Crab Cakes

Hello! 

After two weeks of California road trippin’, having an amazing time with my family, eating amazing food, just having an amazing experience.. I’m sure my waist line gained a few inches for letting loose. 

Missing the fresh seafood in the USA, I’ve decided to make and share this delicious recipe with you guys. This recipe makes for five cakes.

For the crab cakes:

• 170gr crab meat
• 150gr peppered smoked herring (or any smoked oily fish) 
• 1 medium sweet potato (mashed)
• 1 cup coooked finely chopped spinach 
• 1 egg (beaten) 
•  cup flour
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/2 cup breadcrumbs 

In a large bowl, combine the crab meat, smoked hearing, sweet potato and spinach. One is well mixed, shape into five patties. 

In three shallow bowls, put in each the egg, flour and breadcrumb. Cover each pattie with flour, dip in flour and fully cover it with breadcrumb. 

If you have a deep fat fryer, then perfect.. fry each pattie for about 2-3 minutes on each side at 190C or until it’s golden brown. Alternately heat the oil in a sauce pan and fry the crab cakes. 

Enjoy it with a nice fresh salad or some slaw! 

Blood Orange and Beetroot Salmon Gravlax

My housemate Jenny is this incredible Svenska that has refined my tastes in life – not only in life but in the way of living. 

This one goes to you Jenny! 

  
What you’ll need: 

• Whole side of salmon
• 6 tablespoons salt
• 2 tablespoons soft brown sugar
• 2 whole grated beetroots 
• zest and juice of 1 blood orange
• Handful of chopped dill 
• 3 tablespoons gin

Place the salmon skin side down in a large shallow roasting tray.

Rub the grated beetroot and orange rest on to the flesh. In a food processor combine salt, brown sugar, gin and orange juice and dill until it forms into a paste and place the mixture on top of the previous rub. 

Cover the tray with plastic wrap and  weight it down with another tray or any canned you have in the cupboard. Leave in the fridge to cure for at least 48hours. Once it’s ready remove the tray from the salmon and wipe off all the curing ingredients. Pat the salmon with kitchen towels to ensure its completely dry. When you’re ready to serve make sure you cut the salmon off the skin with a very sharp knife. 

  
I’ve served this with homemade anadama bread, avocado and a drizzle of Greek yoghurt with paprika. 

Enjoy! 
Ana 

Chinese Steamed Scallops with Vermicelli

Hello guys! 
So my mom was over on holiday and that is why I haven’t posted recently, I was busy being the great daughter that I am! haha

While she was here, we went to Billingsgate Market – my first time as well! – and I completely fell in love with the place! If I could, I would have bought the whole place.
My recipe for you today is Chinese Steamed Scallops with Vermicelli – This recipe is amazing however it takes time if you are buying fresh scallops, which I would definitely recommend for the visual effect of course.

  
 
Ingredients: 

• 6 half-shelled fresh scallops
• 30g of rice vermicelli 
• 1 tablespoon cooking oil 
• 8 middle size garlic cloves
• 1 handful coriander
• 2 spring onions
• 2 teaspoons sesame oil 
• Salt

In a large bowl, soak your vermicelli in boiling water. While the noodle softens, remove the scallop meat from its shell, with a spoon or a small knife and wash the meat under cold water to remove  sand or any dirty bits. You will also want to wash the shells to remove all dirt, as you will be using this to present/eat the dish.  

Place some water in wok and set up the steamer – You can place the shells directly into the steamer or you can put them on a plate, which is what I prefer. If you are not using a plate, you will need to place the vermicelli evenly in each shell under the scallop. Alternatively, place the bunch of vermicelli on the plate and drizzle with the sesame oil making sure that they are all coated – If you don’t do this, it might get stuck to the plate and you will curse at yourself when you try to wash that plate. 

Depending on the size of your steamer/wok, you might have to cook the scallops in 2 batches. 

Put the garlic in a blender or food processor, add the cooking oil, coriander, spring onions and salt to taste. Blitz the ingredients until it becomes a thick paste and scoop the mixture into each of the shells next to the scallop meat. 

Bring the water up to boiling and then continue to cook for 8-10 minutes.

This recipe takes a bit of time for preparation, but it is well worth the work. Serve the scallops with the vermicelli 

Enjoy! 

Ana x

Few of My Favorite Things

One of my favorite restaurants to go to in London is the Wright Brothers.. I have been to the one in Canarby Street in Soho too many times… Let’s say we spend about £100pp each time we go there.

 
Wright Brothers are known for their seafood.. fresh seafood from the southwest coast of England.

Testeiras, my housemate Jenny and I decided to go explore Borough Market. It’s like my own personal heaven.. Al the fresh vegetable, cheeses, cured meats, fresh bread and food stalls!

 
This is definitely a place I would recommend you to go if you ever decide to visit London…I am pretty sure I have eaten my weight in food… 8 oysters, half of a duck confit sandwich, a portion of salt and pepper squid, seafood platter to share for 3 people and 3 bottles of prosecco!

I have got a few cheeses with me that I’ll use for some recipes.. I’ve got pecorino sardo, pecorino and truffle, smoked ricotta. I have got both black and white truffle oil.

I would buy the whole borough market if I could!

Ana x

Lemon Sole and Salmon Ceviche

 

It’s paaaaayday! I always got a good excuse to buy fish.

Last night I’ve decided to treat myself for some Ceviche with rice vermicelli! It’s super delicious and it’s a great summer dish! I bought a whole side of salmon to do Gravlax (expect the recipe this weekend!) and I’ve cut off the side and tail for this ceviche recipe. I also used one whole lemon sole – big mistake of you don’t have the skills to remove the skin off ha like me! I spent way too much time butchering the fish – luckily I need the fish in small slices so it didn’t matter – but I’d advise you all to use sea bass or any non flat fish!

I’ve took the skin off both salmon and lemon sole and cut them up in thin slices. Put it all in a bowl with the juices of 3 or 4 lines, and some chopped up red chilies – I used 2 because I love it! Add chopped up coriander, half of a red onion, a whole red pepper, add a bunch of salt and black pepper. Mix everything up and put it in the fridge for at least 30min. The juices of the line and the chili will cure the fish and that way you’re not eating raw fish – if you are able to get fresh fish and like raw fish, you can cure it for a little at 5min/10min.

When the fish is almost ready, cook your rice vermicelli, make sure you don’t overcook it – nobody likes mushy vermicelli. Drain the water off and add some sesame oil to the vermicelli. I like it with quite a lot, it helps the vermicelli not stick together.

I’ve served mine with some fresh, ripe and ready to eat avocado!

 
No surprise that I had two servings!
Ana x

Roasted Salmon with Crab Mayonnaise

After teaching Matt how to make raviolis, I’ve decided to treat him for a nice main for all his hard work.

Below we have a roast fillet of salmon served with crab mayonnaise and grilled fennel.

Is this recipe mine? No.. I’ve seen the original one on Masterchef Ireland. Obviously the original dish contain more fancy ingredients like purlane and samphire and unfortunately my local sainsburys cannot provide that. They also use fresh crab for the crab mayonnaise, but I’ve got 2 tinned crab meats for £5.70.

I started by cutting the fennel in halves and frying them in butter until they softened. I then transferred them to the grill.

I pan fried the fillets of salmon skin side down with a oven proof pan with butter in high heat for about 3 min then transferred to the over on a very low heat – I’m sorry I don’t really know oven temperatures or times, I usually know when the food is done by looking or touching the food.

For the crab mayo, I drained two tins of crab meat and mixed it with your normal Heinz mayonnaise – I would usually take the time to follow the recipe and make my own mayonnaise, but since I was teaching someone who doesn’t really cook much, I tried to keep it simple and easy.

For the sauce, I used knorr fish stock pot and mixed a little bit of mayonnaise again. The stock on the original MasterChef recipe is made with fresh velvet crab but again, that isn’t something I can easily get in London – or cheap unfortunately.

I layed the 3 halves of roasted fennel on the plate and carefully spooned the sauce around, put the piece of salmon and two spoonfuls of crab mayonnaise  on top of the fennel and decorated it with a piece of terragon for some colour.

I hope you guys take the time to try this at home because it’s easy and delicious!

Ana x