Prawns with nam jim dressing and crunchy salad

Nam Jim is a traditional Thai dressing is hot sour and tangy, try it over rare seared beef with sesame seeds, absolutely stunning.

 

Ingredients

for the tempura batter and prawns

1 egg

1 cup ice water/cold water

1 cup all purpose flour, sifted

half a dozen large king/tiger prawns, shelled but with tail on

for the nam jim

2 tablespoons fish sauce
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
2 garlic cloves
2 tablespoons palm sugar
2-3 red shallots or half a small red onion chopped
3-4 bird’s eye chillies (to taste)
2 tablespoons chopped coriander leaves or 1 fresh root
Pinch of salt

For the salad

1 carrot

½ small white cabbage

A small handful of sugar snap peas

A small handful of beansprouts

1 sheet of medium egg noodles

2tsp Sesame oil

2tsp Sesame seeds

1tsp honey

2tsp soy sauce

Method

For the nam jim - In a large pestle and mortar, crush the garlic with the salt, add the coriander and chillies and roughly pound. Stir in the sugar, fish sauce, lime juice and finely chopped shallots.

For the salad - Cook the egg noodles as per the packet instructions, its usually simmer for 10 minutes until tender.

Cut the carrots into quarters lengthways then using a sharp knife, a food processor attachment or a mandolin slice the carrot as thinly as possible, so you have long thin slivers of carrot. Do the same with the cabbage.

Toss all the ingredients together in a large bowl.

For more flavour gently toast your sesame seeds in a dry pan over a medium heat until they are golden. This releases lots more flavour than adding them un toasted.

For the tempura batter Beat an egg in a bowl. Add ice water in the bowl. Be sure to use very cold water. Add sifted flour in the bowl and mix lightly. Be careful not to overmix the batter. Coat the prawns in flour then into batter and fry in vegetable oil until golden.

 

Cod and chorizo risotto

Cod and chorizo are culinary best friends, this is a really quick delicious supper, ready in under 30 minutes, give it a go with salmon or another fish, or leave the fish out completely, whatever you like!

If you want to splash out on your chorizo, check the Bath Pig, they are proper safe, best ive ever tasted, and they mail order.

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil

25g/1oz butter

1 onion or shallot, peeled, very  finely chopped

350g/12oz risotto rice such as Arborio or Carnaroli

150ml/5fl oz white wine

1 litre/1¾ pints chicken stock, hot (keep it hot in a pan on the hob)

75g/3oz parmesan

salt and freshly ground black pepper

200g/7oz  chorizo, diced

2x 125g/4½oz fillets of cod

chopped fresh parsley

Method

Heat the olive oil and butter in a large saucepan over a medium heat. When the butter has melted, add the chorizo and fry until golden and its released its paprika juices.

Turn the heat right down and add the onion, stir to coat it in the fat, then sweat very gently for 8-10 minutes, stirring halfway through cooking, until the onions are softened but not coloured.

Add the rice and stir for 1-2 minutes, turn the heat up then pour in the wine.

The wine whould bubble and boil, thats exactly what your after.

Reduce the heat until the mixture is simmering and simmer for 2-3 minutes, or until the wine has been absorbed by the rice.

Add a ladleful of the hot stock to the rice and bring to a simmer. Stir regularly until all of the stock has been absorbed. Repeat this process until all of the stock has been used up and the rice is tender and the risotto is creamy. This should take 20-25 minutes.

Stir in the cheese, reserving a little for serving. Season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper and a knob of butter for flavour.

While the risotto is cooking, heat a frying pan over a medium to high heat. Season the cod fillets with salt and pepper and add the cod skin side down  and fry on a high heat for 3 minutes, don’t touch the fillet, just leave it skin side down.

Flip the fillets, turn the heat off and again set the timer for 3 minutes.  The fillets will cook in the residual heat of the pan.

The skin should be really crisp, sprinkle with a little salt and serve along side the risotto sprinkled with the chopped parsley.

Immense.

Mussels with white wine (can be done with pasta)

This is a versatile dish as its kind of 2 meals in 1, the mussels themselves are perfect with a chunk of French bread and butter and a green salad, but to make them more substantial and to eak out the mussels if you are feeding a few people, the simple addition of pasta to the sauce gives the dish a different dimension.  They also make a great starter.
A quick note about mussels, getting fresh shellfish is really really important, if you eat a baddie then you’ll know about it, they can make you very poorly.  You need to eat mussels alive.  You can test if they are alive or not by following the below steps.

BEFORE COOKING:
If the mussel is closed its good and you can use it.
If the mussel is open give it a sharp tap and if it closes then its alive and you can use it, if it doesn’t close then its dead and you must discard it.
AFTER COOKING:
If any mussels have remained closed discard them, they are dead.

 Ingredients
Serves 2
A glug of olive oil
1 garlic cloves, crushed or chopped
2 shallots, sliced
400g mussels in shells, beards removed (get your fishmonger to do it for you)
100ml white wine
70ml double cream
A bunch of chopped fresh parsley
300g pasta of your choice, I like spaghetti or linguini
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 lemon juice only.
Method
Cook the pasta as per the pack instructions in lots of salted boiling water, get this on first as the mussels will only take 5 minutes.
For the mussels, heat the olive oil in a lidded saucepan over a medium heat. Add the garlic and shallots and sauté for two minutes, until softened.
Add the mussels and white wine, stir well and place the lid on. Allow the mussels to steam for 3-4 minutes, then remove the lid and check that all the mussels have opened. Discard any that have not opened.
Remove the mussels from the pan into a separate bowl.
Add the double cream, fresh parsley and cooked pasta to the pan and stir adding the lemon juice, salt and pepper..

Add the pasta direct from the water it was boiled in to the mussels pan, a bit of water wont hurt it.  Drizzle with extra virgin oil and a little more parsley.