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Shrimp Tempura Cocktail (this was pretty yummy!)
by chef Ming Tsai, Blue Ginger, Wellesley, MA
[My notes in brackets]
Poured carefully side by side into a cocktail glass, tomato puree and avocado puree make a colorful dip for the lightly battered and quickly deep-fried shrimp.
Yield: Makes 8 appetizer servings
Tomato-chipotle puree
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 large tomatoes, coarsely chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon minced canned chipotle chiles
Avocado puree
2 large ripe avocados, peeled, pitted
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 cup minced shallots
2 tablespoons minced jalapeño chiles
Shrimp tempura
Vegetable oil (for deep-frying)
2 cups rice flour [There was TONS of batter. You could make at least half of this]
2 cups club soda [see above]
24 uncooked large shrimp, peeled, deveined, tail shells left intact
[The shrimp needed salt. Rather than wasting a bunch in the batter, maybe lightly salt them right after dipping, but before frying? Also, they didn’t brown-not sure it that was a function of rice flour, our altitude or what, but we dusted them with a little paprika for color after cooking.]
4 cups thinly sliced romaine lettuce [I have no idea what this is for, it’s in the printed recipe too, but not the instructions]
For tomato-chipotle puree:
Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion; sauté until very brown, about 6 minutes. Add tomatoes, garlic, and chipotle chiles. Cook 1 minute. Transfer mixture to blender; puree until smooth. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer puree to bowl. Cover and chill until cold.
For avocado puree:
Combine all ingredients in processor; puree until smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer puree to bowl. Press plastic wrap onto surface of puree; chill at least 20 minutes and up to 3 hours.
For shrimp tempura:
Add enough vegetable oil to heavy large pot to reach depth of 3 1/2 inches. Heat over medium-high heat to 375°F.
Whisk rice flour and club soda in large bowl to blend. [salt] Working in batches, dip shrimp into batter and fry until golden brown, about 3 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer shrimp to paper towels. [paprika]
Divide romaine among 8 stemmed cocktail glasses. Simultaneously pour 1/4 cup tomato puree and 1/4 cup avocado puree over romaine in each glass, letting purees meet in center. [They were too thick and didn’t pour, but did “spoon”]Hang 3 shrimp over rim of each glass.
Miniature Crab Cakes with Tomato Ginger Jam
[This wasn’t our favorite recipe, there are much better ones out there]
Yield: Makes about 36 hors d'oeuvres
Active Time: 1 3/4 hours
Total Time: 5 hours
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 large egg
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
3/4 teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning [use less, it was a git too salty]
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon Tabasco
1 lb jumbo lump crabmeat, picked over
4 cups cornflakes [NOTE re: Gluten] [There were tons of these leftover. First of all, process them more finly, Second of all, put some in with the crab to bind them together. There was nothing binding them and they were SO wet and didn’t hold together well at all. We used claw meat, but a more flakey meat like lump as called for should hold together better.]
Accompaniment: tomato ginger jam
Garnish: thinly sliced fresh cilantro
Whisk together mayonnaise, egg, mustard, Old Bay, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and Tabasco, then gently stir in crabmeat. Chill, covered, 2 hours.
Pulse cornflakes in a food processor until coarsely ground and put in a shallow dish. Form 1 heaping teaspoon crab mixture into a 1 1/2-inch-diameter cake (mixture will be very moist) [way too moist! add some corn flake crumbs to bind], then gently dredge in cornflakes. Make more crab cakes in same manner, transferring to buttered baking sheets. Chill, covered, at least 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 400°F.
Bake crab cakes in batches in middle of oven until crisp and golden, 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer with a spatula to a platter and top each with about 1/2 tablespoon tomato ginger jam.
Cooks' note: Unbaked crab cakes can chill up to 4 hours.
NOTE: Corn Flakes: malt extract flavourings. Barley malt extract is not the same as barley malt. Because the amount of barley malt extract or flavouring used in corn flakes and other breakfast cereals is tiny it can be tolerated by most people with celiac disease, but the label on the product must state that it contains barley. Whole Foods bulk section carries corn flakes, in with the granolas and muesls that are totally gluten-free.
Tomato Ginger Jam
Active time: 30 min Start to finish: 1 hr
Yield: Makes about 1 1/4 cups
1/4 cup minced shallot
1 tablespoon finely grated peeled fresh ginger
1 large garlic clove, minced
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon dried hot red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons unsalted butter (coconut oil?)
1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 pounds plum tomatoes, seeded and finely chopped
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro
Cook shallot, ginger, garlic, salt, black pepper, and red pepper flakes in butter in a 10-inch heavy skillet over moderately low heat, stirring, until shallot is softened, about 5 minutes. Add sugar and cook, stirring, until dissolved. Add tomatoes and simmer over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until thickened, 10 to 15 minutes.
Cool jam to room temperature, then stir in lime juice and cilantro.
Cooks' note:
Jam can be made 2 days ahead and chilled, covered. Stir in lime juice and cilantro just before serving.
Seared Scallops with Roasted-Garlic Sabayon (I think I really liked this, but can't remember)
This delicate savory version of the frothy dessert sauce is a lovely accompaniment to almost every kind of fish.
Market tip: Farmed bay scallops are the most sustainable choice; if not available, choose wild-caught Atlantic sea scallops.
Yield: Makes 4 servings
2 heads of garlic
4 teaspoons olive oil
1 1/4 pounds sea scallops or bay scallops [we used bay due to cost, but even though we drained them and patted them dry they exuded SO much liquid, not searing but steaming. Thus either use sea scallops-patted dry, or drain the bays for quite a while? Better yet, try to find fresh scallops that haven’t been preserved/soaked in that junk they all are. Wish we could get fresh ones here!]
1/2 cup bottled clam juice
3 tablespoons dry vermouth
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
4 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon chopped fresh parsley [these three fresh herbs made the perfect seasoning! Don’t alter.]
1 teaspoon chopped fresh tarragon
1 teaspoon chopped fresh chives
3 cups lightly packed arugula [We had a perfect, mild, baby arugula. Don’t’ use the heartier, very spicy arugula or it will overwhelm the delicate flavor of the scallops. If that’s all you can find, you’d be better off with butter lettuce, watercress, shredded red/green leaf lettuce or something like that.]
Preheat oven to 400°F. Cut top 1/4 inch off heads of garlic to expose cloves. Place garlic heads on large sheet of foil. Drizzle 1 teaspoon oil over garlic and wrap loosely but completely in foil; place packet directly on oven rack and roast until very soft, about 45 minutes. Cool. Squeeze garlic from skins into bowl. Using fork, mash roasted garlic until smooth.
Heat 3 teaspoons oil in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle scallops with salt and pepper. For sea scallops: Sear half at a time until brown and just opaque in center, about 1 minute per side. For bay scallops: Sauté half at a time until opaque, stirring frequently, about 1 1/2 minutes per batch. Transfer to plate. Tent with foil to keep warm.
Meanwhile, bring clam juice and vermouth to boil in small saucepan; remove from heat. [Maybe we should have boiled this down so there was less liquid, as the sabayon didn’t quite thicken.] Stir in lemon juice. Whisk egg yolks and 2 tablespoons roasted garlic puree in large metal bowl to blend. Gradually whisk in clam juice mixture. Place bowl over saucepan of simmering water (do not allow bowl to touch water) and whisk until sabayon is thick and creamy and thermometer registers 160°F, about 3 minutes. [We cooked longer and it didn’t thicken, but after dinner, we saw what was left in the pan and it was perfect, probably from having cooked even longer. It’s probably a problem with our altitude and the fact things boil at a higher temperature. Maybe just keep cooking till it’s done?] Remove bowl from over water. Whisk in parsley, tarragon, and chives. Season sabayon with salt and pepper.
Divide arugula among 4 warm plates; place scallops atop arugula. Spoon sabayon over scallops and serve.
Quick Coconut Milk Ice Cream with Tropical Fruit (I think this was OK, but didn't wow me)
Don’t know which magazine it’s from and can’t find online
2 cups of ½ inch chunks of mixed peeled ripe tropical fruits, such as mango, papaya and banana, plus ½ cup of 1/4-inch dice of mixed peeled ripe tropical fruit
½ cup unsweetened coconut milk, chilled (see note)
About 2 TB superfine sugar
About 1 TB fresh lime juice
A few drops dark rum (optional) [We used a bit more, maybe ¼ tsp, but could have used even more, we didn’t taste it. Pennie said it was nice to drizzle the rum over the finished ice cream.]
[Pennie suggests adding some cashew cream to give it a creamier mouthfeed. I was happy with the texture, but it was indeed a bit more like gelato than ice cream.]
Line a baking sheet with plastic and spread with the fruit chunks. Cover and freeze until solid, at least 1 hour. Refrigerate the diced fruit until chilled.
Transfer the frozen fruit to a food processor. Puree for 2 minutes; as the fruit thaws, the puree will become creamy. Drizzle in the coconut milk, sugar, lime juice and rum and process until combined; do not overprocess. Taste and add more sugar and lime juice if desired. Transfer to an airtight container and freeze for at least 2 hours or for up to 6 hours. Right before serving, fold in the diced fruit.
Note: Stir the canned coconut milk well because it separates during storage.
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