Seafood is rich in proteins and fatty acids which are very good for heart. Seafood is also high in natural oils, minerals and vitamins. These foods don’t contain many calories and are also low in bad cholesterol. So, this food has various benefits and this makes it necessary to find the quick and easy seafood recipes.
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1. Quick and Easy Seafood Recipes
With the relatively shorter cooking times of most fish and shellfish compared to meat
and poultry, recipes featuring these delectable ingredients can be a convenient way to
whip up an impressive feast in a relatively short amount of time. The speedy cooking
time can however deceive the novice cook who doesn’t realize that small shrimps and
calamari can just take seconds to cook and going over by a a mere matter of minutes
will make the ends product tough and rubbery.
The keys to good food preparation especially with seafood is freshness of ingredients
and mis en place or putting “everything in place”. Especially with foods that cook
quickly, it is wise to have all the components of your dish ready on hand so that the
addition of ingredients need not be delayed because the cook forgets to peel, slice,
chop, mince or thaw anything.
Fresh shrimp, scallops, squid, mussels and other smaller sized marine animals should
be purchased as fresh as possible and stored properly in the refrigerator when these
will not be used immediately. Keep them in the freezer when they won’t be used in a
matter of hours. Note that the longer you keep them in the freezer, the more you lose
flavor, texture and nutrients. Using frozen pre-peeled seafood also cuts preparation
time because it eliminates the most tedious steps. Simply thaw and you’re good to go.
Stir fry shrimp, squid rings or fish fillets with vegetables and you get a great seafood
sauté.
Other straightforward simple recipes you can try at home include crab cakes which are
made with store bought fresh or frozen crab meat, a binder of eggs and/or cream and
flavoring components of vegetables, herbs and spices. Mash these up together, coat
with breadcrumbs and deep fry. A prawn cocktail also takes minutes to put together.
Boil or steam some large prawns, shell devein and assemble creatively in a martini
glass with a minced vegetable salsa. Even simpler would be to curl the delicate
cooked prawn on a slice of avocado or other fresh fruit.
Lastly, some dishes that looks very easy to prepare and take a half second to eat, like
sushi and sashimi can be deceivingly difficult to prepare. In making these tasty bite-
sized raw seafood morsels, fine dining Japanese restaurants use very sharp expensive
knives, special ingredients like short grain rice moistened with rice vinegar and rolled
with nori sheets on bamboo mats. Better leave that for the professional for the
meantime or be ready for quite a bit of trial and error.
2. Prawn Tails with Beer
Chef Luc Huysentruyt prepares prawn or shrimp tails with beer. For this recipe you will
need prawns, olive oil, tomatoes, chives, butter, beer, salt and pepper. This recipe
takes 30 minutes to cook. For best results, use raw king prawns or tiger prawn tails -
these are usually sold headless and are grey in colour.
Servings: 4
Preparation Time: 30 minutes
Cooking Time: 30 minutes
Recommended Wine: Chardonnay blanc
Ingredients:
24 prawns, 1 apple, 3 spoons olive oil, 3 teaspoons diced tomato, 1 spoon minced
chives, 8 ½ tablespoons butter, 1/2 bottle beer (Blanche de Bruges), salt, pepper
Preparation Instructions:
Peel the raw prawns. Cut an apple into thin slices. Sprinkle with sugar. Brown under
the salamander grill. Brown prawns in very hot olive oil for a few seconds. Remove the
prawns and place them on a dish with the glazed apple to one side. Remove the oil
from the pan. Pour beer inside the pan. Add shallots, tomatoes, chive, and towards
the end of the cooking, fresh butter, salt, and pepper. Cover the prawns with sauce
before serving.
3. Sautéed Shrimp
Jump the shrimps in a very hot frying pan with a drop of oil, seize them, when they
change color, to mid-cooking practically, thaw with quite a small little white wine. Add
the chopped very finely parsley, of the chopped shallots, the bayleaf and, over, exactly
before serving, the chopped onion and the peppercorns.
Servings: 4
Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 15 minutes
Recommended Wine: Pouilly Fuissé
Ingredients:
7 oz. gray shrimp, wine white, minced parsley, chopped shallots, 1 onion, chopped,
peppercorns, 1 bay leaf
Preparation Instructions:
Place a few drops of oil in a frying pan and sauté the shrimp. When they begin to turn
brown, add a small amount of white wine. Add parsley, shallots, and bay leaf. Just
before serving, top with onion and peppercorns.
4. Scampis carpaccio with caviar
One of the most exotic starters is the marinated sturgeon carpaccio as with many
other gourmet foods served at formal functions, there are etiquette rules attached
with caviar. Caviar should never be served with metal utensils- the sensitive
'berries'(proper name for caviar roe) can develop a very off-putting metallic taste.
Caviar spoons made from bone, mother of pearl or tortoise shells are sold in specialty
shops for just such occasions. Caviar served on a small cracker or canape should be
eaten in one bite, but caviar served as an appetizer should be mixed with chopped egg
whites and yolks and placed on toast points before eating.
Servings: 4
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Recommended Wine: Châblis,Graves blancs
Ingredients:
3 scampi (per person), 1 oz. caviar, juice of one lemon, salt, pepper, chopped green
onion shoots, parsley mixed with olive oil, mesclun (a salad mixture of chervil, arugula,
leafy lettuces, and endive in equal proportions)
Preparation Instructions:
Gut the scampi and slice. Season with lemon juice, pepper, and salt. Spread with
caviar. Sprinkle with slices of green onion. Season with olive oil and parsley mixture.
LINK LISTS:
http://www.gourmetrecipe.com/recipes/ingredients/seafood-recipes/quick-and-easy-seafood-
recipes
http://www.gourmetrecipe.com/recipes/prawn-tales-with-beer
http://www.gourmetrecipe.com/recipes/sauteed-shrimps-saute-shrimps
http://www.gourmetrecipe.com/recipes/scampis-carpaccio-with-caviar