pan seared scallops in prawn vegetable veloute

had great fun discovery yesterday experimenting several “first” for a wonderful 4-course dinner on 15.11.2015. ^^

truly a homegourmet adventure. 🙂

all 4 dishes had some new elements-

• prawn veloute was an accidental invention.
• gazpacho was completely first attempt.
• prawn capellini was a new preparation &
• slow-braised pork collar was my second try on a new preparation

in a sense, my recent dinner at stellar at 1-altitude spurred my interest, not so much an inspiration (excepting the gazpacho at stellar which was really good!), as i thought the food was expensive & not value-for-money. i thought i could recreate something similar. ^^

pan seared scallops in prawn vegetable veloute

first course was pan seared scallops in prawn vegetable veloute. 🙂

i did not do the pan-searing well this evening. still the scallops were very good, plump & tasty & very good texture, not really the standard of disgruntled chef’s 100gourmet scallops, nor the stellar’s scallops.

the prawn vegetable veloute though was an accidental discovery. it was just so good! ^^

intense yet very smooth, and very tasty, and just the right body & texture. this really is an excellent recipe & among the best soup i have made.

disgruntled chef’s 100gourmet pan sauteed scallops

i would say for myself, though the scallop itself was not comparable to stellar’s, but the overall taste experience including the prawn veg veloute was better than stellar’s, but not comparable with disgruntled chef’s 100gourmet scallop dish (above photo).

#2 white cucumber & red tomato gazpacho

my second dish was entirely new.

gazpacho not my favourite & i hardly take gazpacho by choice but stellar’s gazpacho was just so good!

so i googled online recipes & produced 2 gazpacho just like stellar’s – a red tomato gazpacho & a white cucumber gazpacho.

& the result of my first attempt was a really wonderful gazpacho. so refreshing, smooth, & you could really taste the coolness of the cucumber & also tangy tomatoes.

stellar at 1-altitude’s gazpacho in 2 styles

not quite the standard of stellar’s (above photo) for sure, but almost there.

#3 prawn capellini

prawn capellini was done alio olio style. i also did not have uni & ikura (nor mentaiko).

#3 prawn capellini

still my own prawn capellini was a very tasty pasta.

i guess nothing so unusual, and may not be better than my usual seafood alio olio, but it was a different & drier style, adding butter like for my mentaiko pasta or squid-ink pasta.

stellar’s king crab uni & sakura ebi capellini

didn’t have the top ingredients of stellar’s king crab, uni, ikura & sakura ebi pasta (above photo).

but just the taste of the pasta alone, i think mine was just as good though differernt (w/o the unique salty uni & ikura flavours).

#4 slow braised pork collar in red wine sauce

the slow braised pork collar in red wine sauce was my second attempt, it was as good as the first, and a really great recipe i created myself.

slow braised pork collar in red wine sauce

the pork was very flavourful & so tender yet not sinewy & falling apart like the usual braised meat texture.

i think this is really an excellent recipe. ^^

c.h.e.f andy