#8 Fish Fillet with Sweet Chili Sauce

For the last three days, I took a trip down to southern Taiwan, hence the lack of cooking. It's been real fun hiking and just overall enjoying nature. While I was there, I took the opportunity to buy some kitchen utensils made out of some of the best woodwork in Taiwan, including a pair of well-carved chopsticks and a wooden spoon especially for spooning rice.

As I'm cooking through Gordon's recipes... it dawned on me that we live in VASTLY different parts of the world, hence not only do we not speak the same language but we encounter VERY different ingredients from spices to cuts of meat and sea food. Many ingredients that are readily accessible to Ramsay are unheard of in my little island. Therefore, I'm constantly tweaking his recipes, trying to find suitable alternatives. However, with my lack of knowledge in the culinary world, I am in deep trouble. Looks like I will be doing a LOT of research and experimenting.

But like Gordon says "Cooking is about being adventurous. Be a little more daring"
Since I will be having two friends over for dinner today, I decided to test out Gordon's Red Mullet recipe with two common fish fillets (dory & tilapia) easily accessible in most supermarkets in Taiwan. Three taste-buds to judge which fish goes better with the chili sauce!

#8 Fish Fillet with Sweet Chili Sauce

Ingredients.

1 Dory fish fillet ...................................69NT

1 Tilapia fillet ........................................45NT

1 Chilli ..................................................5NT

2 Garlic cloves ......................................2NT

Salt, sugar, 2 tbs fish sauce.....................5NT

1 tbs Rice wine vinegar, 3 tbs olive oil ....5NT

Spring onions .........................................5NT

Coriander ...........................................11NT

Lime ....................................................5NT

Peanuts ..............................................15NT

Coriander

2 eggs & fish sauce .............................10NT

TOTAL: 172 NT (for three)

I had to "create" my own pestle mortar to crush my spices and peanuts! Quite successful I would say, although it would be fun to have a real one!

End Results:
The dory fish has a very creamy texture while the tilapia is much more firm. I believe the sweet chili sauce goes well with both! Very complex flavor and texture.

Next time you can't find an ingredient, try a substitute!
So remember cooking is flexible, versatile, filled with imagination. Be Adventurous!

#7 Smokey Pork Sliders

Lesson four. Be excited! 

Food always turned out better when you're cooking with positive energy. I'm excited today because I've been dying to satisfy a huge burger craving.

Don't be fooled by my healthy fresh eating habits, my ultimate favorite foods are PIZZA and a good JUICY BURGER!

#7 Smokey Pork Sliders

Ingredients.
Bacon .........................................2NT
Minced Pork ...............................20NT
Salt + Pepper, Olive oil, chilli.........2NT
Cheese .....................................10NT
Romaine lettuce ........................17NT
Tomato .....................................5NT
2 Buns ......................................10NT
TOTAL: 66NT

The original calls for a BBQ sauce, which I made but decided not to add, making it a lot lighter.
I cannot tell you how much better this is than McDonalds, you gotta try it yourself.
Next time I have a burger craving THIS is what I will be making. Thank you again, Gordon Ramsay!

#6 Poached Salmon Miso Soup

When I first started watching Ramsay's Ultimate Cookery Course, I was immediately intrigued by his beautiful Poached Salmon Miso Soup, however, there was one ingredient in there that remains mysterious, the fish stock. From what I could recall from shopping at various supermarkets, there were only chicken stock on the shelves so where was I suppose to get FISH stock? In the video, Ramsay just pulls fish stock out of his fridge like it was the MOST common thing in the world, but after googling fish stock and even fish stock substitutes I ended up with one conclusion...there can be NO replacement, I have to start with fresh fish, slice up fish fillets, and use the bones to make my own basic fish stock.

Now let me tell you, as much as I love dry-fried whole fish...I am dreadfully fearful of any meat that retains it's original form... It's so scary to even TOUCH it let alone butcher it and carve out fillets. But great food comes with great challenge right? I realized in order to be a good cook I need to woMAN up and stop being afraid.

I went to the market and picked out a Seabass and told myself to start getting comfortable with it. Thank goodness the markets here already do a pretty good job in gutting and cleaning the fish so luckily I just have to do a little more knife work.

So here I'm thinking okay, just chop off the the head and carve out some fillets, shouldn't be too hard... But how WRONG am I... The seabass, not even a large fish, proves to have harder bones than I imagined. Since I have absolutely NO idea what I'm doing, being precise wasn't even an option! And I probably wasn't even using the right knife? ...knives?

After a lot of squealing and struggling, I finally managed to get MOST of the meat off and chopped the fishbone into several sections ready for boiling. 

Not the prettiest sight, but it was the best I could do at the time. For a first try...I don't think it's too bad. However, I feel bad for the fish...so sorry. As you probably guessed, the fish fillets were made into a beautiful Thai inspired, Lemon Steamed Fish, delicious fragrant. Lemon has become a "must" in my dishes these days.

Okay, so on with the stock!

To make a basic fish stock requires searing the vegetables and fish in a large pan then adding white wine, water, and fresh thyme to boil and simmer for 30-40mins.

Since I was running short on time, I decided to sear everything in a large pan with some olive oil and pour all the contents into the slow cooker so I don't have to keep watch, allowing me to attend to other chores.

Ingredients

1 fishbone (I used seabass)

1/2 tablespoon of olive oil

1 carrot, chopped

1/2 onion

2 celery stalks, chopped

1 garlic clove

1 teaspoon thyme

1/2 cup white wine

salt, pepper

4 cups of water

I pour two cups of water on the outer layer and soon you have steamy hot fish stock. I drained the soup to clear all the bits and pieces.

Volia! You may use immediately in your dishes, refridgerate, or freeze for later.

The only disappointment is... after all that hard work and time, I was left with barely a large bowl of stock.

FINALLY with the last of the ingredients for my Miso Soup is sitting right in the fridge. READY! I was so excited to see how the dish would come out. Today, I've invited my roommate and colleague as guinea pigs to try it out.

#6 Poached Salmon Miso Soup

Ingredients.

Salmon ............................197NT

Miso, Fish stock ................30NT

Kaffir leaf, Chilli, ginger ......5NT

Bok Choy ........................6NT

Mushrooms .....................16NT

TOTAL: 254NT (for three)

Several things went wrong here:

1. I had no idea how long I was suppose to poached the salmon, it's color changed quite quickly but the insides were still fairly raw. Then of course the thickness of the salmon was uneven, so even when most of it was cooked, there were a few thicker parts that were still a bit raw.

2. How did Ramsay managed to push the salmon slices off so effortlessly, creating beautiful neat slices... I gave up mid-way and just went with small shredded pieces of salmon.

But apart from the little bumps in the road mentioned above... the broth tasted amazing! Never had anything like it before!

All the flavors blend together beautifully, in fact, it didn't even taste like traditional miso soup, it's one of a kind.

I believe the fresh fish stocks really enhanced the flavor, bringing it up to a whole new level, which just proves that making things from scratch really DOES make a difference. HUGE difference.

It won't be long before I try to fillet a fish again and make some fish stock early in advance so I can pull out seafood dishes with amazing flavors on the go.

I swear, Ramsay continues to inspire and amaze me every single day. 

Can I marry this guy please?

Lesson 3: Get organized.

From organizing my actual cooking space, famailirizing, to preparing all the ingredients beforehand makes cooking a lot less hectic and even more enjoyable.

Soon, amazing dishes will be coming out of your kitchen everyday!

#5. Pan-seared Scallops with Crunchy Apple Salad

#5 Pan-seared Scallops + Crunchy Apple Salad

This is almost a no-brainer! Anyone can easily recreate this dish, however, the combination of all these fresh ingredients, really goes together. I love how the apples brings so much crunch and flavor to the salad that you barely need any dressing at all. A very healthy simple well-rounded dish that can be served beautifully to impress.

Ingredients.

9 scallops ......................................90NT

1 apple .........................................10NT

1/2 romaine ..................................23NT

lemon juice, salt, pepper, olive oil ....5NT

TOTAL: 128 (for three) 

This has quickly became one of my favorite dishes, so easy, but incredibly tasty. It took me quite a few tries to get the scallops done they way I wanted. My biggest mistake at the beginning was not allowing it to defrost COMPLETELY. This, I realize is very important, giving your protein enough time to defrost naturally at room temperature. This is the only way to guarantee the best flavor and texture.

I am guilty of whipping out this salad several times as a side dish when I have company.

#4 Sticky lemon chicken

I confess, I don't always stick to the recipes in his ultimate cookery course but also various other ones that I happen to stumble upon, everything he looks just looks so damn delicious and I can't wait to get my hands dirty to try them out.

#4 Sticky lemon chicken

Ingredients.
Drumsticks .....................75NT
Olive oil, soy sauce ..........1NT
1/2 lemon .......................2NT
honey, thyme, parsley ....6NT
Red wine vinegar, salt, pepper
Romaine lettuce ..............12NT
Watermelon ....................20NT
Eggplant .........................4NT
TOTAL: 120 (for two)

Ramsay's original recipe calls for chicken legs, which I realized would be even harder to cook thoroughly, so I decided that a fun replacement would be drumsticks and I think the recipe turned out just fabulous. So far I have NOT been disappointed by any of Ramsay's recipes.

However I was presented with two hurdles.

One, fresh herbs are almost impossible to find in Taiwan, herbs aren't wildly use in traditional Taiwanese cuisine, if a Taiwanese dish calls for herbs, it's usually dry. Luckily, many local gardeners do sell herbs...in little pots. I'm by far the worst person when it comes to plants, I just forget about them, clearly not the one with the green thumb of the family. But now my theory is: I will take care of you if I can eat you!

Took the liberty of a nice warm weekend to gather some fresh herb plants from a huge plant market. They sure come in handy not only flavoring my dishes but also adds a wonderful garnish to my plating.

Two. Taiwan does not have yellow lemons, we only have lime. Once introduced to the yellow lemon, I fell in love! The yellow ones give off this unique sweetness that the greens ones do not. My local wellcome used to import them but lately they're nowhere in sight! I'm crossing my fingers and hoping that they're just out of season and will be brought back again real soon.

Well, I guess the best I can do is just sub lemon with lime every time a Ramsay recipe calls for them until I can get my hands on some.

In terms of the final dish, which I paired with grilled eggplants and a watermelon salad. The chicken is delicious, fragrant, and not too sweet. However, I realized I still not very good at telling when the chicken is just well-done. I'm always afraid to dry it out and instead I end up under-cooking it...This is quite embarrassing if you're planning on serving this dish to someone else. Although strictly speaking, you can just pop it right back into the pan and cook it for several more minutes. Perfection will come with experience? I sure hope so.

#3 Chili beef lettuce wraps

Lately I've been enjoying cooking so much that I think I've become obsessed. I would spend hours and hours just thinking about my ingredients, visualizing my next meal before I even enter the kitchen to prep. I enter into my own culinary world and found it quite enjoyable to cook alone. Today, however, my roommate decided to join me on my next culinary adventure as we tackle yet another Ramsay recipe.

#3 Chili lettuce wraps

This beautiful show off centerpiece is surprisingly easy to make and ever so tasty, without knowing it you will keep reaching for more.

Ingredients
Minced beef .................................................25NT
Minced pork ................................................12NT
2 chillis ..........................................................2NT
Piece of ginger ..............................................2NT
1-3 garlic cloves ............................................1NT
1-2 stocks of spring onions ...........................5NT
1/2 lime (zest + juice) ...................................4NT
sesame oil, fish sauce, brown sugar ..............2NT
soy sauce ....................................................1NT
coriander ......................................................7NT
1 romaine lettuce ..........................................10NT
TOTAL: 71NT (portion for two)

Under Ramsay's guidance, I became my roommate mentor simply by reciting instructions. She gets credit for all the dicing and ultimately putting this entire dish together. The plate of minced meat looks stunning with all the beautiful specks of red, green, yellow... and oh so flavorful. The freshness of the lettuce really counters the bold flavors of the stir-fry. This is something that you can't help but reach for another serving. However, I really do need to brainstorm other dishes to serve with this wonderful centerpiece, more experimenting later!

It's time to take away another lesson from M. Ramsay! "Enjoy it", always always remember to have a little bit of fun along the way. Cooking with a friend, definitely makes it more adventurous ;)

#2 Fragrant fried rice

With my first go, I was hooked! The pork chops that I cooked the day before was an instant hit I couldn't wait to try another  dish from my mentor.

#2 Fragrant fried rice

So for a quick lunch, I cooked up another recipe from Ramsay. However, I put my own twist on it since this was a fried rice recipe... To me fried rice means anything goes. I see no reason to change some of it's ingredients to fit what I've already have in the cupboards. So I threw in some shrimps (for protein), water spinach and mushrooms.

 Ingredients.
1 chillis ..........................................................1NT
Piece of ginger ..............................................2NT
1 stock of spring onions ................................3NT
1/2 lime (zest + juice) ...................................4NT
sesame oil, fish sauce ....................................2NT
shrimp ........................................................30NT
mushrooms ................................................10NT
leftover rice ................................................10NT
Water spinach .............................................6NT
TOTAL: 66NT

The limes and spring onions really gives the standard Chinese fried rice an unique twist. Very enjoyable and versatile dish! Great for when you have a bunch of leftovers that aren't quite enough for a full  blown dish on it's own.