Flash-Fried Spot Prawns with Jicama Slaw

June 10, 2011 Recipes & Techniques, Slow Food, FAST 11 Comments

Live spot prawns off the dock are a real treat…sweet, rich, delicious…and, truth be told, a real pain in the tush to peel raw. The connective tissue that attaches the flesh to the shell is too strong for anyone to make a neat job of it — and the last thing you want to do is mangle this treasure from the sea — the culinary gods would be displeased.

Instead, you’re better off to cook them shell on. Some cooks twist the heads off before cooking. I’ve seen more than a few locals take their newly purchased prawns over to the edge of the dock to give the heads back to the water before leaving with a bag of no-hassle tails.

If you delay the beheading until you get home, then you can keep the heads to make a velvety bisque. Just know that their beady eyes continue to scan the room for quite some time after the separation. I only mention it because it can be disconcerting to look down into the sink and have a couple of dozen eyes seemingly look back. The trained cook in me knows that they are dead…that the movement is only reflex…the mostly buried squeamish girl in me still gets freaked out — if only for a second.

Sui Choy Cabbage Rolls with Shrimp & Ponzu Sauce: Slow Food, FAST

April 6, 2011 Recipes & Techniques, Slow Food, FAST 14 Comments

My instincts have always been strong and, for the most part, reliable. They’ve gotten me out of some tricky international traveling situations that I really had no business escaping undamaged. Many of you may ask where those instincts were when I got myself INTO said trouble. But, of course, no one’s perfect — especially the young, rash and (seemingly) indestructible.

My instincts around food have an even better record. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever had cause to doubt them. So when I went down to the dock the other day to meet a fishing boat that makes periodic stops here on Pender, it didn’t occur to me for even a moment to check that my internal alarms were on and functioning.

Perhaps it was a crossed signal. Maybe I was in a dead zone (there’s a couple on our little island full of hills and trees) or, more likely, I just wasn’t listening because I knew I wasn’t going to like the answer to my question.

Garlic Shrimp on Ginger Scallion Rice for Sunday Lunch

January 23, 2011 Slow Food, FAST, Sunday Lunch 13 Comments

This was originally going to be a Slow Food, FAST post. And in truth, we had this for dinner on a Thursday, not for lunch on a Sunday. Yet despite the fact that both Howard and I were happily content with this seemingly small bowl of steamed rice topped with prawns/shrimp, I became insurmountably concerned that many of you wouldn’t consider this to be a complete dinner.

And so I acquiesced to my concerns and relegated this filling, aromatic and deliciously satisfying dinner to lunch status. I’ll continue to wrestle with this decision cop-out while the rest of you move on to the next page, and the quick story about how this dish came together.

Buttermilk Chicken Burger & Dilled Beet Salad: Slow Food, FAST

January 20, 2011 Recipes & Techniques, Slow Food, FAST 6 Comments

“We are enslaved by speed and have all succumbed to the same insidious virus: Fast Life, which disrupts our habits, pervades the privacy of our homes and forces us to eat Fast Foods.

A firm defense of quiet material pleasure is the only way to oppose the universal folly of Fast Life.

May suitable doses of guaranteed sensual pleasure and slow, long-lasting enjoyment preserve us from the contagion of the multitude who mistake frenzy for efficiency.

Our defense should begin at the table with Slow Food. Let us rediscover the flavors and savors of regional cooking and banish the degrading effects of Fast Food.”

from the Slow Food Manifesto

As I’ve said before, despite their tendency towards exclusionary language, the Slow Food movement speaks to me. And I have little doubt that it would speak to us all if we all had a little more time between the end of our workday and dinner time. Which is where Slow Food, FAST comes in. It’s dinner, from scratch, on the table in less than an hour.

Sunchoke, Saffron & Barley Risotto: Slow Food, FAST

January 14, 2011 Recipes & Techniques, Slow Food, FAST 7 Comments

What is Slow Food?

“Slow Food stands at the intersection of ethics and pleasure, ecology and gastronomy. It opposes the standardization of taste, the unrestrained power of the multinationals, industrial agriculture and the folly of fast life. It restores cultural dignity to food and slow rhythms of conviviality to the table. It is an universe of people who exchange knowledge and experience. It believes that every dish we eat is the reult of choices made in fields, on ships, in vineyards, at schools, in parliaments.”

(from the Welcome to Our World Companion Handbook, Slow Food International)

That paragraph makes my spirit sing! It underlines many of the life choices Howard and I have made in the past (almost) 10 years: to slow down, move to a small community where we would know our neighbours, and find joy in a less-cluttered, less-busy life.

We wouldn’t go back for the world, but sometimes there’s no time for Slow. Am I right? Which is where Slow Food, FAST comes in: dinner, made from scratch, on the table in less than an hour.