It’s been too long since we teamed up in the kitchen, Florek and I, too long since a nice, fresh pasta dish was made. So today we made mushroom ravioli. The stuffing consisted of chopped and sauteed chestnut mushrooms, red onion, ricotta, a bit of parmesan and one last remaining black truffle purchased at Pisa airport after Christmas. All nicely seasoned, lots of pepper. Florek made his awesome pasta, I worked the rest, made a simple sage butter and we enjoyed it thoroughly, while watching ” Due Date”- nowhere near as good as “Hangover”.

Excellent. 🙂

I love fishcakes. And those I made this evening were outstanding, so even though I have fishcakes in here already,  here’s another fishy post.

I used a haddock fillet, which I poached in white wine with a bay leaf and some peppercorns, some shrimps, that were sitting in the freezer and saying ” please use us”. I used sweet potatoes for a change, lots of fresh chopped coriander, as always, chopped red chilli, chopped shallot and lots of seasoning.  How the fishcakes keep their shape is a method ripped off Ramsay- roll them in flour first, then in egg, then in breadcrumbs. And fry in lots of oil.

Spicy chilli mayo is lovely to go with the fiscakes, as well as a fresh, green, crunchy salad.

In old days of Ubon we used to serve beef, chicken, lobster and scallops with this lovely, sharp, greyish looking sauce.  I mentioned it to The Chief the other day and he produced Nobu’s recipe, complete with exact measurements and stuff. For everything else there’s Mastercard! 🙂

I adjusted Chef’s recipe, reduced by half and a bit, so I used equal amount of soy sauce and a low sodium soy sauce, about 70ml each, less than 300 ml of water, less than a quarter of chicken stock cube, then wasabi powder, about 45 g mixed with 90ml of water.All these ingredients went into the pan and were working slowly, while I cooked two chicken breasts, just lightly seasoned with salt and pepper, 5 minutes on a griddle pan, finished in the oven.  I must admit I added a touch of double cream to that sauce, I thought it was too sharp, too spicy, even when served with simple chicken and rice.

Either way, Florek rated the sauce at 8 out of 10, I’m pleased with it as well. Also, just remembered I was tempted to get some wasabi paste from work last night, but I was told not a good idea, as the flavours will be a lot fresher and stronger when just mixed together.

I served my dish with simple rice and peas and quickly cooked broccoli.

I brought a packet of very large pasta from Italy, almost as big as a small fist. I bought it with the thought of stuffing and baking under some nice sauce. Which is just what I did tonight. I roasted off some butternut squash, with a shallot or two, mashed it with ricotta and toasted pine nuts, seasoned well and then stuffed the pasta shells with it- pipping bags came handy, again. The sauce I made to go with it needed to be quite sharp, as the filling was quite sweet, so a can of tomatoes on top of fried shallot and leeks, thickened with cream and flour.Finished off with an insane amount of fresh basil.

Baked in the sauce and under parmesan until cooked and bubbly.

Not a stunning photo, but 9 out of 10 when it comes to the taste.

December at work has been exhausting. Everyone seems to be knackered, lacking energy and fed up. Last Sunday though we had  a few hours of true awesomeness of Dinings. A few special guests were invited and The Chief designed a 7 course menu, a great variety of dishes, flavours, textures, with  which we matched some good wines and sake. Before the guests arrived, we were treated to each of those dishes, one by one. We sat at the sushi bar for over an hour, sipping good wines and tasting. I loved it.

Two highlights for me were the Cornish oysters, which is surprising, as I’ve never been a fan. The one I tasted was topped with beluga caviar, tasted of sea and freshness.

Then one of the most awesome noodle dishes I’ve ever tasted. Pho noodles, bathed in some lovely broth that the Chief had on the stove for a couple of days, with a chunk of kakuni wagyu beef and some shredded leeks on top. Great flavours.

A couple of days ago I had a chance to taste a deconstructed wagyu tataki at work. Deconstructed by Alex, who took the shallot and chives topping and made it into his own tomato and parsley salsa, plus some balsamic, which gave the dish another depth. I got some ponzu last night and made my own version this evening, not with wagyu, but with fillet. My salsa lacked parsley, but was replaced by shiso leaf instead, my new favourite flavour at work ( the spicy salmon roll is now served with kizami wasabi and shiso on the outside, I can’t get enough!). Alongside the tomatoes and shallots  I also added a bit of garlic and seasoned it with shichimi pepper.

My fillet was cooked rare, as usual for this kind of stuff, rested and then thinly sliced. Topped with the salsa and finished off with ponzu. Loving the flavours.

This meal was not perhaps hugely sophisticated or technically challenging, but we loved the flavours on the plate. Our favourite fillet steak, medium rare, with bearnaise sauce ( from the jar, yes).  The steak was accompanied by minted peas, not very fine, as I like the rough texture. The star of the show though- the chips. I was aiming at similar effect as Jamie Oliver’s Posh Chips, simply a generous few drops of truffle oil on the chips, once they’re roasted and then a sprinkle of parmesan. Loved it. With a glass of cold budweiser.