Saturday, July 30, 2011

Seafood Throw Down


Ingredients ~

One cup brown Basmati Rice 
12 jumbo shrimp pre cooked
1 cup sugar snap peas
1 ripe mango pealed and cubed
6 ounces salmon dusted with dried lemon peal
2 crab cakes (these were already in the freezer
that broke down from the other night, store bought,
you can read all about that magic day, on my main 
blog under the Snap Crackle Babble post)
1 cup orange juice
1 cup orange marmalade 
2 table spoons butter
A pour of extra virgin olive oil (*)
4 slices of pickled ginger chopped
(from a left over sushi craving of a few days prior)
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 cup salted macadamia nuts
1 large lime
a pinch of salt
dried lemon peal for the dusting of the salmon
1 shot of Tequila, preferably Reposado(mellow oak flavor)
3 sprigs of fresh thyme
2 cups mixed spring greens

Ok, this is how it works for me. When I get a taste for
something, but have no idea what I want, I peak in my fridge 
or freezer. Desires, flavors, ingredients start to holler. I grab this, 
grab that, oooh this would be great with that, oui oui, 
I must have this too, and the dish builds itself as I'm choosing, 
tasting, chefin' it up.

This throw down is easy, more of a tinker with time
ordeal than anything.

Rinse the rice, and place in a rice cooker, love my rice cooker,
plug and go rice, how great is that, let's me turn it on and
forget about it.

Wash the salmon, lightly dust with the dried lemon peal,
place on a baking pan with the 2 crab cakes,  temp 350
for 28 minutes.

Sauce pan on the stove on medium, pour in bit of olive oil
(laughs at myself, I forgot that on the ingredient list, goes up top
type type type, ok fixed (*), and the 2 tablespoons of butter. 
When it is melted, pour in the orange juice, add the marmalade,
salt, ginger, cayenne pepper, and tequila. Stir briefly to mix,
squeeze in half of the lime. Let this sauce bubble and simmer for 
about 5 to 10 minutes to reduce and thicken, not real thick, 
just like a syrup thick, coats the spoon but runny.

When you have 3 minutes left on the baking of the
fish and crab cakes, add to the sauce the shrimp, chopped
mango, sugar snap peas and thyme sprigs. Let simmer
while you plate the rice, seafood and spring greens.

This dish is very pretty, especially when you take a picture of it
BEFORE you begin eating(refers to the picture up top) which 
should have looked more like the description that follows.

Place half of a cup of rice on the top half of  two plates, half cup each.
Place in a tier formation, one half of the salmon, one crab cake,
adding the shrimp and sugar peas on top of all of the above. Pour over
this entire composition the sauce. Garnish with the macadamia nuts.
Toss a  handful of spring greens along the side plus 2 lime wedges.
(Sea salt macadamia nuts add a creamy texture. I smashed 
the whole ones into smaller chunks.)

Spritz the lime over the mixed greens and seafood for a nice
citrus contrast to the sweetness of the sauce.
I also add more cayenne 'cause I like it spicy. 

This serves 2 people, there will be rice left over, and
some of the sauce too, but after you taste it, maybe there won't!

Gnom Gnom Gnom 
~Isa

1 comment:

  1. You keep writing fantastic recipes like this and someone's going to throw you down!

    More please...

    ReplyDelete