Skamp's Krabby Patties

Watching cartoons is a guilty pleasure of mine. Despite being 31. I love old kids cartoons. I love Disney movies. I love adult cartoons like Archer. I love Spongebob Squarepants. Here’s a photo of me meeting Spongebob and Patrick Starr back in 2011.

 

 

And me with Lego Spongebob in 2009.

 

So when we went for our annual crabbing trip and we caught our full quota this year and I was thinking of the different ways of cooking with the crab, I decided one dish would be Krabbie Patties (which I’m pretty sure are actually beef in the cartoon). This is just a slightly different take on the prawn burgers I made as part of my Tapas Sliders Night (seriously, need to do another one of those!) and as such, if you don’t have crab meat you can substitute it with much-easier-to-find prawn. One day, I will get around to posting that recipe. It’s delicious. And those I usually serve with a mango salsa. So this I served with a mango guacamole.

I served these with bread to make sandwiches/burgers (I didn’t have buns at home but a nice soft bun would’ve been better), and then the next night we had tacos with the leftovers. It made 6 patties.

 

Skamp’s Krabby Patties

2/3 cup panko breadcrumbs
¼ cup cornmeal
½ tsp smokey paprika
1 large clove garlic
1 ½ cups crab meat
2 eggs
2 tsp wholeseed mustard
1 sprig parsley
Salt and pepper (about 6-8 grinds of each)

Mango Guacamole

Avocado
Mango
Jalapeno
Salt & pepper
Juice from one lime

For the patties, put the eggs, mustard, garlic, paprika, parsley and salt and pepper into a large bowl and whisk to combine. Add the cornmeal and panko and stir through. Gently fold through the crab meat, so you don’t break the pieces up too much. If the consistency is too wet, add a little more panko. Wet your hands, then form patties about palm size. Put on a plate and leave to ‘set’ for about 15 minutes. Enough time to make the guacamole.

Peel and de-seed the avocado, add to a heavy bowl with salt and pepper and lime, then mash with a fork to make as smooth or chunky as you like. Diced the mango and slice the jalapeno (remove the seeds/membranes if you don’t want it too hot) and stir through. Set aside.

Heat a frypan to medium high heat and add a thin layer of rice bran oil or other neutral oil with a  high smoke point. Allow the oil to heat, then carefully slide a few of the patties into the hot oil (don’t overcrowd the pan). Cook until golden, about 5 minutes, then flip and cook for another 5 minutes. Drain on paper towels and cover to keep warm while you do the next patties.

 
Serve with buns/bread of your choice, salady ingredients and the mango guacamole.

Romantic Summer - Salmon Ceviche Brulee

Along with our wedding anniversary, Lance and I still like to acknowledge our ‘dating’ anniversary. We’re both fairly romantic folk, so it gives us another opportunity to celebrate us. We just passed our 6th anniversary of our first date. That first date was Epic. With a capital E. With castles and flying roses and passionfruit wine and dancing. It was seriously wonderful and thinking back over that night and everything that has happened between us in those last 6 years makes me all warm and fuzzy. That first night, we had sushi for dinner (something that Lance had not been a fan of before we became friends and I showed him how good it can be) and as a nod to that, we went to a wonderful Omakase and Teppenyaki restaurant in Mosman Park – Fu Ku. It’s a little pricey, but the food is incredible, so if you like Japanese and want somewhere to go for a special occasion, I highly recommend it! But, seeing as I always have recipe ideas running around in my head and things I want us to try, I thought I’d also make Lance a special meal for our anniversary too.

Given the recent heatwave we’ve been having in Perth, a lot of the dishes I have on my ‘to-cook’ list are ruled out as either too heavy to want to eat, or too labour intensive to want to cook. Which lead me to ceviche. We both love ceviche. We had it often on our last US trip, and since coming back we’ve found it popping up on menus around Perth. Don Tapa in Fremantle and El Publico in Highgate both do great ceviche. And it is so incredibly simple. Whilst you can get all fancy about the ingredients, essentially all you need is fresh seafood and citrus juice to “cook” it. On our last day in New York City, Lance and I went to a fantastic Peruvian restaurant that served a few different types of ceviche including what they called Salmon Brulee. A salmon ceviche formed into a neat square, with a layer of cream cheese on top, and a very thin layer of sugar that had been caramelised to a crisp on top. It was so unique and so delicious. So I decided to make a version of that for Lance.

I kept the whole thing very basic for my first attempt and the result was so good. Using my current citrus favourite - grapefruit and a cheeky little shot of Gin. You can substitute the grapefruit juice for lime or lemon (or a combination). And omit the gin if you're not into it - but I think the flavours go particularly well. I served this with a mango salad on the side, and used some of the marinading liquid to ‘dress’ it (this liquid is called Leche de Tigre in Peru and is considered a potent aphrodisiac AND hangover cure!). And a few home made tortilla chips. I also kept the pieces chunkier for my first attempt - nice and rustic. If you are like us, kind of romantic but looking to keep things fairly low-key with dinner at home on Valentine's Day, this is a fantastic quick and impressive dish for you to share with that special someone.

 

Salmon Ceviche Brulee

250g skinless salmon steaks

Grapefruit juice from one large grapefruit (around ¾ cup)
1 shot (30mL) gin (I used Gin Mare because of it’s olive flavours)
1 jalapeno, finely minced
1/4 tsp good sea salt
100g cream cheese
2 tbsp white sugar
 
Mango Salad

2 medium mangoes

2 roma tomatoes
½ sweet paprika
1 small Lebanese cucumber
1/3  Leche de Tigre (from the ceviche)

 

Finely slice the salmon portions (the smaller you cut it, the less time it’ll take to ‘cook’). Sprinkle with salt. In a glass bowl, add the grapefruit juice, gin and jalapeno. Add the salmon and mix well. Cover with plastic wrap and put in the fridge to cook. As a minimum, 30 minutes. Up to a few hours before you’re going to serve it.

Using a cutter, form a disc (or shape of your choosing) of cream cheese 1cm or so thick. Sprinkle a fine layer of sugar over the top and carefully unmold without pulling the sugar off with it.

To make the salsa – finely chop all of the ingredients and set aside until ready to serve.

When the ceviche is ready, strain through a sieve and reserve about 1/3 cup of the juice. Pour this reserved liquid into the mango salsa salad and mix well.

Form the salmon into a pile, carefully slide the cheese disc on top and use a brulee torch to burn the sugar on top.

 

Serve immediately with some fresh tortilla chips

 

Signs of Summer - Smokey Chipotle Eggplant and Mango with Black Coconut Rice

One of the signs of summer starting for me is when The Nanna Shop starts selling bags of mangoes. No more paying $4 each for them. Naturally, the first time you see them, you buy a bag. You get home and eat one straight away – because you can. And then you decide what to do for the rest. Given I also had a bag of medium eggplants and knowing that smokey chipotle goes amazingly well with them, this dish was born. I made this two days in a row, with leftovers for lunch both days and I’m still not sick of it. In fact, if I had any mangoes left, I’d be having it for dinner again – but with leftover chicken. You can leave out the meat entirely if you want, I just had some leftover so it went in.

The coconut rice can be made with brown or jasmine rice if you don’t have black. The second day I made it with red rice and white beans, just for something different.

The chipotles in adobo sauce can be a bit tricky to find. I spent 2 years trying to track them down in Perth without luck, so on my trip to the states in June, I bought 2 tins home with me. Since getting back, I’ve found them at IGA in Mt Lawley, Kakulas in Northbridge and Fremantle. The Re Store in Leederville sells Chipotle Tabasco as a substitute (which you should buy anyway because it’s AMAZING and goes on everything).

Given the craziness of this time of the year, I haven’t gotten around to much proper photography lately, so this is another Instagram of Yumness.

 

Chipotle Eggplant and Mango

(serves 4 with rice)
1 medium eggplant, 2cm dice
1 small zucchini (or 6 small yellow squash), 2cm diced
2 tomatoes, diced
1 chipotle in adobo sauce, minced
2 tsp adobo sauce
1 cup shredded roast lamb
2 mangoes, flesh diced
1 tsp smoked paprika
½ tsp salt
30mL shot dark rum
1/3 cup water
1 sprig parsley
1 sprig coriander
 

Black Coconut Rice

¾ cup black rice
¾ cup coconut milk
1 cup water
¼ tsp salt
1 can kidney beans, rinsed and drained

First, start the coconut rice. Add the rice, coconut milk, water and salt to a small pot. Bring to a gentle boil, then turn to low and simmer for 30 minutes until rice is tender.

Heat a large frypan to a medium heat. Add the eggplant, zucchini, tomatoes, mangoes, chillis and sauce, salt, smoked paprika, rum and water. Stir it all around to fully coat everything in the sauce. Turn the heat down to low, cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Add the lamb, and heat through for a further 3 minutes or so.

Add the kidney beans to the rice and allow to heat through for a few minutes.

Just before serving, stir the parsley and coriander through the eggplant mix. Squeeze a little kewpie mayonnaise over the top when serving

If you then have any mangoes left, you should definitely give this soufflé a try! Delicious with fresh mangoes on the side

Comfort Food - Pina Colada Pudding Cake

Do you like pina colada? I actually don't like the cocktail so much, they're usually a tad too sweet for my drink tastes - but I do love the pineapple and coconut combination. It's a classic! Remember my Greek Yoghurt Souffle with pineapple, mango and coconut fruit salad? It was amazing! Loving the combo, when I saw a recipe for pina colada pudding, I was intrigued. And then disappointed and overwhelmed by all of the sugar in it. So I decided to make my own version, using a basic self-saucing pudding recipe as my base. Then, instead of using regular flours, I decided to use coconut flour, for fairly obvious reasons and superfine polenta to give it a nice golden colour. Which then makes this pudding cake gluten free!

It should be saucy at the bottom, but the pictures I've got show mine didn't turn out super saucy. Namely because my dish wasn't large enough, and I spilt most of the boiling water on the floor while trying to put it in the oven. Not my finest culinary moment, and I knew it was a bad idea when I was doing it. With an audience. But the cake still came out nice and moist and the pineapple pieces added a nice juiciness. That's why I've called it a 'pudding cake' instead of a straight pudding.

It is a decidedly unglamourous cake in presentation - but great for putting out as a serve-yourself dessert for a large amount of people. It will serve 10-12 easily. And then if you're lucky, you'll have leftovers for breakfast the next day (or three) reheated in the microwave!

Pina Colada Pudding Cake

825g can pineapple pieces - juice drained and reserved
1 tbsp dark brown sugar
2 tbsp dark rum
1 cup superfine polenta
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarb soda
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 small tins coconut milk
2 eggs, beaten
2 tsp honey
2 cups boiling water
1/4 cup sugar

Preheat oven to 160C

In the bottom of a big casserole dish, empty the drained pineapple pieces, the dark rum and the dark brown sugar, stir to combine, then spread evenly over the bottom of the dish.

In a large bowl, whisk together the coconut flour, polenta, baking powder and bicarb soda. In a smaller bowl, whisk together 1 cup of the reserved pineapple juice, coconut milk, eggs, vanilla and honey. Whisk together the liquid mixture into the dry mixture, then spread this batter over the pineapple.

Sprinkle the sugar over the top of this mixture, add the remaining pineapple juice to the boiling water and carefully pour this over the top of the batter. Don't mix it in.

Pop it in the oven to bake for approximately 50 minutes, or until the cake is cooked all the way through, and the top is golden.

Serve warm with vanilla or coconut ice cream!

Entertaining - Tapas Sliders Night

The idea for this post came from three sources. Firstly, I am a huge fan of tapas style food. I want to try all of the things, so small amounts of various items is the best! When I go to restaurants, I can usually rope a few people into ordering multiple starters and make it a DIY tapas night, instead of ordering mains. Have you noticed that generally, the most unique and interesting food flavours are in the entrees? I'm assuming it's because if you don't like it, there's only a small amount and you've got your mains coming. But it's such a fun way of dining to try only smaller dishes.

One of my favourite restaurants is Watershed Winery near Margaret River and it's because they have a tasting plate appetiser for two and tasting plate dessert. Each plate comes with around 6 perfectly created mini-dishes. All different and unique, but still complimentary. I've often wanted to re-create this style of dinner party at home, but it's a lot of work to make so many mini-dishes. I actually want to do a tasting plate entree, main and dessert. 18 dishes for one dinner!

Secondly, my work Christmas party last year. It was a cocktail event, with lots of wonderful snacks going past and free-flowing champagne. It was getting towards the end of the night, when I'd danced to my heart's content and drank a few too many bubbles when I started to smell the most amazing smell. Burgers. And then I saw the tray of sliders the waiters were bringing around. Best. Idea. Ever. Mini-burgers for drunk folk, just before midnight.

I was discussing how perfect that idea was after she'd said she had pork sliders for lunch that day when we came up with a brilliant easy dinner party idea - tapas sliders. Mini-burgers with a choice of patties. So you can try multiple burgers in one night, or just stick to your favourite if you're a bit fussier. All of the patties can be prepared beforehand and then just grilled when your guests arrive. You can perfect the topping combinations for them, or like we did, create a burger station where they can experiment on their own. 

Our burger combinations suggestions were:

Beef patties - with cheese, beetroot, salad and tomato sauce
Pulled pork - with BBQ sauce, pineapple and coleslaw
Grilled pumpkin - with avocado and grilled haloumi
Prawn patties - with avocado and mango salsa

I made the pulled pork and prawn burgers. My friend brought the pumpkin and beef patties.

Our buns were a little on the large side for sliders, so I had my beef burger bunless as you can see in the pictures below. Sorry, all phone photos still.
 

 

 

 

 

Breakfast Love - Greek Yoghurt and Coconut Souffle

I love breakfast. It's my favourite meal of the day. Maybe the bacon love has contributed to it's special place in my heart, I'm not sure. All I know is that I love breakfast. In fact, before my husband and I started dating, I gave him a little disclaimer that if we were a couple, we'd probably have to go on a few breakfast dates, even though he rarely ate breakfast back then. We now have our own favourite breakfast cafe. On weekdays, my breakfast is fairly steady - oats, greek yoghurt, some form of fruit. Simple, nutritious and yum. I'm not one of those people that get bored eating the same breakfast every day. However, that is "work day" food, so I don't want to eat the same thing on the weekend. I feel like I need something different to celebrate the fact that it's my time. I'm a bit weird like that.

I spied this recipe for Greek Yoghurt Souffle on pinterest the other day and was intrigued. I've never attempted a souffle before. To me, they are one of those mysterious things that are notoriously temperamental and therefore 'to be avoided'. I've seen many a breakdown in pop culture related purely to souffles that did not rise. But this one seemed relatively easy, and it was made with Greek Yoghurt - a favourite of mine...maybe it was time to give it a shot?

You may recall a previous post about how I'm not a gardener? Well, that doesn't matter to our mango tree, which decided to produce a fair amount of fruit this year. Walking into the kitchen to the beautiful summery smell of fresh mangoes told me that this was the perfect day for trying a light souffle. I replaced the normal flour for coconut flour to continue the tropical flavours, and added shredded coconut to the fruit salad. It didn't rise quite as much as it should have, and flattened quickly, but it tasted amazing. Next time I'd maybe make 4 larger ones, rather than 6 smaller ones to rise more and make it look more impressive!

And if, like me, you decide to make breakfast for someone special, this is perfect for breakfast in bed. It can all be eaten with a spoon, no messy cutting like eggs, bacon and toast have. The do go flat really, really quickly though - so serve them up straight away!

Greek Yoghurt and Coconut Souffle
1 cup Greek Yoghurt
3 large eggs, separated
3 tbsps coconut flour
pinch salt
1 tsp vanilla
pinch cream of tartar
1/4 cup sugar
butter/extra sugar to line ramekins

Preheat oven to 180C (the original recipe called for bottom heating only - who am I to argue)
Butter, then sugar the ramekins, tapping out the excess sugar. Line them up on a baking tray to make it easier to put in the oven.
Whisk yoghurt, yolks, coconut flour, salt and vanilla together in a large bowl
In a separate bowl, beat the whites and cream of tartar until foamy. Slowly add the sugar and keep beating until firm soft peaks form.
Slowly fold the egg white mix into the yoghurt mix, a little at a time. Make sure you fold it carefully to keep the air in the egg whites.
Divide into the ramekins, then put them in the oven for around 15minutes until risen and lightly browned.

Serve with your favourite fruit!