' plated CHICKEN , PEA & NOODLE SOUP .'

Plated Free range chicken broth , Garden pea caviar , Fresh egg noodles , Shredded chicken breast , pea flower & greens.

                     Its the beginning of mid autumn here and you wouldn't think so weather wise, with only the night temperatures dropping ever so slightly, the humidity is still high and the day temps are in the high 20's pushing 30. The peas in my garden have shot up and we're starting to get our first pods and the snow peas are in prolific flower, great signs of a good crop. This dish was inspired by the garden harvests and with a left over chicken frame in the freezer I decided to serve up a plated soup. To add a little twist I turned the broth into a thickened sauce and made pea caviar using the 'cold oil spherefication' technique form pureed garden peas.                                                                                        
                      To make the chicken broth sauce I began by placing in a large stock pot a frame from a free range chicken, caramelised onion halves, chicken breast fillets, chopped carrots, celery, parsley, bay leaf and seasoning, covering with water I brought the stock to the boil reducing to a simmer for 2 and a bit hours. This was then strained and the breast fillets were put aside for shredding, some of the broth was reserved to make the sauce and the rest was placed into a small sauce pan with some fresh garden peas and brought to the boil. Once the peas were cooked they were placed into a blender with a little of the cooking stock and blended to a puree, this was then stained and set aside. I then placed a tall glass of canola oil in the freezer allowing the oil to chill and thicken for about half an hour. In a small saucepan I put the strained pea puree and 1% agar agar heating to a simmer while whisking to dissolve the agar powder, this was then removed and allowed to cool to 60 deg. c before I removed the oil from the freezer and prepared to make the pea caviar. With a syringe I drew up the pea liquid and slowly drop droplets of the liquid into the cold oil, as they slowly sunk to the bottom of the glass they had time to set solid. Once a dropped all the liquid I strained the the glass of oil, collecting the oil in a jar for later applications and trapping the caviar in the strainer, these were then rinsed and set aside for plating. In a bowl I combined flour and eggs and made a simple dough, kneading for 5-10 minutes. After chilling the dough for half an hour I rolled the dough out on a floured surface before passing through the rollers of the pasta machine, this was then run through the spaghetti attachment and dusted with flour to keep the strands separated. In a large pot of rolling salted boiling water I cooked the noodles for 2 minutes before removing and placing under cold water to stop the cooking process. To finish the sauce I placed the reserved chicken broth in a small saucepan bringing to broth to a simmer, with a little of the heated broth I added some arrowroot flour and made a paste before adding back into the broth and whisking to incorporate. Once the sauce had thickened I removed the pot from the heat ready for plating.                      
                   To plate I began by spooning some of the chicken broth sauce in the centre of the plate. I then arranged the shredded chicken breast, pea caviar and egg noodles on top of the broth. Garnishing the plate with droplets of broth with pea caviar, pea greens and topped with a pea flower.                    

' CHILLI SUN-DRIED SQUID .'

Ojingeochae Bokkeum translates:- (Chilli sun-dried squid) , Fried egg noodles , Squid ink , toasted sesame seeds , ginger mint , kaffir lime leaves , garlic chives and edible flower.

               Distressed squid caught in a discarded boat net is how I describe the forth of a series of five asian inspired tasters that has dated back to the New Years Day post. This is my version of a Korean dish in which traditionally the squid is shredded and prepared in the same manner presented here. Usually served with rice, I've left the squid whole and the rice out adding the fried noodles instead accompanied by the squid ink, garlic chives, ginger mint and edible flowers to bring it all together. The squid with a little bite from the chilli has a chewy texture similar to jerky but it breaks free easier in the mouth with a fishy flavour. The sun-dried squid was purchased from a Korean store in the city and the squid ink used for this dish comes imported from spain in four individual wrap 4g satchels and were purchased from a gourmet food trader in Fortitude Valley called the 'Black Pearl Epicure'. I used about half a satchel for this dish and it needs a little mixing like a fresh tin of paint as it has some lumps through it. This ink comes from the squid as suggested and is blue black in colour, ink can also be harvested from octopus which produce a black ink or cuttlefish producing sepia (brown). Ink was used for printing in the earlier days and is a defence mechanism used by these species, as its sprayed from the under side of the squid in this case warning off predators. Squid ink has a mild well rounded taste of the ocean and doesn't mimic any of the sea creatures in taste even that of its own producer.              
               To make this dish is very simple and starts by soaking the sun-dried squid in cold water for about 10-15 minutes. While this is soaking I brought a small saucepan of salted water to the boil and cooked some egg noodles, these were then drained arranged into two piles and shallow fried to crisp them up. In a separate saucepan I placed chilli paste, honey, soy sauce, minced garlic and rice wine and brought to a simmer. Once the sauce is mixed and heated I added the drained squid and coated well simmering for about another minute or so until the sauce is almost dry. The squid was then removed from the heat and set aside to plate. In a skillet I lightly toasted some sesame seeds just enough to release some oils and give maximum flavour to the dish.                                                                                          
                In presenting this plate a first placed a brush stroke of squid ink on to the plate using a pastry brush. In a pile at the start of the brush stroke I cut short lengths of garlic chives from the backyard to resemble seaweed or sea grass. On top of this I placed the first nest of noodles and arranged the tip of the squid head on top of the noodles. Placing another nest of noodles on top of the squid to look like the squid has swam into the netting of noodles and released ink in distress. On the the remaining section of the head showing i sprinkled the toasted sesame seeds and to garnish the dish I placed shredded kaffir lime leaves, a ginger mint sprig and cinnamon myrtle flower on top of the fried egg noodles.