Pêcher mignon en papillote

Pêcher mignon… the name is lost in transltion. Let’s say cute sinful peach tree ?

Plus a few drops of lemon juice…

Wrapped in shape of papillon (butterfly).

Baked.

Let’s open… Hum, the vanilla and rose flavor is divine.
You can add ice-cream to make it a real dietetic sin. I don’t need that. Oh wait, I had some…

Minute papillote ! Summer day camembert.

Our July 2012 Daring Cooks’ host was Sarah from All Our Fingers in the Pie! Sarah challenges us to learn a new cooking technique called “Cooking En Papillote” which is French and translates to “cooking in parchment”.

Snobbish cultural minute :
Unlike what English speakers believe, the word does not mean “in parchment”. Papillote comes from “papillon” (=butterfly). A papillote is something like a butterfly. There is verb too, papilloter (to “papillote”) usually meaning to sparkle and shine like butterfly wings.

That does not affect the recipes at all. I know, I know…

There will be 2 other new recipes (to be posted soon, visit again):

Steamed crystal papillote
Pêcher mignon en papillon

And there were old ones :
Papillote de poisson vanillée – vanilla cream fish papillote
Surprise present in the plate : papillote de poisson

So, take a small camembert. Wrap it in foil. Heat it about 20 minutes on a barbecue, a plancha or in a oven. Be careful from 10 to 15 minutes as it may burst if it’s over-cooked.

Remark : Yes, my camembert looks weird. But it’s normal for Japan. It’s a green olive camembert. That’s not a great invention, but that’s perfect to play with that type of preparations.

Prepare a green sauce in a juicer :

Prepare sticks of bread (semi-stale), toast and rub with garlic.

Bring onto the table the hot papillote, the sauce and the bread sticks.
Cut the top skin of the cheese with a knife, open a big hole and pour some sauce on it.

Dig into with the bread sticks.

Poulet mariné et taboulé de chou-fleur

A refreshing “barbecue” lunch.

First, a new version of cauliflower as a taboulé.

sanded cauliflower tabouleh

Then, a few hours in the fridge to let flavor mix and the cauliflower get cooked by the dressing.

Chicken marinated in olive oil with basil and Italian parsley…

…then grilled on the plancha.

Et c’est bon !

I folded my first Char Siu

Char Siu is the Hongkong version of the Chinese pork roast. Japan has a very different one that I’d write Cha-shuu as the only common point is it’s meat.
The HK one is spicy and red. That’s what we have today.

It’s this month’s Daring Cook Challenge (click here to see other’s meals and full recipes)

Our Daring Cooks’ December 2012 hostess is Sara from Belly Rumbles! Sara chose awesome Char Sui Bao as our challenge, where we made the buns, Char Sui, and filling from scratch – delicious!

I also made these panda buns (see next post)

Let’s start the Chinese party ! You really should try it as that requires planning, but you don’t have much to do.

I used beni-koji a Japanese natural red coloring, so it’s not so vivid. I had not all the sauces, “only” one soy sauce, oyster sauce, nam pla, hot chili. And I’ve used mizuame (glucose gel) not the maltose that I don’t wouldn’t be able to find. For the rest I followed the recipe of marinade below.

Voila ! I have marinated it overnight, slow-baked : 1 hour at 120 degree C, then under the broiler to make the lacker with more layers of marinade.

It’s a cut of ham, with some fat. It’s totally tender and juicy and the fragrance of spices float around…

Bring veggies.

Sand bao.

steaming bao
cheating bao (ready in 5 minutes)

Char siu bao ready to be enjoyed…

Recipe from Daring Cook Challenge

Char Sui (Cantonese BBQ Pork)

Ingredients

1 pork fillet/tenderloin (roughly 1-1.5 pounds)
4 large cloves of garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon (3 gm) ginger, grated
1 tablespoon peanut oil
1 ½ tablespoons maltose (you can substitute honey)
1 ½ tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
1 teaspoon oyster sauce
1 tablespoon shaoxing cooking wine
½ teaspoon (2 gm) ground white pepper
pinch of salt
½ teaspoon (2 gm) five spice powder
½ teaspoon sesame oil
½ teaspoon pillar box red food colouring
(1 tablespoon=15 ml, 1 teaspoon=5 ml)

Directions:
Trim the pork loin to remove fat and tendon and slice lengthways so you have two long pieces, then cut in half. By cutting the pork in to smaller pieces to marinate you will end up with more flavoursome char sui. If you want to leave the pork in one piece you can do this as well. Place in container that you will be marinating them in.

Combine all the other ingredients in a bowl and mix well to combine. I placed my maltose in the microwave for a few seconds to make it easier to work with. Maltose is quite a solid hard sticky substance.

Cover pork well with ⅔ of the marinade mixture. Marinate for a minimum of 4 hours, I find it is best left to marinate overnight. Place the reserved ⅓ portion of the marinade covered in the fridge. You will use this as a baste when cooking the pork.

Cooking Method 1 – Oven

This is the first way that I experimented with cooking the char sui.
Pre-heat oven to moderate 180˚C/350°F/gas mark 4.
Cover a baking tray with foil or baking paper. Place on top of this a rack on which to cook the pork.

Place pork on the rack and place in oven.
Bake for approximately 10 minutes, basting and turning.
Turn the heat up to moderately hot 200˚C/400°F/gas mark 6 for the final 20 minutes as this will aid the charring. Cook until cooked through.

Cooking Method 2 – Seared in pan & then into the oven
On reading more I discovered this method, it was meant to give a better charred finish. Not sure that it did give a “better” result, but the pork was a lot more moist.
Pre-heat oven to moderate 180˚C/350°F/gas mark 4.
Cover a baking tray with foil or baking paper. Place on top of this a rack on which to cook the pork.
Place pork in a hot frying pan or wok. Sear it quickly so it is well browned

Remove from pan/wok and place pork on the rack and place in oven.
Bake for approximately 15 minutes, basting and turning until cooked through.

Cooking Method 3 – BBQ

This method I feel gave the best result. If you have access to a BBQ use it. The pork had a better BBQ flavour and was also very moist.
Place marinated pork loin on the grill of your BBQ

Cook on a medium heat, approximately 15 minutes, until cooked through.
Be careful to watch that you don’t burn the pork.

Komochi shishamo, fertile Hokkaido fish

Shishamo, the little Hokkaido smelts were a stapple of Ainu people. They are now a popular item of izakaya restaurants.

They are slightly salted and hung by the mouth to dry. We buy them like that, semi-dry.

About a dozen per link.

At home, I put a grill on a dish, the fish on it. I roast them 2-3 minutes each side under the grill (broiler). Then serve hot…
Izakaya and bars grill them on braseros. They can be cooked on any type of barbecue quickly.