Brandade de Bacalao

After hitting Portugal & Spain as stops on our honeymoon, we officially decided we loved bacalao (Salt Cod) in its many forms. Bacalao is an amazing thing as it takes a basic white fish and preserves it allowing for more intense flavors to evolve as well as becoming more versatile in a number of great dishes.

Brandade is a very traditional version of bacalao in which it is reconstituted, emulsified with milk or cream, garlic, boiled potatoes, egg yolks using olive oil as a binding agent. Then it is flavored with parsley & white pepper and can be served immediately or baked. In this version i decided to make a basic sofrito with ripe tomatoes, carrots, celery, garlic, red pepper flakes, white wine and olive oil that I cooked down for 15 minutes. I spread the Brandade in a baking dish suitable for direct heat then poured a column of tomato sofrito down the middle, then broiled it for about 20 minutes to create a crust with great texture. Served it with a toasted ciabatta and an endive and grapefruit salad - it was a taste of homey, comfort-food heaven.

Vietnamese Seafood Crepe

This is a dish we have loved for years and I remember fondly encountering it when travelling around Vietnam.

The key is the batter which is made by soaking yellow mung beans in coconut milk until soft then pureei

ng it with rice flour. The resulting batter can then fried into an amazingly thin but delicate and crisp crepe which is both toothsome yet yielding.

The seafood version is what I usually encountered in Southeast Asia so I like to continue that style. I diced up some shrimp and sauteed them with thai chillis, garlic, ginger and then added maitaki mushrooms, water cress and then bean sprouts at the end. Diced green onions are added and then stuffed into a freshly seared crepe and topped with more green onions. The heat wasn't enough from the chilis so we added a couple splashed of Sriracha sauce and then it was perfect, resulting in this yummy food carnage.