The October 2009 Daring Cooks’ challenge was brought to us by Jaden of the blog Steamy Kitchen. The recipes are from her new cookbook, The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook.

I made this last Saturday for lunch, to fulfill the Daring Cooks October Challenge. This is my first challenge, and so I was quite excited about it! I had most of the spices, and thankfully, it’s really quite easy to find them in this part of the world. I had some trouble finding the rice noodles though, for some weird reason.

I decided to try the longer version of the recipe, which can be found here. Hubby helped with the chopping of the chicken and the smashing of the marrow. The soup was very fragrant and clear. I only wonder if I should have added slightly more fish sauce and sugar, as it was fairly bland initially. One could however, taste the flavour of the chicken in the soup. All in all, it was a fairly simple, yet refreshing meal.

Below is Jaden’s recipe for the simple vietnamese chicken pho. I went ahead and did the more complex version, which requires one to make your own chicken stock.

Preparation Time: 45 cooking time + 15 minutes to cook noodles based on package directions

Servings: Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:

For the Chicken Pho Broth:
2 tbsp. whole coriander seeds
4 whole cloves
2 whole star anise
2 quarts (2 liters/8 cups/64 fluid ounces) store-bought or homemade chicken stock
1 whole chicken breast (bone in or boneless)
½ onion
1 3-inch (7.5 cm) chunk of ginger, sliced and smashed with side of knife
1 to 2 tbsps. sugar
1 to 2 tbsps. fish sauce

1 lb. (500 grams/16 ounces) dried rice noodles (about ¼ inch/6 mm wide)

Accompaniments:

2 cups (200 grams/7 ounces) bean sprouts, washed and tails pinched off
Fresh cilantro (coriander) tops (leaves and tender stems)
½ cup (50 grams/approx. 2 ounces) shaved red onions
½ lime, cut into 4 wedges
Sriracha chili sauce
Hoisin sauce
Sliced fresh chili peppers of your choice

Directions:

1. To make the Chicken Pho Broth: heat a frying pan over medium heat. Add the coriander seeds, cloves and star anise and toast until fragrant, about 3-4 minutes. Immediately spoon out the spices to avoid burning.
2. In a large pot, add all the ingredients (including the toasted spices) and bring to a boil.
3. Reduce the heat to medium-low and let simmer for 20 minutes, skimming the surface frequently.
4. Use tongs to remove the chicken breasts and shred the meat with your fingers, discarding the bone if you have used bone-in breasts.
5. Taste the broth and add more fish sauce or sugar, if needed. Strain the broth and discard the solids.
6. Prepare the noodles as per directions on the package.
7. Ladle the broth into bowls. Then divide the shredded chicken breast and the soft noodles evenly into each bowl.
8. Have the accompaniments spread out on the table. Each person can customize their own bowl with these ingredients.

I had loads of left over eggwhite that I was saving to make macarons. I never found the time to make them and figured that using them for meringue was so much faster, and simpler. I served my meringue basket with freshly whipped cream and some blueberries and strawberries. You can use whatever fruit you desire.

Recipe:

3 egg whites
175g caster sugar
1 tsp lemon juice or white wine vinegar
1 tsp corn flour
300 ml whipping cream, whipped
Blueberries and strawberries

Method:

1. Whisk egg whites at high speed till dry.
2. Add in half the sugar slowly, while whisking.
3. Carefully fold in the vinegar, corn flour and remaining half of the sugar.
4. Fill a large piping bag with the meringue.
5. Prepare a tray lined with baking paper.
6. Pipe out a spiral base, then pipe circles around it to build a nest.
7. Bake at 120°C for 40 minutes to an hour.
8. If you do not want the meringue to brown, block out the top heating element with another tray.
9. Remove from tray. Allow it to cool and fill with whipping cream and fresh fruit.
10. Serve immediately.

My brother-in-law returned from Sydney last week and brought home with him three large flash-boiled lobsters. Seeing that they were fresh and ready for the grill, my sister-in-laws decided to have a surf and turf dinner last week. They cut up the striploin they had purchased from Euraco into thick slabs of steaks. The marbling effect of those steaks were fantastic, and those steaks were simply mouth-watering delicious. It was tender and soft, with just the right amount of fat. We only barely seasoned the meat with some freshly ground black pepper and kosher salt and yet they tasted unbelievable.

With the steaks grilling, we turned our attention to the lobsters. They looked juicy and succulent, all ready to be eaten. A lovely orange red with succulent white flesh spilling out of them, they were almost picture perfect. Well, maybe food perfect.

When they emerged from the grill, we were not disappointed. The meat was thick and oozing with natural sweetness. And oh, the lobster roe? It was fragrant and had the most complex flavour. This was the way fresh seafood should be eaten. With little or no seasoning, one could almost taste the ocean.

Home-styled surf and turf. Don’t you wish you were there?

Hubby decided to do us the honours of cooking dinner two days ago. The resolve was to use up some of the food items in the refrigerator. I had a craving for mushroom soup and seeing that we had some sour cream left in the fridge, J proceeded to whip up a delicious Hungarian mushroom soup. The soup is rather thick and creamy, with a tinge of sweetness from the sauteed onions that he had added into the soup. He usually adds a dash of paprika to the soup, but that day, he didn’t.

Seeing that we still had plenty of sausages left, and some Hokkaido frozen scallops, he decided that an aglio olio was in place. Even though, in his rush to serve dinner, he had forgotten to add the salt, the saltiness of the sausage, together with a sprinkling of freshly ground parmesan cheese more than made up for the taste. All in all, it was a very satisfying, home-cooked meal.