Baked Whole Snapper With Salsa Verde

My plan was to make ikan bakar (baked fish Malaysian style) for dinner but it would be too strange to serve it without some steamed rice on the side... and yes we are still on our carbless diet!

Ikan bakar will wait so I settled for plan B instead - baked fish with salsa verde with a simple salad and blanched green beans. Use fish fillets or chicken instead if you are not too comfortable dealing with a whole fish.

serves 2 
oven preheated at 200 C (conventional)
you'll need;
1 whole snapper, cleaned and snipped off fins and tail
1 lemon, thinly sliced
green beans, topped and tailed and blanched
tomato and basil salad to serve

for the salsa verde;

half a bunch of continental parsley, picked

half a bunch of basil, picked

3 spring onions, chopped

6 anchovy fillets

2 tbs of capers

6 garlic cloves

2 tbs of English mustard

2 tbs of white wine vinegar

about 200 ml of good olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Prepare the herbs and garlic for the salsa verde.

Place all ingredients for salsa verde in a blender and process to a coarse paste.

Rub the fish inside out with half of the salsa verde.

Insert some lemon slices inside the cavity of the fish and the rest all over the fish and bake in the hot oven for 20 to 25 minutes.

Serve with blanched green beans, tomato salad and extra salsa verde on the side.

Walnut And Basil Pesto

We were having some drinks out in the courtyard at A and J on one of the remaining warm days in Autumn. On the table were some freshly baked Turkish bread and a few dips, among that was a bowl of beautiful walnut pesto. I told myself I was going to make a batch soon....

Though traditionally made with pine nuts, this walnut version is slightly cheaper to make but its equally delicious! It takes minutes to prepare and will beat any shop bought pesto anytime.

I suggest you make a bigger batch, it will come in very handy when you want a snack or a quick pasta after a long day at work.

makes 1.5 cups
you'll need;
1 large bunch of basil, picked
1/2 cup of walnut
2 garlic cloves
_1/2 cup of grated parmesan cheese
~ 1/3 cup of olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
4 tbs of walnut, crushed

Place all ingredients (except for the crushed walnut) in a blender and blend until smoothish.... I prefer my pesto to retain some bite.

Add in the extra walnut for some extra crunch.

Serve as a dip with some toasted bread.

Or with pasta of your choice.

Steak With Grilled Tomatoes, French Beans And Salsa Verde

Once in a while the other tummy would ask for a simple piece of steak for dinner. I love such requests as I will need to spend very little time in the kitchen. One of our favourite condiments to go with a good piece of steak is of course salsa verde (green sauce in Italian). You may use any type of green herbs for the salsa verde but I personally like this particular combination. Don't be disappointed if you are not a beef lover as the sauce will go equally well with grilled chicken or fish. It's time to head home to cook our dinner, please come back tomorrow for my Malaysian Monday post.

serves 2 as a one dish meal
you'll need;
2 pieces of steak of your choice, excess fat trimmed
cherry tomatoes on the vine
a handful of green beans, topped and tailed
a handful of yellow beans, topped and tailed
salt and pepper
good olive oil

for the salsa verde;
half a bunch of continental parsley
half a bunch of basil
half a bunch of chives
4 anchovy fillets
1.5 tbs of capers
4 garlic cloves
1.5 tbs of English mustard
1.5 tbs of white wine vinegar
about 150 ml of good olive oil

Chop herbs, anchovy fillets, garlic and capers until well combined.

Place chopped ingredients in a bowl and add mix in the rest of the ingredients. 

Place cherry tomatoes on the vine in a roasting dish, season well and drizzle with some good olive oil. Roast in the preheated oven for 10 to 15 minutes.

Grill steaks on a hot griddle or bbq to your liking, just not well done please! Be sure to rest the meat before serving.

Blanch beans briefly and drain well while the steaks are resting.

Serve steak with roasted tomatoes, beans and a generous spoonful of salsa verde.

This is how we like our steak cooked.

Poached Prawns With Garlic And Chive Aioli - Christmas Lunch 2010 Part 1

None of us actually celebrate Christmas but we did get together to celebrate the spirit of tolerance and giving on the day so important to many of my friends. I prepared a very simple 3 course meal and had a nice low key afternoon with the other 2 tummies. We started with poached prawns with garlic and chive aioli; ground breaking no, simple and very delicious yes! Please come back tomorrow to find out what I served as our second course. 

P.S Reserve the poaching liquor and the prawn heads and shell for a perfect laksa base.

serves 4 to 6 as a first course
you'll need;
1 kg of whole prawns, poached* whole, chilled until needed
*to poach the prawns - bring the poaching liquor to a boil then add the prawns and poached very gently for 45 to 60 seconds.

poaching liquor;
1 tsp of peppercorns
salt and pepper to taste
2 shallots, sliced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 l of water

garlic and chive aioli;
2 very fresh egg yolks
2 garlic cloves*
1 tsp of English mustard
1 tsp of white wine vinegar
3/4 cup of light olive oil or sunflower oil
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup of chopped chives
*cook garlic gently with milk until tender, sieve and set aside.

Blend egg yolks, garlic, vinegar and mustard in a food processor and slowly add in the oil drop by drop until you get a thick emulsion. Season well with salt and pepper.

Add the chopped chives to the aioli just before serving. 

Serve prawns with aioli and wash down with a glass of Champagne or good Aussie sparkling. 

Vietnamese Grilled Five Spice Chicken With Sticky Rice

We tried a similar dish at our favourite Vietnamese joint on Victoria Street a while back. The pairing of grilled chicken and sticky rice reminded me of a popular Issarn dish. When I found a recipe for the five spice chicken in my favourite  Vietnamese cookbook I decided to recreate the dish at home. I am pretty happy with the end result; it is not as sweet as the restaurant version and the soy and lime dipping sauce is a rather good break away from the universal Vietnamese sauce nouc cham for once!

recipe for the chicken and sauce adapted from Pleasures Of The Vietnamese Kitchen
serve 3 as a very filling one dish meal
oven preheated at 180 C
you'll need;
3 free range chicken maryland
2 tbs of minced garlic
3 tbs of minced ginger
2 tsp of turmeric powder
1 tsp of five spice powder
2 tbs of sugar
2 tbs of soy sauce
3 tbs of vegetable oil
salt to taste
3 star anise, toasted and ground

*for the marinade - pound garlic, ginger and sugar to a fine paste before adding the rest of the ingredients (except the star anise powder).

you'll also need;
500 g of sticky rice, soaked overnight and steamed til tender
cucumber slices to serve
tomato slices to serve
crispy shallots to serve

for the lime and soy dipping sauce;
1/3 cup of light soy
2.5 tbs of sugar
1 clove of garlic
3 bird chili
1/4 cup of water
2.5 tbs of lime juice with pulp

Remove excess fat from the chicken and make a few slits and marinate overnight. Add star anise powder just before cooking.

Place marinated chicken on a rack over an oven tray with 2 cm of water in it. Alternatively, grill them on your bbq.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes until golden and cook through, baste with the remaining marinade from time to time. Rest chicken for 5 to 8 minutes before serving.

Place soaked sticky rice in a bamboo steamer and steam til tender.

Prepare the dipping sauce - pound chili, garlic and sugar to a fine paste. Add water, soy and juice of one lime and mix well. Check for seasonings.

Serve chicken with some sticky rice, dipping sauce, cucumber and tomato slices.

The chicken will be delicious over a bed of egg noodles with spring onion oil.

This has been submitted to Delicious Vietnam,  an event co-hosted by Anh of A Food Lover's Journey and Hong and Kim of Ravenous Couple.  Javaholic is hosting the current event.

Nam Chim Tow Jiaw น้ำจิ้มเต้าเจี้ยว Spicy Ginger And Chilli Bean Sauce

This is what sets Thai chicken rice (khao mun gai) apart from it's Malaysian and Singaporean counterparts. Be warn -This is extremely addictive so do make a larger quantity.

makes 1 cup
you'll need;
6 coriander roots, scraped and chopped
6 garlic cloves, peeled
5 cm knob of ginger, chopped
4 tbs of white sugar
6 bird chillies, chopped
4 tbs white vinegar
4 tbs of soya bean paste, mashed
4 tbs of light soy
4 tbs of dark soy
1/4 cup of chopped coriander leaves
salt and white pepper to taste

method;
Pound coriander roots, garlic and ginger with a pinch of salt into a paste. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Check for seasoning. It should taste salty, sweet, spicy, sour and garlicky.

Served with khao mun gai - Thai version of Hainanese chicken rice.

Garlic, Lime And Chili Sauce 青檸蒜蓉辣椒醬

This is a versatile sauce that goes well with almost every thing. Something I love to whip up fresh when a little kick is needed.

makes 3/4 cup
you'll need;
5 garlic cloves, chopped
6 bird chillies, chopped
1/4 cup of soy
4 tbs of fish sauce
6 tbs of sugar

Pound garlic and chillies with sugar to a pulp.

Place pounded mixture in a bowl and add in the rest of the ingredients. Check for seasonings, it should taste hot, sour, sweet and salty. Oh and garlicky!

Ginger And Lime Dipping Sauce (Nuoc Mam Gung)

Anyone that had been to a Vietnamese restaurant before would be somehow familiar with nouc cham  (Vietnamese dipping sauce) as it is served alongside almost everything. This is a wonderful alternative to that, it goes really well with poached or grilled chicken, meat and seafood. 

makes 1 cup

you'll need;

3 bird chilies

1 green chili

5 cm knob of ginger, chopped

2 garlic cloves, chopped

4 tbs of sugar

1/3 cup of fish sauce

3 tbs of lime juice

4 tbs of water

Mince the aromatics.

Place chopped ingredients in a bowl then add sugar, lime juice, fish sauce and water. Mix well and check for seasonings.

This will keep well for up to a week in the fridge.

Tzatziki

To grate or to dice the cucumber? To add mint or dill? Everyone seems to think their recipe is the best and family members fight over the smallest details about a bowl of tzatziki. This is what I learnt from my former lover who is Greek. I am not sure if this is the best but it certainly is a damn good one. It goes perfectly with roast lamb and souvlaki that we all adore.

makes 1 cup

you'll need;

3/4 cup of Greek yoghurt

1 cucumber, grated and squeezed out excess liquid

3 tbs of finely chopped dill (or mint)

2 garlic cloves, minced

juice of half a lemon

dash of olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Place grated cucumber, yoghurt, minced garlic and chopped dill in a bowl and mix well.

Follow by olive oil, lemon juice and salt and pepper. Mix well and check for seasonings.

Great with succulent roast lamb.

Can't do without when it comes to souvlaki.