Fish Scampi with Dill over a bed of Chili Aglio Olio

Hi folks, hope the new year has been treating you fantabulously. We are somewhere in France right now. I have scheduled posts in my absence and this is one of them. 

With lots of love, from our little home to yours, wherever you are. Gros bisous.

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I was halfway typing a completely different opening about how much I love aglio olio etc etc until ma belle mere called H. During the conversation, she asked him if I had started cooking for tonight (it's new year's eve). To which H glanced at me typing away on the computer across the room and replied, yes of course, she's been busy cooking the whole day. 

My sweets, if you ever meet a man like that, you snatch him and never let him go. Trust me. 

Anyway, without further ado (cause I need to get that chicken into the oven), here's the recipe..

Fish Scampi with Dill (serve 2)

Ingredients:

* a big fish slice, enough for 2

* 1 large clove garlic, diced

* 1 large shallots, diced

* 1/2 cup white wine

* 1 tbsp lemon juice

* 1 tsp butter + some OO

* 1 tbsp chopped dill

How to:

* Marinate the fish with salt & pepper. Set aside, while you chopped the garlic & shallots. 

* On a non-stick pan, heat up the OO then add butter till it starts to foam. Add in fish and cook till it's done on both sides. Set aside the fish. 

* Add in more OO if required, otherwise throw in the shallots & garlic. Cook till fragrant. Add in the white wine sauce and let it simmer till it's reduced till half. 

* Add back the fish, let it coated with the sauce. Add in the lemon juice and the dill. 

Serve over a bed of aglio olio.

***

Chili Aglio Olio (serve 2)

Ingredients:

* Spaghetti enough for 2

* 1-2 large clove of garlic, minced

* 1 red chili, deseed and minced

* grated parmesan cheese for seasoning

* 4 tbsp OO

How to:

* Cook pasta as per cooking instruction till al dente. Aglio Olio should be al dente. 

* In a non stick pan, heat up OO and toss in the garlic & red chili. Cook till fragrant. Add in the spaghetti and grated cheese, toss well. Grate some more cheese if needed. Serve hot. 

n.b. Do you know that when cooking the pasta, one has to add salt to the water so much that the pasta water is as salty as the Mediterranean sea? Don't say I didn't tell you..

Tuna Patties

Tuna Patties (makes 5 small patties) 

Original recipe is courtesy of someone, somewhere in the internet that I couldn't remember now.

Ingredients:

1 tin tuna, drained

1 clove garlic, minced

1 heaving tbsp of smallish chopped onion

 2 tbsp all purp. Flour

1 egg

1 tsp salt

½ tsp black pepper

1 tsp sesame oil

1 tbsp chives (which I skipped)

How to:

* Mix all ingredients.

* Heat up some oil in a non stick pan, drop a tablespoon of tuna mixture. 

Flatten using fork. Once it’s brown, turn. 

Bacalhau à Brás

Angola used to be a portuguese colony until late 19th century. The Portuguese fingerprints are very much evident to this day. From the language, food produce, cuisines and even the gestures one gives to another driver that simply means FO, the very same gesture Italians perused.

My Tio (my uncle in law, to be precise) was here in 1970s for 3 years to help restore peace in this war torn country. It's prolly a good thing I didn't understand much of portuguese, because H seems to always run away whenever this tio tries to reminisce his Angolan days :)

Anyway, I want to introduce an Angolan dish that's ubiquitously eaten in all parts of Angola and Portugal and perhaps in Brazil too. This is the one dish you'll be seeing during the holiday season, much like turkey around Thanksgiving Thursday. 

Bacalhau is actually a Portuguese word for Cod fish, but in culinary world, it is referring to salted, dried cod fish. Never the fresh ones. If you're looking for a fresh cod fish, it's called bacalhau fresco. This salted, dried fish (that's stinky to newbies) is not unique to Portugal only, but you can easily find it in Italy, Spain, even Norwegia, though perhaps not as common. It is said there are 365 ways of cooking Bacalhau  in Portugal, one for every single day of the year. 

Today, I'm introducing the most common, basic Bacalhau dish, called Bacalhau à Brás. 

The fish is sold by the gram, and doesn't come cheap. At times, much more expensive than the fresh ones. To use it, you have to soak it at least 48 hrs, while I always soak it for 72 hrs. The water will turn cloudy, not to mention the fish has a strong (unpleasant) smell, so make sure to change the water every 8 hours. I suppose if you soak it for fewer hours, you'll have a saltier fish taste. But once the meat is soft & crumble, I figured you can use it. 

Bacalhau à Brás (serve 2)

Ingredients:

* 200 gr desalted & crumbled bacalhau

* 6 baby potatoes, cut into 8 wedges

* 1 medium onion, diced

* 1 tsp garlic confit

* 2 eggs, beaten mixed with a dash of cream + milk

* Black olives, pitted & sliced. Use as many or as little as you want. Start with very 4 Olives. 

* 1.5 tbsp chopped parsley

* 1.5 tbsp lemon juice

* S+P

How to:

* In a pot, half boiled the potatoes. Before finishing them in a pan till brown and set aside. I used duck fat to brown my potato. Mmmm :)

* Once the potato is ready, in a heavy bottom pan, brown the onion with OO. Once it turns translucent, add in the garlic, toss. Add in the bacalhau and toss some more. Simmer for few minutes over low heat. 

* Add in the potatoes, toss. Add in the eggs mixture & pepper. Carefully stir to ensure the egg turns into soft curd & a tad creamy but cooked. 

* Turn off the fire. Add in the olives, squeeze some lemon juice & some chopped parsley, taste. Add some salt if needed. 

I have to admit bacalhau is not something that I love on first bite. In fact, I didn't like the version they did here in Angola (much too salty for my liking). It wasn't until I tried the various versions in Portugal that I learn to appreciate and love the dish. 

Baked Tuna Wonton

Inspired by Tuna Rangoon here, I sacrificed my wonton wrappers and made some party starters.

Tuna Wonton (yield 12 wontons)

Ingredients:
* 2 tin of tuna, drained
* 2 wedges of cream cheese (I use President)
* 1.5 tsp mayonaise
* 2 green onions/ chives
* 1 small red onion
* 1 clove garlic
* 12 wonton wrappers.  I used spring roll wrapper that I cut into 4 sheets each.

How to: 
* Preheat oven to 175 C.

* Add the green onions/ chives, red onion & garlic in a food processor, and spin for 5-10 sec till they are roughly minced.

* Add the rest of ingredients and spin for another few second. Try not to make the paste too smooth. Some texture is better.

* On your wrapper, dump 1.5 tsp of tuna paste right in the middle. Wet the edges and fold into triangle. Repeat for the rest of wrappers.

* Bake for 10 mins or less, till brown. Leave in wire rack till cool. You do not want to burn your tongue.

Serve with cold beer :)

Personal note: I think I will add some water chestnut, or pistachio or diced prosciutto to give it even more texture as you bite through. Even some mushroom will be good. But H loves it as it is. The skin is very crispy and the tuna is very smooth :) 

They are gone within 5 mins. Watch out, they are quite filling.

Day 3: Grilled Fish in Banana Leaves

I love fish. H loves (only) fish. Give him fish any day and he'll be one talkative bumblebee. Give him red meat, he'll feel he's a man, YEAHHH.. while secretly wishing for fish. Fish grilled in Banana Leaves should be a good compromise, no?

Recipe is from here.
Modification made on lime (being substituted by lemon) and the disappearance of curry leaves. I think the fact I didn't use Roma tomatoes made a lot of difference too.

Verdict: I would have liked it to be spicier, but generally it was surprisingly good! I used to eat the Indonesian version of this, but the addition of Garam Masala actually works. It would definitely taste (or smell) better on grill. I shall give it another go next time I get my hands on some good filet. I forgot H doesn't eat with his hands. Only with fork and knife. Sigh!!!

Afterthought: maybe next time I'll do with my pestle & mortar toy to pound on the tomatoes, shallots & garlic. Some red chilli are needed. End it with a lime, and definitely longer time on the pan. Or grill.