Friday, January 13, 2006

Food Love

I found a recipe in my latest Olive magazine that I feel like trying. It's an Indonesian beef dish called beef Rendang.

I went to the butcher on my evening walkies with Bunny Dog last night and ordered the beef shin required for the dish. Beef shin is not a common cut anymore so one has to order it ahead. I asked for the bones as well. I probably shouldn't have because I don't have a freezer to freeze anything like stock. And Bunny Dog can only do so much 'bone-zing' over a weekend you know. Oh well, I will figure it out.

I need to get a mortar and pestle for bruising and grinding the lemongrass. It's very strange that I don't have one already - I am sure I have made something requiring a mortar and pestle...love potions, poison...ha ha

I have fallen in food love with the picture of this dish in the magazine. I know that's a strange thing to say. But sometimes, there's a picture of food that is so powerful, I can't get it out of my mind. My first impression was that it was a bowlfull of shu mai pork dumplings with a spicy glaze - a mouthwatering dim sum choice that is my absolute favourite. After realizing it was not shu mai, I was intrigued. With the image, sensation, texture and taste of shu mai on my mind, I decided then and there to make this new dish.

I know that the real product may not look the same. Food Photographers are as skilled in their art as fashion photographers. They use even more subliminal messages too. Imagine having to capture in a photograph the thickness of a sauce, the viscosity, the buttery emulsion, the taste. To make you salivate, wonder of the texture on your tongue, even imagine the smell. MMMM. A suggestively placed roasted asparagus spear, a braised duck leg wrapped in a silkily sensuous sauce with Caramelised shallots lazing around in pools of the sauce begging to be eaten.

Food love.

OK - I need a person to play 'guinea pig' and taste test. My best friend is in Paris for the weekend. Another girlfriend is just back from 4 weeks in Senegal and is spending the weekend removing sand from her life, so no go. My Spanish friend eats like a bird and I need someone who relishes their food. I need a guy I think.

I need Someone who will ask what wine to bring. Someone to dance around me in the kitchen wondering when it will be ready. Someone who asks what I am doing each step of the way. Someone who will stick their head over the pot of moist beef with lemongrass, garlic, chilies, coconut milk and juices trying to inhale the aroma.

Someone who will fall in food love with me.

posted by Brussels Confidential @ 11:30 AM