Essentials Final

By Alston Lau

For my “Culinary Essentials” final I created 3 dishes – 2 appetizers and 1 entree. My first dish is a shishito pepper appetizer served alongside a dipping sauce. My second appetizer is a cauliflower steak – high in protein and with fiber, I am going to serve it with a light avocado puree and some fried shallots for extra texture. My final dish is a fresh pasta dish that I will make from scratch. I do not have a pasta machine at home so I will be hand rolling this pasta. Though it may take longer, I think I will feel more rewarded with the end result.

Here are the recipes and ingredients needed for these dishes:

Charred Shishito Peppers

1 cup shishito peppers

½ Tablespoon Canola oil

1 Teaspoon Garlic Powder

Pinch of Paprika

1 Teaspoon Sugar

Furikake Flakes

1 Sprig of scallions, sliced

Dipping Sauce
1/3 CupLight Korean soy sauce

1/4 Cup Mirin

Sugar

*4

Wash the peppers. Combine all seasoning together . Toss the peppers in a bowl with canola oil. Blister the shishito peppers in a hot pan until they show a dark color and are caramelized – do not burn. 5 minutes. Add in half of the sliced scallions and black pepper at the end and toss.

Take the peppers out and place in a bowl, immediately season with mixture and place aside. Pour seasoning over peppers and toss lightly. Plate and put second half of scallions on top. Sprinkle with furikake.

Pour light soy, mirin and sugar in the same pan and cook out the alcohol content in mirin. Serve hot with peppers.

(Pepper, soy allergies)

Roasted Cauliflower Steak 

1 head of cauliflower

1 Tablespoon olive oil

2 Dollops of Ricotta

2 Teaspoons Paprika 

Cayenne pepper

Salt and pepper

Dried rosemary

Deep fried shallots 

Ricotta

Avocado Puree 

1 Avocado

1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice

1-2 Tablespoon Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper

Start by cleaning the cauliflower. Wash and cut off and excess leaves and inedibles. The core of the cauliflower stretches outwards – cut off excess but leave core intact. Cut cauliflower in half and continue to clean.

Slice the cauliflower halves into thick “steaks”. lay them down on a sheet pan and pat dry. Season with seasoning mix on both sides and cover with tin foil. Place in top rack of a 250C oven for 15-20 minutes. Remove foil after 5-7 minutes and allow for a deep dark parallelization. Switch to broiler mode for 1 minute if needed.

Combine avocado, olive oil, lemon juice and a pinch of salt in a blender. Blend until completely smooth. Serve with cauliflower with small dollops of ricotta as well.

(Avocado, dairy, and garlic, seaweed, allergies.)

*3

Fresh Pesto Pasta

Pasta

2 Cups Flour

2 whole eggs

6 egg yolks

Salt

1 Tablespoon Olive Oil

Pesto

1 Cup Basil

⅓ cup pine nuts

3-4 Cloves Garlic

½ cup Parmesan

Start with 2 cups of flour in a large bowl. Create a well with fingers. Mix together 2 eggs + 6 yolks, as well as the olive oil and salt. Pour mixture in the center of the well and slowly incorporate the flour with the eggs. One incorporated well enough, take the dough and begin kneading process for 5-15 minutes. Cover and let rest at least 30 minutes in the large bowl.

Split rested dough into halves. Roll into rough rectangular shape and fold both sides of the length into the center. flip 90 degrees and roll until thin.

(Flour, eggs, olives allergies)

Chop garlic. Combine pesto ingredients in a blender. Blend until smooth. Taste for seasoning.

*1,2 (Video in Email)

(Garlic, Basil, Pine nuts, Dairy and olive allergies)

I am quite happy with my end result – I think I was able to create a menu that was logical and harmonious. I use simple ingredients to showcase the flavors of many aspects of the dishes and tried to elevate it by adding in small changes. I was really happy with the color, seasoning as well as execution of each of the dishes.

Shishito peppers are refreshing, earthy bites of vegetables that can stimulate the taste buds. Usually, I eat them plain with some salt, however, I wanted to elevate it by putting together a powerful blend of seasonings to give it a extra kick.

I chose to cook with cauliflower because of the beautiful white color and relatively neutral flavor of the vegetable. With this canvas and my seasoning mix, I am able to create a dark, rich and crusty caramelization that will contrast the flavors of the vegetable itself. The avocado puree with lemon juice brought out a touch of acidity in the dish, whilst the fried shallots gave another crunchy texture to the dish. Next time, which will be very soon, I would roast the cauliflower in the oven for 5 minutes and continue on searing the “steaks” on the pan to generate a even crispier and substantial crust. Though, I was happy with the deep dark colors running through the veins of the cauliflower.

I think my use of the blender was a good choice. I rarely ever make purees but I thought my avocado puree was really smooth and bright. My pesto which was also made in the blender had just the right color as well as flavor I wanted.

I had the most trouble making fresh pasta. I have made fresh pasta in the past and have never really made a perfect batch. I was satisfied with how thin the pasta was, as well as how even the sheet looked, however this was no perfect batch.

To begin with, I used a standard recipe that calls for a total of 2 eggs. Once I begun I noticed again how tough it was to manipulate and incorporate all of the ingredients into one seamless ball of dough. After some more kneading, I decided that this first batch was not correct. I restarted and adjusted my recipe – adding 6 extra yolks to create a moister dough. It proved to be easier to knead and roll by hand. It took me about 17 minutes to create the new dough. I chose to do a thinner cut of pasta because I want more surface area to be covered by my pesto sauce.

I tried my best to get creative with my plating. I knew I cannot over complicated the plating so I kept it simple – long cuts of scallions on top of the peppers, spots of avocado puree in and around cauliflower with a couple of dollops of ricotta on the side, and a tightly wrapped portion of pasta served “length ways”, which I used a pair of chopsticks to do.

I also chose to do a vegetarian styled menu because my ingredients were limited – though I feel as though I am even more happy with this vegetarian menu. The cauliflower steak totally embodied a piece of meat and had the flavors that you would find on a steak.