Fried Shrimp and Cheese Souffle
What a great appetizer! I love shrimp, and deep frying them preserves the flavor and juiciness... yum. I'm looking forward to making this back at home, though it's a little bit more of a pain to deep fry without a deep fryer that helps you get and maintain the appropriate temperature. Might have to look into getting one of those...
Practical today went well, though we did two dishes -- a cheese souffle, and deep-fried battered shrimp. A funny note from this practical -- for the tartar sauce, we needed to incorporate a boiled egg. Since I had water boiling, I boiled eggs for myself and two of my kitchenmates. They ended up not putting the eggs in their sauce, so I was wondering what to do with the two boiled eggs (still in their shells). Marianna suggested that I just put the eggs back on the egg rack, that the downstairs prep kitchen could probably use them. I was wondering how they would differentiate between the raw and cooked eggs, but I figured they would probably figure it out. :) Well, guess what. During demo that afternoon, chef needed three egg yolks for the recipe. He cracked one egg, got the egg yolk, no problem. He cracked a second -- what the heck? It's already hard-boiled! He cracked the third. Hard-boiled again. He got both the hard-boiled eggs I had put back! He laughed and cracked a joke about boiling eggs so that they last longer, and sent the assistant down to get more (fresh) eggs.
SHRIMP PREP
Remove the head and shell down to the last shell before the tail. Keep this on. Remove the digestive tract by cutting an incision along the back and simply use your knife or a toothpick to locate and pull out the tube. To prevent the shrimp from curling inwards during cooking, make a few diagonal incisions in the belly.
MARINADE
olive oil, finely minced garlic, minced parsley
TARTAR SAUCE
You start by making mayonnaise, which is an egg yolk, salt and pepper, mustard, vinegar, and peanut oil (incorporated a little at a time and whisked at room temperature). Then to this, you add minced shallots, parsley, tarragon, chervil, capers, and a hard-boiled egg, which makes it a tartar sauce.
BATTER:
Mix sifted flour, potato starch, and baking powder. Mix in the liquid elements -- water, and a little peanut oil. Mix until you get a smooth batter. Set aside until ready to fry.
STEPS:
Prep the shrimp and marinade. Mix the shrimp in the marinade, cover, and put in the fridge.
Prep the batter. Set aside, covered, at room temperature.
Prep the tartar sauce. Set aside, covered, at room temperature.
Heat oil to 180C. Ready a plate with paper towels to absorb the grease of the shrimp when they come out of the fryer. Bring out the batter and shrimp. Add a pinch of salt to the batter right before you start and mix well. Ok, take a deep breath. Take a shrimp by the tail, dip in the batter so it is battered on all sides, let excess drip away, and lower shrimp into the oil, not letting go of the tail for a few seconds, before releasing it into the oil (this is important to prevent the shrimp from sticking to each other). Repeat for 4-5 shrimp. Fry until golden brown. When done, lay on towels to absorb the excess oil.
Plate shrimp with tartar sauce, with a few sprigs of parsley around! :)
CHEESE SOUFFLE
Make a white roux with flour and butter, making sure not to brown or burn the roux. Set aside, as you'll need everything else to be ready before you continue. Brush a souffle mold with soft butter, making sure you get all the sides (to make sure the souffle doesn't stick to the mold -- if it does, it is hosed). Put this into the fridge. Whip egg whites stiffly in a large bowl. Add cold milk to your white roux and bring to a simmer, whisking. At some point, the sauce loses its liquid consistency and becomes rather thick and spongy -- cook for 1 or 2 more minutes past this point, whisking to make sure that you keep it white. Take it off the heat and add egg yolks. Whisk. Add grated cheese, and whisk until cheese is melted. Take some of your whipped egg whites and add it to your sauce, mix. Then add the mixture back into the large bowl with the remaining egg white. Mix, using a rubber spatula, until the white is well incorporated. Note -- all this needs to be done quickly, as the mixture needs to stay hot. Take your souffle mold out of the refrigerator, brush on another layer of butter, and dust the mold with flour, shaking the excess flour out. Then pour in your souffle mixture.
Put into a preheated oven at 180C and cook for 20 minutes. If you've been successful, your souffle will rise. :)
posted by chezdavid @ 8:13 AM
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