Orange Scallop

Okay, time for some scallops! I bougth frozen scallops a while ago. I wish I could have fresh scallops, but I guess frozen scallops were good enough.

thyme-seasoned pan-seared sea scallop, with triple sec (orange liquor) reduction, crispy bacon and cold mango slices

I was planning on using fresh oranges, but it turned out that the oranges were invaded by greenish-grey mold (probably Penicillium italicum- heh). I have half a bottle of triple sec left by my friend at my apartment after he cooked crepe suzette last time. I'm not a fan of liquor, and triple sec is sadly not my favorite either.

First, I fried the bacon to get the drippings. I used the drippings to cook the scallop. After the scallop turned a little bit brown, I added triple sec and thyme, and let it simmer. Meanwhile, I chopped the bacon and sliced the mango. I left the sliced mango in the fridge so they stay cold.

When the scallop was done, I took out the mango from the fridge, and started plating the dish. I sprinkled some sea salt to add the flavor, since I didn't use salt at all when I cooked the scallops. The dish had to be eaten quickly, or else the scallop would turn cold and the mango warm.

Overall, I'd say it's pretty good if only the triple sec didn't leave some bitterness in it. The hot and cold combination was a good idea :)

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Pork Mozzarella Croquette

Had sudden craving for melty mozzarella cheeze. Yep, just like the ones on top of pizza.

Before I came to know cheeses better, I always thought that mozzarella was a magic cheese. During my childhood times, what we called 'cheese' is limited to sliced processed cheese, and the only cheese available in the market was produced by Kraft. It made me wonder why those processed cheese won't turn out like those on top of pizza, and now I know why.

Someone out there probably made this before I did, but this is my original recipe that I had thought as I walked back from school, thinking of what to do with the meats I have in my freezer. I am moving to Simpson, IL, for internship this summer, so at the very least I have to clear up my fridge.

So, here we go: pork mozzarella croquette :)

Recipe:

- 1 lb (500g) ground pork

- 3 Tbsp light soy sauce

- 1 tsp white pepper

- 3 Tbsp corn starch

- 1 egg white

- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
- 1C shredded mozzarella cheese
- frying oil

Instructions:
1) Mix ground pork, soy sauce, white pepper and corn starch until well-mixed. Marinate in fridge for ~30 min.
2) Divide the marinated ground pork into 7-8 balls.
3) Take half of a ball and flatten to about 0.5cm thickness.
4) Fill in with ~2/3 Tbsp mozzarella.
5) Put another half of the ball of meat and cover the mozzarella.
6) Shape the mozzarella-filled meat ball on AP flour, make sure all are covered well. Dust off excess flour, and compress the ball using both hands to make the ball firm.
7) Dip in egg white, then roll on panko bread crumbs until it is well covered.
8) Repeat steps 3-7 for all the meat balls.
9) Deep fry at medium-high temperature (i.e., from scale 1 to 7, it's 5) until it is golden brown.
10) Serve when hot.

I suppose you could change the meat to ground beef or ground chicken according to your preferences. I'm a pork lover, and incidentally ground pork is the only ground meat left in my freezer.

You probably could left the croquette for like 30 minutes before the cheese starts to solidify.

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Skew skew skew!

It's graduation time again. Tons of my good friends left the college, and it makes me so sad. I'm especially sad that my foodies friends are gone :'( Now I have to find people who like to eat and cook.... >.<

The end of semester also means cleaning up my fridge. I still have quite a lot of meat in the fridge, so I have to start using them every day so I have nothing left in the fridge. I wouldn't want to eat meat that has been stored for 3 months in the freezer....

Sate babi (pork skewer) with mushroom, green onion and onion

I wanted to use ginger, but it turned out that the ginger germinated and grew, and I could see molds on it, too. So I threw it away :(

This is my original recipe. It's pretty good, but I'm sure you can modify it to suit your taste :)

Recipe:
- 1 piece pork loin, cubed
- 1 1/2 Tbsp sweetened soy sauce
- 1 Tbsp light soy sauce
- 1/2 tsp white sesame seed
- 1 1/2 Tbsp melted butter
- 1/2 tsp minced garlic
- 1/2 bulb onion, cut into thin squares of 2cmx2cm
- 1 green onion, cut into 2cm rods
- 3 button mushrooms
- 1 T butter

Steps:
1) Marinate pork in sweetened soy sauce, light soy sauce, sesame seed, butter and garlic. Mix well and leave in fridge for 1 night.
2) Preheat oven to 350F.
3) While waiting for the oven to heat up, place marinated meat, onion, mushroom, and green onion in alternates (positioning doesnt matter - use your own creativity)
4) Melt 1 T butter and mix into the marinade sauce. Brush the meat with the marinade + butter sauce and put in oven for 5 minutes.
5) Brush the meat again with the marinade and butter sauce, and set the temperature of oven to BROIL mode. Leave for another 5 minutes.
6) Turn the skewer over and brush with marinade and butter sauce again. Leave for another 5 minutes.
7) Serve.

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Green Tea Caviar

As far as I am concerned, I am so very excited with spherification. I know, I know. I'm like 7 years late, but who cares?

Just for additional information, spherification of liquids creates a product that has texture similar to caviar, and thus they are often called 'faux caviar'.

So I tried using orange juice at first. I've seen people blogging saying that you have to increase the pH if it's too low, but curiosity always comes first. It failed miserably, and the sodium alginate precipitates out :(

I don't have any other liquids at home to experiment with, so I tried using green tea powder in water.

First problem: I don't have a weighing balance, so I just approximated the amounts. THIS TURNED OUT TO BE A VERY BAD IDEA. When I tried my product I could feel extreme bitterness, which I found out is caused by excessive calcium.

Second problem: I don't have good hand controls, so I couldn't shape the caviars well. Some of them looked like biconcaved red blood cells (LOL).

Third problem: the green tea powder doesn't really dissolve in water, so as the result, the liquid within the green tea caviar became rather grainy. Eww.

I wish I had bought sodium citrate or reverse spherification kit instead of just the conventional spherification kit :'(

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Shuriken?

I bought this last week. They're called estrellitas (which I think means little stars), but no matter how I look at them, they look like tiny shuriken... or it's just me and my wild imagination.

Estrellitas with meatballs and ham in tomato soup

Okay, they don't look that wonderful. I still don't have a sense on soup presentation, especially when the soup is not homogenous like this. Normally I'd just add some garnish like parsley on soups.

I haven't been placing so much care in food presentation during exam time. Quick, good food would be the best during these times :S

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Pasta Days

I can't agree better that the easiest food to cook for a college student is pasta. With ready-made sauces available in various flavors, it doesn't take you more than 15 minutes to prepare a simple pasta dish.

Orzo with meatballs and green onions in Bertolli's tomato vodka sauce

Very useful during exam period. Cook the pasta and dump everything into the pre-made sauce on a pan, heat it for 5-10 minutes and voila!

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Penne penne penne...

I need to start reducing all the food ingredients in my apartment because I'll be moving to southern Illinois for internship this summer. Well, a box of pasta won't rot that easily, but I figure that I need to reduce as many meat products in the freezer as possible.

Penne tossed with sun dried tomato and ground beef, ricotta cheese, thyme, Italian parsley, and ground Parmesan cheese

Honestly, I don't think it looks THAT appetizing, but my friends said it looks really good. Hmm. I prefer the appearance just before I added the ricotta cheese.

Penne with Sweddish meatball and buffalo style chicken balls in creamy sauce

I cooked this for one of my club's potluck. Sadly, all the cream sauce somehow evaporated or absorbed by the penne, so the penne was kinda too soft and there was very little sauce when I served it to my friends :(

I haven't been eating anything creamy lately, so I decided to make my pasta creamy. It's actually really easy to make white sauce.

- 1 Tbsp butter
- 1 Tbsp all purpose flour
- 1 cup milk

Heat the butter in the pan until it melts and mix well with flour before adding the milk slowly to avoid clump formation.

For thicker sauce, use a little bit more flour. I use 2% milk. It's definitely creamier than if I were to use skim milk. Use heavy cream if you want a really, really thick and creamy white sauce.

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Good Breakfast, Good Day

Nowadays I can barely make it to cook myself a good breakfast. Every single spare moment I have, I'd rather spend it by sleeping. It's been rather tiring lately :(

- easy over egg (flower shaped)
- sauer kraut
- broccoli and cheese
- pan fried bacon
- tomato ketchup

Took me about 20 minutes to prepare everything. I was too lazy to use two different pans for the egg and the bacon, so I did the egg first, then the bacon.

I suddenly remembered one of the guest speakers for my class came and asked, "What do you have for breakfast today?". I asnwered "omelette", and she was really taken aback. She said that omelette is a Sunday morning food.

And there I was, rather surprised, too. I mean, how hard is it to make an omelette?

Seems like everyone in the US is very accustomed to eating cereal bars in the morning while they go to work. Well, I understand, because I did that several times this semester, and cereal bars definitely are great helps when you're in a hurry.

But no matter what, I still prefer having a slow breakfast in the morning :)

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Onion Head

 I used to like Onion Head emotes a lot. They're really cute :3 Looking at them make my mind at peace~

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