Summer Barbecue

It was a double celebration of my mother's 65th birthday as well as Father's Day.  I really wanted to make them something special.  But then one can only plan so much, at the end it is the execution that counts.

Oyster with Sea Urchin and Caviar


I was very fortunate to get a copy of Susur Lee's A Culinary Life recently.  The book is full of his ingenious ideas and one I was glad to repeat.  I have been shucking and eating so many oysters in the past weeks, I was thrilled to serve up something so decadent on this special occasion.

Also on this special day, I opened an sea urchin for the first time.  Under the watchful eye of my father and a pair of scissors, I went for it with full gusto. It turns out the shells, albeit spiky, are very crackable like nuts once snipped from the soft spot in the middle.  To get the delicious part, the "roe", I needed to wash off the rest of the insides, which resembled a mini oil spill, all black and slimy.

Then I topped an oyster (Bluepoint and Virginica) with some Uni and a spoonful of caviar.  I used very inexpensive caviar which costs $7.99 at Diana's.

It was mouth watering good! The saltiness of the caviar and the mix of different texture was simply brilliant.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9Kkb3Gfaqg

Planked Seafood Medley with N'awlins Creole Spice Rub


My friend Lee served this at his party and the spiciness was perfect for a summer night.  So I thought why not give it a go?  The spice was easy to prepare and cedar planks were easy to find at the local grocery store. I did marinate the salmon, scallops and shrimps a few hours ahead of time before grilling.

The only excitement was the cedar plank starting to catch fire after a couple minutes, even though I have soaked them in water for hours.  The issue was that I was not familiar with my parents' grill, with flames much closer to the actual grill.  With the garden hose, water mist put out the flames and I repositioned the planks to a higher shelf.  Phew!


The N'awlins spice was just the right amount of spiciness, except for a few seafood pieces that somehow caught more spice than others.  My poor sister had one of those. The smoky flavor from the cedar definitely added more interests.

http://www.flyertown.ca/flyers/longos-experiencemagazine?sf_any=true&flyer_run_id=954&type=1&locale=EN&postal_code=n1G5l5&store_code=25

Stuffed Squids with Prosciutto and Asiago 


This was a lot of work.  It took an hour and a half to prepare and stuff the squids with chopped cooked tentacles, and prosciutto and shredded asiago.  The opening for most of them are so small I had to use the end of a chopstick to tackle the stuffing.  None of that was mentioned in the current issue of Cucina Italiana.

The unfamiliar grill had cooked them a little more well done than my liking but otherwise they were not bad.  I would like to try a different stuffing next time because there are hundreds of variations online!

Oysters 9.5/10
Planked Seafood 8/10
Stuffed Squids 7/10

"Holy CRAB!"

My newest discovery in the city, Diana's Seafood, is my new hot list entry, thanks to my father who introduced it to me.  Oysters galore for less than $2 each.  After last week's visit, I had to go back for more.  And then there were those enticing soft shell crabs...

Soft Shell Crab Sandwich


My experience with soft shell crabs has always been in Japanese cuisine, I never thought I would actually cook them one day.  The fresh ones only come once a year while they have molted the hard shells and the new shells are still soft and completely edible.  They are in season now, so lucky me and not so lucky for the poor crabs.

These cute little crabs look oh so innocent sitting on a bed of ice at the store.  I bought them unknowing of what is in store for me.  First of all, they turn out to be very much alive. An excellent web video showed me how to "clean" them, what really happened was I had to terminate them just before cooking.  There was some minor squealing, from me, as I trimmed off the eyes and the apron when its legs started to move.  It was a dirty job, but someone's got to do it.

Back to the good part, Lidia's dressing was remarkably simple since I toasted the garlic instead of roasting them in the oven.  We were hungry.  Even though during that time, 18 oysters were shucked and consumed.  We had Kumamoto, Virginica and Shigoku.  Virginica was added to our new favourite - crisp and meaty.  The Shigoku, not so much, just too fishy.

Cooking the flour-and-cayenne pepper-dusted soft shell crabs was so easy! 5 minutes over medium heat and they were ready.  I was light-handed on the dusting this time but a touch more flour will probably give it more punch.  Final score: 9/10

I think I have gone to seafood heaven! Two weeks in a row and two incredible brunches, I am a happy man.

http://www.dianasseafood.com/
http://video.about.com/fishcooking/Clean-and-Cook-Soft-Shelled-Crabs.htm
http://www.lidiasitaly.com/recipes/detail/1127