Cooking @ Home - Grilled Organic Steak with Saffron Carrot "Pasta"

smoking hot...

When it comes to meals at home, I reckon the easiest meal is just grilling a steak. I recently bought a chargrill cast iron pan from Ikea (that great place, which sells the best deals in town) and have been obssessed with grilling food on it. Initially, I experimented with lamb cutlets and steaks but nowadays I am trying to change to a healthier tone by grilling fish instead. For instance, I just had grilled red snapper and button mushrooms on top of a nice meslun salad last night.

saffron carrot "pasta" for a not so sinful meal

What I love about my chargrill pan - the attractive ridges that appear on my food and how the flavour seems to seal in better. It needs very little oil (just a spritz on top of the meat or fish) and instead the oil drips through the ridges, so the items are free from soaking in the oil.

Back to red meat, that sinful good tasting stuff. We love the OBE beef found at Village Grocer. Somehow, the meat is sweeter and less gamey. My belief for steaks, just spend the monies on a good cut or type and grill it at home instead of wasting monies in a restaurant. Nowadays, we have so many choices; Black Angus beef, wagyu beef (though not always grade 9 so be careful what supermarkets term as wagyu!) and organic beef. A good piece of meat really needs no expensive sauce but just a dash of freshly grinded black pepper and sea salt.

With all that sinful stuff, I like to pair it with vegetables or a salad. This time I discovered the joys of David Tanis' famous saffron carrots. I love this simple yet flavourful way to cook carrots from his book, A Platter of Figs. Rather than cut them into "rounds", I like to peel them with a peeler to create a "pasta" effect. Do try the recipe as it is a doodle to make and very good. While saffron is pricey, the flavour is definitely worth it. Just imagine honey and buttery tones with a touch of citrus from the lemon zest - so damn good stuff you suddenly forget it is carrots aka the dreaded vegetable.

The answer is - Roasted Bone Marrow

I'm Anthony Bourdain's last supper

For those who thought about the riddle or more like the puzzle, the answer is Roasted Bone Marrow. Nic who recently had this in Singapore, managed to guess what the rings were - emptied bones after the marrows have been dug out. Big pat on his back!

We found bone marrow selling in delicious ingredients at Dua Residency, hence we bought them and decided to have a very decadent meal at home. These sinful fellas (also known as Anthony Bourdain's last supper, after he ate at Fergus Henderson's restaurant St John) is usually paired with a parsley caper salad per Henderson's recipe. Mine was just based on the Christmas issue of Appetite. I even came across an even more decadent recipe from Michael Ruhlman's blog - fried bone marrow! That sounds very good but a little more work. Am not sure if delicious ingredients still stocks this and whether you can get them from the butchers though but I would think it is possible, since I see sup tulang places having this around.

Roasted Bone Marrow (adapted from Appetite magazine)

6 beef bone marrows (about 2" lengths)
freshly grinded black pepper and salt to sprinkle
1 wholemeal baquette (or the plain type)

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Clean and wash bones, place on a foil lined baking tray. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven (beware as the bones are hot), place on a plate and season with black pepper and salt. Serve with toasted baquette slices and eat while hot. Serves 6.

Quick & easy to make - Avocado Tuna Sandwiches

mise en place for Sunday brekkie

I'm a sucker when it comes to good deals. Recently, Village Grocer had a large batch of very ripe avocados that they were trying to get rid off. Usually avocados are such a luxe item since one can cost about RM4 to RM6, depending on where you get them. Since they were threatening to expire, Village Grocer bagged 4 of them in packs of RM6.99. Damn good deal, hence I took a risk and bought some.

delish and simple to whip up meal using very ripe avocados

Since I was dying to try out an idea for tuna salad, I decided to make a quick Sunday breakfast. We had gotten rolls from Haikara Style Cafe, which I heated up in the toaster oven. For my sandwich spread, it was just mashed avocado (a creamy mass), yellowfin tuna in olive oil for taste and chopped red shallots for a crunchy texture. It is definitely a healthier alternative to using mayonnaise.

Do give it a try as it's absolutely delish stuff and a real no-brainer to whip up. Just make sure you put your favourite ingredients and you will get something perfect to enjoy during the weekend.