December 11th, 2007
I love making grains and was thrilled last night to discover how quickly bulgur heats up in the microwave. Though Rachael Ray irks me, I’m fighting the temptation to call this a “30 Minute Meal!” Here is a nice, healthy weeknight dish with only a few ingredients. It is packed with flavor from the red peppers and the lemon juice adds a nice, crisp acidity.
10 large, frozen shrimp
1/2 cup uncooked Bulgur wheat
2 tsp olive oil
2 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tbsp crushed garlic
1 tbsp crushed red pepper flakes
Sea salt
Defrost and remove the shells of your shrimp by either nuking them in the microwave or running them under cold water for a couple of minutes.
Place bulgur in a microwave safe, deep bowl. Pour a cup of water over the bulgur and heat for 8-10 minutes.
While bulgur is cooking, heat the olive oil in a small pan over medium heat. Add shrimp, garlic, crushed red pepper and a dash of sea salt. Heat the ingredients and stir to blend for a minute or so then turn down heat. Add cooked bulgur to the pan and toss to combine.
Pour your crushed red pepper shrimp with bulgur into a bowl, toss with lemon juice and enjoy!
Filed under Pasta, Recipes, Rice, Shellfish | Comments (8)
March 13th, 2007
I bought a new cookbook this weekend that I am pretty pumped about called “Coast” featuring recipes from leading Australian chefs. It has a lot of really creative recipes, one of which I tried out on Sunday. The recipe comes from chef Peter Gilmore who is from Sydney. Though this dish takes quite a long time to prepare, the selling point is that it is not very labor intensive because it requires very little chopping and stirring. I recommend leaving yourself a few hours to prepare it but most of the time is allotted for letting the flavors infuse in the stock and the garlic oil. I never would have imagined that prosciutto would marry well with Chinese ingredients such as mirin and soy sauce. The flavors and textures were actually quite delicious. I went out on a limb as I’ve never made quail before but I was pleased with the results. Next time I may try to make it with veal instead of quail. Read on….
Master-Stock Quail Breast with Slow-Cooked Squid, Prosciutto and Shiitake Mushrooms
Serves 4
4 large quails
1 tablespoon sesame oil
8 oz cleaned cuttlefish or squid (I used squid)
6 oz fresh shiitake mushrooms, stalks removed
6 thin slices prosciutto
2 medium sized scallions, thinly sliced
2 teaspoons mirin
2 teaspoons salt-reduced soy sauce
Pinch of sea salt
Master Stock
8 cups chicken stock
100 ml shaohsing Chinese cooking wine
100 ml dark soy sauce
125 g yellow rock sugar (can substitute with regular sugar- I couldn’t find it myself!)
6 star anise
3 strips cassia bark (I couldn’t find this but it is a bark that comes from a tree similar to a banana tree, the dish is fine without it)
4 strips dried orange peel
1 teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns
Garlic oil
2 cups olive oil
6 garlic cloves, cut in half
For the master stock, combine all the ingredients in a large stockpot, bring to a boil and simmer gently for 30 minutes. Remove from heat and leave to infuse for 1 hour. Strain and reserve stock. Make the garlic oil by warming the olive oil in a pan with garlic for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and leave to infuse for 1 hour. Strain.
Bring the master stock back to a boil, then turn down to barely simmering. Remove the legs from the quails. Brush quail breasts with sesame oil and poach in master stock for exactly 2 minutes. Remove quail breasts from stock and allow to cool. Take the meat off the bone, then carefully remove and discard the skin. Set aside the meat.
Place cuttlefish or squid on a board and, with a sharp knife, cut horizontally into paper-thin slivers or rings. Carefully slice the shiitake mushroom caps into paper-thin slivers. Cut the prosciutto into strips. Fry the scallions in a little garlic oil until just caramelized (when they begin to brown); drain on kitchen paper and set aside. Put the master stock back on the stove and heat to just below simmering.
In a large saucepan, warm all except 1 tablespoon of the remaining garlic oil on high heat. Submerge cuttlefish or squid slivers in oil for about 30 seconds. Remove with a slotted spoon as soon as they turn opaque. Set aside, season lightly with sea salt and toss through the prosciutto slices and spring onions. Saute your shiitake mushrooms in the reserved tablespoon of garlic oil until golden brown. Add mirin and salt-reduced soy sauce, simmer until slightly reduced, then add to cuttlefish or squid mixture and gently combine.
Poach quail breasts in master stock for 1 minute. Remove from stock and place two breasts in the middle of each of four warmed plates. Top with the cuttlefish or squid mixture, and serve immediately. You can also simply combine all the ingredients in a bowl if you are having less of a formal dinner, as I did.
*Though the recipe does not say this, I highly recommend pouring some of that stock you worked so hard to create, onto the final dish. It has so many great flavors in it from the anise, orange peel, and peppercorns and will really add a lot to the final result. Bon appetit!
Filed under Poultry, Recipes, Shellfish | Comments (7)
Subscribe in RSS
