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| Everything from the Garden |
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| Grilled Prawn Salad |
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Sunday Brunch, My Way
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| Fire Cracker Steak Hand Rolls |
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| Asian Shrimp Noodles |
Sunday Brunch, My Way
The
Farmers Market is the right place to shop, for ready -made goodies. I can’t go
home without fresh, sweet coconut granola, loaves of nut breads, coffee cakes, cookies and macaroons, ruby red strawberry jam and and jars of homemade pickles. My
culinary shopping spree includes every exotic seasonal fruit for slicing, plus
pommelos, tangelos and Cara Cara oranges for fresh juice. I snap up a
variety of roasted private reserve coffee beans
and my favorite green and lavender tea. Who can resist the fresh goat cheese with
such different toppings like basil flavored hummus and sun-dried tomato pesto.
Without too much effort on my part, I have gathered a festive array of top
quality products.
When the weather warms up, hearty composed winter salads makes everyone happy. An Asian Shrimp Noodle Bowl layered with cool
crunchy greens and thin rice noodles in a light,
lemony dressing: Chinese Chicken Salad restyled with
ingredients that Snap! Crackle! And Crunch! The real star of the trio is the
Fire-Cracker Steak Hand Rolls. They are
sweet and salty, fun to make and eat. This recipe sings to me. Everyone rolls
his own, into crisp ruffled lettuce leaves, slivers of colorful peppers and Maui onions.(The recipes for the Fire-cracker Steak hand-rolls and Asian Shrimp Noodle salad id featured at the end of this article.)
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| Chinese Chicken Salad |
With a little help from the talented
artisans at our Farmers Market and this easy menu, put on your Sunday dress,
and enjoy yourself. The best part is
being with friends and eating too. Don’t
be surprised, more often than not, cozy afternoons like this, stretch straight into
the dinner hour. Be prepared, have all the fixings you’ll need to make stacks
of pancakes to go with the Fire-Cracker Steak with fried eggs!
Chinese Chicken Salad is a universally loved dish. For a change,
place a big portion of the
dressed salad between two crispy wonton skins, one per person. Then diners chop
up the bottom layer of the wonton skin together with the salad. It’s pretty
cool… and tastes incredible too.
Ginger Dressing:
Makes 6-8 servings
2 teaspoon dry mustard
2 tablespoons sugar
4 teaspoons soy sauce
6 tablespoons rice vinegar
4 tablespoons ginger, minced
1 tablespoon sesame Oil
2/3 cup oil
Place all the dressing ingredients in a blender, except for
the oils and whirl until smooth. Add oil drop by drop on a low pulse until the
dressing is thick and emulsified.
Salad Ingredients
Mai Fun Noodles
12 large Wonton skins
Macadamia Nut oil or Coconut oil to fry
4 scallions, sliced
½ each red and yellow pepper, finely diced
4 cups of shredded lettuce & Napa cabbage
12 oz roasted shredded chicken, skinless
Break Mai Fun noodles into 3 inch long pieces. Pour oil into
a wok about 4 inches deep. Heat on a high flame. When hot, dip a portion into
the hot oil- they will puff in a few seconds. Use 2 spoons to turn over all the
noodles so they cook evenly.
Remove from oil as soon as crackly and place on a paper
towel to drain.
Place wonton skins on a cutting board and cut into 6inch
circles with a biscuit cutter. Fry in the hot oil till crisp and lightly
browned on both sides. Remove from oil and drain.
Place scallion, peppers, shredded chicken, mixed greens and
cabbage in a large bowl and lightly toss the salad with just enough dressing to
moisten the leaves
To Serve: Place salad between 2 crispy wonton skins and
garnish the tops with the fried Mai Fun noodles.
Everything in this salad is
addictive and healthful, even the dressing! You can make this salad in
individual bowls, one per person or in one gorgeous salad bowl. I love to make
this salad with fresh tuna poke as well. Just give the poke a quick stir-fry
just before serving and don’t forget serve the salad with chopsticks.
Dressing
Makes 6-8
servings
2 garlic cloves, minced
½ teaspoon red chili flakes
½ cup sugar
½ cup fish sauce
8 tablespoons lemon juice
1 cup water
Put the ingredients into a
jar with a lid and shake well to mix the ingredients. Set aside.
Salad Ingredients
1 package Saifun Noodles
18 large shrimp, cooked
5 cups mixed lettuce, torn
into bite size pieces
2 cups mung bean sprouts
2 Asian pears, thinly sliced
2 medium cucumber, thinly
sliced
1/3 bunch fresh mint leaves,
stemmed
3 carrots, peeled and sliced
into coins
1 daikon radish, peeled and
sliced into coins
Macadamia nuts, roasted and
chopped
Cook the Saifun noodles as
directed on the package, drain well in a strainer.
Layer the salad ingredients,
except the macadamia nuts in a large salad bowl.
Gently toss with just enough
dressing to moisten the leaves and garnish with the macadamia nuts.
Firecracker Steak Hand Rolls
The ingredients in the
marinade create a sweet and succulent flavor. I love the meat rolled in soft
lettuce, you can make it hearty and bundle the sliced meat and greens into soft
warm buns.
Makes
10 -12 rolls
1 ¼ cups dark brown sugar
1 cup Soy sauce
1 tablespoon Asian sesame oil
2 teaspoons crushed red chili
flakes
4 cloves garlic, finely
minced
1- 4inch piece fresh ginger,
peeled & finely chopped
2 pounds flank steak
1 head butter lettuce, washed
and thoroughly dried
2 scallions, separated into
thin strands
½ each red and yellow pepper,
thinly sliced
½ Maui onion, thinly sliced
Whisk together brown sugar,
soy sauce, sesame oil, chili flakes, garlic, ginger, and ¼ cup water in large
bowl. Add the flank steak and toss to coat. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and
let marinate for at least 1 hour at room temperature, or refrigerate overnight,
turning occasionally to coat.
Heat barbeque, Remove steak
from marinade, and grill the steak till desired doneness. Remove from the
grill, place on a cutting board and let sit to set juices.
To serve, Place slices of
steak into the lettuce and garnish with the pepper and Maui onion slices.
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