Day Three-Flavor - Beef Shabu-Shabu and Dungeness Crab with Avocado & Sauce Vierge

Although the weather has been very mild over the past few days, I found today to be a bit cool and damp. It was that typical Toronto damp weather that seeps into your bones and keeps you feeling cold all day. I was craving a big bowl of soup today, so I made the Beef Shabu-Shabu. The book promises that this recipe will take 35 min and it took me a total of 30 min.  What was even better, the soup really hit the spot.  I added 1/2 a red chili because I wanted some heat, which almost killed me.  Anyway, the soup was great.  I have leftovers for lunch tomorrow. Yahoo!  I know there are a lot of people out there that don't like their meat rare, but just adding the thinly sliced beef to your bowl of hot broth makes the dish supreme.  The meat melts in your mouth and the zesty hot broth brings the whole dish together.  I loved it!

 
The Dungeness Crab with Avocado & Sauce Vierge was a simple dish to pull together.  It was fresh and light. No heavy dressings, or pungent ingredients to take away from the buttery avocado and the ocean flavor crab. It was a great starter dish. 

Rocco Dispirito really makes a great attempt to infuse a lot of flavor in the meals without a thousand ingredients.   So far the recipes I've tried seem to have a very Asian, Italian and Caribbean fusion going on, without an over emphasis on any one ingredient. 

What I love about this book, is that I actually look forward to trying something new everyday.  I think I'll be cooking into the weekend with this book.  Every recipe I've tried taste so different from the next. 

We'll see what's on the menu tomorrow.  Maybe I'll try the Calamari with Coconut Curry & Green Papaya.  You got to admit it sure sounds bloody good!


The Cookbook Addict