All posts tagged: shellfish

Scallops Bacon, Bacon Scallops

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Is there anything quite as decadent as a mouthful of scallop and bacon? A fresh, sweet scallop and a smokey salty streaky bacon. Oh gawd. Scallop season here in New Zealand starts from late August and runs right through until February. The most common is known as the Nelson scallop, though most people here just call these “scallops”. Now that I’ve had both the tiny queen scallop and the popular Nelson scallop, I am confident that the Nelson scallop is lovelier by miles. They are our default scallop for a good reason! Market value is roughly $1NZ / $0.82US per scallop which makes them a treat, but affordable every now and then. Part of what makes them good value is how easy they are to cook. I don’t like things that are both expensive and difficult to cook. Nelson scallops are sold and eaten with the bright orange coral or roe. When at their peak, they are both rich and sweet. Nelson scallops are small, averaging just 30 to 40mm (1.2″ to 1.6″) and are …

Make A Chowder (Salmon Head and Mussel Chowder)

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Salmon. I love it raw. I love it cooked. I love it smoked. I love it poached. I love it pan fried. I love it baked. I love it steamed. It is creamy, fishy and super rich. Everything I’ve read says that salmon makes too strong a stock. I’m not afraid of a strong fish stock, but if a strong stock makes you queasy, this recipe is not for you. I’ve wanted to make a chowder for the longest time and a quiet, Autumn weekend at home last month was a good time for it. You can easily spend too much on seafood for a chowder. Sure, it will be delicious, but what about making a delicious chowder using cheaper ingredients? I picked up 2 salmon heads for cheap at my local asian market. Fish heads are usually cheap and I’ve been eyeing these up for a while now, wondering what to do with them. To prepare, make sure the gills are removed – they usually are. Cut the fins off with a pair of …

Auckland Seafood Festival 2012

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Today, armed my sister, Joey, and our cameras, we tackled my first Auckland Seafood Festival. I always suspected that it would be an expensive exercise that wouldn’t be worthwhile. I was wrong. This festival really celebrates New Zealand seafood and the new location of Wynyard Quarter is perfect. Surrounded by water and boats old and new, the festival was beautifully decorated and it was often hard to figure out what props had been brought in to entertain the sea theme and what were already there. We arrived a little after 11am to a queue shortly after the doors opened. Greeted by seafood on ice, this was a nice preview of what was to come. If you don’t like seeing eyes on your food, then keep walking. We made our way around and quickly found something we couldn’t turn down. The Wild Seafood Challenge. There were 6 different items for $2 for each item or $9 for a platter of all 6. This included: kina, prawn killers, turbo shells, sea cucumber, octopus and kina shots. The …

Oysters Hong Kong

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  Since we’re messing around with oysters this week, I figured I could mess around with Oysters Kilpatrick. My asian-inspired version uses ingredients like lap cheong, spring onions and black vinegar which you can find in any Cantonese kitchen. I’ve named it Oysters Hong Kong. From a previous post:  “Chinese dried sausages or Lap Cheong are dry cured sausages normally made of pork and fat. These are smoked, sweetened, seasoned and taste like awesome. The sausages I buy from my local are vacuum packed and hail from Canada. You might like these if you like streaky bacon cooked in maple syrup.”   Oysters Hong Kong Ingredients 12 fresh Pacific oysters (opened) 2 Chinese sausages (Lap Cheong) 3 tablespoons black vinegar 3 tablespoons spring onion, chopped Preparation Turn on grill to 200°C. Slice the Chinese sausages into thin rounds and fry until brown. Set the oysters on an oven tray lined with foil. Bunch up the foil so they oysters have a nice bed to lay upon. Top with the cooked sausage and black vinegar. Grill for 2-5 minutes. …

Make Oysters Kilpatrick

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I usually prefer my oysters fresh and unmolested, but things have changed since trying Oysters Kilpatrick for the first time at Mikano in April. They were Bluff and they were divine, but at $5 each, they are a special occasion treat. Oysters Kilpatrick is a dish from Australia and this 70’s retro-to-the-gills recipe isn’t for the faint hearted. Can you taste the oysters at their full potential? Maybe not. Are they delicious? Yes sir! I’ve always said Worcestershire rather awkwardly and today I noticed this month’s edition of Taste Magazine sorts me right out: How do I say…Worcestershire? The famous secret-recipe sauce named for its English home county has lost a syllable over time: ‘Wuss-tuh-shuh’ or just ‘Wuss-tuh’ for short. I’ve been ordering my oysters from New Zealand Seafoods (www.nzseafoods.co.nz) for years. They own oyster farms in Mahurangi Harbour and offer fresh, shucked Pacific oysters for $50NZ (about $40US) for 5 dozen. It’s about $6 to deliver which I consider money well spent. The oysters are always well packaged (export quality) and ready to eat. Oysters Kilpatrick …