Steamed Salmon

This is an attempt to re-create a dish made by my uncle, my dad's eldest brother and one of the best chefs I know.  His cooking never ceases to amaze, never too complicated but bursting with flavour.  I have to admit that we talked about this salmon a couple years ago and I probably don't remember every detail of the recipe correctly.  Nevertheless, I'm really happy with the outcome.

Ingredients:

1 filleted and skinned side of salmon

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/2 tsp kosher salt

4 or 5 thin slices of ginger, peeled and sliced into thin strips

2 tsp vegetable oil

2 tsp sesame oil

3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

Set up and pre-heat a large steamer (I just heat water in a large skillet with a coil of foil to balance the plate on).  Place the salmon on a large plate and fold the thin end over to get a roughly equal thickness of salmon all the way through.  Pour the water and soy sauce over the salmon and sprinkle with salt and ginger.  Let the salmon steam for about 7 minutes.

While the salmon is steaming, heat the vegetable and sesame oils and the garlic in a small saucepan over medium-low heat.  Turn off the heat when you see the garlic just starting to brown.  Once the salmon is done, pour the garlic oil over it (be careful of the spatter).  Serve with rice and any vegetable you please.

Yellow Butter Cake

I borrowed a copy of Baking at Home with the Culinary Institute of America from the library last Fall and fell in love with it.  It's basically a How to Cook Everything for pastry - recipes for any kind of baked treat you could imagine (from breads to pies to custards) with suggested variations and loads of notes on techniques.  I was lucky enough to receive the book as a birthday present from Matt this year.

We had a lazy day at home this past Saturday so I thumbed through the book and stumbled across this cake.  I couldn't have asked for more.  A short list of ingredients that we already had and a recipe that was quick and easy enough.  Better yet, it turned out to be fantastic - the cake looks rich and dense but is actually light while still being very satisfying.  The frosting could probably be anything but I went with buttercream.  I actually halved the recipes and made a single-layered cake because there's no need for the two of us to eat four sticks of butter and three cups of sugar in the span of a week.  Anyway, I'm already looking forward to making it again.


(Amusing side story: While looking for our baking powder, I had to do a google image search to remember exactly what kind of container I was looking for.)

Ingredients:

For the cake:

3 1/2 cups cake flour (all-purpose is okay)

2 cups sugar

2 tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature, diced

1 cup milk, divided

4 large eggs

2 large egg whites

2 tsp vanilla extract

For the buttercream:

2 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature

4 cups confectioners' sugar (could certainly use less)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/8 tsp salt

1/4 cup heavy cream or whole milk

Pre-heat the oven to 350 F and grease two 8-inch cake pans.  Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt into a large mixing bowl.  Add the butter and 1/2 a cup of milk and mix with a whisk till blended.  In a separate bowl, lightly beat the eggs, egg whites, 1/2 a cup of milk and the vanilla extract.  Add to the batter in 3 additions, mixing until blended after each addition. Divide the batter evenly between the pans and bake until the layers spring back when touched lightly in the center, 35-40 minutes (mine only took 27 minutes - guess we need to invest in an oven thermometer).

While the cake is cooling, make the buttercream.  Cream the butter (I used a spoon) until it is light in texture.  Add the sugar, vanilla and salt and mix (I use a whisk at this point) until the sugar and butter are blended.  Add the cream and whip until the buttercream is smooth and light.  I usually like the buttercream a little looser and will add a bit more cream.  Spread on the cake once it's completely cooled.  Mmm cake.

Brined Roasted Pork Loin

Brining, which we first tried out on our Thanksgiving turkey, has become fairly commonplace in our kitchen.  It's simple but genius - let your meat sit in a salty solution and let the flavours permeate.  You get tasty, juicy meat every time, a particular delight after overcooking pork on so many occasions.  The recipe for the brine comes from Ratio by Michael Ruhlman, a book that I can't recommend highly enough.  The actual recipe calls for a bunch of fresh herbs but I just threw in some dried herbs (very rough estimate of amounts) and was very pleased with the result.  Anyway, you should brine something and tell us how it goes!


Ingredients


2 1/2 cups water
2 tbsp Morton's kosher salt
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp black pepper
10 cloves garlic, smashed
1/2 tbsp dried oregano
1/2 tbsp dried parsley
half a boneless pork loin (4 to 5 lbs)


Place all the ingredients for the brine (everything except the pork) in a saucepan over medium heat and stir until the salt and sugar have dissolved.  Let the brine cool, then let the meat sit in it for 12 to 24 hours (if you're brining smaller cuts like pork chops, this only needs to be 4 to 6 hours).  I did this in a pyrex container but I generally like to use ziplocks.

Pre-heat the oven to 450 F.  Remove the pork from the brine, pat it dry and roast until it reaches an internal temperature of 140 F.  This took a little over an hour for 4 1/2 lbs, so if you don't have a thermometer, figure about 15 minutes a pound and if you want to be cautious, it's okay to go a little further - brined meat is incredibly forgiving to overcooking.  About halfway through, I threw some broccoli into the pan and you could do the same with things like cauliflower, carrots, potatoes, etc.  Once it's out of the oven, let it rest for about 15 minutes before slicing and serving.  All right, that's it from me, happy brining!