Kinda Chinese banquet for three

To help myself get out of this anti food rut I've been in, I organised babysitters and hooned off to the Mt Maunganui library, straight to the cookery section intending on arming myself with cookbooks galore.
One that has stood out for me is Kylie Kwong's book Simple Chinese Cooking.  Everybody loves Chinese food right? even better when it's banquet style.  What I love about Kylie Kwong is she offers Chinese cooking the healthy way.  No msg, or too many deep fried dishes.  Fortunately for me my AWESOME hunter/gatherer father put the crab pot out the night before so we had fresh local paddle crabs to eat!  Chilli crab is a dish originating from Singapore which funnily enough isn't meant to be spicy so obviously I tweaked it a little!

Chilli-salt Duck Breasts with lemon
Jasmine Rice
Stir fry cabbage and brocoli in soy sauce and ginger
Chilli crab


Chilli-salt Duck Breasts with lemon

Like Kylie Kwong this is my favourite dish in the whole book.  I honestly have only cooked duck twice before and failed.. This recipe is so easy though, first you steam the duck then deep fry with a coating of flour, chilli and salt.  Amazing.

4 x 200g duck breasts, with skin, trimmed of excess fat
2 tbsp plain flour
3 tsp chilli powder
3 tsp sea salt
2 tsp Sichuan pepper, ground a little in a mortar and pestle
2 tsp sea salt
vegetable oil for deep-frying
1 large red chilli, finely sliced
2 spring onions, julienned
2 lemons, halved

Arrange duck breasts, skin side up, on a heatproof plate that will fit inside a steamer basket.  Place plate inside a steamer, position over a wok or large frying pan of boiling water and steam, covered, for 12 minutes or until duck breasts are half cooked.
Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine flour, chilli powder and first measure of salt.  Carefully remove plate from steamer basket, transfer duck breasts to a rack and set aside for 25 minutes too cool slightly.
Add duck breasts to chilli-salt mixture and toss to coat well, shaking off any excess flour.  Heat oil in a large wok until surface seems to shimmer slightly.  Add duck breasts and deep fry for about 2 minutes or until cooked through and lightly browned then remove and drain well on kitchen paper.
Cut duck on the diagonal into 1cm slices and arrange on a platter with a small bowl of Sichuan pepper and salt.  Garnish with chilli and spring onion and serve immediately with lemon halves.


Chilli crab

6-8 paddle crabs, rinsed, kindly end their lives first please then chop in half
big splash of vegetable oil
2 red chillies
3 tbsp chilli sauce
3 tbsp tomato sauce (yes like the chips + sauce variety)
knob of fresh ginger, grated
2 cloves garlic, crushed
handful fresh coriander
2 tbsp fish sauce

Heat oil in a wok or large frying pan then stir fry crabs for 5-10 minutes or until they have all turned orange.  Add another big splash of oil, garlic, chillies, ginger and fry until fragrant.  Add chilli sauce, tomato sauce and a splash of water and mix everything together and crabs are well coated in the sauce.  Cook for a few minutes then splash in the fish sauce, sprinkle with coriander leaves and serve.

Bastille day feast

Bouillabaisse is a traditional french seafood stew, originating from Marseille.  I once ate this when I traveled through France with my family, at a little beachside restaurant in Hyeres.  Eating this in France however, is very different to how I would serve it at home.  Normally the broth is served with toasts smothered in rouille and the seafood as a second course but I just have to tweak recipes a little, can't help it.  My version of rouille is also tweaked, satisfying my love of garlic and all things red!

Serves 2-4

1 leek, sliced
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
1 small carrot, peeled and finely diced
2 potatoes, diced
1 tsp fennel seeds
wineglass of white wine..chardonnay
2 bay leaf

Peel of 1/2 an orange, remove all pith

500ml fish stock
1 400g can crushed tomatoes in juice
1 tbsp raw sugar
a pinch of saffron
500g hapuku fillet, or other firm white fish
12 greenlip mussels, scrubbed and beards removed
15-20 green prawns

une baguette

Rouille;
4 tbsp mayonnaise
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1-2 roast capsicum, skins removed, deseeded or about 1/2 jar of roasted red peppers
2 tsp smoked paprika
sea salt and pepper

Heat olive oil in a large pan then add leek, carrot and garlic and saute over a medium heat til beautiful and soft.  Add potatoes and fennel seeds and fry for a couple of minutes.  Splash in the wine, stirring to bring everything together, simmer for a couple of minutes.  Add bay leaves, fish stock, tomatoes, sugar and saffron. Simmer gently for about 10 minutes.
Meanwhile make rouille.  Basically chuck everything into a blender until smooth.
Add mussels to soup and cook until open, discarding any that haven't opened.  Add fish, prawns and turn off heat, allowing the residual heat to cook the fish and prawns.

Serve the soup in bowls with rouille spooned on top of toasted slices of baguette.