A quick apology for the rather low standard of presentation but I really can't be arsed by the end of a dinner. Not that this is any excuse for a lack of skills in this regard. I should learn to do the swirly thing with the satay stick or something.
A little while ago I was lucky enough to receive a package from kindly Santos of Guam. Her generous efforts at a stretching my parameters were sadly confounded by our strict quarantine laws. I'm happy to announce Australia is still free of the scourge of banana flowers and medicinal bark. Apparently if you want to get food past customs you tell them it's delicious with mayonnaise. Don't bother with a Bhudda statue. The lesson is – send cash. Anyway I was left with rice paper and Korean green tea flower (which given my current embarrasing social habit, I was surprised I didn't start chatting in Japanese with it). I could have combined the two but had a different plan.
My first one was to make green tea beignets and then stuff them but I thought the red bean paste I wasn't to use wasn't fluid enough for the task. Instead I was inspired by the fried chocolate ravioli I helped with on Thursday and thoought I'd go with a variation of that.
The green tea pasta was your standard pasta recipe but with the addition of a tablespoon of sugar and the use of green tea flour. I'm not going to tell you how to make pasta, instead you can go here. The green tea flour wasn't totally amenable but the pasta maker takes a bit of practice and I don't think I've used mine more than twice this century. Ruggedy ragged edges aren't too much of a problem if you're just going to stamp it out anyway. Run it through to a 5 thickness.
The red bean paste – an freezes quite happily and was left over from IMBB#15 Mizu Youkan – detailed making instructions to be found there including showtunes.
Well then it's rather easy. Cut out enough pasta for the ravioli stamp to fit comfortably, add a teaspoon of the bean paste, place another piece of pasta on top and, after squeezing out any excess air, stamp. Repeat. Deep fry until crisp at 180C and serve.
It was served with a gamache mix of half cream/half dark chocolate melted over a double boiler. Some cream for the plate and a slice of frozen custard apple as an afterthought. Santos has the goods on custard apple aka atis.
Well it was good. I would have liked a little more bean paste in my mine but it's not to everyone's liking. The green tea flavour was quite mild and the ganache nicely in unsweet unison. The custard apple, which I've never had before, and suspect it may not have quite been right.
Now as for the rest of the meal. I'd asked a couple of friends and a bit after 4 Toni asked me what I was making and I realised I had no idea. So a quick trip to the shops just before they closed at 5 had me sorted for guests at 6:30.
This is the spanish mackeral caught by Local Man Catches Large Fish who would be joining us for dinner.
The spanish mackeral was in cutlets and it's just a matter of removing the skin. Using my tip from the Kaiaseki workshop, I coated it in salt for half an hour and rinsed to remove some of the fishy smell. Cooked in nice hot slab of butter with the addition of flat leafed parsley and tarragon and a splash of vinegar and served with aparagus mixed after cooked with lemon peelăparsley, tarragon, and butter.
A lovely piece of fish it was.
Since the pasta maker was out, I made some plain fettucine as well. Not too hard but I hanker for a plastic pasta hanger as it was a bit of a tangle. Actually comes apart quite nicely when cooking which happens in about four minutes.
For the pesto – one chilli, deseeded and chopped; two crushed cloves of garlic; pinch of salt; handful of toasted pine nuts; and handful each of parsley and parsely; process, adding EVOO until it gets to the right pasticity. Stir in some grated parmesan cheese.
Chop us some chicken thighs, marinate in pepper, lemon juice, and olive oil and cook in a pan. Toast handful of walnuts. Add to the pasta and the pesto and serve.
A swell mix of textures and home made pasta really is better.
So that's WTFDYWMTDWT kinda done for now, lasts month's IMBB-fried has been done but a bit late; and with green (carbohydrate subjected to heat) eggs and an , I've done EoMEoTE#10 .
Goodnight.
Hey! check out what's at An Electronic Restaurant by Masterchef "Noodle Cook" and Oslofoodie has made pancakes .