A Wednesday Night Dinner Party & Recipe Testing

A Dinner Party is a great way to recipe test on your friends and family! Lastnight, I invited my mother and 2 of my best friends, Mason & Paul over for a dinner. Little did they know they were going to experience some dishes I've never created before. Although exciting, it made me kind of nervous because these people will be honest and I was hoping they would really love it.

It was a beefy kind of evening. I created 2 courses, a soup and an entree. Paired with several bottles of wine, I went to town on creating something special for those that I love. The soup course was a Red Thai Curry & Coconut Braised Oxtail Soup with Dashi Brined Shitake Mushrooms and Baby Bok Choy. The entree course was a puddle of whipped scallion and ginger potatoes, surrounded by dashi braised brussel sprouts off the vine. Accompanying the veggies was a ginger, thai chilli and soy marinatd ribeye steak topped with an oyster & honey marinated veal shoulder cutlet.

The best part of creating something for the people in your life that love you is the (hopefully) positive reaction you receive when they take that first bite. Thank goodness the reactions were very positive!

I'm going to share the soup recipe with you today and will post the recipe for the entree, CHEERS!

That Red Curry & Coconut Oxtail Soup w/ Dashi Brined Shitake Mushrooms & Baby Bok Choy

Ingredients
3 tbsp Thai Red Curry Paste
2 cans of coconut milk
1 red onion
4 cloves of garlic
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 lb dried shitake mushrooms
4 heads of baby bok choy
1 tsp freshly grated ginger root
3 thai chilis
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
3 scallions
2 tsp dashi granule
4 cups of water
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 cup beef stock
1 lb oxtails


The Mushrooms
~ In a sauce pot heat 4 cups of water, dashi granule and soy sauce until simmering. Add the shitake mushrooms and simmer until completely reconstituted, about 25 minutes. Remove the mushrooms for plating and you are left with a rich dashi and shitake stock that you can use later (I highly suggest saving this liquid, it is absolutely delicious).

The Soup Base
1. In a large pan, sautee the red onion in oil until tender.
2. Add the curry paste and cook for 1 minute.
3. Add the coconut milk and wisk with the curry paste to create a smooth liquid mixture.
4. Add the brown sugar, fish sauce, thai chilis, chopped garlic, and grated ginger root, wisk together.
5. Gently place the oxtails in the soup mixture and braise for 2 hours.
6. Add the baby bok choy and simmer for 5 minutes.

Plating
1. Pour the soup base with oxtails in 4 equally size bowls.
2. Pile a few of the shitake mushrooms in the center of the soup.
3. Garnish with the fresh cilatnro and diagonally cut scallions.
4. ENJOY! and CHEERS!

The soup packs a punch of flavor and heat, if you don't like things that spicy, remove the thai chilis. This soup can also be turned into an entree by simply placing the soup over some steamed rice.

This will soon be added to the galler @ www.thesavorysavant.com

Asian Sesame Sticky Wings: Your New Obsession

I don't know about my readers, but I am absolutely crazy about chicken wings! I am a total wing snob and I find it hard to find ones that truly blow my mind. I will probably be creating several posts about chicken wings, so all of you aficionados out there, rejoice! Today, I'm going to share my recipe for some asian sesame sticky wings that will not disappoint. They are the perfect balance of sweet and heat! I love love love spicy, but these can be adjusted if you aren't so crazy about the heat factor. And if you haven't had Hoisin sauce before, try this out, because it will be your new go-to ingredient in asian cooking.

Hoisin Sauce is essentially a chinese barbeque sauce that is sweety, slightly tangy and loaded with awesome herbs and spices. The balance between the honey, soy sauce, pepper, hoisin sauce and sesame oil creates this awesome balance of flavors that bounce around on your tongue. I promise you, you will be making these all the time and if you entertain with these, they will be your guests new favorite chicken wing!

Cheers!

Ingredients
3 pounds of wings and drumettes
4 cloves of garlic
4 tbsp of hoisin sauce
4 tbsp of soy sauce
4 tbsp of honey
2 tsp toasted sesame oil
1 tbsp vegetable oil
3 tbsp sesame seeds
1 tsp red pepper flakes
2 carrots
1 medium onion
1 large red bell pepper
4 scallions
1/2 tsp of kosher salt
1/2 tsp of cracked black pepper

The Marinade
1. First combine the hoisin sauce, soy sauce, honey and sesame oil in a large bowl and whisk together.
2. Finely mince the garlic and add with the red pepper flakes into the marinade.
3. Place the wings in the marinade and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

It's Cooking Time!
1. Preheat an oven to 425 degrees.
2. On a flat baking sheet, place the wings and all of the marinade in a single layer and bake for 35-45 minutes.
3. When the wings have finished their cook time, toss with the sesame seeds and get ready to assemble with the veggies.

The Veggies
1. Cut the bell pepper and carrots into sticks and slice the onions thinly.
2. In a large sautee pan, add the vegetable oil over medium heat.
3. When the oil is heated at the veggies and season with the salt and pepper.
4. Cook for about 7 minutes until tender but still crisp.

The Garnish
The garnish here is simple but sophisticated. Cut the scallions at an angle into 1.5 inch long pieces. You can use both the whites and the green parts of the scallions for this.

The Assembly
Place the veggies in a mound in the center of a large serving dish.
Top the veggies with the wings.
Sprinkle the scallions on top.
Enjoy!

Cheers!