It really isn't a sunny day but it's lovely for all that! What’s on the menu tonight? Turmeric fish - well it was to be tonight but it's been bumped to tomorrow night as we just picked up some prawns which need to be eaten sooner rather than later. So tomorrow we'll be cooking Turmeric fish (see recipe this blog 3 Feb 2020) after a long period curing in lemon juice, grated ginger, fish sauce and lots of turmeric (powder not fresh). This time I’m using Ling fish - a solid white flesh perfect for curries. I love flake but at current prices Ling will be absolutely fine and we'll save the flake for pan frying in butter - yum. Turmeric fish is our favourite fish curry so we’re looking forward to having a good nosh-up - tomorrow!
But tonight? we’re having vongoli, prawns and spaghetti. This will be an adaptation from the recipe below - you work with what you have and what leaps out at you from the fridge.
Vongole with onion and pancetta
Ingredients
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 large red onion finely diced
200g pancetta finely diced or bacon
2 cloves garlic crushed
1 cup white wine
2kg vongole
½ cup flat leaf parsley finely chopped
Pepper
Optional
1 Tbsp smoked paprika
Serves 4
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 large red onion finely diced
200g pancetta finely diced or bacon
2 cloves garlic crushed
1 cup white wine
2kg vongole
½ cup flat leaf parsley finely chopped
Pepper
Optional
1 Tbsp smoked paprika
Serves 4
Method
Heat wok or frying pan over mod heat and add oil. Add the onion and pancetta and cook 3-4 mins or until onion has softened.
Stir in paprika (if using) and simmer for about 1 min.
Add the white wine and simmer for ~2 mins
Add the vongole, cover and cook over high heat 3-4 mins or until vongole have opened.
Stir in the parsley, season with pepper and serve with lots of crusty bread or over spaghetti.
Heat wok or frying pan over mod heat and add oil. Add the onion and pancetta and cook 3-4 mins or until onion has softened.
Stir in paprika (if using) and simmer for about 1 min.
Add the white wine and simmer for ~2 mins
Add the vongole, cover and cook over high heat 3-4 mins or until vongole have opened.
Stir in the parsley, season with pepper and serve with lots of crusty bread or over spaghetti.
Chook’s note: try mild paprika if you don’t have smoked. Purge vongole (pippies, clams, cockles - what’s in a name) by placing in cool water for 30-45 mins. Incidentally these were pippies which come from ‘Coorong Cockles’.
For a quite different taste substitute lemongrass, chili and coriander or ginger for the pancetta and paprika. We made it this way over a camp fire when we were bush-camping at Cockle Creek, Tassie in 2017. We had collected the cockles ourselves along with mussels and huge oysters. Sigh!!! we will definitely go back it was so wonderful - tranquil and the solitude perfect for us hermits (see hwheat8.blogspot.com 10 April 2017)
Lindsay gathering cockles in the old way that the birds and aborigines do find them by doing the cockle shuffle in the sand.
 |
| Of course they had to be cleaned . Lucky Lindsay |
 |
| Huge oyster shells |
The oysters were way to big to simply give a couple of chews then swallow. They would have been awesome battered and fried.
 |
This was where we did most of our cooking - prawns this time. Tranquility. Sheer heaven. |
No comments:
Post a Comment