Thoughts on Rachel Khoo's cookery show

Rachel Khoo in her Paris Kitchen!

The episode I watched featured little dollops of choux pastry, decorated with sugar crystals and choclate drops!  Somehow these didn't appeal to me as much as the savoury version she mentioned that is made with cheese.  Gougere has been on my list of stuff to make, wonder whether I will get round to doing it!  I can imagine adding some chopped up sun dried tomatoes, maybe a little garlic? and some herb like chervil to give it some added flavour.

I quite often cook fish in parcels of baking parchment or kitchen foil!  Though I have not used thick slices of cooked potato and slices of fennel to fill the body cavity of the trout like Rachel did - this is one idea that appealed to me which I must try out the next time I cook fish this way.  I love potatoes in whichever form it comes in, and look forward to tasting this version in which it is supposed to soak up the juices from the fish and the marinade.

The dumplings she made for Beef Bourginon was really cool!  It is these sort of tips and cheats that I think makes it worth while - watching cookery shows over and over again, as it can get a little tedious sometimes (when you are in a foul mood for instance) to watch tried and trusted recipes being hashed over and over again on the pretext of the chef applying their own twist to an original or classic recipe.

Smoking Foods

I wish that someone would tie up Reza's hands, that said I was watching a programme or more accurately watched a portion of a food programme based on foods in Rajasthan in which the chef was smoking boneless chicken to finish off the dish.  I was quite intrigued by this as I do like smoked food - mostly fish and of course barbecued dishes.
The method used by the chef was entirely doable.  He created a little hollow in the Handi dish, by pushing the chicken pieces to form a ring.  Within the hollow he placed a few cabbage leaves into which he put a live coal, and poured a teaspoon of ghee which got the smoking started.  A lid was placed on top of the handi and this was left for a few hours to complete the smoking process as well as the cooking.
I think this is a very clever idea, my one question is will the flavours or should I say the strong smell of the cabbage (ugh!) seep through in spite of the smokiness?
Reza of course had to tweak this further when he adapted the recipe to make a salmon dish.  He used aluminium foil to form a small bowl instead of using cabbage and smoked the marinated salmon first ... in the fridge????  not sure about that, but maybe there is a method in his madness.  The recipe used is very similiar to what we do at home barring the whole grain mustard.
Not sure what the name of the dish is - sure you can find it through a search, but I wanted to get this post off whilst it was fresh in my mind cos I would like to recreate this.  I don't know about you, but I have a million and one scraps of paper, note pads, scribble pads with hastily scribbled recipes which I can never find when I want it.  So here it is.

Smoked spicy salmon.
3 Tbs each of chopped ginger, garlic, and green chillies.
1 tsp each of turmeric and chilli powder (not sure about the chillie powder)
3 Tbs honey, whole grain mustard and curd

Marinate long cubes of salmon (1.5 inches by 1 inch) in the marinade.
Create a hollow in the mixture and place a steel cup or aluminium foil cup in the centre.
Place a piece of coal used for barbecue on the gas flame till it glows red and put this in the bowl.
Pour a teaspoon of ghee in it.  Reza adds a few pieces of cloves and cardamom to it .
Cover tightly and let it be for half an hour or more.
Bake in preheated oven at 190C for 8 to 10 minutes.

Reza pushes wooden skewers into the fish before baking.
I probably would marinate the fish for the said time and start the smoking process and within maybe 10 or 15 minutes put the metal bowl while the smoking is taking place into the oven to cook.

Thats a lot of talk - will let you know how I get on when I do the prep!