Monday 16th Feb '09

Brunch
Prawn Salad

After enjoying a sleep in this morning, I threw this salad together pretty quickly. Some cos lettuce, freshly peeled Exmouth prawns, avocado and sundried tomatoes. For the dressing, I used a spoon of Masterfood's 'Seafood Cocktail' sauce mixed with olive oil, a splash of vinegar and lemon juice.

This afternoon I attempted a new little project. I've been wanting to do this for quite some time now, but never actually had the time to.


Lobster Stock
I had kept the lobster head from last night, as well as the legs. Keeping the head in a ziplock bag, I flipped the edge of the floor mat over the bag and using a stone pestle, bashed the shell. It was a mess when I was done - the lobster's head's insides were all over the inside of the bag. At least I know there's alot of flavour in there to extract.

In a pot, I sauteed some sliced onion, leek, celery stalks and whole garlic cloves in olive oil. Once they were softened, I added some fennel stalks, and scraped what I could of the smashed lobster head into the pot. After frying the mixture for a few minutes, I poured in some water (more than the amount of stock I want to end up with since some of it will evaporate), sea salt and cracked black pepper. I threw in several sprigs of fresh thyme, rosemary and a few bay leaves. Once at boiling, I partially covered the pot with the lid and left it to simmer on the lowest heat for the next few hours.

Can you spot the lobster's eyeball?

Meanwhile, I made myself a large bowl of lunch.

Lunch
Bee Hoon Soup with Beef Balls, Okra, Tofu, Enoki,
Coriander and lots of fresh cut Chillies

I left the lobster stock to cool down a bit before I strained it through a sieve to have only the liquid remaining. This is my LOBSTER STOCK!

I decided to use half of it to make soup.

Dinner
Seafood Soup with Risoni

1. Sautee some sliced leek, celery and onion in some olive oil in a medium sized pot for a few minutes.
   
2. Add some crushed garlic and diced tomato and cook until all vegetables are softened.
   
3. Add a splash of white wine, then the desired amount of lobster stock**.
   
4. Season with some thyme, sea salt and cracked black pepper.
   
5. Bring to the boil and add risoni. Simmer gently for about five minutes.
   
6. Add seafood and simmer for another five minutes or until cooked.
   
7. Serve with fresh chopped basil and grated pecorino.

** Depending how much you add, the soup will be thick or more watery.

I used some sliced squid, diced Nile perch, scallops cut in half, and some clams in the shell. The risoni should almost be cooked before you add the seafood because you don't want the risoni to overcook by the time the seafood is ready. I used seafood that I had in the freezer, so because it was still frozen, I added it in a few minutes earlier than I would have if it had had time to thaw out.

Aah, Sarena...You've done it again!