Recipes

Salt and Pepper Squid Recipe

- Alex Prichard 2 Comments

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I was particularly excited when, a few weeks ago, a new fishmonger opened at Brighton (Brighton Fresh Seafoods, in the Brighton Central shopping centre, on the corner of Brighton Road and Edwards Street). The selection of fish you can buy in the supermarket is dire (tough luck if you want anything local and fresh other than salmon) and our nearest fishmonger is in Westfield Marion which is not always a … um … pleasant shopping experience!

So I was keen to try out the new shop and Andy decided he was keen for making some salt and pepper squid. It’s taken us so long to purchase some Szechuan peppercorns that we’re now trying to use them in pretty much anything. And we had fresh oil in the fryer that had been used for chips a couple of times so we figured one more batch of chips and some S&P squid would be a fitting end to it.

I ended up picking up some thawed Australian squid rings and set about researching how best to do salt and pepper squid. Providing you have a deep fat fryer, it’s actually very easy and while I will provide you with a ‘recipe’ (of sorts) the important things are the RICE FLOUR (note – flour, not ground rice!) and the egg whites. Dabbing the squid dry (especially if it is thawed) is quite important – if only to solve the problem of the fryer spitting. And don’t be tempted to make a batter – a two step process is how you want to proceed.

In terms of flavouring – work with what you like and fry up a couple of rings first to check that you have the balance to your taste. Our first effort was overpowered with Chinese five spice (I would say that – I don’t particularly like it!) so we adjusted this by adding more Szechuan pepper. If you don’t have Szechuan pepper, you could try using chilli flakes, pepper and salt. And, of course, a really good way of adding extra heat is to make up a batch of a spice mix to serve on the side.

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Salt and Pepper Squid

Ingredients

  • 500 g squid rings, thawed (if previously frozen) and dried with kitchen towel
  • 2 egg whites, very lightly beaten
  • ~ 4 tbsp rice flour
  • spices to your taste, for example
  • 2 tsp ground black pepper
  • generous pinch of salt
  • 1 tsp Szechuan pepper
  • pinch of Chinese five spice

Instructions

  1. Heat the oil in your deep fat fryer to 190°C.
  2. Place the rice flour and spices in a large, shallow bowl and mix well.
  3. Dip the rings a couple at a time in the egg whites and then dip in the flour and spice mix.
  4. Fry the rings until golden and crispy, turning once. Don't overload the fryer - for most domestic fryers start with about 4 rings and see how you go.
  5. Remove from the fryer and drain on kitchen towel. Allow to cool slightly and taste to ensure the spice blend is right for you.
  6. Keep the cooked rings warm in the oven as you fry the remainder.
  7. Serve immediately with a squeeze of lemon.
https://eatingadelaide.com/salt-pepper-squid-recipe/

Warm Middle Eastern Salad with Wallaby

- Alex Prichard 1 Comment

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Disclaimer: Lenah Game sent me a voucher for the wallaby.

A while back I won The Blue Ducks, a book unpromisingly subtitled “Delicious Food, the Importance of Community and the Joy of Surfing”. Well, delicious food and community I can get on board with … but surfing … meh, I wasn’t so sure.

I read through it with very low expectations but came away very impressed and keen to try out, at the very least, the fennel ice cream (that still hasn’t happened). And then, the book was buried under all manner of picture books and Octonauts paraphernalia.

But the planets aligned, as last week Lenah Game got in touch and asked if I wanted to try some Tasmanian wallaby, newly available in South Australia. It had never occurred to me that wallaby would be edible and that I might be able to buy it but, given the opportunity to put a new meat on my plate, I was all for it.

Lenah wallaby is wild and humanely and sustainably harvested. Unlike sheep and cows, it’s a lot kinder to the Australian environment and Lenah Game makes sure that as much of the animal as possible is used. Wallabies don’t produce methane and require a LOT less water than cows and sheep do. Not only is the wallaby a very environmentally friendly thing to eat it is also super healthy. Like many game and wild meats, it’s very low in fat so you can feel virtuous all round.

So we were sitting on the sofa, doing our meal planning, scratching our heads over one meal when I dug out The Three Ducks and spotted a middle eastern lamb salad. It used lamb fillet and I remembered that Lenah produced wallaby fillet and … the rest is history.

The bonus here is that wallaby fillet (at roughly $30 a kilo) is markedly cheaper than lamb fillet. We bought two packets of fillet (both around 350-400g) and this served us for dinner, Andy for lunch and the toddler for dinner the next day. For two people and one meal you could easily get away with one packet.

Don’t over cook the wallaby – medium rare is about as cooked as you want to go – and allow it to rest. Lenah also notes that you need to cut the fillets diagonally across the grain. As the meat is vacuum packed, it will repay you opening it and ‘decanting’ it into a bowl for a bit of a rest prior to cooking.

We both loved the meat – it’s not gamey at all and don’t imagine it’s like kangaroo – it’s a lot more subtle. We’ll definitely be buying more in future … I can’t wait for some cold weather to try out the shanks.

Lenah Game wallaby is available from Foodland IGA supermarkets at Golden Grove, Hallett Cove, Littlehampton and Seaford and should be available in even more stores soon.

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Warm Middle Eastern Salad with Wallaby

Ingredients

  • 350g approx wallaby fillet
  • 2 tsp ground cumin
  • salt and pepper
  • 2 zucchini
  • ½ red onion, finely sliced
  • ½ cup coriander, chopped
  • ½ cup mint, chopped
  • 2 tomatoes, halved.
  • 2 tsp sumac
  • plain yoghurt

Instructions

  1. Heat a griddle pan and put the oven on its warm setting.
  2. Slice the zucchini lengthwise. If you have a mandoline, use this on the second thickest setting.
  3. Grill the zucchini and place in a bowl in the oven.
  4. Season the wallaby fillet with the cumin, salt and pepper. Griddle in a very hot pan in small batches. You'll only need a couple of minutes each side. Place the wallaby on a plate and rest in the oven.
  5. Grill the tomato.
  6. Mix the onion, coriander, mint and zucchini. Top with the tomatoes and the wallaby, sliced diagonally.
  7. Finish with a spoonful or two of yoghurt and dust with sumac. You can either toss the salad in the bowl or spoon it into a flat bread to make a very Australian kebab.
https://eatingadelaide.com/warm-middle-eastern-salad-wallaby/

Very Easy Vanilla Ice Cream

- Alex Prichard Leave a comment

Vanilla ice cream (crop)

Here in Adelaide we sweltered through much of summer. As much as many of us might have complained about the above 40°C days, people were similarly disappointed that we didn’t crack our all time record temperature. I was pretty grateful that that was a record we missed – 46°C is plenty hot enough, thank you very much.

And while temperatures have dropped, and we’re enjoying some almost wintery days, we still have some moderately warm weather ahead of us – and, of course, our friends in the northern hemisphere are all looking forward to summer proper.

So all of that is justification for just now posting a super simple vanilla ice cream recipe. I first made this back in February to take along to a 4 year old’s birthday party. Funnily enough – there weren’t a great many photo opportunities at that event and, despite making a second batch, I’ve done a really rubbish job of attempting to photograph it. However, I’m willing to bet that pretty much everyone and anyone reading this page knows what vanilla ice cream looks like and doesn’t need eighteen perfectly shot images to remind them!

The great thing about this ice cream is that it is egg free which means that it’s custard free. This means that it is zero hassle to make and anyone who avoids eggs can eat it.

The original recipe comes from the Cuisinart manual that came with my mum’s ice cream maker. This recipe suggests that you will need to whisk the milk and sugar for just a couple of minutes. This is complete nonsense. You really need to whisk the milk and sugar until the sugar has completely dissolved (otherwise you’ll have gritty ice cream – yuck!) and in my experience that probably takes a good 10-15 minutes.

As always with ice cream, making it on a stinking hot day is never a good idea – especially if your ice cream maker relies on a frozen insert.

This is one of the easiest ice cream recipes I’ve come across and, being vanilla, is an absolute crowd pleaser.

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Very Easy Vanilla Ice Cream

Ingredients

  • 1 cup (250mL) full cream milk, cold
  • ¾ caster sugar
  • 2 cups (500mL) cream (pure cream is best but thickened cream will do), cold
  • 1-2 tsp vanilla paste to taste

Instructions

  1. Beat the milk and sugar until the sugar is dissolved.
  2. Thoroughly mix through the cream and vanilla paste. If you choose to use a stand mixer, keep the speed on low so that you don't heat the mixture.
  3. Churn in your ice cream maker according to instructions then place in container in freezer for at least a couple of hours.
  4. Makes about a litre.
https://eatingadelaide.com/easy-vanilla-ice-cream/