Top Chef It Yourself Challenge: Getting My Moo On With Corkwood Flowers And Chive Blossoms In Shallot Sauce

For this month's Top Chef It Yourself Challenge, last month's winner, Casey, the author of the blog Eating, Gardening & Living In Bulgaria, chose the following ingredients for this month's challenge.  She specified shallots, edible flowers of any kind that's locally available and meat (beef, pork or lamb).  I have to admit that this was quite a challenge, as I don't see that much edible flowers here in the Philippines, except for squash blossoms.


For this month's challenge, I decided to step up the MOOOO! Factor by using beef, as I haven't eaten much of it since I relocated to this country.  For my edible flowers, I decided to use corkwood flowers as a side dish and Chinese chive blossoms for my garnish, since these are the ones that are currently in season.

Asian shallots have a sweetish flavor.  By making it into a sauce, its sweetness would be a good way to offset the chive blossoms' garlic-like flavor.

This was my first time using corkwood flowers. I've always wanted to try them but I never knew how to cook them or what to cook them with.  I saw this challenge as a opportunity to finally use these corkwood flowers.

They come from the corkwood tree that grows abundantly in the northern part of the Philippines.  They usually come in two colors-red and white.  I have yet to see the red ones. These flowers are widely used in northern Filipino cuisine.  They are used in stews and salads.  Uncooked, they have an unpalatable bitter taste.  Corkwood flowers are also used in Thai, Malaysian and Indonesian cuisines.

Chinese chive blossoms are used throughout Southeast Asia, which were brought by the early Chinese immigrants who have settled in that region.  They are commonly used in stir fry dishes. Every part is edible, from the stems to the blossoms.

Beef With Corkwood Flowers And Chive Blossoms In Shallot Sauce

Recipe

Ingredients:

Serves 4

10 pieces of corkwood flowers, all filaments and stamens removed

1.70 lbs (800 g) rib eye steak

bunch of Chinese chives, blossoms included

9 oz.  (250 g) shallots, peeled, thinly sliced lengthwise

2 tbsp (30 g) butter

2 tbsp (30 ml) beef stock

salt and pepper, to taste
4 tsp (20 ml) oil

1. Blanch the corkwood flowers. Plunge in cold water.  Squeeze out the excess water. Shred each petal into 3-4 pieces. Season with salt and pepper.

2. Cut the steak into 4 pieces.

3. Chop off 3-3.5 inches (8-9 cm) of the blossoms from the chives, set aside

4. Chop the remaining chives finely.

Make the sauce

1.  Heat the butter.  Add the shallots until slightly browned. 

2. Add the stock, salt and pepper. Cook for about 5 minutes.

3. Add the finely chopped chives.  Cook for about 2 minutes.  Set the sauce aside.

4. Saute the chive blossoms for 2 minutes.  Set aside.

Moo-ing On Up

5. Heat the oil. Sear the beef on both sides. Serve hot with the sauce. Garnish with chive blossoms and serve the corkwood flowers as a side dish