Beer-battered Fish and Chips

Ingredients

For the fries:

• 1 gallon safflower oil
• 4 large Russet potatoes
• Kosher salt
• 2 cups flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• Dash Old Bay Seasoning
• 1 bottle brown beer, cold
• 1 1/2 pounds firm-fleshed whitefish, cut into 1-ounce strips
• Cornstarch, for dredging
• Cajun Spice
• Powdered Cheese
• 
• Heat oven to 200 degrees F.
• Heat the safflower oil in a 5-quart Dutch oven over high heat until it reaches 320 degrees.
• Using a V-slicer with a wide blade, slice the potatoes with the skin on. Place in a large bowl with cold water.
• In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, cayenne pepper, and Old Bay seasoning. Whisk in the beer until the batter is completely smooth and free of any lumps. Refrigerate for 15 minutes. Note: The batter can be made up to 1 hour ahead of time.

Drain potatoes thoroughly, removing any excess water. When oil reaches 320 degrees, submerge the potatoes in the oil. Working in small batches, fry for 2 to 3 minutes until they are pale and floppy. Remove from oil, drain, and cool to room temperature.

Increase the temperature of the oil to 375 degrees. Re-immerse fries and cook until crisp and golden brown, about 2 to 3 minutes. Remove and drain on roasting rack. Season with kosher salt while hot and hold in the oven.

Allow oil to return to 350 degrees. Lightly dredge fish strips in cornstarch. Working in small batches, dip the fish into batter and immerse into hot oil. When the batter is set, turn the pieces of fish over and cook until golden brown, about 2 minutes. Drain the fish on the roasting rack. Serve with malt vinegar. Season the Fries with Cajun Spice and Powdered Cheese.

Serve with Tar tar sauce and garnish with slices of lemon. Voila, you got  Beer-battered Fish and Chips. 

Risotto Frutti Di Mare

This is a risotto that I invented because my sister did not like Prawn Thermidor, but she likes rice so I made something using the ingredients of Prawn Thermidor but adding some of my own. Overall the secret ingredients of this dish are caviar and sour cream.

Ingredients:
Arborio Rice
Mushroom sliced
Bacon sliced
Scallop
Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
Prawns peeled and cut into threes
Butter
Sour Cream
Lungfish Caviar
Green Mussels
Garlic minced
White Wine
Italian Herbs
Basil

 

Steps: First Take a Pan and fill it with water and boil the arborio rice grains until they are soft and mix together well. When the rice has completely absorbed the excess water remove cover it and put it on low heat.

Prepare all of the ingredients. Put some butter in a pan and fry until it is golden brown. Then add the bacon to the pan and cook together well. When the bacon is half cooked add in the scallop and the mushrooms to the pan. Make sure that the scallop does not get crushed when your mixing it. Season it with Black Pepper

Add in the prawn to the pan and fry until it turns orange. Add in the Italian Herbs and Basil to the pan. Then add the Green Mussels on the half shell and the white wine to the pan. This will give the ingredients a good smell and taste. By this point some steam should be rising from the pan because of the mixture of liquids. Remove the ingredients from the pan

By the time that you finished cooking all the ingredients the rice should be cooked. Increase the heat of the pan with rice and then add the ingredients that have just been cooked. Mix all the ingredients except the mussels with the rice well and then add sour cream. When the rice has fully absorbed the sour cream add in the Lungfish caviar. 

Add in some of the shredded cheese to give it a sticky texture. Then Plate it. Garnish the top of the rice with the Green Mussels and add the remaining cheese. Microwave the plate for 10 seconds so that the cheese will melt onto the mussels and the rice. There you have it Risotto Frutti Di Mare

Chili Con Carne

This is a recipe for Chilli that I deduced from the book American Gods. It is very good as an appetizer. This ones dedicated to you Neil Gaiman.

Ingredients
half a can of Kidney Beans
Half a bottle of Tomato Sauce
Half a red Capsicum chopped into slices
200g ground beef
Cayenne Pepper
Chili Powder
Cajun Spice
Doritos Chips
3 sprigs of dill chopped
Lemon juice
White Onions
Carrot
Black Pepper
Red Wine
Grated Mozzarella Cheese

Steps: Prepare all of the ingredients. Squeeze the lemon juice from the lemon. Slice up the sprigs of dill and dice the red capsicum. Chop up the white onions, and dice the carrot. When you are using the kidney beans, add in the juice for flavor.

Firstly fry a pan with butter and then add in the white onions until it is nice and fragrant.

When the onions are cooked add in the diced carrots as well as the red capsicum. Keep on frying them until they are cooked and the carrots are not too hard. Add in the Cajun Spice.

Put in the ground beef into the pan. Add the Cayenne Pepper, Chili Powder and black pepper. A good spicy type smell should be rising from the pan. Add in the Sliced sprigs of dill into the pan and mix it together thoroughly. 

When all of the ingredients in the pan are cooked add the tomato sauce to the pan. Mix the ingredients with the sauce so that they level out evenly. Put in some red wine for a good husky taste. Add the kidney beans with the juice to the Mixture. 

Add a small amount of lemon juice for the extra spike as well as to enhance the smell of the chili. Set the pan on low heat and heat the mixture until it reduces to about half and has a firm consistency. If its too watery add some of the cheese. Get a plate and arrange Doritos around the plate. Spoon in the chili on top of the Doritos Chips, Sprinkle the shredded mozzarella cheese over the chili in the plate. Add some sprigs of dill on top as a garnish. Voila you got Chilli Con Carne that tastes good. 

Pasta de Green Mussels and Caviar

This is a really simple recipe to make a restaurant standard pasta, Guaranteed

Ingredients
Green Mussels on the Half Shell
Scallops
Pasta Spaghetti
Pure Cream
Caviar
Spring Onion
Butter
Olive Oil
Minced Garlic
Black Pepper
White Wine

Steps: First Boil a pot of hot water and boil your Pasta. Boil the Pasta for 7 mins and then drain into a strainer. Add some Olive Oil and mix the pasta in the strainer so that it does not stick. Boil the Mussels and remove the half shell from them. Now fry butter in a pan and add some spring onions.

When the spring onions start to fry add the scallops and mix it together with the spring onions. Make sure that the scallops don't get crushed when your mixing it. Add some Minced Garlic into the Scallops until it becomes fragrant.

After the Scallops are almost cooked add the green mussels to the pan. Add some Black pepper to the mix, then add white wine for smell and taste.

When it is almost completely cooked steam will start to rise from the mixture. Remove it and put it into a bowl. 

Fry some Butter in a pan, when the butter is melted put the pasta into the pan.
Fry the Pasta. Add the Pure cream into the pasta and mix. When the Pure cream has completely dissolved into the pasta, add the caviar into the pasta.

Add back the mixture of Green mussels and scallops back into the pasta and fry. Make sure that the pasta is not too wet or too dry.

When the pasta is completely cooked remove it and plate it. It is suggested to put the Green Mussels on top for added effect.

There you go Pasta de Green Mussels and Caviar. This is a really tasty dish that is easy to make, most of the ingredients are cheap except for the Caviar. Enjoy!

Lamb Chop

I just came back from the school holidays and had a strong itching for Lamb. This is a very very simple recipe that looks and tastes awesome.

Lamb Chop
Ingredients:
4 Lamb Chops
Thyme
Rosemary
Dijon Mustard
Butter
Black Pepper
Garlic Salt
Garlic
Soya sauce

(you will also need Aluminum foil)



Steps:
Take a large bowl and put in the Thyme and Rosemary. Open a bottle of Dijon Mustard and get ready to use your hands. Use your finger and put it into the combined seasonings, rub the sides of the lamb with the spices. Dip your finger into the bottle of dijon mustard and take a good amount and rub on the sides of the lamb chop. Make sure that you don't cover the tip of the bone. Use the Aluminum foil and cover the tips of the lamb chop bones.

Leave the lamb to marinade for about 30 minutes. Later take a pan and put butter onto the pan. Add garlic and fry until it turns golden brown. Put in the lambs in one side and fry until it turns brownish. Add the Black pepper and Garlic Salt to the lamb. Add some more soya sauce for flavor.

When one side of the lamb is cooked flip it to the other side using the aluminum foil and cook the lamb till it turns brown. Make sure the lamb is cooked by cutting it open a little in the side to see whether it is still red. When the Lamb is fully cooked, plate it and garnish with a piece of italian parsley.

This is a really easy tasty lamb recipe, try it.

Nikuman

Nikuman (Japanese Pao) I actually wanted to make this food initially after hearing it mentioned in an anime/visual novel Kanon. It was the favorite food of one of the characters.

Ingredients
Bun
1 1/3 cup Flour
3 tablespoon Sugar
Salt
3/4 teaspoon yeast
3/4 tablespoon baking powder
1/6 cup milk
half cup water
1 tablespoon butter

Filling
400g minced pork
Chinese Cabbage, Julienne
2 garlic cloves
Ginger, minced
shitake mushrooms
sesame oil
soy sauce
oyster sauce
sake
1/2 tablespoon cornstarch
black pepper
Hard Boiled Egg

Steps:

Mix all of the powdered ingredients for the bun together in a bowl. Make a well in the center of the dough and add all of the wet ingredient into it and mix it together thoroughly. If the Dough is too sticky add more flour to it, when the dough is formed add in the butter to the dough. Kneed the dough until it becomes smooth. Rest the dough inside a bowl covered with a plastic wrap for 30 mins.

Fry sesame oil in a pan and add the garlic to the pan, when it turns golden brown add the minced pork. Put in the soy sauce, oyster sauce and sake and taste the meat when it is fully cooked. Add in the shitake mushrooms, the ginger and the cabbage. When all of the ingredients are cooked, put in the cornstarch. Remove all of the ingredients and put them into a bowl.

After the dough has finished resting put it on a plate. Divide the dough into slices and press them flat with your palm, use a small spoon and put the ingredients into the flattened dough. In each piece of dough add one slice of the hardboiled egg, if the dough is too sticky add some more flour. Push the edges of the dough around the filling and press it together and twist the top to make a pao shape.

Steam the paos in a bamboo steamer, put in 3 to four in each bamboo steamer and steam for 15 mins.

The dough will probably make about 6 nikuman. When it is done steaming, plate it and its ready to eat.

This recipe is quite simple even though people would think it would be hard to make nikuman. Try it if you can.

Mushroom Swiss Burger and Caramelized Bacon BBQ Burger

Burger

Ingredients:

400g minced beef

1 table spoon dijon mustard

Italian Bread Crumbs

One Egg

Chopped Italian Parsley

Black Pepper

Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

Burger Buns

Margarine

Steps:

Mix all of the ingredients together inside a bowl. Mix the ingredients well and then form the meat into two burger patties and put it back into the bowl. Cover the bowl in a plastic wrap and keep in the fridge for 1 hour. 

Fry Oil in the frying pan and cook the burgers inside. Flip the burgers and fry both sides, make sure that the inside of the burger is completely cooked. When the burgers are cooked remove and plate them.

   Take the Burger Buns and cut in half. Spread some Margarine on the sides of the burger buns. Take a              frying pan and toast the sides of the Burger Buns until it becomes firm. When it is cooked, remove it.

This is where the two recipes differ, I'm going to go through the Mushroom Swiss first and then to the Caramelized Bacon.

Swiss Cheese Burger

Ingredients:

White Button Mushrooms, cut into slices

Elemental Cheese

Milk

Black Pepper

Spring Onions, Chopped 

Butter

Steps:

Fry the butter in a frying pan, put in the spring onions and fry until it becomes fragrant. Sauté the Sliced White Button Mushrooms inside the frying pan and add black pepper.

When the Mushrooms are almost cooked add the elemental cheese to the mushrooms. Melt the cheese together with the mushrooms. When it is completely melted add milk to the mushrooms, it should become a sticky type mixture now. Arrange the burger and put the Mushroom Swiss mixture onto the the patty. 

Put the top bun onto the burger and then toast the entire burger for a while so that the cheese will fully melt onto the burger. Remove and Plate it, Mushroom Swiss Burger Done.

Caramelized Bacon BBQ Burger

Ingredients:

Brown Sugar

2 Slabs of Bacon, Cut into halves

White Onion Slices

One Piece of Elemental Cheese

Barbecue Sauce

Steps:

Take the Patty that you just fried and fry it again in oil. This time slather the patty with Barbecue sauce. When the Barbecue sauce sticks to the patty remove and plate it.

Heat a frying pan and burn the Brown Sugar, when it starts turning into caramel. Add the bacon into the Caramel. Fry the Bacon until the caramel sticks to it and it starts to bubble. Put in the White Onion Slices and mix together well with the Caramel Mixture.

When the Caramelized Bacon and Onions are fully cooked put the mixture onto of the patty and the bottom burger bun. Add a slice of elemental cheese onto the burger and top it with another bun. Toast the Burger until the cheese melts and then plate it. Caramelized Bacon BBQ Burger accomplished.

Voila, we have two variations on how to make a burger and they both taste really good and distinct. It makes me hungry just to write this all down.