This meal was very Jamie and by that I mean it wasn't really "Asian" but it was a good, fast, Jamie substitute that was well worth making and eating again.
This is the noodle salad. It was fresh and exciting. It is a combination of Asian style egg noodles (one nest per person), 100g unsalted cashews, 1/2 med. red onion, 1 fresh red chili, a small bunch coriander, 1-2 TBS. soy sauce, juice of one lime, 1 tsp. sesame oil, 1 tsp. fish sauce and 1tsp. runny honey.
My one beef about this recipe and Asian noodles in general is that you have to rinse them in cold water and then they have to be reheated unless you want to eat them cold. I didn't think it tasted as good lukewarm as it would have if it had been hot so next time I will rinse them and re-heat in a pan/wok until hot. It was such a fresh tasting noodle salad though and would be perfect in summer.
This is the satay sauce. Made with 1/2 a bunch of fresh coriander/cilantro, 1 fresh red chili, 1/2 a clove of garlic, 3 heaped TBS. crunchy peanut butter, lug of soy sauce, a 2 cm piece of fresh ginger and the zest of two limes and juice of one. It was all blended and chopped in the food processor and it was quite tasty. You dress it with a small lug of olive oil before serving. (It didn't really need the olive oil though in my opinion especially since peanut butter is so fattening already. Next time I will leave it off.
These are the chicken skewers. If you are making this in the summer you could grill these :)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Xrj3Eh9HycIf you cut and paste this link into your browser you can watch a short video on how to skewer the chicken. Notice at the end she just about spears her finger with the skewer. ALWAYS keep fingers out of the way when doing this. I have stabbed myself too many times with these skewers and it HURTS. The chicken is coated in some of the satay sauce that was leftover ( I think I used about 1/3 of the sauce. Then you drizzle a little olive oil and sprinkle over some salt and pepper and pop under the grill. After about 8-10 minutes you turn them over and drizzle with a little runny honey and then pop under the grill for another 8-10 min.
Here is the finished product. It should have been plated with a little fresh coriander and chopped red chili sprinkled on top but I forgot in the rush to feed the family. You use little gem lettuces to put the chicken and satay in and eat like a lettuce wrap. Don't forget to squeeze over some fresh lime and enjoy. SO GOOD!! Like I said this is a perfect summer night meal-crispy lettuce, fresh lime, grilled chicken, and the refreshing taste of noodles with lime, sesame oil, coriander red onion and chili-perfect!
This meal took about an hour to prepare, but it shouldn't have. It was a fast meal but I got lazy and just worked slowly enjoying the cooking too much. If I had been fast it probably would have taken me 30-40 min. I am still not nearly as fast as Jamie. I have no idea how he is able to do all that he does in 30 min. hmmm....I do know that one thing that slows me down is my lack of knife skills. I think I will have to start watching some knife videos and practicing. I could use some good knifes as well.
In case you are like me and could really use some knife skills here is a Jamie video to get you started.
I didn't make the fruit and mint sugar that went with this meal because berries are scarce here this time of year. I did however make a fruit salad, inspired by the fruit and mint sugar, that was to die for. My kids just couldn't get enough and I finally had to say OK no more :) The fruit salad will be coming in a later blog post.
Nice one buddy, I have made this before and it deffo took more than half an hour...Jamie Olive is just too much of a legend
ReplyDeleteKeep on cooking :)