Sizzling in Singapore (A Carnal Cuisine Novel) (17 page)

You can use red beets or any of the other more exotic colors like the orange ones or the candy striped ones if you can find them. This recipe also works well with small turnips, but the cooking time is less and, of course, you don't get the color.

INGREDIENTS
:

3 Small beets (about golf ball size) or the equivalent in halved larger ones per person

Olive Oil

Honey

Coarse black pepper (preferably freshly cracked)

Salt

Preheat the oven to 350°

First, remove the root end and trim off the green tops. Slice the entire top off leaving a clean exposed surface. Don't throw the greens away, they are excellent in their own right. Scrub the beets, let them drain off most of the water and rub a little olive oil on them. (Just put them all in a big bowl and rub away).

Put some aluminum foil in the bottom of a roasting pan sized for your number of servings. Put the beets on the foil, cover with another piece of foil and crimp around the edges. The cooking time depends on how large the beets are and how old they are. They can take anywhere from an hour to two. When you can easily pierce into the beet with a paring knife, they're done. Really, because they take so long to cook, five minutes over-cooking isn't going to make any difference so don't sweat it too much.

When they're done, remove them from the hot pan and let them cool enough for you to handle them. You will be able to slip the skins right off of the beets by wiping them with paper towels. Gloves will prevent your hands from turning beet red, but in time you can use just the paper towels. Just takes a little practice.

Quarter the beets.

Now, back in the big bowl, toss the beets with a couple of tablespoons of honey. Return the beets to the oven for just long enough to get them piping hot. The honey will render them sticky. You're going to use tongs for the next step unless, like Mae, you have asbestos fingers. Have enough black pepper in a saucer to use for coating the curved side of the beet quarter. Arrange them artfully on the plate. Visually this is a stunning side dish so don't just throw them at your plate like they were French fries! Serve with roasts, chops, steaks, etc.

An excellent appetizer can be made by putting a golf-ball sized piece of goat cheese on a plate and arranging the beets like petals around the cheese.

"Finewood Park" Beef Kway Teow

This dish was my absolute favorite thing to eat in Singapore. Apparently, from my research it is a dish found only at this island nation. The place I had it for the first time was called the Goodwood Park Hotel. It is a venerable old institution on which I modeled the fictional 'Finewood Park'where Mae and Cess meet for dinner. Like many places in Singapore, the place is kept icy-cold. Mae would very much have needed her shawl in that place!

Most Asian dishes, whether from Chinese origins or from the subcontinent use meat sparingly. In this recipe, I use about a half a pound of beef and would expect four portions—that's only two ounces of meat for each serving. If you think this is too little, feel free to make it more 'meaty' But, I urge you to try it with the small amount first. You might be pleasantly surprised at how a lot of flavor makes a little bit of expensive protein go a long way. Since we are using such a small amount, go with the best meat you can find. I use filet or sometimes a strip or sirloin. Whatever you do, do not succumb to your grocer's 'beef for stir-fry'come-on. It's usually cut way too thick and will disappoint you with both texture and the way it cooks.

You will have to search out the noodles—kway teow—for this dish, but if your town has an Asian market it won't be too hard to find them. You can order them online if you can't find them locally. There is no substitute. The wide rice noodle has a particular texture that just can't be fudged. In Singapore the noodles are fresh. I've learned to live with the dry variety and it is a really good facsimile of the "real thing" As with all stir-fry type dishes the key to success is not to overcook anything.

The classic recipe calls for Chinese chives, but I have used many greens as the veggie part of the dish. Spinach, Swiss chard—leaves only, mustard greens, even the mature outside leaves of Romaine lettuce will make a fine dish. Do not fear to improvise, Grasshopper, it is the essence of all the best sensual delights.

The dish calls for fresh bean sprouts. The real experts pick off the heads and tails, but that is wayyy too much work for me. Feel free to do so if you have time on your hands or cheap child labor around. If you can't find fresh bean sprouts, leave them out altogether. The canned ones bear as much resemblance to the fresh as a flaccid penis to an erect one. If you'd like, you can add some really finely shredded cabbage to get that element of crispness. No one will sue you.

A note on ginger and garlic: I know you are busy. I know you 'don't have time'to peel and grate these essential Asian elements. Please try it once. Then make your dish with the jar kind. If you can't tell the difference, then okay, I can't help you. If you do see the difference, take the five minutes for the real thing. Foreplay, baby, can make or break sex or cooking.

INGREDIENTS
:

½ Pound of lean beef filet

One package—usually around a pound (more or less) wide rice noodles. Sometimes called Pad Thai or rice sticks. They should be about a half inch wide.

½ Pound –a bag, bunch, etc. of the greens of your choice (see above) sliced in ribbons

3 Small green onions sliced thinly on the diagonal—green and white parts

½ Pound of fresh bean sprouts or finely shredded cabbage—Chinese variety is best

5 Cloves of minced or grated garlic

A two-inch knob of minced or grated peeled fresh ginger

4 Tablespoons of cooking oil—peanut is best, but any neutral oil is fine

A few tablespoons water

Marinade for meat:

2 Tablespoons soy sauce

2 Tablespoons oyster sauce

1 Teaspoon rice wine vinegar

Scant teaspoon sugar

1 ½ Teaspoons cornstarch

Several dashes sesame oil

First, slice the beef as thin as you can, against the grain. Marinate the beef in the mixed ingredients of the marinade for twenty minutes or so.

The noodles are the trickiest part of this dish. I can't really tell you how long to blanch the dry ones as there is so much variation in moisture content of packaged rice noodles. I take a pot of boiling salted water and throw the noodles in. Then I turn the heat off. The noodles are ready when they are slightly less done than 'al dente' You should be able to bite through one, but it shouldn't be done enough to eat. Softening the noodles in this way shouldn't take more than a few minutes so don't walk away and get busy with other things. If you overcook them at this stage, you will have an unappetizing lump of goo when you cook them the second time.

When the noodles are done enough, drain them and rinse them with cold water. They will be slippery.

Now, you can assemble the dish. Most recipes will tell you to use a wok for Chinese cooking and that's fine, but you don't
have
to have a wok. In fact, I have an excellent wok that for some reason doesn't get along with the gas stove I presently have, so I have been using a big cast iron skillet lately. It works great.

Heat a tablespoon of oil to hot, but not smoking, and quick-fry the greens and the sprouts or cabbage to 'almost done' This takes a minute or so. Don't overcook as they will be going back into the pan for the final combining. Set the vegetables aside.

Heat another tablespoon of oil in the pan and add the garlic. Don't burn it. When the garlic begins to color, add the drained noodles and cook until the noodles start to show some browning on the edges. Be gentle, the noodles will break easily. Set the noodles aside with the vegetables.

Heat the remainder of the oil in the pan with the ginger. Let the ginger start to sizzle and then add the meat, marinade and all. The meat is not going to get brown, just cook it until the color changes and it's done.

Add a few tablespoons of water and stir. The cornstarch in the marinade will thicken and form the sauce. Add the vegetables and the noodles to the meat and sauce mixture and gently combine until everything is nicely coated. Garnish with the green onions and serve hot.

This dish is usually served with these tiny green pickled chilies on the side that I have never found outside of Singapore. However, I have found several excellent substitutes. Most Asian groceries sell a small green pickled pepper. There are many varieties. You can use the jalapenos you probably already have in your pantry, but these just aren't quite as good as the little green ones. These peppers are also easily made at home. Buy some Serrano chilies, slice them in thin pieces and put them in a clean glass jar. Boil enough cider vinegar to cover the peppers and season the vinegar with salt and just a pinch of sugar. Pour the boiling vinegar over the chilies and refrigerate for a couple of days. They just keep getting better with age.

Mae's Wasabi Cocktail Sauce

This is just a little variation on the traditional cocktail sauce you are already familiar with. But I've had rave reviews on it. Sometimes simple changes to old standards pack a big flavor punch. This is excellent with any cold shellfish—shrimp, crab claws, even cold pieces of poached white fish like Mahi-Mahi. Just make sure your fish is screaming fresh.

INGREDIENTS
:

½ Cup ketchup

Zest and juice from half a lemon or one small lime

A couple of dashes of Worcestershire sauce

A few drops of Tabasco sauce

2 teaspoons of wasabi paste

Mix it all together and serve chilled. Adjust the wasabi to your taste level. I use the kind in the tube as I find most powders that are available in retail stores tend to be bitter. But if you have a favorite, by all means experiment.

A wonderful seafood salad can be made by mixing three parts good quality mayonnaise with one part wasabi cocktail sauce. Toss in shrimp, lobster or crab, some chopped celery and onion and, if you have them and like them—some capers. Yummy.

Braised Lamb Shank (Kurt's original version and Nick's new version)

If you think you don't like lamb or haven't a clue how to cook it, braised lamb shanks are an excellent introduction to this 'other red meat'and the method of cooking is very forgiving. Lamb shanks are braised until they practically fall off the bone so you don't have to pay much attention to the dish once it's prepped and ready to cook.

Lamb shanks are one of the cheaper cuts of lamb, but still not as cheap as chicken or pork chops. So, although this is a rustic meal, it would still qualify as a 'special'dinner. Plus, there's a certain raw sexiness about having a shank on your plate. It looks like caveman food, although I would advise against trying to eat it with your hands unless you're into messiness. I am going to give you the traditional method and then I am going to give you the different take on the traditional method that Nick and Mae came up with at the Elysium.

Mastering the technique of braising will serve you well in the kitchen. Your goal is to achieve a caramelization of the sugars present in the meat. This brown coating accomplishes two things: it seals the juices inside the meat and it provides a depth of flavor to your dish that you can't get by just boiling a hunk of flesh. Braising is an excellent way to coax a cheap cut of meat into becoming an elegant, complex dish. For example, if you wanted to substitute beef short ribs for the lamb in the first version of this recipe, it would be delicious. You could even braise chicken for the second version of the recipe—the Asian-influenced one—but you would need to shorten the cooking time.

Both of these dishes start the same way. The first step is to brown the shanks well. You can cook this dish in an electric frying pan (this is what I use), a crock-pot, or in the oven. If you choose to do it in the oven, you'll need a heavy skillet or Dutch oven that can go on the stove top and in the oven. A cast iron Dutch oven is a perfect choice. If you choose a crock-pot, you will still need a heavy skillet to prepare the ingredients for the slow cooker.

Allow one shank per person. If your market carries the foreleg portion of lamb, this will usually feed two people. Be warned, though, that the foreleg may be too long to fit in your vessel. (Yes, it is possible to be
too long
when we're talking about fitting in a cooking vessel). If you need to cut part of the bone, you will need to saw it.

Generously salt and pepper the shanks and brown them on medium high heat in just a small amount of oil—enough to keep them from sticking. The lamb will render off quite a bit of fat so you want to keep added fat to a minimum. Turn the shanks often and try to get them as evenly brown all around as you can. The browning is what gives the sauce a lot of its color and flavor. Browning will take a while—fifteen minutes or so—so while that is happening you can prepare the ingredients for your braising sauce.