Scallop Ceviche

Belle was in the mood for scallops the other night, but not the usual grilled or seared way. She wanted a ceviche.

I had made one when we were in Nova Scotia this past summer on holidays but couldn’t remember exactly what was in it. We looked at a picture we took of it back then (thank goodness we had one!) and I figured out what I’d put in it.

The ceviche I made in Nova Scotia

When I made it in Nova Scotia, Belle loved the flavours but the scallops were just too big for her. They had been fresh and large. This time I decided to slice the scallops into coins and then marinate them in the lime juice. This met with far more approval.

We thought the recipe I’d made in Nova Scotia had come from Occasions, the Nova Scotia Liquor Store’s magazine but we searched for it on its website and couldn’t find it. I had, unfortunately, lost the copy of the recipe I had used. I searched around online a bit, and found this recipe from Delicious Wisdom, which I then adapted a bit.

The scallops must be marinated overnight so Belle had to wait until the next day for her ceviche.

Belle’s note: This ceviche was delicious, but still not quite the same as the one I had in Nova Scotia. I was very happy that Ward decided to cut the scallops into thinner coins this time around – the flavours really soaked into them and they were very tasty.

Scallop Ceviche

6 large scallops sliced into thin coins
organic lime juice (enough to cover the scallops)
1 red bell pepper, finely chopped
1 small red onion, finely chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, finely chopped
1/3 cup cilantro, chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 tbsp tequila

1. Place the scallops in a re-sealable freezer bag and cover with lime juice. Refrigerate over night (4 hours minimum).
2. The next day (or four hours later or any time in between), drain off most of the lime juice. Place the scallops in a medium-sized bowl.
3. Add pepper, onion,  jalapeno and cilantro and mix.
4. In a small bowl combine the oil, salt, black pepper and tequila. Pour the oil-tequila mixture over the scallops, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for another hour.
5. Spoon out the ceviche into a serving bowl or wine glass and serve.

Belle loves mussels and clams. We were trying to figure out what to have for dinner last Monday and I thought, what about Thai food? Belle said, “Great, how about clams?”

I really don’t eat a lot of mussels or clams but I know she really enjoys them so I dug up a recipe with mussels and lemongrass and I added the clams, and made a few other changes too.

We also had a Thai fish curry dish, and vegetables with tofu and spinach (posts to follow soon, I hope). They were all really good.

It was a hectic night, that Monday. My older son had to be driven to do some community hours (high school requirements here in Ontario – you don’t get your high school diploma without having 40 hours of community service). Then I had to do the shopping for dinner and make dinner. And of course Dylan (our 6-1/2 year old) said, “And Daddy, I want homemade pasta tonight”. Arghhhhh.

Still, it was doable. I marinated the fish and pulled everything out that I needed for each part of the meal and set it all up (Mise en Place) so that when I got home all I had to do is cook. All went well and everyone enjoyed their dinner so I was very happy! Recipe is at end of this post.

Cooking up all the fragrant ingredients

Stir-frying the mussels and clams

Belle’s note: I love that these days, I can say, hmmm, I’d love to have some mussels and voila, Ward whips up a batch for me. He usually does them steamed, with a marvelously garlicky wine sauce, but this lemongrass version was wonderful and went well with the rest of our Thai-themed meal.

The following recipe is adapted from The Food of Thailand.

Mussels and Clams with Lemongrass (Neung Phat Hawy Maleng Phuu Ta-Khrai)

2 lbs clams
2 lbs mussels
1-1/2 tbsp vegetable oil
5 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
3 lemongrass stalks, white part only finely sliced
1″ piece of galangal, sliced (if you can’t find this, use ginger)
2 long green chilles (or red), seeded and finely chopped
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp organic lime juice
1/2 tsp sugar
1 cup basil leaves (holy basil is the preferred basil), roughly chopped

1. Scrub the mussels and clams and remove any beards. Discard and open mussels or clams (any that won’t close when tapped).
2. Rinse them with three or four changes of water to remove any sand or grit from the clams (and mussels). Place them in a large bowl of clean water to soak for 30 minutes. (This will remove any remaining grit and sand from inside the shells.)
3. Heat the oil in a large skillet or wok. Stir-fry over medium heat the garlic, onion, lemon grass, galangal and chillies for 2-3 minutes.
4. Add the mussels and clams and stir-fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the fish sauce, lime juice and sugar.
5. Cover the skillet or wok loosely and cook while shaking until the mussels and clams have opened (about 8-10 minutes).
6. Discard any unopened shells, add the basil and season to taste.
7. Serve.

This North African Spiced Shrimp and the Asian Marinated Flank Steak are two of my favourite recipes. They are very simple recipes – you just need to plan for the extra hours needed to marinate – and both have very, very fast cooking times. This allows you to prepare something else far more complicated while the fridge is doing all the work!

We had this shrimp dish at our November Saturday Open House dinner and it went over very well. This is a very successful dish for potluck parties, too.

Belle’s note: This dish disappears quickly every time Ward makes it. He made it for a fundraiser dinner held by our daughter’s choir last year, and it was very popular. Because it’s so quick and easy to make, it’s a great recipe to have on hand for those times when you have to bring something to a party, and you want something that’s unique and delicious!

The following recipe is adapted from Olives and Oranges, by Sara Jenkins and Mindy Fox, another cookbook we highly recommend.

North African Spiced Shrimp

1 tbsp and a pinch of Ancho Chili pepper
2 dried red chili peppers crushed
1 tbsp ground coriander
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 lbs shrimp (31-42 size), peeled
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (plus more if needed)
2 tbsp organic lime juice
sea salt to taste

1. Mix the first 6 ingredients in a small bowl.
2. Place the peeled shrimp in a re-sealable plastic freezer bag.
3. Pour the mixture over the shrimp and seal the bag.
4. Shake the bag and squeeze the mixture all over the shrimp.
5. Place in fridge for 4-6 hours.
6. Heat the oil in a large skillet on medium high heat
7. Remove shrimp from bag and place in the skillet.
8. Cook for about 2 minutes per side or until the shrimp is opaque.
9. Transfer shrimp to serving bowl, stir in the lime juice.
10. Season to taste, and serve.

This is a wonderful way for family dining. We first experienced it when we went to Japan and then subsequently at a large Asian marketplace just north of us.

When we decided to try this at home, I bought a separate burner I could put on the table (an electric one, as Belle didn’t want to use propane indoors). I found a few Shabu Shabu recipes in some Japanese cookbooks but they all had different suggestions, so I used a few of them as a template but then added my own ideas.

Usually we eat at the dining room table, but it’s much better if the burner is within reach of everyone, and as there were only three of us at this meal, I decided it would be better to eat at the smaller kitchen table.

Shabu Shabu means swish swish in Japanese, and it get its name from the sound of swishing the kombu around in the stock. It’s fun and very filling, as it’s a full three course meal, with meat (beef, shrimp) and for the vegetarians (tofu), vegetables and noodles. What could be more perfect then that?

The prep is easy and everyone does their own cooking, so that each item is prepared just the way everyone likes it. When it comes to the beef, this is particularly important, as I like my beef rare, Belle likes hers more rare then me and our older son likes his beef blue!

This would work as a dinner party as well as long as everyone has their own dipping sauces.

Feel free to add whatever vegetables are in season in your area, and whatever type of meat you prefer (you can also use pork or chicken) and the type of noodles you like.

I have had Shabu Shabu with venison, pork, chicken and beef and with all sorts of vegetables. If you can’t find gai lan (Chinese broccoli) you can use rappini or even spinach. For the gai lan, oyster sauce for dipping  is also very popular in Chinese cuisine. I like using baby bok choy because they are smaller and more tender, but regular bok choy would work just as well – just cut them a little smaller.

Belle’s note: I just love Shabu Shabu – it’s always guaranteed to be a meal where everyone lingers around the table, chatting and eating up every scrap of food. The sesame dipping sauce is lovely; I also like to have a small bowl of Japanese soy sauce with a splash of sesame oil.

Shabu Shabu

Stock:
2  4″ square sheets of kombu seaweed, wiped clean of excess salt and soaked in water for 30 minutes
7 cups of water

The Food:
1 lb flank steak, thinly sliced against the grain
1 lb tiger shrimps, peeled & deveined
1 box silken extra-firm tofu, cut into 3/4″ cubes
5 baby bok choy, cut lengthwise in quarters
8 gai lan cut lengthwise in half
3-4 cups bean sprouts
6 scallions sliced into 1″ pieces on the bias
6 cups frozen udon noodles
1 cup sesame dipping sauce (recipe follows)
3/4 cup ponzu sauce
3/4 cup soy sauce
splash of pure sesame oil, to taste

Special equipment: Portable burner that can be used on your table.

Sesame Dipping Sauce
6 tbsp sesame paste
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp rice vinegar (not aged)
1 tbsp superfine sugar
1 tsp granulated chicken stock dissolved in 1/4 cup hot water

Sauce

1. Whisk together all the ingredients in a bowl.
2. Reserve.

Shabu Shabu

1. Place the 7 cups of water into a large pot and put on the burner on your table. Drain the kombu and add to the water on the burner. Bring to a boil. Swish the kombu around in the water with chopsticks.
2. Once the water and kombu are boiling, everyone can begin eating. Using chopsticks, have each person dip some beef or shrimp in the stock. Cook as long as you like, then dip in one of the sauces and eat.
3. Continue this procedure with the rest of the beef, shrimp and tofu – you might want to place the tofu pieces into a big ladle first, so you don’t lose the pieces, which break up easily, in the stock.
4. When the first batches of the beef, shrimp or tofu are cooked and everyone’s busy eating, add some of the vegetables. Bring back to the boil and let cook a few minutes.
5. Eat the vegetables the same way with the dipping sauces. Continue cooking and eating the remainder of the beef, shrimp and tofu, adding more vegetables as the cooked vegetables get eaten.
6. Once most of the beef, shrimp, tofu and vegetables have been cooked, you can add individual servings of udon noodles to the stock, which should now have a more broth-like taste to it. Use a ladle to immerse a small serving of noodles, or else remove the noodles using chopsticks or a slotted spoon.
7. Place the serving of udon noodles into a small bowl and continue with the feast.

This is a great appetizer. Everybody likes smoked salmon – well, almost everyone – and this is so fast and easy to make.

I picked this one up from Jacques Pépin’s DVD  series More Fast Food My Way. It’s definitely a great dish to make if you’re bringing something to a party.

Pair it with anything people can use to dip with – slices of baguette work well, as do bread sticks, pita wedges, Melba toast crackers and even store-bought tortilla chips (especially the scoop-shaped kind). We brought this dish to Belle’s cousin’s housewarming party a few months ago, and when the Melba toast crackers ran out, people just tore off pieces from a loaf of crusty French bread and slathered the salmon mousse on!

I also made this for our last Saturday Open House dinner; I made two of  these dishes with the one recipe – just cut the recipe in half if you only want to make one.

Belle’s note: Smoked salmon is one of my favorite foods, and this mousse is absolutely delicious. I know not everyone likes capers, but they really enhance the dish. We discovered the other night that people didn’t even realize they were eating capers as they snacked on the mousse! The presentation is also very pretty – you’re sure to get lots of oohs and ahhs as you set this appetizer down in front of everyone.

Smoked Salmon Mousse

350 g (12 oz) smoked salmon, thawed and roughly chopped
475 mL (about 2 cups) ricotta cheese
2 tsp organic lemon juice
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 red onion, finely chopped
2 tbsp capers, drained and rinsed
1-1/2 tbsp fresh chives, finely chopped
extra virgin olive oil for for drizzling
1 baguette cut into bite size pieces or crackers and bread sticks

1. Place the smoked salmon and the ricotta cheese in a food processor.
2. Add the lemon juice, salt and pepper and blend until smooth (adjust the salt and pepper to taste).
3. Place in a platter that’s about 1/2″ to 1″ deep. Smooth over by covering with plastic wrap and pressing down.
4. Sprinkle the top with the onions, capers and chives.
5. Serve with the bread or bread sticks and crackers.

This is a Thai recipe that went with a Vegetable Stir-Fry and Pineapple Fried Rice. It’s very simple to make, with lots of wonderful flavour.

Unfortunately, I only took a picture of the tilapia waiting for the grill – I forgot to photograph it once it was done!

Marinated tilapia, ready for the grill

I’ve talked about Rick Browne’s book, The Best Barbecue on Earth, quite a few times now. It has many, many recipes I love and want to experiment with.

Belle’s note: This is a very lovely dish, and it’s definitely one I’ll ask for again. The tilapia really absorbs the flavours of the Thai-spiced marinade, but it’s still mild enough that you can pair it with more robust tasting side dishes.

The following recipe is adapted from The Best Barbecue on Earth.

Grilled Koh Samui Tilapia

10 cloves garlic, cut into quarters
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup organic lime juice
2 1/2 tbsp fish sauce
2 tsp white peppercorns, ground in a mortar and pestle
2 tsp golden brown sugar
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp sea salt
4 tilapia fillets, skinned

1. In a blender combine the garlic, cilantro, olive oil, lime juice, fish sauce, pepper, sugar, coriander and salt and blend until smooth.
2. Place the tilapia in a re-sealable freezer bag. Pour mixture in and mix well without breaking the fillets.
3. Place in the fridge for 1-2 hours.
4. Heat, clean and oil the BBQ grill over medium heat.
5. Drain the tilapia and discard the marinade.
6. Place disposable grilling trays on the BBQ grill or use aluminum foil.
7. Grill the fillets for 4-6 minutes per side.
8. Serve

Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it. ]]> http://museinthekitchen.com/asian/grilled-koh-samui-tilapia/feed/ 1 http://museinthekitchen.com/cooking-thoughts/grilled-shark-and-bake/ http://museinthekitchen.com/cooking-thoughts/grilled-shark-and-bake/#comments Tue, 27 Oct 2009 21:20:03 +0000 Ward http://museinthekitchen.com/?p=247 homemade pizza. I found myself still wanting something else. The veggie pizza had been good, but I was thinking of something a little more …. well, different.

How about shark and homemade bread on the BBQ?

The Barbecue! Bible! has a great recipe for Grilled Shark and Bakes. I adapted the recipe for the marinade and followed the recipe for the bakes, sort of.

First, let me say if you do any kind of barbecuing you need to have this book. The Barbecue! Bible by Steven Raichlen, is fantastic and nearly every recipe (and there are over 500 recipes!) is mouth watering. This particular recipe for Grilled Shark and Bakes is from Trinidad and Tobago.

The recipe is for four but Belle had gone out shopping with our daughter, my older son was out and Dylan had already eaten (like he would try shark anyway), so I made this for one. If you’re serving more people, just increase the number of shark steaks but leave the rest of ingredients the same.

Oh, I guess I should have had a veggie but I did have the veggie pizza already so that covered the greens.

This is a wonderful bread to make and it is pretty fast. I would just make the bakes by themselves and eat with the chilli fish sauce that goes with the Classic Thai Fried Rice. Belle loves this – well actually she loves that chilli fish sauce on just about everything except ice cream.

The following recipe is adapted from The Barbecue! Bible.

SHARK AND BAKES

Fish and Marinade

shark steak(s)
1/2 bunch scallions trimmed and coarsely chopped
1 tbsp chives cut in half
2 shallots coarsely chopped
4 cloves of garlic coarsely chopped
1 rib of celery coarsely chopped
1/4 cup fresh Italian parsley leaves
2 tbsp fresh mint leaves
1 jalapeño chilli, seeded and coarsely chopped
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup fresh organic lime juice
2-1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

The Bakes

1 tbsp dry active yeast
1/4 cup hot water
1 tbsp sugar
1 cup hot water
2-1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1-1/4 tsp salt

1. Rinse the shark steaks and pat dry.
2. Combine the chives, shallots, garlic, celery, parsley, mint,  jalapeño, water, lime juice, salt and pepper in a blender and purée until smooth.
3. Taste and adjust with lime juice, salt and pepper to taste.
4. Pour marinade into a freezer bag, add the shark steaks and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 4 hours.
5. Start the bakes 2 hours before you want to make the shark. In a stand mixer with a dough hook, add the yeast and 1/4 cup hot water and let it sit and get frothy for at least 5 minutes. Then add sugar, the rest of the hot water and the flour, baking powder and salt. Mix on low speed until it is a ball (about 5-10 minutes).
6. Spray a large bowl with non-stick cooking spray and place dough in bowl, spray the top of the dough and cover with plastic wrap.
7. The recipe says let dough rise 1- 2 hours. I actually only let the dough rise 45 minutes but I force the dough by heating the oven. In this case the oven was already at 500 degrees F for the pizza so I left the door open, pulled out the rack and placed the dough on the rack.
8. Here it is after 45 minutes.
9. Pre-heat your BBQ to medium high (do this by putting it on high for a few minutes, then clean your grill, reduce to medium high and spray with non-stick cooking spray or oil the grill – be careful not to catch fire)
10. On a floured surface, punch the dough down and divide into 4 equal pieces, and with a floured French rolling pin (or any rolling pin) roll out each piece to a 6” – 7” oval (or whatever shape you like – I just prefer an oval), about 1/4” thick.
11. So they are not perfect ovals or circles. They are handmade and should just feel good. We are going to eat them, not put them on a wall in an art gallery!
12. You are supposed to lightly oil the bakes and then put them on the grill but for some reason I usually forget to oil them and they always turn out great so try it both ways and see. Grill for 2- 4 minutes per side. Remove and keep warm.
13. For the shark steaks, remove the steaks from the marinade and blot dry. Brush both sides with vegetable oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and place on the grill. Grill 3-5 minutes per side, turning carefully with a long “fish” spatula.
14. Place the shark on a plate along with a bake. Serve with chilli sauce or hot sauce.
15. Since this was dinner for one I had the rest of the bakes for later – they are great cold!

Belle loves to read other food blogs, and she’s always finding dishes that she wants me to try.  This salmon with white beans, leeks and shiitake mushrooms is very nice, and uses this white beans with leeks and shiitake mushrooms from The Kitchen Witch, which is based on a Jamie Oliver recipe. I prepared it a little differently but wanted to give The Kitchen Witch a big thanks for the idea.

The Kitchen Witch suggests using the beans as a bed for salmon and this sounded good to us; however, rather than BBQ salmon, I decided to make one of our favourite salmon recipes, which is based on a slow cooked salmon dish from Nobu Matsuhisa’s Nobu West.

Slow-cooked Salmon

I usually place the salmon on a bed of sautéed shredded snow peas but this time we used the white beans, leeks and shiitake.

2 salmon fillets, skinned and boned
1.5 tbsp sake
1.5 tbsp light soy sauce
1.5 tbsp dashi*
1  tbsp freshly grated ginger
2.5 tbsp butter
2  cloves garlic sliced

Garnish
pea sprouts

1. Combine all the ingredients in a re-sealable freezer bag along with the salmon.

2. Bring a large pot of water to 65 degrees F. You will need a thermometer for this as you must maintain that temperature for the entire 12 minutes the salmon will be cooking.

3. Place bag with the salmon in the hot water and maintain at 65 degrees F. Cook for 12 minutes.

4. Remove bag from water, then the salmon from bag carefully so it doesn’t fall apart. Place on the bed of white beans, leeks and shiitake mushrooms.

5. Garnish with pea sprouts.

* Dashi

You can make dashi from water, konbu and bonito flakes. I often do this but this time I used the granulated package type and just added boiling water.

1 litre (1 quart) water
10g (0.35 oz) konbu
30g (1.06 oz) bonito flakes

1. Heat the water and konbu in a saucepan over medium heat slowly.

2. As the water is about to boil, remove the konbu and add the bonito flakes. Remove from the heat.

3. Let the dashi steep. The dashi is done when the bonito flakes have sunk to the bottom. Strain.

For the package method just follow the directions on the package (make up as much as you need).

White Beans, Leeks and Shiitake Mushrooms (from The Kitchen Witch)

3 leeks cleaned and julienned
2 chopped shallots
4 cloves of garlic chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
1 cup dry white wine
2 cups shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and sliced
2 cups cooked white beans
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 tsp fresh thyme

1. Heat oil and butter in a large sauce pan over medium heat.

2. Add leeks, shallots and garlic. Sauté until tender, about 8 minutes.

3. Add wine. Bring to the boil and then simmer over low heat for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

4. Add mushrooms, white beans and thyme. Bring back to the boil, cover, then reduce to low heat and simmer 10 minutes.

5. Adjust taste with salt and pepper.

And now? I don’t know about Ward, but I’m a mayo convert, if it’s this delicious version of mayonnaise.

We didn’t use peeled shrimp with the tail still intact. Initially we had the shrimp, mayo and breadcrumbs set out in three different plates:

Poached Shrimp

Spicy Mayo

Garlic Breadcrumbs

But we discovered it was much easier to arrange the shrimp, mayo and breadcrumbs together on an appetizer plate:

We will definitely be serving this at our next get-together. To make things easier for everyone, we’re planning on skewering the poached shrimp onto bamboo skewers, placing the skewers on a plate and topping with the mayo and breadcrumbs. But it really doesn’t matter how you serve this dish – it is very tasty and should go over well as an appetizer.

Ward and I have been thinking about having a weekly Sunday dinner party, so we’ve been trying out recipes that might go over well with dinner guests. The other day, we had Honey, Lime and Rum Glazed Shrimp, and they were so delicious: the mix of honey, lime and rum works incredibly well with the succulence of the shrimp.

Here’s the recipe, if you’d like to give it a go: (adapted from Latin Flavors on the Grill)

Honey, Lime and Rum Glazed Shrimp

Ingredients

1/2 cup freshly squeezed lime juice

1/2 cup dark rum

1 tbsp freshly grated ginger

2 tbsp cornstarch, dissolved in 2 tbsp lime juice

3/4 cup honey

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

zest of 2 limes

1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro

20 large shrimp, peeled and deveined

2 tbsp oil

salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. The glaze: Combine lime juice, rum and ginger in medium-size saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Whisk in cornstarch and lime juice mixture and honey. Add salt and pepper to taste. Cook until thickened, about 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool completely. When glaze is cooled, stir in the lime zest and the cilantro. Transfer to a container, cover and keep cool.

2. Preheat grill to medium-hot. Toss shrimp with the oil, 6 tbsp of the glaze and salt and pepper to taste. Grill shrimp for 1 to 2 minutes each side, brushing frequently with more glaze. Cook until shrimp are bright pink on the outside and white on the inside.

3. Arrange on platter and serve.