Category: Shellfish

Adapted from Cold Food’s chargrilled octopus recipe

Ingredients:
1 pound squid, cleaned, washed, paper towel-dried
2 tbsps red wine
2 tbsps soy sauce
2 tbsps hoisin sauce
3 cloves garlic, crushed
vegetable oil
salt and pepper

1. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl to make marinade. Add squid, too and marinate for a couple of hours.
2. When ready to cook, drain and save the marinade.
3. Heat a deep skillet and grease with a little oil. Fry squid until it’s white on both sides, about 3 minutes per. Brush with some of the marinade and sprinkle with salt and pepper while cooking. Try not to overcook so they are not tough. Slice and serve either hot or cold with mixed greens.

I’m not a big fan of mayo so I used the light kind for this recipe. Make sure you serve this as soon as you plate it so that the mayo doesn’t look curdled and the greens do not wilt.

Ingredients:
6 scallops
pinch of saffron threads
1/4 cup light mayonnaise
1 1/2 tbsps of cream
1 tsp lemon juice
butter
olive oil
mixed greens

1. To make the dressing, place saffron threads in a bowl and soak in 2 tsps of hot water for ten minutes. Add mayo and mix well until rich yellow. Stir in the cream and then lemon juice. Refrigerate until needed.
2. Heat butter and olive oil in a hot skillet. Sear scallops, about 2 minutes each side.
3. Serve scallops on a bed of mixed greens. Top with saffron dressing.

This was a sweet recipe from Amanda Hesser of The New York Times. Sweet, as in, new and exciting. I made it as an appetizer for a party I threw for my Dominican and Ecuadorian girlfriends. You can use cheap sake for this but definitely get the good-quality and real crab meat from your fishmonger.

Ingredients:
3 medium-sized tomatoes, chopped
1/4 cup of sake
1 pound of crab meat
1 packet of unflavored gelatin, softened in 2 tbsps water
zest of 1 lemon
juice of half a lemon
8 basil leaves, thinly sliced
salt, pepper, olive oil

1. Purée tomatoes in a food processor. Strain through a sieve into a saucepan. It should lead about 1 cup. Add the sake and heat over medium-low fire until warm. Season with a little salt.
2. Remove from heat and stir in softened gelatin until fully dissolved. Pour into a plastic bowl to mold. Chill until firm and ready to use.
3. Just before serving, combine crab meat, zest, lemon juice, olive oil and basil leaves in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Toss lightly. Place a small mound on a plate.
4. Unmold gelée and chop into triangles. Place next to the crab salad.

Related post/s:
Where to buy crab meat

In Vermont, we were able to use someone else’s backyard equipped with a grill. We invited some of the boy’s friends over for a last-minute barbeque party. We served grilled fish and grilled corn and vegetables with these seared scallops.

Ingredients:
1 pound of fresh scallops
chili powder
dried thyme leaves
salt, pepper, olive oil

1. Heat a nonstick pan and add olive oil. When oil is hot enough, sear each side of the scallops until lightly brown while sprinkling a touch of salt, pepper, chili powder and thyme.

One of my co-workers is an avid vegetable gardener. We were talking about his yard in the suburbs and he mentioned that he was waiting to harvest his chilis. A few months later, he gave me a bag of his produce, dried and ready to be cooked. It was a beautiful bounty and I was grateful for the gift. Only a Chinese dish would inspire this much chili, specifically from the Sichuan province, which could be hot, sour, salty and tongue-numbing at the same time. I used the small, round pellets shown in the photo below.

Ingredients:
1 pound medium shrimp, peeled, deveined and butterflied
2 tbsps shao hsing sauce
1 tsp light soy sauce
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp peanut oil
1/2 tsp hot chili oil
1/2 tsp white sugar
1/2 tsp MSG
1 red bell pepper, julienned
1 green bell peppers, julienned
1 medium carrot, peeled and julienned
1 small turnip, peeled and julienned
a handful of snow peas, destringed and torn in half
2 stalks of scallions, cut lengthwise
red chiles
3 cloves of garlic, minced
a knob of ginger, minced
salt

1. Sprinkle shrimp with some salt and let stand for 30 minutes. Then wash the shrimps with cold water, drain and add sprinkle a little bit more salt. Let stand for another five minutes. Wash the shrimps with cold water again and drain well but do not dry.
2. Prepare and mix together all the spices and oils in a glass bowl to make a sauce. Set aside.
3. In a hot wok, heat two cups of peanut oil. Immerse shrimps into the hot oil and cook until white, about 60 seconds. Remove using a slotted spoon. Drain all but 2 tbsps of the oil and stir fry the ginger, garlic, scallions and chilis. Add the red and green peppers, carrots, snow peas and turnips and cook until soft. Add the shrimps and the sauce and toss.