♬ Bouillabaisse a la Marseillaise - New Year's Eve 2010 ♬

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...I can think of no better way to usher in the New Year than in the company of family and good friends. The New Year here is heralded with a show of fireworks to mark the passage of one year to the next. At midnight Bob and I, and those with us, will stand, glass in hand, to propose a toast to absent friends, those separated from us by time and place, as well as those who have made the final journey home. All are remembered with great joy as we recall the lessons they have taught us and the richness they have brought our lives. I treasure the time they spent at my table and their places there will always be reserved. I include you in their number and wish each of you a healthy and prosperous New Year. Here's to absent friends. Here's to all of you. Happy New Year.

Please don't miss the short film clip at the end of this post. It is the farewell waltz scene from the movie, Waterloo Bridge. It is lovely and quite appropriate for New Year's Eve.

Our holiday season doesn't end until the 2nd of January and that means special dinners are served on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. The meals are rarely difficult to prepare, but they always have a festive air about them. I decided to make bouillabaisse this year because I had a new supply of saffron and knew everyone would enjoy the novelty and casual elegance of this dish. The folks at my local fish market were co-conspirators in its creation, and helped to find fish that would provide the flavor I needed without breaking the bank. My version of this dish is based on Julia Child's Bouillabaisse a la Marseillaise. Bouillabaisse is really a fish chowder which contains a variety of fish that is simmered in an aromatic fish broth. The chowder is eaten from shallow soup bowls and often served with toasted bread and a garnish of rouille. Rouille is a rust colored sauce that can be stirred into the bouillabaisse or spread on croutons that usually accompany the soup. For best flavor six or more varieties of fish should be used to make the chowder. That is why it makes no sense to make this dish for fewer than six people. Some of the fish should be firm fleshed and gelatinous, like halibut; some should be tender and flaky like sole. The firm fish hold their shape, and the tender fish partially disperse in the soup. Shellfish are optional, but I truly can't imagine a bouillabaisse without them. The fish can be prepared several hours before cooking and refrigerated until needed. The soup base can be made a day ahead of time and kept in the refrigerator. Once the soup stock is brought to a boil, it will take about 20 minutes to cook the fish. The bouillabaisse should be served immediately with a crusty bread and rouille. It is an altogether lovely meal. The recipe for bouillabaisse and rouille appear below.

Bouillabaisse a la Marseillaise...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite inspired by Julia Child

Chowder Ingredients:
1/2 cup olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped leek
4 cloves mashed garlic
1/4 cup tomato paste
2-1/2 quarts water
Sprigs of fresh herbs: thyme, parsley, fennel fronds and basil (in any combination)
1/2 teaspoon saffron
1 tablespoon kosher salt
4 pounds fish heads, bones, trimmings, shrimp shells
1-1/2 pounds each peeled shrimp; wild cod, halibut and sole cut into chunks
1-1/2 pounds scrubbed and debearded or clams
Toasted rustic bread
Rouille

Chowder Directions:
Heat oil in a tall 6 to 8 quart pot over medium heat; add onion and leek and cook gently until softened. Stir in garlic and cook for a minute until fragrant, then add tomato paste, water, herbs, saffron, salt and fish bones. Bring to a simmer, then reduce heat so broth bubbles slowly without boiling. Cook 30 minutes, then strain broth into a large bowl or another pot, discarding solids. Pour broth back into stockpot and bring to a boil. Add shrimp and cook until they turn pink, a minute or two. Add rest of the fish and shellfish, cover and simmer until the mussels or clams open. Taste soup and add more salt and freshly ground pepper if needed. Serve bouillabaisse with toasted bread and rouille on the side. Yield: 6 servings.

Rouille Ingredients:
1 roasted and peeled red bell pepper
1 roasted hot red chile pepper or ground cayenne pepper to taste
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 small peeled garlic clove
1/4 cup fresh bread crumbs or finely chopped almonds
1/4 cup fresh parsley leaves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Rouille Directions:
Puree everything except olive oil in a food processor until smooth. Slowly add olive oil while processing to form a paste.


Auld Lang Syne



The Farewell Waltz

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Italian Fish Soup with Fresh Herbs, Fennel, Shallots and Garlic - Karista's Kitchen
Oyster Stew - Seriously Soupy
Icelandic Fish Soup - For the Love of Food
Provencal Seafood Bisque - Simply Recipes
Simple Fish Soup - Tobias Cooks
Swedish Fish Soup - Klutzy Chef
Zuppa di Pesce Alla Napoletana - Memorie di Angelina
Seafood Bourride - Blue Kitchen

Crawfish Etouffee

Crawfish étouffée accordingly consists of aromatic vegetables and crawfish meat smothered in a savory roux-based sauce and served over rice.  There is an endless debate as to what is the best recipe for crawfish étouffée? Roux or no roux? Tomato no tomato? This can go on forever ... it's one of those dishes where there is no one definitive recipe, but chances are that whichever one you try will be good and fantastically great.

Ingredients:

1 lb crawfish tails
4 ozs butter

2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 medium - large onion - chopped
2 cloves garlic - chopped

2 tbsp bell pepper, minced

1/2 stalk celery, minced

2 tsp tomato paste

Cayenne pepper
1/ 2 cups water
Freshly ground black pepper
Salt
Green onion tops
Fresh parsley








Method:
Melt butter in pot, add flour and stir well.

Add onions, bell pepper, celery and garlic. Cook until tender, and keep stirring.

Add tomato paste and cayenne pepper, then add water. Cook down for 20 minutes or so, then add the crawfish tails.  Bring to a boil.

 Add salt and pepper to taste,  then add chopped green onion tops and parsley.

Serve hot with white rice.

Chili Los Mariscos

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...This chili is a great way to use frozen shrimp and scallops. In the grand scheme of things, it's not hard to do and its a great way to waken tired taste buds. I am always leery of recipes that put delicate seafood in heavy or spicy sauces that are bound to overwhelm its lovely briney taste. This is a mild chili and you can add heat using pepper flakes, cayenne pepper, hot sauce or chipotles in adobo sauce. I prefer to use red pepper flakes or a bit of mashed chipotles in this dish. There is a harshness to cayenne and hot sauce that I find unpleasant when used with seafood. There is a bit of chopping and some wait time required to make this dish. The fish is marinated in a seviche type dressing for about an hour. While it stews the chili in which the fish will cook can be made. Any type of firm fleshed fish can be used to make this dish. I prefer to use shrimp and scallops because I love their texture. The only trick to making this dish work is to have the vegetables and seafood in pieces that are approximately the same size to ensure even cooking. I serve this over a mound of white or yellow rice in shallow soup bowls. I think you'll like this dish. Here's the recipe.

Chili Los Mariscos...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite

Ingredients:
1/2 pound large raw shrimp, shelled and deveined
1/2 pound sea scallops
2 limes, peeled and thinly sliced
1 tablespoon + 1/2 teaspoon chili powder, divided use
1 tablespoon + 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin, divided use
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro, divided use
4 teaspoons minced garlic, divided use
1 fresh serrano chile, seeded and finely chopped
1/4 cup vegetable oil, divided use
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
1 large red bell pepper seeded and roughly chopped
1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and roughly chopped
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
Pinch of cinnamon
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes or 1/2 teaspoon mashed chipotle in adobo sauce
Salt and pepper
1-1/2 cups fish stock
1 (14-oz.) can Mexican-style stewed tomatoes
1 (14-oz.) can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
2 cups hot cooked rice

Directions:
1) Place shrimp, scallops and lime slices in a large bowl. Add 1/2 teaspoon chile powder, 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin, 2 tablespoon cilantro, 2 teaspoons minced garlic, chopped chile and 2 tablespoons oil and toss to coat. Cover. Let sit at room temperature for one hour. Set aside.
2) Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large skillet set over medium-high heat until it shimmers. Add onions, reserved 2 teaspoons garlic, red and yellow peppers
and cook over low heat until soft, about 5 minutes. Add remaining 1 tablespoon oil, reserved 1 tablespoon chile powder, reserved 1 tablespoon cumin, cloves, and pepper flakes or mashed chipotle. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Cook for 5 minutes. Add stock and stewed tomatoes and cook, partially covered, for 25 minutes.
3) Add beans to tomato mixture and spoon fish or shell fish on top. Cover and cook for 10 minutes longer, or until fish is cooked through. Divide rice between four bowls. Spoon chili over rice. Sprinkle with remaining cilantro. Yield: 4 servings.

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Camarones a la Mexicana - One Perfect Bite
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Shrimp Spaghetti with Cilantro Pesto

A pack of pasta is a must in my pantry, so are many more musts.  I must confess, i am a hoarder, i can never pass off a good deal and a sucker to new brands and types of noodles.  They are like recipes, you try them once, if they are good, then they are keepers.  My freezer is packed,  my daughter would warn my grandchildren that they are not to open the freezer, if they have to do it, they would have to have their bike helmets on.  My most favorite item in the freezer, is the 26 - 30 shrimps,  when they are on sale, $4,00/lb, i will buy a few packets(2 lbs/pkt).  They are the quickest to defrost and shrimp dinner will be served as soon as they are defrosted.  Having a tub of homemade cilantro pesto in the freeser,  aided my quest for dinner too, especailly when friends or family decide to drop by.

Ingredients:

1 pound spaghetti pasta
1  pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup vegetable oil (for frying the shrimps)
1 cup Cilantro Pesto












Method:
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat.

Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 8 to 10 minutes.

 Drain pasta.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large heavy skillet (i like using the wok) over high heat.

Season the shrimps with salt and pepper.  Add a few in the hot oil and cook shrimps until they turn pink.  Remove and set aside.

Repeat frying the shrimps in small batches, this is to prevent crowding as shrimps fried this way is succulentand juicy.(This is the chinese way - passing through oil)

When shrimps are done, remove all the oil from the skillet/wok.

Put the drained pasta into the skillet/wok, add in the cilantro pesto and toss to combine.  If the spaghetti seems like too tight(dry), add a little of the pasta water to loosen.

When pasta is well mixed, add in the cooked shrimps,  Toss well and adjust the taste with salt and pepper and more olive oil as you wish.

Serve immediately and garnish(optional)

Serves

Stuffed Sweet Peppers ala Peng

The name given to the Capsicum fruits varies between English-speaking countries.  Read about it under Synonyms and common names at Wiki.  To know the names may be of great help especially now that there are so many recipes online and it could be from anywhere on this earth.  When i was asked if i knew how to cook Chili, i answered that, yes, i do use chilly to cook and due to my ignorance, my answer must have been  perplexing,  just as the question was intriguing to me.

How did i get to use these 'sweet peppers' which are so good for stuffing?  They are not spicy but sweet and the colors are so vibrant that they are too pretty to eat.  Peng, a very dear friend who i am destined to meet and can be considered as my  GIANT cooking partner(according to Renee, my grand daughter, who wrote an essay in class about 3 reasons to keep a giant in the house, and, one of them is that the giant can be my cooking partner).  Yes, Peng, is my giant, not only is she an excellent cook, she is an excellent teacher and an authority in chinese and malaysian cooking.  Any of you readers who are residing in Colorado Springs can attend her cooking classes which i can attest to that you will be able to cook up a storm after learning from her. I too learned alot from Peng,she is my GIANT consultant with a  GIANT heart.  She bought me several bags of 'sweet peppers' from Cosco and now i am hooked on these colorful peppers.  Thank you, Peng for your generousity and all the valuable gifts you gave me which are most appreciated.  Thank you again

Ingredients:

1 pound medium-sized shrimp


Seasoning:
¼ teaspoon white pepper
½ teaspoon salt
1 tsp soya sauce
1 tsp fish sauce
2 tablespoons cornstarch/tapioca starch
1 egg white
a dash of sesame oil

Sweet Peppers of all colors

Sauce:

1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp soya sauce
1 tsp cornstarch/tapioca starch mix with 1 tbsp water
1/2 cup stock
1/4 tsp white pepper
A dash of sesame oil
Spring onions for garnishing

Method:

Shell, devein, and rinse shrimp. Drain thoroughly and wipe very dry with kitchen towel.
Add shrimp to a food processor, using the metal blade, process for a few seconds, until shrimp is pasty, add in seasonings and process until paste is well mixed. . Set aside while you prepare the sweet pepper for stuffing.

Use a paring knife and make a slit on all the sweet peppers, then stuff the peppers with the shrimp paste.

Heat a little oil and pan fry the stuffed peppers with the shrimp paste down touching the oil and fry until brown.  Do not crowd the pan, fry in batches.

To make the sauce:

Put the stock, oyster sauce and soya sauce in the wok and bring to the boil.  Thicken with the cornstarch/tapioca starch solution.  Add in pepper.

Put the cooked stuffed peppers into the sauce and cover the wok to finished cooking the shrimp paste.

Remove cover and sprinkle with sesame oil.

Garnish with spring onions before serving.

Serves

Fish Congee/Yee Sang Chook

What do I eat for breakfast? This question arised in many a conversion with westerners.  Congee, of course, nothing beats a bowl of hot congee/chook on a cold winter's morning, besides warming the body, it takes the place of a beverage.  While we think of rice as belonging at the dinner table, in many parts of China and Asia, this nutritious staple is consumed three times daily, including for breakfast.

Nonetheless, there's more similarity between an asian and western breakfast than it would first appear. Many asians begin their day with a warm bowl of congee/chook, a watery rice gruel that bears marked resemblance to porridge.  Ah, porridge, for the longest ever, we in Malaysia, have associated the english term for congee/chook as porridge.  When my brother was hospitalized, we told our aussie sister-in-law to make him porridge and you guessed right - she made oatmeal porridge and then did we know that porridge and congee/chook are not the same.  To her, congee/chook is 'rice soup'.


Ingredients:  

For the congee/chook
1 cup jasmine rice
1/4 cup glutinous rice
1 tsp salt
1 small piece rock sugar
1 tbsp cooking oil.

Accompaniments:

1 lb fish fillet(any fish of your choice)
Fried Tung Fun
1 knob of ginger - peeled and juliened
Fried garlic
Spring onion/coriander - chopped
Soya sauce
Sesame oil
Pepper

Marinate for the fish fillet:

Shaoxing wine
Soya sauce
Sesame oil
White pepper
Ginger Juice


Method:

Put all the ingredients for the congee/chook in the pressure cooker and add enough water to come to half pot.  Close the lid and bring up the pressure to 15 lbs.  Pressurized for 10 minutes.  Turn off the heat. Release pressure before opening lid.

Turn heat on again and using a wire whisk, stir and whisk vigorously until congee/chook has thickened. Add cold water as you whisked to the consistency you like.

Fried Tung Fun

Fish Fillet - sliced thinly

Juliened ginger

Marinate the sliced fish fillets

Put marinated fish fillets at the bottom of a large bowl and pour hot congee over them.  Top with all the accompaniments and enjoy.

Mock Shark Fin's Omelette

It has been such a long time that i have attended a chinese wedding dinner - an eight course one. The most memorable will be this first dish which was supposed to be an appetizer - The Four Seasons. It was the most welcome platter cos, malaysian guests were noted for never being on-time, so can you imagine how hungry everyone must be. There were four types severed on a lovely garnished huge plate and i did not really cared which represented which season but this omelette was more often than not, will be one of them but it was cooked with Shark Fins. Here, i have fried my omelette with bean sprouts instead - not because i am turning 'green' cos i don't have Shark Fins - who has???

Ingredients:

1 cup crab meat - mix with 1 tbsp shaoxing wine and steam for 3 minutes.

1 cup bean sprouts - heads and tails removed

3 large eggs

salt and pepper to taste

oil for frying

chopped spring onions/cilantro for garnishing

Iceberg lettuce (optional)

Method:

Beat eggs with salt and pepper.

Add in the crab meat and bean sprouts.

Heat up oil and when oil is shimmering, add in the egg mixture and stir. Continue to stir until egg is cooked and set.

Dish out and serve hot.

Serves

Mussels The Asian Way

There are many ways to cook mussels but i like to cook them the asian way which i find is the best way as good mussels, fresh or frozen should be cooked in a subtle and simple way so as not to mar the flavor or texture - "Less is more when it comes to cooking mussels! "



Ingredients:

2 lbs mussels(fresh or frozen) - To clean mussels visit How to clean mussels

2 tbsp cooking oil

1 tbsp chopped garlic

1 tsp chopped ginger

1 tbsp chopped chili padi/jalapeno

3 - 4 tbsp shaoxing wine

A dash of fish sauce

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

2 tbsp chopped spring onion

Method:

Heat wok with cooking oil and when oil is hot, add in chopped ginger , garlic and chili padi .

Saute until fragrant but not browned.

Add in the cleaned mussels and stir.

Add in the shaoxing wine, fish sauce and black pepper.

Cover wok , this creates the necessary steam required to open the shells. It will also decrease the overall heat within the pan. Continue to finish cooking.

After about 4 minutes, remove the lid. At this point, most if not all of the mussels will be open. Mussels, unlike clams, will open before they are cooked all of the way through. If some of your mussels have not opened, then it is possible that either they were not cooked long enough, or they are bad and should be discarded. If most of them have not yet opened, place the cover back on the wok and wait another minute or two. Be careful not to cook the mussels for too long, as they will become tough and grainy if overcooked.

Sprinkle with spring onions and serve immediately.

Serves

Banh Beo

" Hi!, I have compiled a list of the top Asian Food blogs, and yours was included! check it out atThe Daily Reviewer." This message came from ted@thedailyreviewer.com and i thank him for recognizing this blog to be in his list of the top Asian Food blogs. Thanks Ted and i hope my readers will be interested to know who the other top Asian Food blogs are. One of them is Andrea Nguyen - Viet World Kitchen from where i learned how to make these Banh Beo. This time i had the proper mould for the thin pancake and it was so much easier to make when the utensil is right. The only thing i added was some Annato seed oil to the shrimp, to give it a better looking orangy color.

Ingredients:

and

Method:

Follow recipe from Mini Woon Chai Koh/Rice Pancake/Banh Beo

Serves

Assam Black Pomfret

Black Pomfret is one of the frozen fishes that somehow is just as good as one which has just come out of the water.

I had to show my guests around, we enjoyed ourselves so much that we forgot about the time. We were running very late for dinner, luckily the fish was taken out to thaw in the morning before we left home. So, cooking this dish was no effort as the assam spices was a premixed and pineapple was from the can. Only the tomatoes needed to be halves. Thank goodness for premixed spices and a well stocked pantry.

Ingredients:

1 black pomfret

1/2 salt

1 packet of Assam pedas (any brand will do - adjust taste with tamarind juice and sugar)

2 tomatoes cut into halves

1 can pineapple chunks

Method:

Clean the black pomfret of scales and salt the fish, inside and on the surface of fish.

Follow the instructions in the packet of assam pedas premix, add in the black pomfret. Cover and cook until fish is cooked. Adjust taste with tamarind juice if not sour enough, sugar and salt according to taste.

Add in tomatoes and pineapple chunks and bring gravy back to the boil.

Serve hot with white rice and enjoy.


Serves

Boiled Crawfish

Crawfish boils are usually held outdoors as it will be messy and lining the table with newspaper, makes cleaning up so much easier. It is usually cooked in a large scale (a whole truck-load of crawfish), but with this scaled-down recipe, you can make it in the kitchen. Some of the fun of boiling crawfish is personalizing your boil by adding favorites accompaniments such as artichokes, mushrooms, sausage, even broccoli besides the regular potatoes and corns.

Ingredients:

12 pounds live crawfish

8 quarts water

1 package (1 pound) Zatarain's® Crawfish, Shrimp & Crab Boil

1 large onion, peeled

1 head garlic, halved crosswise

1 1/2 pounds small red potatoes

6 ears corn, shucked and halved crosswise

2 - 3 oranges/lemons - cut into wedges

Method:

Pour live crawfish into a washtub or ice chest; cover with water. Drain. Repeat 3 to 4 times until crawfish are clean. Drain. Discard any dead crawfish and debris.

Mix 8 quarts water, Crab Boil, onion ,garlic and oranges/lemons in large (20-quart) stockpot. Bring to boil on high heat; boil 5 minutes.

Add potatoes; boil 5 minutes. Add crawfish and corn; return to boil. Cover and cook 2 minutes.

Turn off heat and let stand 20 minutes.

Add about 6 to 8 cups ice to stockpot; let stand 20 minutes to cool.

Drain and serve.

Serves

Braised Sea Cucumber

The Chinese name for sea cucumber - hai shen - translates roughly into "sea ginseng." It's unclear whether this is in recognition of the sea cucumber's reputation as an aphrodisiac, or because it is considered to be quite healthful. It may also have something to do with its slippery feel, as the texture of food weights more heavily in Chinese cooking than other cuisines. In any event, the Chinese have been harvesting sea cucumbers for centuries.
In Chinese medicine, sea cucumber has been used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat everything from high blood pressure in humans to joint pain in pot-bellied pigs!

Sea cucumber is flavorless, but has the ability to soak up the flavors of foods and seasonings it is cooked with, like this braise recipe which has very flavorful ingredients. These pre-conditioned sea cucumber can be found in the freeze of most asian store here and after this recipe, would not buy them again as they were so soft and disintergrated as soon as it got heated up. I would buy the dried ones and will pre-condition/rehydrate them myself.

Ingredients:

(A)

1/2 tbsp. rice wine
2 stalks green onions
4 slices ginger

2 cups water

1 piece dried squid

1 lb pre-conditioned sea cucumbers - cut into 2 - 2 1/2 inch pieces

1 lb belly pork - cut into bite-size pieces

6 large Chinese black mushrooms - soaked woth warm water and discard stems

1/2 cup of chopped onion

6 slices ginger,

oil

1 tsp. Shaoxing hua tiau rice wine
1/2 tsp. sesame oil

Seasonings:

1 tbsp ground mein se/tau cheong

3 tbsps. soy sauce
1 tsp. sugar
3/4 cup stock

(B)

1 tbsp. cornstarch
1 tbsp. water

Method:

Heat wok or pan and add 1 tbsp. oil. Add mixture (A) and stir-fry until fragrant.
Add 2 cups water and heat to boil. Add prepared sea cucumbers, cook for 3 minutes, then remove from heat and drain. Set mixture aside.

Heat pan and add 3 tbsps oil until very hot. Add chopped onion, ginger, mein see/tau cheong and stir-fry until fragrant.

Add in belly pork, squid, black mushrooms, stock and the rest of the seasonings. Add water enough to cover the pork and bring to a boil and then simmer covered until pork is tender and until the liquid is almost half of original amount.

Add the sea cucumber and bring back to a boil.

Add mixture (B) to thicken and lastly the wine. Adjust taste with salt and sugar.

Sprinkle with sesame oil before serving.

.




Serves