Seafood

Fried Shrimp 'n' Apricot Sauce

Servings: 4-6
Time: 45 minutes
Difficulty: Moderate
A western-Chinese fusion which provides the sweet and sour tang is a more complex manner. A great serving idea would be to batter up other seafoods and pile them all high in a large communal platter. You can then add as two additional sauces a soya ginger sauce and a sweet plum or sweet Thai chili sauce. You will be amazed to see how the apricot will hold its own.

- batter for the scrimp
1 1/2 cup All-purpose flour
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp Paprika
1 tsp Ground white pepper
1/2 tsp Garlic powder
1/2 tsp Dried Italian seasoning
1 can Beer (12-ounce) cold
3 lb Unpeeled large fresh shrimp or medium sized prawns
Vegetable oil
Apricot sauce

-for the apricot sauce
1 cup Apricot preserves
1 (4-oz) jar diced pimento, drained (use capers if no pimentos are available)
2 1/2 tbsp White vinegar

1. To marinade the shrimp - combine first 7 ingredients in a medium bowl and stir until smooth (add the beer slowly and stop if the mixture threatens to go watery). Let batter stand in fridge for 30 minutes.
2. Meanwhile you can make the apricot Sauce.
3. Combine all ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce the heat and simmer for 3 minutes stirring occasionally.
4. Cover and chill.
5. Peel shrimp, leaving tails intact.
6. Pour oil to depth of 2 inches into a wok, heat until quite hot (bread should brown – not blacken - in under 20 seconds).
7. Dip shrimp into batter, and fry, a few at a time, until golden.
8. Drain on paper towels.
9. Serve with Apricot Sauce.

One way of serving this dish is to have lettuce cups and lemon ready. The lettuce is used to hold the shrimp topped with several springs of coriander. On the side is the lemon wedge and in a small pot of the apricot sauce.

Grilled Curry-Apricot Shrimp And Scallops

Servings: 2-4
Time: 30 minutes
Difficulty: Not challenging
A very simple satay type dish but very flavoursome. Can be served with other seafood (try to avoid meat as it spoils the palate) or on a bed of lemon and parsley couscous.

1/2 cup Olive oil
1/2 cup Apricot preserves or nectar
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
2 tbsp Curry powder
2 tbsp Garlic; minced
4 tsp Jalapeno chili; minced and seeded
16 lg Shrimp; peeled tails left intact
12 scallops
4 Bamboo skewers; soaked in water for about 30 minutes

1. Combine first seven ingredients in a medium bowl.
2. Add shrimp and scallops, toss to coat and marinade.
3. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes and up to 1 hour, tossing occasionally (so the ones on the top also get flavour).
4. Prepare barbecue or oven grill.
5. Skewer 4 shrimp and 3 scallops alternately on each skewer.
6. Split the marinade into 2 portions
7. BBQ or Grill until shrimp are just cooked through and scallops are opaque,
8. Brush frequently with one portion of the marinade – remember on an open flame the marinade will not last long.
9. Bring remaining marinade to simmer in small saucepan. Can thicken with cornflour premixed in water.
10. Serve on skewers, passing marinade sauce separately.

Salmon-wild Rice Pasty Filling

Servings: 4 people
Time: 1 hour including rice cooking time
Difficulty: Requires attention
This dish requires attention only because you will be handling two more difficult ingredients, namely wild rice and the salmon. The wild rice must not be burnt and not too soft (but remember true wild rice needs more water/stock). The salmon must be moist. A small trick if one is re-cooking fish (like in this dish) is to under cook it the first time. It is always delightful to see non-fish eaters face light but when they taste this dsh.

1 lb Salmon, poached or barbecued
Filo pastry sheets
2 to 2 1/2 cups cooked wild rice (cooked in chicken or other flavoursome stock)
3 green onions, chopped
1 Red Bell pepper, finely chopped
1 cup diced fresh apricots
2 tbsp Butter
1 tbsp Olive oil
1 large clove garlic, minced
3/4 cup Apricot chutney

1. Cut salmon into chunks.
2. Place rice (cooled) in a mixing bowl.
3. Saute the onions and pepper in butter and olive oil until soft.
4. Stir in the garlic and saute for another minute longer.
5. Combine with rice and mix well.
6. To assemble pasty, place a layer of rice on the filo pastry square, top it with chunks of salmon and 1 or 2 teaspoons of chutney.
7. Place this parcel on to another filo pastry and fold more loosely this time.
8. You can then wrap this second sheet in another piece of filo if required (hint – for impact try gathering the filo as if you are wrapping a Christmas pudding and tie the top with a (boiled) piece of spring onion)
9. Bake in 350o F until filo goes golden brown.
10. Sprinkle the chopped apricots on the outside of a plate and place the package in the middle. Serve immediately.