Roast Chicken, with Braised Potatoes

This is more about the potatoes, really.
I've blogged about roasting chicken at high heat before, at 500F (260C) -- which keeps the chicken moist, and the skin ultra crisp. This time i did the same, with some improvements. I made a puree of garlic, shallots, salt, white pepper, vinegar and olive oil (yes, 1 whole bulb of garlic, 1 large shallot, and then rest in small quantities :) )..and carefully separated the skin from the chicken, and pressed in the puree, around. This is not hard to do, but you need, short, sharp knife. I'm lucky enough to have a nice one.
While that sitting, i made a real quick stock, with the neck, wings, and giblet/liver of the chicken, which was a prima whole. David Blacker's asked about stocks, recently -- and its a complicated subject, from even the little i know, and a proper one takes 24+ hours -- but you can make a quick stock in your pressure cooker in 40 mins or less. Just add the pieces, may be some vegies and let it cook, trying not to let the steam out at all, after the initial boil, since you want to conserve the liquid. For this dish, i used about 350 ml (1.5 cups, say) of water, in the pressure cooker.
Then i peeled a whole bunch of small potatoes..yes, i did it my self, since Chandra the cooking lady had left for the day, i got a special prize for it, so there! -sauteed them in butter and olive oil in a medium sized oven proof skillet, and when they were nice a coated, adding the strained chicken stock in. When it was simmering, i placed the marinaded chicken right over the potatoes
and transferred it to the oven, pre-warmed to high heat (260C). 15 mins on each side is plenty, some times you can do with less. Once the chicken is done, the juices have dripped into the potatoes, and they are really on their way, to being outa this world. If they are soft, remove from the skillet, and reduce the gravy, if not, let them braise until they are. Right at the end, you can add tarragon, or thyme to the sauce, which has a soft, comforting, real home made flavor. Salt to taste, and pour over the chicken and potatoes.

Not bad at all. This was my first try with potatoes this way, and they were soft, with out being mushy, distinct from the sauce, but really complimentary.
I made this for my niece, who then never showed up. She is sorry now, she says :)

Grilled Garoupa

This is variation on a previous post, steamed garoupa and i cooked it at night, thinking I wouldn't be blogging it, but it turned out so well, i really thought i must -- just to remember what i did. The photos were taken this morning, and so the fresh grilled texture of the dish, doesn't really come through -- but here is my method.
I got the garoupa at 9.45am at Fresh Fish (FF) and there were lots. It was not expensive, it usually isn't. It was a medium sized fellow, under a kilo, 600 gms fully cleaned (at FF) descaled and washed (at home). I sliced open the belly, and scored the fish, making sharp, deep cuts through out the sides, and then made a marinade. I had thai in mind, but i think a messed around enough, so that it didn't taste that familiar.

For the marinate i mixed a couple table spoons of fish sauce, 1 of soy sauce, 2 teaspoons of rice vinegar, and enough kithul treacle to balance the sourness. i needed one cube of sugar as well. Just get it delicately balanced, and of course it will be salty. I mixed these in the small attachment to the mixer/blender, and then added a whole blub of garlic, peeled, half an inch of ginger, 1 large shallot (bombay onion), and 3 green chillies. I pureed this, into a fine paste, and put the fish back into the FF sarasara (polybag) it came in, and poured the puree into the bag, mixed it well with the fish, expelled the air, and tied it tight. (Bagging is a technique i learnt from TV shows -- my, its great, the marinade really works harder, since it is pressed so close to the meat, you need less of it, and its inexpensive if you reuse a bag).

A few hours later, we were ready to roll, when the critter who lives by the bar top announced she was very hungry. Out of the bag, into the cast iron skillet with a few drops of sesame oil, and layed out the fish to simmer, while the grill heated up. High heat grilling is key to this dish, so i should say, i use the grill element (1950W) of a medium sized oven, and place the pan about 3-4 inches below the grill. Now i use a skillet that can move from stove top to oven. I can't say how valuable this is -- and i really thank the day i got it! After the pan is hot, and fish is simmering, it went under the grill for 6 mins, and again, after turning the fish, for another 3. The bottom is already warm, so it doesn't need as much time on that side. Be careful not to over cook! Once it was done, i removed the fish carefully on a plate, adding fresh diced baby leeks, and sliced green cillies to the sauce in the skillet, let it braise over high heat for a min. Not too long. Finally pouring it over the plated fish.

I thought this was better that the steamed version, even. Now in most restaurants I've tried garoupa -- its very common in east Asian places -- the options are usually steamed or deep fried. I used to prefer the steamed, because the sauce was lighter; the deep fried version is some times cloyingly sweet. But in this version i made, somehow, perhaps because of the dry high heat of the magic grill -- the delicate flavor of the fish - it is a white, well textured, soft fish - was enhanced, but not over powered by the marinade/sauce. The accents of sour (rice vinegar)/sweet(kithul)/hot (ginger & green chilli)/salt (fish & soy sauce), were like notes of music playing on my tongue. Honest. I was not even that hungry, so i think i trust my judgment.

Sausage Rolls

I wasn't going to photograph this, much less blog it. It wasn't all that very well planed; I was craving sausage rolls though -- and I had half packet of store bought dough, and a few food city garlic sauages. It turned out fine, the sausges were ever so juicy. I've written up the method before, and its simple -- but I think Pusella lingus is much better, really.

Lentils and Rice or a New Kichari

Kichari is an Indian way making rice and dhal (lentils) together; its considered very basic, some times eaten like a porridge in the mornings, or through out the day, as a nourishing but inexpensive snack.

I tried a variation the other day, keeping of course with the basic idea, but changing the seasonings around so that its a fusion of difference. It worked, for me at least.

To make this, first boil the equal potions of rice and mysoor dhal (the bright orange kind is what I mean), until soft. This is easy to do, and quick in a microwave. In mine, with a covered micro-proof dish I have, it takes 20 mins or less. I use three times of water, as the rice dhal compound.

Then I sauteed the rice dhal mixture in shallots, garlic and olive oil, adding salt gradually and when it was well mixed and simmering, added the fresh sliced red tomatoes.
Yes, it was pretty good!

Grilled Garlic Shrimp

Grilled Garlic Shrimp
Originally uploaded by pradeep jeganathan.

i've been working on this dish for ever. at least four years. the classic way of doing it gives a sharp, strong flavor that lots of sri lankans like -- (that's garlic, chilli pieces, olive oil and butter) -- but i've been trying to improve on that.
in this variation, i marinated the shrimp in a puree of shrimp (2 to a cup of dry vermouth) boiled down with anchovies (4 small ones to the cup). after letting it sit in the marinade, i added the chilli, butter and for the olive oil, i used what was in the anchovy can.

it was good, but i am not sure its right. (:

Three Cloves of Garlic

Three Cloves of Garlic
Originally uploaded by pradeep jeganathan.

what more is there to say :)

well, i've been working on garlic still life, if that's some thing you can work on, ha ha, for more than an year now, i think. and this one, which was a studied effort, marks some kind of end.

Garlic Shrimp

It wasn’t the perfect dish, but it a start of some thing.
The grilled garlic shrimp, with olive oil and chopped red chilies was alright, but that’s easy.
I added sun dried tomatoes in a shrimp/arrack reduction, with a kithul hakuru/balsamic vinegar balance, but that over powered the shrimp sauce. So I need to re-do that.
The green beans were just blanched in boiling water, and were a very crisp counterpoint to the shrimp. 

Fish Soup and Ingredients

Fish Soup and Ingredients
Originally uploaded by pradeep jeganathan.

and there it is!
for more see:

Garlic Round

Garlic Round
Originally uploaded by pradeep jeganathan.

from the food series, soon, hopefully to be a staple on my blog. a crop is part of collage, in lentil yellow (see below)-- but this one is re-done with different white balance, and colour tone, and totally re-cropped, of course. seem quite cool. or hot.