Fruit Journey --Persimmon

Nowadays, there are various fruits around the world and they penetrate various markets in different cities. As consumers, we are given more choices. Most people could grab plant products no matter what they want or where they are. Most people are able to easily purchase fruits and vegetables. For example, People who live in Toronto could buy many diverse fruits from native markets or foreign markets such as St. Lawrence Market, Lucky Moose Food Mart and Loblaws Supermarkets mainly because Toronto is a quite multi-cultural city. People can always find and try something new. 

Remember, I had new food journey last time and it was an impressive and valuable experience. Now I am so excited to be a Fruit Hunter. Well, let's get started with Loblaws supermarket , located at the intersection of College Street and Yonge Street. The Loblaws is a pretty large supermarket and has many branches in Canada also in Toronto. There are so many categories, novel products in stores with great locations.Wow!! Guess what I found. It's Persimmon also called Oriental or Japanese persimmon, a species of tree in the genus Diospyros kaki, in the family Ebenanceae. The kaki is oldest species in Asia such as China and Japan. Nowadays, most persimmons are known as Japanese persimmons that because it is widely cultivated in Japan; however, it is planted over 2000 years in China. There are some fruits in the same family including Black Sapote (Diospyros digyna), Mablol, Velvet Apple (D. discolor), Date Plum (D. lotus), American Persimmon (D. virginians) etc..(California Rare Fruit Growers, Inc, n.d.). Persimmons become golden with orange and mature between October and February. So, what a great time right now to enjoy persimmon.

          

   

 
The taste of Fuyu persimmon is so sweet although it has a firm surface like an apple. Just like label describes, "Eat hard like an apple". Now, you probably have an imagination as to know how crispy the Fuyu persimmon is when you take the first bite. Besides, it is kind of soft inside. Therefore, it creates a fully multi-taste. The only  set back from buying this fruit is that it's somewhat expensive for me. However, the most important reason why I chose it to be the lead in my fruit journey is that I really miss my hometown taste. Furthermore,  I do like persimmons since it can not only be a fruit but also ingredient of dish. 

Now, I would like to introduce my creation- sautéed white fish fillets with persimmon in Japanese house dressing,serving with risotto.

Main Recipe : 

                          Basa fillets -----------------1 piece       

                          Fuyu persimmon ---------1               

                          Garlic, Chopped --------- 2 cloves      

                          Butter -----------------------1  tablespoon 

                          Parsley ---------------------2  sprigs         

                          Salt and White pepper 

Sauce Recipe (Bella,2010): 
                         Onion- Brunoise --------1/4  cup 
                         Ginger- Brunoise --------- 1  tablespoon 
                         Garlic- Pureed -------------1  tablespoon      
                         Celery- Pureed ------------1  tablespoon          
                         Olive Oil ------------------ 1/4  cup  
                         Wine vinegar -------------- 3  tablespoon  
                         Lemon juice ----------------1  tablespoon   
                         Soy sauce ------------------2  tablespoon 
                         White sugar --------------- 2  teaspoon  
                         Ketchup -------------------- 1  tablespoon  
                         Water ----------------------- 1  tablespoon   
                         Salt and white pepper ---to taste

Risotto Recipe:
                        Carnaroli rice ---------- 200 gram 
                        Shallot -------------------- 10 gram
                        White wine --------------- 60 ml
                        Chicken stock --------- 700 ml
                        Butter --------------------- 65 gram (40 gram / 25 gram)             
                        Parmesan ----------------30 gram
                        Salt and white peeper -to taste

Direction:
               1. Drizzling salt and pepper on the fillets and sit it for 5 mins
               2. Heat sauté pan with butter and chopped garlic and then place seasoned fillets
                   on until 80% cooked
               3. Add persimmon and Japanese House Sauce and mix together. Then place
                  mixture into a dish
               4. In a sautoire over medium heat, melt the butter add shallots and sweat
                   until translucent
               5. To the same pan add rice and toast until rice is coated in butter and hot to
                   the touch
               6. Add the white wine and reduce by half
               7. To this add 300ml of stock and let it simmer
               8. Gradually incorporate the remaining stock one ladle (4 oz.) at a time, seasoning
                   periodically during the cooking process
               9. Repeat this process until all stock is incorporated
             10. Remove from heat. Fold in the remaining butter and cheese.
             11. Place fillets mixture on to Risotto

It is surprising that the dish tastes so smooth, flavourful and graceful. I personally think persimmons enrich this delicacy since it brings natural sweetness which makes daintier. Moreover, the sauce brings into full play in the course because it is not too strong and exactly blended with different ingredients. This is a wonderful journey and also opens up new horizons not only discovering fruit but also creating your own recipe. After all, I realized that learning should be by experience, not only by rote. Discovery makes your life colourfully and it will always be astonishing to you.

Reference: 

California Rare Fruit Growers, Inc. (n.d.). PERSIMMON. Retrieved October 15, 2015, from 

    https://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/persimmon.html

Diospyros kaki. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved October 15, 2015, from 

     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diospyros_kaki

Persimmon. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved October 15, 2015, from  

     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persimmon

Bella. (2010, September 15). 和風沙拉醬 Japanese House Dressing. Retrieved from 

     http://dana5825.pixnet.net/blog/post/16036187-和風沙拉醬-japanese-house-dressing

A New Food Journey

As I mentioned from last article that I lived in Taiwan, the food is among the world's richest and most varied sine the country had been colonized by Netherlands and Japan; moreover, many people who live in Taiwan came from other countries and make multiplicity of creation; even so, there are still a lot of food I haven't had a chance to try. Now, being a student of Chef School, I should start exploring new ingredients and really learn from that experience to enrich my creativity for my future career. 

All right！Let's get started with Blue Cheese, an excellent ingredient. It is quite a peculiar food no matter taste, smell and appearance. I also found a recipe for blue cheese which is "Blue Cheese Columbine Dip"(Blue Cheese Columbine Dip (n.d.). Retrieved September 28, 2015, from http://cheese.food.com/recipe/ blue-cheese-columbine-dip-21131)  and made it by myself.

Ingredients:

              1/2 lb     Blue cheese,crumbled 

              1/3 cup  Red  onion,Chopped

              1/3 cup  Olive oil

               1   tbp   Lemon juice 

               1   tbp   Red win vinegar

              1/2 tsp   Garlic,crushed 

                1  tsp   Dry mustard 

              1/4 tsp   Black pepper

              1/3 cup  Fresh parsley,chopped 

                            water crackers

Direction:

              Set blue cheese aside. Combine remaining ingredients in a bowl. Add blue cheese. Cover and let stand at room-temperature 2 hours. Serve on crackers.

Hui-Ling,Yu.Blue Cheese Dip.2015.Photography.Toronto

I noticed there are some special traits of this type of cheese. First of all, it's highly brittle and a bit of moisture when I took it out of plastic wrap. The aroma is grassy, rotten and tangy like vomit. In addition, it has a soft cream-coloured pasted moderately veined with blue-green mold so it tastes salty, gritty, moldy, and intense. This is a flavour that I can’t get used to without any dressing, honestly. Besides, I didn't find any similar flavour like this and that's why it is unique.

Well, let's move to the recipe. The overall taste of the finished product tastes better than the cheese itself. It is smoother and well-balanced and I think it is partially because other ingredients, such as parsley and a bit of lemon juice, balanced out this savoury dish and convert the sour moldy taste into creamy and spicy. The complex taste definitely impressed me although I still can't fall in love with it.

So, what experience do I gain from this trial? I got to explore different taste! For example, the fifth basic taste, Umami, which means delicious or yummy and could be found in meat, cheese, and mushrooms. However, I still wouldn’t consider Blue Cheese to be delicious. After all, we all have our own preferences and we might prefer some tastes over the others. But fortunately, depends on how the ingredient is processed, the taste and/or texture could be altered drastically to suit everyone’s interest. This is also what I learned from this trial. Now I know the taste of blue cheese could be changed when incorporating other ingredients. 

Don't be afraid to try something new. It will be a great opportunity to grow and gain valuable knowledge just like what it did to me this time. Although blue cheese is still not appealing to me, at least I know what it taste and smell like right now. Perhaps I will try it again with another recipe. And who know? I  might end up really enjoying it this time!