a bag of food

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery they say.  It was a slow weekend.  We had no plans, and we didn't want to make plans either.  On the Saturday afternoon, in between watching Sherlock and the battle of the shriekers, I came across Henrik's and Hazel's latest adventure on Facebook.  Excited, I showed it to B, who promptly got off the sofa and drove to the supermarket to get A the following bag of food:

In the bag, we had:

1. tortillas
2. passion fruit
3. beef
4. asparagus
5. strange looking mushroom
6. corn
7. cream cheese
8. sunflower sprouts
9. cream

We also asked him to use the egg whites I had accumulated when I made the hollandaise sauce.

To be fair, A had no idea this was coming.  And he performed spectacularly.  Oh, did I say B gave him an hour and 45 mins to cook a supper of three courses?

Anyway, this is what he produced:

a tortilla bake filled with beef, peppers, rice in a cream sauce

a passion fruit meringue cheesecake

we had a lovely meal, and with lovely washing up to follow.  it took some effort, but this was what the kitchen looked like after:

I think after that we'll leave the bag of food to the the experts...

jimmy's little tuscan enclave

our friend jimmy has invested in a restaurant that is opening next week.  we were invited (well, we invited ourselves, but that's mere detail) for dinner there last night, so that the staff and chefs could "practice" and we could see what it was all about.

the restaurant is called "Bistecca - A Tuscan Steakhouse", and it is located in a charming shophouse on 25 Mohammad Sultan Road, Singapore.

it is essentially that - a steakhouse alla fiorentina.  big, fat fiorentina bisteccas.

A bistecca alla fiorentina is essentially a T-bone or porterhouse steak, grilled over a wood or charcoal fire, and seasoned with salt and, sometimes, black pepper, and olive oil.  They are thickly cut and very large.  The portions served last night were between 1 to 1.2kgs.  They are meant to be shared, although B and AVP did contemplate having one each! Greedy, much?

We were a (hungry) party of 6 (i was taking the photo).

To start we were served some italian cold cuts, bruschetta with burata and chicken liver pate.

for the pasta course, we had a chef's special risotto and a homemade fusili with fresh tomato sauce.  as you can probably tell from the photos below, they were rather good.

the steaks were next, served with these sauces:

 apart from the two enormous fiorentina bisteccas, we also had a fillet steak, which was very fine.  it was full of flavour and had fine texture. it was firm and yet melted in your mouth.  it was also grilled perfectly (the picture doesn't actually do it justice).

did i say we were hungry? 2 types of potatoes (duck fat chips and sambuca laced mash) and a creamed spinach seasoned with nutmeg (no photo) as sides.

and then pudding to finish:

all in all a very pleasant evening, with a great host:

great company:

a great chef:

It opens officially in February 2012.  Go! Not just because Jimmy is a friend, but because it is a great steakhouse.  25 Muhammad Sultan Road - the red door will lead the way!

And enjoy!

 

hollandaise sauce

thank god for the internet.

the local supermarket was selling whole Norwegian salmons at a reasonable price, and because B loves poached salmon, i bought one. a rather large one in fact, and poaching that big fish is a different story.  anyway, after i had won my battle against the big fish and the small oven, B then said, oh-so-matter-of-factly, that we must have hollandaise sauce. "oh, but you can't have poached salmon without hollandaise sauce. you know that.  you'll have to make it."

Make hollandaise sauce?! I don't even know what goes in a hollandaise sauce.  I know what it's supposed to taste like, but no idea what goes in it. egg yolks? what else?

and what do you mean you can't have poached salmon without hollandaise sauce? you've managed so far...

so thank god for the internet.  and google! what did i do before google?  i found a Reluctant Gourmet who gave the clearest instructions on what ingredients i needed and what i needed to do with those ingredients.

you need:

7oz salted butter
2 egg yolks
2 tablespoons lemon juice
½ teaspoon fine grated lemon zest
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar.

the Reluctant Gourmet explains the process clearly, and I won't try and reinvent the wheel.   I followed his instructions and the results were, according to B - "fantastic. as it should be."  B the gourmet has spoken y'all...

Here are the results:

and here's what it went with: