Attempt #41: Prawn & watermelon salad

Ahhh…. Just like eggs + bacon, pancakes + bananas and rum + coke, the combination of prawns + watermelons are also just meant to be. Safe recipe to attempt when having to bring a dish for those potluck dinners! J

The result:

Instead of baby spinach, I used ‘bayam’ (which is a different type of more popular known spinach in Malaysia) and I did blanch the ‘bayam’ first so that it is not so raw.

 

Jamie’s rendition:

 

Ingredients (serves 2)

zest and juice of 2 limes

• 12 raw prawns, from sustainable sources, ask your fishmonger, peeled
• 100 g unsalted cashews
• 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
• 1 small bunch mint
• 1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
• 2 handfuls baby spinach
• 400 g watermelon, seeds removed, cut into chunks
• 4 spring onions, finely sliced
• sesame oil
• sea salt
• freshly ground black pepper

Method

Put the zest and juice of one of the limes in a bowl and toss the prawns in it. Leave to marinate while you prepare the other ingredients.

Heat a wok or frying pan, then add the cashews and heat until lightly toasted.

Add the sesame seeds for 30 seconds until they start to brown and pop, then remove all the nuts from the pan. Crush lightly with the bottom of a saucepan and place in a big mixing bowl.

Add the mint, chopped chilli, baby spinach, watermelon and spring onion to the mixing bowl and toss with the toasted nuts.

Add the prawns to the hot pan with a splash of sesame oil, season with salt and pepper and stir-fry lightly for a few minutes until cooked through.

Toss the cooked prawns with the other ingredients in the mixing bowl and season with lime juice, sesame oil, salt and pepper.

Tip: If you can't find cashews, unsalted peanuts will do instead

Attempt #14: Stir-fried vegetables (ala Jamie Oliver style)

This is a sweet surprise!

My first attempt on a Jamie’s recipe that is very asian / oriental in taste. The recipe calls for sesame oil and sesame seeds. I have never fried my vegetables this way before and I have learnt a new method of frying veg!

 

The result:

Thought the idea of slicing the mangetout (or snow peas as it is commonly called) was great idea. I am never a fan of eating those snow peas as it gets quite ‘raw’ in terms of taste and if you get the ‘older’ ones, the texture can be quite hard to chew. By slicing thinly and also mixing with the other vegetables, you can now get all the health benefits of a snow pea without having a hard time to chew and swallow it (esp for the folks who don’t really like your vege to have too ‘raw’ a taste).

Link to recipe on Jamie’s website. Click here. 

Attempt #11: Grilled asparagus with olive oil, lemon and parmesan

OK, I was kinda lazy and decided to try out a recipe that involves less than 5 ingredients. I was thrilled when I saw this recipe as it also involves less than 5 steps to get the entire dish done! J

The ingredients:

1.    Asparagus
2.    Olive oil
3.    Lemon
4.    Grated parmesan

The method:

You will need to wash 2 big handfuls or 800g of whichever kind of asparagus you’re using, with their woody ends snipped off.

This is a great combination. Parmesan, olive oil and lemon are wonderful with asparagus. Heat a large griddle pan and dry-griddle the asparagus spears on both sides until nicely marked. As soon as they're ready, put them on to four plates and dress with a good squeeze of lemon juice and three times as much olive oil. Season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste, then take a block of Parmesan to the table and either grate or shave some over the asparagus wtih a speed peeler.

The result:

Simple method to prepare a vege dish. In the process of preparing this dish, I have learnt the trick of shaving my asparagus with a peeler if the stems are too thick. This makes the asparagus softer and silkier rather than the strong nutty hard texture.

I did not follow the recommended ratio of lemon juice and olive oil as I didn’t want my asparagus to be too zesty nor oily. Hence, I just sprinkle an amount that suits to my taste. At the end of the day, I think that the black pepper and parmesan cheese did wonders!  

Attempt #3: Creamy Asparagus Soup with a Poached Egg on Toast

Result of my soup in 4 words. Tasty but visually ugly.   

I wanted to make something simple and fast for this attempt. Saw this recipe for Creamy Asparagus Soup with a Poached Egg on Toast on Jamie Oliver’s website and thought would be a good choice since my kids love asparagus and eggs! However, it didn’t turn out as fast nor as pretty as Jamie’s rendition.

Nothing much I could say further except to show the pictures. Here’s a side by side comparison of the result of Mr Oliver’s Cream of Asparagus Soup and mine.

 

THE RESULT:

Same recipe but different outcome.

I had trouble with blending the asparagus in the soup and making the poach egg. I used a handheld blender but the content of the hot soup kept skirting off everywhere outside the pot. And the poach egg, hats off to the folks who can make perfect poach eggs!

Visually,  I think my soup even made melted ice-cream looks good. Sigh…