Iron Chef WAYCT - What Are You Cooking Today

[mclaincausey]

Thanks!

No, the steak was perfectly seared to medium rare. It had a rub of salt, coarse pepper, and a little garlic, seared in cast iron on avocado oil outside on the grill for smoke management, then I deglazed the pan with ghee, shallot, cognac, cashewgurt (in lieu of heavy cream), and red wine. The sauce unfortunately is covering up a nice crust, I probably should have served the steak on top of the sauce.

The scallops were the best I've made yet. They have such a short window of perfection between under- and over- cooked and I finally hit it perfectly this time. I really hate a rubbery scallop. There's a touch of balsamic reduction finishing these along with lemon.

The oysters were my first time shucking my own, and I did it with a shop towel and a paring knife. The lesson here is to get heavy gloves and a proper shucking knife, as what I did was pretty dangerous. Luckily it was successful. I chose a very mild west coast oyster, as this was Brandi's first raw oyster. She liked it!

Not pictured is a butter lettuce salad with a lemon vinaigrette that was a perfect foil for such a heavy meal.

Brandi handled the risotto, and that was her first effort. It was great.

We used also cashewgurt in lieu of dairy for the risotto. Ideally I would have thrown some pecorino on mine

[seawolf]

@mclaincausey:

The sauce unfortunately is covering up a nice crust, I probably should have served the steak on top of the sauce.

Bingo! Sauce goes underneath unless you're trying to cover something up. A spoonful of sauce covers 1,000 mistakes.

Everything sounds great! I shoot for medium rare with scallops for that very reason. They're so good when they're cooked properly.

A proper shucking knife is so essential. I was an oyster shucker about 20 years ago, and there's no replacement for the proper tools.

[neph93]

Continuing to explore the possibilities of vegan curry… mushroom and potato masala(ish) using coconut milk. Bloody nice it was too.

[Chris]

Damm, that looks great.

[neph93]

@Chris:

Damm, that looks great.

It came up better than I thought even if I do say so. The potatoes are fried first and taste brilliant and the aubergines and mushrooms just soak up all the flavour. Great recipe.

[Chap]

Schnitzel and homemade Fries

[JDelage]

Crispy skn chicken thighs, some of the highest taste-return-on-effort-invested food one can make…

https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/perfect-pan-roasted-chicken-thighs

[mclaincausey]

Drooooool

[Giles]

Paula and I were recently in the Maldives.  I fell in love with a number of curries they served, so our waiter gave me some of the recipes.  Cooking the potato curry today, the Pidgin English needs a little interpretation, I may need to refine the recipe, once eaten….

[Chap]

Trieste is just a 2 and a half hour drive from here and has a fantastic fish market… Been there yesterday and brought along some sand clams an this beautiful guy. A Racasse I think Scorpion Fish in english

[Giles]

Yep, that is a Scorpion Fish….

I'll take photos later, but at the moment I am cooking Potato and Celeriac Gratin - yes to go with my potato curry!  I also have some chicken and lentil curry that Paula made (and made the recipe up too).  Paula is away today, visiting her mum (I had a subsequent engagement  :)), so I'm playing in the kitchen....

[Chap]

@Giles:

Yep, that is a Scorpion Fish….

I'll take photos later, but at the moment I am cooking Potato and Celeriac Gratin - yes to go with my potato curry!  I also have some chicken and lentil curry that Paula made (and made the recipe up too).  Paula is away today, visiting her mum (I had a subsequent engagement  :)), so I'm playing in the kitchen....

love those playing in the kitchen evenings… the new kitchen yet your playground?

La Rouille:

[Giles]

Nope, new kitchen not yet my playground.  When we originally rebuilt this house, we put a self-contained flat in the basement for Alex when he lived with us, now for guests, I am using the kitchen in that at the moment, and boy am I looking forward to getting upstairs…

[Chap]

[seawolf]

Today I'm making my famous Yankee Pot Roast. This is perhaps one of the most labor intensive dishes that I regularly make. What I love about it is, at the end it seems so simple, but the flavors are complex and well developed. I'll post updates along the way, but here's the beginning. 5 pounds of chuck, mire poix (rough chopped), garlic, bouquet garni (bay leaves, thyme stems, parsley stems, and peppercorns wrapped in a coffee filter and tied), tomato paste, and chicken stock (not shown).

[Chap]

That's a nice piece of meat… always a pleasure to see the work of other kitchen enthusiasts here 

[seawolf]

I heavily coated the chuck with kosher salt, and placed it into a hot dutch oven over medium heat. Looking to get a nice hard sear on all sides. Once the meat is adequately browned, I'll move onto the vegetables.

[seawolf]

Next: get the garlic nice and golden, add the mire poix and sweat it down, add the tomato paste and caramelize.

[seawolf]

Deglazed with about half a bottle of red wine, cooked it down to au sec, added a quart of chicken stock, the bouquet garni, and the beef. Putting it in the oven with the lid on for 4-6 hours. Once it's done, I'll move onto the next phase.

[Giles]

And I had a humble gratin and curry….