Fish fillet floating in a red chilli sauce - the spice mix was onions, bayleaves, fennel, chillis,...layer of potato noodles, holy yummy.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Red Lotus (Chapel Hill) continues to amaze
Went to Red Lotus today and ordered off the 2nd secret Chinese Menu - had fish in hot sauce or (N8) - my god it was great.. was enough food for 4 people see the pic and at $18 it's a steal.
Fish fillet floating in a red chilli sauce - the spice mix was onions, bayleaves, fennel, chillis,...layer of potato noodles, holy yummy.
Fish fillet floating in a red chilli sauce - the spice mix was onions, bayleaves, fennel, chillis,...layer of potato noodles, holy yummy.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Recipes by Chef Larry Tollen
Couple of Recipes that Larry sent to us - have not tried these but am posting them here as an archive. Can't wait to try these - hopefully in the next week :)
4 -(4-5oz) Halibut Fillets skinned, boned and patted dry.
1TBL – Chinese style Chili & Garlic Paste
2TBL – Canola or Safflower Oil
1tsp Toasted Sesame Oil
1tsp – Rice Wine Vinegar
1/2tsp Sea Salt
1TBL finely minced fresh Cilantro
Mix all together well. Place in a non-reactive baking dish. Dip Halibut on both sides and leave in marinade for 15-60 minutes before grilling.
While fish is marinating is a good time to mix Salsa together, though Salsa may be made up to 2 days in advance and refrigerated.
Pineapple & Roasted Red Pepper Salsa:
1 –20oz can DOLE Pineapple Chunks in natural juice. Drain chunks in colander for a few minutes before coarsely chopping. Don’t over chop; leave larger pieces. Save pineapple juice for other use if desired.
1 –Large Roasted Red Pepper. To roast pepper: Place pepper on either a very hot grill or directly on top of a gas stove top burner set to high. Carefully char pepper, until 90% or better is completely blackened. This is a relatively short process, if you start with a hot enough fire. I like using tongs to rotate the pepper carefully. Once blackened, remove pepper from fire and under gently running cool water wipe away blackened skin by hand. Pat dry with paper towels cut in half, removing seeds and core. Rough chop and add to bowl. Note, a little blackened skin remaining on the pepper is fine, it adds taste. Don’t make yourself crazy, this is meant to be a fast and easy dish.
2 TBL –Brown sugar.
¼ tsp -Hot Red Pepper Flakes
1tsp -Sea Salt
1tsp – Toasted Sesame Oil
1TBL –Fresh Lime Juice
1/4C Fresh chopped Cilantro
2-3 Scallions, cleaned, and sliced thinly.
Toss all together gently in a non-reactive bowl. Taste to see if more salt is desired. Cover and let sit refrigerated until ready to use.
On a very hot preheated grill, place Halibut fillets. Fish should be 4-5 inches from fire/coals. Cook 2 minutes, and with large spatula, lift fish, turn 90 degrees, and place same side down. (Note: this will give you a nice grill marks). Cook another 3 minutes. Flip fish over and cook 3-5 minutes longer. Fish should just be opaque in center.
To Serve: Place fillet on plate hot from grill, spoon a couple of generous Tablespoons of salsa on top leaving half of the fish showing, Garnish with Cilantro sprig. Accompany with a nice rice pilaf (see suggestion below) and fresh steamed vegetables.
In a small pot heat till simmering
1C – Water mixed with
3/4C – Chicken Stock
Place 1C -Mahatma Jasmine Rice in 1Cup water. Let sit till stock above is simmering. Drain rice and add to Stock. Simmer 15 minutes covered and then add the following:
1 Scallion. Cleaned and finely sliced.
½ Carrot, peeled, and minced very fine.
½ Stalk Celery, cleaned and minced very fine
Sauté all in 6” non-stick pan, over high heat in 1tsp Toasted Sesame Oil. Cook 60 seconds, shaking regularly, add 1tsp Sea Salt to vegetable mix before adding to rice.
Once vegetables are added to rice, cover and simmer 10 minutes longer. Turn off heat and let rice sit for 20 minutes or more before serving. Gently reheat of necessary.
GRILLED HALIBUT w/PINEAPPLE & ROASTED RED PEPPER SALSA
Serves 44 -(4-5oz) Halibut Fillets skinned, boned and patted dry.
1TBL – Chinese style Chili & Garlic Paste
2TBL – Canola or Safflower Oil
1tsp Toasted Sesame Oil
1tsp – Rice Wine Vinegar
1/2tsp Sea Salt
1TBL finely minced fresh Cilantro
Mix all together well. Place in a non-reactive baking dish. Dip Halibut on both sides and leave in marinade for 15-60 minutes before grilling.
While fish is marinating is a good time to mix Salsa together, though Salsa may be made up to 2 days in advance and refrigerated.
Pineapple & Roasted Red Pepper Salsa:
1 –20oz can DOLE Pineapple Chunks in natural juice. Drain chunks in colander for a few minutes before coarsely chopping. Don’t over chop; leave larger pieces. Save pineapple juice for other use if desired.
1 –Large Roasted Red Pepper. To roast pepper: Place pepper on either a very hot grill or directly on top of a gas stove top burner set to high. Carefully char pepper, until 90% or better is completely blackened. This is a relatively short process, if you start with a hot enough fire. I like using tongs to rotate the pepper carefully. Once blackened, remove pepper from fire and under gently running cool water wipe away blackened skin by hand. Pat dry with paper towels cut in half, removing seeds and core. Rough chop and add to bowl. Note, a little blackened skin remaining on the pepper is fine, it adds taste. Don’t make yourself crazy, this is meant to be a fast and easy dish.
2 TBL –Brown sugar.
¼ tsp -Hot Red Pepper Flakes
1tsp -Sea Salt
1tsp – Toasted Sesame Oil
1TBL –Fresh Lime Juice
1/4C Fresh chopped Cilantro
2-3 Scallions, cleaned, and sliced thinly.
Toss all together gently in a non-reactive bowl. Taste to see if more salt is desired. Cover and let sit refrigerated until ready to use.
On a very hot preheated grill, place Halibut fillets. Fish should be 4-5 inches from fire/coals. Cook 2 minutes, and with large spatula, lift fish, turn 90 degrees, and place same side down. (Note: this will give you a nice grill marks). Cook another 3 minutes. Flip fish over and cook 3-5 minutes longer. Fish should just be opaque in center.
To Serve: Place fillet on plate hot from grill, spoon a couple of generous Tablespoons of salsa on top leaving half of the fish showing, Garnish with Cilantro sprig. Accompany with a nice rice pilaf (see suggestion below) and fresh steamed vegetables.
VEGETABEL RICE PILAF
Serves 4In a small pot heat till simmering
1C – Water mixed with
3/4C – Chicken Stock
Place 1C -Mahatma Jasmine Rice in 1Cup water. Let sit till stock above is simmering. Drain rice and add to Stock. Simmer 15 minutes covered and then add the following:
1 Scallion. Cleaned and finely sliced.
½ Carrot, peeled, and minced very fine.
½ Stalk Celery, cleaned and minced very fine
Sauté all in 6” non-stick pan, over high heat in 1tsp Toasted Sesame Oil. Cook 60 seconds, shaking regularly, add 1tsp Sea Salt to vegetable mix before adding to rice.
Once vegetables are added to rice, cover and simmer 10 minutes longer. Turn off heat and let rice sit for 20 minutes or more before serving. Gently reheat of necessary.
Cashew Nut Brittle with Bacon
How can you go wrong with nuts and bacon! Yummy.
First course served to us by Larry at his house for supper.
Recipe provided by Chef Larry Tollen:
First course served to us by Larry at his house for supper.
Recipe provided by Chef Larry Tollen:
- CASHEW & BACON BRITTLE
- 2/3 cup raw cashews (about 4 ounces)
- 8 ounces bacon
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup water
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- Heat the oven to 400°F and arrange a rack in the middle. While the oven is heating, place cashews on a baking sheet and toast in the oven, stirring occasionally, until deep brown, about 12 to 15 minutes. Cool slightly on a cutting board, then coarsely chop; set aside.
- When the oven is ready, place bacon on a baking sheet and roast until deep brown and well done, about 15 minutes. Remove to a paper-towel-lined plate to cool; reserve 1 tablespoon of the rendered bacon fat. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, coat the paper with a thin layer of the reserved fat, and place the baking sheet on a cooling rack. Crumble bacon into bite-sized pieces; set aside.
- Combine sugar and water in a medium saucepan over high heat and stir until sugar has dissolved, about 3 minutes. Cook, swirling the pan occasionally (do not stir), until mixture is deep amber and registers 350°F on a candy thermometer, about 10 to 15 minutes. Immediately remove the pan from heat.
- Carefully add cashews, bacon, and salt to the caramel and stir to combine. Immediately pour mixture onto the center of the prepared baking sheet. Let sit at room temperature until hardened, about 20 minutes. Let cool completely, then break into shards.
Two beet soup
AKA Psychedelic Soup served by Larry as Course 3.
Recipe provided by Chef Larry:
Golden Beet with Melted Fennel
1 Bulb Fennel w/ Stems
2TBL Canola or other light vegetable oil
1Bunch Gold (yellow) beets (approximately 1 lb)
Sea Salt
3 Cups chicken stock or water if preferred.
Clean Fennel, remove core, slice as thin as possible the entire bulb and about 6” worth of the stems.
Clean and peel beets, cut into roughly ½ - ¾” cubes.
Heat oil in bottom of small pot over medium low heat, add fennel and cook 12-15 minutes stirring occasionally until fennel is very wilted (melted) about 10 minutes in add ½ tsp sea salt which will help the wilting process.
When well wilted, add cut beats and chicken stock or water to barely cover. Cover with a lid; reduce heat to low and cook covered for 50-60 minutes until beets are fork tender. Cool for 15 minutes and then place ½ mix in blender and blend until very smooth. Then do remaining half. Run pureed beets through a very fine sieve. Taste and add sea salt and/or finely ground white pepper to taste. Serve either hot or cold and can be refrigerated easily for 3-4 days.
Red Beet soup with Leeks and Apple
1 cup thinly sliced Leek (white part only)
1 large sweet apple (I like Gala or Honeycrisp, but any really good sweet apple will do) 2 TBL Balsamic Vinegar
2TBL Canola or other light vegetable oil
1 bunch Red Beets (approximately 1Lb)
3 Cups Water
Sea Salt
Add oil to small pot, add sliced leeks and cook for 6-8 minutes over medium low heat until well wilted. While cooking, peel and cut apple into approximate ¾” cubes and add to pot with leeks. Add ½ tsp sea salt and Balsamic Vinegar. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes. Clean and peel beets, cut into roughly ½ - ¾” cubes add to mix, add water. Cover with a lid; reduce heat to low and cook covered for 50-60 minutes until beets are fork tender. Cool for 15 minutes and then place ½ mix in blender and blend until very smooth. Then do remaining half. Run pureed beets through a very fine sieve. Taste and add sea salt and/or finely ground black pepper to taste. Serve either hot or cold and can be refrigerated easily for 3-4 days.
Sixties Psychedelic Soup
Place one ladle of each of the two soups into a shallow bowl, Swirl gently together. Tune in, turn on, drop out and enjoy.
Recipe provided by Chef Larry:
Golden Beet with Melted Fennel
1 Bulb Fennel w/ Stems
2TBL Canola or other light vegetable oil
1Bunch Gold (yellow) beets (approximately 1 lb)
Sea Salt
3 Cups chicken stock or water if preferred.
Clean Fennel, remove core, slice as thin as possible the entire bulb and about 6” worth of the stems.
Clean and peel beets, cut into roughly ½ - ¾” cubes.
Heat oil in bottom of small pot over medium low heat, add fennel and cook 12-15 minutes stirring occasionally until fennel is very wilted (melted) about 10 minutes in add ½ tsp sea salt which will help the wilting process.
When well wilted, add cut beats and chicken stock or water to barely cover. Cover with a lid; reduce heat to low and cook covered for 50-60 minutes until beets are fork tender. Cool for 15 minutes and then place ½ mix in blender and blend until very smooth. Then do remaining half. Run pureed beets through a very fine sieve. Taste and add sea salt and/or finely ground white pepper to taste. Serve either hot or cold and can be refrigerated easily for 3-4 days.
Red Beet soup with Leeks and Apple
1 cup thinly sliced Leek (white part only)
1 large sweet apple (I like Gala or Honeycrisp, but any really good sweet apple will do) 2 TBL Balsamic Vinegar
2TBL Canola or other light vegetable oil
1 bunch Red Beets (approximately 1Lb)
3 Cups Water
Sea Salt
Add oil to small pot, add sliced leeks and cook for 6-8 minutes over medium low heat until well wilted. While cooking, peel and cut apple into approximate ¾” cubes and add to pot with leeks. Add ½ tsp sea salt and Balsamic Vinegar. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes. Clean and peel beets, cut into roughly ½ - ¾” cubes add to mix, add water. Cover with a lid; reduce heat to low and cook covered for 50-60 minutes until beets are fork tender. Cool for 15 minutes and then place ½ mix in blender and blend until very smooth. Then do remaining half. Run pureed beets through a very fine sieve. Taste and add sea salt and/or finely ground black pepper to taste. Serve either hot or cold and can be refrigerated easily for 3-4 days.
Sixties Psychedelic Soup
Place one ladle of each of the two soups into a shallow bowl, Swirl gently together. Tune in, turn on, drop out and enjoy.
Singapore Chili Crab
Course 4 at Larry's place: We made this as one of the courses in a meal we enjoyed at Larry's place:
Recipe taken from:
http://almostbourdain.blogspot.com/2009/05/singapore-chilli-crab-prawn.html
Use: spooned into a small dosa - our version of masala dosa (instead of the potato sabji we went with chili crab). We topped this with sea-weed salad from Kanki and a slice of avocado.
Modifications: I added oyster sauce, rice wine vinegar and some sambal to the sauce mix. Left out the sugar, the prawns and substituted the prawns with crab. Oh and in the rush of eating the dish I forgot to add the egg.
Review: Ok, but a bit too sweet - didn't have the depth I'd have liked. This can be attibuted to the lack of real spices and instead the use of Maggi sauce and ketchup. Need to find a recipe that uses real spices.
Instead of using a whole crab we made the sauce and mixed into it lump crab meat.
Ingredients:
1/2 lb jumbo lump crab meat
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp chopped ginger
1/2 onion, finely chopped
2 chilli, seed removed and finely chopped
1 egg, lightly beaten - I forgot to add the egg..
4 tbsp Tomato sauce (I use Heinz Tomato Ketcup)
2 tbsp Maggi Sweet Chilli Sauce
Juice of 1/2 lime
1/2 cup water
1 tsp cornflour
teasp sambal
teasp rice wine vinegar
tbsp oyster sauce
2 red dried chillies
Method:
Recipe taken from:
http://almostbourdain.blogspot.com/2009/05/singapore-chilli-crab-prawn.html
Use: spooned into a small dosa - our version of masala dosa (instead of the potato sabji we went with chili crab). We topped this with sea-weed salad from Kanki and a slice of avocado.
Modifications: I added oyster sauce, rice wine vinegar and some sambal to the sauce mix. Left out the sugar, the prawns and substituted the prawns with crab. Oh and in the rush of eating the dish I forgot to add the egg.
Review: Ok, but a bit too sweet - didn't have the depth I'd have liked. This can be attibuted to the lack of real spices and instead the use of Maggi sauce and ketchup. Need to find a recipe that uses real spices.
Instead of using a whole crab we made the sauce and mixed into it lump crab meat.
1/2 lb jumbo lump crab meat
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp chopped ginger
1/2 onion, finely chopped
2 chilli, seed removed and finely chopped
1 egg, lightly beaten - I forgot to add the egg..
4 tbsp Tomato sauce (I use Heinz Tomato Ketcup)
2 tbsp Maggi Sweet Chilli Sauce
Juice of 1/2 lime
1/2 cup water
1 tsp cornflour
teasp sambal
teasp rice wine vinegar
tbsp oyster sauce
2 red dried chillies
Method:
- Mix tomato sauce, sweet chili sauce, water, lime juice and corn flour, oyster sauce, rice wine vinegar, sambal in a bowl
- Add 1 tbsp oil in a wok or pan, fry garlic, ginger, chilli and onion until fragrant
- Add the sauce mixture and bring it to a boil.
- Quickly stir in lightly beaten egg and continue stirring until egg is well mixed and cooked, about 1 minute.
- Add lump crab meat
Congrats on a newly minted MBA
Went to a friends place to celebrate his recent Duke MBA graduation - a great achievement given that he stays in Cleveland. Doing an executive level day job that involves travel and doing a weekend MBA at Duke must have been quite a challenge - cheers to him on his success.
Being Bengali's the celebration involved a cornocopuia of Bengali veg and non-veg food. There was shrimp, goat, chicken, vege's... mmm all really yummy!
Being Bengali's the celebration involved a cornocopuia of Bengali veg and non-veg food. There was shrimp, goat, chicken, vege's... mmm all really yummy!
This is just some of the things I could hold on my plate - all really really yummy curries! Am a new fan of Bengali food.
A great food weekend
We had been looking forward to this weekend for quite a few days. Larry - AKA Agent Larry, Chef Larry had invited us over to a multi-course meal at his place. Saturday night, we had dinner with Larry and Angela. We met Larry Tollen as our real estate agent, but we quickly became friends. The fact that he found us our home really quickly and used to be a chef may have a lot to do with it!
In this post I'll go through the multiple courses and follow up in future posts with pictures and recipes. Larry was generous in sharing his recipes.
Below are the courses:
Course 1 by Larry
Cocktail with Cashew-Bacon brittle.
The brittle was perfect and in keeping with the current trend of using bacon in deserts, the chef started us off perfectly. The cocktail was a blended Canadian whiskey, Cinzano Vermouth, Pelligrino and a cherry.
Course 2 by Larry
Twin Sesame Tuna
Seared yellow-fin tuna, crusted in sesame (black and white), and seasoned with Hawaiian pink sea salt. Served with with wasabi lime sauce, and accompanied with fresh cucumber relish and pickled ginger. The wine paired with this course was a Marlborough New Zeland white wine with a strong Pear and Grapefruit hint – really good wine.
Course 3 by Larry
Psychedelic Soup
A golden beet & leek soup swirled into a red beet with melted fennel soup – delicious! Tasted individually they have completely different personalities - brought together is a crazy heavenly marriage :)
Course 4 by us
Singapore chilly crab on a Dosa (Rice pancake) served with seaweed salad and avocado. Accompanying drink was a Mint infused Mango & Lychee gin martini.
Course 5 by us
Wild mushroom ravioli served with a yin&yang sauces (a cilantro walnut pesto and a apricot-mustard sauce) – oh yes – homemade ravioli. Since we couldn’t make the ravioli dough thin enough Larry decided frying it might be better than steaming or boiling it. At home we ended up taking the left over ravioli dough and making fresh fettuccini with spinach butter – holy yum.
Course 6 by Larry
NC Shrimp served with Laksha curry and accompanied by Emperor’s rice (a seasoned rice). Larry interpreted a Laksha curry and used it as a sauce to be served on grilled jumbo shrimp – very tasty. The Emperor’s rice tasted just like mom’s masala bhat (masala rice) – prepared very differently but very similar taste. The wine pairing was a great Cab.
Course 7 by Larry
A mint and lemon balm (a herb) granite accompanied with a strawberry and watermelon salad. The mint popped out of the bowl and the lemon held it back - will definitely be trying this at home on a hot summer day.
Course 8 by Larry
Illicit Chocolate – a hot cocoa topped with Chantilly cream (how good is hand whipped cream with vanilla – very very good).
Larry planned and made a multi course meal - he made most of the food and we chipped in with a couple of courses. Since we ended up eating eight courses over a span of 4 hours, good food, good drink and good company = a happy weekend.
Below are the courses:
Course 1 by Larry
Cocktail with Cashew-Bacon brittle.
The brittle was perfect and in keeping with the current trend of using bacon in deserts, the chef started us off perfectly. The cocktail was a blended Canadian whiskey, Cinzano Vermouth, Pelligrino and a cherry.
Course 2 by Larry
Twin Sesame Tuna
Seared yellow-fin tuna, crusted in sesame (black and white), and seasoned with Hawaiian pink sea salt. Served with with wasabi lime sauce, and accompanied with fresh cucumber relish and pickled ginger. The wine paired with this course was a Marlborough New Zeland white wine with a strong Pear and Grapefruit hint – really good wine.
Course 3 by Larry
Psychedelic Soup
A golden beet & leek soup swirled into a red beet with melted fennel soup – delicious! Tasted individually they have completely different personalities - brought together is a crazy heavenly marriage :)
Course 4 by us
Singapore chilly crab on a Dosa (Rice pancake) served with seaweed salad and avocado. Accompanying drink was a Mint infused Mango & Lychee gin martini.
Course 5 by us
Wild mushroom ravioli served with a yin&yang sauces (a cilantro walnut pesto and a apricot-mustard sauce) – oh yes – homemade ravioli. Since we couldn’t make the ravioli dough thin enough Larry decided frying it might be better than steaming or boiling it. At home we ended up taking the left over ravioli dough and making fresh fettuccini with spinach butter – holy yum.
Course 6 by Larry
NC Shrimp served with Laksha curry and accompanied by Emperor’s rice (a seasoned rice). Larry interpreted a Laksha curry and used it as a sauce to be served on grilled jumbo shrimp – very tasty. The Emperor’s rice tasted just like mom’s masala bhat (masala rice) – prepared very differently but very similar taste. The wine pairing was a great Cab.
Course 7 by Larry
A mint and lemon balm (a herb) granite accompanied with a strawberry and watermelon salad. The mint popped out of the bowl and the lemon held it back - will definitely be trying this at home on a hot summer day.
Course 8 by Larry
Illicit Chocolate – a hot cocoa topped with Chantilly cream (how good is hand whipped cream with vanilla – very very good).
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