grilled snapper with daikon sesame salad

It's so great to grow your own veggies especially when you have not been able to made it to the markets. 

But, nothing else in my garden seems to last like the radishes. 

I guess the kangaroos and possums have not acquired a taste for this peppery vegetable.

I've been eyeing off my daikon radish for a while now. Watching it slowly grow higher and higher!

Finally it was ready for harvest and I knew exactly what I was going to build with it.

It's so rewarding growing your own veges. I love being able to wander outside and pick a few leafy greens for dinner, or a couple of herbs to garnish a meal.

I look forward to the day the Joel and I settle on our own acreage with a HUGE vege patch. I will grow everything.. including my own olives for pressing and a small vineyard for wine.

But for now, I'm content with the few things that I am able to grow.

Ingredients

(side serves 4-6)

1 large daikon radish

2 tblsp sesame oil

1 tblsp mirin sauce

2 tsp soy sauce

1 tblsp nigella seeds

pinch of Himalayan rock salt

4-6 portions fresh snapper 

oil

Shred or grate the daikon and toss with all other ingredients, leave in refrigerator for flavours to infuse.

Heat a grill pan, lightly oil and sear the snapper fillets for 4-5 mins on each side.

Serve.

P.S. Our weekend was well spent.

sashimi with pickled ginger

We love our seafood. 

Seriously can't get enough of it.

And at least once a week, I make a dinner of sashimi.

I remember when we got into Japanese food, and thought it would be so dangerous to prepare sashimi at home.

But really, it's so easy!

You just need a nice sharp knife and a bit of bravery.

A visit to my local fish monger and I came away with some fresh tuna, blue eye cod and seaweed salad.

Sashimi

Method

fish of your desire (tuna, salmon, swordfish, blue-eye cod, marlin etc)

On a clean wooden chopping board, place the fillet*.

With a sharp knife, slice as finely as desired - against the grain.

Return to the refridgerator until required.

Serve with pickled ginger (recipe below), wasabi paste and soy sauce.

*Tip: you may find it useful to place the fillets in the freezer for 10 mins for ease of slicing.

Pickled Ginger

Ingredients

fresh ginger

mirrin

japanese vinegar

water

Finely slice the desired amount of ginger.

Fill a jar with the sliced ginger.

Then mix a third of each mirrin, vinegar and water.

Pour over the ginger until all covered.

Screw on lid and shake vigourously.

Leave to pickle the refrigerator for 4 weeks.

Then it's ready to serve.

As mentioned on my previous post, here is an example of what I used my sprouts for.

The spicy mustard sprouts go perfectly with the metallic taste of the tuna while the cress sprouts go so well with the butteriness of the blue eye cod.

wellbeing stir fry with green tea noodles

There are never enough hours in the day!

With my hours at work having picked up lately, I'm finding it a juggle to fit everything (fitness, blogging, housework, entertaining etc) into the limited time I have in the evenings. 

So, when I am time poor, I love a quick throw-together stir fry that has a rainbow of colours with minimal cooking time for a warm yet fresh dinner.

The more colours you can enjoy with your food the better.

Not only is it appealing to the eye, but also, each vegetable holds its own nutritional content and to combine and vary what you eat is great for all-round wellbeing.

Ingredients

(serves 2-3)

100g green tea noodles

1 tsp pure sesame oil

1 tsp fresh ginger, grated

3 garlic cloves, sliced

1/2 red hot chilli, finely sliced (optional)

1 tblsp soy sauce

1 tblsp mirin sauce

10 button mushrooms, finely sliced

2 bunches of baby pak choy, finely sliced

1 red banana pepper, finely sliced

4 shallots, finely sliced

1 c purple cabbage, finely sliced

1 tblsp dried wakame

1/2 c peas

1/4 c roasted cashew nuts

1/4 c fresh coriander, roughly chopped

Cook noodles in boiling water for about 5 mins - until tender.

Drain and rinse with cool water - set aside.

Next, heat oil in a wok and add ginger, garlic and chilli - cook for 1 min stirring constantly.

Then add the soy, mirin and mushrooms and continue to cook until mushrooms are softened and browning.

Then add the pak choy, pepper, shallots and purple cabbage and toss for a minute or 2.

Then toss through the seaweed, peas, nuts and coriander. 

Remove from heat and toss through the noodles*.

Serve and enjoy!

*You may need to re-rinse with cool water to prevent sicking.

raw kelp noodle salad

As lovers of Japanese food, we regularly consume sea vegetables.

I often add some wakame to a stir fry or grab some seafood salad from my local fish monger. 

Trying something a little different, a few months ago I ordered these raw kelp noodles from my favourite online raw food source.

Not cheap at $10 a pop, I hadn't ordered more until now. And let me just say these noodles are totally splurge worthy.

I was so excited when my recent order arrived in the post and couldn't wait to crack them out and eat them!

So, with the perfect meal in mind I dropped in at my local fish monger after work and picked up some fresh salmon, planning on serving it raw with the noodles.

 

Kelp Noodles are fat-free, gluten-free and very low in carbohydrates and calories. The healthful content provides a rich source of trace minerals including iodine which kelp is well known for.

It is recommended that you shouldn't consume too many sea vegetables in one sitting but as the kelp noodle isn't super concentrated, it's a perfect balance.

The taste, well, it's very neutral and mild with a crisp crunch when bitten into. 

 Ingredients

(serves 2)

340 g raw kelp noodles, rinsed

4 spring onions, sliced thinly

1/2 c peas, fresh or frozen

1 tblsp mixed sesame seeds

2 tsp sesame oil

2 tsp soy sauce

2 tsp mirin

1 tsp wasabi paste

1/2 lime juiced

salmon (optional)*

Combine kelp, onions, peas and sesame seeds in a large bowl.

Toss and set aside.

Next, combine oil, soy sauce, mirin, wasabi paste and lime juice in a small jug.

Whisk until well combined.

Pour over the noodles and sit in the refrigerator for 30 mins to allow flavours to infuse.

Serve.

*Optional: thinly slice some sashimi grade salmon and roll horizontally into a rose. Arrange on top of the kelp salad and serve with a sprinkling of wasabi sesame seeds.

Savour... xx