mushroom sauce

Any steak dish is always incomplete without some sauce, be it mustard sauce or even an olive oil dressing. (By the way, steak and mustard is oh-so-good!) It definitely brings your steak to a whole new dimension, so next time you have steak at a restaurant, always get a sauce to go with your steak.

Here's my attempt on one of the more popular sauces - mushroom sauce. It's as easy as 1-2-3!

Mushroom Sauce

roughly 50g mushroom ( about 4 medium/10 small mushrooms), finely sliced

50g butter

1 garlic clove, finely diced

1 tbsp cream

25ml white wine

parsley

1. melt butter in saucepan, slightly brown the garlic then sauté the mushrooms.

2. set mushrooms aside but retain the fats on the pan. add the wine and simmer, reduce it slightly before adding cream and parsley.

3. add the mushrooms back, cook for another minute then keep warm till ready to serve.

--

p/s: other recipes suggest adding wine to mushrooms, allowing alcohol to cook for a minute, and maybe you can add beef/veal glaze, simmer for another minute before removing mushrooms. following this, strain the liquid into another pan and reduce slightly before adding cream.

fennel

How many of you ever had this vegetable? So far, I've only had it in salads, but I thought there could be more that I can do with it. Fennel goes really well with seafood, it has a sharp, crisp taste. However,I wanted to experiment with the flavours so I decided to try this combination: Fennel and Beef! It is a little like beef and potato mash with a twist, give it a go and leave a comment!

Seared Beef with Fennel and Potato puree

200g porterhouse steak ( you can experiment with different cuts of beef)
1 medium sized potatp
1 bulb fennel (roughly same amount as potato)
1 clove garlic
1 tbsp cheese (mascarpone recommended but i used parmesan)
1 cup milk
2 cups chicken stock
approx 1/4 cabbage

1. Fennel and potato puree: Half the fennel lengthwise and cut into thin pieces of 1/4 inch thickness (be sure to trim the fennel of their stalks and bottom root/middle bulb). Peel the potato, halve and thinly slice. Place the fennel, potatoes, garlic, milk and chicken stock into a heavy pot over medium heat. If needed, add enough water to just cover the fennel. Bring the mixture to a simmer and continue until the fennel and potato are soft, roughly 30 minutes.

2. Drain the fennel mixture. Place the fennel into a food processor and puree. Add some of the mixture into the food processor (for more watery effect) and pulse to puree, gradually adding more mixture till the desired consistency is achieved. Add the cheese, mix, and season with salt and pepper to taste. (Consider adding mint)

3. Beef: Ensure meat is at room temperature ( definitely let it 'warm' up if taken directly from the fridge). Season with salt and pepper, then rub with some olive oil using your hands (optional). For medium rare, cook on each side for 2 minutes, then repeat for both sides (total 8 mins). Let meat to rest for half the cooking time before serving.

4. Cabbage: Blanch in hot, salted water for 1 min. Drain, then toss in pan to heat with some butter; add salt and pepper to taste.

carbonara

Finally back after a loooooooong hiatus. I've done heaps of recipes but havn't got time to post them here. If you enjoy cooking, you should check out Masterchef Australia - this has been my main source of learning and inspiration. Here's a traditional style carbonara (no cream!) to impress your next guest!

Spaghetti alla carbonara

2 egg, separated

20g bacon (approx 2 large piece of middle-cut bacon. the exact amount depends on how much flavour you want)

spaghetti (enough for 2)

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

salt and pepper

cheese (cheddar/parmigiano-reggano)

1. To cook spaghetti, bring a pot of water to boil (remember to add salt). cook spaghetti till al dente, reserve 1/4 of water and drain the rest.

2. Combine oil and bacon into a pan set over medium heat, and cook the bacon till it has rendered its fat and is crispy and golden. Remove from heat and set aside (do not remove fat)

3. add reserved pasta water to the pan with the bacon, then add in the pasta and heat, shaking the pan, for 1 minute.

4. Remove from heat, add grated cheese, egg white, and pepper to taste, and toss until thoroughly mixed.

*in the above dish, I served the pasta with chicken cooked with parsley butter