Paper Chef #12: Kyou no teema….
Ah, November. The month of late harvests, of turkeys and cranberry sauce, of battering storms and evenings snuggled by the fire, of blockbuster holiday movies and screaming Christmas commercials that inundate the airwaves all too soon, of four day weekends and raging political arguments at the Thanksgiving table, of cold mornings and days too short for decent dinnertime photography. Ah, November, how we wish… how we wish it was, well, June.
But, here it is, November. And Paper Chef time at that. And since we here at Belly Timber are particularly crabby about what this time of year does to the Northern Hemisphere, we have decided that this will be a Theme-Free Month. No pilgrim celebrations. No preemptive strikes on the game-day turkey gorge. And, absolutely no maize.
So, this month, we go random. Roll the dice, Chopper. What have we got?
1. Fish sauce
2. Basil
3. Oranges
And for the fourth ingredient of our own selection (no, Owen, it’s not quinoa)…
That’s right. Lamb. Cute little fuzzy lamb. Say it with me now: awwwwwww……. yum.
Now, here, freely lifted from Tomatilla, are excerpts from Owen’s Paper Chef event guidelines:
For absolutely only the fun of it and for no other reason whatsoever, the Paper Chef challenges each and every one of you reading this to let loose your culinary imagination and make up a dish of your own. Loosely based on the ideas of the Iron Chef, fond TV favorite in the US and Japan, and on the British show Ready, Steady, Cook! (fond favorite in the UK), the Paper Chef is all about creativity and constraint, challenge and cooking.
About a week before the event opens, I post an ingredient list from previous events here at Tomatilla! Older ingredients fall off the list, as does anything that actually got used in an event. Those ingredients are ‘banned’ for a month just to prevent the choices being cream and chocolate and cream and chocolate and cream and chocolate and…you get the idea. Any reader … can nominate a new ingredient (one only please) and it can be anything within the bounds of good taste (both kinds). Three ingredients are chosen at random from the final list and the host (usually me but not always) picks one more ingredient that is topical or seasonal or that suits our whimsy. Then you get a weekend (Friday Noon to Monday Noon) to make up a recipe, cook it and post the recipe to your blog. … The previous month’s winner gets to be judge (and is ineligible that month) and gives out whatever kinds of awards they like.
I’ve had lots of questions about things like photographs. Photographs are NOT necessary to take part. Nor is having you own blog - I’ll be happy to post a recipe for you if you want. However, it is clear that having a nice photograph will help influence the judges - if they see it looking good it is a lot easier to imagine it tasting looking good…
It is also absolutely OK to substitute if you just cannot find an ingredient or if you or someone who will eat the dish has an allergy - just try to substitute with something close to the original to remain in the spirit of the occasion.
The times are always the first Friday of the month, Noon PST until the following Monday Noon PST. However we aren’t sticklers for timekeeping here - a little late and any excuse will do. A LOT late and you’ll have to have a really good and creative one to do with cats pushing bowls off counters or the like.
And now for our nitty gritty details:
Entries are due midday (PST) on Monday, November 7th. We’re pretty lax around here, so any time before mid-Monday evening will probably do, and even after that we’ll be forgiving, if, say, you managed to torch your kitchen while inventing fish sauce brulee.
Send your entries to mrs_d AT belly-timber DOT com, and include your name, blog name, location, and a permalink to your entry. You can also post your entry information here on this comments thread. Also, I’d like to encourage everyone to add a “Paper Chef” technorati tag to the end of their post, thusly –
Tagged with: <a href=”http://technorati.com/tag/Paper Chef” rel=”tag”>Paper Chef</a>
– so it gives everyone an extra place to search for entries before we post the round-up.
As for judging, I regret to say that we will not be including any actresses, lower house members, baseball commentators, fortune tellers, or Rosanjin scholars on our panel. Photographers and songwriters, on the other hand, will play a key role in our virtual Tasting and Judgment.
So what are we looking for?
We love dishes that are original, inventive, and make use of the chosen ingredients in unexpected ways. We love dishes that sound like we’d want to gobble them up in a heartbeat. We appreciate traditional dishes as well, but we love them even more when they come with a twist. Dishes can be extraordinarily complicated or beautifully simple, but it’s the perceived flavor that will count the most. We hope to choose not just one winner, but runners up in additional categories. In short, knock our socks off.
Allez Cuisine!
November 4th, 2005 at 9:56 pm
Hmm, the lamb is bit luxurious, but I think I can handle it on $5.00 budget (tongues, kidneys, brains, bones) for all the ingredients. But how to make someone else do the cooking instead???
November 5th, 2005 at 2:54 am
Hummm fish sauce and lamb in the same dish… that’s a bit of a challenge. Let see if I can come up with an idea on time.
November 5th, 2005 at 6:58 am
This month is a little crazy around here so I won’t be entering but I can’t wait to see what everyone else does. Lamb, basil and oranges are an easy mix, look forward to how the fish sauce gets dealt with
November 5th, 2005 at 10:39 am
tongues, kidneys, brains, bones… Ummmm… eek!
Couple things: If lamb’s too spendy where folks are, they can always substitute something similar. A beef or pork dish would be fine, and also, don’t forget ground lamb, which may be cheaper in some places.
As for fish sauce — for anyone who’s not used it before, do some exploring online and you’ll find all sorts of great suggestions (including recipes for how to make your own fish sauce if you’re so inclined!) And remember, it may be made out of fish, but it’s meant to go with all sorts of things!
November 5th, 2005 at 11:31 am
I’m willing to give one hint here.
Since fish sauce is turning out to be a source of confusion try to think of it in a different context.
It’s made from fermented fish which has been packed in salt. ;-)
November 5th, 2005 at 5:36 pm
Oh, I have a great idea for this but unfortunately I’m super busy this weekend. Ah, well. I’ll be excited to see what everyone else comes up with.
November 6th, 2005 at 5:51 am
No excuses or backing off here! We had a great time last night, doing all the prep in the midst of the first extended power failure of the year (I think food prepped by candlelight is ALWAYS better but I so rarely do it) and getting acquainted with fish sauce in a way that may change my life forever. Anyway, here’s the result: Shiso-Marinated Lamb Chops with Orange Curry Gastrique. Thanks for hosting and coming up with a great combination of ingredients!
November 6th, 2005 at 8:45 am
Basil in November?
November 6th, 2005 at 9:38 am
Mrs. D!
I think it was great you put a reminder on FoodBlogScool - I would have completely missed this otherwise! Unfortunately, I already have too much food in process this weekend and am taking off mid-week so I can’t squeeze in any more. :-( I love the ingredient list, though. I would have done some sort of tagine - I can just imagine the rich, fragrant smells coming from the oven - yum! Maybe I’ll just need to do that when I get back to Seattle….
~ B
November 6th, 2005 at 9:42 am
Oh, and a PS to Tana - I actually still have Italian basil growing on my deck! It’s in a protected spot right next to the house and it’s hanging in there! And I have another variety, African Blue, that’s pretty hearty and is also still producing and it’s not even in a protected area!
~ B
November 6th, 2005 at 10:10 am
Thanks for the entry, Stephen — it looks scrumptious!
B, I’m sorry you can’t participate! Sounds like a lot of people are really busy this weekend.
Hey Tana, that’s the tricky part of all this — letting the dice pick the ingredients and hoping everyone can track them down! Here in our little corner of the world, we can get fresh basil at the market pretty much all year round. Also, in a real pinch, someone could use the dried stuff.
November 6th, 2005 at 12:23 pm
I’m super busy this weekend, but here is what I THOUGHT to make…
A salad of Lambs Ear Lettuce and Purple Thai Basil, with a Taramosalata and Dried Orange Peel dressing (Get it? Fish egg sauce. I’m so darned clever.) I will try to make it this week anyway, but havent got a moment to spare before Tuesday. Oh well. Thanks for hosting!
November 6th, 2005 at 2:40 pm
I hope I get time to actually post but I managed to make something! Lamb shoulder chops marinated in fish sauce, orange juice, fresh tomatillas and garlic, then braised with onions in the marinade and served over coconut milk rice with fried crispy basil leaves with crisped orange zest. The sauce as actually a bit too rich but crispy orange zest is going on a LOT of rice dishes from now on - it was fantastic. I’ll probably write it all up Monday sometime. But remember I can’t really enter…
November 7th, 2005 at 1:22 am
I totally forgot about this. Darn. Well, if I can get to the store and get something whipped up in time, I’ll email in my entry. If not, then I’ll just sit back and enjoy the products of everyone else’s culinary creativity.
November 7th, 2005 at 8:17 am
My entry is going to be late with the writeup and pictures. I’ve got a French style lamb parfait, more of a cold set terrine, with a fancy licorice and citrus tasting champagne jelly in layers which fell off :(.
November 7th, 2005 at 10:55 am
my pseudo entry is up - photo to come at some later date when I have access to the camera…
http://www.tomatilla.com/2005/11/paper-chef-12-pseudo-entry-south-east.html
November 7th, 2005 at 2:39 pm
Ok… my first contribution ever:
Lamb medallion and its herbs and orange curry sauce.
http://kitchen-blog.blogspot.com/2005/11/paper-chef-12.html#links
November 7th, 2005 at 7:36 pm
Hooray, I succeeded after 3 days! The dish is Bush Tucker Lamb Parfait with Orange Basil Seed Champagne Jelly and Whitebait Tapenade Sauce. I can confirm, with full confidence that it tastes as good as it looks for once! The link is http://myhomekitchen.blogspot.com/2005/11/paper-chef-12-on-budget_06.html. I’ll go back later to tidy up the post. The licorice stuff tastes and smells so good in the champagne jelly… I have to do more pictures of the basil seeds and show off the jelly layers on the spare jellies for dessert (with savoury lamb-ington).
November 7th, 2005 at 8:31 pm
Wow — lots of entries coming in now! This is going to be a tough decision, I can tell already!
November 8th, 2005 at 10:21 am
Better late than never, I offer a breakfast entry:
Chilled Caramelized Oranges with Yogurt and Tangy, Spicy Lamb Sausages
http://toastpoint.blogspot.com/2005/11/paper-chef-12-i-have-dream.html