simplicity

simplicity is often time forgotten and cast aside for the more hip and happening bells and whistles. it applies to art, design, style and yes, cooking, where many atime, we often think the more complicated the dish, the more fanciful the ingredients, the better the taste, flavor and dining experience. i admit that i am often caught in the trap of being intrigued by the complex...so i'm punching out this post, inspired by the subtle simplicity of recent weeks in pak law's cooking *grin*

it is quite amazing what pak law manages to put together with just a simple fillet of chicken and an orange. the end result is a really nice, tender, sweet yet tangy piece of meat...topped with orange rind and a specially made orange sauce, pak law kept it simple and yet managed to spiced things up with this new spin on the grilled chicken.yums!

with seafood, one would think it would either go grilled as is or served or smothered with some kind of chilli... pak law has his own special repertoire of grilled fish and the like, but one saturday (probably inspired by some program on the asian food channel!) he started wrapping the prawn and fish in crispy bacon. as much as i am not too big a fan of the streaks of pork, the synergistic flavor of the salty, crispy and sweetness of both the prawns and creamy fish was quite outstanding. served on a bed of simply stir fried mushrooms and snow peas, dinner that evening was another example of true simplicity.

last but definitely not least, simplicity beef style. beef is one thing that pak law has always kept simple. seasoned typically with just salt and pepper, sometimes with a side dollop of au jus or mustard, beef by pak law is usually already quite uncomplicated. so one can imagine the amazement when one saturday, the beef come pretty much au naturel! just grilled till medium rare and served in its on juices, the beef on its own was such a fantastic cut with the right proportion of marbling that it was no wonder pak law kept the beef as is! the pea and onion side dish further augmented the simplicity theme for i was one that was quite blown away that peas could actually taste that yummy! think sweet caramelized onions and crunchy garden peas tossed in a touch of salty butter...enough said don't you think?

so there...simple ingredients but put together for outstanding tastes!
simplicity rocks!