Thai inspired John Dory and Marinated Baby Octopus Salad with sticky rice.

This is a really fresh summer barbeque recipe. We would normally cook this over a charcoal grille with the octopus on skewers and the fish pan fried over the barbeque. Due to the bad weather this time we cooked it in the kitchen but there’s nothing quite like the smoke in the eyes and cooking out side on a summer’s day. Substitute Snapper for Johnny depending on the season.

Ingredients

2 John Dory fillets (dependant on size) Skin on.

For the Salad.

Raw Cabbage, sliced.

Raw Carrot, julienne.

Spring onion, julienne.

Red Onion, sliced

Shallots, sliced

For the Dressing

Juice of 3-4 limes

2 Teaspoons fish sauce.

Ground dried chili (to taste but should be very hot)

2 teaspoons of crushed palm sugar.

Fresh Coriander ¼ cup finely cut

Fresh Mint ¼ cup finely cut

For Garnish

¼ cup coriander leaves whole

¼ cup mint leaves whole

¼ cup basil leaves whole

¼ cup jasmine rice.

Sauce

1 hot red chili sliced

White wine vinegar 2 tablespoons

1 teaspoon palm sugar.

For the Marinated Octopus.

Baby Octopus. 4 per person.

1 x lime

1 hot red chili sliced

1 x clove garlic crushed

2 -4 tablespoons Peanut oil.

2 x tablespoons Tamarind paste, or finely cut dried Tamarind.

For sticky rice.

2 cups of sweet glutinous rice (note that you can’t substitute this for other rice)

Day One.

Soak the rice.

Place rice in a bowl and cover with cold water – approximately 2-3cm above the level of the rice. Cover and put in fridge overnight.

Marinate the Octopus.

Place the baby octopus into a large bowl and stir through the lime juice, chili, Garlic, Tamarind and Oil. Cover and put in fridge over night.

Make the Chili sauce.

Combine 1 chopped chili, palm sugar and white wine vinegar in a small bowl or ramekin  and refrigerate overnight.

Day two - for serving.

Assemble the Salad ingredients on a plate keeping each separate.

Make the dressing of Lime juice, fish sauce, Ground dried chili, and chopped fresh coriander and fresh mint. Leave to sit for at least half an hour.

Toast ¼ cup of uncooked Jasmine rice in oil in a fry pan. The rice should puff up slightly and go a light golden brown colour. Grind coarsely in a mortar and pestle.

 

Chop the John Dory Fillets into long pieces, season and pan fry skin side down first in a little butter and peanut oil. The skin should be crispy and brown before turning.

Meanwhile grill the octopus on a charcoal barbeque or pan fry the drained octopus in a searingly hot wok (I mean seriously hot).

Assemble the cooked fish on the salad and pour over the dressing, garnish with Basil, mint and coriander and ground rice.

Serve with a side of the Chili sauce and more ground dried chili.

Smoked Trout Fry Bread with Harissa dipping sauce.

This is a great finger food recipe, what’s better than smoked trout on toast right?...well maybe smoked trout in toast- or rather fry bread.

If you have guests coming round make the Harissa the day before, it keeps for a week or so in the fridge. If Harissa is too spicy for your taste – use some home made mayonnaise with whole grain mustard.

Ingredients.

For the Smoked Trout.

Trout

Brown Sugar

Salt

Pepper

Grappa (or similar)

For the Fry Bread

 2 Cups High Grade Flour

1 Tablespoon Baking Powder

¼ cup Sugar

1 teaspoon Salt

Approx 1 cup of water.

Rice bran oil for frying

For the Harissa

Moroccan spices either premixed from the supermarket or better still the following toasted and ground in a mortar and pestle:

Coriander Seeds

Cumin Seeds

Fennel Seeds

Star Anise

Cinnamon Sticks

Smoked Paprika.

3-4 Red Capsicum

3 – 4 limes (juice and zest)

¼ cup fresh mint

6-8 cloves of Garlic

4 hot red Chilies - stems removed (if you have a Bradly smoker you can smoke these first and leave the smoked paprika out of the spices)

100-200 mls of Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

2 teaspoons of rock salt.

Method.

1)         Starting with the Harissa which can be prepared ahead of time.

Roast the Capsicum in a hot oven (250 degrees) until the skin is blistered and blackened.

Place the Capsicum into a plastic bag, tie the top shut and let the Capsicum sweat and cool. This loosens the skin. Peel and de-seed when cooled enough to touch.

Place all of the ingredients except the Olive oil in a blender and blend smooth.

With the blender on slow drizzle in enough oil until the consistency is to your liking. It should be smooth but not too runny.

2)         Catch and smoke your trout.

I use a standard cheep portable fish smoker – so I use the standard brown sugar, salt pepper and alcohol method I leant from my grandfather. But you can smoke the trout any way you like.

Flake the trout ready for use removing any bones.

 3)        Make the fry bread dough

In a bowl combine the dry ingredients mixing through well.

Slowly add the water stirring through until you have a doughy consistency. Need well. Let the dough sit for at least ½ an hour.

Dust a clean bench with flour and roll out the dough until you have a regular shape approximately 5-10 mm thick. (A beer or wine bottle works well for this).

Cut the dough into even sized squares.

4)         Combine and Cook

Take one square of fry bread dough and top with smoked trout leaving the outsides uncovered. Add some leaves of Watercress or Basil. Cover the parcel with another square of dough and firmly join the edges together.

Fry the parcels until golden brown in oil- you usually have to eat the first couple yourself to work out how hot and how long they need to be cooked through!

Serve with the Harissa as a dipping sauce garnished with fresh herbs.