Molecular carbonara

I had never been a fan of the molecular gastronomy movement. Not that I’ve ever eaten at El Bulli, The Fat Duck or Alinea, but I’ve tasted other chefs foams, gels, deconstructed and vacuum-sealed cooking and it has just never appealed to me.

In 2008, I worked with a chef who made excellent versions of dishes found in the El Bulli cookbook. Back then we all thought that molecular gastronomy was the future of cuisine. I thought to myself, I’d better learn a few tricks or I’ll get left behind. Spherification was one of them, the rest just bored me. Here’s  a picture of a “spherified” mango that I made on top of a crab salad amuse bouche. We did that same mango in a glass of Champagne on New Year’s Eve that year.

Fast forward 4 years – El Bulli has shut down and the whole molecular gastronomy movement has somewhat faded. A Simpson’s episode last year even made fun of it, proof that it had all become cliche.

So as we are brainstorming our pasta selections for this season’s menu, our Sous Chef Michele suggests a simple carbonara dish. Except that the “sauce” of eggs, cream and parmesan cheese would be squeezed out of those whipped cream thingies that you need to load up with a gas charger (God, even as I type this post I don’t even know what they’re called!). On our menu it reads: Tagliatelle Rustiche alla Carbonara – Whole Wheat Pasta with Crispy Bacon and Parmesan Cream “Espuma”. The word espuma made me cringe and I was skeptical at first.

This is the whipped cream thingy where the sauce comes out of. We hold it warm in a water bath. The exact temperature … I have no idea. The can feels hot when I hold it…

Turns out this dish is delicious! A really cool spin on pasta carbonara, hence this blog post and recipe.

To make the sauce: heat 1 liter of cream to a simmer and temper 12 egg yolks into it (like how you would make a pouring custard but without the sugar or vanilla). Return the pan to the fire and cook until the custard coats the back of a spoon. Add 200 grams of parmesan cheese, blend for 10 seconds with a hand mixer and immediately strain into a bowl over ice. Season with salt, fresh ground black pepper and a pinch of nutmeg.

Once cool, pour the parmesan custard into the whipped cream thingy only up to 2/3 full. Seal the canister, add a cream charger and hold in a hot water bath Until ready to use.

My favorite piece of equipment in our kitchen is the pasta cooker. Boil some tagliatelle pasta in some rapidly boiling salted water until al dente. When done, toss with melted butter and place in a serving bowl. Squeeze the Parmesan cream inside and on top of the pasta. Sprinkle with crispy bacon bits and chopped chives.

Deconstructing ingredients and playing with textures makes molecular gastronomy what it is. Above is 2 ways with Parmesan cheese: in a creamy foam and as a crispy chip.

The best adobo recipe is my mother’s

I think every Filipino who has lived away from home has made this dish with a tear and a smile (to borrow from Kahlil Gibran – one of my mom’s favorite poets). This recipe is one of the first dishes I learned how to make. I make and eat this all the time – at home by myself, when friends wanting to know more about Filipino food eat at my house, and, like tonight, at work where I can serve it as a special and get away with charging top dollar for it. On our menu tonight at the Cotton House it read:

“Southeast Asian Soy-braised Cornish Hen served with Coconut Jasmine Rice, Tomato-Red Onion Salad, and Local Green Papaya Pickles”

Left out from this description was the crisp toasted garlic I put on top of the rice and the char-broiled eggplant I mixed in with the tomato salad. Whether I serve it in high-style with Cornish hen on Villeroy and Boch china or at home with chicken or pork on my crap dinnerware while eating it with my fingers it’s still the best adobo I’ve had. At least to me.

Ma’s Adobo Recipe

– To 1 kg (2 lbs) of chicken pieces or pork cut into 2 inch cubes (any kind of pork stew meat will work especially pork belly!) or both combined, add 1/3 cup vinegar (Datu Puti coconut vinegar if you can find it or any white, cane or rice vinegar), 1/3 cup dark soy sauce (Silver Swan if you can find it, Kikkoman works), 3 bay leaves, 10 whole peppercorns, half a head of crushed garlic and 2 cup of water. Marinate for a few hours, or even better, overnight.

– Drain the meat from the liquid and reserve the marinade. Heat 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil in a heavy pot. Brown the pieces of meat in the hot oil (you may have to do this in 2 batches depending on how big the pot is). Add the marinade back to the browned meat in the pot and allow to simmer over medium-low heat until the meats are tender. Keep in mind that chicken breast cooks the fastest, followed by dark chicken meat, followed by the pork. Remove each piece of the braised meat from the pot once it is tender – a tedious technique but worth doing.

– The braising liquid left in the pot will most likely be thin and soupy. Turn the heat up to high and reduce this liquid by half or until it is dark and slightly thickened. Return the braised pieces of meat back in the pot and allow to simmer for a few minutes in the reduced sauce. At this point you can simmer the adobo even further for a “drier” dish.

– Serve the adobo hot with steamed rice and a vegetable side dish such as tomato, red onion salad with salted duck egg or char-grilled eggplant. I like to garnish the adobo with crispy slivers of fried garlic.

Crab and mango salad

Served this as a starter last night. Clean, simple flavors and ingredients that showcase the land (or island) – in this case crab and mango. The mangoes were nice and ripe and came from the farmers in Tortola. Most of the fresh herbs did too. The crab (blue crab) came from elsewhere but next time I will try this with some local lobster. The flowers in the glass bowl were from Peter Island – nice to look at but inedible. We had to tell the guests not to eat them, in case they thought it was their salad course after eating the seafood appetizer

Here’s the recipe:

Crab and Mango Salad

Ingredients:

2-3 medium sized ripe mangoes

1 teaspoon lime juice

250 grams picked (no shells!) and pre-cooked crab meat

2 tablespoons minced red onion

1 teaspoon fresh tarragon, finely chopped

1 teaspoon fresh basil, finely shredded (chiffonade)

1 teaspoon parsley, finely chopped

2 tablespoons lime juice (or the juice of 2 limes)

1/4 teaspoon finely grated lime zest

3-4 tablespoons best quality mayonnaise (preferably homemade)

salt and pepper, to taste

Tabasco sauce or cayenne pepper, to taste

Procedure:

1. Peel the mangoes and cut into small dice, reserving 1/2 a mango for the puree. Puree the reserved half with a little lime juice. Combine the diced mango and the mango puree and season with a pinch of salt.

2. Combine all the ingredients except the crab in a bowl. Add the crab and gently toss this into the dressing. Season with salt, pepper and a little cayenne or Tabasco sauce.

3. Layer the crab salad and mango in a glass bowl, or over a some mixed baby greens on a plate. Garnish with a lime wedge and more slices of fruit.

I did a version of this salad a year ago at Amanyara but as an amuse bouche in a Chinese spoon. Same flavors but different presentation and purpose on the menu. The mango was pureed and “spherified” so it bursts in your mouth and looks like a small quail egg yolk (dabbling a bit in molecular gastronomy back then … spherification was one of the things I was very interested in). The flowers were edible in this case.

Specials from the past weeks (May-June)

Soups

Some rainy days in the BVI the past week has led to some cold weather soup making. Whenever it rains on Peter Island, activities for the guests get cancelled. No picnics on the beach, no sunsets with wine and cheese at a bluff we call “The Loop”, no boat trips, etc. And unless your idea of fun is walking in the rain, you are stuck in your room. Some guests feel that the resort should somehow make up for it. So we send the cheese and wine to the room for them to enjoy on their patio or balcony while watching the rain, and I put out soup on the menu at dinner. It’s the least I can do as I cannot change the weather…

Sweet Corn and Smoked Mussel Chowder  Pesto Croutons       

Peter Island Chicken Soup, Chef Pont’s Homemade Dumplings

Roasted Plantain and Sweet Potato Soup Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

Cream of Potato and Leek House-cured Gravlax Crostino                                                                  

And then the weather clears up and it is hot and (now that it is summer) increasingly humid. I propose a cooling gazpacho – it is like drinking your salad with all the flavors of summer. Or a fragrant, hot soup made with summer vegetables and Mediterranean flavors.

Spanish Gazpacho Cucumber, Red Pepper, Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Cumin-spiced Tomato and Roasted Eggplant Garlic Croutons                                                                                                  

Starters

We just finished our first guest chef program with Chef Chris Ivens-Brown. The rabbit spring rolls with chutney is an ode to his contribution to our kitchen. The fruit chutney recipes that he shared were really good, as was his philosophy of living and eating and cooking sustainably. The rabbit we used was raised in Tortola by local farmers.

Braised Local Rabbit Spring Rolls Peach and Pear Chutney, Petite Salad                                                                                       

I put three refreshing seafood salad starters on the warmer days of the week each a twist on Asian, Latin American and Mediterranean flavors. The recipe for the green olive relish was adapted from Judy Roger’s Zuni Café Cookbook – a solid reference for Mediterranean sauces, relishes and recipes, it is now permanently in the chefs office (although it seems like I am the only one using it:).

Grilled Scallop and Asparagus Salad Green Olive, Preserved Lemon and Pine Nut Relish                                                                                 

Lemongrass Shrimp Skewers Local Green Mango Salad, Thai Ginger Dressing, Spicy Cashew Nuts                              

Lime-Marinated Shrimp “Ceviche” Jicama, Cilantro, Avocado                                                                                                    

And of course something for the vegetarians…

Tomato and Fresh Mozzarella Salad Local-grown Basil Pesto, Balsamic Reduction     

Goat Cheese-stuffed Spanish Piquillo Peppers Served over Bruschetta, Petite Herb Salad

Main Courses

I took advantage of 3 kinds of local seafood that we were able to get in the past few weeks. Local BVI lobster caught off the waters of Anegada is always a joy to cook (and eat!). Most of the meat is in the tail as Caribbean lobsters have no large claws.

 Roasted Anegada Lobster Sweet Peppers and Chrorizo, Roasted Potato, Lemon Herb Butter                               

 I think snapper is the chardonnay of Caribbean seafood – it is versatile and lends to a wide range of cooking styles and flavors. I often make it in the un-definable style of how chefs in California cook (Cal-Mediterranean?) usually lightly pan-roasted or grilled and served with creatively prepared vegetables.

 Seared Red Snapper Roasted Pepper and Mint Risotto, Asparagus, Lemon Beurre Blanc                   

 Grilled Red Snapper  Celery Root Mash, Shaved Asparagus-Citrus Salad                                            

The wahoo was brought directly to the resort by local fishermen and was caught the same day. I couldn’t resist and purchased all 4 large fish. Wahoo lends well to being grilled but can overcook really fast. I like to cook it on the grill until it is barely medium rare, then let it rest off the heat and covered for a few minutes. The residual heat will cook it through to the middle and the fish will stay moist. “Fungi” is a Caribbean dish of cornmeal and okra cooked together with some stock and coconut milk – a lot like polenta without the cheese. We made this version sans okra and with sautéed shiitake mushrooms added in at the end.

 Grilled Local Wahoo with Herb Butter Shiitake Mushroom Cornmeal “Fungi”, Slow-roasted Tomato, Tortola Long Beans

What would my specials be without the nod to Asian food and flavors? Or is it just an excuse for me to eat plain white rice and to taste familiar flavors with while I am at work and so far away from home.

Roasted Pompano with Indian Curry Sauce White Rice Pilaf, Mango Chutney, Cucumber Raita

Asian-style steamed Sea Bass Bok Choy and Shiitake Mushrooms, Local Scallion and Ginger Relish, Jasmine Rice                       

 Tortola farmers raise some chickens that we purchase every other week together with some nice local produce. It is our way of supporting local farmers and the community.

Grilled Local-raised Half Chicken in Herbs Potato-Artichoke Cake, Asparagus, Romesco Sauce                                                 

 Another nod to Chef Chris Ivens-Brown’s cooking was the cannelloni featured in this dish”

 “Beef Duo” Braised Short Rib Cannelloni and Petite Filet Mignon Crisp Potato Croquettes, Carrot Puree, Red Wine Jus                                                    

The rest of the short ribs were turned into a classic preparation braised in wine and one with Southeast Asian flavors similar to the one I used to serve for lunch at the Beach club in Amanyara (it is one of my favorite ways to cook short ribs so I will definitely post the recipe). The lemongrass and the papaya used in this dish were all locally grown.

Short Ribs Braised in Red Wine and Roasted Garlic Horseradish-Potato Cake, Glazed Pearl Onion and Carrot                                       

Braised Coconut-Lemongrass Beef Short Rib Island Rice, Julienne Vegetables and Green Papaya                                                       

And again something for the vegetarians in-house. We have quite a few Italian guests – the pastas with local vegetables and risotto were made with them in mind.

Penne Pasta with Roasted Local Eggplant, Spinach and Black Olives  Spicy Marinara Sauce, Croutons                                                                                          

Fettuccine in House-made Basil Pesto Oven-roasted Tomato, Local Long Beans, Shaved Parmesan Cheese                             

Wild Mushroom Risotto Grilled Summer Squash and Asparagus, Shaved Parmesan Cheese                     

Tortola-grown Vegetables in West Indian Curry White Rice Pilaf, Mango Chutney, Cucumber Raita                                                   

 

Asian-Mediterranean Specials

I loved the Asian-Mediterranean concept of Amanyara (my work before coming to the BVI). Chef Fritz describes it as authentic Asian and modern Mediterranean. He hates fusion cuisine so we try to make all our Asian dishes with authentic ingredients and techniques. Since a lot of the expat staff are Asian – this concept plays on their strengths. The modern Mediterranean part is mostly Spanish, with a lot of molecular gastronomy touches. I’m not really a fan of it, but I do appreciate the creativity and even learned a few tricks myself. The cheeses, olive oils, vinegar and other Mediterranean products that we used were fantastic.

Here at Peter Island, a lot of my cooking still reflects this Asian-Mediterranean concept, although I do a lot more Caribbean dishes here (also to play on the strengths of the kitchen staff). Asian ingredients are hard to find and source here in the BVI – but we make do with what we can, bordering on a bit of fusion as an effect. The cooking is also a lot more relaxed, a little more rustic than what I used to do in Turks and Caicos.

Here’s a sampling of Asian-Mediterranean specials that I’ve put on the daily menu in the past few weeks:

Asian

Chicken and Rice Soup with Ginger, Green Papaya and Cilantro

Shrimp and Green Papaya Salad, Thai Lemongrass Dressing, Cashew Nuts

Thai Green Vegetable Curry with Local-grown Vegetables, Toasted Coconut, Jasmine Rice

Crispy Seared Tofu with Sweet Soy Glaze, Cool Soba Noodle and Crisp Vegetable Salad

Asian-style Steamed Seabass with Soy, Sake and Mirin, Local Bokchoy and Shiitake Mushrooms, Jasmine Rice

Mediterranean

Grilled Portobello Mushroom and Radicchio Salad, Sherry Vinaigrette, Shaved Manchego Cheese

Lemon-Oregano Grilled Shrimp, Greek Salad with Sweet Peppers and Feta Cheese

Harissa Shrimp Salad with Moroccan Eggplant and Local Spinach

Lobster and Asparagus Salad, Cherry Tomato, Lime-Coriander Dressing

Oven Roasted Grouper, Potato-Artichoke Confit, Asparagus, Romesco Sauce

Wild Mushroom and Squash Risotto, Balsamic Reduction, Shaved Reggiano Cheese

Parma Ham-wrapped Pork Loin, Artichoke Risotto, Apple-Red Wine Reduction

Specials from the past week/s

Spring is in the air … even here in the Caribbean. The following are some of the specials we ran at Tradewinds over the busy few weeks…

Starters:

Chicken, wild rice and spinach soup

Seared scallop and green papaya salad with grapefruit, lime and cashew nuts – I made the green papaya salad like the som tam I had in Thailand, except I used less fish sauce in the dressing. I like replacing the peanuts with cashew nuts in this salad – seems to make it a bit more upscale and not so street food-ish.

Scallop ceviche, sweet peppers, quail egg, sweet potato crisps – A play on the Peruvian ceviche with sweet potato. I took the sweet potato out from the mix and turned it into chips. White sweet potato here in the Caribbean is called “tania” or “dasheen” – they are just like taro chips when fried up.

Spanish marinated mushrooms and sweet red pepper salad, sherry vinaigrette, shaved manchego cheese

Main courses:

Lemon-parmesan chicken scallopine, warm orzo salad, tomato vinaigrette – I’m not so fond of putting chicken out on the menu as a special. But as our menu cycles go, there is a night when we have 3 kinds of seafood, lamb, duck and beef already on our a la carte menu. So the challenge during those days is to make something nice out of chicken or a kick-ass vegetarian special. I welcome the challenge by coming up with dishes like this one .. maybe a bit too summer-y in retrospect. I remember we even put torn arugula in the orzo salad. Then again, it is always summer where I am…

Tamarind-glazed grilled pork tenderloin, sauteed local squash, Caribbean rice pilaf

Asparagus risotto, spring vegetable confit, sauteed wild mushrooms

Pesto-basted Anegada lobster, local-grown basil, spring vegetable and potato confit – Of course if we can’t think of anything nice to do with chicken or vegetables, there’s always lobster.

Local-raised suckling pig roast

Slowly but surely we are joining the “eat local” movement. Three weeks ago, we started putting local raised suckling pig on the menu for our Wednesday night Caribbean buffet. This dish replaced the jerk pork that was on our live grill station. Pork loin that came from I-don’t-know-where-pig-farm in the US – flown in frozen, possible defrosted along the way to the BVI, frozen again, then defrosted before being marinated in a jerk marinade. Good thing we make a nice jerk marinade.

The local pigs that we roast are raised by farmers in Tortola and slaughtered in the government-run “abbatoir” (that’s what the sign says). They have a lot more flavor than generic frozen pork so we don’t have to mask it with strong marinades. On the first night that we made it, I made a herb oil (local rosemary, thyme, basil and garlic in olive oil) and generously rubbed this all over the pig with salt and cracked black pepper. I then stuffed the cavity with handfuls of rosemary, parsley and garlic – more like an Italian porchetta than anything I’ve tasted here in the Caribbean. I then slow roasted it for 6+ hours, then seared it in a hotter convection oven to crisp the skin. The next week that I made it, the farmers sent us some local lemongrass (fever grass as Jamaicans would call it), so I stuffed the pig with tied up bundles of this + garlic and ginger (like lechon back home), then rubbed it with the herb oil, salt and pepper. I made the skin extra crispy that time too having gotten more familiar with the equipment in our kitchen.

The smell of the pork, herbs and lemongrass while they are slowly roasting is intoxicating. It really lures you into the kitchen. But the real secret is the 6+ hours roasting time that ensures the pork is so tender that once you get past the crisp golden-brown crackling, you can carve the meat off the bone with a fork (which I did the one night I had to carve the pig). After the 6-7 hours of slow roasting, I brush a neutral oil (pomace or grapeseed) on the skin and transfer the pig into a 400 F convection oven for another half hour. This last step makes the skin really crispy – reminiscent of the lechon de leche of Manila.

On Thursday night’s menu… well, last Thursday…

Local Anegada lobster bisque with tarragon cream

Nothing compares with Caribbean lobster – the flavor is so good. This dish is an example of how local ingredients can be used and turned into something from elsewhere. The only thing Caribbean here is the lobster; everything else is classic lobster bisque – lots of cream, pernod, armagnac, tarragon… although I should remember to thicken it with rice next time…

Spicy Caribbean conch salad with sweet peppers, lime and coriander

The conch in the BVI is not as good as what I used to get in Turks and Caicos. Honestly, the conch I used tonight wasn’t even local – it came from Belize. Still, conch on the menu says that you are in the Caribbean. Whenever it is there people tend to order it. I’ll post the recipe for this salad one of these days…

Miso-glazed salmon, soy beurre blanc, scallion-potato roesti, endive and apple salad

Mediterribbean? Mediterrasian? Carribapanese? I often say I’m not a fan of fusion cuisine, but sometimes I eat my words… I’ve been making this dish for some time and it is quite good. It’s a rich dish, but there are ingredients there that were meant to contrast with the richness: miso and rice vinegar in the glaze cut through the rich salmon, soy and lime cut through the butter sauce, endive and apple salad and a lime wedge provide contrast and balance to the whole dish. Strange it may seem to serve salmon in the Caribbean, but it is one of those “safe” seafood that some (of our mostly North American) guests want to see…

Herb-grilled pork tenderloin, smoked paprika butter, tania (sweet potato) fries, roasted tomato, asparagus

Here we go again with that smoked paprika butter – I should post the recipe for that as I’ve used it a lot lately. On second thought, here it is:

Smoked Paprika Butter – sautee 3 cloves of minced garlic and 2 small minced shallots in a little olive oil until wilted and fragrant; allow to cool. Beat 1 pack  (1/2 lb, 225g) of butter until soft and creamy. Add the sauteed garlic and shallots, 2 tablespoons or more of smoked paprika, 1 tablespoon regular sweet paprika, the juice of 2 lemons,  1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme, 2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley. Season with salt and pepper and add more lemon juice as needed. Roll into logs or pipe out into rosettes then refrigerate.

Tania (or white sweet potato) is a local ingredient that is used a lot in the region. Back in TCI, I would slice these thinly into chips, sprinkle with salt, cayenne pepper and paprika, and serve it as a bar snack. For this dish, we cut it up like thin fries then tossed them in seasoned flour before serving – makes it nice and crispy (or cripsy … someone keeps saying that in the kitchen).

Yet another blog about food…

So here’s my contribution to the blogosphere…

A few years ago I started a blog but got overwhelmed with the amount of material I wanted to put in it – everything I’ve cooked at work, recipes, menus, the things I like to eat, wine notes. In the end, I was left with a blog I soon got bored with and only posted around 6 recipes. www.cheferwin.blogspot.com

Since my last post on that blog, I’ve cooked and ate many memorable meals, wrote more menus, ate in so many more restaurants – always thinking about how I can share these food experiences. So now I’m at it again with blogging. Hopefully I can keep up with posting and keep the blog interesting … more for mysef than anyone else.

Let’s see how this one goes this time around…