Saturday, April 16, 2005

Summer Snack

During the month of January, bf L was still in Canberra and whilst I had relocated to Sydney. Many long lonesome nights were spent buried at work and I tried to make the weekends a bit special for when he came to visit me.

I live very close to the Sydney Fish Markets and prepared a light summer snack for L when he visited:


Hiramasa kingfish sashimi, caperberries, watermelon, edamame (brined soybeans)

The edamame I defrosted over cold tap water - not homemade, but I figure if that's good enough for average Japanese housewife, it's good enough for me. Caperberries are always hit and miss. Once I ate some delicious ones that tasted like sweet pickles. I've been trying to recapture this taste again, but so far all the caperberries I've tried have that weird seed pod architecture that is so off-putting.

I also made a small dessert:


Citrus mascarpone, sponge fingers and berry compote

These strawberries were a little past their best and needed rescuing. Macerating them in feijoa vodka, cointreau and sugar revived them a little. I soaked the sponge finger biscuits in the macerating liqueur.

Word of advice: Never mix acidic citrus juices with mascarpone. The beautiful luscious cream will seize into a big spongy mass. Still edible, but with a totally different texture. I had to find this out the hard way. Next time I will just use the orange rind.

4 comments:

Alice said...

That is so sweet. I wish I had someone to make me special summer snacks.

I love hiramasa! It's one of those fish that really come alive with the soy sauce and wasabi combo.

David said...

Hi Alice, welcome to my blog. L appreciated it - especially since it was one of those hot sticky Sydney days. My favourite sashimi is salmon though. I love tuna, but I've never found a good quality cut in Australia. I'm sure it exists, but I don't regularly eat at high end Japanese restaurants.

Anonymous said...

Hi Carpal Fish, sashimi and watermelon are just the thing for warm weather eating. Cool sensation, full flavour and so easy. What a thoughtful spread.


umami
http://umami.typepad.com/umami/

David said...

Hi umami, yes - I do like sashimi and watermelon a lot. I even ate sashimi for breakfast one day. Gotta catch the last of the watermelon as it's nigh winter soon.