Prawns With Asparagus

Prawns With Asparagus

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 175 g/ 6 oz fresh asparagus, cut into  2.5 cm (1 inch) pieces
• salt
• 4 tbsp dry sherry
• 1 tsp light soy sauce
• 500 g/ 1 lb peeled prawns
• 2 tbsp oil
• 2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 2 tsp finely chopped root ginger
• 4 spring onions, chopped

Method:

• Blanch the asparagus in boiling salted water for 2 minutes; drain well and set aside.
• Mix the sherry and soy sauce together in a  large bowl. Stir in the prawns and leave to stand for 15 minutes.
• Heat the oil in a wok and quickly stir-fry the garlic, ginger and half the spring onions. Add the prawns and marinade, and the asparagus and stir-fry for 1 to 2 minutes, until the ingredients are hot.
• Transfer to a warmed serving dish and sprinkle with the remaining spring onions. Serve immediately.

Enjoy your meal!

Source: Sainsbury’s Stand-Up Cookbook: Wok Dishes”, 1985 by Caroline Ellwood

Elena G

Salmon With Sizzling Coriander

As the author says, it is a superb salmon dish from America. And in case you did not know, coriander is known as cilantro there. The recipe is from the book “Coriander – A Book of Recipes”, 1997, written by Hellen Sudell. I followed it years and years ago and it was good. You can check another recipe from this book, fragrant coriander rice and hopefully will tempt you to follow it too.

Salmon With Sizzling Coriander

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 4 salmon steaks, about 175/ 6 oz each
• 4 tbsp/ 60 ml chopped fresh coriander
• 3 tbsp/ 45 ml grated fresh root ginger
• 3 spring onions, finely chopped
• 4 tbsp/ 60 ml soy sauce, plus extra to serve
• 5 tbsp/ 75 ml olive oil (or cold-pressed sunflower oil if you don’t have olive oil, like me ;)) )
• salt and ground black pepper
• lettuce and coriander sprigs, to garnish

Method:

• Season the salmon steaks on both sides with salt and pepper. Prepare a steamer, add the salmon steaks, cover and steam for 7-8 minutes until the fish is opaque throughout. Imho, if the steaks are too thick, may be you should check the salmon after that time and leave it a few more minutes.
• Place the steamed salmon steaks on warmed plates. Divide the chopped coriander among them, mounding it on top of the fish. Sprinkle with the ginger and then the spring onions. Drizzle 15 ml/ 1 tbsp of soy sauce over each salmon steak.
• Heat the oil in a small heavy-based saucepan until very hot. Spoon the hot oil over each salmon steak and serve immediately, with more soy sauce, if you like. Garnish with lettuce and coriander sprigs.

Cook’s Tip: If you don’t own a steamer, cook the fish steaks on a lightly buttered plate over a pan of simmering water. Cover the fish with greaseproof paper or invert a second plate on top.

Enjoy your meal!

Elena G

 

Cheesy Fish Cakes with Spring Onions

Hi! Here is another recipe I discovered and followed, while abroad. I like to share my experiences with food, more as an enthusiast, and also to make them available to Romanian people, that is why you will find them translated too. Sharing is caring they say. I care, I guess. 🙂 I can talk about food so that it will make you heart melt and make you hungry instantly. :)) Let’s proceed and dive into a delicious recipe from Josceline Dimbleby’s “Marvellous Meals with Mince”, 1982. It’s very easy as you will discover and goes very well with a salad, a bit of mayonnaise or Greek yoghurt as a lighter and healthier choice. Your pick.

Cheesy Fish Cakes with Spring Onions

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 350 g/ 12 oz  cod fillets, fresh or thawed from frozen
• 75 g/ 3 oz fresh white breadcrumbs
• a bunch of spring onions
• 100 g/ 4 oz grated cheese
• 1 tsp/ 5 ml capers, chopped finely (optional) (you can replace them with green olives if you like)
• 4-5 pinches of cayenne pepper
• 1 egg (size 2) and 1 egg yolk
• butter for frying (the original recipe from the book mentions margarine too, but you already know my opinion about margarine, NOOOOO)
• salt

Method:

• If necessary skin the cod fillets  (if using frozen fresh fish this is much easier done before thawing) and mince or chop in a food processor. Put in a bowl with the breadcrumbs. Chop the spring onions finely, using as much of the green stalk as possible, and add them to the fish and breadcrumbs, together wiht the grated cheese and the capers.
• Season with salt and the cayenne pepper and mix all together thoroughly with a wooden spoon. Whisk the egg and egg yolk and stir into the mixture. With well-floured hands, shape the mixture into fairly small fish cakes.
• Heat a good blob of butter in a large frying pan. Fry the fish cakes (you will probably have to do them in two batches) over a medium heat for 5-8 minutes on each side until golden brown, turning carefully once with a fish slice. Transfer to a dish, pour over any extra butter from the pan and serve. (If necessary they will keep hot in a low oven perfectly well for an hour or so).

Enjoy your meal!

Elena G

Cashew Chicken With Noodles

For those who live in Romania and speak English as their native tongue or for those who love cooking and want the recipe in original, I will add here recipes that are all taken from the Internet or magazines and cookbooks in English, all tried and eaten very quickly. Why? Because I found them either easy or interesting to make and very tasty. You will excuse my grammar mistakes and other English error and I will be grateful if you take notice of them and tell me about it.

My first recipe that has introduced me in this miracle world of cooking is a Chinese recipe, cooked in January 2005 in London, to celebrate the Chinese New Year. All you need is love! I know, a little patience and hunger. You don’t want to cook all that food without eating it. Though I have to say that by the time I cook anything, my hunger is over, the smell of it feeds me already. 😉

Let’s get to work now. Enough talking. If you live in Romania you may find some ingredients missing but if you live abroad you are lucky. For those who still want to cook, I have made some changes, so you can have replacement and your recipe will taste with a twist: Romanian.

Cashew Chicken With Noodles

Serves 4

Takes 20 mins

For the sauce:

• 1 tbsp Chinese cooking wine or sherry (or sunflower oil)
• 1 tsp sesame oil (or sunflower oil)
• 1  1/2 tbsp light soy sauce (just plain soy sauce)
• 1/2 tsp cornflower (flour)
• 4 tbsp water

The rest:

• 250 (9 oz) pack medium egg noodles
• 1 tbsp groundnut oil (or sunflower oil)
• 4 skinless chicken breasts, cut into 2-5 cm (1 in) pieces
• salt
• 50 g (2 oz) cashew nuts
• 2 red peppers, deseeded and cut into large pieces
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 bunch spring onion, halved

Method:

• Combine all the ingredients for the sauce in a jug ready to use.
• Cook the noodles in a large pan of boiling water for the length of time recommended on the packet. Drain and set aside.
• Heat the oil in a wok or large frying pan over a high heat, until smoking hot. Season chicken with salt and stir-fry for 5 minutes. Remove form pan and set aside.
• Add the cashews and red peppers to pan and stir-fry for 1 minute. Then, add the garlic and spring onions and cook, stirring, for another minute. Return the chicken to the pan. Pour in the sauce. Cook for 3-4 minutes until chicken is cooked and red pepper tender.

Plate up the noodles and serve topped with the cashew chicken.

COOK’S TIP

Try experimenting with this recipe by adding bean sprouts, mange tout, asparagus tips, cubed tofu (fry with garlic and onions) or shiitake mushrooms.

Bon appetite!