Seafood Night II (Son of Seafood)

by Simon Fernandez of ferdiesfoodlab 

The best place to start is with the best quality ingredients you can get!!

Super fresh rianbow trout - we had a half spare, I had it as sashimi with some citrus soy, melt in your mouth!

Still moving when I picked them up! Packed 'em in ice, and back to the lab!!

Octopus, curling from the heat of the pot, cooked with red pepper corns, sherry vinegar, and a fair amount of salt!

I always get a bit of stage fright when we do a virtually completely new menu, and I'm learning that an extra pair of hands in the kitchen is no bad thing, because without exception something will always take longer than you think!! Especially if you've tweaked it to improve it!! Got to be very careful with last minute tweaking!!

Last weekend we had the usual lovely mix of people, including Vic and her hen party, that was organised by the lovely Sarah!!
(BTW: Thanks for all your fantastic comments on the night, guys, and I hope you have a lovely day on the day!)

They put in a request for a seafood menu, and since they gave me 3 months notice I thought I'd oblige!! Here's what we made for Vic and the rest of our guests:

~ MENU ~

Devonshire Crab & Palm Heart Salad w/ 

Breakfast Soldier Croutons,

served w/ Garlic (Turkish) Bread & Palm Heart Sauce.

Flores del Mar

(Hot and Cold Seafood Salad w/ Octopus, Orange, Paprika, Squid & Whitebait & Borage)

White Fish Ceviche & Edamame

Basil Infused Grapefruit Amuse (V)

Stargazy Pie & Chips 

Gutted we didn't get a shot of the dish, with Langoustine claws popping out!!! Will have to make it again, and make sure we get the shot!!!

~~~

Orange and Vanilla Pannacotta, w/ Butter Pastry Biscuits & Balsamic Pearls

Topped w/ Cointreau Strawberries

Black Olive Ganache (V),  Salted Lemon Fudge (V)

 

~~~

At the end of each evening, if people want to leave a comment they can!!! Here's what folk said:

THAT WAS COOL!!

: ) PEACE AND LOVE  V

Merto & Michelle

Thank you for the lovely evening.

Haven't been at a supperclub for

a while & realised why i really

liked it in the first place.

                           Amazing pie!!

Merto & Michelle

Food was amazing! The amuse bouche was so refreshing, the way the basil develops on the palette is simply divine!
Kate

Interesting food.

Very well cooked + tasted great.

Great relaxed atmoshphere aswell

AMAZEBALLZ! - ferdie: massively excited writing!! ; )

Beautiful food, presentation.

Awesome!!

Thanks Sarah

"The octopus was AMAZING the best octopus I've ever had", Vic

REALLY ENJOYED THE
FOOD (CRAB WAS MY
FAVOURITE) AND THE
FACT THAT EVERYONE AT
SAME TABLE
Pedro

I must thank Danielle of the New Zealand Tourist Board, for being really helpful at the end of the night, and great to sit and chat away to with a glass of wine once we'd cleaned the kitchen down and tidied the main hall!! Very engaging! Hell, otherwise Sarah wouldn't have got in and we might have got to bed at 1AM instead of 5AM!!!!! Aye caramba!!

Mental note would love to return to Queenstown in the winter instead of the summer like last time!!! Sigh . . .

Was a cracker . . . .

Big hugs from ferdie!!!
XXX

Recipe: Scallops and Oyster Mushroom in Cava w/ Crunchy Potatoes - Celebrating the Potato

This isn't a roastie it's a fondant (melts in the mouth) potato : )

by Simon Fernandez of ferdiesfoodlab

WIth all these fad diets sweeping the nation many of which remove the lovely carb element from the menu it would seem that everyone  has turned their back on the humble potato!!! In retaliation Jean Christophe Novelli has set up a competition to celebrate the potato. So I spent a little time today looking into this and blimey it's a versatile beasty indeed!

The potato is a fantastic vehicle for flavour and a great conveyor of slow release energy, and it's prepared in soooo many ways I couldn't cover them all in detail here, but I'm going to try at least skim over them.

There are a few things that have a bearing on the outcome of a culinary potato adventure. These might seem obvious but how the potato is cut has a huge effect: it alters the crunchiness, how quickly it cooks and has an impact on texture. Of course, another element that's very important to take in to account is the type of potato, and whether it has a waxy or floury flesh. This also affects the texture and in turn what the potato should be used for. Incidentally, there's a great list of potato qualities here (loads of potato varieties!), but in general use floury types for baked, mash and roasties, and waxier varieties for boiled, fried, and salads.

Quick comment on roasties….

What would life be without these nuggets of beauty? I can't remember the number of Sundays that I've sat down with family or friends for a fab roast dinner and a couple of pints or a glass of wine. What a brilliant combo. The problem is you get a rubbish roastie - waiting for hours in a baking tray hoping it might retain it's glory - as often as you get a good one! Sad times!

There's no excuse. Make sure your potato is cooked (boiled), then roughly mix with fat, (I use olive oil but goose fat is popular) salt and  pepper. Put them into a hot oiled baking tray so they sizzle when they hit the tray. Put 'em in at 180C and turn only when the bottoms are crunchy!! Wait till the new bottom is crunchy! Job done.

Scallops and Oyster Mushroom in Cava w/ Crunchy Potatoes

INGREDIENTS

6 scallops

200g mixed mushrooms including oyster (chopped)

150ml cava

25g butter

6 cloves of garlic

6 olives (quartered)

5 medium potatoes floury (peeled and chopped)

little oregano or thyme

15g parsley.

METHOD

Cook the garlic on a low heat in olive oil until completely soft.

Boil potatoes and then cut them up, or vice versa!

. . . and smash them . . .

. . . then sit them in a heavy based pan on a medium heat and leave to brown . . .

In another pan add the butter, heat until brown then add the mushrooms sweat them off.

Once they've lost most of their water add the cava.

Make sure you turn the potatoes so they brown on both sides.

At this point the scallops can be added to the potatoes.

And if you're feeling a bit naughty add a little cream! Tut tut!!

Once the scallops are done, add the mushrooms, olives and herbs. Mix and serve.

I was feeling virtuous so I added leaks cooked in chicken stock.

You can also celebrate the potato with these inexpensive and very tasty recipes:

-   Celeriac & Potato Rosti

-   Patatas a lo Pobre - Cheap and tasty comfort food

-   Arroz al Horno (Baked Rice)

-   Ensaladilla Rusa (Russian Salad / Salad Olivier)