Ok… start the clock!
This month’s "Is my blog burning?" IMBB #24 is a kind of time trial, our challenge set by "Too Many Chefs" was to make a full meal from scratch or as much as
possible from raw ingredients to the completed meal in 30 minutes or
less!
To be honest, time itself has never been too much of a stumbling block for me to produce a meal, it’s finding the
inspiration to start after a long hard day, or a lack of ingredients to start with that mostly stumps me.
For my 30 minute feast to feed four, I simply chose one of our family favourites, fresh Akaroa Salmon. I feel very privileged to have access to such wonderful fresh
produce here in Canterbury, New Zealand. Honestly, Akaroa Salmon - "The Ocean's Best!" deserves to be
covered in more depth, so I will dedicate a future post specifically to it in the near future.
We often throw Akaroa Salmon together with a simple Teriyaki style marinade, it’s tastes divine and best of all,
salmon is so good for us being full of Omega 3s. This time I paired Teriyaki Salmon Kebabs on a bed of Orze (Risoni)
Pasta, mixed with baby spring peas in a Crème fraîche and Pure Wasabi sauce and some Wilted Baby Bok Choy leaves.
Naturally you could use any type of dried pasta you wish and, time permitting, rice could work equally well.  I recently acquired a little jar of "Pure
Wasabi" after Caroline from Bibliocook tipped me off, I had seen the
product advertised a few times, although hadn't had a chance to try it. Imagine my surprise when I found out it was
yet another excellent local Canterbury product! Once you’ve tried this stuff you’ll never go back to that horrid
green stuff in a tube!!
- Teriyaki Salmon Kebabs
-
- 400 to 600 grams of Akaroa Salmon fillet cut into strips (hint - ask for the off cuts! It's cheaper and
you're cutting it up anyway!)
- 2 tablespoons of shoyu soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons of sweet sherry / marsala
- 1 tablespoon of brown sugar
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 2 teaspoons of freshly grated ginger
- oil
- bamboo skewers
- Peel the garlic cloves and crush into a shallow dish.
- Add the fresh minced ginger, brown sugar, sweet sherry and soy sauce.
- Stir to combine.
- Thread the salmon evenly onto 8 bamboo skewers and place into the marinade, coating both sides.
- Place the kebabs on a hot oiled grill or barbeque for 2 minutes each side, or until they are almost cooked through
- the golden rule here is NOT to over cook.
- Orze with baby
spring peas in a Crème fraîche and Pure Wasabi sauce
-
- 250 gram of dry Orze Pasta (rice grain shaped pasta also known as Risoni)
- salt
- ½ to ¾ cups of baby spring peas
- olive oil
- ¼ cup of white wine
- ½ cup of Crème fraîche
- 1 to 2 teaspoons of Pure Wasabi paste or to taste (optional)
- freshly ground black pepper
- Maldon sea salt
- Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil
- Salt the water and add the Orze pasta
- Cook for 4 minutes and add the peas. Continue cooking until the pasta is al denté - approximately 2 more
minutes.
- Drain and stir through a little olive oil
- Return to the heat and add the white wine
- Stir through Crème fraîche and Pure Wasabi paste.
- Check seasonings and serve.
- Wilted Baby Bok Choy
-
- Baby Bok Choy leaves
- Olive oil
- Maldon sea salt
- Heat a pan or wok.
- Throw in a few handfuls of bok choy leaves
- Drizzle with oil and stir through until wilted and glistening
- Season and serve.
And what meal is complete without dessert? Well, no meal is! If you’re me!!
This dessert is a very quick little twist on the classic Kiwi / Australian cookie… ANZAC biscuits!. ANZAC Tuiles with Crème Chantilly and
Raspberries, drizzled with another Kiwi classic Chelsea Golden syrup. 
- ANZAC tuiles
-
- 4 tablespoons of rolled oats
- 4 tablespoons of desiccated coconut
- 75 grams of plain white flour
- 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
- 80 grams of caster sugar
- 1 egg
- 50 mls of milk
- Fine cocoa for dusting
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (360°F).
- On a piece of silcon/ parchment / baking paper, draw a pattern for 12 circles 10 cm in diameter.
- Briefly process the rolled oats and coconut in a food processor to cut them a little finer.
- Mix the rolled oats and coconut with the remaining ingredients to form a paste.
- Smear 1 heaped teaspoon of paste in each circle using a palate knife.
- Bake for 5 to 6 minutes
- Remove from the oven and while still supple mould the tuiles over a rolling pin to form curved tuiles.
- Dust lightly with cocoa powder.
- Makes 24 Tuile
- Crème Chantilly and Raspberries
-
- 200 mls of whipping cream
- 1 teaspoon of caster sugar
- Vanilla bean or extract to taste
- 1 cup of raspberries, preferably fresh, although I made do with thawed frozen ones
- Golden syrup for drizzling
- Lightly whip the cream, sugar and vanilla
- Assemble 3 ANZAC tuiles per person with a few raspberries and spoons of Crème Chantilly
- Finally drizzle with golden syrup and serve.
- My order of work to achieve all this in less than 30 minutes!
- Clean hands
- Preheat oven to 180°C (360°F)
- Put pasta pot onto boil
- Put kettle on for a cuppa for hubby
- Assemble all ingredients on bench
- Draw circles on parchment paper
- Process rolled oats and coconut
- Mix tuile paste, set aside
- Crush garlic and ginger… whilst sharing jokes and the days goss with hubby!
- Add pasta to pot
- Slice salmon
- Clean hands / clear bench of extra equipment and ingredients
- Throw peas into pot with pasta
- Make cuppa for hubby!
- Drain pasta and peas, add oil
- Spread and smear tuiles / into oven, set timer 5 mins
- Thread salmon on skewers
- Clean hands
- Remove tuiles from oven and bend over rolling pin
- Heat pan for salmon
- Lightly whip Crème Chantilly
- Dust tuiles with cocoa
- Start to cook salmon
- Return pasta to heat, add wine…
- Flip salmon kebabs over
- Finish pasta with Crème fraîche and Pure Wasabi paste
- Heat pan for bok choy, wilt
- Remove everything from heat and assemble and serve
- Stop the Clock!
- Photograph…. and eat!
- Assemble desserts
- Photograph… eat!
Enjoy
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