Wild BC Spot Prawns are in season, so let's make some seafood pasta!
These are the largest species of shrimp caught in Canada's west coast waters, and are so named due to the distinctive white spots on its body; one just behind the head, and another close to its tail.
To go with our BC Spot Prawns, we found some live Mussels in the next tank, and picked up some spaghetti.
Rinse and clean the mussels to remove any sand or sediment before boiling with some salt for several minutes.
Remove the prawn heads and set aside; de-shell & de-vein the body.
Fry a generous portion of freshly chopped garlic and sliced onions in butter & olive oil, then add the prawn heads and stir fry for a couple minutes. Throw in the rest of the prawns and the boiled mussels that have opened; discard any mussels that have not opened after boiling. Sprinkle in black pepper, lemon juice, tarragon flakes, and finish with a splash or two of white wine.
Serve on top of a bed of freshly cooked spaghetti; or your favorite plate of pasta.
You can also modify the sauce to your liking - add ketchup or a can of tomatoes/tomato paste to make a red sauce; add cream and cheese or mushrooms for a white sauce.
Bon Appetit !
The Canadian Superstore at Metrotown was having a sale on beef this afternoon. Their bone-in rib steaks were irresistible; this is the same premium cut used for great steak dishes like Cote de Boeuf and Prime Rib. We are going to have a feast this evening . . .
Let the steak warm up to room temperature, lightly season with freshly ground black pepper & sea salt, then pan fry with butter & olive oil on high heat for two minutes per side. Transfer the steak onto an oven pan that has been roasting potatoes with herbs, and let it finish cooking in the oven for about 10 minutes.
For a tasty sauce to accompany your steak, fry some garlic & onions and add the pan drippings along with half a cup of red wine. Reduce the mixture by about half on the stove before serving over the steak that has had some time to rest.
This thick hefty piece of steak was tender, juicy, and large enough for the two of us to slowly savour and enjoy . . . Mmmm . . .
As we get closer to Summer, burgers come to mind . . .
Just so happens, the supermart is having a sale on ground sirloin this week; $9 for a pack of about a kg and a bit.
Season our fresh sirloin with some herbs, pepper, and a splash of red wine. Form into burgers and let them sit in the freezer for about 20 minutes so they will hold their shape when cooking.
In the meantime, slice the burger bun and lightly toast. Slice up some onions & tomatoes; and rinse some salad greens.
Now pan fry the semi frozen burgers and the onion slices. To assemble, we put tomato slices on the bottom piece of the buns, slide on our sirloin burger, top with fried onion rings and grated old cheddar cheese. Squirt ketchup & mustard on the top slice of the buns and we're ready to serve with greens on the side.
A juicy tasty meal in anticipation of summer . . .
There were buy one get one free pork ribs at the supermart today, and they looked mighty fine. So no prizes for guessing what's for dinner tonight . . .
Trim and clean the racks of ribs, then marinade with a mix of bbq sauce, chopped garlic, cracked black pepper & red wine. Let the racks soak in the flavors for at least half an hour or more in the fridge before oven grilling.
In the produce section of the supermart, we found giant Portabello mushrooms; the perfect match to go along with our grilled ribs. Just remove the stump in the middle, dice it up and mix with herbs and butter (or extra virgin olive oil for a healthier version). Stuff this mix back onto the massive Portabello and top off with your favorite cheeses. Oven grill together with the ribs.
To dress up the dinner plate, we served up half a rack of ribs topped with asparagus in olive oil and a couple button mushrooms that were all grilled along with the rest of the meal.
Enjoy . . .
It's late spring, and we're in British Columbia, Canada. Discovering that the food here is mainly local produce, and really fresh, tasty and inexpensive.
Today, picked up whole pork tenderloins from the supermart, going at $11 per kilo. Cut them into inch & a half thick steaks and pan fried with a sprinkling of black pepper, sea salt & a dash of red wine.
Served them on top of pasta with carrots, mushrooms, onions and tomato-red wine sauce.
The pork was so tender that we did not even need knives; a gentle bite was all it took to release the juicy flavours as it melts in your mouth. A truly satisfying meal that's quick and easy to prepare !
Yesterday, our friend's son was in a swimming meet at a pool very close to our place, so we invited the family over for lunch.
Several days earlier, I found out that a good meal for competitive swimmers would have lots of carbo, lean protein and vegetables. Thus the menu for Saturday's lunch was Emu & Vegetable Lasagne and Garlic Bread.
As I've already covered garlic bread in the last post, I'll focus on how to make the lasagne this time . . .
For those who might not know what Emu is, it's a large flightless bird that is found in Australia. It's meat is very lean, and looks similar to beef or venison. We were actually out shopping for venison the other day, and picked up a pack of emu by mistake and did not realize it till I inspected it in our freezer a few days later.
Instead of chopping up the meat, I decided to slice it up into short thin strips so that we will be able to chew into the Emu and enjoy it more when we eat the lasagne. Marinaded it with a generous amount of red wine, freshly ground black pepper and rosemary before cooking it with onions, garlic, half a bottle of cheese & mushroom pasta sauce and some milk.
For the vegetables, we used carrots, eggplant, mushrooms and tomatoes cooked in the other half bottle of pasta sauce, milk and some pepper & herbs.
We used Instant Lasagne sheets to help quickly assemble our meal in a large casserole dish. To make it easier to cut and shape the instant lasagne sheets, soak them in warm water for several minutes first.
Spread olive oil and a bit of butter on the base and sides of the dish and place a layer of lasagne sheets on the bottom, then pour in the emu and spread it out to form the next layer. Sprinkle a layer of shredded cheese over the emu before adding the second layer of lasagne sheets. Now pour in the vegetables and spread it out evenly; layer on the shredded cheese and place the final layer of lasagne sheets. Spread some butter over the top layer and spoon in a thin layer of milk to completely cover the surface of the lasagne sheets; sprinkle some herbs to top it off.
Bake it in the oven for 30 - 45 minutes; then let it stand for 15 minutes, and grill for 10 minutes to achieve a nice golden brown finish.
The Emu Lasagne went well, accompanied by a nice bottle of red wine - Chateauneuf du Pape 2007
