Saturday Night (cooking) Live 2

Last Saturday night was good food night :)

It started with salmon 2 ways - on the left side is pan fried salmon, encrusted with black sesame seeds, topped with crispy skin, dressed with soy, mirin and wasabe. The other side is ceviche-style, marinated with kaffir lime and lemon juice and their respective zests. All served on a bed of rocket.










Cross section (don't look if you like your salmon cooked all the way through!)










The main meal was a three mushroom risotto (enoki, oyster mushroom and shiitake)







And it all ended with a bang with a dark chocolate orange cake with vanilla ice cream and candied orange, garnished with orange powder and chocolate mint leaves.










The best part - all the above was enjoyed at home. The spring onions, rocket leaves, kaffir lime and lemon used in the starter were from the garden, the risotto was perfumed with thyme and bay leaves also from the herb patch, the orange in the dessert was from the backyard (the orange powder was made from the zest dried in a low oven, and ground with a bit of caster sugar) and the candied fruit was from a previous harvest. The chocolate mint was also from the herb patch (a variety of mint, i got it from Bunnings).

 archive photos of previous candied peel (grapefruit and orange, harvested from the garden)

Oh and let's not forget the wine! D'Arenberg 2009 The High Tree cabernet sauvignon.







So far the above has been one of the best meals we've done ourselves so far. Yes, we were pleased!

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Cook's notes:
Dark chocolate orange cake
Melt 100g of dark chocolate (85% coco), a tablespoon of honey, 50g butter, zest of half an orange and juice of 1 orange, over a bain marie. Meanwhile whip 2 eggs and a teaspoon of caster sugar until thick and pale. Fold 1 tablespoon of plain flour to the egg mixture. Fold in chocolate. Spoon into greased ramekins. Bake for 10 min at 200C and let cool.

Orange powder
Spread the remaining zest (half an orange) on to a baking tray lined with baking paper, place into 90C oven for around 35minutes. Mix in about a teaspoon of caster sugar and lightly grind together in a mortar and pestle.



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