Menu of the Day- November 18

The week is ending but here is my lunch.

Quinoa cooked in a chicken leg and beef rib stock. Ground pork hash. Fresh avocado slices. Herbed cream cheese.

For dessert, greek yogurt and a melon/orange/cardamom jam.

Meat hash recipe

This is a common building block as it can become spaghetti sauce or a casserole. You can use ground meat of any type: chicken, beef, pork, turkey.

1/2 lb of ground meat
1/2 a large red onion, diced
1/2 a bulb of garlic, thinly sliced
500 ml of crushed tomatoes, drained
Salt and pepper to taste
Cooking oil

1. Sweat the onion and garlic in oil on medium heat for about 5 minutes
2. Add meat and cook on high for 5 more minutes until meat is browned. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Add tomatoes and lower heat to simmer for at least 15 minutes. Gently stir.

Menu of the week - February 1st 2010

Even though last week's menu was tasty and enjoyable my tastebuds felt tired after eating so much food. Other things didn't work too. The soba was mushy on the last 2 days and microwaved roast pork is not that good. This week I only work 4 days so I will not make as much lunches (Tuesday is soup day). I also have to plan a menu for our Glee night on Friday.


I decided to make dishes based on what's on special at Provigo. Last week the spaghetti sauce was half price so we'll have some pasta. I'll enhance the sauce with tofu and edamame for the vegetarians in the group. The rest will have a simple beef hash with mirepox. This week we have 31-40 shrimps, large eggs, frozen vegetables and bacon on special. I'll make deviled eggs two way: a cilantro+nori mix and a mustard+garlic mix. I'll serve the shrimp cold with frozen vegetables boiled then cooled. There will be a sour cream+something dip. 


Breakfast box:
7 cooked shrimps
1 hard boiled egg
shredded nori
mayonnaise cilantro dip
6 Rosemary and Olive Oil Triscuits




Deviled Eggs:
12 hard boiled eggs, peeled and cut in half lengthwise
Mayonnaise
chopped cilantro (include stems) and chopped nori
old style grain mustard and chopped garlic
chopped green onion to garnish



"Fifth Element" Spaghetti Sauce - from my unpublished cookbook
ground beef - use firm tofu and edamame for vegetarian version
mirepox
garlic
soy sauce
crushed tomatoes (can is ok)
whole tomatoes (can is ok)
mushroom
tomato paste
vegetable oil
salt
pepper


Chop the garlic and mushroom. Cook the garlic and miraqua in vegetable oil until mushy. Add the ground beef, salt, and pepper and cook thoroughly. Add the tomato paste and mix well. Add the crushed tomatoes and whole tomatoes and let the liquid reduce by half. Add soy sauce, turn heat to low and let simmer until the desired thickness is achieved. Add the mushroom at the very end of cooking.


Suggested serving: To achieve the full umami experience, serve with Parmesan Cheese and Red Wine.

Random dish ideas

If you provide the kitchen and equipment, I'll bring the ingredients to make these.


Slice thin sashimi-grade salmon and roll into cigars. Stuff with extra-ripe avocado and mango. Dress with a white miso dressing. Serve with roasted red beets.


Boil edamame and chill for a salad with mini cucumber balls and green peas. Sprinkle some basil and mint chiffonade. Dress with a lemon, cold pressed extra virgin olive oil and rice vinegar mix.


Steam rice with tomato water. Mix with finely chopped dill (almost a powder). Serve with a robust flavored meat.


Soak sultana raisins in rum. Make maple syrup rice krispies. Brown banana slices in butter. Serve with high quality vanilla ice cream.


Slice zuchini and use as lasagna pasta. Use avocado instead of cheese. Use crushed pistachio with tofu crumbles for the meat texture.

Baked Ginger Tofu on Soba

I'm bringing meat dumplings to a party tomorrow and there are two vegetarians in the group. The restaurant doesn't sell frozen vegetarian dumplings so I had to make a dish. With the success of the soba noodle I made for Lanie's x-mas party I decided on it with a ginger tofu dish I like at Le Commensal. I found a copy of the recipe online (in french). The soba dish is copied from my favorite japanese restaurant.

2 tablespoon of no taste (not olive oil) vegetable oil
1 cup of light soy sauce
2 tablespoon of dark soy sauce with mushroom
a 2 x 1/2 inch rhizome of ginger minced

Mix the above in a blender (I used my Magic Bullet) until you get a smooth sauce. Cut firm tofu into slices or cubes. Marinate for more than 3 hours. Bake the tofu in an oven for 30 minutes at 400 F.

soba noodle
finely chopped green onion
toasted sesame seed
nori cut into thin strips
sesame oil
minced ginger and daikon
soy sauce

Cook the soba noodle as indicated on the package, be sure to rinse it 5x with cold water. Toss the noodles with a tiny bit of sesame oil to prevent the noodles from sticking (they shouldn't if you rinsed enough).  Serve with the green onion, sesame seeds and strips of nori. Garnish with the ginger and daikon. Soy sauce is added if you want to eat this by itself.