prawn saganaki (garides saganaki)

Many years ago, when I was an innocent young teenager, my sister Shamu and I travelled to Greece to delight in the wonders of the Mediterranean. We had a wonderful time exploring the ruins in Athens, getting a bit wild with Norwegians on the “Party Island” of the time, Ios, playing at sophistication in Santorini and embarking upon an impromptu road trip with three French girls across Crete from Heraklion to Chania.

In Crete I became incapacitated, throwing my back out from carrying my gigantic backpack, but luckily our travelling companions were trainee physiotherapists who were happy to massage me back to health each evening (merci à Caroline, Julie and Melanie - mes amies française).

It was a fun gaggle of girls posing some interesting language challenges since they didn’t speak English and we didn’t speak French. After living in Italy for the past 7 months I miraculously understood their French and they understood our English, so we each spoke our own languages and somehow we communicated quite efficiently.

It was on this multicultural roadtrip that we stopped off on a deserted beach for lunch. Between two quiet cafés on the beach, we chose the one without any patrons because we could sit under the shade of an umbrella.  The menus were all in Greek so the rest of the crew traipsed into the kitchen where the cook pointed out different ingredients in an attempt to mime meal options. When they came back Shamu confessed she’d ordered me something, but wasn’t quite sure what.

As we waited for our mystery lunch to arrive, our empty café started to fill up with locals and by the time they set the food on the table the place was buzzing and alive with vibrant activity. It was so stereotypical and romantic, it was as if we’d stumbled on the set of Greek film. Absolutely magical.

But even more magical was the food they served us. A tomato sauce filled with plump prawns and scattered with melting feta cheese. It was amazing. Pure perfection in a beautiful setting.

We asked the waiter to tell us the name of the dish and when they spoke I wrote down the sounds, perplexed that the dish sounded more Japanese than Greek: saganaki.

Now that I have much more experience with Greek food I know that saganaki, in its various forms, is one of Greece’s most famous dishes and has been successfully exported worldwide.

The prawn version, known as Garides Saganaki, is surprisingly simple to make, and the perfect lunch or dinner whether it’s summer or winter.

Garides Saganaki / Γαριδες Σαγανακι
Prawn Saganaki

Anna’s recipe. Serves 4.

Ingredients:
1 onion, thinly sliced
6 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
400g canned tomatoes
1 roasted red pepper, finely sliced
60ml ouzo
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
1 dried bay leaf
150g Greek feta
24 large peeled green prawns
Olive oil, for frying
Crusty white bread, to serve

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 220’C.

2. In a frying pan, heat olive oil in a saucepan then sauté onion and garlic until soft.

3. Add bay leaf, tomato and peppers and simmer for around 5 minutes.

4. Add ouzo, oregano and thyme and simmer for another 5 minutes.

5. Transfer the sauce to a baking dish and crumble over the feta.

6. Bake until feta just starts melting, about 15 minutes.

7. Push the prawns into the tomato sauce and cook for another 5 minutes or until the are opaque and cooked.

8. Serve hot with crusty white bread.

razor clams w garlic & parsley butter

On a recent visit to the fish market, I was one happy girl when I spotted a bevy of razor clams.

They came from Scotland, so I don’t even want to think about the carbon emission from those food miles, but eating razor clams is a rarity for me, and I love them.

The best way to eat them is simply grilled in their shell with a little garlic butter and parsley, just the way they served them to me on Barceloneta beach.

Razor Clams w Garlic & Parsley Butter

Ingredients:
Razor clams
Butter, softened
Parsley, chopped
Garlic, crushed
Salt and pepper, to taste

Method:

1. Mix the garlic, parsley, salt and pepper with the butter. Roll into a log then wrap in plastic and refrigerate until hard.

2. When ready to cook, open the razor clams and cut out the dark sections which include the gills, stomach and intestines.

3. Place on a layer of foil on a grill tray.

4. Cut strips of the garlicky butter and cover the length of the clam.

5. Grill for a minute or until the butter melts and the clam flesh firms but doesn’t get too tough.

singapore's chilli crab

For my 2011 Food Challenges I committed to learning how to make Singapore’s famous Chilli Crab. And what better way to learn, than to take a class at the Sydney Fish Market’s beautiful, luxurious cooking school: Sydney Seafood School.

The venue is superb. First you gather in a small auditorium, where students watch the dish being prepared by the teacher, complete with cameras broadcasting the detailed elements onto large display screens.

Next you shuffle into the cooking area, complete with stainless steel cooking stations, where the staff move from group to group offering advice and suggestions. Each station is also equipped with expensive hand soap to remove fishy odours and bottles of sparkling mineral water to sip upon. Cooking done in style!

Last, and most exciting, is the dining room where you sit down to eat your creation with a bottle of wine and bottles of mineral water.

It’s a truly wonderful cooking school and I highly recommend it. It’s even a decent place to go on your own, if you can’t find anyone else to join you. I’ve been twice now and made friends each time.

Tourists should take note, Sydney’s fish market is the third largest in the world for volume and is second only to Tokyo’s in terms of variety sold. That’s a whole lot of seafood.

So, what did I learn about buying and preparing crabs?

1. The lustre or shine of a shell, scale or skin indicates the level of freshness. If the seafood is dull, it’s not very fresh.

2. For crustaceans, look at the under carriage, at the legs and head joints, which should be clean. If they are oxidising they aren’t as fresh.

3. Hard shells are best. If a shell is soft it indicates the crustacean has been caught during its moulting period and this means the flesh has absorbed more water. It will be less flavoursome and more mushy.

4. When you buy shellfish, transport it in a cool bag and store it in a bowl covered in plastic wrap in the fridge. Don’t leave it wrapped in the plastic and paper from the shop.

5. To clean, just wipe with a wet cloth. Never wash crab (or seafood other than bivalves) under water as you wash away the oils and flavour and allow the meat to absorb water.

6. To prepare crab, lift the flap under its body, slide your thumb in as far as you can then lift the top shell away, exposing the gills so you can remove them.

7. Use a large, sharp knife and cut with short, hard chops. Sawing motions will only tear the delicate flesh from the shell.

blue swimmer crab bisque

I have always wanted to make a bisque, a seafood soup heavily flavoured by the shells of crustaceans.

The word bisque sounds so uplifting and fresh, a perfect image for any seafood dish. It seems the etymology of bisque seems to come from the Bay of Biscay, that rather large bite of land missing between Spain and France. Makes sense, no?

Keen to give bisque a whirl, I was pretty excited when I was allocated the Spider Crab Bisque as part of the Murdoch Book's 365 Challenge to cook every recipe from Stéphane Reynaud's 365 Good Reasons to Sit Down to Eat.

The original recipe uses spider crabs, only there weren’t any at my poissonnerie, so I opted for gorgeous blue swimmer crabs. Their azure shells are so photogenic.

The recipe is extremely easy to make and produces a perfect bisque. The extreme shellfish flavour really comes through, with chunks of crab meat adding texture to the velvety soup.

Only problem . . . it seems I don’t actually like bisque.

The moment the soup hit my lips I remembered, with utter disappointment, having eaten this soup in many fine French restaurants, and even at my mother’s table, and never having liked it!

After all the preparation and investment, I couldn’t believe I had forgotten this simple fact.

But don’t let my forgetfulness put you off: this recipe is perfect, so if you like bisque you’ll just love it!

Crab Bisque

Recipe from 365 Good Reasons to Sit Down to Eat by Stéphane Reynaud. Serves 6.

Ingredients:
6 fresh spider or blue swimmer crabs
2 potatoes
2 carrots
2 french shallots (eschalots)
3 tablespoons olive oil
250ml (1 cup) white wine
2 very ripe tomatoes, diced
1 tablespoon tomato paste (concentrated puree)
200ml pouring (whipping) cream
Salt and pepper

Method:

1. Poach the spider crabs in a large volume of water for 15 minutes.

2. Remove the meat from the shells (this will take a little time) and using a lobster pick, empty out each of the spider crab claws. Also get the roe found in the body cavity.

3. Rinse out the body shells of the crabs in water. They will be used, to our great delight, as tureens for the bisque. Ah, Brittany, the joys you bestow upon us.

4. Peel the potatoes and carrots, cut them into cubes.

5. Peel and slice the shallots.

6. Sauté three-quarters of the shallots with the carrots and potatoes in the olive oil, moisten with the white wine.

7. Add three-quarters of the crabmeat, the tomato and tomato paste, cook for 20 minutes.

8. Add the cream, then puree and season. Serve the bisque in the crab shells, (oh, it's so beautiful).

9. Add the rest of the crabmeat and a few shallot rings.

oysters w lime caviar

I love Sydney rock oysters. They taste so much better than the huge Pacific oysters.

Don’t get me wrong, if you gave me a dozen Pacifics I’d be a happy gal, but the rock oysters are simply sublime.

So why not match the native Sydney rocks to another native ingredient? Finger limes!

The beautifully coloured caviar looks wonderful and the tangy flavour is a perfect acidic accompaniment to the creamy rock oysters.

If you want more info on finger limes, try these two cocktail recipes.

Thanks again to Fred and Janet Durham at the Australian Finger Lime Company who generously gave me these finger limes.

Oysters w Lime Caviar & Black Pepper

Ingredients:
12 Sydney rock oysters
Caviar of 2 finger limes
Black pepper, to taste
Squeeze of regular lime juice
Drop or two of oil (avocado, sesame, olive)

Method:
1. Combine all the ingredients except the oysters into a bowl and mix to combine.
2. Top your oyster and enjoy!

This ticks off a 2011 Food Challenge to use more native ingredients.

salpicón de camarónes (veracruz prawn cocktail)

 
This recipe comes from Saveur, an American food magazine which I love.

The best way to explain a salpicón, is to take the words straight from Saveur:

“The word salpicón, which comes from the Spanish sal, salt, and picar, to chop, refers, in classic French cooking, to a mince of poultry, game, or vegetables bound with a sauce. In Mexico, however, it can mean anything from a shredded beef salad in the north to this citrusy shrimp appetizer”

As summer comes closer to Sydney I begin to crave raw seafood drenched in lime or lemon (but never both at the same time!). Adding chillies, coriander and avocado is an additional blessing and this dish is one of my all time favourite meals in summer.

It's also another 2009 food challenge since it's another Mexican recipe.

Salpicón de Camarónes (Veracruz-Style Prawn Cocktail)

Recipe from Restaurante Doña Lala in Tlacotalpan, Mexico.
Printed in Saveur Issue #12. Serves 4.

Ingredients:
1 lb. cooked small prawns (shrimp)
1 cored chopped tomato
½ small white onion, peeled +chopped
1 garlic clove, peeled +minced
1 fresh jalapeño, seeded +sliced
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 tbsp. chopped fresh parsley
Salt & freshly ground white pepper
1 avocado, peeled + sliced
Lime wedges

Method:

1. Peel shrimp.

2. Mix together shrimp, tomatoes, onions, garlic and jalapeño.

3. Stir in oil and parsley, season to taste with salt and pepper.

4. Top with avocado and garnish with lime wedges.

Note: I added coriander and used cherry tomatoes.

As my Weekend Herb Blogging entry, I’m focusing on the avocado. Our host is Katie from Eat This, so go check out the round-up.

Avocado has been my theme ingredient in two other WHB posts, one in 2007 (cold avocado soup from the Ivory Coast) and one in 2008 (avocado shake from Vietnam). So here’s 2009 and some avocado information copied dircetly from my 2007 post.

The word avocado comes from the Aztec (Nahuatl) word ahuacatl, via Spanish aguacate and means “testicle”. Perhaps because of its appearance, the Aztecs believed avocadoes were an aphrodisiac and called it "the fertility fruit". Apparently during avocado harvesting, virgins were kept indoors to prevent any promiscuity taking place.

This reputation stuck with the avocado for such a long time and many people in South America wouldn’t eat it because they wanted to appear wholesome. Companies had to undertake serious PR campaigns to dispel the myths and get the fruit out to the public.

The Nahuatl word ahuacatl makes up other words like ahuacamolli, meaning "avocado soup/sauce” which the Spanish transformed into guacamole.

In 2005, the world’s top ten avocado producing nations were, in order: Mexico, Indonesia, USA, Colombia, Brazil, Chile, Dominican Republic, Peru, China and Ethiopia. As trees need well aerated soils and subtropical or tropical climates to thrive, this makes sense.

Propagation by seed takes around 5 years to produce fruit and the quality is never as good as the parent tree. Commercial plantations therefore graft new seedlings.

Avocadoes mature on the tree but ripen once harvested. The fruit is high monounsaturated fat contents and contains 60% more potassium than bananas, vitamin Bs, vitamin E, vitamin K and folate.

In Brazil, Vietnam, the Philippines, Jamaica and Indonesia avocadoes are blended with sugar and milk to create a milkshake.

It is also interesting to note that avocado foliage, skin and pits are said to poison animals such as birds, cats, dogs, cattle, goats, rabbits and fish.

~~~

This time previously on M&M:
2008 - Sago gula bali (Balinese coconut sago dessert)
2007 - Fatteh (Syrian chickpea & yoghurt breakfast)
2006 - Japanese-style tomato carpaccio

scallops w lentils, pancetta & sage

I have been eyeing off this recipe ever since my sister gave us this cookbook in March 2007. It was the first dish I marked and one of those I coveted and craved after (hence another Food Challenge), and yet it wasn’t until April 2009 that I finally made it.

Why did it take me so long?

I suppose the recipe seemed complicated and fiddly. Too many ingredients not easily on hand. Too many steps.

But when you break it down it’s pretty easy. Boil in one pot. Fry in another. Done.

Don’t be like me. This recipe is worth the effort. Just make it.

The lentils provide a warm, earthy backdrop to the sweet scallops, crispy sage and salty pancetta. The asparagus brings some fresh flavour while the lemon crème fraîche is an delightful end to the composition. Sublime.

The lentils could easily be made and served without the other accompaniments, as a great vegetarian side dish. I kept some “uncontaminated” from the scallops and served them to Jonas, who has since requested a repeat performance.

One of the wonderful aspects of this dish is the crispy sage leaves. I just adore these leaves fried until brittle and crunchy then paired with anything soft and sweet like fish or pasta.

Scallops w Lentils, Pancetta & Sage

Recipe from Cook with Jamie by Jamie Oliver. Serves 4.

Ingredients:
300g Puy lentils
1 bay leaf
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1 potato, peeled
1 tomato
2 tablespoons flat leaf parsley leaves, finely chopped
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
5 heaped tablespoons crème fraîche (or thick yoghurt)
Juice of 1 lemon
32 baby asparagus spears, woody bases trimmed (or 3-4 large ones)
12 slices pancetta (or smoked, streaky bacon)
12 large scallops (or 16 small scallops)
24 sage leaves
Salt and pepper, to taste
Olive oil, for frying

Method:

1. In a saucepan, combine lentils with garlic cloves, bay leaf, potato and tomato. Cover with water.

2. Bring to the boil and simmer for 20-25 minutes until lentils are tender but holding their shape (ie not mushy).

3. Drain off 90% of the water. Discard the bay leaf.

4. Peel the tomato skin and discard. Return tomato to pot.

5. Mash the tomato, garlic and potato into the lentils with a fork. The lentils actually seem to hold their shape while the mashed vegetables help to create a sauce around the lentils.

6. Add the parsley, red wine vinegar, extra virgin olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. Set aside and keep warmish.

7. Season the crème fraîche with salt and pepper to taste. Add just enough lemon juice to give it a twang. Set aside.

8. Heat a little olive oil in a large non-stick pan then fry pancetta.

9. Once golden and crisp, remove and set aside.

10. Season scallops.

11. In the same frying pan, add asparagus and scallops and cook until scallops are golden on each side and asparagus is tender but still crunchy.

12. Remove from pan and set aside.

13. Finally, add some more olive oil and fry sage leaves for 40 seconds on each side until crispy.

14. Divide lentils between four plates, top each with 8 baby asparagus spears, 3 pancetta slices, 3 large scallops and 6 crispy sage leaves. Serve with a dollop of lemon crème fraîche.

Salvia officinalis is a common herb that delivers an anything thing but common flavour to your cooking. Not only has it been a medicinal herb for millennia, but it also acts as an ornamental plant with its soft, dusty-green leaves.

In European cooking sage is often served with fatty meats (particularly pork), onions or cheese and can be included in sausages. The classic Italian sage and burnt butter pasta sauce has been popular for decades and in the Balkans sage is used to flavour spirits.

Once upon a time, sage was prescribed for every illness, hence it’s name “salvia” meaning “to heal”. It was used for everything from sprains, fertility, sore throats, swelling, bleeding, snakebites and even to ward away evil. For instance sage, along with thyme, rosemary and lavender was one of the main ingredients of the Four Thieves Vinegar, believed to protect people from the plague.

Modern sciences shows sage to have healing effects as an “anhidrotic, antibiotic, antifungal, astringent, antispasmodic, estrogenic, hypoglycemic, and tonic”.

This recipe is my contribution to Weekend Herb Blogging, this week hosted by Prof. Kitty from wonderfully named blog The Cabinet of Prof. Kitty. Be sure to visit this recap!

Other blogger recipes using sage:
Apricot, Sage & Cornmeal Cookies - Lottie + Doof
Baked White Beans w Tuna & Sage - Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska
Biscuits w Sausage & Sage Gravy - Pinch My Salt
Butternut Squash Cupcakes w Sage Frosting - Vanilla Garlic
Cauliflower w Sage Butter & Eggs - Nami Nami
Chicken Liver & Sage Salad - Dirty Sugar Cookies
Corn Crackers w Rosemary & Sage - Anne'Food
Crispy Sage & Brown Butter Pasta - 80 breakfasts
Fresh Fig & Sage Grilled Pizza - The Left Over Queen
Game Casserole w Cider & Sage - Food, Glorious Food

Guinness Stew w Sage & Ginger - The Hungry Mouse

Quail Saltimbocca - Cook (almost) Anything At Least Once

Pork Chops w Apple, Sage & Pancetta - Closet Cooking
Rabbit Lasagne w Mushrooms & Sage-Scented Bechamel - Food Stories
Roasted Root Vegetables w Maple Sage Glaze - Food Blogga
Sage & Caramelized Onion Risotto Cups - sugarlaws
Sage Focaccia - Baking Bites
Sage Ice Cream - pastry studio
Sage Lady (cocktail) - Yum Sugar
Sage Steamed Snap Beans - Lucullian Delights
Sage, Honey & Pecorino Heart Bread - Ms. Adventures in Italy
Sage-Pecan Pesto - Kalyn's Kitchen
Sage, Pine Nut & Pecorino Scones - Pro Bono Baker
Sage, Walnut & Dried Fig Stuffing - 101 Cookbooks
Savory Sage Corn Cakes - Gluten Free Cooking School
Soothing Chicken & Sage Dumpling Soup - canarygirl.com
Strawberry & Sage Ice Cream - Ice Cream Ireland
Vegetarian Apple-Cider Ginger Sage Gravy - A Veggie Venture
Walnut-Sage Potatoes Au Gratin - Gluten Free Bay
Watercress & Fresh Sage Soup - Chocolate & Zucchini
White Bean, Crème Fraîche & Sage Frittata - Cook Think
Yellow Fin Tuna, Sage Oil, Hibiscus Salt - Wrightfood
Zucchini, Sage & Scamorza Terrine - The Passionate Cook


References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_sage
http://www.taste.com.au/how+to/articles/1010/sage
http://www.nutrasanus.com/sage.html

scallops w lemongrass & kaffir vermicelli

It might not look very nice, but this noodle dish is quite delicious.

It’s not quite as delicious as the version I tasted in Ubud (Bali, Indonesia) at the Casa Luna restaurant, but then getting my hands on the tiny kaffir limes and other native ingredients isn’t as easy in Sydney. It’s as close as I’m going to get.

This is my contribution to the 100th episode of Presto Pasta Nights, hosted by the founder Ruth from Once Upon A Feast.

If you’re interested in more Balinese posts (photos and all!), I’ll add the links below the recipe.

Scallops w Lemongrass & Kaffir Vermicelli

Anna’s version of a meal eaten at Casa Luna. Serves 2.

Ingredients:
125g vermicelli
12 scallops
100ml coconut milk
3 young lemongrass stalks
4 kaffir leaves, very finely sliced
Juice of 1 lime
Pinch of long pepper
Pinch of salt
1 small red chilli, thinly sliced for garnish
2 tablespoons baby mint leaves

Method:

1. Remove the tough outer leaves of the lemongrass stalks until you come to the tender, pale leaves underneath.

2. Mince the stalks very, very finely although stop when you reach the higher, woodier part of the stalk. You only want the soft, moist end near the bulb.

3. In a pan, heat the coconut milk with a little salt and long pepper as well as the lemongrass and kaffir. Bring almost to the boil the reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat.

4. In the meantime, soak the vermicelli in a bowl of freshly boiled water until soft (about 5 minutes).

5. In the meantime, season the scallops with salt and long pepper, then pan fry for max 60 seconds on each side.

6. Drain the vermicelli and divide between two bowls. Divide the lime juice and sprinkle over the noodles.

7. Divide the coconut sauce into the bowls until there’s just enough to dress the vermicelli. Toss well.

8. Garnish noodles with chilli and mint then top with scallops. Can be served warm or room temperature.


Bali, Indonesia (July 2007)
Balinese cooking class
Dining out in Bali
Balinese countryside
Sirsak - soursop fruit
Salak - snakefruit


Tags: morsels and musings food blog food and drink australia recipes scallops noodles coconut lemongrass kaffir coconut recipes kaffir recipes lemongrass recipes noodle recipes scallop recipes balinese recipes balinese food balinese cuisine indonesian recipes indonesian food indonesian cuisine

oysters w horseradish & parmesan

It seems like ions ago when I disliked oysters. It wasn’t though.

The moment I realised I loved oysters was lunch on the 3 of October 2005 at Otto Ristorante in Woolloomooloo (yes, that is a real suburb in Sydney).

I wasn’t going to try the slimey things, since every time I’d done it before I’d wanted to wretch, but Fabio made me do it. Apart from being 50% of the team that introduced me to my husband, it’s the best thing he’s ever done for me.

Since then I’ve been mad for them. Crazy. Loco.

A year later I enrolled myself in a forum devoted entirely to their worship. So, you could say I’m a bit of an oyster fan now.

With that in mind, you’ll understand why my knees weakened when I first saw this recipe in Gourmet Traveller and why I made it my top priority to devour it as soon as possible.

I love natural oysters, but in the colder months they are superb grilled. I also think parmesan is a perfect match for grilled oysters because it’s equally strong, salty and can hold its own against the molluscs.

And with two punchy ingredients the only thing to do is bring out a third: horseradish. Let the battle begin!

So, if all that rambling wasn’t clear, it was a great recipe. I’ll make it again.

Oysters Baked w Horseradish & Parmesan
Recipe by Steve Rofe at Café di Stasio. Serves 4.
Ingredients:
250g salted butter, softened to room temperature
175g finely grated parmesan
100g finely grated fresh horseradish (about 3 large horseradish)
24 Tasmanian Pacific oysters, freshly shucked
Finely chopped flat-leaf parsley and lemon wedges, to serve

Method:

1. Combine butter and 125gm parmesan in a bowl, rub in butter with your fingers.

2. Gradually add horseradish and combine with your hands until pliable. Season to taste.

3. Preheat oven to 230’C.

4. Top oysters with enough butter mixture to fill.

5. Place in a deep roasting pan, scatter with remaining cheese and bake until dark golden (15-20 minutes).

6. Scatter with parsley and serve with lemon.

Note: If fresh horseradish is unavailable, substitute with 150gm jarred horseradish. If you can’t get hold of Tassie Pacifics, use any large oyster.

Horseradish (Armoracia rusticana, syn. Cochlearia armoracia) is a member of the Brassicaceae family alongside fiery counterparts such as mustard and wasabi, as well as meeker cabbage.

It’s believed that horseradish was native to eastern Europe and western Asia. The Greek sun god Apollo was convinced by an Oracle of it’s values, murals of horseradish were forever frozen in the ashes of Pompeii, Egyptians recorded their uses for it, Shakespeare waxed lyrical in his literature and Jews use it to celebrate Passover.

Fresh horseradish should be used quickly or steeped in vinegar to prevent bitterness caused by contact with oxygen and heat.

Although the leaves can also be used, the most prized part of the horseradish is the white, tapered root which produces allyl isothiocyanate (mustard oil), creating the eye watering, nose tingling flavour.

In Japan, expensive wasabi is faked by dying horseradish green, although this practice takes place more often outside Japan and is therefore known as seiyōwasabi or "Western wasabi".

Horseradish’s mustard oils make it an antibiotic and 100g of raw horseradish delivers some 79.31mg of vitamin C.

An enzyme found in horseradish has become important to molecular biologists and biochemists researching antibody detection and horseradish has also been known to have positive effects on ingrown toenails, flatulence, digestion, urinary tract infections as well as respiratory and sinus infections. It is also believed that a diet high in Brassicaceae family members leads to a reduced risk of gastrointestinal cancer.

Horseradish tastes wonderful with seafood and lovely with roast beef. There’s nothing I love more than a salad of rocket, potatoes, roast beef and a horseradish dressing.

This week, our Weekend Herb Blogging host is Siri from Siri's Corner. Check out all the goodies on her blog.

References & Photos
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horseradish
http://www.herbsarespecial.com.au/free-herb-information/horseradish.html
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Horseradish_(PSF).png
http://www.dkimages.com/discover/DKIMAGES/Discover/Home/Food-and-Drink/Accompaniments/Horseradish-Relish/Horseradish-Relish-3.html
www.milkandhoneyfarm.com/garden/herbs.html
Tags: morsels and musings food blog food and drink australia recipes weekend herb blogging whb entrée starter snack appetizer appetiser horseradish oysters appetizer recipes appetiser recipes seafood recipes horseradish recipes oyster recipes

swedish crayfish party

Here is yet another Swedish post from our recent travels.

This time I am writing about something very dear to the Swedish heart, and something very seasonal, since the activity takes place in August.

kräftskiva!

That translates to “crayfish party” and is one of the most delicious and humorous cultural experiences you can have in Sweden.

The basis of the party is to eat as much crayfish as you possibly can, drink snaps (no, not schnapps. I’m talking about akvavit), sing songs and have a great time. Who can say no to such fun?

The table is laden with crayfish, boiled in a dill infused broth, then served room temperature alongside is beer, bread and delicious Västerbotten cheese (strong, like parmesan). But the most interesting part for foreigners is the multitude of drinking songs that the Swedes have as an excuse to take another sip/shot of akvavit.

Every 10 minutes or so will see the party break out in singing. And once you start understanding the words, you will be shocked at how dirty they can be! Men, woman and children of all ages singing about things you wouldn’t utter out loud in normal circumstances. It’s great!

But don’t make the mistake of many first timers and drink down every shot after each song. The Swedish word “skål” means “cheers” not “drain your cup”. If you do take the whole shot you can be sure your host will politely top you up again so be careful, the alcohol is around 40%.

On the 1st of August this year, we celebrated the crayfish season with our own little party where my sister, Stinky, was able to attend. Jonas’ father and stepmother hosted us in their Kungsängen home, where we sat in the garden, overlooking Lake Mälaren, and ate kilograms of crayfish.

Jonas’ father, Staffan, prepared the broth (or lag) and it was flavoured with the traditional herb: krondill or crown dill.

Kräftor i Lag (Crayfish in Broth)
Serves 2 as main or 4 as entrée. Recipe by Bonniers Stora Kokbok.
Ingredients:2 litres water
750ml coarse salt
1 sugar cube
1 small yellow onion
100ml bitter porter
2-6 bunches crown dill
1kg crayfish

Method:

1. Boil all the ingredients (except the crayfish) together for 10 minutes.

2. Add the crayfish and remove when they float.

3. Cool crayfish and broth separately.

4. When they are cool, combine again until just before serving.

5. To eat, drain crayfish and serve on a platter decorated with crown dill.

Swedes are obsessed with dill. It’s in absolutely everything. Everything!

If you don’t like aniseed or liquorice-type flavours, then Sweden is not the place for you. People there seem to love that flavour over all others.

In Australia, children pick out the black (aka liquorice) lollies/candies in disgust whereas Swedish children actively seek out liquorice, and salty types at that. It’s perverse to me.

Crown dill is regular dill that’s flowered. But regardless of Sweden’s overuse of dill, I must admit that crown dill is pretty special because is usually only used in crayfish recipes and a few special pickles.

August is the time when the dill flowers and the crayfish season, so people have always cooked the two together.

Since we’re on a seafood theme, I thought I'd include in this post my photos of the Swedish West Coast where Jonas and I went sailing with his mother, stepfather and little sister.

Despite my initial paranoias of seasickness and Titanic-like accidents, it was absolutely beautiful and I enjoyed myself so much. Can’t wait to go again!

We joined them in a port near Ucklum and sailed onto Björholmen for the night.

The next day we had an amazing seafood lunch on the boat at Gullholmen and then sailed to Stora Kornön, a gorgeously quaint little fishing island with rickety old buildings and great granite mountains and rock deposits left over from ancient glaciers.

The following day we visited the famous party town of Smögen, which was overrun with tourists from Denmark, Norway and the UK. It was lively, but way too crowded and touristy. It’s a shame because it really did look like a pretty little town.

That afternoon we sailed up Sotenkanalen (canal) and then moored for two nights in the lovely Hunnebostrand. Here we barbecued mackerel that we caught ourselves and explored the various rock mountains and harbours. It was just wonderful.

If you ever have the chance to spend some summer days sailing the Swedish West Coast I highly recommend it.

That's it from me. Without further ado I refer you over to one of my fav ladies in the blogging scene, the wonderful Katie from Thyme for Cooking for the Weekend Herb Blogging round-up.

Tags: morsels and musings food blog food and drink australia recipes weekend herb blogging whb entrée main course kräftor seafood crown dill crayfish crown dill recipes seafood recipes crayfish recipes swedish recipes swedish food swedish cuisine

scallops w sumac & pomegranate molasses

Tonight I had three girlfriends over for dinner: Yvette, Natasha and Holly (yes, you're totally in the blog Dorbs).

Poor Jonas was turfed out of the house after I press-ganged him into a day of mass cleaning and cooking.

It's 3am and he's still out with his friends. I guess that's what I get for kicking him out and telling him to entertain himself.

Well I enjoyed a lovely evening of chit-chat and catch-up and, as always, I planned an elaborate multi-course meal.

I went with a Mediterranean theme, sticking to Lebanese, Italian and Greek flavours. Although we had a quick sojourn north into Czech cuisine for a mid-course.

Welcome DrinkQuince, Pomegranate & Rosewater Martini
Amuse Bouche
Sumac Scallops w Pomegranate Molasses & Herbs
Smoked Salmon Spoons w Verjuice Currants, Feta & PinenutsEntrée
Avgolemono (Greek chicken, egg & lemon broth)
Main CourseRoast Veal w Prosciutto, Sage, Capers & Lemon
Fennel & Orange Salad
Pre-DessertBoruvkova Polevka Studena (Czech chilled blueberry soup)
DessertFig, Hazelnut & Chocolate Fudge Cake

When we cut the cake, I thought of Helena, my sister-in-law, who is celebrating her birthday today in Sweden.

Based on the above menu, there are so many possibilities I could focus on for Weekend Herb Blogging, but I have decided to go with an appetiser: the Sumac Scallop w Pomegranate Molasses & Herbs.

I’ll post the other recipes later, for those interested.

Sumac Scallop w Pomegranate Molasses & Herbs
Anna’s very own recipe. Serves 4 as an amuse bouche.

Ingredients:4 large scallops
1 teaspoon sumac
1 teaspoon fresh coriander, chopped
1 teaspoon fresh parsley, chopped
¼ teaspoon pomegranate molasses
¼ teaspoon lemon juice
Olive oil, for frying

Method:

1. Rub sumac all over the scallops.

2. Heat oil in a pan until very hot. Sear scallops for 1 minute on the first side then flip and fry 30 seconds on the other side.

3. Combine the coriander and parsley.

4. Place scallops into small serving dishes and spread herbs on top.

5. Place one drop each of the lemon juice and pomegranate molasses on the top and serve.

I’ve covered coriander, sumac and pomegranates all before so there’s only parsley left. I can’t believe I haven’t written a proper post on parsley yet, it’s my most used herb!

Around the end of high school I didn’t like parsley very much. I remember when my friend, Emily, broke a sprig from a bush and started eating it, I reacted with gagging. We both remember that moment to this very day. Weird memory.

Nonetheless, now I always have it in the fridge and use it in many (if not most) of my dishes. But only flat leaf (or continental parsley). I don’t like the texture of the curly one, it reminds me of the garnish from a butcher's display.

Apparently parsley originated in Iran and its English name is a homage to its heritage Pars/Persia.

The two types of parsley are the milder curly version (Petroselinum crispum) and my favourite, the flat-leaf type (Petroselinum neapolitanum).

Apparently chemical analysis shows the flat leaf version is stronger in flavour because it contains higher levels of essential oils.

In China parsley tea was used to alleviate high blood pressure and Native Americans believed it strengthened the bladder.

Parsley supplements are dangerous to pregnant women by stimulating uterine contractions and early labour, but on the plus side crushed parlsey rubbed onto mosquito bites can reduce itchiness.

Parsley plants are like the bodyguards of the garden, attracting wasps and other predatory insects who feed on the pests.

There's not much more I can add to this post, except to provide a rough explanation of the two potentially exotic ingredients in the recipe:
Sumac - tart, sour powder created from grinding the dried berries of the Rhus coriaria.
Pomegranate Molasses – thick, tart syrup made from reducing pomegranate juice.

There's a whole lot of tart in this recipe.

Our hostess is the WHB founder – Herb Goddess Kalyn of Kalyn’s Kitchen – so be sure to visit her round-up and check out all the great (and healthy) recipes on her blog.

References:
http://www.cuisine.co.nz/index.cfm?pageID=24623
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parsley

Tags: morsels and musings food blog food and drink australia recipes weekend herb blogging whb appetizer starter scallop sumac pomegranate molasses appetizer recipes pomegranate molasses recipes sumac recipes scallop recipes

brodo piccante con fregola

Yesterday I wrote about the five course Italian feast I cooked for my sisters and although I blogged 3 of 5 recipes yesterday, I promised to save this one for Presto Pasta Night and the baked peaches for Weekend Herb Blogging.

For those after more pasta recipes, visit Ruth's Once Upon A Feast for this week's Presto Pasta Night recap.

My dish is predominantly a chilli-laden broth, but it contains beads of gorgeous fregola which are small toasted semolina dough pasta from the Italian island of Sardinia.

Wikipedia Fast Facts: Sardinia
· Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea (after Sicily).
· Sardinia is a generally mountainous island with a few coastal plains.
· The island has a Mediterranean climate, with hot, dry summers and very mild winters.
· Sardinian is a language of Latin origin with unique elements from Phoenician, Etruscan, and Near Eastern languages. It is still widely spoken in most rural areas and used culturally for folk songs and poetry.
· In 1500 BCE it was known as Hyknusa, meaning island of the Hyksos, a group of people expelled by Ahmose I of Egypt.
· Sardinia’s modern name is after the Shardana or Sherden sea pirates, one of several groups of "Sea Peoples" who appear in fragmentary historical records represented by images of men with horned helmets, round shields, and large swords.
· In 2004, in a cave in Logudoro, a human phalanx was found that was dated to around 250,000 BCE.
· In 1323, the Kingdom of Aragon conquered Sardinia who expelled the native populations of some cities (eg Alghero). The descendants of the conquerors still speak Catalan today.
· Jean-Paul Marat, one of the leaders of the French Revolution in 1792, was the son of a Sardinian father from Cagliari and a Swiss mother.
· In 1860, Vittorio Emanuele II, King of Sardinia became also the first King of a united Italy, after conquering the rest of the peninsula.
· The original Nuraghe inhabitants of Sardinia, currently concentrated in the interior of the island, are a genetic anomaly, belonging to Y-chromosome haplogroup I, which otherwise has high frequency only in Scandinavia and the Croatia-Bosnia area.
· The phrase "sardonic grin" comes from the grimace found on victims of those poisoned by a certain herb found in Sardinia which contains strychnine-like alkaloids. It is said that family members would poison the infirm and elderly with the herb when the family was no longer able to afford to take care of them.
· Today the Sardinian economy is focused on tourism and an increasing income is coming from wines and gastronomy.
· Dried grapes, recently found in several locations, have been DNA tested and proved to be the oldest grapes in the world, dating back to 1200 BC.
· Casu Marzu is a cheese delicacy found in Sardinia, notable for being riddled with live insect larvae.
· Sardines were named after Sardinia because they were once found in abundance there.

Brodo Piccante con Fregola & Gamberi
Anna’s version of Giovanni Pilu’s recipe. Serves 6 as entrée or 4 as main course.
Ingredients:
1 cup fregola
2 cups (500ml) shellfish stock
1 cup (250ml) tomato passata
½ cup (125ml) dry white wine
12 medium green prawns, peeled and de-veined
12 small raw scallops
2 tablespoons tomato paste
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 chilli, finely chopped
Freshly milled black pepper
Olive oil
Method:
1. Heat olive oil in a pot and fry chilli and garlic until fragrant and softened.
2. Add pepper and tomato paste and fry for 2 minutes until cooked.
3. Add white and simmer, evaporating alcohol, for 2 minutes.
4. Add passata and stock and bring to the boil.
5. In another pot, boil water and cook fregola as per the packet instructions. Drain.
6. When ready to serve, add fregola, prawns and scallops to broth and cook for 1 minute until prawns have turned white. Do not overcook.
8. Divide between serving bowls and eat piping hot.
Note: you could substitute shellfish stock for fish or even chicken stock.

Giovanni Pilu, an Australian-based Sardinian chef who authored the original recipe (on which mine is only slightly varied), recommended drinking a Vermentino with this soup. Vermentino grapes are grown widely in Sardinia and they make a bold, gutsy, acidic white wine that matches well with seafood. We followed instruction and drank a Vermentino with this course, and we were not disappointed.

References & Map
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/italy
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2004/01/14/FDGSV467611.DTL
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vermentino
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fregula
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sardinia

Tags: morsels and musings food blog food and drink australia recipes entrée starter soup fregola fregola sarda shrimp recipes prawn recipes soup recipes fregola recipes pasta recipes italian recipes italian food italian cuisine