Saturday, May 09, 2009

Saturday May 9th - Pancake Puffs and Prawns...not together

My adapted for puffs Low Fat GOLDEN fluffy pancake batter

1/3 c whole wheat flour
1/3 c unbleached flour
1 c milk
1 egg white
1 t baking powder
1 t salt
1 t sugar
1 T oil
melted butter

Sift all dry ingredients in a bowl.

Beat egg white until medium stiff.

Add oil and milk to dries and mix until until just moistened. Do not over mix or you'll make them chewy.

Fold in the egg white foam. You can be as gentle as you want. I wasn't because I was hungry. If you have time, you can let this rest for a few minutes. Like I said, I was hungry.

Place your cast iron pancake puff pan on medium heat. When it is hot, brush with melted butter. Pour batter to fill 2/3 of the way. (or more if you want them bigger)

You'll see them bubble like normal and pull away from the cup. This will take a few minutes. If they're brown all over, evenly, your heat may be up too high. Turn them over with a skewer or small knife.

Serve with sliced strawberries and maple syrup.... and chocolate cashew spread, if you're like that :-D
For lunch, we headed down to Granville Fishermen's pier. It's on the seawall just west of Granville Island. It was the 3rd annual... or something... pretty sure it's 3rd or 4th, I went to the first a few years ago. Much more low key and free then. ANNUAL BC SPOT PRAWN FESTIVAL.

BC SPOTTED PRAWNS are quite a bit different from your typical prawns and king prawns. The body is much meatier, cylindrical, and quite large. They're delicate and sweeter as well. Also they don't seem to shrink as much when they're cooked. Interesting as well, is that they are pink when they're raw and not grey. They're a very sustainable and eco friendly species with a rapid developmental cycle. The season is very short, a few months only. As well, unfortunately, a bulk of the spot prawns are sold to Japan. Grrrrr. Leaving fewer to the average consumer in BC.

The festival is the kickoff to the fishing season of the prawns and all the local area top Chef's participate. There were two sessions and we went to the first. There were ten chefs/restaurants representing: TOJO's, Bin941, Hyatt's, Blue Water Cafe, Fuel, Bishop's, PearTree, the Met, and Elixir.

Table 1:
I had Tojo's Spicy spot Prawn salad topped with spicy sauce and bonita flakes
D had Bin 941 crispy Prawn head with poached spot prawn, ebi mayo with watermelon

Table 2:
we both had Bishop's spotted prawn with kale buds and metchosin flour gnocci and rhubarb gastrique
missed Pear Tree and they didn't indicate their dish

Table 3:
we both had the Hyatt Regency Spot Prawn fondue ravioli with spot prawn bisque
missed the C restaurant poached spot prawn with North Arm beetroot with tarragon mayonnaise

Table 4:
I had the Fuel restaurant spot Prawn boil
D had the Diva at the Met Wild Nettle Veloute with spot prawn ceviche relish

Table 5:
I had Blue Water Cafe Sesame spot Prawn with Edamame puree (yummmmo) and sake yuzu sauce
D had spot Prawn cocktail with grapefruit and truffle salade with artisan lemon granite.

Each portion was meant to have at least one prawn (and they're huge of course) and if you had the ravioli it was inside and on top :-D. Prospect Winery was there serving samples of 7 varietals of their wine. It was alright. The Pinot Grigio was perfect for that day. Bright and Sunny, redolent of papaya and tropical fruit. Sweeter than I expected or seek of a gris but for that lovely day out on the pier, it was great.

We walked over the the fisherman's pier to buy some spotted prawn (probably too many) and bought an albacore tuna loin for another day.

Came home in between activities and had a quick

Arugula and Strawberry Salad

Toss washed arugula leaves with sliced strawberries and diced avocado in a simple olive oil and balsamic vinegrette. YMMMM

Later, D had a hummous craving. See recipe in Feb 1st, Super Bowl Sunday.

Dinner was a favourite of mine, PAELLA.
MY Spotted Prawn with English Pea and Roasted Red Pepper PAELLA

for 4 - 6 people

2 cups (had half a cup if this is for 6) bomba short grain rice or high quality short grain white rice. or (arborio but there are adjustments for risotto rice, you'll need more liquid and at least 15-20 minutes more time)
1 cup onion chopped
3 cloves garlic chopped
1 cup of fresh peas (i bought english peas in the market and shucked them. Far fresher and sweeter. advice though, don't pick up the pre bag if you can. take the time and pick ones you can feel have peas in them. I had at least 40% of mine with peas that were only a sunflower seed sized)
2 large roasted red peppers sliced. (as I've mentioned before in the redpepper dip from last Friday, you can use good quality Italian/Spanish jarred ones in a pinch)
1.5-2lbs FRESH spotted prawns.
Add another 1/2 lb firm white flesh white fish if you want, I didn't this time.
2 l veggie or fish stock.... I used lobster stock homemade from a lobster dinner months ago.
Few springs of oregano fresh
1 t saffron
1 envelope Paella spices from a Spanish specialty store. Pick one that has low salt and I insist you have one that says AZAFRAN listed as an ingredient. Using the spice pack says to use water and not stock but I don't risk that lack of flavour. Otherwise, a good stock, fresh herbs and your own saffron is a preferable alternative. I mean really using the envelope says to only add water but I add stock, saffron and good coarse salt and fresh pepper and could have left it out. It's just a comfort thing for me. I brought it back from my last visit to Barcelona. Ive seen it in shops on Commercial since. I'm fairly certain I saw it in Trader Joe's.

Ingredients easy peasy right. It is but requires attention and patience. It's fun though.

Bring the stock to a boil with the saffron in a small sauce pan and reduce to a bare simmer and have too hand.

Chop and ready all your ingredients. Rinse the prawns thoroughly.

In a large 18-20" paella pan add olive oil and on medium heat sautee the onions. Stir until soft, a few minutes. Salt and Pepper. Add the rice and probably a bit more olive oil. Make sure all the rice is coated and glistening. Stir until starts to smell nutty. A couple of minutes. If your pajn is too big for your element, you'll want to move it around. Add a splash, 1/2 cup of white wine, nothing sweet (optional)

Add enough stock until all the rice is covered. Reduce heat. Stir to mix but don't over stir. This sounds like risotto yes. YOu can add all the stock at once if you like right away. I like to maintatin the heat and don't want to 'boil' the veggies. About half way along, say 20 minutes, add the peas and the red peppers. When you're about 10 minutes away or about 30-35 minutes along, add the prawns to the top add some water if you're out of stock. LEAVE THE SHELLS ON. LEAVE THE HEADS ON. ALL OF IT ADDS FLAVOUR. Salt and Pepper, cover with foil or a wok that's big enough if you have it. Turn up the heat to just above medium. 10-15 minutes. I like to let it rest with the heat off, on the element for another 10, particularly if the game is still on and you're waiting for an intermission.

THIS DISH WAS FABULOUS. Seriously lick your fingers GOOD. We had a great spanish wine with it, Ramos-Paul 2004 red blend. Yumm perfect for Spanish BC blend meal. So decadenet really because you'd normally only have a handful of prawn. The traditional has rabbit and chicken and sausage, all things I can't take the taste of. So I like seafood only ones that I can control the ingredients. ACTUALLY in spain, there are far more varieties of paella then people know here and we all do the typical mariscos one. There is a valencian one with only squid that's awesome and that's the home of paella.

We saved the prawn shells and heads for stock.

0 Leave a / Read COMMENTs: