Indian Style Poached Lobster with Vegetable Couscous and Asparagus

Similar to my last post, this dish was made during the same intro to nutrition class. This day, my professor gave each group a random protein and flavor profile and told us to make something delicious and nutritious out of it. This was really a true test of our creativity and fast thinking skills. My group received lobster and the Indian flavor profile. By the end of the time, we were able to put up, in my opinion, a great dish that flowed well.

We first steamed the lobster until they were about 3/4 of the way done. This only took a few minutes and after, we removed the meat from the shell and set it aside.

Then, we took the shells and built a sauce out of it. We first sweated onions, garlic and shallots until soft. Then, we took chicken stock, coconut milk, the shells, curry powder, cumin, coriander, turmeric, canned crushed tomatoes, and sambal chili paste and brought it to a boil. After letting the flavors marry, we strained the sauce and began to reduce. After it was able to coat the back of a spoon we added chicken glacé (chicken stock reduced 90%) for mouth feel and blended it with 2 ears of roasted corn. After it was done, we reserved some sauce and used it to heat up the lobster for service. This sauce had a great consistency and tasted amazing!

While making the sauce and lobster, we roasted corn whole and made a vegetable “confetti” of finely chopped peppers and corn. After, we boiled the couscous and mixed it with the veggies, curry powder, paprika and turmeric. The couscous turned out delicious and added awesome color to the plate.

The asparagus, though simple, came out really great. We steamed them to the desired doneness, sliced them on the bias, and tossed them with toasted peanuts, cumin, coriander, curry powder and cardamom. The spices gave great flavor and the peanuts added awesome crunch and color contrast.

This dish is delicious and makes a really impressive presentation. This is also a good introductory dish to the Indian flavor profile because it has very minimal spice and familiar ingredients. Definitely should try this at home.

Poached Pork Tenderloin with Couscous and Green Beans

Every 9 days, I have a practical assessment in my culinary labs. This “exam” is the true test of what skills you have taken from each class. In my latest practical, I was on a team of four and our challenge was to make a healthy dish while still respecting the flavor profile of Latin America. We were assigned pork, green beans and couscous; with which we could flavor any way we wanted to (inside the boundaries of our flavor profile), so long as the techniques used were healthy. This dish is what we came up with.

The pork was poached in a court bouillon (flavorful liquid used for poaching) that we came up with ourselves. It consisted of vegetable stock, orange juice and crushed canned tomatoes as the base. We then added cumin, oregano, coriander, chipotle chilies and dried ancho chilies to give flavor and spice to the pork. After infusing the liquid with these spices and chilies, we strained it and poached the pork loin in it until it reached our desired temp. After, we seared the meat for a little color and flavor. The best part was that it is healthy for you because almost no fat was added to the protein during the cooking process. It turned out flavorful, delicious and healthy.

For the green beans, we steamed them until they were al dente and bright green. We then toasted cumin and coriander to add another dimension to the spices. After the beans had steamed, we sauteed them in a little oil, the toasted spices, cubed mango, and orange wedges. These beans turned out pretty well and had great flavor from the fruit and spices. Also, the only fat added to them was the minimal oil used during the saute.

The couscous was simple but very tasty. We simply boiled the couscous and tossed it with cilantro, lime juice, lime zest, and a little bit of adobo sauce. This turned out to be a good balance between the spice and the acidity and was a great addition to the dish.

The sauce we made was a roasted tomato and chipotle salsa. We roasted tomatoes, onions and garlic in the oven until soft. Then, we skinned and seeded the tomatoes and blended all the vegetables, plus some cilantro, together. After, we added some chipotle peppers and reconstituted guajillo peppers to the mixture and blended until smooth. This was delicious with the pork because it complemented the flavors we put into the court bouillon.

Overall, this dish was delicious and was one of my favorite things I’ve made since being at Johnson & Wales. It was really eye opening to see that it is possible to make such a delicious dish, while having it still be good for you.



Recipe:

Pork - 1 lbs
Court Bouillon

• 2 1/2 quarts vegetable stock 
• 1 quart orange juice 
• 1 pint tomato product (canned crushed preferred) 
• 2 Tbl. spoons cumin, toasted and ground 
• 2 Tbl. spoons coriander, toasted and ground 
• 1 Tbl. spoon oregano, dried  
• 4 ounces chipotle chillies, chopped in adobo  
• 2 dried ancho chillies, rough chop 
• oil as needed for searing 

Green beans

• 2 cups green beans, steamed 
• Coriander, toasted and ground 
• Cumin, toasted and ground 
• 1 mango, cubed 
• 1 orange, segmented 
• oil as needed for sautéing 

Couscous

• 2 cups boiled couscous 
• 1 1/2 ounces chopped cilantro 
• 2 limes, juiced and zested 
• 2 ounces adobo sauce (no chilies) 
• Optional: add steamed veggies for color and to add interest 

Salsa 

• 6 roma tomatoes, roasted, skinned and seeded 
• 1 onion, roasted 
• 1 head of garlic, roasted 
• 1 ounce cilantro 
• 2 guajillo chillies, reconstituted in boiling water 
• 2 ounces chipotle chilies in adobo 
• Optional: court bouillon liquid can be used to help thing if necessary 

Szechuan Tofu with Stir-Fried Rice and Seasoned Potatoes

Today in class, we experimented with alternative proteins. This was a subject that I usually found, as a meat lover, unappealing. Before this, my exposure to Tofu had been limited. Besides the occasional Pad Thai and Tofu tempura, I really don’t eat it let only cook with it. Though it was unfamiliar water, I really found that this menu helped me progress not only as a chef, but as a foodie.

At first glance, the tofu looked absurdly wet and kinda gross. This was easily fixed with a trick my chef showed me. By sandwiching the paper towel rapped tofu between a strainer and 1 lbs of weight (pint of water), we were able to extract the water and not have the tofu lose shape.

After removing the excess water, we sliced it fairly thick and fried it in a wok. The crispy texture was amazing and it got a great color. Easily the best way I have had tofu.

The tofu is glazed with a soy/sesame sauce. It contained soy sauce, sesame oil, sambal chili paste and salt and pepper. After mixing, reducing it on the stove allows you to get a great syrup consistency that will coat the tofu well. After glazing the tofu, finish in the oven to get sauce to really stick.

The potatoes were oven fried fingerling wedges. Just season them with what ever you’d like, and toss them in some oil with your chosen spices. Bake ‘em in a hot oven and get them nice and crispy.

For the stir-fry, just add a little oil in the wok and get it screamin’ hot. Then add your veggies depending on their cooking times (i.e. carrots take longer than peppers). After they are cooked added steamed rice and cook till crispy.
Whatever flavor you want to add is up to you. In this one, there is a hoisin and sesame oil mixture that we poured in part way through cooking. It caramelized a little bit and was delicious.

Though this tofu experience was a little intimidating, the outcome was a delicious and cohesive dish and really turned my views on tofu.