It's All About Jellyfish

So it's not about food today. It's about photographs and the beauty of photography. Besides being a foodie I also love photography and capturing wonderful images. Today it's the beauty of jellyfish. No I don't eat them, I shoot them and only with a camera.

But then I got curious and went looking for recipes because maybe I would want to cook one someday. There is a lot of information on how to cook a jellyfish.

Cooking a jellyfish is pretty simple. You are saved the botheration of cleaning it, as it comes in pieces which are already processed. First you wash the jellyfish in cold water to get the salt off and then soak it overnight in the refrigerator. Then you the jelly fish in thin strips and put them in boiling water. Immediately after this you have to drop them in chilled water. After blanching them the jellyfish will curl up a little, and it is ready to be marinated or to be put in any dish that you choose. For different types of salads the jellyfish does not need any marination and can be used directly into the salad as one of the ingredients. For a gravy dish you can marintae it in different seasonings, like vinegar, soy sauce and so on. The jellyfish has a bland taste and will take on the predominant flavour of the dish you are making.

In China the processed jellyfish are desalted and soaked overnight, and even eaten raw without blanching. In Japan the processed jellyfish is rinsed and cut into strips, and served with vinegar as an appetizer.

So there it is, cooking jellyfish. Sounds really interesting and intriguing. Now off to find jellyfish.

But until then, it's all about the photos of the beautiful creatures.

Steak & Eggs & Cozy Yellow Slippers

It's pouring rain today in normally sunny California. It's a day to stay inside and stay dry and cook something up. So it's steak and eggs for breakfast with a hot cup of tea. Picked up a nice sirloin yesterday so throwing that on the stove. Seasoned up simply with s&p. Fry up an egg and all done.

Cozy slippers on, music on the stereo. It's a fine way to spend a rainy morning in N. California.

Breakfast up. Steak perfectly cooked, one egg easy over, toast and some homemade tomato/shiso jam. It just didn't seem right to have ketchup with steak and eggs. So tomato/shiso jam seemed like just what the rainy day ordered.

Bon Appetite!

Duck, caramelized onion, fontina cheese pizza - YUMMY

So I must be hungry with two posts in one day. I made a pizza that was a put together of ingredients that I believed would work and served it sight unseen. Low and behold, they worked.

The first part was prepping the duck. Not difficult but time consuming. Spendy, perhaps but depends on where one gets the duck. I picked up duck legs from my local chinese market at the quite reasonable sum of $2.99 per pound. A very good price and this recipe makes a lot of duck. Plus I keep the skin and render the fat off so that I can use it in other places. Yes, fat...How healthy is that. Well some critics say that duck fat is healthier than other fats, jury is still out. But it is mighty tasty stuff and works great to fry potatoes in. How bad can that be!

Anyways, I digress...First part of this recipe is to prep the duck .

Duck Ragu

4 duck legs, skinned

salt & pepper

¼ cup olive oil

2 sweet onions, diced

1 carrot finely chopped

1 celery stalk, finely diced

2 cloves of garlic, sliced

4 fresh sage leaves

2 cups red wine

1 28 oz. can whole plum tomatoes

1 cup chicken stock (preferably home made)

1. Heat olive oil in a thick bottom casserole or dutch oven over medium high heat until oil is almost smoking.
2. Season the duck with salt and pepper and brown on all sides
3. Remove duck from pan, and add onion, celery, and carrot to the pan. Cook over low heat until the vegetables are softened. Add garlic to pan and sauté briefly.
4. Add wine, tomatoes, and chicken stock to pan and bring to the boil. Add duck pieces back to the pan, plus any reserved juices.
5. Cover pan, lower the heat and simmer for an hour and a half.
6. Remove the duck pieces from the pan and when cool enough to handle pull the meat off the bones.

While the duck is cooking, caramelize onions in some sort of fat...I used duck fat :-) that I had rendered. But olive oil works perfectly well.

Grate some fontina for the pizza...

Once the duck is prepped it's quite simple...Get your favorite pizza dough. The inexpensive way is to make your own but again that takes time. The easy way is to buy it. I picked up some at Il Fornaio, but Trader Joe's is supposed to have it again.

Roll out the dough. Spread out fontina on the pizza dough. Then add the caramelized onions to the pizza and finally top with the duck ragu.

Bake in a hot oven for 20-30 minutes or until the dough is cooked through and the cheese has melted. Serve hot or at room temperature.

The duck ragu is also good served over pasta or simply to nosh on.

Now I am really hungry. Time for dinner..

It's Fall and Time for a Squash Soup with Thai spices

So I decided to start a blog and record my recipes. A special person in my life always said that I should write down my recipes and write a cookbook. He always said that I could replicate any dish that we had in a restaurant. Well that's a bit of a stretch. But I am turning over a new leaf about writing down my recipes. I never did until now.

Fall is here in N. California and I do love fall produce. I also am trying to eat healthier. So here is my rendition of a healthier version of a Butternut Squash Soup (although not perfect, but not that bad). The squash came by way of AC, the gardening queen who grew the gorgeous squash that I used to make this soup. Enjoy.

BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP WITH THAI INFLUENCE (makes about 8 cups or 6-8 servings).

3 cups roasted chopped, butternut squash (roasted at 400 degrees with 1 tsp salt & 2 tbl olive oil)

2 carrot chopped

1 large onion chopped

3 cups homemade chicken stock (defatted)

2 tbl olive oil

1 1/2 inch knob ginger – grated

1 med. white potato chopped

1 ½ tbl red curry paste

1 15 oz. can light coconut milk

diced fresh pineapple, chopped roasted peanuts (for garnish)

sauté onion in olive oil until softened

add carrots, roasted butternut squash, ginger, red curry paste and continue sauting

add chicken stock and potato – bring to the boil, reduce heat and continue cooking for 15 minutes

add 1 cup light coconut milk, cover and simmer for 30 minutes

puree soup, add the rest of the can of coconut milk

serve hot garnished with fresh pineapple and roasted peanuts