Eggs in Ratatouille

Original recipe here!

Beef Brisket

Recipe by Tom Perini. Got it from here!

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 2 tablespoons salt
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon onion powder
• 1 tablespoon ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 teaspoons dry mustard
• 1 bay leaf, crushed
• 4 pounds beef brisket, trimmed
• 1 1/2 cups beef stock

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Make a dry rub by combining chili powder, salt, garlic and onion powders, black pepper, sugar, dry mustard, and bay leaf. Season the raw brisket on both sides with the rub. Place in a roasting pan and roast, uncovered, for 1 hour.

Add beef stock and enough water to yield about 1/2 inch of liquid in the roasting pan. Lower oven to 300 degrees F, cover pan tightly and continue cooking for 3 hours, or until fork-tender.

Trim the fat and slice meat thinly across the grain. Top with juice from the pan (I reduced the juice to make a thick sauce). 

Squeeze some lemon juice at the end. Bon Appetite.

Fishy

Ingredients

5 tomatoes
2 onions
3 cloves of garlic
Fish (Pangasius)
Peanuts
3 potatoes
Cheese
3 Tbsp cream
4/5 Olives

Directions

Roughly chop the onions and garlic
Heat oil in a pan and cook onions and garlic for a few minutes and season them
Take out the fish from the fridge and season it with salt and pepper
Grind a couple of tomotatoes along with  peanuts, salt, pepper and olive oil and pour it on the fish
Add 4 tomatoes into the pan of onions and garlic while roughly sqeezing them with hands
Add a pinch of sugar to the pan and reduce it for 5 min.
Now pour this reduced material, cream, potatoes, olives, cheese on the fish
Cook the fish in an oven for 20/25 minutes at 210 centigrade

* Do not forget the sugar, otherwise onions can have a very dominant flavor.

For the original recipe see here!

Spice Alert

Small wonder with this range of ready made spices stuffed inside the kitchen cabinet the food doesn't taste the same anymore rather everything tastes the same.

My Not-So-Perfect Chocolate Mousse

Well, of course it's not perfect. I can work on the presentation a lot more; the taste was scrumptilicious though. It should be served in martini glasses (if I ever found them) with a swirl of whipped cream (which I didn't have at that time) on it. Chocolate shavings should be more visible, I shredded them too finely. Moreover, I took it out from the refrigerator after just an hour. Huge mistake!
I'll definitely post the picture of the improved version when I give it a try again. For now, I am thinking … cheesecake!

INGREDIENTS

• 150 g dark chocolate
• 4 egg whites
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 tsp orange zest
• 2 tbsp of unsalted butter (optional)
• 2 tbsp of coffee (optional)

METHOD

• Melt the chocolate over a Bain-main until smooth. (You may add butter in it)
• Beat the egg whites to soft peaks, sprinkle over the sugar and continue beating until a stiff meringue a minute or two later. (Soft peaks can be refrigerated for a while for better results)
• Beat the yolks with orange zest.(You may use coffee as well)
• Whisk the chocolate into the yolks.(Chocolate should be preferably at room temperature)
• Fold in a spoonful of whites, then pour the remaining whites and fold gently to combine evenly. (Don't stir, it will ruin everything)
• Pour the mousse in a serving bowl, cover well with plastic and refrigerate at least a few hours.(Some say at least 8 hours)
• Serve garnished with whipped cream, chocolate shavings and a little orange zest.

Masala vs. BBC Food

People at Masala tv really thought they could match Heston’s perfection, Rick’s experience and Nigella’s desserts? Well, they just might if they gather up some courage to cut short program timings. Just listen to the running commentary for minor details, making every move visible to the hapless viewers. From picking up the vegetable from the table top to taking it to the wash basin, opening the tap, washing it properly because it’s healthy, closing the tap because wasting water is not a good idea, bring the vegetable back to the table, pick up the knife... be careful when using it…

Audience is forced to listen to chefs’ constant chatter and yes, they talk a lot. It would also help not to provide every program with its very own dedicated phone line. Cooking show cum family drama is nauseating. The chefs start to sound more like agony aunts. Brigades of aunties call from all over the country, inspired by chefs’ loquaciousness and making sure that the entire family (including 3 and 4 years old chintoo and mintoo respectively) get to talk to the chef and his very pretty sidekick/co-host before putting down the receiver.

Then there are the accents and postures. I didn’t know if you have to cook pasta properly, you are not allowed to speak normally and have to twist and coil your tongue to make sure that the food tastes right out of a kitchen in Rome.

What happened to the good old aprons and toques? Do you have to look like an American brat before you make an American pie? Some chefs and almost all sidekicks/co-hosts are dressed to perfection. Flowing dupattas, shimmering jewelry, thick makeup; quoting a marketing teacher, “very cute but no!”

A little bit more professionalism and a lot less cuteness is needed.

Easy on the Spices

A pinch of salt and pepper is enough to enhance the flavors but we have to go one step further from being passionate to obsessive; enhancement to mutilation. Until and unless beads of sweat start tickling down and the tongue pops out, we don’t label it as food. Every eatable must be dipped in a range of spices and should be floating in a hot red murky shorba(broth) before it is served. There is no such thing as spicy food, it is only food. Adrak (Ginger), Anardana (Pomegranate seed), Darchini (cinnamon), Dhania (Coriander seed), Elaichi (Cardamom), Haldi(Turmeric), Hara dhaniya (Coriander), Zeera (Cumin) to name a very few. With all these things smeared on, how on earth am I supposed to taste that chicken within?

But it is extremely difficult to make a case against spices. They literally made an empire to take over another empire and then rule it for hundred odd years. Beat that!

I am accused of being disloyal to my roots and my mum says that BBC Food, now Lifestyle has corrupted my mind. Well she is not entirely incorrect :) . But who can blame me? Watching that channel is the best therapy for a troubled soul. You don’t need anything else. Turn it on, meditate and liberate yourself.

I think we should go easy on the spices. Pleasure should lead us towards peace not chaos and that thing which gurgles inside me after an extra spicy serving is certainly no peace. Every flavor should be given due chance to work its magic on the palate. A perfect balance is what does the trick and excess of an ingredient can ruin the whole canvas.

Second servings and First meetings

My folks are always surprised when they see me gulping down food after returning from a wedding, party etc. I know it shouldn’t come as a surprise for someone who is well aware of my gulping habits but people usually assume that one has to stuff one’s food reservoirs on such occasions so that it lasts till the next wedding, party etc. I just have a problem with second servings at these kinds of occasions only. It feels that every eye is following my plate, counting how many times I scooped up the spoon. I thought of piling up my plate in the first go like we do at salt n pepper’s salad bar but even that seems too big a challenge.

Very unfortunately I am overtaken by this phobia when I have to refill my cup at subway. Every time I pledge to myself that no stepping back this time, I can always hear the man at the counter saying, “Second time eh? You’re sure? Please don’t look at me, it’s absolutely fine, go ahead but you’re really really sure you want to do this?” Shut up!

I dragged myself to the first (hopefully this year’s last) aftar party. Apart from hating the combination of these two words; aftar and party, it is agonizing to attend a gathering where know to don’t know ratio is 1/30.

It is more hilarious to see others trying to strike a conversation than I making an effort to keep up with them. I am perfectly fine if they let me sit quietly in one corner of the room. I am completely harmless in that way but the host thinks that you are getting bored (it is supposed to be my happy face) and he drags a person out of the crowd, roughly my age, gives a short introduction and leaves.

Gotcha! There is no way out. Appearances are my first impressions. The moment someone starts walking towards me, my mind is feverishly charting out his/her character map. Mostly the maps which are turned out aren’t very encouraging. After the initial and famous hello-hi, mono-syllable answers are the way out. Still if the other person persists and doesn’t leave with a polite excuse me (which I am most happy to do), I finally start making an effort, acknowledging his sincere determination. It usually goes fine from there but I guess it’s those initial jitters which make the whole experience exhausting.

Yes! Perfection is possible...

2 am in the morning, garfield eyes, .02% of brain functioning (way below than what Einstein predicted in a normal human being) but behold what a mere mortal is capable of!. They appear to me like a pair of clown-like eyes or even better; two main sequence stars coming together in a globular cluster to make a blue straggler.

I was amazed that I didn't have a single label which referred to the main ingredient of life, food! The very thing which has never let me down.

There is no love sincerer than the love of food. ~George Bernard Shaw

You can always trust a chocolate bar to wipe away your tears, a medium steak to ease out tensions, potato chips to put an end to boredom and ofcourse our very own; the loving and caring, soft drinks.

Sleep 'til you're hungry, eat 'til you're sleepy. ~Author Unknown