Tod Mun pla or Thai fish cakes

Tod mun pla is something I inevitably order in a Thai restaurant which means it's something I want to learn how to prepare at home.

It's easy, delicious & I'm wondering why I hadn't done so earlier. It was a big hit with both X & The Girl. This will definitely be making a comeback. Perhaps as finger food for the next party.

I served them with wedges of lime & a simple dipping sauce of cut chillies & fish sauce. They are usually made with snake beans or long beans but since these are out of season, I just left them out. I don't like coriander so left those out as well.

Tod mun pla or Thai fish cakes
makes about 16 pieces

500g firm white fish, remove skin & bones
2 Tbsps red curry paste
2 kaffir lime leaves (I left out)
2 spring onions, chopped coarsely (I used a small onion, sigh even spring onions are hard to find here)
1 Tbsp fish sauce
1 Tbsp lime juice
2 Tbsp fresh coriander (I left out)
3 long beans, chopped finely (I left out)
2 chilli padi, chopped finely (I left out cos I made them for The Girl)
yikes I just realised I left out about half the ingredients but that didn't seem to compromise the taste too much. I will have to make sure I add long beans the next time tho'

1. Cut fish into small pieces. Blend or process fish with curry paste, lime leaves, onion, fish sauce & juice until it becomes a smooth paste

2. Combine the fish paste with coriander, beans & chilli

3. Form patties with the fish paste (dip fingers in cold water when shaping to prevent mixture from sticking). If you have the time, you can put the shaped fish cakes into the fridge for an hour to firm them up before frying (I didn't do this & the fish cakes didn't fall apart)

4. Heat oil in pan or wok. Make sure it's smoking hot before you start frying. Deep fry in batches, until browned lightly

It never rains, it pours

This was a recipe that I've been meaning to try the moment I saw Sri's post on it. It sounded so delicious - chunky crab meat, crunchy celery, lime juice - what's not to like. The only reason I've not done so before was that wonton skins were so precious. The few packets I have were exclusively used for wontons. I really didn't have any to spare....that was until I discovered that the Asian store in Aubenas, Papilla stocks them too.

I was excited to finally make them but sigh...anything that could go wrong, went wrong with this. First of all, the wonton skins had too much flour on them - nothing that I couldn't fix, I just had to brush the next batch with oil. Then they start crumbling on me the moment they were in the oven but that also got fixed when I brushed them with oil.

When I opened the can of crab meat (no fresh crab meat here) that I'd bought, okay so I wasn't expecting big chunky meat but they turned out to be a sort of watery crab soup - yikes. Then cos I couldn't find fresh mangoes, I used canned mangoes which was another big mistake. To make things worse (yes, it does get worse), my head wasn't screwed on right & instead of dicing the mango-wannabes, I turned them into a puree by putting them thru the food processor.

All I can say about this is that, in the end, the cups turned out great & I would be doing them again for pre-dinner snacks but unless I get the right ingredients for the crab filling, would probably look to substitute with other type of filling instead.

So to see what it should have looked like, go see Sri's beautiful crab wonton cups.

Crab Wonton Cups
source Feed My World

For the Wonton Cups:
18 wonton wrappers, thawed (if frozen)
2 teaspoons canola oil
1/4 teaspoon salt

For the dressing:
1 teaspoon lime zest
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1/4 teaspoons salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried hot red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons olive oil

For the salad:
1/2 pound lump crabmeat, picked over
1 stalk celery, finely diced
1/2 cup finely diced mango
1/4 cup thinly sliced scallions
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh cilantro leaves


1. Preheat the oven to 180C.

2. Brush the wonton wrappers with oil, and place each wrapper into a section of a muffin tray. Gently press each wrapper into the tray and arrange so that it forms a cup shape. The wrapper will overlap itself and stick up out of the cup. Sprinkle with salt and bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until browned and crisp. Remove and allow wrappers to cool.

3. Meanwhile whisk together the zest, lime juice, salt, pepper, and pepper flakes. Add the oil and whisk until well combined.

4. In a medium bowl, toss together the crabmeat, celery, mango, scallion and cilantro. Add dressing and toss to combine. Fill each cup with the crab salad and serve.

Memories of Taipei

My blogging friends all seem to be making tea eggs which got me all nostalgic so it wasn't long before I had to make a batch too. You see, tea eggs reminds me of Taipei. In another lifetime, I used to go there a lot for work - try every other week for 3 years. So I know that city very well. These tea eggs just remind me so much of my days spent in Taipei. Every where you turn in the city, there is a whiff of these eggs. All the 7-11s have a pot of them stewing in a corner.

I eat them the way the Taiwanese do - with a dipping of pepper salt. Like the Dutchess, I made 10 of them & thankfully The Girl likes them too else I would have had to eat them all by myself & trust me, I could.

Tomates Farcies or Stuffed Tomatoes

X's mother is a very good cook & most of my French dishes I learned from her. This is one of her many recipe & something that I make whenever tomatoes are in season. Any extras I'll just freeze. I did an earlier post on stuffed zucchinis with rice but this is my preferred stuffing.

The tomatoes are prepared by first cutting off the top to create a cap. Then using a spoon, scoop up the insides making sure to not break the skin. Set aside the pulp & juice (you can add that to the stuffing or keep to make tomato juice). Next sprinkle a bit of salt inside the tomato, turn it over to drain off the water. The French calls it egoutter & it's a technique they use often for vegetables - sprinkle a little salt, let stand for half an hour or so to get rid of the liquid/water.

Stuffed Tomatoes
makes 8-10 tomatoes

8-10 tomatoes
500 g minced beef or pork
5 slices of bread
2 cups of milk, hot
3-4 cloves of garlic
handful of parsley
onion
1 egg
salt & pepper
breadcrumbs
butter


1. Prepare the tomatoes as above

2. Soak bread in the milk & then squeeze out excess milk. Put them together with the ground beef, garlic, onion, parsley, 1 egg, salt & pepper into a food processor & mix well. If the mixture is too dry, add some of the removed tomato juice

3. Oil the oven tray. Stuff the tomatoes with the mixture & top off with breadcrumbs & a small slice of butter.

4. Place in the oven at 190C for 45 minutes without the caps. Once the top starts to brown, add the caps on & put them back into the oven for another 15-20 mins

Cake with pistachio, chorizo & sundried tomatoes

I love the savory cakes in France. So perfect with drinks.....& if you're not careful, it could easily becomes dinner too. I found this at David Lebovitz's blog & literally (I kid you not) jumped up from the sofa, ran to the pantry to make sure I had all the ingredients & got straight down to making this.


X was back last weekend & I was eager to try this out cos I know we'll be indulging in some cocktails. It differs slightly from my basic cake recipe but the combination of pistachio, chorizo & sundried tomatoes - brilliant ! On top of that, I love the addition of sesame seeds (why hadn't I thought of that before).

So here's the delicious result

We couldn't get enough of this cake. Trust me, head on over to David's blog (the link above) for the recipe & you won't regret it. This recipe is from Clotilde's book (Chocolate & Zucchini).

So yummy......

Zucchini Gratin

Gratins are such a big part of French cuisine - gratin dauphinois, vegetable gratins, seafood gratins, the variety is endless. They can be served as a side dish or as a starter.

Here's a simple zucchini gratin that uses bechamel sauce. Aah the ever elusive bechamel. My struggle with bechamel is legendary. I've lost count the number of times I've burnt it, turned it into either a lumpy or a watery mess, made too much, made too little. Slowly but surely I'm beginning to get a hang of it & from 1 out of 10, I think I do get it right at least 5 out of 10 times now.

The trick is to make sure you have everything on hand. Milk, check. Fluor, check. Oil, check. Don't even think of running to the pantry to get extra milk while you are making bechamel. Doomed. Use a whisk. For the longest time, I was using a wooden spoon. Doomed. Measure everything, at least in the beginning. Stir. Stir. Stir.

So have I scared you off ? Don't be. Maybe it's just me. I just don't have the bechamel mojo.

Zucchini Gratin

1 big zucchini or 2 medium, cut in cubes
3 Tbsp of fluor
3 Tbsp of oil or butter
1/2 litre of milk, warm
salt
3 eggs, beaten
grated cheese

1. Boil the zucchini cubes in water until soft. About 15 mins. Drain & set aside

2. *drum roll* now to make bechamel sauce. Heat up oil or melt the butter. Next add the fluor. Mix well in oil. Do not let it burn or colour. Pour in the milk, a little at a time, making sure to mix well with the fluor to prevent clumps. Once it starts to boil, add more milk. Stir constantly & making sure it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pot. As it thickens, you can add more milk depending on the consistency you want. Once that's done, (see it wasn't too bad, was it?), mix in the 3 beaten eggs. Add salt to taste

3. Lay the zucchini cubes in an oven tray. Pour over the bechamel & egg mixture. Next sprinkle grated cheese over

4. Bake in oven 210C for 30-40 mins until the top turns golden brown

Stuffed Round Zucchinis

I know I'm not supposed to be buying any zucchinis but I couldn't resist when I saw these round zucchinis at the market the other day. Although I often do tomato farcies (stuffed tomatoes), I have yet to do with zucchinis & these were just begging to be stuffed. Instead of the usual stuffing that I do, I wanted to try something different. The internet had tons of recipes for stuffing from vegetarian to seafood (which I would love to try next) to meat.

I had some ground beef left over from making Burger Wraps & wanted a stuffing that included rice as well. I came across this recipe from here & she has lots of great ideas & alternatives at the end which I will try out the next time I make these again (like adding olives & sausages).

Stuffed Zucchini with Rice, Ground Beef, Red Pepper, and Basil
(adapted from Kalyn's kitchen)

6 round zucchini
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
2 tsp olive oil
400g lean ground beef
1 tsp chopped garlic
1 cup cooked brown rice (I used regular rice)
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh basil
3/4 cup coarsely grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup chicken stock (I left this out)
breadcrumbs

Prepare the zucchinis - cut off the top & set aside. Scoop out the inside with a spoon leaving 4cm of skin. You can also chop up the 'insides' to be added to the stuffing mixture. Microwave on high for 5-6 mins till the zucchinis are soft but still maintaining their shape.

1. Fry onions & peppers in olive oil till soft. Set aside.

2. Fry ground beef until brown. Half way add garlic. Breaking up the meat into small pieces. Set aside.

3. Mix cooked rice, chopped basil, parmesan and chicken stock to the meat & vegetables.

4. Stuff the mixture into the zucchinis - packing in as much as possible. Sprinkle the tops with bread crumbs. Line them up in an oven tray & drizzle olive oil over.

5. Bake in oven 190C for 20-30 mins

Curry Puffs....with a difference

Curry puff is one of my favorite snack in Singapore. With chains like Old Chang Kee & Polar opening up everywhere, you're bound to be able to pick some up around any corner. Sigh since I'm all the way here in France, I have to make my own.

I took part in a cooking challenge recently where we had to come up with a dish incorporating puff pastry, poultry/meat & tinned fruit. Immediately I thought to do a puff of sorts. Remember the beef fajita with pineapple salsa, well that would be great in a puff but then I realised I don't have any pineapple so okay, how about chicken puffs with mango since I love that combination too. But I only had turkey fillets in the freezer, so ladies & gentlemen, that was how I came up with my entry for the challenge - Curry puffs with turkey & mango.

I didn't put a whole lot of mango - I had some left over from making mango sorbet but the smell was heavenly as they were being baked in the oven. The Girl loved the mango flavor in her curry puffs & she had 3 of these for dinner tonight.

Original curry puff has a hard skin but personally I prefer the flaky type of puffs so I use puff pastry which you can purchase frozen. If you have the time, you can always make the pastry too but if not, I'm all for taking short cuts.

Curry puffs with turkey & mango
makes 24
(if you replace the turkey with chicken & omit the mango, this is the recipe for regular curry puffs)

3 turkey/chicken breast, diced
1 big onion, diced
4 medium potatoes
curry powder
6 hard boiled eggs, quartered
1/2 cup of diced mangoes
4 puff pastry pate feuillette
1 egg yolk

1. Marinate the meat in 2 Tbsp of curry powder.

2. Fry onion till soft then add meat. When done, remove from pan

3. Fry potatoes, sprinkle some curry powder. Fry till soft. Add water if it gets too dry. When done, add the meat & mangoes. Mix them up in the pan. Remove & set aside to cool down

4. Once the filling is suitably cooled down, prepare the puff pastry. Cut out circles of 15 cm (I used a bowl of around that size, turned it upside down & cut around it). Place the filling in one half of the circle (don't overfill), add a piece of hard boiled egg, fold it over & crunch the sides. At this point, you can freeze any excess puffs (provided the pastry had not been frozen & then defrosted).

If there are excess dough after cutting out the circles, knead them into a ball & roll them out big enough to cut out more circles.

5. When done, place the puffs in an oven tray, brush the tops with the beaten egg yolk & bake in the oven at 190C for about 20-25 mins until they turn golden brown.



These are great finger foods & I've even served them as appetisers.

Seafood Salad East & West

Here are 2 versions of seafood salad that I made over the last 2 days which are perfect for summer. Delicious & so easy to throw together.



The internet's abuzz with cold noodles this summer. And the Dutchess made some too.

Time for me to revive this old recipe which I had not done in a while. You can use whatever seafood you have on hand - fish, prawn, calamari or crab meat. Make sure they are cooked first before tossing into the salad.

You would need to soak the vermicelli in boiling water till it's soft. Taste it to make sure it's cooked. The first time I did this, the water wasn't hot enough so the vermicelli was not cooked through and I made the mistake of tossing it with the rest of the ingredients without tasting- too late to salvage.

The Dutchess even suggests chilling it first before serving. Good idea. But I think it's best to do it before adding the dressing else the vermicelli might soak it all up. Even The Girl gobbled this up. I didn't think she was going to like this so I made her something else. Well she ate half my salad.


Thai Seafood Salad
serves 4

200g vermicelli
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 Tbsp fish sauce
1 Tbsp lime juice
2 Tbsp peanut oil
handful of chopped roasted peanuts
2 scallions, sliced thinly
fresh coriander (I left this out)
red chillies, sliced thinly
prawns, squid, crabmeat, fish fillet - cut into bite size

1. Soak noodles in boiling water till soft. Taste to make sure they are cooked. Drain then set aside. Cut with scissors into small strands

2. Cook seafood. Boil pot of hot water - throw in squid, when they start to float to the top, they are cooked (about 1 min), remove, run under cold water & set aside. If you over cook, it will become tough. Do the same for the prawns. After they are done, remove heads & shells.

3. Whisk garlic, fish sauce, lime juice & oil in a large salad bowl

4. Add noodles to bowl with nuts, scallions, coriander, chillies and seafood. Toss gently to combine

5. Serve with glass of rose wine & finish off with dessert of peach sorbet. The perfect summer meal. Depending on the portion, this can be a starter or a main course.

The next day I still had squid & prawns leftover & as much as I was tempted to prepare the same thing since The Girl ate half of mine, the urge to try something different was greater. So I decided to do something a little more Western.


Recognise the same salad bowl. I took out some baby squid from the freezer, added mini macaroni (do your children like anything miniature too ?), threw in some greens & came up with another refreshing seafood salad.

Seafood Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette

Mini macaroni or any small pasta shapes
Prawns, Squids or Crab Meat
Selection of greens

Dressing
Mix together olive oil, lemon juice, salt, black pepper & a pinch of red chilli flakes. Refrigerate until ready to use.

1. Cook pasta as per packet. Drain & set aside

2. Cook seafood. Boil pot of hot water - throw in squid, when they start to float to the top, they are cooked (about 1 min), remove, run under cold water & set aside. If you over cook, it will become tough. Do the same for the prawns. After they are done, remove heads & shells

3. Toss seafood, greens, pasta & dressing together

4. Serve with a glass of your favorite white wine

And which do I prefer ? They are both delicious & refreshing but I think I'm leaning towards the Thai seafood salad.

Pigs in a blanket - Japanese style

These are actually called Nori wrapped chicken cakes but I didn't have any ground chicken so I used minced pork & it's just not the same calling them Nori wrapped pork cakes. Ah well, I'll just call them Japanese pigs in a blanket. I found this recipe from Soy & Pepper via Food Gawker.

These things are so addictive. I can't stop at one. I think I'll be making them as snacks for aperitif next time we have guests or as an appetiser.

She used 500g for 25-30 pieces which must be rather small cos I used 350g & only made 10 (each piece is 2 bite size, if you know what I mean ie. not small enough to be eaten at one go although you could stuff one into your mouth but it won't look very elegant).


Nori wrapped chicken cakes
source Soy & Pepper

500g minced chicken or pork
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp mirin
1 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp corn flour
several sheets of nori, cut into strips (depending on how many you make)

1. Add soy sauce, mirin, sugar & corn flour with the minced pork. Mix well & set aside for 15-30 mins.

2. Shape the meat mixture into patties & wrap a strip of nori around it. Moisten the end to seal it.

3. Heat a pan with oil & pan fry the patties until they are cooked through. They cook faster if you make them flatter.

Eggplant Caviar

Before you get all excited, just know that there is no caviar in this dish. I don't really know how caviar figures into this other than the fact that it's a delicious Russian appetiser that has found it's way into French cuisine. The texture is like that of a mousse. Strangely enough, I've never heard of this dish until I moved here. Geez I can't believe I've been missing out on this all these years....

After making baba ghanoosh last week, I still had lots of eggplants left so I decided to make caviar d'aubergine. Although it has a fancy sounding name, it is really easy to make. It can be served warm or cold and we like to accompany it with tomato coulis.

Eggplant Caviar
source X's sister
makes 1 terrine

3 eggplant, peeled & diced
2-3 cloves of garlic, peeled
3 slices of ham
3 eggs
20cl cream

1. Fry the aubergine in olive oil until soft. Add a little water if it's gets too dry.

2. Add aubergines, garlic, ham, eggs & cream in the food processor. Puree.

3. Brush oil on all sides of a rectangular cake tray or terrine. Pour aubergine puree into the mould.

4. Place the terrine in a tray of hot water making sure the water covers at least half way to the terrine (bain-marie).

5. Put the entire tray into the oven at 190C for 1.5 hours.

6. Serve warm or cold with a helping of tomato coulis on the side.

Note : This freezes very well. After it's cooked, let cool & then freeze.

Baba Ghanoush with Smoked Duck

X was based in Beirut for a little bit & while he was there, he fell in love with Baba Ghanoush - a Lebanese eggplant dip. He raves about it all the time but last weekend was the first time I tried it. It's delicious.

Generally it's eaten with pita bread or as a spread over toasts. But for this appetiser, he combined it with smoked duck & sliced parmesan cheese as garnish.

Baba Ghanoush or Lebanese Aubergine Dip

Dry roast 2-3 aubergines until the skin blackens on all sides & the aubergine is soft. Let cool in order to remove skin without burning your fingers. Put the skinless aubergine into a food processor with 2 small boiled potatoes, 2 cloves of garlic, 2 Tbsp tahini paste, handful of parsley (optional) & as you puree, drizzle about 3 Tbsp of olive oil.

For the appetiser, he rolled slices of smoked duck (which you can buy from any supermarket) over an olive & placed it over the dip with slices of parmesan cheese & cut tomatoes.

We all loved this dish & my only feedback is that it would have been better to serve this on a plate cos it was a little difficult to cut the smoked duck in the ramequin.

Crab & Avocado Salad

We had some friends over last weekend & X put together this simple yet absolutely delicious Crab & Avocado Salad.

Crab & Avocado Salad
source X

1. Dice avocado, tomatoes & shallots. Season with olive oil, squeeze of lemon juice, salt & pepper.

2. For the crab meat, add mayonnaise, 1 tub of natural yoghurt, diced shallots, squeeze of lemon juice & a pinch of piment d'espelette.

3. Arrange avocado & tomato at the bottom of the serving dish then crab meat on top. Sprinkle with black seasame seeds. Garnish with slice of cucumber & bread stick.

The tale of the 2 nam priks

Once upon a time, 2 friends were chatting on the internet about Thai spicy dips & how that was the only way they would eat raw vegetables. So the one living in Bangkok suggested sending to the other, ready made nam prik ong pastes. Upon receipt, the friend happily made the dip only to find out that wasn't the same dip she was referring to. It turned out she was thinking of nam prik kapi. But it didn't matter cos she discovered another great Thai dish & has in her possession spicy pastes that she can use for her stir fries.

Moral of the story : Never miss an opportunity to talk about food.

Nam prik ong
(thanks Eunice for the paste & the recipe)

1 Tbsp nam prik paste
200g minced pork
1 tomato, diced
2 stalks of parsley
chicken stock

1. Stir fry the paste until fragrant

2. Add the rest of the ingredients. Enough stock to half cover the meat. More if you like the dip more watery

3. Simmer till meat is cooked

4. Serve with sticks of raw vegetables (carrots & cucumbers) or over rice

Wontons disguised as Spring rolls

I decided to make wontons yesterday & invited Laurence to have a little make your own wonton party. We were happily making them until I realised I ran out of wonton wraps with quite a bit of stuffing left. No worries, I'll make some tomorrow, so I thought. ( By the way, I'm really not a very good blogger cos I totally forgot to take photos of our wonton making session. )

Then this morning, I woke up & was feeling too lazy to make wonton wraps from scratch. Why not turn them into spring rolls instead ? And so I did. So here you are, wontons disguised as spring rolls. They actually taste really good - kind of like deep fried crispy wontons but shaped like a spring roll.

Before


After

Smoked Salmon Souffle

X's mother subscribes to this weekly French women's magazine called Femme Actuelle. Whenever I'm over at her place, I'll always grab the latest copy & browse to see if any recipe catches my eye. This was one of those.

Souffles always seem very intimidating. But now that I've done it, it really isn't so. In fact it turned out to be rather simple to make so much so I think I might do this when we next entertain friends. But it is a little plain as you will see from the recipe so I would probably add some herbs like dill or parsley into the mix.

Smoked Salmon Souffle
serves 4 but I think you can do it for up to 6
extracted from Femme Actuelle

160g smoked salmon
4 eggs
40g butter
40g flour
25cl milk
salt & pepper

1. Set aside a 4 slivers of smoked salmon for garnishing. Then diced the rest. Butter & flour the ramequins. Preheat the oven at 210C

2. Melt the butter in a pot. Add the flour & stirring to mix well. Remove pot from stove, add the milk & mix thoroughly. Put it back over the stove till it just reaches boiling point, over medium heat, stirring constantly

3. Separate the egg whites & yolks. Add the egg yolks into the mixture. Mix well. Then add the diced salmon. Salt & pepper

4. Whip the egg whites till stiff. Add about 1/4 of the egg whites into the mixture. Stir vigorously till it well incorporated. Then gently add the rest of the egg whites & slowly mix with a spatula.

5. Divide into the ramequins. Put in the oven for 15 mins.

6. Serve ramequins garnished with the slivers of smoked salmon on top.

Cake au Jambon et Olives

In French, what is called a cake is not really a cake, as we know it. Cakes (the sweet type) are generally called gateaux. What the French calls a cake is actually a savory cake. These are not eaten as dessert but rather as a snack. Before a meal, the French would have an aperitif which is an appetiser drink (usually alcoholic) often accompanied by snacks like cake au jambon, peanuts, olives, chips or saucisson.

This is really easy to make. You can substitute with anything savory like sausages, salted pistachios or peanuts.



Cake au Jambon et olives (Cake with Ham & Olives)

3 eggs
150g flour
1 sachet leuvre chimique (baking powder)
10cl oil
125ml milk (warm)
100g grated cheese (I used emmental)
200g ham, diced
75g green olives, without seeds & sliced (I didn't have any green ones left so used black instead)

1. Mix eggs, flour, baking powder, a pinch of salt & pepper
2. Add slowly little by little the oil & warm milk. As you do, mix well
3. Add grated cheese
4. Add ham & olives
5. Pour into an oiled mould or mould lined with baking paper
6. Put it in the oven at 180C for 45 mins.

I told you this is simple.

Cooking with Oat Meal & Wine Cork

One of my favorite restaurants in NY is Babbo. The food & service is always consistently good & has, in my opinion, one of the best sommeliers in town. Their signature dish, beef cheek ravioli is to die for.

The company I had worked for used to organise forums for their staff inviting celebrities & guests speakers. On one occasion, it was Mario Batali. He came across as being personable and I was fortunate enough to meet him, chatted a little & even got a signed copy of his cookbook, simply titled Babbo.

I've had the cookbook a while now but never had a chance to try any of the recipes although out of nostalgia, I would flip to the page for beef cheek ravioli & just ravished at the sight of that dish. For FND this week, I wanted to cook 2 dishes from there & since I'm tired of duck or any sort of meat, it's going to be all seafood.

So what has that got to do with oat meal & wine cork, you ask. Well I will be using cockles & the internet says that I need to scrub them thoroughly then place them in salted water with a little oat meal for half an hour - they will feed on the oatmeal & excrete any dirt & sand. So I obediently fed my cockles oat meal.

Next on the menu is baby octopus. I didn't manage to find any so I bought 2 medium octopuses instead. Mario says I need to boil them for an hour with red wine vinegar & a wine cork. Apparently there is some chemical reaction from the wine cork that will make the octopus tender. So I boiled my octupuses with wine cork.

The starter is Steamed Shrimp & Cockles in a green chilli-basil brodetto. The verdict is unananimous. We both loved it & gulped down whatever broth there was. The original recipe calls for Mahogany clams but I used cockles instead.

Next linguine with baby octopus, green chillis & mint. The photo doesn't do it justice. I'm still having difficulty photographing food at nights. The sauce is delicious. X didn't like the mint in the sauce but I loved it. I, on the other hand, wasn't too keen on the octopus. I think I'm going to hunt me down some baby octopuses to do this again.

For dessert, home made strawberry swirl ice cream.

Steamed Shrimp and Mahogany Clams in a green chili-basil brodetto
taken from Babbo
serves 4

9 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
6 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
2 green chili, seeded & finely chopped
20 mahogany clams or cockles
12 shrimps, peeled & deveined (keeping the head & tail)
1 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup finely chopped parsley
10 basil leaves, finely shredded

To prepare the cockles : Scrub them thoroughly to remove any grit. Then leave them in a sink / pail of salted water with a handful of oatmeal for at least half an hour.

1. Heat 3 tbsp of olive oil until almost smoking. Add garlic & saute over high heat until lightly browned, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the green chillis, clams, shrimp & white wine & cover. Lower the heat to medium & cook for 3 mins. The clams should open & the shrimps should be pink. Discard any unopened clams.

2. Add the parsley, toss gently over low heat for 1 minute, and remove from the heat. Add he remaining 6 tbsp of olive oil & stir through. Divide evenly among 4 warmed dinner bowls, sprinkle with the basil & serve immediately.

Note : Although you can't see from the picture, I'd kept the prawn heads intact. It gives more flavor to the broth. Just remove the shell & devein keeping the head & tail.


Linguine with Baby Octopus, Green Chili & Mint
taken from Babbo
serves 4

1 kg baby octopus
3 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1 wine cork
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1/4 cup Jalapeno pesto (green chilli pesto)
1 cup basic tomato sauce (I used home made tomato coulis)
linguine
12 fresh mint leaves
black pepper, to taste

1. In a medium saucepan, combine the baby octopuses, vinegar, cork & water to cover. Bring to a boil & cook uncovered for 15 mins. Drain & allow to cool (If using one large octopus, cook it whole for up to an hour or until it's tender & then cut into pieces before tossing into the pan).

2. Boil a pot of salted water

3. Heat the olive oil over high heat until hot but not smoking. Add the garlic cloves & cook until light golden brown, about 3 mins. Add the jalapeno pesto, tomato sauce & octopuses and cook over high heat for 5 mins.

4. Meanwhile cook the linguine in the boiling water as per instructions al dente. Drain the pasta and add to the panwith the sauce. Add the mint leaves and toss over high heat for 1 minutes, season with salt & pepper and serve immediately.

Jalapeno pesto
makes 1 cup
I really like this. This can be kept up to 1 week, refrigerated, in an airtight container.

6 jalapeno peppers (green chillis) stems removed, seeds intact
1/4 cup blanched and sliced almonds
1/2 red onion, diced
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Combine the peppers, almonds & onion in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until pureed, then slowly drizzle in the oil until emulsified.

Laab Moo

Laab Moo (or larb moo) is a northern Thai dish. I used to order this whenever I see it on the menu. It's minced pork salad - this dish can also be done with beef (laab neua) or chicken (laab gai). There is a restaurant in Bangkok (I can't remember the name) which specialises in dishes from that region & even does this with gizzard & liver. So good.

I've tried making it several times based on what I remember this dish to be but never managed to get it right. Can't be that difficult right ? Wrong. Somehow something was missing. I finally came across a recipe with that one important ingredient - roasted rice. It is what makes this dish. You'd be surprised at how many Laab Moo recipes out there that do not have roasted rice.

Laab Moo

300 g minced pork
2 Tbsp rice
1 lime
1/2 tsp sugar
2 Tbsp fish sauce
2 Tbsp dried chilli pepper
1/2 onion, chopped
mint & shallots for garnish

1. Dry roast rice. Then grind
2. Dry roast chilli pepper. Then grind
3. Fry the meat
4. When the meat is half done, add rice, chilli pepper & onions
5. Remove when the meat is cooked
6. Toss the meat with lime juice, fish sauce & sugar
7. Garnish with sliced shallots & mint
8. Serve over a bed of lettuce


Note : I don't have lemongrass but you can also add a handful of chopped lemon grass to fry together with the meat.

Bolinhos de Bacalhau

5 years ago, I travelled around South America for 6 weeks. Brazil was the first stop. Monica joined me for that leg of the trip & I had planned it such that we would be in Rio for the New Year. It was awesome. On top of that, my Brazilian friend Michael was in town visiting his folks so he brought us around. We went to all the cool spots & met all his cool friends. But most of all, he introduced us to Bolinhos de Bacalhau.

Every night, after we'd been out drinking (oh man those caiprinhas - Monica & Michael, if you're reading this, you know what I'm talking about), we would head over to Michael's favorite joint for supper. There's always a lot of food but I only remember Bolinhos de Bacalhau. They are basically codfish balls & the perfect late night supper snack.

But after I left Rio, I never had it again & also never thought about it until.......I came across this post from Beaulotus @ East meets West (that's why I love reading her blog, she comes up with gems like these) How could I have forgotten about these babies ? I have to make these.

Bolinhos de Bacalhau (codfish balls)
recipe from East meet West

500g salted cod
2-3 potatoes
2 eggs
1 small onion
bay leaf / chopped parsley / nutmeg / peppercorns

1. Rinse cod off the salt, soak in cold water for no less than 12 hours with at least 3 changes of water
2. Drain cod
3. Fry onions, peppercorns & bay leaf. Then add the fish skin side down
4. Add 500ml of water (enough to cover the fish entirely)
5. Bring to boil. Then lower the flame & simmer for 10-15 mins
6. In the meantime, boil potatoes till soft
7. Mash with fork (AND don't do like me, got distracted & proceeded to pour milk over to make mashed potatoes so I had to go boil another 2 more potatoes !)
8. Drain cod, remove skin & bones
9. Mash the cod with a fork as well & then add potatoes, 2 beaten eggs, chopped parsley & a pinch of nutmeg
10. Set mixture aside for 30 mins
11. Shape into balls & fry till golden brown.

Serve with an ice cold beer.