pan-fried pollock with parsley sauce

Pollock is the poor man’s cod. But unlike what those kind of statement normally imply, it’s actually delicious. Couple with the parsley sauce, which is essentially a modified bechamel sauce you use to bake lasagna, it’s a match made in..a plate!

Serves 2

4 pollock fillet

olive oil

freshly squeezed lemon juice

salt & freshly ground black pepper

for the parsley sauce

200ml of full fat milk

1/2 medium onion, quartered

1 bay leaf

a stick of butter

a tablespoon of flour

small bunch of curly parsley, chopped

salt & freshly ground black pepper

First, make the sauce. Pour the milk into a saucepan and add the bay leaf and the onion. Turn on the heat and bring to a gentle simmer for 5 minutes. Then turn off the heat and once cool, remove the leaf and the onion. Set aside.

Sprinkle the pollock lightly with salt. Heat the olive oil in a non-stick sauté pan over medium heat. Fry the fish in the pan, skin-side down. Turn down the heat and let fry until the skin browned, then flip it over, turn back the heat to medium and fry until just done. When the fish is about done, squeeze some lemon just over it and season with the black pepper.

Set the fish aside and finish off the sauce. Melt the butter in a small pan and stir in the flour. Cook for 30 secs. Slowly add the milk to the pan, stirring and simmer gently for 5 mins, all the while stirring continuously. Stir in the parsley and add a little extra milk if the sauce seems too thick. Season with salt and pepper. Keep warm over a low heat, stirring occasionally until ready to serve.

Equipping your kitchen

A lot of newcomers learning how to cook non-professionally at home or newly-wed couples entering their first kitchen get turned-off of cooking when they learn the various tools and equipment they need to own. Their so and so friends or grandma, or aunties or the various cook books and cooking shows and advertisements trying to sell them the idea that they need to fortify their kitchen with kitchen-ware as if they need to turn their kitchen into a full-blooded 3-star Michelin restaurant.

The fact is, you only need so much of what you will actually use. I will give you a lowdown of what you actually need, based on necessity and personal experience. Of course the list I about to give you is neither definitive nor exhaustive since what you will cook may differ with what I normally cook at home. But I’m giving you an idea of what you may necessarily be using on a day to day basis. This shall be like your basic tool-box, as you improve in your cooking skill, you may decide you need that shiny equipment as advertise in those infomercial in Channel 118 of Astro.

Knife

Now the first thing you need, the most important most essential tools a cook needs to have, is a knife. Not those bullshit 5-knives set with colorful and sometime printed flowery picture that are garbage and where you’ll definitely end up not using them but a simple, decent, chef’s knife. I could probably spend an entire column discussing about the anatomy, physiology and history of a chef’s knife but I wouldn’t want to waste your time. It looks like this:

 Please believe me when I tell you that you only need one of that in your entire cooking life. Not those full set, serrated things your facebook/instagram friends try to sell you no matter what stories they cook-up about the “magic” those knives can do. Just buy ONE chef’s knife, the length will depend on how comfortable for you to hold and use it.

For brand, depends on your preference. If you have money to burn, you can go for those high carbon stainless-steel German blades like J A Henckels. Those will set you an upward of RM300++. But high carbon blade is hard to maintain and unless you are prepared to spend fifteen minutes every couple of days working that blade on an oiled carborundum stone, I’d forgo them for vanadium steel instead. The best I can recommend is the Japanese made Global, or Kai. Theirs cost between RM100++ to RM200++. You chef’s knife will be used for everything, cutting, chopping, filleting, slicing, boning, loping, you name it. Learn how to handle your knife properly if you prefer to keep all ten fingers until the day you die, there’s a lot of websites and youtube videos that can offer that. If it ever gets dull then sharpen them as per the instruction the company tells you how to, or if you’re extremely hopelessly lazy just buy a new one.

Pots & pans

Obviously you need them to do the actual cooking. Deep bottom saucepan of various depth, at least two, one large and one medium. I can’t stress enough that your pot/saucepan must be thick-bottom. I don’t care if they tell you that it is bonded with copper, rubbed by the hands of 40 virgins, using the material NASA use to send their rocket into space, a thin-bottom pot/saucepan is good for nothing. If you prefer scorched pasta sauce, carbonized chicken, burnt garlic, then go ahead and buy those “cap harimau” pot/saucepan you can find in those Chinese hardware store.

Sauté pan. You’ll need those for a majority of dishes. They also need to be thick-bottomed and very heavy. How heavy you ask? Heavy enough to cause serious injury when smacked against the head of a person. If you are not sure which will dent; your pan or your victim’s head, then throw away that pan into your trash. If you chose to buy non-stick pan instead, treat it nicer that your wife. Never wash it but wipe it clean after every use. And for God’s sake never use metal on it, use wooden spoon or plastic spatula to toss and turn whatever you’re cooking in it. Metal is like kryptonite to non-stick pan, they’ll scratch the surface.

Wok

A wok is the most versatile equipment to cook with. You can use it for deep frying, stir frying, making sauce, even steaming (heat water on it and put your bamboo steamer on top of it!). I always find stir fried vegetables in a wok tasted better that using a sauté pan. It offers width for cooking that pots and pans sometimes could not.

Oven

The difference between normal oven and convection oven is those convection ovens have fans to circulate air around the food being cook resulting in evenly cooked food in less time than normal oven. Any type of oven is fine so long as it is big enough for you to roast an entire chicken in it. Of course, a bigger oven is always preferred and no, microwave oven is NOT an oven.

Pestle & mortars

Before anyone asks, no, it’s not mortar where the army use in the battlefield as support artillery to blow up enemy soldiers into chunks and pieces. What I mean is lesung batu, and no house in this country at least should be without one.

Blender/food processor

Blender can sometimes handle jobs that food processor normally does, but never the other way around. So if you’re strapped for cash, always put priority over buying a blender than a food processor.

Utensils

The most obvious, you forks, knives and spoons; specifically, you’ll need things like can opener, colander, whisker, potato peeler, tongs, grater, measuring cup which can measure up to 500ml@2½ cup. Anything else I’ve forgotten?

Side ingredients

There are ingredients that separate restaurant quality dishes from home cooked dishes that made all the different in the world. Sadly these ingredients are taken for granted that not many people have them ready all the time or know how to us them properly. Always have these ingredients handy and restock ready to be use at a moment’s notice.

Shallots

These little guys are ubiquitous in this country but are always taken for granted. Not many kitchens have them readily or used in cooking constantly. Perhaps maybe because they are small it is quite cumbersome to peel and people always substitute them with regular red onion thinking them of the same. But no, they’re not the same nor serve the same function. Whenever and whatever you are sautéing, despite it not being called for use in your recipe, always add in chopped/sliced shallots into it, or use it in sauce. They will make a difference to your dish.

Garlic

Garlic is God’s gift to human beings. Treat it with respect. Never put it into that presser thingy they called the garlic presser. Whatever spewed out of that thing, that is not garlic. Smash it with the flat of your knife blade, or using a mortar. Roast it entirely while it is still in cloves to be squeezed out when soft and brown. They will taste as sweet. Sliver it onto your pasta, or your salad dressing, into your aioli or vinaigrette, add it into your marinade for fish or chicken, they will all taste wonderful.

Lemon/lime

Ever wonder why everytime you ordered fried mee at mamak’s they always served it with half a lime? It’s not so that the mee will taste like lime, but rather to have contrast in the taste where the lime acted as vinegar. Add some lemon/lime juice into whatever you are cooking to have that contrast and brighten up your dish. Try this experiment, take a spoonful of whatever you’re cooking and have a taste. Then, take the same spoonful only this time add a drop of lemon/lime juice into it and see the difference.

Butter

Butter is my favourite subject. Despite what you think, every dish you ever ordered in a restaurant starts-off with butter and ended with butter. That nice brown caramelize color you see on my onion is achieved by a mixture of butter and oil. I add in butter as a finisher or starter in almost all dishes that I cook. I finish off my pomodoro (tomato) sauce with butter, roasted anything with a touch of butter, all my soups ended with butter, my scrambled egg always starts with butter, my entire life wouldn’t be complete without butter in my refrigerator. Slather some butter onto a croissant and see your world light up like fireworks. Margarine? That’s not food. Never ever substitute butter with margarine, that’s the worst crime anyone can commit. Learn to know how to differentiate between both. If it’s cheap, less than RM5, and you can find the word “palm” and “oil” in the ingredient’s list, that’s margarine. Butter is always made from dairy.

roasted mackerel with garlic and paprika

Mackerel is a wonderful fish that most people take for granted. In my opinion, mackerel is superior than the over-hyped salmon which is more expensive and sometimes overrated. It’s such a lovely fish, cheap and plentiful, and, served with aioli makes it the perfect dinner you can have with little fuss.

Ingredients

mackerel fillet, skin on

2 cloves of garlic

2 tsp of paprika

extra virgin olive oil

1 tbsp of lemon juice

freshly ground black pepper & salt

Preheat oven at 210 dg C.

Start by preparing the marinade. Put the garlic and paprika into a mortar (lesung batu), add the salt and pepper, and pound to a smooth paste. Add a few drops of olive oil and lemon juice, mix well and then rub the flesh side of the mackerel fillets with the paste and set aside.

Line a baking sheet with tin foil and drip some olive oil onto the surface. Lay the mackerel fillets skin side up, give a final seasoning with salt and pepper. Drizzle some olive oil and roast for 10-15 minutes until the skin is crisp and the fish is cooked through.

Once cooked, lay the fish to rest for a while and serve with any side you wish for.

roasted crab with creamy-butter sauce

In order for this dish to be worth your time you need to be using mud crab, dungeness crab or stone crab.

The serving size for this recipe is for two large crab, cut into pieces, sufficient serving for two. When increasing the serving size, always ensure every can of condense milk is exactly for half a brick of butter, and take ot forward from there.

Ingredients

Crab, obviously, cleaned and cut into pieces
Half a brick of unsalted butter
A can of evaporated milk
One onion, diced
Two cloves of garlic, crushed
Chili, thinly sliced (optional)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Start by melting your butter in a large saucepan or a large wok. Once melted, stir in your garlic and the onion and fry until translucent. Add in some chilli if you like some heat in your sauce, then pour in the evaporated milk. Let reduce for about 10-15 minutes while stirring constantly. Season well with salt and pepper.

Then stir in your pieces of crab. Stir for about a minute or two, ensuring all pieces are coated by the sauce. Finally transfer the crab and the sauce into a roasting dish and finish the cooking in a pre-heated oven at 230 °C for 15 minutes.

baked meatball with tomato sauce

Despite its simple form and style, there are considerably some efforts needed to prepare this. First off, prepare the meatball. Here’s how.

Then prepare the tomato sauce. Here’s how.

Finally, pre-cook the meatballs halfway on a pan (by pre-cook I mean half-way or ¾ way since they will be baked inside the oven later). Prepare a square baking dish, pour the tomato sauce into the dish, place the meatballs in, top with some sliced cheddar or grated parmesan or shredded mozzarella and bake until the cheese has melted, about 15 to 20 minutes. Serve with bread.

Perfect for a lazy night of cooking. (provided the meatballs are prepared earlier and making the tomato sauce is no longer considered as troublesome chore)

pasta with creamy pesto

I have seen some establishments charge an upward of RM20 a plate for this shit. Well, this is how you do it for free (not technically free though, you still have to buy the ingredients).

Serving: 2 persons

Pasta (long type such as spaghetti, linguine or short one such as penne)

Half an onion, diced

Cooking cream

Pesto (store-bought at between RM11.90 to RM16.50, good luck if you wish to prepare it yourself though)

Shrimp

Mushroom (optional) (swiss-brown, shiitake, or white-button will do)

Tomato, diced

Two sticks of butter

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook your pasta to al dente (refer packet instruction for timing); drain and set aside.

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Sweat your onion until tender over low heat, about 2-3 minutes. Increase the heat, stir in garlic and butter, and cook for about a minute until butter melts. Pour in the cooking cream, season with salt and pepper, and simmer until it is slightly reduced, stirring constantly (about 4 minutes). Stir in pesto. Add shrimp, mushrooms and tomatoes. Cook for about 4 minutes, or until heated thoroughly. Toss with pasta and serve immediately.

Beef Steak

I bet my ass that most of you when visiting a steak-house and ordering your RM50 a plate beefsteak, be it in places like Tony Roma’s to Chili’s, would know jack shit the difference between a sirloin, a T-bone or a New York strip. And when the server asked you the type of doneness you would like on your piece of meat, you would probably blurt out “well done” or “medium-rare” with the conviction of an executive chef of a Michelin-starred restaurant, when in fact, you have not a single idea what the hell does that mean, just so to save face to the server like you know what you want.

And let me tell you, anyone who ordered their beefsteak “well done” is a complete asshole, and does not deserve to savour the tastiness and juiciness of a piece of meat from a well grown cow.

Alas, this piece is not about the lesson of ordering beefsteak at a steak-house, but how to prepare the same RM50 a plate cuisine that is so easy to do at home. But, just for the sake of the discerning public and an extra knowledge about the wonderful world of meat, particularly beef, I would throw in some explanation about what is what and which is which.

Cuts of meat

Believe it or not, the meat that you are about to turn into delicious beefsteak or that you ordered from that smirking waiter comes from a cow. And a cow is such a huge animal that there are many parts of its body where the meat is derived from, and each part contributed to the texture and taste of the meat, as well as the price of it. Each part and their meat that comes of it are known as “Cuts of beef” in the world of cow linguistic.

Cuts of beef are first divided into primal cuts, pieces of meat initially separated from the carcass during butchering. These are basic sections from which steaks and other subdivisions are cut. Do not confuse the term “primal cut” to the term “prime cut” which is completely different. Prime cut is a term used to characterize cuts considered to be of higher quality. So you see, the general rule is, since the animal’s legs and neck muscles do the most work (i.e. eating, walking, kicking you off when to try to milk it), they are the toughest; the meat becomes more tender as distance from hoof and horn increases. Different countries and cuisines have different cuts and names, and sometimes use the same name for a different cut; e.g., the cut described as “brisket” in the US is from a significantly different part of the carcass than British brisket. So, for the purpose of this piece I shall use the US type of cuts as I prefer the Yankees than the snotty Brits in general.

Upon slaughter, the beef are split along the axis of symmetry into “halves”, then across into front and back “quarters” (forequarters and hindquarters).

Forequarter cuts

· Chuck: The steak from this part commonly known as Chuck steak and Ranch steak. The trimmings and some whole boneless chucks are ground for your burger meat.

· Rib: This is where your short ribs, the prime rib and rib eye steak come from.

· Brisket:  Primarily used for barbecue.

· Shank: The toughest cuts, normally used for stews and soups. Never served as a steak.

Hindquarter cuts

· Short Loin: from which the T-bone, Porterhouse and New York Strip steak comes from.

· Sirloin: The very pricey sirloin steak comes from. There are two parts, bottom and top. Flap steak comes from the bottom part.

· Terderloin: The most tender, and ever more expensive that sirloin. This is where your Fillet Mignon, Tournedos, Chateaubriand and Terderloin steaks originated from.

· Flank:  Inside Skirt and Flank steak. The flank is used mostly for grinding.

· Round: The round contains lean, moderately tough, lower fat cuts, which require moist or rare cooking. Some representative of steaks round steak, eye of round, top round, and bottom round steaks and roasts.

Degree of cooking

The doneness of your steak depends on the amount of time a steak is cooked. It is all about personal preference; shorter cooking times retain more juice, whereas longer steak cooking times result in drier, tougher meat but you wouldn’t worry about contracting e-coli, since the burnt meat will also burned all bacteria and viruses that may be hidden in it. Lest you make fun of yourself in front of your waiter/waitress, a vocabulary to describe the degree to which a steak is cooked are as the following:

· Raw:  Totally uncooked. Sounds gross but actually used in dishes like steak tartare, carpaccio, gored gored, tiger meat and kitfo.

· Blue rare or very rare: Cooked very quickly; the outside is seared, but the inside is usually cool and barely cooked. The steak will be red on the inside and barely warmed.

· Rare: The outside is grey-brown, and the middle of the steak is fully red and slightly warm.

· Medium rare: The steak will have a reddish-pink center. This is the default degree of cooking at most steakhouses when you do not state any doneness level upon ordering.

· Medium: The middle of the steak is hot and fully pink surrounding the center. The outside is grey-brown.

· Medium well done: The meat is lightly pink surrounding the center.

· Well done: The meat is grey-brown in the center and slightly charred.

Additionally, a Chicago-style steak is cooked to the desired level and then quickly charred. The diner orders it by asking for the style followed by the doneness (e.g. “Chicago-style rare”).

Grilling

Now that we have learned some basic knowledge about the cuts of meat and the level of cooking for your steak, it is now time to put it on the griller. There are many type of griller out there, but my favourite and most convenient for me is the non-stick grill-pan. It may not be the most authentic grilling experience, but for a simple dinner with your partner at home it is sufficient enough. As always, treat your non-stick pan nice. Clean it with a kitchen wipe gently. If you really need to wash it please don’t scrub it like you would do to a wok. Grilling the perfect steak is an art form; it takes practice and patience to master it, particularly due to the many factors that played-in during the process (eg. temperature, quality of meat). However, with these simple steps you should have no trouble grilling a fantastic steak.

1. Allow your meat to reach room temperature before grilling. This helps grill a steak faster and more evenly.

2. Trim the steak of excess fat. This is the one that lines up the side of the meat, generally white in colour. The reason is, as it cooks, fat shrinks faster than the meat and can cause your steaks to curl.

3. Season. A light brushing of olive oil, some freshly ground black pepper and salt is all you need. Though, the seasoning is entirely up to you. Preheat the grill pan as hot as it will go.

4. Oil the grate of the pan.

5. Grill. Let the steak rest on the pan until it is done before turning the other side. How long that take depends on the thickness of the meat and how done you would like your steak to be (refer chart below). ALWAYS resist the temptation to turn over the steak while grilling to see how done it is because by doing that you would disrupt the momentum of the heat and the timing will run-off and ruin the doneness of the steak.

6. Use pressure test to check the doneness level of the steak. When getting close to having a done steak, press it with your index finger or the flat side of a grilling fork to get a feel for it. A rare steak will be soft. A medium steak will be firm but yielding. A well done steak will be firm.

7. Let the steaks rest for 5 minutes before serving. This will let the juices flow out from the center, redistributing moisture, so the whole steak is nice and juicy.

As a general rule, adhere to the grilling time by meat thickness as mentioned below. Please note that the times are approximate and will vary depending on the type of grill, heat, meat quality and so on. Divide in half the time for each side.

Thickness

1″ : 6-8(Rare), 8-10(Medium),10-14(Well done)

1 1/2″ : 8-10(Rare), 10-12(Medium),12-16(Well done)

2″ : 12-16(Rare), 16-20(Medium), 20-24(Well done)

roasted red snapper

I learned this dish casually while reading Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential. He always stressed that a good quality dish should be simple, only needed at most 4 to 5 ingredients. Finding a fresh fish is crucial. Look for firm fish with bright eyes and red gills. It should smell sweet, not fishy.

olive oil
1 yellow onion, peeled and thinly sliced
2 large cloves of garlic, one peeled and chopped, the other smashed
a stick of butter
a few sprigs of rosemary
1 lemon
a whole red snapper, cleaned, with head and tail intact, scored
1 tomato, quartered
1 whole red chilli, seeds removed and sliced

Preheat your oven at 220 degree C. Rub the fish inside and out with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

In a large sauté pan over medium heat, warm the oil. Add the onions and sauté, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the chopped garlic and sauté, stirring occasionally, for a minute. Add in the butter and let it melt, then squeeze the juice from half the lemon, continue cooking until the mixture is reduced.

Put the snapper in a roasting pan or in a tin foil. Stuff the cavity of the fish with half of the onion mixture, along with the smashed garlic and the rosemary. Spoon the remaining onion mixture over the fish and in the score marks. Add in the tomato and the chilli surrounding the fish. Drizzle some olive oil and squeeze the other half of the lemon juice. Put in the oven and roast for 30-35 minutes, until crispy and thoroughly cooked.

classic tray-baked chicken

This dish should be in the repertoire of every home cooks who owns an oven at home. Instead of frying them in oil all the time, which most M’sian does, and with the by-product laced with unhealthy fat and cholestrol, why not tray-bake them? It uses a minimal amount of ingredients – chicken, olive oil, salt and pepper (and if you want gravy, chicken stock) and is especially useful on those busy days when you are just too busy to think of other creative dish to do with with chicken parts. Though it may considerably takes longer than frying, the result is mesmerizing and the aroma is irresistable. The entire kitchen will smells good and your taste palate will be rewarded well.

3-4 pounds of chicken parts (2 breasts, 2 thighs, 2 legs, 2 wings)

extra virgin olive oil

salt and freshly ground black pepper

a whole bulb of garlic, crushed

1/2 cup chicken stock, to make gravy (optional)

2 sprigs of thyme and rosemary (optional)

Preheat oven to 230 degree C.  Rinse chicken pieces in water and pat dry with paper towels.  Coat the bottom of a roasting pan with olive oil.  Rub some olive oil over all of the chicken pieces in the roasting pan.  Sprinkle both sides of the chicken pieces with liberal amount of salt and freshly ground black pepper.  Arrange the pieces skin-side up in the roasting pan so the largest pieces are in the center (the breasts) and there is a little room between pieces so they aren’t crowded in the pan. Chuck in the garlic in the pan and if you prefer to have a wonderful aroma, lay a few sprigs of rosemary and thyme in between the chicken pieces. (I also like to add some tomatoes, quartered, into the roasting pan together with the chicken as i always love roasted tomatoes). Another alternative which resulted in a wonderfully spicy chicken is to rub them with paprika apart from the salt & pepper.

Roast in the oven for at least 30 minutes or until the juices run clear (not pink) when poked with a sharp knife. If your chicken pieces aren’t browning to your satisfaction, you can put them under the broiler for the last 5 minutes of cooking, until browned sufficiently.

Once the chicken is cooked, remove them to a serving plate and let rest for 5 to 10 minutes before serving. This will be a great opportunity to make the gravy. To make gravy for the chicken, take the roasting pan with its drippings and place on a medium setting on the stovetop.  Use a metal spatula to scrape up the drippings stuck to the bottom of the pan.  Add a half cup of chicken stock to the pan to help deglaze the drippings from the pan. Strain the stock and dripping mixture into a small saucepan and heat on medium high to reduce to desired thickness. Add a few spoonful of corn starch to thicken the sauce more if you still feel the sauce is too loose.

spaghetti alla carbonara

The origin of carbonara sauce, as with most other recipes are obscure. Some believe the dish was first made as a hearty meal for Italian charcoal workers, Carbonari, (“charcoalmen”). Whatever the story, carbonara sauce is, to me, one of the basic sauce for pasta (besides alfredo, bolognese, and genovese). One must learn how to make pasta alla carbonara well in order to claim to understanding what Italian dishes are all about. Luscious and wonderfully indulgent, it takes as long to make as it does to cook the pasta.  The fundamental ingredients are simple, just spaghetti (or other long pasta), pancetta or bacon, eggs, Parmesan cheese, a little olive oil, salt and pepper.  Pancetta or bacon is substituted with streaky beef slices so the dish becomes pork-free. A silky sauce is created when the beaten eggs are tossed with the hot pasta and a little fat from the meat.

Serves 4

8 strips of streaky beef, sliced into small strip

3-4 whole eggs

1 cup grated parmesan or pecorino cheese

1 pound spaghetti pasta (or other type of long pasta, such as fettuccine)

Salt and black pepper to taste

extra virgin olive oil

Cook the spaghetti to al dente. In the meantime, heat the olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add the streaky beef and cook slowly until crispy. Once cooked, turn off the heat and put the beef into a large bowl.

In a small bowl, beat the eggs and mix in about half of the Parmesan cheese. When the pasta is ready, drain and transfer into the bowl with the beef.  Move the pasta from the pot to the bowl quickly, as you want the pasta to be hot. It’s the heat of the pasta that will cook eggs sufficiently to create a creamy sauce. Toss everything to combine, then add the beaten eggs with cheese and toss quickly to combine once more. Season to taste, and serve at once with the rest of the parmesan.