Fried Shrimp Quenelles Izakaya Style

There are a couple Izakaya (Japanese pub) restaurants in the city that I would have loved to go to but the line up, up to 2 hours, is just not worth it.  I heard about this cookbook by Mark Robinson and I thought, maybe I can bring the Izakaya home?!

I was fortunate enough to snap the last copy of the book at Indigo.  EVERYTHING looks so deliciously enticing.  I told myself I will try one recipe at a time to prepare for a Izakaya party this summer.  But first I prepared a salad, one cannot mess up uncooked vegetables.

Arugula and Broccoli Sprouts Salad with Walnuts


While watching Top Chef Canada I discovered broccoli sprouts that were used to dress up their dishes. Broccoli sprouts are just the cutest things on earth, similar to alfafa sprouts but with these tiny green leaves on top like a miniature bonsai.

I was inspired by Bonnie Stern's article in National Post yesterday to add walnuts and her dressing was to die for!  Who knew honey will go with olive oil? We both  LOVED IT.

Dressing:
- 3 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 clove garlic, minced or grated
- 2 tsp finely chopped fresh tarragon
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1 tsp kosher salt or more to taste
- ¼ tsp freshly ground black or white pepper
- 1⁄3 cup extra virgin olive oil


Fried Shrimp Quenelles with Fried Peppers


The preparation was simple: cutting and mashing up shrimp and cod, add mayonnaise and salt and voila!
Bought new frying accessories: asian style deep frying ladle with bamboo handle and a splatter screen ($1.25 at Dollarama!). I was all set and ready to move to Japan and open an Izakaya.

Then I deep fried for the first time.   I dusted each with corn starch (supposed to be potato starch but could not find that anywhere) before dropping them in the hot oil.  I made 6 quenelles and only 3 survived.  To be exact, only one really looked decent.  If anyone has suggestions how to deep fry something without them falling apart, I would love to know.

There is a song from A Chorus Line called "Dance 10, Looks 3", well what I had was "Taste 8, looks 3".

And the peppers was another story.  I could not find Anaheim Peppers and I was told these Poblano Peppers were mild. Well, they were not.  I also thought the fried peppers looked too brown, probably the oil was too hot.  Having said that, small amount of the pepper did give a nice kick to the quenelles.

The broken up pieces actually were tasty too but I would not show you that.

Salad 8.5/10
Quenelles and Peppers 8/10 for taste, 3/10 for looks

http://www.classic.com.au/wizard/izakaya.htm


On another note, Christina said goodbye to Denis for the last time today.  For lunch, she had my chicken soup with the girls. Until Julius told me today, I did not know that Christina loves chicken soup.  Here is Octavia hamming it up at lunch: