Calamari salad with sesame seeds, fennel, cucumber & chili #182

Hello, it´s time for some calamari, this time I am serving it in a salad with Asian flavors. It is fairly simple to make, the base is chopped cucumber, fennel and seared calamari and then I added toasted sesame seeds, cilantro, sesame oil, chili and some seaweed. 

The salad keeps for a few hours in the fridge so it is a good dish to have prepared beforehand, also if you´re serving guests who are not big fans of calamari it is a great way to learn to like it since it´s not the dominant flavor of the dish. Some people don´t like the texture of calamari either and since it´s chopped and seared it is not so noticeable.

Calamari salad with sesame seeds, fennel, cucumber & chili

calamari, fresh or frozen

sesame seeds

fresh red chili

cucumber

fennel

sesame oil

dried wakame seaweed (can be found in most Asian food stores)

olive oil

salt, pepper

fresh cilantro

fresh lime

Chop the calamari into cubes and sear in a frying pan with some vegetable oil, season with salt and pepper. Once cooked add the calamari to a bowl and dice the cucumber and slice the fennel and add to the bowl. Dice the chili and cilantro and add together with some olive oil, sesame oil and lime juice.

Bring water to the boil in a pot and add some dried wakame seaweed, let it simmer for one minute, discard the water and rinse the wakame in cold water, then chop the seaweed and add to the salad.

In a dry pan roast the sesame seeds until they are golden, once done add to the bowl and combine all ingredients, adjust flavors using oil, salt, pepper and lime if necessary. Be a bit careful with the chili since it takes a while for the flavors to come forward.

Pulled beef tacos with apple & fennel coleslaw #160

Pulled pork and pulled beef are great to put on tacos, the other day I´ve got some pulled beef left over from making tacos and decided to make some mini tacos and add a fresh coleslaw and a few drops of Sriracha sauce on top. I made my pulled beef in a clay pot with some chillies, onion, garlic and some steak sauce and it turned out great, of course you don´t need to get a clay pot if you don´t have one, just use any other pot with a lid that can be used inside an oven or you could roast the meat without any pot but I think it sometimes gets a bit dry when I do that.

The coleslaw is made with fresh apples, fennel, yogurt, mayonnaise and a little bit of cress. I use the yogurt the make it a little bit lighter in both fat and taste. If you´re not into fennel you can of course replace it with any cabbage you like. For the bread I bought regular wheat tortillas and cut them i nacho size pieces so the tacos would be small enough to eat in one bite.

Pulled beef tacos with apple & fennel coleslaw

beef, one big piece that´s good for slow cooking (I used chuck roll)
dried chillies, (I used ancho and cayenne)
garlic
steak sauce (I used Sweet Baby Rays)
onion
water
salt, pepper

fennel
apples
mayonnaise
yogurt
cress
salt, pepper

tortilla bread
Sriracha sauce

Chop the onion and garlic and add in a pot with the meat, chillies, steak sauce, salt and pepper, add a little bit of water and put the lid on. Place the pot in an oven and cook on low temperature (about 120°C / 250F) for 6-8 hours or until the meat is tender enough to pull. Once done pull the beef and add more chillies, salt, pepper and steak sauce if necessary.

Slice the fennel thinly and cut the apples in julienne, combine with equal parts yogurt and mayonnaise, add the cress and season with salt and pepper.

Cut the tortillas into small round pieces, add a spoonful of pulled beef and top it off with the coleslaw and a few drops of Sriracha, serve.

Blood orange, beet and fennel salad #155

Blood oranges are in season so it´s time to put some of these delicious fruits into good use. What I like about blood oranges is the extra acidity that make them great for using in more savory dishes. The salad is very simple, raw yellow beets, shaved fennel and a vinaigrette made from the juice from the blood orange, olive oil and a little bit of salt and pepper.

Blood orange, beet and fennel salad

blood oranges
fennel
yellow beets
cress
chives
olive oil
salt, pepper

Cut away the skin of the orange and cut out each wedge leaving only the meat of the orange. Squeeze the leftovers of the orange and set the juice aside. Wash the fennel and the shave thin slices of it using an potato peeler. If you are preparing this dish ahead of time you can put the fennel in some cold water with a little bit of lemon juice to keep it crunchy. It will loose a bit of it´s flavor so the best thing is to do it just before serving. Peel the beets and wash them then slice thin slices with the potato peeler.

Combine the orange wedges, fennel and beets and add a little bit of cress and sliced chives. Season with salt and pepper. Add olive oil, salt and pepper to the orange juice and add a little bit of vinaigrette to the salad.
Serve.

New Years recipe ideas with Asian flavors

New Years Eve is coming up and if you haven´t decided on what to serve I have picked some of my own favorite recipes from Delicious Tapas and have some great suggestions for you!

This is the sixth and final post in this series and it will be focused on Asian flavors and inspiration

All recipes can be found in their original post that I have linked for each dish. I haven´t suggested any dessert but since I´m not that much into desserts. But if I have to recommend something I would go for any great ice cream, because who doesn´t love ice-cream?

New Years menu with Asian flavors

Appetizers - these appetizers is quite light in flavor and is a great start to any meal.

Vietnamese spring rolls with sesame seeds and soy dipping sauce
Calamari with cilantro, lime and spring onion
Mussels with Thai flavors

Starter

Scallop in dashi with wakame and chili oil

I love this dish, the sweet scallop in combination with the wakame and dashi makes it one of my own favorites and I think it´s perfect as an Asian inspired starter.

Main course

For the main course it´s time for some meat, soy braised ribs with some Momofuku quick pickles and rice balls on the side.

Soy braised ribs with chili and cilantro
Momofuku quick salt pickles
Rice balls with cilantro and chili soy dip

New years recipe ideas for seafood lovers

New Years Eve is coming up and if you haven´t decided on what to serve I have picked some of my own favorite recipes from Delicious Tapas and have some great suggestions for you!

This is part two in this series and for this post I will focus on seafood.

All recipes can be found in their original post that I have linked for each dish. I haven´t suggested any dessert but since I´m not that much into desserts. But if I have to recommend something I would go for any great ice cream, because who doesn´t love ice-cream?

Seafood New Years Menu

Appetizers - to start off a great night of loads of seafood I´m serving raw oysters with grapefruit, cooked crab claws with mayonnaise and crostinis with bleak roe. These are all served cold and will go great with some Champagne.

Oysters with grapefruit, onion, chili & chives
Crab claws with aioli & salt
Roe on toast with cress and lemon crème fraiché

Starter

After some great appetizers I´m serving a cod carpaccio with capers and red onion.

Cod carpaccio with capers and red onion

Main course

Cod with fennel, champagne sauce & fresh herbs

For the main course I´m serving another cod dish, this is a cod fillet with champagne sauce, since my original recipe is served small like a tapas you can make the main course bigger and add more vegetables if you feel your guests need some extra stuff to keep them full.

Cod with fennel, champagne sauce & fresh herbs #125

This is more of an traditional appetizer but as long as it tastes good it´s good enough. I shaved the fresh fennel and then wrapped it around the cod fillets and fixated it with cling film. Then I poached the fish in water for about ten minutes.

This may look a bit tricky and it can be but it´s a fun way to present the fish in a new way. It makes no difference for the taste of the dish so if you don´t want it to get to complicated then just serve the fish with the fennel lightly cooked on the side.

Cod with fennel, champagne sauce & fresh herbs

fresh cod fillets
champagne
fennel
fish stock
cream
shallots
fresh herbs, dill, cress, fennel dill,
salt, pepper
butter

Season the cod with salt and pepper, shave the fennel lengthwise and put them side by side on top on a sheet of cling film so that almost the whole piece of film is covered. Put the cod fillets on the fennel and wrap the whole thing around the fish. Make sure the film don´t get stuck in between the fennel. Steam or poach the fish for about ten minutes, you can carefully stick a thin knife to check if it´s done before opening the package.

Dice the shallot and cook on medium heat in butter until soft, season with salt and pepper and then add the champagne, let it reduce by half and then add fish stock and once again let it reduce by half. Add a bit of cream to the sauce and let i reduce a little bit more, season to taste and the mix the sauce using a handheld mixer. Before serving add a few drops extra of champagne.

Remove the film from the fish and carefully slice it and place in a deep plate, add the sauce and fresh herbs. Serve.

Braised pork belly with soy & cucumber & fennel salad #121

Braised pork belly is one of the tastiest and cheapest part of the pig you can serve and if you do it right it will be simply amazing. It´s quite easy to get the belly tasting good, all it needs is loads of time. The ways of seasoning the belly is numerous but I chose to make it a bit asian with japanese soy this time because I like how it matches the crisp raw salad of the cucumber both in flavor and texture.

Since braising pork belly isn´t to much work once you got it in the oven or pot you can make a big batch and save some for dinner, tacos or some nice sandwiches. The extra effort in time is almost nothing but the reward to have some pre-braised belly waiting in the frigde.

Braised pork belly with soy & cucumber & fennel salad

pork belly

japanese soy

beef stock

fish sauce

dried chili

water

salt, pepper

honey

cucumber

fennel

lime juice

sesame seeds

sesame oil

olive oil

Cut of the skin of the belly if it´s still left on, the season to belly with salt and pepper and then sear it on all sides until golden. Remove from the pan and transer into a pot and add the japanese soy, beef stock, fish sauce, dried chili and honey and then cover with water. Leave to simmer under a lid until tender, this takes about 4-6 hours, however it´s almost impossible to let i cook for too long so up to ten hours is not a problem. Once done remove the meat and reduce the liquid until it´s a thick sauce.

Cut the cucumber and fennel in thin stripes and combine with sesame seeds, olive oil, lime juice and a few drops of sesame oil. Season with salt and pepper.

Slice the pork belly and plate it, drizzle with some of the cooking sauce, serve the salad on the side.

Salad with shrimps, fennel, carrots & orange #109

A newly discovered salad for me, I tried similar salads before especially with oranges and carrots but the addition of fennel and shrimps took it to another level. Serve it on it´s own or as an side or on a buffé table.

Salad with shrimps, fennel, carrots & orange

carrots
fennel
fennel dill
oranges
olive oil
salt, black pepper
fresh shrimps

Peel the shrimps, peel and shave the carrots. Pick the dill from the fennel and then slice it thin. Cut away the peel from the orange and cut fillets. Squeeze what´s left of the orange and combine the orange juice with some olive oil, a little bit of salt and black pepper. Combine all ingredients and season to taste. Serve.

Fennel with feta cheese & chili #76

This is a great and simple recipe for one of the most underrated vegetables, it works great as an appetizer or side dish for the forthcoming barbecues. You could also serve it with some extra oil on some lettuce as a light lunch, good luck.

Fennel with feta cheese & chili

Fresh fennel

feta cheese

olive oil

chives, sliced

lemon juice

fresh red chili, diced

salt, black pepper

Wash and cut the fennel lengthwise, remove most of the root but leave just a little bit so the fennel will hold together. Roast the fennel in olive oil on medium heat in a frying pan until it´s golden on both sides. 

Combine olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, chili and chives, season to taste. Put the fennel on a plate and add feta cheese and black pepper, add the vinaigrette.

Nürnberger sausage with fennel coleslaw & mustard #70

The Nürnberger sausage is a small almost white German sausage that dates back all the way to 1313. It´s usually small and you´ll need to serve three or four of them for a main course. I usually serve them together with other meats as well like roasted chicken or with other sausages. Since it´s small in size it´s great to serve as a tapas.

The Nürnberger is protected be EU-law and it must be produced in Nürnberg to have to right to be called a Nürnberger, but don´t worry this recipe works with most sausages with a good pork taste.

Nürnberger sausage with fennel coleslaw & mustard

Nürnberger sausages
mayonnaise
fennel
lemon juice
salt, pepper
cracked mustard seeds

With a potato peeler shave the fennel into thin slices, add a few drops of lemon juice and mayonnaise, combine and season with salt and pepper.

Fry the sausages in a pan, serve a spoonful of coleslaw with one sausage and sprinkle with cracked mustard seeds.

Polenta with chorizo and raw fennel # 38

Polenta with chorizo and raw fennel

Polenta
Chicken broth
salt, pepper
Chili powder
Butter
Chorizo, dried sliced
Fennel
Olive oil

Bring the chicken broth to boil and add polenta, lower the temperature and simmer for fifteen minutes constantly stirring. Season with chili powder, salt and pepper. Pour the creamy polenta an a plate and leave to cool.

Once cold cut in squares and fry in butter on one side until golden.

Put a slice of chorizo on each polenta square. Slice the fennel as thin as you can, put one or two slices on top of the chorizo, add a few drops of olive oil.

Momofuku quick salt pickles # 26

Momofuku quick salt pickles

First of all, thanks David Chang for allowing me to steal this recipe. It´s the easiest pickle recipe I ever tried and they are very versatile and can be served on their own, to ramen noodles, tacos, pulled pork, burgers, you name it.

In the original recipe there is only cucumber but I usually add a fennel as well since I think it goes great with the cucumber and is excellent for pickling, so let´s go!

Fennel
Cucumber
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon coarse sea salt

Cut the vegetables in slices and combine with the salt and sugar, let sit for ten minutes, adjust salt and sugar to taste, you can rinse if they are to salty or sweet. Serve within a few hours.