Chik's Crib: February 2021

21 February 2021

Garlic Butter Prawn (Shrimp Scampi) Pasta Recipe

Seafood February 21, 2021 0

I have to say, the first time I did this recipe, I poured vermouth into the hot pan and the liquor erupted into flames half a metre high, almost scorching my cabinets. Although... I'm still not quite sure how it happened (was it because of wayward flames licking up the sides of the skillet?), and while I didn't manage to replicate the event again (thank goodness!), I have to say it instilled a little extra bit of wariness into me whenever I add liquor to a hot pan from now on.

Aside from the 20/20 hindsight of a haphazard cook, I have to say that this dish is one that you can whip up with minimal prep on a weekday dinner, and tastes incredibly luxurious. Continuing my trend of one-potting my meals, this is simple to do, and the resulting pasta far outpaces the effort it entails.

Garlic Butter Prawn (Shrimp Scampi) Pasta Recipe
Original Recipe from Serious Eats
Makes 3-4 servings

Despite the above picture, my favourite pasta to go along with this dish happens to be penne. Cook to al dente, then toss in the pan with shrimp and sauce, adding a little pasta-cooking water to bind it all together.

INGREDIENTS

1 pound (450g) large shrimp, deshelled and veins removed
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3+1 tablespoons (45+ml) extra-virgin olive oil
4 teaspoons (16g) minced garlic (about 4 medium cloves)
A large pinch of red pepper flakes
1/2 cup (120ml) dry vermouth
3 tablespoons (45g) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon-size pieces
1 tablespoon (15ml) fresh juice
1 teaspoon (4g) grated zest from 1 lemon
2 teaspoons (8g) minced parsley, tarragon, and chives
300g dried pasta

STEPS

1. In a large bowl, mix salt and baking soda with shrimp. Let it sit for 10 minutes to 1 hour to tenderise.

2. In a wideset pan filled with water, let it come to a boil. Salt the water, and add pasta. Cook it 1 minute less than the called time on the pasta package.

3. Meanwhile, in a large skillet set over high heat, add 3 tablespoons (45ml) olive oil until shimmering. Add half of prepared shrimp and cook in an even layer until pink and just starting to turn lightly golden in spots, about 1 minute. Flip shrimps over and cook for on the other side for another minute, and then remove shrimps onto a clean plate. Repeat with remaining shrimp, adding more olive oil if necessary to prevent sticking and burning. Remove shrimps.

4. Turn heat down to medium. Add 1 tablespoon (15ml) olive oil to skillet along with minced garlic and red pepper flakes. Stir constantly, until garlic is just starting to turn golden, about 1 minute.

5. Turn up the heat back to high. Add vermouth to deglaze the pot, scraping up any fond as you do so, until about half of the vermouth is boiled off and the raw alcohol smell is gone, about 3 minutes.

6. Add butter. As the butter melts, stir briskly and swirl the pan around to create a silky, emulsified sauce. Remove from heat and add lemon juice. Bring the pan back to a simmer over medium heat, stirring constantly. (If sauce breaks, whisk in a teaspoon or two of water until sauce emulsifies again.)

7. Return shrimp to skillet. Add herbs and lemon zest and toss until all ingredients combine. Add the pasta, which should be just about done, stirring briskly as you do until nicely coated with the sauce. Transfer to serving plates and season with a finishing salt, such as fleur de sel or large flakes of sea salt. Serve immediately.

13 February 2021

Paella Recipe

Recipe February 13, 2021 0

Waddling into another cuisine is always a little of a minefield, especially when attempting a dish iconic of the cuisine. Case in point: the paella. There's a lot of debate regarding what goes into a traditional paella, and adding something non-traditional can send quite a few people into an apoplexy. It can be daunting trying a dish for the first time, but this recipe from J. Kenji López-Alt couldn't be more simple to follow. This is the ultimate one-pan recipe: easily customisable (don’t hate on me!) and simple to prepare.

Paella Recipe

Recipe by J. Kenji López-Alt

Makes 4 servings in an 8-inch skillet

I'm the first to sigh when a recipe doesn't come in metric form, but I admit that for this recipe, measuring everything in volume is much faster, which is great when dealing with high heat. The rule of thumb is about 100ml of rice per person, and to put in 2.5x the volume of water to the volume of rice.

INGREDIENTS

Half a chicken, chopped into pieces

1-2 tsp fine salt

3-4 tbsp olive oil

1 cup green bean/ yardlong beans, chopped into roughly 2 inches long

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

2 tomatoes, chopped finely

2 tsp smoked paprika

Large pinch of saffron

400ml rice (Spanish Bomba/Calasparra, or controversially, Italian Arborio or Japanese sushi rice)

1L water, or chicken stock

Rosemary, to taste

STEPS

1. Season chicken with salt. Set aside.

2. Set your skillet over medium-high heat. Add olive oil and heat until shimmering. Add chicken; turn over after a few minutes to allow the chicken to brown on all sides.

3. Clear a space in the centre of the skillet and add green beans. Stir to combine with chicken. By this way of clearing a space in the centre of the skillet one at a time for each ingredient, add garlic, then tomato, and then the paprika/saffron. Stir to combine after each addition.

4. Add rice to the skillet and allow it to toast for about a minute, then add chicken stock (or water). Add rosemary.

5. Increase the heat to high, and allow the liquid ingredients to come to a boil. Leave uncovered for about 20 mins, until most of the liquid has evaporated and you’re left with a nice crust of socarrat.

6. Serve immediately.

08 February 2021

Chez Panisse Almond Tart Recipe

Recipe February 08, 2021 0

The first time I made this almond tart, it was in a dingy muffin pan. It was small and shapeless, and part of the sides had collapsed inwards. It was with no small amount of persuasion that I managed to convince my visiting sister, who viewed the misshapen almond tart with great suspicion, to have a taste of the almond tart. (I have no idea why she mistrusts my baked goods so much. It's not like I have a history of fobbing my failed experiments onto others in the hope that they might like it more than I do...) But one bite was all it took for her to declare that this was one of the best tart she has had.

This is one of those recipes that I return to intermittently. Some time since 2015, I left this recipe by the wayside, published it in 2017 but somehow, it just fell out of rotation over the years until now. It's not the easiest recipe to do, but on the bright side, once your apartment fills up with the heady fragrance of almond tart caramelising in the oven, it's hard to resist.

Chez Panisse Almond Tart Recipe

Adapted from the LA Times

Original recipe by Lindsey Shere, co-owner and pastry chef of Chez Panisse

Makes one 8-inch tart, or 2x 4.5-inch tart.

Tart Ingredients
115g (1/2 cup) butter, chilled, cut into little pieces

140g (1 cup) flour
1 tablespoon sugar
3 to 4 drops almond extract
3 to 4 drops vanilla extract
1 tablespoon cold water

Almond Filling Ingredients
250g (1 cup) heavy cream

150g (3/4 cup) granulated sugar

Pinch of salt
1 tablespoon Grand Marnier or Ameretto
1 tablespoon kirsch (optional)
2 drops almond extract (optional)
80g almonds, each chopped roughly into halves

Steps
1) Mix flour and sugar, and using your fingertips, rub butter into the dry ingredients, until just incorporated. If working in a hot environment, it is helpful to chill the flour-sugar mixture (along with the utensils) in the fridge before combining with the butter. Alternatively, this step can be done using a food processor

2) Add almond extract, vanilla extract and cold water.

3) Scoop out the dough onto a large piece of cling wrap. Gather the dough into a ball and flatten slightly. Wrap well and chill thoroughly in the fridge/freezer, for at least an hour.

4) When ready, unwrap dough and press into the tart mold. (Reserve a small amount of dough to patch up the tart if cracks form after baking.) Press dough evenly over bottom and sides of pan, about 1/8-inch thick. Try to get the dough relatively flat on the bottom, and push it evenly up the sides with your thumbs. Because the wall of the tart can soften during baking and pool at the corner of the pie, I like to make a shallower groove along the corners of the mold, so it ends up more even. Prick shell lightly all over with a fork and return to the fridge for about 1 hour. The colder the dough, the less the wall will melt down as it bakes! Dough may be refrigerated 8 hours or frozen.

6) When ready, bake tart shell at 190C until shell begins to brown along the edges, about 10-15 minutes. Because tart pans usually leave no clear spaces to have a good hold with oven mittens, I bake my tart in a big tray so it's easy to bring it in and out of the oven.

7) Remove tart shell from oven. Patch any holes in shell by smoothing small bits of reserved dough over tears. (You don't have to bake it again after patching; the heat from the pie just-out-of-the-oven would do the trick. If you didn't save a small bit of dough, you can make a thick slurry of flour and water, and use it to patch the cracks.)

8) While the tart is baking, make the filling by combining whipping cream, sugar, salt in a large saucepan. Bring to full rolling boil over medium-heat; it will bubble thickly and foam up. At this point, keep it over the stove and continue boiling for 5 more minutes. Then remove from flame, and add Grand Marnier, kirsch, almond extract and almonds . Set to steep for about 15 minutes. Once the tart shell is ready, remove from oven and pour the filling in.

9) In the oven set to 180C, bake the tart on the center rack for 12 to 15 minutes.

- Using a wooden spatula, gently break up any hardening surfaces of the filling that developing a hard exterior. Being more vigilant at the start, and then being less so as the caramel forms.

- Because the filling can bubble and overflow before it caramelises, setting the tart mold in a baking tray prevents making a huge mess in the oven. Sometimes, when the edges of the pies may also brown too fast, and I will wrap a piece of aluminium foil around the sides so it doesn't burn before the pie filling caramelises.

- Rotate tart frequently during last 15 minutes of baking so top is even deep golden brown (when the filling is the color of coffee with a light touch of cream in it and there are no large pockets of gooey white filling). Overcooking the filling will cause it to seize up and turn grainy.

10) Remove tart to cake rack and let cool to room temperature before cutting. The tart is best on the day itself, though it can keep for about 2-3 days in an air tight container.

VARIATIONS: Other nuts, such as macadamia or pecans, can be used. I was using pecan in the video above, which tasted pretty decadent. Depending on the size of the nuts, you may use more or less nuts than specified (I squeezed in about 120g whole pecans)