Make your own Mojo!

Continuing along the recent trend of using my Vitamix for everything, I used it yet again for this dinner to make a mojo style marinade.  I must pause here for a disclaimer, I do not actually know all of the ingredients that go into a real mojo, this was really just my take on it.

I used this marinade on a combination of pork cuts and then served it with mashed potatoes and roasted brussel sprouts w/ pancetta.  As a side note, this marinade is really tasty with the pork but I wouldn't recommend serving more than a little bit of it as a sauce (e.g. what I did on the plate here).

Pork with Mojo Marinade (note that you need to do this the day ahead)

1 lb pork tenderloin

1 lb pork belly

2 large oranges

1 lime

1 head garlic

1/3 cup canola oil

2 Tbsp dried oregano

1 jalapeno (seeded)

1 Tbsp cilantro

1 tsp sea salt

2 tsp ground black pepper

In your Vitamix (or blender/food processor if you haven't yet been convinced to buy a Vitamix) combine the cloves from the head of garlic (remove the papery outer skin), jalapeno, cilantro, salt, pepper, oil and the juice from the oranges and lime.  Blend until smooth.

Put the pork into an airtight container and pour in the marinade.  Seal and shake to coat the pork.  Marinate the pork overnight, shaking again in the morning to ensure that the pork stays evenly coated.

Allow the pork to come to room temperature and preheat the oven to 350F. Wrap the pork loosely in foil and slow roast in the oven for 2 hours.  Remove the pork from the oven and raise the temperature to 425F.  Remove the pork pieces from the foil and transfer to a cutting board.  Cut the pork into chunks and transfer to an oven proof dish.  Into the oven with it for 15-20 minutes or until the edges get nice and crispy.

Remove the pork from the oven, plate with whatever you're serving it with and enjoy!

Flank Steak with Blistered Tomatillo Salsa

For the longest time I did not think I liked tomatillos, and not because I didn't like the taste.  They're annoying because you have to take the shell off of them, and they're sticky.  Great reasons, right?

Well, luckily, I've been forcing myself to get over this and do some cooking with them recently which has lead to some pretty awesome results.  For this dinner I wanted something with a bit of heat and flavor to go with strip steak so I fired up the oven to make a Blistered Tomatillo Salsa.

Blistered Tomatillo Salsa
10 tomatillos (husks removed)
8 cloves garlic (add less if you don't have a garlic obsession like me, add more if you are afraid of vampires)
1/2 small yellow onion (peeled and halved)
2 serrano peppers
1 lime
1 avocado
Salt and Pepper

Preheat oven to 400F.  Put the tomatillos, garlic, onion and peppers on a tray and into the oven they go.  They will need to roast for about 20 - 30 minutes, but check every five minutes or so (flip after ten) and remove the individual items as they finish roasting (garlic should be golden and soft, everything else should have a bit of a char on it and also be soft).

You'll want to bring the veggies to room temp, and while this is happening you can decide how much heat you want the salsa to have.  Remove the stems from the peppers no matter what, but then choose to remove some or all of the seeds to bring down the heat (this can be easily done by cutting the peppers lengthwise and using a spoon to scrape them out).

Transfer the room temp veggies (plus any liquid that accumulated in your roasting pan) to your vitamix (or blender) and then add the avocado and the juice of the lime.  Add salt and pepper to taste and then blend until smooth.  Serve and enjoy!

Restaurant Highlight - Attica, Melbourne Australia

As you all know Tom and I just returned from a 3 week holiday to Australia.  Tom has also been telling me for weeks that I need to start blogging again.  My reasoning that I take all the pictures for the blog was not enough.  So to start off I will run through what we enjoyed at Attica in Australia.

Tom and I decided prior to leaving that we would do 3 "big dinners".  Our definition of big dinner is basically a restaurant that only serves or is known for their tasting menus.  Because these restaurants do not run cheap we limited ourselves to 3.  First up was Attica, which is located in a suburb of Melbourne.  We came to know of Attica after the chef was highlighted in a Bon Appetit article as well as the restaurant being ranked 32 on the List of Top 50 restaurants in the world.  The restaurant is located on a street that reminded me of Carytown in Richmond with lots of shops and restaurants around.

Front of Attica

We knew going in that the restaurant is knowing for "foraging" and growing their own vegetables and herbs.  I anticipated that the focus on the food rather than decor and I was pleasantly surprised.  Inside were dark walls, white table cloths and minimal wall art.  It was a small place with only 50 tables and 1 seating a night. We noticed quickly that reservations are 15 mins apart which allows for the staff to keep up with serving and give everyone proper attention.  After a cocktail for Tom and glass of champagne for me we started with some amuse bouche.  

Baby corn in the husk

Cheese curd and local honeycomb

<--- The chef of the evening came out to  serve the raw honeycomb which was amazing.

I had never actually seen baby corn in husk before but thought the presentation was fantastic-->

The mussels and flowers were in a chicken broth it was very refreshing and you can taste the freshness of the flowers.

Blue Mussels and Summer flowers

Wallaby Blood Pikelet

Recipe on back for Wallaby Blood Pikelet

 The last amuse bouche was a Wallaby blood Pikelet.  This came out and unwrapped in front of us and on the back of the paper was a recipe for the pikelet.

The mystery of the 2 white porcelain feather was solved pretty quickly when the butter and a hazelnut spread came out.  They were to be used to spread on your bread.  The topping of the hazelnut spread is salt bush (which you can ensure Tom found some to bring home to play with in his cooking).

Now on to the main tastes...First up was spanner crab and begonia.  This was lovely and light.  Again fresh flowers and herbs make the dish so fresh.

Spanner Crab and Begonia

Next was Salted Red Kangaroo and Bunya Bunya.  Bunya Bunya is a pine tree that has edible nuts.  

Salted Red Kangaroo

The next two courses are mainstays on their menu.  The first is called Minted Potato, Medium Rare.  This reads just as you expect.  They cook the potato to not be fully cooked so you actually have a bit of "crunchiness" to it.  It was fantastic.  The second is called 142 days.  I should have taken a picture of the waiter building this course for us.  They come out with a bowl with huge cabbage leaves and build the dish in front of you.  Basically the cabbage is ~142 days old!  It is served with an emu ragu. 

Minted Potato 

142 Days

 The next course was King George Whiting in Paperbark.  I took a pic of how it was presented and then when it was open.  The best was the waiter reminding us to NOT eat the bark.  I commented that I have to assume that someone tried.  She confirmed.  She said it wouldn't kill you but it was quite chewy :-).  Let's just say they liked butter on this dish!!!

King George Whiting in Paperbark

Open to reveal the Whiting

Our last savory course of the meal was Pork, Rotten Corn and Lemon Aspen.  The yellow is the Rotten Corn.  I can't remember the story about it!  Just trust me that it was not rotten tasting in anyway.

Pork, Rotten Corn and Lemon Aspen

Prior to our last three dessert courses we had the opportunity to go out to their small roof top garden (they have a larger space down the road where the chefs go each morning to pick the food for the evenings meal).  This smaller garden had a selection of herbs and edible flowers that we had the opportunity to forage for to include with a scoop of ice cream.  Sorry no pics of that!

The remaining desserts are pictured below.  Egg's were chocolate and were served in small nests to each table.   I don't remember the story on The industrious Beet but I do know this was the one dish I was not a huge fan of.  

Pears and Maiden

The Industrious Beet

Pukeko's Egg

Overall we had a wonderful time.  The service was top notch and the food was so fresh.  Details in serving ware and presentation took priority to focus on the food.   Let us know if you have any additional questions about the dishes.  Tom took some notes at the meal as well and are happy to add commentary from what we can remember.

Sweet Potato Puree

So I didn't have much time to play with my new toy (Vitamix) before we left town for holiday, but this was one dish that I was able to use it for.  The vitamix is a great tool for creating smooth purees that don't need to be super liquidy (you can make perfect mashed potatoes in a vitamix, for instance) and that was exactly what I was after for this dinner.

This sweet potato was really closer to mashed potatoes, from a consistency perspective, than a sauce ... which is exactly what I wanted as a base for this grilled pork and greens dish.  If you do not have a vitamix to use for this, instead of using a blender, you will want to do it the old fashioned way with a bowl, masher and spoon.

Sweet Potato Puree

2 large sweet potatoes (peeled and chopped into cubes)
1/2 cup milk
1/6 cup parmesan cheese
1 tbsp chopped fresh sage (1 tsp if using dried)
1 tbsp butter
salt and pepper to taste

Put the sweet potato cubes, milk and sage into a heavy sauce pan and add a couple of pinches of salt and pepper (based on your taste).  Put the sauce pan on lowest heat setting and cover to allow the sweet potato to cook slowly.  You will want to cook the potatoes until soft (a knife should pass into the flesh easily) about 30 - 45 minutes depending on the size of the cubes.  The milk may separate a little bit and leave white curds on the potatoes, that is ok.

Once the sweet potato is softened, transfer the potatoes to the vitamix and add the butter, parmesan and 1 tbsp of milk.  Begin mixing the mixture, adding milk by the tbsp until you get to your desired texture for the puree, plate and enjoy!

Contrary to popular belief, a twice baked potato is four times as good

Ok, so you caught me ... sometimes a twice baked potato is 16 times as good as a regular baked potato (although Shells doesn't believe that).  I love making twice baked potatoes, and they are so super easy, I don't know why you wouldn't want to make them too.  For this dinner I paired up a couple of twice baked potatoes with steak & mushrooms and some nice broiled asparagus; but really they go with anything.

Twice Baked Potatoes (for 2 people)

2 medium/small baking potatoes (you can use 1 large as well if you want 1 side per person), washed

2 slices bacon

5 tbsp shredded cheese blend (your choice, whatever you like)

1 green onion, washed

1 tbsp milk

1/2 tbsp butter

Preheat oven to 425F and the rub the potatoes with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Cook in the 425F oven for about 45 minutes or until soft.  While the potatoes are cooking, pan fry the bacon, drain and then roughly chop.  Dice the green onion.

Once the potatoes are cooked ... put the bacon, 3 tbsp of cheese, milk, green onion and butter in a bowl.  Use a hot glove, or a towel, and a sharp knife to cut the potatoes straight through the middle long-wise.  Use a large spoon to scoop the middle out of the potato halves, you should leave about 1/4 - 1/5 inch of potato on the side of the skin to allow it to keep it's shape.  Transfer the scooped middle to the bowl with the other ingredients and then mix well until smooth.

Switch oven to broil.

Spoon the smooth mixture back into the potato skin halves until it is all used and then top with the reserved cheese.  Put under the broiler until the cheese is bubbling, serve and enjoy!