(full menu: prawn-and-potato cakes, sugar-spiced salmon with “chinese” hot mustard, roast courgettes, sauteed leaks in balsamic vinegar)
(raspberries and chocolate cake and cream to follow)
The ask here was an easy-to-chew-and-swallow FANCY BIRTHDAY FEAST in nice rich flavours. Main prep time is 30 mins, but potatoes shd be semi-boiled a good deal earlier and let cool (an hour before you eat minimum; ideally a lot longer, so they can dry nicely).
YOU WILL NEED:
A large frying pan or skillet; a griddlepan or non-stick frying pan; a large pan (possibly two but can use the same one twice); a roasting dish; various mixing bowls; a chopping surface and knife; something ideally to blend or mince the ingredients of the prawn-and-potato cakes.
Salmon steaks or fillets (c.500 gms for 3 adults)
Prawns (as many as you can possibly imagine a nice bunch)
Potatos (4 large or 8 small, suitable type to end up fried)*
Spring onions (about 8)
Coriander (to taste: i like a lot)
Dill (to taste: ditto)
Leeks
Courgettes
Butter
Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
Sesame oil (could be sunflower oil)
Cornflour
Ground ginger
Cinnamon
Cumin
Cayenne,
Sugar,
Salt
Pepper
Coleman’s Mustard Powder
Sweet chili sauce
NOW DO THIS:
(Note: start with Ci, some time before S-30)
Ai: chop courgettes once lengthwise, then in half across
Aii: douse in olive oil on a flat roasting tray or similar
Aiii: at S-25**, place in hot roasting oven for c.25 mins (check after c.15 to see if need turning)
Bi: chop leeks small
Bii: at S-15, melt butter in large pan, with slish of balsamic
Biii: turn low and add leeks; stir and allow to sautee quietly until soft — if you add salt this will occur quicker, but ideally add salt only to taste at the end
Ci: S-60 ish (MINIMUM; S-24 hours is also good) chop potatoes into smallish chunks, boil until not quite edibly soft
Cii: allow to cool and drain mash or mouli***
Ciii: S-20, chop or mince prawns; chop dill, coriander and spring onions a bit (or a LOT if the mouli isn’t workin)
Civ: mix everything up, with salt and pepper
Cv: on a cornflour-dusted surface, make into flattish patties
Cvi: at S-10, start to heat sesame oil in a frying pan
Cvii: when nice and hot, start to fry patties into cakes, doing both sides will richly brown****
Di: mix together half a spoonful each of ground ginger, cinnamon, cumin, cayenne, sugar, salt, Coleman’s Mustard Powder
Dii: chunk the salmon to two-inch blocks; dredge it in the spice-mix until coated, let stand
Diii: make “chinese hot mustard”, equal parts mustard powder, sugar and warm water
Div: at S-6, place dusted salmon in a heated griddle or non-stick pan for 2-3 mins a side
Dv: the spice will blacken — don’t worry about that — it’s cooked really when it’s still moist and dark pink inside but some ppl are squeamish and prefer it a bit more done (ie lighter pink, and flaked)
E: serve all at once***** piping hot, mustard sauce near the salmon, chili sauce near the prawn-potato cakes
GENERAL COMMENTS: If you can avoid eating in the same room as cooking, all the better — hot frying can make the kitchen a bit smoky and hot, unless you’re super-adept. I didn’t really get my potato-cakes to cohere in nice cake-shapes… this doesn’t matter much unless you’re trying to win masterchef, but it’s vaguely annoying. Similarly, apart from the nice yellow mustard and red chili sauce, the overall LOOK can be a bit brown and burntish, at least till you crack the nice pink salmon open. But the taste is lovely!
*You may want to play around with the ratio of prawns to potatoes
**ie 25 mins before suppertime
***I had forgotten how incredibly rubbish the mouli at dad’s is and had to squudge everything up by hand, which is no fun with hot just-boiled potato
****or they’re meant to — my potatoes were too hot and moist, and didn’t really
*****If you want to start the potato-cakes a bit earlier, and let them stand (kept hot), it may make the final simultaneity a bit less hair-raising (but actually it’s perfectly achievable)