Sticky Spicy Prawns

When you don't have a lot of time, you need to find creative ways to cut corners. For me, I slash my television time in half by recording shows and watching them in bulk with the handy technology of the fast forward button. For example, with Jamie Oliver's "30 Minute Meals", if I skip the ads and the last 2 minutes of his family eating, and watch the rest on x2, I can watch a whole episode in 5 minutes. Sometimes I slow it down to listen to his voice, but the thing that instantly makes me press play is when he's cooking prawns.

There's something beautiful in the way Jamie Oliver takes a few prawns, rubs herbs and spices on them and throws them under the grill. Not only does it save time, which is what I'm all about these days, it makes for the most tantalising snack or entree. The best part is, no peeling of the prawn! You can eat every part of the prawn - the head's the best part because you get the gooey brain liquids (mmmm).

I tweaked his recipe based on what I had at home, and even though in my head it tastes better with paprika, this is one tasty little crunchy-shelled delight: sticky and sweet with a kick of chili.

You'll need:
8 king green prawns, raw
Zest of one lemon
Juice of half a lemon
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon ginger, minced
½ tablespoon olive oil
½ tablespoon honey
½ tablespoon chili flakes
Handful of parsley, roughly chopped
1 spring onion, finely chopped

Preheat grill to 200°C.

Combine all of the ingredients in a baking pan. Whack it under the grill until the shells are orange and there's some browning happening on the heads and tails.

Garnish with fresh parsley.

Enjoy!

Pepper-seared Sashimi Tuna

 

I finally understand the difference between a $3 roll at Sushi World and a $20 artisan roll at a nice restaurant. The latter most likely uses sashimi grade fish, which, I found out yesterday, does not come cheap.

We bought this beauty at Wellstone Fresh Seafood in Willoughby. I'd read online that they supply seafood to some of the best Japanese restaurants in Sydney. There, I learned that sashimi grade tuna is not the same as a regular tuna steak. In fact, it's twice the price (approx. $20 for 300g) and much deeper in colour. I went home and Googled what makes sashimi grade fish special and it's actually in the way it's caught. Sashimi grade fish is individually caught by hand and killed instantly before chilling. No wonder you rarely see raw tuna at takeaway joints.

This tuna was so tender that the pieces almost fell apart while I was slicing it, and, like most things good in the food world, it melted in my mouth. I have to give credit to Nigella for the pepper crust recipe. Served with a salad of red cabbage, cucumber, spring onion and a soy and wasabi dressing and steamed rice, it was the perfect combination of textures and flavours for a light Summer dinner.

This dish is also an entertainer's dream. You can prepare the tuna and vegetables in the morning and set them aside in the fridge. Then when your guests arrive, you only need to spend 10 minutes searing the tuna, dressing the salad, slicing the tuna and prettying up on a plate.

You'll need:
Sashimi grade tuna
1 teaspoon English mustard
1 teaspoon sesame oil
Peppercorns, lightly cracked
¼ red cabbage
1 cucumber
3 spring onions
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
½ tablespoon sesame oil
½ tablespoon wasabi
1 teaspoon castor sugar
Juice of half a lime
Sesame seeds (optional)
Steamed rice (optional)

Serves 4.

Combine English mustard and sesame oil and rub on tuna.

Roll tuna in pepper, coating well on 4 sides (leaving the ends bare).

Julienne the vegetables and dress with soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil, wasabi, castor sugar and lime juice.

Sear each peppered side of the tuna in a hot pan (it should be smoking) for approximately 1 minute or until you can see 1mm of cooked meat. Be careful to not cook any further than that as it will continue cooking off the heat.

Rest tuna until cool.

Slice thinly and arrange on a plate. Garnish salad with sesame seeds.

Enjoy!

Osso Bucco Ragu

There’s much to love about osso bucco. For starters, it’s really fun to say. Secondly, it’s a cut of meat that’s high in collagen, which, when broken down by slow-cooking, becomes rich and gelatinous between the meat fibres so that the meat melts in your mouth. You can buy two pieces of osso bucco from a good quality butcher for less than $10 and this recipe makes 6 servings (that leaves you more money to spend at, say, Country Road). What you end up with is a rich tomato sauce that’s been infused with delicate and meaty veal and bone marrow.

For this recipe, I used a pre-made pasta sauce by Latina, which cuts down the prep time to about 10 minutes. The sauce isn’t the greatest on its own, but when it’s cooked down with meat and veges, it’s brilliant.

You’ll need:
2 portions of osso bucco
3 tablespoons canola oil (or any oil with a high burning point)
2 Spanish onions
6 carrots
¼ green cabbage
5 cloves garlic
500ml beef stock
1L pre-made pasta sauce
Thyme leaves from 2 sprigs
Basil to garnish
Pasta

Roughly chop onions, carrots, cabbage and garlic.

Wash meat and pat dry with paper towels. Season both sides with salt and pepper.

Heat a large pot on high heat. Add oil.

When hot, brown the meat (approx. 1 minute each side). Remove from heat and set aside.

Cook the veges in the same pot for about 10 minutes to release all the lovely juices.

Deglaze the pot with beef stock.

Add pasta sauce and thyme and bring to the boil.

Place the meat back in and turn the heat down to low. (I have a fidgety electric stove so I used a thermometer to keep track of the temperature. According to Heston, shin cuts are best cooked at at least 70°C in liquid, so I kept it at 75°C).

Leave for 4 hours.

Cook pasta according to packet instructions. Drain but keep some pasta water.

Remove meat and shred with a fork while hot.

Scoop out veges from the sauce. To thicken the sauce, stir in pasta water or flour.

Add the shredded meat back and basil leaves to the sauce.

Serve with hot pasta.

Enjoy!