Half KG Butter

Risotto

2011-06-06T12:09:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, we were having these food meetings with Ellen and and Ken at Larch House(where I have been living and cooking for the last 5 years). The meetings were held to organize a fundraiser at 221A. We were responsible for catering the food. Anyways during the meetings apart from organizing, conceptualizing and stressing out what we would make/serve at the event we would cook meals.

Risotto was made at one Friday meeting. Risotto is a creamy brothy dish made commonly with Arborio rice (stubby Spanish rice) and lots of broth. This is what you need:

Arborio rice
Stock (good quality chicken/vegetable stock)
White wine
Garlic
Shallots
Bay leaf
& Butter, and a little oil

For making it extra special you need a few other things:

Shitake mushrooms
Pecorino Romano
Zucchini

So, fry the shallots in a little oil and butter. Soften them up a bit, then add the arborio rice and keep stiring till the rice change color. Add the garlic and the bay leaf and then ladle in the stock. The best risotto is made if you can keep stiring and ladling the stock slowly but consistently till the rice is done.

Now add the bay leaf and the wine. In a fry pan fry the sliced shitake mushrooms in oil, with a bit of salt and butter. and keep them aside. Add the zucchini to the risotto and cover for a few minutes, add a little more stock and by this time it should be done, roughly about 1/2 hour. Plate the rice, place the mushrooms on the top and finally grate generous amount of pecorino.

Photographs by Miss Lee

Roast beef sandwich

2011-05-09T13:00:00.000-07:00

I wrote this whole bloody story about sandwiches and roast beef and stuff. But I think i'll just post the pictures. you can get the roast beef at Oyama on Grandville Island and the bread is from Beyond Bread bakery on 4th. The two together............ can't be explained in words.

Oh also had some arugula and avocado on the side.

Photographs by Miss Lee.

De stock

2011-03-17T11:30:00.000-07:00

I am writing this post after a long long dry spell. After not committing to memory a day exercise and getting involved in every thing but writing, I think I should return to blogspot. Anyhow, a few days ago I made stock. I make stock every few months. It basically happens when I have collected enough bones; turkey bones from thanksgiving, lamb bones from a pit roast, chicken bones, shanks, or whatever.

So this time was a some lamb bones from last July when Larch house had a lamb roast, and a collection of chicken and Cornish hen bones.

Lamb Stock:

Lamb Bones: quite a few of them
Vegetables: a few (onions, garlic, celery, carrots, whatever else is in the fridge)
a few spies: I like to use star anise, black cardamom and bay leaves

Roast the bones for an hour or so at 375d, add the vegetable to the baking dish after half/ hour. fill a 10 liter stock pot with cold water add everything, and boil. After a few hours strain the liquid. KEEP THE LIQUID., and reduce. Reduce till it tastes amazing, thick and concentrated. Let it cool and think of genius ways of storing it. I use ice cube trays.

Memory a Day

2009-01-01T13:15:00.000-08:00

Just now, I thought of committing myself to an exercise which would require me to pen down everyday: a memory about food. This idea like many others seem rather exciting but might get drowned as jut an idea. However just for the sake of it, I want to indulge in it, lets see how far I get with it.

A few questions: Description of a memory? Why is it significant to me and why to I remember? When and Where this happened?

Those might be a good starting point. I should mention (to myself) the subject of each post should revolve around food. This could be fruitful.

Food Charette 1

2008-10-12T13:42:00.000-07:00

My grad project is exploration of our diverse eating routine and how the idea of remix and redesign of objects can explore this behavior. To communicate this observation and idea I am making a set of tableware.

At the start of the term I decided to conduct some experiments. The first one is a food charette. In collaboration with Mechelle Fu we cooked a meal without using any utensils, except cooking pots and pans. We used our finger and hands to sear, fry and break part the food. We made two dishes, tofu boats and fried banana with pistacheos. Below are a few shots from the process.

Vora Pakora

2007-09-15T10:56:00.000-07:00

I don't know if this happens in North America, but kids in Pakistan tend to make fun of each others' names quite often, specially if its not the common ones like Smith, or Brown or John. So my last name was associated with the fabulous Pakoras. Considering they are one of the hit appetizers at the Larch gatherings I don't mind it so much anymore.

So Pakoras, Pakoras, Pakoras. I don't exactly know if its an Indian dish or a Pakistani dish, or elsewhere but tends to lean towards the sub-continental side. Pakoras consist mainly of chick pea batter, spice goodness and anything you can deep fry, thats basically in a nutshell. I generally make mine pretty simple, as I am always in the hurry to feed people.

So here are the details.
chick pea powder (as much as you like). Depending on the first ingredient, you can decide the quantity of the rest of the ingredients. I usually don't have habit or measuring, except if I am nervous (then you surely measure)
salt
pepper
chopped cilantro
roasted garlic
fried red onions(maroon)
shallots
cayenne
red chilli powder
chilli flakes
rubbed marjoram
turmeric
ginger powder
a bit or garam masala

For deep frying:
Loads and loads of sunflower/ canola oil ,no butter for this one :( and anything you can dip in the batter and deep fry. I generally use mushrooms, onions, bell peppers, Jalapeno peppers, spinach.

If you are a measuring geek, then suck it up and try this one without measuring. If you really can't get it than here's a little tip on the recipe. If you make 2 cups of batter than use half a medium size onion, 3 cloves of garlic, a handful of cilantro, couple of shallots and use your imagination for the spices, most of these are strong so be gentle with them. Otherwise you will have a regretful next morning.

Oh, another note with the Jalapeno peppers, if you really want to spice it up you can stuff chilli flakes, habanero sauce, the batter, and then dip it in the batter and deep fry. Take them out and sprinkle chilli flakes. This one is a guaranteed burner.

Sunday Market

2007-09-09T16:43:00.001-07:00

Coming from Pakistan, weekend markets mean getting up pretty early on a Saturday or a Sunday and and then heading of to a fragrant street for an intense bargaining sessions with the vendors, till noon. The Kitsilano market on 11th at Larch (Vancouver) is slightly different in that respect.

First ,I was there a bit early(9:30am), the farmers and other vendors do not start selling before 10am. But that did give me the opportunity to interact with the farmers before the market got crazy. I also noticed quite a bit of extra-curricular activities, as part of a farmer's market. There was face painting, a masseuse, a lady selling jewelry, a crepe cart and a couple of guitarist smack in the center of mail aisle. This made it more of a weekend fair than a farmer's market. But it did attract quite a bit of customers.

This was at Greg's stall. They were selling sweet peppers, hot peppers and eggplant. The sweet peppers were crisp and a had a slight twang to them.
I could not resist the colorful hot peppers above, but could only afford five.

Scrumptious Okanagon pears. I believe these were part of the first pick.

The triad of onions below were quite a reasonable quality and size. I always feel onions need to be particular size. And these ones were to my liking. I went for the French ones.
These are probably the most presentable mushrooms I have ever seen in a market. I just ran out of cash. Otherwise I would have invested in one of these baskets.

So on the whole, the farmer's market was quite a success. I am divided in my opinion about the other vendors providing services and selling novelties. It takes away from the true farmer's market flavor, on the other hand it did invite more customers from the neighborhood.

Bad News

2007-09-09T16:39:00.000-07:00

So multi-tasking isn't always a productive habit.
I was trying to manage a number of things in one window, and i deleted my food blog.
Sorry about this mishap. I'll try to restore a new one pretty fast.