Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Crab Cakes
Ingredients:
Extra-virgin olive oil
1 onion, finely minced
4 garlic cloves, finely minced
1 1/2 pounds jumbo lump crabmeat
1 1/2 cups fresh bread crumbs (I used ritz crackers instead)
2 tablespoons mayonnaise, plus more if needed
1 large egg white
1/2 lime, juiced
1/4 cup freshly chopped cilantro leaves, plus whole leaves, for garnish
salt
freshly cracked black pepper
You'll need to prepare the crabcakes first and put them in the fridge so they can firm up before you can fry them.
Heat olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook for 5 to 7 minutes, until the onion gets kind of caramelized. Dump that into a bowl and fold in the crabmeat, bread crumbs, mayonnaise, egg white, lime juice, and cilantro, mixing just until well blended. Season with salt and pepper. Shape the mixture into crab cakes, cover them up and then place them in the refrigerator to chill.
To serve, heat a olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add the crab cakes and cook for about 4 minutes each side until nice and crisp.
Rice and Baby Clams (Com Hen)
Rice and Baby Clams
3 cans of baby clams (drained)
1 tablespoon of minced ginger
1 finely diced onion
2-3 tablespoons of fish sauce
2 finely diced cloves of garlic
1/4th cup of shredded carrots
Heat 1-2 tablespoons of oil on a pan and saute garlic, onions, and ginger. Once the mixture is slightly golden add carrots. Fry for another couple of minutes then add clams and fish sauce and season to taste.
I like to eat this dish in a hot pot so that the rice is crispy. I sprayed the pot with non stick cooking spray and heated it on the stove for a couple of minutes. I then added rice and a couple of teaspoons of oil around the rim to make the rice crispy and added the clam mixture on top. Once ready to serve, I added some crispy pork rinds. The sauce is a mixture of soy sauce and spicy sate sauce.
Cream Puffs
Her recipe is as follows:
Choux Pastry:
- 1/2 cup (70 grams) all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon granulated white sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) (57 grams) unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup (120 ml) water 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- Egg Wash Glaze: 1 large egg 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (240 ml) heavy whipping cream
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon (14 grams) granulated white sugar
- Powdered (Confectioners or icing) sugar
Instead of using the whipped cream above, I used her fruit tart pastry cream recipe (http://www.joyofbaking.com/FruitTart.html) and mixed it with some vanilla pudding! You can play around with the mixture to you get the right consistency.
Custard Recipe from Joy of Baking
Pastry Cream:
- 1 1/4 cups (300 ml) milk
- 1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
- 3 large egg yolks
- 1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated white sugar
- 1/8 cup (20 grams) all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons (20 grams) cornstarch (corn flour)
- 3/4 tablespoon (10 ml) liqueur (Grand Marnier, Brandy, Kirsch) (optional)
I used this Wilton Cookie Master Plus to make the Puffs:
On the subject of cream puffs, on a recent trip to NYC, I tried Beard Papas (http://www.muginohousa.com/) cream puffs for the first time. This place is a Japanese franchise that is known for the world's best cream puffs! No doubt they were good, they were pretty big in size too but they're only good if you consume them there. They make it fresh and fill the puff with the custard as you order. The puffs are thin and crisp and the custard filling is fluffy and not too sweet and you have a choice of the regular vanilla cream or green tea. For the puff, you have a choice of the regular puff or puffs with a captain crunch link mixture on it. I bought a box and ate them later and they weren't so good. I'm also not too fond of the green tea custard filling.
Beard Papa's:
2167 Broadway
New York, NY 10024
(212) 799-3770
Summer Recap
It was on sale at www.newegg.com for 175, with free shipping, a camera case, and 2 gig SD Card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16830120251
I've taken a few trips this summer so I'll be posting pictures from that and other pics i've found on my computer. Stay tuned!