Scallop biryani

It’s the second biryani for the Daring Cook Challenge.

The key ingredient : baby scallop. I got them already steamed.

The gravy with sweet spices (wuxi, cinnamon, cardamom, saffron, paprika…), shimeji mushrooms and goji berries.

Thai jasmine rice soaked in a mix of thick coconut milk and water, then cooked.

At the layering stage, I’ve added a few edamame beans. More shimeji mushrooms ans saffron threads on top.

It’s ready. Toppings : dry coconut, gojis and minced coriander leaves. Goya (bitter squash) to decorate the plate.

Fingerlicking yummy… Biryani is eaten with the hand. Well, I do that after taking the photos.

The extras standing behind the star, on the first photo. They are greenhouse mikan that just arrive on the markets now.

source daring cook
Fish Biryani:

Servings: 4

Ingredients

3 tomatoes, skinned and chopped
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
4 green chillies
4 cloves garlic
1 onion
3 tablespoon (60 ml) (2 oz) (60 gm) ghee
2 cups (500 ml) (370 gm) (13 oz) basmati rice, soaked for 30 minutes and drained
3 cups (750 ml) coconut milk
1 lb (½ kg) white fish fillets, cut into 1 inch (2½ cm) pieces
Salt
Directions:

1. Blend the tomatoes, turmeric, cumin, chillies, garlic, and half of the onion to a smooth paste.
2. Thinly slice the remaining onion and fry it in the ghee over medium high heat until lightly browned. Stir in the rice and fry for 2 minutes. Add the coconut milk and enough water to bring the liquid about 1 inch (2½ cm) above the rice. Cover and simmer for about 5 minutes until the rice is half cooked.
3. Add the paste, fish, and salt. Cover and simmer over low heat for 10 minutes or until the rice is dry.

Petite soupe de poisson (fish soup 2.0)

Adaptation of the fish soup from Provence that often served with bread croutons, rouille sauce and grated cheese.

I had the fish soup base (explanation here), reheated with saffron, turmeric, red bell pepper, hot chili.

Prepared croutons, then rubbed them with raw garlic.

Rouille (garlic sauce).

That should be cheese, it’s my beloved sake kasu + miso.. (read here).

Side one : Raw veggies.Thinly cut goya (bitter squash) and red bell pepper.

Side two : steamed veggie. Sweet corn and romanesco.
All that makes a meal !

Bouille bouille bouillabaisse

The humble soup dish. This version is really frugal, made with fish leftovers that some people would discard and cheap veggies. The meal is still gorgeous. That’s the magic of the kitchen.

With fish heads and bits they don’t use for sashimi. Keep away the cuts with meats on them.

The first step is to make a soup by simmering the unusable parts with onion, garlic, herbs, tomato, salt, a little olive oil. Then passing gives a light broth. Blending, then passing gives a thick fish soup.

2 batches of fish soup to stock in the fridge.

Reheat soup with potatoes, more veggies, herbs, garlic…I’ve added paprika, red bell pepper, saffron.

Add the fish at the end.

It cooks quickly.

Fish and veggies make the main dish. And the first dish is this scarlet soup :

Island fish, somen chilled vermicelli and rape blossoms…

A slice of tai (seabream)cooked nearly like a dessert, with warm cake flavors : vanilla, almond… Chilled noodles. Greens. Natto. That makes a hot day lunch.

I first stir-fried the renkon (lotus root, sliced) and onion (sliced), put them aside. Then in the same pan, the fish with a little bit of star anise, salted. In a cup, I mixed saffron, vanilla powder, water, a pinch of sugar. 1/4 ts of potato starch. I’ve added to the fish when it was cooked, turned 2 or 3 times while reheating on low heat. I finished with a few drop of almond oil.

Steamed na-no-hana (rape blossoms) with sesame seeds.

Somen : thin wheat vermicelli. It’s boiled, refreshed in fresh water and served in a bowl of iced water. Next to it a dipping sauce : dashi (fish broth), black rice vinegar, onion et soy sauce.

Another little side, natto with nira (garlic chives) and onion.

A la recherche du baba de Stohrer…

Maybe it looked like that…
I am not an historian, just playing the costumed dessert game. And I have really love this retro version that I made not very sweet. It’s much lighter and fresher than the average baba.

For recipes to bake the baba/kouglof : click here.

The oldest pastry shop in Paris

In the year of grace 1725, Louis XV married Marie Leszczynska,
daughter of King Stanislas of Poland.His pastry chef Stohrer follows her in Versailles.
…
Five years later, in 1730, NICOLAS STOHRER opened his bakery
at 51 rue Montorgueil in the second arrondissement of Paris.
…
In its kitchen, where desserts were invented for the Great Court,king’s delights are still prepared.