodle and can take on many variations depending on region, availability of proteins and herbs.  I'm no expert here so any inaccuracies are my assumption of this dish.  For technical/ historical perfection I may have it all wrong (disclaimer!).

In Dubai it's hard to source the Vietnamese green herb components which are so prevalant in Vietnam.  I've never been to Vietnam but I've been to Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia many times and have spent a fair chunk of my life in Hong Kong.   My travel to Thailand in particular taught me the full extent of greens and fresh herbs used in South East Asian cooking.  Whilst here we get abundant coriander, parsley, dill, mint and many other varieties that I'm still learning about specific to Indian and Middle Eastern cooking the herbs specific to Vietnam i.e. holy basil (actually we get that here in the form of Persian basil, same stuff but very short season between October - December), lemon basil, vietnamese mint are not readily available (low demand, it's expected).    

My lovely house cleaner here in Dubai is Vietnamese and her previous job was teaching cooking in Oman before moving to Dubai a few years ago.  She has two children and a husband (all beautiful, I've seen photos) back in Vietnam, and she sees them once every two years if she is lucky and sometimes with a good push from me to get her leave approved.

This is the sacrifice made by millions.  To live and work away from family in order for their children and parents to receive education (children) and health care (parents).  Nguyệt's home is gorgeous.  Her husband, being a carpenter of high repute, has made their house into a beautiful home with hand crafted wood.  They also have the most incredible garden growing fresh herbs and leaves synonymous to Vietnamese food.  She misses it of course but she never speaks of it.  She has pride in her family and home as she should.  Her home, her children and her husband are, well they just are.  Intelligent, proud and artistic, as is  Nguyệt

Nguyệt's  son and daughter (13 and 10) are learning English in Vietnam which is funded by her earnings here in Dubai.  She sees them once every two years.  The decision to leave when they were little in order for them to carve out a future is something I cannot even comprehend.   Tough.  At the end of the day your direction in life is directed by where you were born, khalas (Arabic for done, finished).

So... I was treated today to a cooking lesson of Phở.  In this case chicken Phở .

The recipe goes like this:

One chicken, rinsed really well in cold water.
Rice vermicelli noodles
1 UAE local lettuce (long cos type)
4 spring onions
One red onion
Button mushrooms
1 tomato
fresh chillis
Salt
MSG (yes, surprised me too.  But how bad can it really be?  I mean billions eat the stuff.  They are healthy.  Maybe it's a west preoccupation and it's our problem so I'm saying yes to MSG and by chance I read an interesting article on the stuff in my recent Australian Gourmet Traveller (in the yes camp BTW).
Pepper
Vietnamese herbs
Lime juice to taste
Extra fresh chopped chilli to taste at the end

Poach the chicken in a pot of water.

Remove from the water, keeping the cooking liquid.

Shread the chicken meat removing the skin

Return the chicken meat, skin and bones to the cooking liquid, bring back to the simmer adding salt.

Cook the noodles.

Heat a pan with oil.  Add the sliced red onion and chilli, a good pinch of MSG and salt.  When softened add the sliced mushrooms. Sauté together well.  At the end add some chopped green spring onions.  Take off the heat and add roughly chopped lettuce.

Put hot drained noodles in bowls.  Put the chicken mixture on top.  Dip the shredded white ends of the spring onions in hot chicken stock and put on top with raw green chopped spring onion.  Top with hot chicken broth and fresh Vietnamese herbs.  Adjust to taste with chilli, squeezed limes, black pepper and salt.  Enjoy!

Finished result (minus the herbs).  Absolutely and utterly delicious.

Soba, cucumber stuff, fresh fish, yum....

A previous dialogue was about a beautiful cucumber soup with raw fish from the Australian Gourmet Traveller magazine (intended for tuna but the most spanking fresh fish here over these few days have been Koffer, in the bream family and pretty much exclusively from the Arabian sea).

I kept the solids (i.e. strained dregs) of the chilled cucumber soup from 2 days ago in the fridge.  I hate throwing out good stuff.  Cooked and chilled soba noodles, additional fish (again Koffer were the best today), a bit of extra acidity (lime juice) and a teeny touch of salt to counteract the addition of soba.  A little bit of cucumber for bite, some coriander and well actually I cannot fault this which I say rarely with what is essentially "leftovers".  Oh I left the skin on the Koffer this time round.  It's such a fine delicate skin and a very difficult fish to deskin which I learnt two days ago but really the texture is melting even raw so if you're reading this and are in the Arabian Gulf region eating raw Koffer (what are the chances?) keep the skin on!

Hot cross buns that are very fine indeed!!!

I made these beauties this Easter using my sensational sourdough starter as the raising agent.  I added Chinese 5 spice and a touch of cinnamon for the spice element.  Chinese 5 spice is an incredible spice mix for sweet component spice recipes, very much similar to Pain d'espices mix from Alsace.

No goopy cross mix either, simply a cut in the buns as you might bread just before they go into the hot oven.  The fruit (my taste here) was currents and Italian sweet citrus along with brown sugar and salt (don't forget the salt!).  Icing sugar on top just before the oven to give it the sticky element.

Beautiful texture, taste, colour and quite frankly up there with the best (if not THE BEST) we've eaten even in Germany which does mean hot cross buns!  I've repeated this already.  Same result... very yummy.

Sea bream with lemon saffron risotto and broad beans

Simply a take on Daniel Boulad's recipe making the risotto into croquettes (or arancini as they are in Italian).  I simply made the rice as a risotto in it's own wright as it is very piquant which complements fish superbly (in this case gilt head or sea bream).

Chilled cucumber soup with raw fish Japanese style

I'm making a note to self on this one.  An Australian Gourmet Traveller recipe.  I used local Koffer fish instead of tuna as it was as fresh as fresh and I know it's beautiful fish.

I used half the rice vinegar and half sushi vinegar (i.e. with sugar, salt rice vinegar sushi rice style).  I added a teaspoon or so of sesame oil.

I also made some of the cucumber soup into wee jellies for a different texture.  Cold is the only way to serve raw fish so chill the plates, serve everything as cold as poss.  Next time on a black plate and a disk of something, (rice maybe?) to stabilise the jelly on the raw fish centre.

I'll be making it again.

Poussin with crispy skin, roasted tomatoes and Egyptian bread

This is a favourite simple dinner.  I get French free range poussin (they are really well priced here) and simply cut them down the centre.  I sprinkle the skin liberally with salt and then leave them UNCOVERED in the fridge for a day or two.  The skin goes completely dry. 

I then drizzle them with a little bit of olive oil and bung them in a hot oven for about 20 - 25 minutes. They are impossible to overcook (pretty much) done this way, all the moisture stays in and that skin is as crisp and delicious as chicken skin can be.

Served on a flat piece of Egyptian bread simply with roasted tomatoes and herbs it's an absolute winner of a dish.  Chewy and crunchy and sweet and chicken.  Yummy.  Oh and no that's not too much salt for this...it sits on the top due to the dried skin so seems like more than it is.   Chicken needs to be well seasoned in my opinion.

Potato and leek ravioli, roasted potato skin sauce, leek powder.

This recipe was in the Australian Gormet Traveller and appealed to me immensely.  The roasted potato skin sauce?  What a brilliant idea and the leeks were roasted till brown and dry then ground into a fine powder for a slight bitter note which added immense complexity to this delicious and rather creative dish.  The ravioli were filled with a delicious concoction of parmesan, potato, butter and leek.  Can't go far wrong with that foursome.

I talked Andy into making it.  This is the result....and it tasted DREAMY.  

Japanese dressed noodles, toasted sesame seeds, miso marinated salmon

Again, a light fresh and absolutely delicious way to serve salmon.  

Fresh FRESH local grilled mackerel salad with haloumi, mint, watermelon and olives

Beautifully balanced, fresh light flavours that absolutely highlighted this lovely fresh fish.

Hamour, fennel, potatoes, yellow cherry tomatoes and saffron aioli

Another complete classic combination of flavours and it's simply a classic for a reason.  Utter perfection.

Passionfruit tartlet, passionfruit ice-cream, freeze dried raspberry powder and whole freeze dried raspberries

Yes apart from the raspberries all home made including the pastry.  I really REALLY love lemony, passion fruity, berry tartness in desserts and this one is a complete sweet tart crunch creamy delight.

Rabbit saddle, loin and belly flap stuffed with mushrooms served with rabbit mushroom jus

Another one out of Cut to follow the entree of liver ravioli.  I adapted this dish a little by ditching the puy lentils in favour of a simple jus with sautéed mushrooms as a sauce.  

Another absolutely gorgeous dish courtesy of Josh Emmett.  The rabbit is stuffed, tied and rolled into a cling film parcel and cooked just under simmer for about 17 minutes, finishing it off in a pan with some butter.

Yummy yummy scrummy scrummy.  Really.  As with all dishes of this nature I balance the sauce at the end with Jerez sherry vinegar, salt and sugar (a touch sometimes brings a sauce together).

Truffle oil is used here.  I am so over celebrity chefs completely dissing truffle oil (yes Bordain that's you).  We in Dubai don't have access to truffles at all.  Not possible.  Even if we did they'd be so crazily priced it would push the option out of my budget limit without a doubt. Why the heck shouldn't we feel OK about using a drop or two of truffle oil to bring that earthy truffle flavour to a dish that no other ingredient can provide?  OK so the truffle oil often contains no actual truffle.  Who cares???  

Thanks Josh for being realistic about this often derided ingredient!