It seems like all we do around here lately is make a mess in the kitchen and clean it up again. While husband is hell bent on reproducing the Christmas cookies of his youth, I have Fish Wednesday to tackle, and we’re getting ready for a party, too. Bake, wash. Chop, wash. Stew, wash. Mix, wash. Yesterday we attempted the first batch of meringue, failing miserably and leaving me with this question: What does one do with four egg yolks?
Today’s batch of meringue was a success due to the absolute unpolluted state of the egg whites. This enabled Euro-husband to roll out and top the schneehaubenkekse, a sweet cookie made of nothing but ground almonds, powdered sugar, and eggs. While those were baking, I threw together Cake Number One, a dense, moist cake that starts with sauteeing the apples in butter and sugar. When all that was out of the way, it was time to get started on Fish Wednesday.
There wasn’t much of a selection at the supermarket today. I eyed the prawns (farmed, frozen) and the salmon (wild, fresh, but we had salmon on New Year’s Eve), and selected the scallops. Scallops are okay to eat, according to Ocean’s Alive – my source for educated seafood shopping and eating – though it’s better if you distinguish between bay scallops and ocean scallops because of fishing practices.
I’d envisioned the scallops swimming in a gingery sort of broth with shitake mushrooms, carrots, and cilantro with a hint of lime. I headed down the right track, but I overdid the lime. I should have sliced it up and served it on the side; instead I squeezed the whole lime over the simmering stock, scallops, and all. This resulted in a broth that was much too tart, though I was able to offset this a little by serving the lot over glass noodles tossed in sesame oil and a little soy sauce. The scallops had the perfect texture, they weren’t overcooked, but they were a little bit sandy. I’m not sure there’s anything to be done about that. The dish was pretty, to be sure, but wow, easy on the lime next time, okay?
Tomorrow, we’re undertaking something called a Malakofftorte. It’s sort of like a Tiramisu, only further north. This makes sense. Austria is north of Italy, see?
[tags]cooking, Fish Wednesday, scallops, Austrian baking[/tags]
Finally, schneehaubenkekse up close and personal! They look so good. Try making lemon curd (recipes plastered all over the net) with the extra egg yolks. It’s great on toast or even better just eaten right out of the jar. Which means that for food safety reasons you get the whole jar to yourself.
And scallops…mmmmm. Haven’t had those in ages.