Thai Fresh Crab & Corn Risotto

If you never change your mind, why have one? – Edward de Bono

As we say in Nova Scotia, "some good"!

Sometimes it’s good to surprise yourself. Especially when good means “tasty.” Restaurant tasty. That’s how I would describe this.

Not all surprises work out this well. And it was completely without any real forethought at the grocery store. The recipe came about because I changed my mind.

Crab “clusters” (legs and body) are on sale this week for 1/3 their normal price at the Superstore. Local corn is also making an appearance (3/$1). With such finds I usually am inspired to make Chinese crab and corn soup. So I bought some with that in mind.

But, as I said, by the time dinner rolled around I changed my mind. What I wanted to make had lost all its appeal for some reason. Now there’s nothing wrong with crab and corn chowder, but it’s my stomach and I (too often) listen to what it tells me.

Regardless of my stomach's inner voice, I was still stuck with 2 ingredients, crab and corn. Thank goodness for Google’s search function. A quick look gave me many hits – mostly for crab and corn soup! An alternate that stood out was for Italian corn risotto. It sounded pretty interesting. There was no reason I couldn’t add in crab. 

But Italian and crab really don’t spring to mind as a common combo. Perhaps time for an exercise in fusion cuisine?

Just add enough liquid every time so
the contents is covered slightly.

So I trekked across the Middle East, over India and into southeast Asia for my flavours: coconut, chilli and ginger. To really get coconut in this I double-dosed it. It’s in both the oil and the braising liquid for the rice. Don't be fooled – coconut oil imparts a coconut taste. Sometimes this is advantageous, sometimes not. This time it helped make everything quite nicely coco-nutty.

If you want to make something unexpected for company I say look no further. This is a drop-dead delicious meal and pretty on the plate to boot. Perhaps a little green salad on the side to round things out...

Thai Fresh Crab & Corn Risotto*

Prep: 20 min  |  Cook: 20 min  |  Serves 4

250 g fresh King crab meat, shelled

1 tbsp coconut oil

1 medium onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, chopped

2 tbsp crated fresh ginger

1 hot red chilli, finely diced (or 2 tsp dried chilli flakes)

1 cup Calrose rice

1 can coconut milk, plus enough chicken stock to make 1L

2 ears corn, kernels removed

salt and pepper

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Clean the pre-cooked crab, if purchasing in clusters, and discard the shells. You should have at least 250 g meat.

Combine the coconut milk and stock in a pot and bring to a simmer. Keep warm.

Heat the coconut oil in a wide sauté pan. Add the onion, garlic, ginger and chilli. Sauté until the  onion begins to look transparent. Then add the rice and sauté for 2 minutes. Finally add the corn kernels. Reduce heat to medium high.

Begin to add the hot liquid to the rice/corn mixture, using just enough to cover. Stir while it cooks. Do NOT go answer the phone or the rice may stick and burn.

Add more milk and stock as the liquid is absorbed, stirring. Continue to cook until the rice is “al dente” (still has a slight resistance when bitten). This may take a little less than the 1L or a little more. If you need more liquid, use hot water. 

This is the amount of liquid that should be left. Some, but not much. You should
be able to drag the spatula across the bottom of the pan and it remains dry.

The risotto is dry enough when almost all the liquid is absorbed by the rice. You need to leave some “creaminess” with the rice so it isn’t completely dry.

Taste for salt and pepper and adjust. Remove the risotto from the heat and stir in the crab and cilantro. Serve immediately.

* You can use canned crab and frozen or canned for kernels, but why would you if fresh is available and affordable?

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Pantry Surfing: Chinese Crab & Mushroom Soup

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes. – Marcel Proust

It’s not that I don’t go grocery shopping anymore. I do. I swear.

But isn’t it nice when you can go into your pantry and pull out what you need to make something unusual and wonderful? This takes two things: a diverse pantry, and some basic knowledge.

We do this all the time with our “native” North American/Western European influenced cuisine. You go to the fridge and pantry, pull out some stuff and cook. If we didn’t have that basic understanding of what goes with what we would stand in our kitchen, frozen in fear and starve.

I’ve talked about this “knowledge” before. The more you cook diverse cuisines the more you understand what ingredients go into certain dishes. Also, the more you cook outside your normal cuisine the more likely it is that you have an international pantry that lets you cook more diverse food. It’s kind of a “Catch-22.”

Here’s your “TIL” for the day: Where does the term Catch-22 originate?

It’s from a novel set in World War II called Catch 22, written by Joseph Heller in 1961. In the novel, one of the characters describes a problem facing pilots who request a mental evaluation for insanity, hoping to escape flying dangerous missions. If you’re sane enough to want an evaluation, then you’re not insane; ergo, the insane won’t ask. Catch-22.

It’s not insane to have a well stocked pantry, although I have bought what some would categorize as “crazy” stuff. Some recipes do call for the unusual, or perhaps better phrased, not the ordinary for us.

My advice? If you spot something weird, buy it. Even if you don’t know how to use it. Find out how later.

This one really doesn’t have a lot of weird ingredients. The only one that stands out are the dried shiitake mushrooms. They’re cheap, and appear in thousands of recipes.

The only other ingredient that you may not have is siriacha sauce. But it’s now available everywhere in every grocery store. It’s now mainstream.

This is a quick recipe. The basis is another standard Chinese recipe in my kitchen, crab and corn soup. Unfortunately I had no corn. Dried shiitake, yes. Corn, no. Go figure. So that’s when the substitutions started.

This is very good. It would be a great soup course for a Chinese feast. You can get four decent bowls easily, or even 8 if you’re having a lot of dishes. For dinner this comfortably serves two.

But I’m a bit of a gourmand...

Crab & Mushroom Soup

Prep: 10 min  |  Cook: 5 min  |  Serves 2-4

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 tbsp fresh ginger, minced

8 dried shiitake mushrooms

3 cups water

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp sesame oil

1 tsp siriacha sauce (hot chilli sauce)

1 can (170 g) crab meat

3 green onions, sliced

2 eggs, beaten

salt and pepper, to taste

Place the dried shiitake mushrooms and water in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on high for 4 minutes. Remove the mushrooms, reserving the water, and let cool for a minute or two before slicing. Set aside.

Chop the garlic and ginger and place into a soup pot. Add the shiitake, mushroom water, soy, sesame oil and siriacha. Bring to a boil and let simmer for 2 minutes.

Then stir in the crab meat and green onions. Once the pot has come back to a simmer, slowly pour the beaten eggs into the hot soup, stirring constantly to break them uo into thin strands.

Taste for salt and pepper and adjust. Serve immediately.

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Crab Fritters with Garlic Mayo

The best things carried to excess are wrong. – Charles Churchill 

Since there was only two of us, we went a little to excess. We both ate three!

Author's note: I made 8 "dinner sized" cakes but you can make 32 2-tablespoon sized ones just as easily for party finger food!

I did something silly last Thursday. Or at least a little silly. I (re)joined Costco – the original home of excess and “super-size me.”

I used to have a membership that lapsed quite some time ago, about 12 years to be exact. I think I first got it when the store opened.

There are benefits to shopping at Costco if you have a large family. Being just two of us, there doesn’t seem to be much call for a 40 gallon drum of mayonnaise.

But seriously, I don’t really have much use for two bottles of Tabasco, each one being 355 ml. Using a few drops now and then, they would last me well into a next life. Or two 2L jars of Kalamata olives, that have to be used within 30 days of opening. I love olives, but pu-lease...

That being said, you can get good deals on some good single items. Mind you, the price of membership – unless you go weekly or buy “big” – probably negates any savings over the course of a year, especially for a family of two.

It’s the bigger ticket items that bring you savings, so I believe. TVs, tires, computers, outdoor living gear...

I did get a couple “finds” that I brought home. One was a wheel of cambazola cheese for $10; the other was four cans of crab meat (170 ml) for the same cost. It wasn’t lump. but depending on what you’re making it does just fine.

I had planned on making Chinese crab and corn soup this weekend (recipe here) because I had corn in the fridge. But my spouse suggested something different, so I thought I would give it a try. Crab and corn fritters. They turned out very well. Very well, indeed.

They’re a snap to put together, and easy to fry. I opted to let my batter rest for an hour in the refrigerator. That gave the garlic mayonnaise time to increase in intensity.

The recipe made 8 large crab fritters. If you’re thinking of something for a Christmas party, try this but make 32 small ones instead of the 8 “dinner-sized.”

They were really tasty, with just enough garlic. The lemon thyme also came through. If you don’t have it (I grew some this year, and it's perennial!), substitute regular thyme and a teaspoon of finely grated lemon zest.

Crab Fritters with Garlic Mayo

Prep: 10 min  |  Rest: 1 hr  |  Cook: 15 min  |  Serves 4

3 lg ears of corn, kernels removed

2 x 170 ml cans crab meat, drained

1 cup flour

3/4 cup milk

2 eggs

1/4 cup chives, snipped

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp fresh lemon thyme

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp cayenne

salt and pepper, to taste

vegetable oil for frying

Garlic Mayonnaise

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1 tbsp finely chopped garlic

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp hot sauce

salt & pepper, to taste

Remove the kernels from the corn by running a sharp knife down the sides. Place them in a mixing bowl.

Drain the crab meat and add to the bowl, along with the remaining ingredients for the fritters. except for the oil. Mix well and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Finely chop the garlic – the finer the better – and mix with the mayonnaise, lemon juice, hot sauce and salt and pepper. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Heat about 1/3 to 1/2 cup of vegetable oil in a deep frying pan. The quantity will depend on the size of your pan. Once hot (drops of water will dance in it), scoop out 1/2 cup measures of the batter and add. My pan was large enough to do 4 without touching.

Fry until brown on one side. Flip and brown on the other side. Remove to a plate. Repeat with the remaining batter.

Serve warm with the garlic mayonnaise. To make a dinner for four, serve a green salad on the side.

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Recipe: Asian Crab and Corn Soup

A light wind swept over the corn, and all nature laughed in the sunshine. – Anne Bronte 

Asian flavours, crabmeat and sweet, fresh corn.

Usually when one sees “on sale” corn at the grocery store they think of corn on the cob. Although very good, it’s just one way to use those sweet kernels. Often my mind turns to this soup. It’s delicious, and surprisingly filling.

This week one of our local groceries have six ears on sale for $1.98. That’s a good price, but it isn’t local. This recipe takes four so the corn cost is a mighty $1.32. Not bad at all.

Photo: backpack Foodie, Flickr ccl

Many people overcook their corn. Even just on the cob it shouldn’t be boiled for more than 5 minutes. The short cooking time preserves the sweetness, I believe.

It’s a shame the price of crab isn’t as affordable. Whatever money is saved on the corn is – sadly – “redistributed” to purchasing that ingredient. Canned lump crab will cost you $6+ for 120 g. Yes, I typed that correctly. Even the cheaper 15% leg meat will set you back over $3 for the same size can.

This recipe takes one of each... Sometimes this soup is made with the crab flavoured pollock, but I just can'e see it being even remotely the same. You could also steam and clean your own crab for less cost, but that's a job all in itself.

I guess you have to put the whole thing into perspective. If you were buying steak how much would you get for $10? Not much, and this recipe will feed four.

Fresh corn kernels can be removed quite easily. They only take a few minutes to cook and the taste is so much better than canned or frozen. There’s a sugary taste to the fresh kernels that just doesn’t compare.

Removing corn kernels from the cob is a bit of a messy procedure, I have to admit, but it can’t be simpler. Just run a sharp knife down the sides and the kernels come off easily.

Some suggest doing it over a bowl. I use a cookie sheet so the mess is at least minimized. It’s also easier to cut off the kernels over a flat surface than in a bowl.

Assembling the soup is so fast it’s amazing. Mere minutes will have piping hot soup ready to serve your hungry family.

Asian Crab and Corn Soup

Prep: 10 min  |  Cook: 10 min  |  Serves 4

1 tbsp sesame oil

1 thai chilli, minced with seeds

1” piece ginger, peeled and minced

6 cups chicken stock

4 ears corn

240 g crabmeat (120g lump, 120g 15% leg meat style)

1 bunch green onions, sliced

2 eggs, whisked

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cracked black pepper

Mince the thai chilli and ginger and set aside. Remove the kernels from the cobs and set aside.

Heat the sesame oil in a stock pot and sauté the ginger/chilli for about 30 seconds.

Add the chicken stock and bring to a boil. Then add the corn kernels. Let cook for between 3-4 minutes. The kernels will be barely cooked.

Add the crab with whatever liquid is with them in the cans. It has a lot of flavour you don’t want to waste. Bring just to a simmer and then add the green onions.

Once the pot comes back to a simmer slowly drizzle the beaten eggs on the surface of the soup while you stir. It ill break up into thin strands.

Taste for salt and adjust. Stir in the pepper and serve.

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Recipe: Sherry Seafood Crêpes with Asparagus

Asparagus inspires gentle thoughts. – Charles Lamb

Fresh baby spears. Photo: quisnovis, Flickr ccl

The asparagus will soon be in season in Canada so now's the time to think of uses for those tender delicious spears.

History

Asparagus has been in use since time immemorial. The earliest surviving cookbook using asparagus is from Rome. The Roman Cookery of Apicius lists three uses, one of which is for  Asparagus cooked in wine. It was cultivated by many early civilizations around the Mediterranean where in it was eaten fresh as well as dried.

This is full grown asparagus. It can be grown purely as an ornamental.
Photo: Joi, Flickr ccl

About Asparagus

Asparagus has a delicate, somewhat artichoke/pea-like flavour. That's a bad description, I know, but it really doesn't taste like anything but itself. Fresh asparagus tastes as much like canned as fresh peas taste like canned. So avoid canned when at all possible.

The spears are only eaten when young and less than 10" in height. Once the asparagus grows further it becomes woody and is unpalatable. It is low in natural sodium and is a good source of many important minerals and vitamins, as well as fibre.

Asparagus has several other overall heath benefits as it is a diuretic, neutralizes ammonia in our bodies and protects blood vessels.

This recipe combines the delicate taste of shrimp and crab with asparagus, all in a delicate crêpe and a lightly flavoured sherry cream. It is a wonderful way to enjoy asparagus when in season. Each serving of two crêpes is a meal in itself. No need for side dishes.

Canadian asparagus should hit the grocery shelves in about 2-3 weeks. Watch for it!

Sherry Seafood Crêpes with Asparagus

Prep: 1 hour  |  Bake: 15-20 min  |  Serves 4

In the pan ready to go in the oven.

8 crêpes (from recipe below)

1 lb raw shrimp, peeled and deveined (chopped if desired)

120g lump crab meat (small can)

2 hard boiled eggs, chopped

16 asparagus spears, uncut and pre-cooked

2 tbsp butter

3 tbsp flour

2 cups 10% cream

1/4 cup dry sherry, plus 2 tbsp

1/2 tsp cayenne

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cracked black pepper

1/2 cup grated parmesan

Make the crêpes following the recipe below. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 400°. Melt the butter in a large flat pan. Add the flour, whisk together and let cook for about 1 minute. Do not brown.

Slowly whisk in the cream and allow to simmer until thickened slightly. Whisk in the cayenne, salt and pepper and reduce the heat to medium. Whisk in 1/4 cup sherry.

Pour off 1 cup of the sauce and reserve.

To the remaining sauce, add in the shrimp and let cook through. Turn off the heat and stir in the crab meat and chopped eggs.

To assemble, place one crêpe in a 9x13 baking dish. Lay 2 asparagus spears in the middle and spoon 1/8 of the seafood mixture over them. Roll up the crêpe and turn seam side down. Repeat with remaining crêpes.

Pour the reserved sauce over the filled crêpes and sprinkle with the remaining sherry. (It's easiest to not measure out the 2 tbsp. Just place your thumb over the top of the sherry bottle and sprinkle the desired amount on top.)

Bake in the centre of the oven for 15-20 minutes, or until bubbly.

Sherry Seafood Crêpe, fresh from the oven. Mmmmmmm.....

Basic Crêpes

Makes 8

from http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/basic- crepes/Detail.aspx

1 cup all-purpose flour
2 large eggs

1/2 cup milk 

1/2 cup water 

1/4 teaspoon salt 

2 tablespoons butter, melted

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour and the eggs. Gradually add in the milk and water, stirring to combine. Add the salt and butter; beat until smooth.

Heat a lightly oiled griddle, frying, or crepe pan over medium high heat. Pour 1/4 cup of the batter in the hot pan. Tilt the pan with a circular motion so that the batter coats the surface evenly.

Cook the crêpe for about 2 minutes, until the bottom is light brown. Loosen with a spatula, turn and cook the other side.

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