Grilled Quails With Chocolate Sauce And Rose Petals

This is my entry for Marc, for his event "Dinner and Movie", and what a perfect beginning to choose "Chocolate" as our first theme.

I love the delicate scent from the rose petals jam, and the smooth chocolate sauce was really interesting addition to the dish. In the future, I will add some smoke chipotle pepper to the sauce.

Recipe adapted from MORO, the Cookbook

Sam & Sam Clark

serve 4

4 quails 

Marinade:

1 garlic clove, minced

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp cinnamon

3 tbs rosewater

1 tbs lemon juice

black pepper

Rose-petal and chocolate sauce

3 tbs rose petal jam (recipe follows)

½ tsp ground cinnamon

1 tbs olive oil (I used 1 tbs unsalted butter)

3 oz unsweetened chocolate*

• Mix the ingredients for marinate, rub over the quails. Marinate at least 2 hours, or overnight in the refrigerator.
• To make the sauce: Melt the chocolate, and the  butter together over low heat, add the cinnamon stick. Turn of the heat, add the rose-petal jam. Mix to combine. If the sauce become to thick, add a little bit of cream or milk.
• Grill the quails breast side up 5 to 8 minutes depending on the heat of your grill. Then turn over, cook for another 5 minutes, or until the meat is no longer pink but is still juicy.
• To serve: spoon a few tablespoon of the sauce on each individual dinner plate, place one quail in the center of each plate,  dress each plate with simple salad, garnish with fresh or dried rose petals, and some chopped pistachios if you like.

* Recipe in the book does not have any chocolate, I added this to match the theme for these event.

Rose Petal Jam

Recipe adapted from: The Food and Cooking Of TURKEY

by: Ghillie Başan

450 g fresh or dried rose petal (obviously you'll use fresh rose petal that's free of pesticides)

350 ml water

450 g sugar

Juice of 1 lemon

• If using fresh rose petals, trim and clean/rinse with clean water, then drain. Make sure they are thoroughly drained.
• Pour the water into a large heavy pot. Add the rose petals and bring to the boil.
• Strain the petal into a bowl, and return the rose scented water to the pan. Add the sugar, and bring it to a boil. Stirring constantly, simmer until the liquid thickens about 10 minutes. Stir in the lemon juice and the strained rose petals, continue to simmer for another 10 minutes.
• Leave to cool in the pan, it should be thick and runny. Transfer to a sterilized jars and keep in a cool, dry place for up to 6 months.

Croque Madame, Grilled Ham And Cheese With Fried Egg And Creamy Mornay Sauce

As I promise Celine to participate in her event called "How Do you Like Your Egg", I have made my favorite sandwich. To participate is very easy, just visit this link to see the rule (it's very easy).

Since this is also my favorite Week-end brunch, I also submitting this to Babeth for her "Beat Sarcoma" awareness blog. No pressure! But it will be nice if some of you also able to participate in this event. Thank you!

It was so cloudy, luckily wasn't too cold. So we still be able to hiked pleasantly. In fact, I actually like weather like this. It's easier on my eyes. I have a very sensitive eyes, my doctor actually suggested that I should avoid direct sun, wind, AC, etc. But, I tend to ignore those thing, and my eyes will be red, swollen, and itch.

I always feel hungry after a log hike, looking forward to go home and have a bowl of soup, or salad. Today was special, I wanted something really special. I decided to make croque madame for my self and my sister. My husband just happy with bread and jams or cheese. 

This is the most delicious brunch I ever had, and it will be my most favorite brunch ever!

Recipe from Thomas Keller "Bouchon"

Serve 4

Eight ½" thick slice brioche

8 ounces thinly sliced boiled ham

8 slices (about ½ ounce each) Swiss cheese

3 tbs unsalted butter

4 large eggs

1 cup Mornay sauce, warmed

fresh ground pepper

2 chopped Italian parsley

• Preheat oven to 375⁰F
• Lay out the bread slices, top with ham slices and the cheese.
• Heat the griddle, add 1 tbs  butter. Grill the half bread with the cheese side up for 1 - 2 minutes until golden brown. Transfer the griddle to the oven to melt the cheese, abut 2 minutes.
• Meanwhile, melt the remaining butter in a large oven proof skillet and fry the egg. Cook until the egg bottoms are set. Place the skillet in the oven to set the top of the egg whites, about 1 minute.
• When the cheese melt, remove from the oven. Place two slices together to make sandwich. Place each sandwich to an individual plate, and place the egg on top of each sandwich. Pour about ¼ cup of the sauce over the egg, leaving the yolk uncover. Season with salt and black pepper. Garnish with chopped parsley if desire.

Mornay Sauce:

Make ⅔ cup

3 tbs unsalted butter

½ cup diced spanish onion

Kosher salt

3 tbs all-purpose flour

2 cups milk

1 cup heavy cream, as needed

1 bay leaf

3 black peppercorn

3 whole cloves

Freshly grated nutmeg

Freshly ground white pepper

⅓ cup grated Comté or Emmentaler cheese

• Heat butter on a large skillet over medium heat, add onion, and cook until translucent. Sprinkle in the flour, stirring constantly for 2 minutes. Add milk and cream, whisk until incorporated. Bring to a gently simmer, whisk, add bay leaf, peppercorns, and cloves. 
• Remove the sauce from the heat, add salt and white pepper, taste, and adjust seasoning as needed. 
• Strain the sauce into a clean bowl, add the cheese, and whisk to melt. Use immediately.

Note: The sauce can be store up to a week. If the sauce become to thick after refrigeration, thinned with a little heavy cream. To store, simply place the sauce in a container, press a piece of plastic wrap on the surface to keep skin forming, then refrigerate. 

Interested for the easy brioche recipe?  visit  elra's baking.    

Sweet Potato Gnocchi

I can not believe it's Potato Ho Down event again! 

I am submitting this entry to  monthly Potato Ho Down event, created by Cathy of Noble Pig (who is also hosting the event for his month) and Krista of Evil Chef Mom. If you have any potato recipe and like to share it with us, you can submit your entry before January 19th. For further question please e-mail Cathy here.  Please visit Potato Ho Down blog for rules and how to submit your creation.

It is very simple to make, but you do need to be  a little careful when you add flour. My first batch was hard and chewy. It was unpleasant too eat, so off to the garbage bins. I hate doing that, but if you think the food is not worth eating, would you give it to someone else to eat? 

I think I added too much flour, and kept on adding flour as the dough felt too sticky too work on.

I've learn my lesson, so for the second batch, I added the flour little by little, and stop when the dough feel not too sticky but still a bit sticky. Confuse? Yeah.. me too!

How about I just give you the address where I got the recipe, and you figure out yourself? Okay, I got the recipe here (no surprise there, right)?

Oh, I've been tagged by Rosa!

Ouch Rosa, you tagged me! so here they go...

Diamonds or pearls/Diamant ou perle?
both, I basically love precious, semi precious stones, and a high carat gold ( I make jewelry from those material, hmmm now you know my hidden talent)

What is the last film you saw/Quel est le dernier film que tu as vu?
"Rock N Rolla" A Guy Ritchie Movie

Your favorite series/Ta série TV favorite?
Rome (HBO)

What kind of breakfast do you have usually/Petit Déjeuner?
same like Rosa, a cup of coffee, maybe cereal, maybe bread and jams, most of the time nothing (bad! didn't I know that breakfast is the most important meal)?

Second given name/Deuxième prénom?
"LULU!" my husband never call my real name ever, even when we first met. He always call me LULU. I love it!

Which kind of food can't you stand/Quels aliments n'aimes tu pas manger du tout?
with the exception of weird thing like reptiles and insects (yikes), I like everything and anything

Favorite name (at the moment)/Prénom préféré du moment?
I don't understand the question. Can I say "LULU?"

Which car do you drive/Quelle voiture conduis-tu?
Mercedez S 430

Which trait of character don't you like/Quel trait de caractère n'aimes tu pas?
hypocrite.

Favorite clothes/Habit préféré?
my Jean-Paul Gaultier summer dress (as seen below), because it's so light and comfortable.

If you could take the aeroplane to go somewhere, where would you go/Si tu pouvais partir n'importe où en avion, où irais-tu?

Safari to Africa again and again, but my dream is to go with the National Geography expedition team. My husband promise, one day!

Where would you want to live when you are retired/Où veux-tu passer ta retraite?
Montecito, or Santa Barbara (CA) way up in the hill, not too close to town. Finger cross!

Which birthday do you remember the most/De quel anniversaire te souviens-tu?
the most, my two precious, my son & my husband!.

Then my entire immediate family! I remember all of their birthday, as they remember mine.

Your birthday/Ta date d'anniversaire?

July 10

If you were a color, which one would you be/Si tu étais une couleur?
I'm not sure, I love all color very much (I can not imagine the world without color).

Chocolate or vanilla/Chocolat ou vanille?
both.

Coffee or tea/Café ou thé?
both, I drink coffee in the morning, and tea in the afternoon/evening.

The last person you had on the phone/La dernière personne que tu as eu au téléphone?
my two precious sisters, we just talked on the phone on a few hours ago.

Sweet or savory/Sucré ou salé?

both, as long is not too sweet or too salty

The day of the week you prefer/Jour de la semaine préféré?
Friday, because this is the day where my husband take me for a date!

Saturday, because my husband always try to take me to a movie theater!

Sunday morning, because we (my husband and I, sometimes with our son, and my sister) always try to go for a long hike!

Sunday evening, because we watch movie together with our precious 19 yrs old son!

Next victims to be tag?
Marc

Gera

Peter

Stephane

Mark

my cousin, Peter

Duncan

Thank you Rosa!

Grilled Salmon With Panang Curry Sauce

Ingredients:

1½ pounds salmon fillet, skin on
2 tbs - 3 tbs Panang curry paste   (add more if you want it spicier, or less if you don't like spicy)
3 shallots, sliced
3 cloves garlic, sliced
1 slice of fresh galangga

1 stalk fresh lemongrass, bruished
5 kaffir lime leaves
1 cup cherry tomatoes
1 cup coconut milk
½ cup water
1 tbs finely chopped cilantro (optional)
2 tbs canolla oil
1 tbs fish sauce
salt and pepper, for salmon

• Rub salmon fillet with salt, pepper, and 1 tbs canolla oil. Grill until the salmon is done to your liking, I like mine still slightly pink in the center.
• In the mean time make the sauce. In a braiser heat the remaining oil over medium heat. Add shallots, fry until soft, add garlic, panang curry paste, galangga, and lime leaves. Stir continuously to prevent sticking. Pour the water, scrape the pan back and forth. Add coconut milk, turn the heat to low, add the cherry tomatoes, and the fish sauce. Continue to cook for 5 minutes without letting the sauce to come to a boil. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed.
• To serve: Place the grill salmon an a platter, pour the sauce around it, sprinkle with cilantro if desire. Serve with steam jasmine rice and simple saute spinach.

Note: The sauce should be thick and creamy.