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The weather here has finally turned. Less time spent finding new leaks in the house. More time eating salads for lunch in the sun.

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upbeatsquare:

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This, I take no credit for. I’ve been craving lasagne for a while and isolation lady made it tonight. It made isolation man very happy. And now isolation couple are now on the isolation couch digesting isolation lasagne whilst isolated and libated. The rustic charm of this dish, that appeals to 4/5 senses is completely out of touch with 1/5 senses. On the telly is a 36 hour live dj stream from Beatport called Reconnect and streamed on Twitch. It’s worth watching, connecting to live humans around the world through music is …lovely. So, stop reading this and get to it…

upbeatsquare:

Due to some miscommunication my butcher, I ended up buying a 9lb leg of lamb. That’s a lot of lamb for two people! Evidently American lamb is a lot bigger than New Zealand lamb. There was a period of shock over just how much money I’d just spent on lamb, and then a follow up period of guilt that people are losing their jobs and can’t afford any lamb (my catholic upbringing ensures that guilt will feature in some form in most situations). Once this subsided I chopped it up into various parts that seemed to me to be roughly appropriate cuts of meat - later viewing of You Tube videos confirmed that I wasn’t entirely off the mark. And onto the bbq one of these cuts went, the rest nestled in the freezer for later consumption. Having relatively limited ingredients does mean some fusion cooking was required. I used a za’atar rub, charred squash and radicchio, and served in on fresh tortillas. Folks, this was the best bbq lamb I have ever prepared and eaten in my life. At the moment I do have a greater appreciation for food than ever before, isolation scarcity will do this I guess. So perhaps there is some covid bias going on. But, come on…how good does that look!

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Since moving to LA, shopping at our local farmers market has become a weekly ritual - it helps that the closest market is only a 2 minute walk away. This week some ridgeback prawns at the Wild Local Seafood Co stall caught my eye. I’ve never heard of them before, but after talking to the person at the stall I learnt that they’re local to California, readily available in the wild, and their meat actually tastes more like lobster than prawn (or shrimp as they call it here). After hearing that last part, I knew I wanted to make a bisque sauce which is traditionally made with lobster but can also be very tasty with prawns.

Fettuccine with Prawn & Tomato Bisque Sauce

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I made these oven baked spicy chicken wings as a snack during Superbowl 51, served with a blue cheese yoghurt dip and crudite. Since they’re not deep fried I can’t call them Buffalo wings, but they definitely satisfy hot wing cravings. I followed Serious Eats’ trick of using baking powder to help the wings crisp up in the oven. Beer and hot wings are a perfect pairing - we chose Boston Lager because the New England Patriots were playing and we used to lived in Boston.

Hot Wings with Blue Cheese Dip

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This is the first Chinese New Year I can remember that we’ve spent at home without family. When we lived in Singapore, we could easily hop on a flight to Hong Kong where many of my relatives live. In London, my brother would come over for dinner or we would go to yum cha with our cousins. Even for the one year we lived in Boston, we flew back to New Zealand to spend Chinese New Year with my family. But this year, we’ll be at home in LA where we don’t have any family or close friends. It’s probably the first time since I left New Zealand back in 2011 I’ve felt a little homesick. There’s part of my that just wants to drive toward San Gabriel Valley (where the best Chinese food in LA is) and hope I just run into some Chinese New Year celebrations.

Chinese New Year Feast
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I started Cooking In The City in 2011 when I was living in Singapore (the very first recipe was cooking Christmas turkey dinner in our tiny kitchen) because I love to cook and quite honestly, I was less than challenged at work. When I moved to Boston in 2013, I continued posting recipes, though less frequently after starting a new job. In 2014 this job led me and Nick to London, and then in 2015, we started Eat a City to help food lovers like us find great food and travel experiences.

My job has now led us to Los Angeles. Although we are very sad to leave Europe behind (food highlights include Lyles in London, the vibrant food scene in Berlin, and of course Noma in Copenhagen), we’re looking forward to exploring the West Coast and Mexico. But between moving countries, Eat a City and a full-time job, I haven’t had much time left to post recipes this year. I’m still committed to Cooking In The City, so stay tuned for some coming changes.

Jane

California Living

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Prawn noodle soup, also known as prawn mee, is one of the dishes I miss the most from Singapore. Ask any local and you’ll hear about which hawker food stall has the most fragrant broth, which has the biggest prawns, whether they prefer egg noodles, bee hoon (rice noodles) or a mix of both, and pros and cons of the wet (noodles inside the soup) and dry (noodles on the side) versions. Each hawker stll has their own secret recipe for the broth and sometimes pork ribs or crab shells are added to pack in even more flavour. Here I’ve used 100% prawns for the broth (after many weeks of saving up the heads and shells) served with egg noodles, mini bak choy, and the biggest prawns I could find!

Prawn Noodle Soup

Our epic lunch at Noma - Behind the scenes

Our epic lunch at Noma - Part 2

Our epic lunch at Noma - Part 1

Introducing Eat a City

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I don’t use the word “ultimate” lightly. I’ve made a few variations of ragu, a rich meaty sauce typically served with pasta. The classic alla Bolognese with ground meat, alla Napoletano with whole cuts of beef, pork and sausages, as well as ones with lamb, oxtail and beef short ribs. So what makes this ragu ultimate?

This recipe takes its inspiration from Massimo Bottura’s ragu in his latest book, “Never Trust a Skinny Italian Chef”, which calls for pasta made from “unhatched (embryonic) eggs” and meat cooked sous-vide for 24 hours. I did neither of those things, but I did use some of the same ingredients.

The combination of meaty beef cheek, rich bone marrow and smokey pancetta makes the ultimate ragu. This isn’t a simple recipe but the extra effort to confit the tomatoes, blanch the bone marrow, slowly cook the beef cheek for 4 hours, and of course, make your own pasta is worth it. This is truly something special.

Ultimate Beef Cheek Ragu
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Monkfish is a strange, and some would say ugly, looking fish with firm, meaty flesh that can stand up to stronger flavours. The salty proscuitto ham - you can use any type of cured ham or even streaky bacon - pairs really well with the sweet, delicate monkfish. Here I’ve added a sprig of dill in the middle and served buttery fondant potatoes on the side.

Proscuitto-Wrapped Monkfish with Fondant Potatoes
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Korean stews or jjigae can be made with different combinations of meats, seafood and vegetables in a broth seasoned with a fermented sauce or paste. This jjigae uses a Korean chilli paste called gochujang, which gives the stew a sweet, spicy and slightly funky (in a good way) flavour. Gochujang is becoming increasingly popular outside of Korean cooking

Spicy Korean Seafood Stew (Jjigae)