So first I diced a skinned the garlic and ginger. I divided the stuff and fried half and boiled half, when done frying I removed the chilis garlic and ginger before adding the leftover oil to a separate bowl.
When the oil was cool I put it in a mortar with chives, basil, tarragon, course salt, sage garlic and pickled baby squash. I then blended the fried chilis garlic and ginger with their boiled brothers, fresh chili and the boiling water before adding orange zest and half an orange.
I baked cashews then and began simmering the sauce with bay leaves, I didn’t make enough boiling water so I needed to add more unseasoned water and added dried chilis during the simmering to compensate.
Finally when the pasta was done I added it to the sauce with a corn starch slurry before letting cool and adding the herb sauce, lime and cashews.
I’m still looking for improvements if anyone has one, unfortunately, I don’t know why, it has a slight bitterness and I’m not sure why, it might be the orange zest or sage or possibly just not having enough salt.
by ThisPostToBeDeleted
3 Comments
My suggestion is to bring this to my house please.
Sorry I have nothing but that looks amazing.
I have a few thoughts:
– Be careful not to zest too far into the citrus rinds, this could add bitterness.
– If you added cloves as pictured, less is more. You could throw in a clove or two whole, and then take them out before serving.
– Add a touch of something sweet, fatty and umami to balance out the bitterness. Could be a dash of maple/pinch of sugar, a bit of cashew/peanut butter or sesame oil, and some mushroom seasoning/miso/nutritional yeast.
– It doesn’t look like you burned them, but sometimes roasting dried chilis too deeply can bring out a bitter flavor.
I like your concept! The textures and flavors sound really interesting.
Hmm… could be the orange zest adding bitterness, as you said. It seems you didn’t add any sugar other than the orange juice; I might try adding sugar/honey/any sweetener you prefer to offset the bitterness, and if you think it needs more salt then just add more salt!
The cashews look dark and if they are burnt that could be adding bitterness as well.