Didn't post last week. Too tired. Last week was Thai coconut curry and South Indian rice pilaf with curry leaves and roasted nuts, rice noodles with an Indonesian non-spicy sambal and coconut oil, and tempura garlic scapes. Alison and Conrad Heins' daughter Roo was here from Japan so she made the tempura. I had the bright inspiration to tempura the prolific snaky thing. I'll post the recipe below so you too can tempura your scapes, too. I bought a "Frydaddy" at Meijer just for tempura.
I'm still recipe testing so this week we made:
*Walnut and mint gremolada on shaved fresh fennel
*Persian beet boriani--a sort of side or "salad" made with whole milk yogurt strained through cheesecloth 2 to 3 hours and mixed with cooled, steamed diced beets, mint and lemon juice.
*Split pea dal with ponch phoran
*A huge hotel pan of chard-spinach and ricotta cannelloni covered with tomato sauce.
Recipe for gremolada, an Italian batuto in the same family as pesto follows. It's great on ripe tomatoes or tossed into a vinaigrette or on shaved or steamed vegetables.
Technique: Gremolada—Shameless Attention Grabber
Italian cooks stir gremolada, a chopped and dry or lightly moist raw mixture, into soup or stew at the last minute, sprinkle it over hot vegetables or hot pizza or stir it into olive oil. With the first bite, a gremolada wakes up the diner and gets her attention. Notice the balance of pungent herb, sparkling citrus, deep flavored garlic and fat or oily nuts. Choose a combination of herb leaves, citrus zest, garlic and even nuts. Classic gremolada goes over osso buco (braised veal) before serving. Both are great on sautéed vegetables or tomatoes—just before serving to preserve fresh flavor.
*Classic Gremolada
Yields about 1/4 cup
1/2 ounce trimmed Italian parsley, 1/4 cup minced
1/4 to 1/2 ounce garlic, 1 large clove, 1-1/2 teaspoons peeled and minced
1 large lemon, preferably organic, 2 to 3 teaspoons minced zest
*Mint and Walnut Gremolada
Yields about 1/2 cup
1/4 ounce mint leaves, 2 tablespoons chopped
1/4 ounce trimmed Italian parsley, 2 tablespoons minced
1/4 to 1/2 ounce garlic, 1 large clove, 1-1/2 teaspoons peeled and minced
1 ounce walnuts, 1/4 cup broken pieces
or 1 ounce toasted pine nuts, 1/4 cup
Zest of 1 medium lemon, preferable organic, 2 to 3 teaspoons chopped zest
Optional Additions
2 tablespoons olive oil
or 2 to 4 tablespoons cream
or 1 to 2 tablespoons walnut oil
2 to 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1. Finely chop each ingredient by hand and mix together, or pulse-grind ingredients in food processor until chunky-smooth.
2. Optionally, stir olive oil and lemon juice or cream or nut oil into gremolada before tossing on vegetables. Season with salt and ground pepper.
Vary! Improvise!
*Try making sage, fennel, celery leaf or wild leek gremolada.
*Toss gremolada with finely shaved fennel, sliced ripe tomatoes or stir into vinaigrette.
Signature Technique: Japanese Tempura
Low gluten flours like cake flour, rice flour, arrowroot or cornstarch will make a crisper batter than higher gluten all-purpose flour.
4 to 6 servings
*Fish Tempura
8 ounces skinned fish fillets, cut into 1/2- to 1-inch wide “fingers”
*Shrimp Tempura
8 ounces shrimp, shelled and de-veined—tail shell left on
*Vegetable Tempura
1/4 pound carrots, 1 cup matchstick slivered
1/4 pound green beans, 1 cup matchstick slivered
5 ounces sweet potato, 1 medium, about 1 cup peeled and sliced into 1/8-inch thick half moons
Dipping Sauce of choice
3 to 4 ounces daikon, peeled
*Batter One
Yields about 1 cup
3 ounces cake flour, about 3/4 cup
1/8 teaspoon salt
6 to 7 fluid ounces plain seltzer or soda water
*Batter Two
Yields about 1 cup
5 ounces cake flour, about 1 cup
1/2 teaspoon baking soda or baking powder
1 egg yolk
About 7 fluid ounces ice water
Oil for deep-frying
1. Cut fish, shrimp or vegetables uniformly and small or thin enough to cook through in a couple minutes. Make 2 or 3 shallow crosswise cuts on underside (NOT the back) of shrimp. Gently pull shrimp out flat. Arrange tempura ingredients on half sheet pan.
2. Prepare dipping sauce (page XX) and set aside. Grate daikon radish finely and set aside.
2. Assemble batter ingredients: mix dry ingredients together, but not wet.
3. Heat deep-fat fryer, or an empty wok over low heat before adding oil. Oil should be at least 3 inches deep. The oil will rush up when you add food. Use fresh oil every time for best-flavored, lightest tempura. Don’t use fishy oil for vegetables.
4. Using chopsticks, mix dry and wet batter ingredients as the oil heats, not before. Make a well and stir in 3/4 of the liquid. Liquid (water) should be ice-cold. You may actually add ice-cubes to batter as it sits to keep it cold. This helps keep batter light and crisp. Adding 50% to 100% carbonated water will make a lighter batter. Don't overmix. Check consistency and add more water if necessary. Batter should adhere lightly, but run off food. It should be the consistency of heavy cream.
5. When deep-frying avoid distractions and pay attention.
6. Heat oil a little higher than you need. When you add food the temperature will lower. Cook vegetables between 340F to 350F; shrimp 350F to 360F. If oil is too hot food browns, but doesn't cook. Too cool, oil seeps in and makes tempura soggy and greasy. Stable oil temperature is critical to successful tempura. Use a candy/deep fat thermometer to regulate. Don't overfill and crowd oil. This lowers oil temperature.
7. Dry food and dredge damp foods like shrimp or fish in flour before dipping in batter. Shake off excess. This will help batter to stick.
*Seafood Tempura: Dip prepared fish or shrimp in batter and let excess run off 2 to 3 seconds. Place in hot oil and fry until golden and fish is cooked through.
*Vegetable Tempura: Place carrots and green beans together into batter. With chopsticks, pull out a small batch, drain 1 to 2 seconds, and set into hot oil—hold onto them 30 seconds so they stay together. Flip and cook remaining side. Drain. Dip sweet potato into batter. Let it run off and fry until tender and cooked through.
8. As you cook food, remove all of one batch before adding fresh uncooked pieces to oil. Let oil come back up to temperature in between batches. Skim away burnt bits frequently. They contribute to off flavors. Salt breaks down oil so use none or very little in deep-fry recipes.
9. Drain hot tempura on rack set over pan or on paper towels—don't let pieces touch-and sprinkle with salt. Serve tempura immediately with dipping sauce and freshly grated or shredded daikon radish.
Texture Tip: save cooked bits of tempura batter for your next spicy tuna sushi. Add crunchy bits for a textural and taste temptation.
Vary! Improvise!
*Try making tempura herbs or fruit. What types would you choose and what combos would you arrange?
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