Seafood Gratin

Coucou,

When we were in Asia few months back, mon mari has made a seafood gratin for my birthday dinner with all the family member. What can I say, everyone in the family gives him thumps up because the food was really delicious. I recently asked him to make seafood gratin again and again because sometime I craving for food with specific texture like crunchy, soft and creamy, and this seafood gratin now is one of my favourite dish.

SEAFOOD GRATIN

Ingredients:

400g fresh seafood (prawns, mussels, scallops, squid and fish)
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 shallot, chopped
1cm ginger, chopped
1 red chilli, chopped
1 carrot, julienne
2 cup button mushroom, sliced
1 leek, sliced
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
1- 1 1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup bread crumbs
Salt and pepper to taste

METHOD:

- Preheat oven 180°.
- In a large saucepan, heat up some olive oil and fry garlic, shallot, ginger and chilli until fragrant.
- Add in carrot, mushroom and leeks, and cook until the vegetables are softened but not completely cooked. Season with salt and pepper.
- Transfer the vegetables in a baking dish, set aside.
- Use the same saucepan, heat some oil and cook all the seafood for a couple of minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
- Transfer the seafood and mix well with the vegetables in the baking dish. Set aside.

To prepare the sauce;
- Melted butter in a saucepan and add flour, continue stirring and pouring the milk little by little.
- Season with salt and pepper and keep stirring for a couple of minutes or until the sauce has thickened slightly.
- Pour the sauce on the vegetables seafood mixture and mix everything well.
- Sprinkle with bread crumbs on top and bake for 40-50 minutes or until the bread crumbs turned golden brown.

Bon appétit!

Chilli Crab

Bonjour,

One of the thing that I remember cooking by myself as a child are chilli crab. I made chilli crab or chilli prawns many times since then. In fact, I love the thick savoury sauce and it was so tasty and so good to eat with rice or bread. Since the crab season has just begun, this is the time to cook chilli crab rather than just boiled it.

We had a big crab here in Brittany, so most of the crabs needs to be boiled first but if using a normal small blue crabs, just cook it directly with the sauce until they are cooked, as simple as that.

CHILLI CRAB

Ingredients;

1-2 crabs, depends on the size
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 red chilli
2 shallot
2 cloves garlic
1cm ginger
2 tablespoon ketchup
2 tablespoon chilli sauce
Salt, pepper and sugar to taste

METHOD;

- Clean and boil the crab until it cooked through. Set aside.
- Blend the chilli, shallot, garlic, and ginger into a fine paste.
- Heat up some oil in a wok or large saucepan and fry chilli garlic paste until fragrant.
- Add in a cup of water and allow it to boil.
- Add ketchup, chilli sauce and season with salt, pepper and sugar.
- Once the sauce are slightly thickens, add in beaten egg, stirring and cook for another couple of minutes.
- Throw in the crabs and stir until all crabs are well coated.
- Dish out and serve with hot rice or bread.

Bon appétit!

Shell Out At Home

Salut,

Shell out literally a bucket of seafood dumped on the table for everyone to enjoy and this kind of seafood meal popular in Malaysia since few years ago. Shell out is a new way to eat out in the restaurant, served the variety of seafood on the table with a plastic tablecloth and eating with hand without using any fork or spoon. Nowadays, there are many shell out restaurant open due to popular demand and in fact people like this new concepts of eating.

We had a shell out dinner with friends last few days and to be honest, we didn't expect that our friends could enjoy the dinner because the concept of eating with hand is something new for them. Surprisingly, it was an exceptional dinner and they really enjoying the meal, they loved the variety of seafood, the sauce and the butter rice.

One thing for sure, we would do more shell out at home in the future but this is also depend on the seafood season and what we can get in the market. This shell out recipe source from masam manis blogspot, one of my favourite cooking blog.

SHELL OUT

(Recipe for 4 persons)

Ingredients;

500g mussels
500g assorted clams
500g prawns/crabs
4 potatoes
1 brocolli

For the sauce
A:
2 shallot, sliced
2 cloves garlic, sliced
2cm ginger, sliced
1 sprig curry leaves, optional

B:
2 onion
2 shallot
2 cloves garlic
2cm ginger
10-12 dry chilli, soak in hot water

Seasoning:
2 tablespoon curry powder
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1/2 chicken/vegetables cube
Salt, pepper and sugar to taste

METHOD;

- Boil all the seafood until just cooked, set aside.
- Boil the potatoes and brocolli until tender, set aside.
- Blend all the B ingredient into a fine paste, set aside.
- Heat some oil and a little bit butter in a large saucepan or wok and fry A ingredients until fragrant.
- Add blended ingredients and cook for a few minutes over medium low heat or until the sauce are slightly dry.
- Add curry powder and cook for a few seconds.
- Add oyster sauce, fish sauce and season with salt, pepper and sugar. Add a little water and cook for another minutes.
- Add in boiled seafood and stir until all seafood evenly coated.
- Serve in a large oval plate or direct on the table with a plastic tablecloth.
- Put the boiled potatoes and brocolli all over the seafood.
- Serve with butter rice.

BUTTER RICE

Ingredients;

2 cups Thai rice
2 cups water
1 carrot, cut into small cube
4 tablespoons salted butter

METHOD;

- Wash the rice and put in the rice cooker or saucepan.
- Add water, carrot and butter, press the rice cooker and let it cook itself.
- If cooking without rice cooker, bring it to boil and simmer for 15 minutes or until the rice is cooked.

Enjoy the shell out!

Mussels in Shaoxing Wine

Salut,

A couple of weeks ago, we had mussels for dinner while we were camping in Cancale and few days ago, we had mussels again for dinner. Most of the seafood price are quite cheaper at this time, and the mussels that we had tastes really good. Mussels are so easy to cook and with just a few simple ingredients, we had a great food for dinner.

Most people here cooking mussels with white wine, shallot and parsley, but mon mari used to cook with shaoxing wine, shallots, garlic, ginger, chilli and it sure the shaoxing rice wine taste even better than white wine.

MUSSELS IN SHAOXING WINE

Ingredients;

1 kg mussels, scrub and cleaned
2 shallots, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2cm fresh ginger, chopped
1 red chilli, seeded and chopped
200ml Shaoxing cooking wine
Pepper to taste

METHOD;

- Heat up some oil in a large saucepan and fry shallots, garlic, ginger and chillies until fragrant.
- Add Shaoxing wine and bring to boil.
- Add cleaned mussels, season with pepper and cover with a lid.
- Cook the mussels until the shells are opened.

Bon appétit!

Kam Heong Crab

Ni hao..

Chinese food are almost everywhere in the world and some of the Chinese food in Malaysia are slightly different from authentic Chinese food in China. Somehow the Chinese cuisine is more of fusion type with the combination between Malay, Chinese and Indian. This kam heong crab is one of the popular Malaysian Chinese style dish in Chinese restaurant.

When we were in Sabah last summer holiday, we went to one of Chinese seafood restaurant and ordered kam heong crab, the dish that mon mari loves the most during the holiday. I promised him I would make this dish one day and last few days, I made kam heong crab. He was so happy and keep saying the food was exceptional and super delicious! Mission accomplish!

KAM HEONG CRAB

Ingredients;

1-2 crabs, depend on the size
2 tablespoons dry shrimp, soaked in water and drained, coarsely chopped
4 shallot, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 lemongrass, chopped (optional)
3-4 small chillies, chopped
2 stems curry leaves

Seasoning (mix together)
1 1/2 tablespoon curry powder
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
2 tablespoon dark soy sauce
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
Salt and pepper to taste

METHOD;

- If using the big crab like what we had in Britanny, boiled the crab until it cook, drained and cut into 2. If using the small crab, deep fried for few minutes and set aside.
- Heat up about 4 tablespoons oil in a wok and fry curry leaves until crispy, about 1-2 minutes. Set aside.
- Fry shallot, garlic, lemongrass and chillies until fragrant and slightly browned.
- Add in the seasoning and curry leaves and cook for a minutes. Add a little bit of water and season with salt and pepper if necessary.
- Toss in the crabs and stir well until the crabs are well coated.
- Dish out and serve with rice.

Bon appétit!

Cassoulet De Fruits De Mer

Salut,

French cuisine. Yes, this is a recipe from Brittany, France and mon mari has made a cassoulet de fruits de mer few weeks ago. It would be easier if we call seafood gratin but since the recipe is a French recipe, so let's just call it what it is.

Brittany also known for its seafood and most of the fresh seafood dishes is fairly simple to prepare. Frozen seafood is good but for the recipe like this, fresh seafood is better. Here's the recipe.

CASSOULET DE FRUITS DE MER

Ingredients:

200g fresh fish fillet
200g fresh prawns
100g scallops
100g squids or mussels
1 shallot, sliced
1 carrot, sliced
1 cup mushroom, sliced
2 tablespoon butter
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon flour
1/2 cup bread crumbs
Salt and pepper to taste

METHOD:

- To prepare the sauce, melted butter in the saucepan.
- Add flour and stirring occasionally while pouring the milk.
- Season with salt and pepper and stirring for one more minute. Set aside.
- Heat little oil in another saucepan and fry shallot until fragrant.
- Add carrot and mushroom and cook for about 5 minutes.
- Add fish fillet, prawns, scallop and squids or mussels.
- Season with salt and pepper and cook the seafood for another few more minutes.
- Preheat the oven 200°.
- Pour the seafood mixture into buttered baking dish and pour the sauce on top.
- Sprinkle with bread crumbs on top and bake for 30-40 minutes.
- And voila, bon appétit!