tuna Archives - freespiritfood

#Ikamata, A Merry Cook Islands Christmas

After a long and busy year of not much blogging , this Christmas with time on my hands during our Cook Islands holiday, I’m getting back on my blogging “bike”. This setting is perfect for a free spirited foodie!

This week we travelled to Rarotonga in the Cook Islands from Sydney via some excellent meals in Auckland at Giraffe Restaurant and Italian stalwart Baduzzi.

The Cook Islands are made up of 15 islands in the time zone as Hawaii, 21 hours “behind” Australia and across the international dateline, but only 3.5 hours flight from Auckland. (Direct flights from Sydney will recommence in June 2023) ….it’s still Christmas Eve here!

Arriving in Rarotonga really lives up to the description of South Pacific Paradise, and the warm tropical air makes you instantly relax. We are staying with friends Neil and Maxine who have relocated here and are running the beautiful property Arcadia Retreat – 3 private homes available for rent – which is just across the road from the beach and with stunning views of the hills around which the small population is scattered.

Neil whipped up his delicious Ika Mata salad for our welcome lunch which was so good we had to request it the next day as well! Ika Mata is the traditional raw fish salad of the Cook Islands which can be served as an entree or main course.

Here’s the recipe which is perfect for any summer’s day across the globe….you just need the freshest tuna/fish you can find …which of course is in abundance here.

Iki Mata lunch on the deck at Arcadia Retreat, Rarotonga

Ingredients

400g fresh tuna cut into small cubes (the smaller the cubes, the faster your fish will cure)
1/4 cup lime juice
1 cup orange juice
3-4 tablespoons fresh passionfruit juice (seeds removed) *if you don’t have passionfruit then just add the same quantity of additional lime juice
2 birds eye chillies thinly sliced (you can deseed or make this optional)
3 teaspoons table salt
1 cup of coconut milk (ours was fresh but tinned is fine)
Salad items like: finely diced tomatoes, spring onions, peeled and deseeded cucumber, capsicum, and onion

Method:

1. Cube tuna and place in a glass or ceramic bowl

2. Mix thinly sliced chilli, salt, orange, lime and passionfruit juice and then pour over the fish and gently mix to cover the fish in the marinade.

3. Place in the fridge to marinate for 20 minutes – half an hour depending on how “cooked through” you’d like your fish.

4. Pour off the liquid from the fish so just the fish and chilli remain in the bowl.

5. Add the salad ingredients, mix through gently and pour over coconut milk and serve.

Eat and enjoy with a crisp white wine, lettuce leaves and some toasted Turkish bread or baguette!

Crispy lettuce leaves and toasted Turkish are delicious accompaniments for Ika Mata

December 25, 2022December 26, 2022

ShanthiniLeave a comment

Roasted #capsicum with #tuna filling #tapas

Just made these as part of a #tapas lunch we enjoyed on the deck of our beach house at beautiful Hyam’s Beach on the South Coast of New Sput Wales, about 3 hours from Sydney.

Tapas lunch consisted of : charcuterie and cheese board including machengo cheese, jamon Iberico, san Danielle prosciutto, cornichons, salami, quince paste and a blue cheese; garlic prawns, Spanish tortilla, chorizo, sourdough bread, green salad and a fruit and chocolate platter to finish. And these very nice red roasted capsicum rolls filled with tuna.

Prep time: 10 minutes Cooking and cooking time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

2 small long red capsicum or 4 long red peppers
3 cloves garlic
1/4 teaspoon salt
Juice of 1 lemon
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
200g canned tuna
1/2 cup Greek natural yoghurt
2 tablespoons small capers
2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
Ground black pepper

Method

1. Pre-heat oven to 220 degrees Celsius.

2. Place capsicum on foil lined baking tray.

3. Wrap peeled garlic cloves in foil and place on baking tray.

4. Grill capsicums for 20 minutes, turning over to blacken skin on all sides. Remove garlic from oven.

5. Put capsicums in oven for another 15-20 minutes until skin is blistered and black.

6. Meanwhile, smash garlic with salt and 1.5 teaspoons of capers and mix with yoghurt, olive oil and lemon juice.

7. Drain canned tuna, add yoghurt mixture and mix through tuna. Add chopped parsley, rest of whole capers. Grind black pepper to taste and mix again.

8. Remove capsicum from oven and place in plastic bag and tie off to allow steam to soften skins. Peel off skin carefully, cut in half and remove seeds, trying not to tear capsicum flesh.

9. Stuff with tuna mixture and roll capsicum into neat parcels cutting each half into two or leaving whole.

December 22, 2020

ShanthiniLeave a comment

Spice Temple Cooking Class – Sydney Seafood School

On a cold and drizzly Monday night in Sydney I ventured down to the Sydney Fish Markets for a cooking class at their Seafood Cooking School. They offer a big variety of courses often featuring well known Chefs and I’d booked in to the class by Head Chef Andy Evans from the Neil Perry restaurant, Spice Temple. Both Andy Evans and Neil Perry have travelled extensively in regional China, and Spice Temple features their especially created recipes featuring regional Chinese cooking with a spicy kick!

The amphitheatre at the Seafood School was full of enthusiastic foodies and the class started with Andy outlining the order of proceedings and the menu. We were each given a booklet with the 3 recipes we would be making: Tuna with Blackened Chilli Dressing, Prawn and Peanut Relish and Spanner Crab Omelette with Oyster Sauce.

The high tech set-up in the amphitheatre which has video screens displaying what is happening on the kitchen bench and stove makes it easy to watch the cooking demonstrations. It’s almost like watching a cooking show on TV live, with the knowledge in the back of your mind that it will be your turn soon.

Chef Andy Evans demonstrating recipes T Sydney Seafood School — Chef Andy Evans demonstrating recipes at Sydney Seafood School

During the demonstration, Andy gave us handy tips and hints which were helpful. For example he told us you should always use a wet knife when slicing raw fish like the tuna for the sashimi, how to properly clean coriander root and the circular motion to use when pounding the peanuts to crush them without making them too oily….

Another great technique he showed us was how to “crack” coconut cream split the oil from the “cream” and use that to fry the onion and spices for the Prawn and Peanut relish recipe.

The omelette that he made is a real show stopper and is absolutely delicious whilst being quick and easy to make. It does require frying in a large amount of hot oil and then discarding the oil before rolling the omelette and ingredients into a log shape. The resulting makes for a stunning buffet addition or shared main course dish. With only a few ingredients like egg, crabmeat, garlic chives, bean sprouts, oyster sauce and vegetable oil needed it is also relatively affordable dinner party menu item, whilst being REALLY impressive.

At the end of the demonstration Andy laid out the finished dishes for us students to file past and understand the benchmark for our attempts!

Tuna Sashimi with blackened chilli dressing

Prawn and peanut relish seved with cos lettuce "cups" — Prawn and peanut relish seved with cos lettuce “cups”

Stunning spanner crab omelette with oyster sauce

We split up into groups of five or six and moved into the cooking school’s first class kitchen set up. Each group had our own kitchen bench, gas stove, fridge fully stocked with all the ingredients we needed. My group was exemplary at team work and we quickly split up the responsibilities amongst us, helping each other as needed to keep a cracking pace as we went. You can actually reserve a bench you have a group of five or six when you book in to the class if you are going with a bunch of friends.

I was allocated the omelette to make and I can tell you I was nervous about what the outcome of the omelette rolling would be! Would mine end up as a mess of broken egg and crab instead of the beautiful log created by Andy. But with some the help of some timely tips while I was making the recipe from Cooking School assistant chefs I managed to turn out a result that was pretty damn close to the original! As you can see below, I do need to brush up on my oyster sauce pouring technique though – not quite as symmetrical as Andy’s! (I have made the omelette one already at home but didn’t have oyster sauce so replaced it with kecap manis which was just as delicious)

My attempt at the Spanner crab omelette.

After our cooking antics, we all moved to the dining area where we got to enjoy the results of our efforts and swop foodie stories with a bottle of complimentary wine.

The entire experience was fun and educational. The course was very professionally run and Andy Evans was an excellent instructor. He also stayed throughout the class visiting each bench in the kitchen and giving more hands on tips and assistance. I was given the course as a birthday present and would highly recommend it as a great gift for your foodie friends and an excellent way to learn about Australian seafood cooking in the great atmosphere of the Sydney Fish Markets if you are visiting Sydney.