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Nobu and some on our christmas dinner

I sure did took a long vacation, eh? It wasn’t because of my usual tardiness but for few valid reasons.

Back in October 2006, my husband’s gout has progressed that he just couldn’t eat what he wanted (and of course I couldn’t cook what I wanted to ) My husband had to avoid food rich in Purine like fish, shellfish, poultry, meat (the list goes on and on and on) so it was quiet in my kitchen until christmas, which by this time my husband’s already taking pills for his gout, just to prevent it from further advancing…. pills were already working and I could cook. But 2 weeks after christmas, it was my turn to avoid all my favorite foods except oatmeal, milk, boiled vegies and fruits. My ulcer has striked again (had this eversince I could remember) so up to this day, I’m into oatmeal, no spicy, fatty, deliscious food So it’s quiet again in my kitchen. My future entries will be from the past months (I’ve stil photos of past dishes.)
Oh well, I think it’s time to blog a bit so I thought I’d share what I made for christmas dinner. Also because I miss you guys

It was a four course dinner.

TEMPURA PRAWNS WITH SPICY CREAMY SAUCE.

The evening started out with this recipe that I picked out from Nobu’s Cookbook (his 1st cookbook) which was pretty intimidating in the beginning since I wasn’t so sure if I could find all the ingredients needed such as yuzu juice which I never heard of before. Luckily I have a friend who lives in Japan and has given me tips for ingredients substitutes. Of course the method was twisted a bit to accompany what I could deliver.
Ingredients: s-m sized prawns, oil for frying, 1 tbsp butter (the recipe asked for ‘refined’ butter, fat which was sifted out. I just used plain butter), fresh shiitake mushrooms, tempura powder, 4 tsp spicy cream sauce (that’s a mixture of eggyolks, seasalt, white pepper, ricevinegar, oil and chilli-galic sauce…the texture was like a thin mayonnaise), yuzu juice ( I was told by my friend that this is a fruit, a bit citric, could be substituted with grapefruit juice, and finely chopped onion leaves.

Prawns peeled, deveined and pat-dried. Inside of the head (feet) set aside. In a pan, cook the mushrooms in butter, medium heat. Use a kicthen towel to dry then set aside. Cover the prawns with tempura powder and in a deep pan with oil, about 170C, fry the prawns for 1 minute or two. Fry the feet as well, not covered with powder. In a deep bowl, place sauce, mushroom and prawns, just mix gently. Gently squeeze some grapefruit juice and place the prawns and mushrooms on a plate, place some of the crunchy prawn feet as well. Sprinkle onion leaves on top, serve immediately.

SALMON SALAD WITH SPICY CITROEN DRESSING

2nd course was salmon on a bed of salad. I again picked out another Nobu recipe, just that the original calls for lobster but since a family friend has given us about 800 grams of salmon, I opted to use this instead.

It was with smoked salmon, thinly sliced garlic, cleaned shiitake mushrooms, mix of leaves, oil for frying, and spicy citroen dressing ( just like the first course’s dressing, Nobu sells this bottled…it’s with citroen juice, soya sauce, crushed garlic, seasalt, fresh crushed pepper and oil of grapes. I used extra light olive oil to replace the last.)
Garlic was slowly fried cooking oil, very low heat to avoid turning it bitter. Instead of grilling the mushrooms like in the recipe, I also fried them top lightly scored.
In a bowl, mix the leaves (do not use leaves that are too watery) and dressing and when about to serve, neatly place leaves at the bottom then place mushrooms, garlic and salmon on top. Serve immediately.
…the 3rd course was with chops, a rather simple dish to satisfy the husband and father-in-law’s craving for meat.
BAKED CHOPS IN CHAMPIGNON SAUCE

I found this recipe on the internet 2 days before Christmas so I was kind of crossing my fingers for the result. Surprisingly, it was a hit considering I used a canned..yes canned!! cream of mushroom (I figured, I’ll be too tired from making the first 2 dishes that I wanted something with simpler ingredients and I could prepare in the afternoon..this was it.)

ingredients: lean pork chops, garlic powder, beaten eggs, flour, milk, bread crumbs, cream of mushroom and white wine.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Rinse pork chops, pat dry, and season with garlic powder and seasoning salt to taste. Place the beaten eggs in a small bowl. Dredge the pork chops lightly in flour, dip in the egg, and coat liberally with bread crumbs. Heat the oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Fry the pork chops 5 minutes per side, or until the breading appears well browned. Transfer the chops to a 9×13 inch baking dish, and cover with foil. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 mins. While baking, combine the cream of mushroom soup, milk and white wine in a medium bowl. After the pork chops have baked for half an hour, cover them with the soup mixture. Replace foil, and bake for another 30 minutes (or less, depend on the chops’ thickness.)
NOTE: double the sauce for extra dip…wine can be replaced with Vermouth.
and then for the fourth course…
ICE WITH CHOCOLATE STICKS ON ORANGE-GRAND MARNIER WHITE CHOCOLATE SAUCE

for the chocolate sticks: just mix flour, cocoa powder, egg and sugar, refrigerate the pasta that’s formed for about half an hour, cut in thin long slices and bake in the oven, set aside…for the sauce : double cream, white chocolate bar, 1 tbsp Grand Marnier, grated orange peel, orange juice. Warm the cream on low fire together with orange peel and juice and Grand Marnier. Slowly add white chocolate pieces while mixing continuously to prevent from sticking. When it slightly thickened, remove from fire.Place sauce on a plate, top with scoops of ice of your choice and add few chocolate sticks around (which was rolled on powdered sugar.) it was a great Christmas dinner ender.

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Category: dessert, pork, seafood