Blue Butcher

I walk by Blue Butcher several times a week but only finally got around to trying it tonight. I'm not exactly sure how we even ended up there - when we left the house this evening for dinner, the plan was to head to Life Cafe, an organic vegetarian restaurant in Soho. Instead, we somehow ended up at Blue Butcher, one of the most carnivorous restaurants in the city. I'm glad we did though, because the food was fantastic.

Belgian endive salad with candied bacon(!), oranges, blue cheese and truffle dressing. This dish was a fine starter, but not an absolute must-try. I did like the candied bacon.

 Lamb chops served with eggplant, mint sauce, au jus gravy and feta. The lamb is slow cooked sous vide, then finished over an open flame, and it is absolutely delicious. My husband, who hates lamb, loved this dish. The meat is melt-in-your-mouth tender, seasoned perfectly and complemented by the smoky eggplant.

 Beef tenderloin topped with ravioli. I don't recall how this dish was described on the menu, but it was basically a thick cut of tenderloin topped with a meat-filled ravioli and a sauce very similar to hollandaise. It was fine, but not the best steak you're going to eat in your life. The sauce was overly heavy, perhaps not the best complement to the meat. To be honest, while the meat itself was fine, we just didn't really understand the ravioli and sauce that accompanied it. The dish would have been better with a side of potatoes or spinach. The lamb chops were much, much better.

Granny smith apple crumble with port ice cream. If you could put an American summer in a dish and bake it, this is what you'd end up with. One bite and I thought of sunshine, apple orchards, a grandmother's love, a warm cozy kitchen. What's lovely about this dessert is that it stays true to the homey simplicity that is an apple crumble. Nothing gimmicky or overly creative - just well-cooked, sweet apples topped with a not-overly-sweet, cinnamony brown sugar crumble and complemented perfectly by the creamy port ice cream.

Food rating: ****
Bang for buck rating: 4

The essentials:
http://www.facebook.com/BlueButcher
Location: 108 Hollywood Road, Sheung Wan Hong Kong
Average price of dinner for two: $1400

Txistorra with fagioli beans and bell pepper

The first time I tried txistorra was in Valencia at Casa Montaña, a fantastic tapa bar near the beach. It was presented simply on a white plate, fried in hard cider. Txistorra is a cured sausage from the Basque country, seasoned with garlic and paprika. It's fantastic for frying and serving with eggs for breakfast or as a tapa. Because it's rather fatty and salty, I like to fry txistorra with either mushrooms or beans, both of which mellow out the salt and spice. I've prepared txistorra a half dozen times now, but this recipe, which I assembled from what was available in my fridge and pantry, is my favorite so far. I served this dish for brunch along with Spanish tortilla, roasted asparagus and fruit salad.

Ingredients/Sources in HK

Txistorra - Available in the refrigerated cured meats section at CitySuper IFC

Fagioli beans - I used a can of beans that I picked up at Oliver's

Yellow bell pepper - anywhere, but try to get organic

Olive oil
Red wine 

Preparation

Heat a pan over medium heat and add about 1 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil. Chop the txistorra and add to the hot oil, lower heat to somewhere between low and medium. The sausage should slowly brown, and the spices should be seeping out so that the olive oil is a bright burnt orange color. Drain the can of beans and rinse well. Chop the bell pepper into thin slices. Once the sausage has browned around the edges, add 2-3 tablespoons of red wine and cook until the alcohol has evaporated. Add the bell pepper and cook for 1-2 minutes. Add the drained beans and continue to cook until beans start to brown (but they should not get mushy). Turn off heat and serve immediately.

Andong Jjim Dak

This here is Andong Jjim Dak, which literally means steamed chicken from Andong (a region in Korea). It is absolutely delicious. I suspect that MSG might have something to do with that, but frankly, I'm beyond caring. Why does everyone hate MSG so much anyway? Yes, I know it's artificial. And maybe it's "cheating" on flavor. But let me put this out there: Japan has some of the most Michelin stars in the world, and Japanese cuisine is often lauded as one of the world's best. And you know what? MSG is widely used in Japanese cooking. In fact, ajinomoto (MSG) is a common kitchen ingredient alongside soy sauce. It's what adds umami. So let's not knock MSG. Anyway, that was a long digression.

Andong jjim dak, which is sold in Seoul at restaurants with the same name, is a spicy chicken dish made with a secret sauce of soy, red peppers, sugar and spices. It will usually also have clear yam noodles and chunks of potato and some green onions, but that's about it. You order it in small (serves 2), medium (serves 3-4) or large (serves 5-6), and choose the degree of spiciness you want. Then you dig in. Simple. Absolutely delicious - and super cheap, less than $10 per person.

The restaurants are all over Seoul, and there are several competing chains (Andong and Bongchu are two of the biggest), but my favorite is Andong Jjimdak (안동찜닭 in Korean).

Food rating: ****
Bang for buck rating: 5 

Spaghetti with bottarga

I recently watched an episode of Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations where he travels to Sardinia and eats a plate of spaghetti with bottarga. The way he waxed poetic about it immediately made me a bit obsessed with trying the dish. Luckily, just a week later I was assigned to review Nicholini's by Asia Tatler, where spaghetti with bottarga was on the menu. Nicholini's version included a dollop of sea urchin on the top, which I though made the dish metallic and bitter (even though I usually love sea urchin), so I didn't mix it in with the pasta. The dish itself was very simple: homemade spaghetti tossed in olive oil and bottarga. It's basically just aglio e olio, the most simple of pasta sauces, but with bottarga added in.

And bottarga makes ALL the difference. Bottarga is the dried roe sac of the mullet fish. It's reminiscent of Japanese mentaiko (cod roe), but a lot more unctuous and silky-tasting and a lot less salty. It looks like the photo on the right. The spaghetti with bottarga at Nicholini's was absolutely delicious - slick with olive oil and garlic, salty and savory from the bottarga. I was sold. But at something like US$50 for a plate, it's not something I can eat everyday, so I was obsessed with finding bottarga and making the dish at home. I went to every gourmet store in Hong Kong - the only store that carried bottarga was Il Bel Paese, an Italian grocer, but they didn't have the full dried sacs of roe - only a jar of shaved roe (and it was TUNA, not mullet).

But the heavens heard my plea for bottarga. Quite randomly, my husband and I decided to fly to Kaohsiung for the weekend, just to get out of HK for a day. And what do you know - dried mullet roe is a specialty of the region. So, I bought a sac of mullet roe and last night, I finally cooked spaghetti with bottarga at home. All you need are the 6 ingredients on the right: spaghetti, Italian red pepper flakes, good olive oil, parsley, garlic, and bottarga.

Ingredients/Sources in HK
Spaghetti - any grocery store
Red pepper - I found this bottle of dried Italian peperoncini at Apita in Quarry Bay
Italian parsley  - also available at Apita, but also at most other grocery stores
Olive oil  - we got the one pictured during our visit to France, but you can get good olive oil at any of the international grocery stores - CitySuper, Oliver's, 360
Garlic  - also available at any grocery store or wet market
Bottarga - sorry...not available in HK, except for out of a jar at Il Bel Paese. But you can buy bottarga at the airport in Kaohsiung, and you can also find it in Tokyo

Preparation
Slice 2 cloves of garlic as thin as you can. Chop a handful of parsley (not as much as pictured above - about half that amount) finely. Slice the bottarga into thin slices. I used about half the bottarga shown above.

Heat a pot of water with a tablespoon of salt. When the water boils, add dry spaghetti. Cook to al dente.

Meanwhile, heat a pan over medium-high heat and add a very big glug of olive oil (6-8 tablespoons). Add the garlic and about 1/2 teaspoon of red pepper flakes and stir so it doesn't burn. Lower the heat to medium-low. Add in the bottarga slices and stir around with a spatula or wooden spoon. Some of the bottarga should start crumbling, and this is what you want. Add about 3/4 of the parsley, stir to mix, then turn off the heat.

When the spaghetti is cooked to your liking (I like very slightly al dente), take off the heat and drain, saving about two tablespoons of the water. Turn on the heat under the olive oil-bottarga mixture. Add the pasta to the pot of oil and bottarga. If the pasta is too dry, add some of the reserved water from the cooked pasta to loosen. Toss to mix, add the rest of the parsley. Serve immediately. I like to drizzle more olive oil on top. I think it would also be good with toasted breadcrumbs on top, though I haven't tried it yet.

Stewed prunes. Really.

I realize that this picture isn't going to convince anyone that the much-maligned prune can be delicious, but if you could taste it, I think you'd love it. I'm reading a food memoir (I love that there's a genre of books called food memoirs!) called A Homemade Life, which I came across when I was reading the blog of the author of My Berlin Kitchen, another food memoir.

The recipes in A Homemade Life are simple Americana - the kind of stuff that some foodies might scoff at (such as potato salad, which the author swears is the best, made with Hidden Valley ranch salad dressing). But that's exactly the point of the book, or at least one of the points, I think. These recipes are actually the recipes the author grew up with in her family, and I have to admit, I kind of want to try some. One of the recipes that fascinated me was one for stewed prunes. I mean, it just sounds gross.

And yet. The way the author described how juicy and plump the prunes are, and how they're so good that she thinks they're better than fresh plums...well, I was intrigued. So today, I cooked a pot of stewed prunes. And what do you know - they are really delicious. They really are nothing like the dried prunes in the bag - they are plump and juicy and sweet and homey. I kind of enjoyed eating a couple straight out of the pot after they had cooled a bit, but you could serve it with oatmeal or yogurt or vanilla ice cream too. I didn't follow the author's recipe exactly, which includes a cinnamon stick, because I wasn't sure if I'd like the spice mixed in. I love the way it tastes without cinnamon, but I might try cooking it with a stick next time too, just to see how it tastes.

Ingredients/Source in HK
A bag of pitted prunes (I used Del Monte) - I'm pretty sure you can find these anywhere in HK, I found them at an International grocery store
One orange, the sweetest you can find - oranges are in season right now and they are SO sweet! I got mine at the big Wellcome on Caine Road
Water

Preparation
Wash the orange (I use fruit & vegetable spray). Slice the orange into very thin slices. Put the orange slices and prunes in a pot, fill with water until just covered. Bring the water to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for about 30-40 minutes until the water has become sweet and almost syrupy. The oranges should be almost falling apart. Let it cool before you serve, or bring it to room temperature then refrigerate.

Gazpacho, a taste of summer in Spain

I fell in love with Spain from the moment I arrived in Barcelona the first time, back in 2006. Since then, I've tried to visit at least once a year - my trips always include a new part of Spain I haven't been to previously, but also always include at least a couple days in Barcelona, my happiest place on earth. This past summer, my annual pilgrimage to Spain included a drive down to, then back up to Barcelona from, the Costa Blanca, with stops in Alicante, Denia and Valencia, and ended with the requisite couple days in Barcelona.

Gazpacho is the ultimate summer food in Spain - refreshing, light yet deeply satisfying. There are many variations to gazpacho, but my favorite is a nice and simple traditional version made with day-old bread that cuts the acidity of the tomato and vinegar and makes the cool soup creamy and smooth.

My recipe is adapted from Jamie Oliver's jamie does...spain, italy, sweden, morocco, greece, france. After fiddling with the recipe, I found that adding a handful of marcona almonds to the blend makes the soup even creamier, and really gives the dish a nice richness.

Ingredients:

2 2-inch slices of day-old bread (I like to use rustic country bread - cut the crust off and just use the white part)

5 or 6 medium ripe tomatoes, the sweetest ones you can find

1/3 of an English cucumber or 1 kirby cucumber

1 bell pepper of any color, deseeded and chopped

2 cloves of garlic, peeled and smashed roughly with the side of your knife

A glug of good-quality Spanish EVOO

Apple cider vinegar

Maldon sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

A small handful of marcona almonds

Garnishes: mini mozzarella balls, cherry tomatoes, olives, chopped boiled egg, hardboiled quail egg, herbs, croutons, Iberico or Serrano ham

Sources for ingredients in HK:

• Bread - I love Po's Atelier, tucked away in a secluded, cozy corner of Sheung Wan. The fromage stick accompanying the gazpacho in the photo above is from Po's Atelier. 62 Po Hing Fong, Sheung Wan http://www.facebook.com/posatelier
• Tomatoes  - I usually buy tomatoes still on the vine from CitySuper at IFC or Oliver's in the Prince's Building
• Cucumber - buy organic, the firmest and freshest cucumber you can find. You can usually find decent ones at CitySuper
• Bell pepper - most of the international grocery stores around town stock organic green, red and yellow bell peppers
• Spanish EVOO - ok, so it doesn't have to be Spanish, but if you're making gazpacho, it just seems more authentic to use Spanish olive oil. You can find good variety at CitySuper
• Apple cider vinegar  - I like the bio-dynamic apple cider vinegar from Mock Red Hill stocked at 360 in the Landmark
• Maldon sea salt - you can find this at any of the gourmet international grocers (Oliver's, 360, CitySuper)
• Marcona almonds - CitySuper stocks these. I suppose you could use regular almonds, but make sure they are skinless

Preparation:

Cut off the crust of the bread and soak in a bowl of water. Prick each of the tomatoes with a sharp knife, then put in a bowl and cover with boiling water for about 20-30 seconds. Drain, then peel the skins off the tomatoes. In a food processor or mixer, add the tomatoes, cucumber, green pepper and garlic. Top with the soaked bread, and pour in a generous glug of EVOO and a little apple cider vinegar. Go easy on the vinegar - you can add more later if you like it more tart. Blend until smooth, add salt and pepper to taste. If you really need to, you can add a pinch of sugar, but if the tomatoes are sweet, it will not be necessary. Add in the almonds and blend again until smooth. The color will be a cool orangeish pink, slightly creamy looking. Add more EVOO or vinegar to your liking and blend. Put into a bowl or jug and cover with saran wrap and refrigerate for at least 2-3 hours.

I like to serve this topped with a little bit of chopped hardboiled egg or half a hardboiled quail egg, a bamboo stick skewer of sweet cherry tomatoes, mini mozzarella balls and olives, and a freshly baked crouton or fromage stick from Po's, as pictured above.

I'm baaaack

I know there's probably no one who checks this blog anymore, but I'm back. Since I last wrote over a year ago, I've been quite busy - getting engaged, changing day jobs, getting married, moving...

I've been in Hong Kong for over 2 years now and I feel like I'm just really starting to get it. It's a crazy, chaotic, wonderful, exasperating, local, international city, and at the end of the day, I just love it. It's also one of the best-eating cities in the world, and not just for Cantonese or other Chinese food.

I've been reviewing restaurants for Asia Tatler for two "seasons" now, and we just ended our season for 2012 (the season lasts from early June through mid/end October, when the editors and food writers try to review all of the restaurants that will go into the annual Hong Kong and Macau Best Restaurants Guide). After many calorie-laden, gut-busting meals, all for the sake of the greater good of course, I'm enjoying taking a break from fancified haute cuisine and cooking more at home. After visiting nearly every international grocery store, specialty food store and food pantry in Hong Kong, I now know where I need to go to get all of the ingredients I use when I cook or eat: the most authentic Korean kimchi, the best Japanese miso, organic rice, tahini, red quinoa, truffle oil, Maldon salt, fresh steaks, frisee, the best cheese, the sweetest oranges....

Unfortunately, in Hong Kong, there's no place for one-stop shopping - not if you want to find all the ingredients you need. But if you're willing to schlep your recyclable shopping bag (better for the environment, plus you save 50 cents, the charge per plastic bag in HK) to a few stores, you can find everything you need. Sometimes, you'll even come across a new ingredient or supplier you've never heard of because it's not imported to your own home country. The great thing about living in HK is that it's a port of trade - so I no longer buy EVOO that's bottled in the US since I can get infinitely better quality EVOO straight from the olive orchards in Italy or Portugal. And on the subject of EVOO, I've learned from my recent travels to France and Spain that you really need to have at least 4-5 varieties in your kitchen: a light one for basic cooking, a slightly fragrant one for finishing salad dressings, a few strong-tastings ones for dipping bread or eating straight. Olive oil can taste fruity, or nutty, or earthy, or pungent, or bland - you need all the different types in your kitchen to cook properly. But I digress.

I'll be blogging on this site more often with restaurant reviews as well as home recipes and tips on where to source ingredients in Hong Kong, so stay tuned!