The best thing about seafood for us is that it is so fast to cook and it doesn't take much to make a really tasty dish. A little bit of care and some gentle prodding is all you need to cook a perfect piece of fish. Our recipes this week are ultimate seafood classics that we love making for our friends and family.
The first is, of course, the prawn cocktail. Eating this dish takes us back to our childhood when our grandparents would whip this up for their friends. It feels pretty cool that we are still rocking this dish for our friends when they come over for dinner. That's why they are classics, we guess; they stand the test of time.
Mussels have been a constant in our lives. The ones we are used to getting in Maketu are usually about the size of your forearm, but we used regular-sized green-lipped mussels for this particular recipe. Mussels are such a wallet-friendly meat to buy and they are big on flavour.
This is a classic way to cook mussels - white wine, a bit of cream and the juices from the shellfish make a delicious sauce.
Big bits of crusty bread to mop up the juices are a must.
Fish on a mash with a buttery caper sauce is one of our go-to dishes when we have beautiful fresh fish.
You can use any type of fish you like with this recipe, it works with them all.
We have decided to serve it on a creamy parsnip puree, which goes so nicely with the buttery sauce. This is a great meal to have with some sweet asparagus and a nice glass of wine on a warm summer night.
Mussels in a white wine and cream sauce
Photo / Doug Sherring
- Serves 1 as a meal
1 dozen green-lip mussels
1 tbsp butter
7 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 small onion, finely diced
1 stalk celery, finely diced
1 1/2 cups white wine
1/4 cup of cream
1/4 cup parsley, chopped
1. Prepare mussels for cooking -- scrub them well in a sink to clean. Remove beards from the mussel by pulling firmly and they should come out.
2. On a medium heat in a large pan, melt the butter then add the garlic, onions and celery and cook until soft and translucent. Add the wine and bring to the boil and reduce by half.
3. Add the mussels and the cream. Place a lid on the mussels and cook until they open. Discard any that stay shut. Garnish with the parsley and serve.
Tarakihi with Caper Butter Sauce and Parsnip Puree
Photo / Doug Sherring
- Serves 4
4 pieces tarakihi
Blanched asparagus to serve
Parsnip Puree
600g parsnips, peeled and chopped into pieces
2 cloves crushed garlic
Salt
2/3 cup whole milk
1/2 cup cream
50g butter, cubed
Caper Butter Sauce
100g butter, chopped
2 tbsp capers
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 tbsp chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
1. In a pot, add the ingredients for the parsnip puree, excluding the butter, and cook on a medium heat for 20 minutes or until the parsnip is soft. Strain the parsnips and reserve the liquid.
2. Place the parsnips in a food processor. Process the parsnip and slowly pour in the parsnip liquid bit by bit until the parsnip is processed evenly. Add the cubes of butter and process into the puree. Season and set aside.
3. To make the caper butter sauce, melt butter in a frying pan over medium heat until foaming. Add capers and cook until butter starts to brown lightly. Add the lemon juice and parsley.
4. To cook the tarakihi, heat some oil and a small knob of butter in a pan to medium-high, add the fish and cook for 3 minutes on one side then flip and cook for a further 3 minutes on the other. Plate the fish with the asparagus, parsnip puree and finish with the caper butter sauce.
Prawn Cocktail
Photo / Doug Sherring
- Serves 4
600g cooked prawn cutlets, half peeled and chopped
1/2 iceberg lettuce, shredded
1 tomato, deseeded and diced
Cocktail Sauce
3/4 cup mayonnaise
2 tbsp tomato ketchup
2 tsp chipotle Tabasco
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp of paprika
1. Mix together the ingredients for the cocktail sauce.
2. Reserve 2 tbsp of the sauce for garnishing and mix together the rest of the cocktail sauce, the chopped prawns, tomatoes and lettuce.
3. Using 4 glasses, spoon in the mix. Hang the prawns over the edge of the glass and finish with some of the reserved cocktail sauce and serve.
Our top 3 tips for dealing with seafood
1.
Even though it may be a pain, make sure you properly de-beard and de-barnacle the mussels. It's not very nice to crunch on something hard when you dip your bread into the juice.
2. Use your intuition. Touch the fish while it's cooking. If it is very firm then it isn't ready. It should give just a bit when pushed gently. Remember, it will continue to cook while it rests.
3. Be prepared. Seafood needs to be served as soon as possible, so make sure everything that is accompanying it is ready to go when the seafood is cooked.
