Shabbat with los Herman tres

Watermelon gazpacho
Shaking beef
Asian style steamed sea bass (All NYT)
Jean Georges' ginger garlic fried rice (Bittman via NYT website)
Steamed broccoli
Garlic stir fried green beans
Roasted fingerling potatoes
Chocolate rum mousse (NYT)
Store bought challah
Raisin pecan bread (NYT)

Gazpacho was awesome, one recipe was enough for 8 people. The beef recipe was originally from Slanted Door in SF, which we had once. The recipe called for high heat stir frying the marinaded chunks of filets so that they are properly browned. Due to the size of the dinner party and timing, I opted to roast the filet whole. I attempted to sear it on the long burner, but that really was not hot enough. Next time I should try the grill, then transfer to the oven, or just do the whole thing in a grill, transferring the meat to a pan set inside the grill. I was worried the sauce would be too pungent but the entire dish turned out amazing, the sauce was interesting, pronounced, but complementary, the sliced onions and scallions caramelized into the sauce. Brilliant.

The steamed fish dish I used salmon. It is actually easier to prepare this compared to the old way I have been using. Another recipe worth keeping. I estimated it will take 12 min to steam and that was just right.

I have long salivated over the fried rice recipe ever since I saw it on the NYT website, on The Minimalist column. The ingredients are of course entirely familiar but the technique is new to me. For this dinner, I scrambled and incorporated the eggs (and the ginger/garlic bits) into the rice, and did use a little chicken fat to stir fry it. Next time I might try egg whites only. I also cooked the rice in the morning and let it chill thoroughly in the fridge all day. Everyone loved it.

Chocolate rum mousse. Wow this was an eye opener. No cook mousse thanks to gelatin. I now believe that gelatin is an under-appreciated ingredient! I should have melted the chocolate first though, because the blender had a hard time grinding up all the chips. Also, 6 Tb of rum was too too much, next time just use 3-4.

Another attempt at the mysterious raisin pecan bread recipe. I again forgot to let it knead properly before incorporating the raisin and pecans. I also used only part of the poolish as directed but you know what? I am going to use all of it next time. That's what I did in the beginning and I felt that the bread tasted better.