Carine Clary - 3/26 - The FrangloSaxon Cooks

Vietnamese Shrimp Toast

March 31, 2018 by Carine Clary Leave a Comment

How does Chinese Shrimp Toast become Vietnamese Shrimp Toast? Well, you have Chinese immigrants to Vietnam who adapt it with the addition of some lemongrass and you’re good to go.

At least that’s one version of the story. My version is that shrimp toast tastes so good that anyone with access to shrimp will want to eat it.

I was inspired to develop a recipe for these after eating some frozen, overpriced & mediocre Trader Joe ones. I kept munching and wondering, looking at the ratio of white bread to shrimp, what the profit margin on the item was and whether or not I should fry the box to get my money’s worth.

After making them I can honestly say you’re getting poor not making your own. Plus, laminated boxes don’t fry well.

The beauty of this recipe is threefold. One – the shrimp topping doesn’t require a lot of steps. Just drop the raw ingredients into a food processor & whiz until it becomes a paste. Two – it tastes great. Three – it freezes great, making it superior to stale Doritos for late nite noshing.

As you start loading your food processor you’ll notice that one ingredient is soy sauce. For true Vietnameseish authenticity you will want to use Maggi soy sauce or Nuóc Tuöng. It’s the iconic Vietnamese soy sauce. Maggi was brought in by the French who imported it from Switzerland where it was first bottled by Julius Maggi, making its addition to colonial cooking an early form of fusion cuisine. However, the FrangloSaxon’s refrigerator door stash yielded only Kikkoman and it tasted fine, so I say go with what you got.

Another variation frequently employed by Vietnamese cooks is the use of thinly sliced baguettes as the carrier for the shrimp paste. These can be either fried or laid out on a cookie sheet and run under the broiler until brown. If you cook them in the oven get them about 4 inches under the broiler and broil at 425 until brown. Stay in the kitchen for this and keep a close watch so they don’t burn.

Finally, you’ll see that the little shrimpy toast points in the photo are accompanied by my carrot vinaigrette salad. This is a perfect side since besides tasting good the acidity counteracts the richness of the fried toast.

So there you have it. Shrimp Toast you can enjoy now or later.

Vietnamese Shrimp Toast

Author: Carine Clary

Cuisine: Vietnamese

Ingredients

For the shrimp paste:
½ lb. raw shrimp, peeled & deveined
¼ cup water chesnuts
2 tablespoons finely chopped lemongrass
¼ cup chopped cilantro (or flat leaf parsley)
½ cup sliced green onions
2 cloves garlic
1 small Thai chili*
1 tablespoon grated ginger
1 tsp. toasted sesame oil
1 tsp. Red Boat fish sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 egg white
¼ tsp. salt
sesame seeds
For the toast:
6 slices white sandwich bread, toasted on one side
For the garnish:
sliced green onion tops
sliced chilis

Instructions

Put shrimp, water chestnuts, cilantro, green onions, garlic, ginger, fish sauce, sesame oil, soy sauce,egg white, sugar, chilis in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse several times and scrape down bowl. Continue to process until the mixture is a paste. Cover with plastic and refrigerate for an hour.
Very lightly toast the bread and cut off the crusts. Spread the paste onto the toasted side and cut the bread into triangles. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.
Fill a heavy skillet about 1 inch with oil. When oil is hot place the toast shrimp side down & fry till crispy, about 1 to 2 minutes. The oil should be 350 degrees or if you don't have a thermometer you can just take some of those crusts you cut off the bread & hold them in the oil. If the oil bubbles around the edges it's hot enough to fry.
Drain on a rack or plate lined with a paper towel.
Garnish with thinly sliced chilis or green onion tops.

Notes

* If you forgot to buy a chili don't despair! Substitute a quarter teaspoon of cayenne & all will be well.

Savarin

March 11, 2018 by Carine Clary Leave a Comment

Savarin. Starts as sweet bread, ends as cake.

Anyone familiar with the man who is arguably France’s most famous gourmand will recognize the name Savarin. It was the name of Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, a French lawyer and food writer working in the early 19th century. This yeast risen “cake” was developed by Parisian pâtissier Auguste Julien in 1845 in his honor. In fact, it was initially called the Brillat-Savarin but later shortened to Savarin.

Jean-Anthelme B-S was born in Belley just west of the Swiss Alps, an area that has spawned an unusually large number of French chefs. During the revolution he was forced to flee the country with a price on his head. Apparently he had gained some attention with a speech he had made advocating capital punishment. However, when the revolutionaries decided to apply it to him he opted out and ended up in New York City teaching French and playing first violin in the Park Theater Symphony.

After three years in colonial purgatory he returned to a magistrate’s position and spent the balance of his long life eating and writing about what he ate. His food philosophy is best summed up as one that prizes the best ingredients prepared in a simple way that accentuates their flavor. And nothing could better describe the Savarin.

It’s a sweetened bread enriched with butter & eggs and anointed with a flavored syrup. This is where bread becomes cake. Serve it with whipped cream and fruit and it is transformed into a special occasion dessert. And if you come up short in the ring mold category you can substitute a bundt pan or use muffin tins for individual servings.

The prep may look involved but it’s really not. You can make the syrup days ahead and throw it in the back of the fridge. The cake may also be made ahead and frozen. If you do it this way you’ll only need to flavor and whip the cream, decorate with fruit and you’re done.

Although the directions are clearly outlined below you need to make sure that the cake is very slightly on the drier side but not dry. When done it should be golden brown and a toothpick should come out clean. And don’t worry about testing too many times. Those toothpick holes will come in handy when you pour the syrup over it.

When the cake is done you have the option of pouring the syrup in the pan and letting it soak or taking it out and brushing the syrup over both sides as I did below (and the reason is that I happened to make this Savarin in a hinged spingform pan that would have leaked the syrup. If you have a tube pan that is in one piece you can just pour it over).

Finally, be sure and have extra whipped cream and extra fruit in bowls so your eaters can top off their cake and perhaps stir some of that orange flavored cream into their coffee. Like this:

And as Brillat-Savarin would have said: “The discovery of a new dish confers more happiness on humanity, than the discovery of a new star.” Serve this and you’ll see a starry glow shining from the eyes of your guests!

Savarin

Author: Carine Clary

Cuisine: French

Ingredients

For the bread:
1 tablespoon active dry yeast (one packet)
¼ cup warm whole milk
1⅔rd cups all-purpose flour (or slightly more if necessary)
3 tablespoons sugar
½ teaspoon salt
3 large eggs, room temperature
¼ cup (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted
grated zest of one orange & one lemon
1 tsp. vanilla extract
⅓ cup currants (optional)
For the syrup:
1 cup water
⅔rds cup sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
rind of one orange
1 tsp. vanilla
½ tsp. almond extract
1 tsp. orange extract
Bourbon or rum to taste (I usually put 1 tsp, but a bit more is traditional)
For the topping:
1 pint heavy cream, whipped
2 tablespoons powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
grated orange rind to taste
1 tsp. orange extract or orange liqueur
For the fruit:
Mandarin oranges, drained & dried
raspberries

Instructions

For the bread:
Melt butter and let cool.
In a large bowl, stir the yeast into warmed milk (about 105 degrees) to soften.
Add the flour, sugar, salt and eggs to the yeast mixture. Beat for 2 minutes.
Add the cooled butter and beat for several minutes. The dough should be glossy & pull away from the sides of the mixer.
Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 1 hour.
Press the dough down, form into a rope and place into a well-greased savarin tube mold or Bundt pan. It will look very low in the pan but don't worry - it will rise to the edge of a tube pan. If using a bundt pan it will come up halfway.
Cover and let rise for 1½ hours until doubled in bulk.
While the savarin is rising, preheat the oven to 375°F.
Bake for 35 minutes, or until it is golden and firm to the touch.
Let cool for a few minutes then remove from the pan by holding a rack over the cake and flipping it.
For the syrup:
Combine the water, sugar and orange juice. Stir until the sugar dissolves.
Bring the mixture to a rolling boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low and let simmer until reduced by about half. This should take about 20 minutes.
Remove from heat. Add the flavorings and alcohol.
Pour ½ cup of syrup into the savarin mold. Put the savarin back in the mold. Spoon the syrup over the top until the savarin has absorbed all the syrup. Let sit for 20 minutes.
Remove the savarin from the mold.
Serve with fresh fruit and large spoonfuls of whipped cream.
For the topping:
Put all ingredients into the bowl & take Devo's advice and "Whip It! Whip it Good!"
After whipping it good, spoon cream over cake & top with fruit. Be sure any canned fruit is dried off or it will leak into the whipped cream and not be pretty!

Colcannon

March 5, 2018 by Carine Clary Leave a Comment

Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with Colcannon e.g., Irish potatoes and greens. Colcannon is traditionally made with mashed potatoes and cabbage, but chard or kale can be subbed for the cabbage. Give it a French Louisiana twist with the roast garlic and it will be a worthy side dish to the corned beef on offer for the holiday.

And if you have family members who balk at eating greens this can become your go to veg. Not only that but it keeps for a couple of days in the fridge. Double the recipe and you’ll have a delicious pre-made vegetable side dish. So let’s get started.

You can probably tell from the photo that I used skin on potatoes. I like their taste and they’re full of nutrients. If – and this is important – if they are organic. In a perfect world I would buy or grow only organic vegetables but in the real world you can’t always find or afford them. However, potatoes should always be organic and there are compelling reasons for that.

Unfortunately potatoes are one of the most heavily sprayed vegetables in the produce section of your store. They top nutritionists’ lists of the ‘dirty dozen’ most pesticide saturated items for sale there.

According to the USDA Pesticide Data Program potatoes can give you your minimum daily requirements of no less than thirty five pesticides including carcinogens and neurotoxins. They are sprayed during the growing season, before harvest, and after harvest before shipping. Barns containing the harvested tubers are so thoroughly fumigated that farmers are instructed to stay away for a couple of days.

So when it comes to potatoes if they’re not organic, peel ’em. In this recipe I specify russet but Yukon Gold works fine. Cut them up into one inch chunks, put in cold salted water and boil until soft. The reason for starting in cold water is to ensure that the chunks cook through at the same time. If you drop a potato into boiling water the outside (cut or whole) cooks immediately and then overcooks & becomes mushy before the inside cooks. This applies to all potato dishes.

Next cook the garlic in a little olive oil while the potatoes boil. This can be done in a toaster oven if you have one or your regular oven. Use a custard cup like this & you won’t need as much oil.

When the garlic is golden, press it out of the skin, chop it up and add to the drained potatoes before mashing. Slowly add the cream & broth until the mash achieves the consistency you want. This may require a bit more of less of the liquid specified here so play it by ear.

For the chard you will rinse it, give it a rough chop and then saute it in the olive oil that you cooked the garlic in. Add a couple of tablespoons of chicken broth or water and cook for three to five minutes. You just want to wilt the greens before folding them into the potatoes. The heat from the potatoes will continue to cook the greens.

It only remains to butter them up, dig in and enjoy.

Colcannon

Author: Carine Clary

Ingredients

2 lbs. russet potatoes (or Yukon Gold)
5 cloves garlic
1 large bunch of chard (about 3 cups)
¾ cup half and half or heavy cream
¼ cup chicken broth

Instructions

Place the unpeeled garlic cloves in a custard cup, fill with olive oil to cover, and put in a 350 oven until golden.
Cut the potatoes into chunks, put in cold salted water & boil until soft about 15 to 20 minutes.
Roughly chop the greens and saute in a shallow pan with oil and a little chicken broth for 5 minutes.
Drain potatoes, peel & chop browned garlic and mash well while adding the cream and broth.
Salt and pepper to taste.
Stir in chard, add a pat of butter to the top and serve.

Notes

Chard has long stems which can be included if you like, and I do. Remember to add the stems first and let them cook for a minute since they take longer to soften.
If you use kale or cabbage the saute time will be longer. Just make sure the greens are cooked enough to blend well with the mash.

Prima Nachos

January 26, 2018 by Carine Clary Leave a Comment

Named after Louis, as in Prima, these nachos are at the intersection where Tex-Mex meets Trapani, as in Sicily. The Prima family traveled from Trapani, Sicily to the Quarter where their musical son first cut his teeth on the club scene. You can cut yours on these easy Italian style nachos that are extremely fast to make.

Nachos Tex-Mex origin comes from just over the border in Piedras Negras (which technically makes it Mex-Mex but we’ll ignore that for the moment). They were whipped up by Ignacio (Nacho) Anaya for some hungry military wives from Fort Duncan back during World War II and his original creation consisted only of chips, cheese, and jalapenos. It was an instant hit and cooks have been tweaking it with added ingredients ever since.

I like to keep the add ons to some kind of reasonable number leaving the “super loaded” specials for sports bars with fully staffed kitchens. Shooting here for tasty but simple.

To start you’ll just shake out that bag a’ chips onto a cookie sheet or cast iron skillet. Next you’ll cook up the sausage, warm up the refried beans, add the tomato, onion, olives & fontina, broil and attack!

I use refried beans since bean beans tend to fall off the nacho. As you can see in the picture below I added a couple of tablespoons of a chicken broth reduction to make them a little bit easier to put on the chips. If you don’t have broth just thin with some water.

Fontina cheese is used because it’s Italian and melts better than anything except Velveeta (but tastes a lot better than V.) If you don’t have it Pepper Jack or Colby work well. After the sausage is cooked you can move it to the side of the pan and warm the refried beans. Then get all the toppings together and start building the nachos.

Always put the beans and meat on first and add the others as you like not forgetting to add the cheese last.

Ready to go under the broiler:

Ready to eat:

The best part is that if you’ve got the ingredients on hand and aren’t photographing it like I am here it should take about 15 minutes start to finish.

And to quote Louis, there is no “Basta Basta” to these guys so assemble and enjoy!

Prima Nachos

Author: Carine Clary

Cuisine: Italian

Ingredients

Tortilla Chips
1 lb. hot Italian bulk sausage
1 cup refried beans, slightly thinned
½ cup sliced black olives
½ cup chopped tomatoes
¼ cup sliced green onion tops
Thinly sliced chilies to taste
½ cup grated Fontina cheese

Instructions

Spread chips out on a cookie sheet or cast iron skillet.
Cook sausage over medium heat until browned. Depending on how fatty the sausage is you may have to add a little olive oil.
Once the sausage is done, cut the heat and move it over to the side of the pan and add the refried beans to warm.
To assemble start with the refried beans, then add the sausage and finish with the olives, tomatoes, green onion tops and sliced chilies.
Top with the grated cheese and run under the broiler until the cheese is melted, then serve.

Notes

All the ingredient amounts are approximate. If you go exactly by the recipe you'll have enough for a large cookie sheet's worth of nachos but if you have all the fixings you can just play it by ear.

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