Salt and Pepper Shrimp

So here I am with my first post in far too long. I have to apologize, as Jenn is the one who spends most of her day in a professional kitchen and yet she is the one who still finds time to come home and post in her spare time!

Salt and Pepper Shrimp is a pretty much a standard at most chinese restaurants, and is usually done deep-fried. This variation (another winner from Into the Vietnamese Kitchen) is a pan-fried version that is really simple, and delicious. It's great for those evenings when you're both short on time and have an empty fridge (the only perishable thing it calls for is ginger and scallions). It's traditional to use smaller, thin-shelled shrimp and eat them whole (the shell crisps up nicely and gives a nice crunch), but I've used peeled as well with great success.



Recipe:

2 teaspoons of cornstarch
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of pepper
1 teaspoon of sugar
400g of small, frozen shrimp.

2 cloves of garlic, sliced.
2 inch piece of ginger, sliced
3-4 scallions cut into 1 inch pieces
3-4 dried chilies, deseeded and cut in half (optional)

Defrost, trim and rise the shrimp. Mix together the cornstarch, salt, pepper and sugar and add the shrimp. Heat a wok or cast-iron pan on medium-high heat. Add a tablespoon of oil. Spread the shrimp on the pan in a single layer, being careful not to crowd the pan. Cook in batches if necessary. Leave the shrimp untouched for 30-45 seconds, allowing them to crisp. Gently turn them over, to do the other side. Stir fry gently for another 2-3 minutes and remove the shrimp from the pan.

Lower the heat to medium low, add a little more oil. Add the ginger, garlic, and chiles (if using), and stir fry gently to release the flavor into the oil. Just as the garlic begins to crisp, add the scallions and the shrimp back into the wok. Stir fry for 20-30 seconds. Serve with rice.

Salad Days

After the excesses of the weekend in Bruges, it was time for some lighter dinners. The weather is also getting warmer which make healthy eating easier. Sadly the Tesco Metros and Sainsburys Locals of Central London aren't exactly well stocked; bags of pre-washed leaves, shrink-wrapped cucumbers, bright orange tomatoes. I made do with what I had on offer and came out with a very tasty dinner.

Salmon is one thing I'm quite particular with about the way it's cooked. I prefer it steamed or poached, I find grilling or frying it makes it overly rich. By using fish sauce, lime and chilli in the dressing, it made for a refreshing change from the usual vinaigrette

Salmon and Udon Noodle Salad

For one

1 salmon fillet

Juice of 1/2 a lime

1" ginger, grated

1 red chilli, sliced finely

1 tbsp coriander and 1 of mint, chopped

1 tbsp fish sauce

1 tsp sugar

Combine the above ingredients and coat the salmon fillet in it. Leave to marinate for 30 mins.

Place the salmon fillet including the marinade in a foil pouch and bake in the oven for 10 - 15 minutes, or until just done. Leave to cool.

Assemble a salad with whatever veg you have - I had mixed leaves, mushrooms, butter beans, spring onion and cherry tomatoes. Cook some udon noodles and refresh. Toss in soy sauce and lay over the veg mixture. Flake the salmon on top, and combine it all with the juices from the foil pouch.

Seared Salmon with Pea Risotto and Tomato Puree

I have started cooking for the school's restaurant, and, to say the truth, it has been quite the ride so far. There is a mix of stress, excitement, and genuine pleasure which all mixed together make for fast-paced days with very little time to rest. I am getting used to all the organization that a professional kitchen demands, and the real pleasure of cooking for busy and hungry New Yorkers.

A lot of the time spent in a kitchen is prep work. In the morning, fish or meat must be prepared, cleaned, portioned and made ready to use. Vegetables must be pre-cooked, and certain things cooked partially only. Risotto, which has quite a fussy texture for instance, must be cooked 80% of the way in the morning, and then set to cool by being spread on parchment-lined sheet pans. The risotto is then re-moistened with chicken stock when ordered, and then garnished with finishing touches such as cheese and peas.

Kitchen life, in many ways, resembles the strict setup of army life. Organization is key, hierarchies must be respected, and the chef must be addressed by reminding oneself that he or she is, indeed, the leader of the day. "Yes chef", and "no chef" are the only acceptable answers to be pronounced. The "barker", or frenetically angry cook at the front of the kitchen makes sure that orders are respected and deadlines not passed. He screams "order in" once a meal had been ordered, and "fire" once the meal is to be brought to the customer right away. The cooks are expected to be disciplined, respectful of orders and extremely meticulous.
Although, I have never experienced the battlefield firsthand, I can rest assured that life in the kitchen has already brought me pretty close.



Recipe
Salmon:
4 salmon fillets
2 tablespoons of whole butter
A drizzle of blended oil
Salt and pepper

Risotto:
About 3 cups of chicken stock
1 cup of arborio rice
A knob of butter
2 minced shallots
2 minced garlic cloves
2 sprigs of thyme
1 bay leaf
1 glass of white wine
A good handful of grated Parmesan cheese
A handful of peas, cooked

Pea Puree
1/4 cup of heavy cream
3 tablespoons of water
Salt and Pepper
1/2 cup of peas

Tomato Broth:
4 tomatoes
1 minced shallot
1 minced garlic clove
1 sprig of thyme
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 teaspoon of sugar

Garnish
Chopped chives
Basil leaves

Pea Puree:
Start by making the pea puree. In a blender, mix the peas, water, salt and pepper and blend until smooth. Transfer to a bowl and add the cream. Mix well.

Tomato Broth:
Take two of the tomatoes, remove the cores and chop in half. Remove the seed and transfer to a separate bowl. Using a blender, blend the tomatoes until you obtain a smooth puree. Strain through a fine strainer. Disregard the tomato foam that is too thick to be strained. Transfer the strained liquid to a bowl, add the sugar, and salt and pepper to taste. Strain the seeds as well, and add the liquid strained to the bowl. Reserve.
Peel and core the other 2 tomatoes. Chop finely. In a pan, heat some oil and add the shallots, garlic and thyme. Once the shallots are softened, add the tomatoes. Season. Cook on low heat until the moisture has mostly evaporated. Reserve.
Risotto:
Heat the stock in a pot - bring to a boil and reduce to a low simmer. Melt the butter in a pan on medium low heat and add the shallots, garlic, thyme and bay leaf. When the shallots begin to soften, add the rice. Mix with a wooden spoon until lightly toasted. Add the wine and stir constantly. Once the wine has evaporated, add the stock, ladle by ladle, gently stirring. Add more stock once the rice has absorbed the liquid. Adjust the seasoning during this process. After about 18 minutes of cooking time, the rice should be tender and creamy. Add the cheese, peas, pea puree and stir until smooth.

Salmon:
Preheat oven to 450 F. Season the fillets with salt and pepper. Drizzle some oil in a oven-proof pan on medium high heat. Once the oil is hot, add the salmon, skin side down. Press the fish down to make sure it does not curl. Once the fish skin begins to become crispy (after 2-3 minutes), add the knob of butter. Gently pour the fat out of the pan and transfer to the oven. Cook for an additional 1-3 minutes for a medium rare salmon.

In a pan, heat the two types of tomato preparations together.

Plate by placing a circle of risotto in the middle of each plate. Circle with the tomato broth and top with the salmon fillet, some basil leaves and chopped chives . Enjoy!

Beer, Chocolate and a Whole Lot of Eating

Ahh, beer.

I went to Bruges last weekend. A lot of beer was consumed. Not as muh chocolate as I thought, but that's not to say there wasn't any to be had - it was abundant - I'm just not much of a sweet lover, thank god, or I'd be the size of a house.

Bruges is a lovely town. Only 3 hours by Eurostar from London, they call it the 'Venice of the North' apparently. We arrived early on Friday and was immediately struck by the prettiness of the cobbled streets. Horses pulled carriages full of tourists round the square, and we were blessed with great weather. So much so, we even got burnt on Saturday whilst having lunch outside.

The food was amazing. We tried all the specialities like eel in green sauce. It was quite an interesting dish, the eel was chopped up and cooked in the sauce which comprised mainly of herbs. You also got a dish to sling the eel bones in, so it was quite a fiddly process.

We tried to get as many speciality dishes in as possible. To be fair, we did well: Waffles, mussels and chips, and Carbonade Flamande (Flemish Beef Stew) were all consumed with relish. It was only the 'waterzooi', a fish or chicken stew made with cream, that we missed out on.

Knowing that Bruges is a touristy town, I did a fair bit of research. There's nothing worse than being really excited about a meal only to discover it's a complete tourist trap, so armed with some excellent advice I booked tables at Den Dyver and De Visscherie.

Den Dyver is advertised as being a beer specialist. Lonely Planet called them 'afficionados' and I have to say that I agree. We went for the 3 course menu with matching beers. After an aperitif of beer, we got an amuse (which unfortunately I didn't photograph - too hungry).

To start, I had calf sweetbread in an orange crisp with jerusalem mash and bitter chocolate sauce. This was the first time I've had sweetbreads and it was great. It was a pillowy texture inside, balanced well with the orange crumb.

Monkfish was my main, with a white asparagus terrine, pea puree and matchstick potatoes. The cheese course was definitely strange; it was served with a sweet, dense ginger bread with a mustard icing. It was a bit mind-boggling, but the flavours worked well. Each time we had a different beer to match the food. Mainly Trappist beers with an average of 9%, we were pretty squiffy by the end of it.

We were wondering how Saturday's meal was going to turn out, given that we were off to such a flying start. De Visscherie stepped up to the plate.




The menu we went for was the tasting menu, with special focus being asparagus. I've never had white asparagus before and I prefer it to green. Shame I've never seen it on sale. The service was faultless, the presentation was amazing and the food tasted just as good as it looks

I was well-fed; mussels, monkfish, sweetbreads, caviar and the rest of it.

Unsurprisingly, I returned to London broke, but 4lb heavier.

Won Tons

Won tons are another of my favourite dumplings. Eaten in soup, they're very flavoursome and yet light, but with the addition of noodles makes a great one-bowl lunch.

My mum taught me how to make these. When I was younger, myself, her, my sister and my grandmother would sit spooning the mixture into wrappers, wrapping them and generally getting very messy. I was never much good at folding the won tons (as you may be able to see!).

You'll need special won ton wrappers for this, which you can buy in Oriental supermarkets.


Won tons

To make about 25 dumplings

100gr minced pork

2 spring onions, finely chopped

3 - 4 rehydrated shiitake mushrooms, diced

1 inch ginger, finely chopped

1 1/2 tbsp oyster sauce

Large pinch of white pepper

Splash of soy sauce

1 tbsp cornflour

Mix the above ingredients thoroughly. Leave it to sit for about 15 minutes. Take a won ton wrapper in your hand, leaving the others well covered to prevent drying out. Place a teaspoon of the pork mix in the middle. Wet the edges and fold over into a rectangle. Squidge (yes, that's a techinical term) the mix so that there are no air bubbles. Turn the wrapper so that the mix is towards the top edge, then fold over again. Fold the sides round, wet and pinch to form a nurse's cap. This is a good picture guide. To cook, simmer in some water for 7 - 10 mins. Don't cook them in the soup stock as the flour dusting the wrappers will make it cloudy. Add to stock with or without noodles. These freeze very well, and can be cooked from frozen.

Swordfish and Cilantro Spring Salad

The last few days have been pretty busy. I have been in the 'production' section of the kitchen, which basically means that I have been prepping food for the school's restaurant. In other words, I have been making stocks, butchering ducks, deboning legs of lamb and cleaning a lot - a lot - of chicken bones.

Making stock has taken on quite a different meaning for me. It is no longer the gentle process of having chicken bones simmer down with water on the stove while I read a book on the couch. Oh no. Stocks are here made for about 200 people, and are made simultaneously: chicken, veal and fish stocks all competing to be the most odorous. The fish stock we made last week, for instance, had 30 bass heads starring back at me while I was trying to skim the fat from the rim of the stock. Fish stock is cruel, very cruel. It must remain clear and transparent in order to be called a good stock, and that means that certain elements must be removed from the stock. Eye balls, when left intact will not harm a stock, but if pierced can render the water cloudy and opaque. The fish eyes must thus be removed one by one....using a melon baller and sharp pairing knife.

Back to more colorful discussions now! I was inspired by Bobby Flay's twist on the classic French 'nicoise' salad and decided to try my own. The colors in the salad were beautiful for spring, and the cilantro proved to be a great last minute addition.


Recipe (for 2 people as a main dish or 4 as an appetizer)

1 swordfish fillet
A handful of green beans
6 fingerling potatoes
A dozen nicoise olives
1 yellow tomato
1 handful of cilantro

Vinaigrette
3 tablespoons of olive oil + 1 tablespoon for the garlic
2 cloves of garlic
A small handful of cilantro
Salt and pepper to taste

Start by cooking the potatoes by placing it in a pot of cold salted water. Bring to a boil and leave to cook until tender (about 15 minutes). In a separate pot, cook the beans. They are ready when cooked through but still crunchy. Once cooked, placed in a bowl of ice and cold water to stop the cooking process and allow the beans to maintain their vivid green color.
Brush the swordfish with olive oil on both sides and season with salt and pepper. Cook on medium high heat for about 3-6 minutes on each side, depending on the size of your fillet. Once cooked, slice in thin layers.
Thinly slice the tomato and reserve.

Vinaigrette:
Slice the garlic into thin garlic chips. Place the 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a pan and add the garlic. Turn the heat to low and stir regularly. When the garlic starts to change color remove from the heat and reserve (this should take a few minutes). Finely chop the cilantro. In a small bowl, add the 3 tablespoons of olive oil, the cilantro and the garlic-infused oil. Whisk and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.

Assemble the salad by placing the olives, tomato, cilantro, beans and potatoes in a salad bowl. Pour the vinaigrette and gently mix to coat. Add the fish fillet on top. Enjoy!

Thai Green Curry

When I first moved to England, one night my mum made a Thai Green Curry for dinner. She used Mae Ploy curry paste, which is sold in many Asian supermarkets. I sat down to the meal, a mere 12 years old, eagerly anticipating my dinner. From the very first bite, I knew I was doomed. Instantaneously my nose started running, my mouth burning, my cheeks flushed. It was fiery, fiery hot. So hot in fact, that I couldn't eat it. My mum looked at me strangely, my sister scoffed at me: "Come on, it's not that spicy!" I carried on, thinking maybe if I ate it quickly it wouldn't be too bad. No such luck; the heat was unbearable. I remember crying hot tears of frustration as I threw my strop, declaring it inedible. That's what happens when I don't get fed.

Nowadays, I'm a bit more accustomed to the heat of curries. I even tend to add chillis to many meals, even if they don't usually have it (chilli sauce with cheese on toast, anyone?)

I recently invested in a huge pestle and mortar, one of those massive granite things that weigh about a ton. I also got "The Food of Thailand - A Journey For Food Lovers" as a gift for my birthday so I thought perhaps a green curry would be the best recipe to while my Sunday afternoon away. So I started chopping. Oh, how I wished I had one of Delia's mini choppers, as I quickly tired of it.

Thai Green Curry Paste

To make 125 mls

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp ground cumin

10 green chillis, seeded

2 lemongrass stalks, white part only

5 lime leaves, torn and shredded

5 garlic cloves, minced

4 Asian shallots, diced

6 coriander roots (or a bunch of coriander stalks, as my coriander was rootless)

Handful of holy basil leaves

2 tsp shrimp paste

Finely chop all of the finely choppable ingredients above. Toast the ground cumin and coriander powders until fragrant. Bash it all up in a mortar and pestle (add the ingredients incrementally) until you get a paste. Apparently it'll keep in the fridge for at least two weeks. Alternatively, line an ice cube tray with cling film, add the paste and freeze.

To make the prawn curry, I simply fried 2 tbsp of the paste in oil, added the extremely untraditional broccoli and red pepper slices, and then added coconut milk. Simmer for 7 mins, then I added another 1 tbsp chopped galangal, 3 torn lime leaves, halved baby aubergines, green peppercorns and the prawns. Simmer for 2 mins, take off the heat, add a handful of coriander, 1 tbsp sugar (palm preferably), the juice of 1 lime and a good slug of fish sauce.

I know it's not particularly green, but it was the most fragrant green curry I've had outside of Thailand. It was spicy without being over-powering and the lime leaves really made a difference. It may have also been the taste of sweet satisfaction borne through hard work.