Thaw out lobster tails, if frozen, in a pot of cold water for 30 minutes or more, until fully thawed. Rinse and pat dry with paper towels.
Using sharp kitchen shears, cut the top shell down the center of the back to the end of the tail, leaving tail fan intact. Remove vein or shell shards, if any. Run your finger between the meat and the shell to loosen it. Spread the meat slightly open. Pull and lift the lobster meat off of the bottom of the shell, being careful not to pull the tail out completely.
Season lobster tails generously with salt and pepper. and keep aside.
Heat oil in a large skillet or pan over medium-high heat. Fry bacon until crispy. Transfer bacon onto a paper towel lined plate to drain excess oil. Keep bacon grease in the pan.
Sear lobster tails in the bacon grease, flesh side down in the pan, for 2 minutes until edges are crisp and golden.
Flip all tails, cover pan and let cook for a further 1-2 minutes, or until shells are pink and meat has just cooked through (opaque) — be careful not to overcook!(TIP: If shells have not completely changed color, simply use tongs to rotate the lobster in the hot pan juices until shells have changed color.)
Transfer lobster tails to a plate and tent VERY loosely with foil to keep warm.
Melt butter in the pan while scraping up any browned bits; sauté shallots and garlic until transparent and fragrant (about 1 minute).
Reduce heat to low. Pour in cream; add Parmesan cheese and bring the sauce to a gentle simmer for 1 minute. Season with a little salt and pepper to your taste and let cook until the Parmesan cheese has melted and the sauce has thickened slightly.Taste test sauce and adjust salt and pepper, if needed.
Take pan off the heat; add lobster tails back in the pan with lemon slices and drizzle with sauce. Top with parsley and serve hot
Please Note
This dish will be Served well over pasta, rice, steamed veg, mashed potatoes, mashed cauliflower, cauliflower rice or zucchini noodles. as per your liking and preference enjoy this fabulous dish with your friends. cheers !!
fried rice/steamed rice or steamed bun to have along with crabs
Method of making the Crab
The crab must be prepared before stir-frying, This involves removing the claws, the main shell, then cut the body into four pieces, and cracking the claws and the legs so the sauce can get through to the meat.
Heat the oil in a large wok and sizzle the garlic, ginger and chopped chillies for 1 min or until fragrant. Add the ketchup, soy and 100ml water, and stir to combine. Throw in the crab, turn up the heat and stir-fry for 3-5 mins or until the crab is piping hot and coated in the sauce. Stir through most of the coriander, spring onions and sliced chilli.
Use tongs to arrange the crab on a serving dish, pour over the sauce from the pan and scatter over the remaining coriander, spring onions and sliced chilli.
Serve hot with rice or bao buns, enjoy this delicious delicacy with lovely friends.
Please note
Have the crab cracker to break the crab shell, or break it with spoon before serving to get the actual juice meat from its claws.
1Chopped habanero chopped pepper (or less if you find it too hot)
1 tsp fresh thyme
1 juice of lime
salt and pepper to taste
Method of making
Heat 1 tsp of oil. Rub chicken with lime juice, salt and pepper and cook until skin is brown. Remove chicken from pan.
Add remaining oil to the same pan and cook onions, garlic, thyme and chile for 2 minutes.
Add tomatoes and simmer for 2 minutes.
Add chicken breasts and simmer until chicken is thoroughly cooked. If sauce gets too thick, add a little water.
Adjust salt to taste. Serve whole chicken breast with sauce on a bed of cooked spaghetti in the sauce of your choice.
Please Note
Its up to you if you want to give any other mild flavor to the spaghetti, arrange the spaghetti in a plate and put the grilled chicken breast on the top,served hot .
Classic Chicken Cordon Bleu is breaded stuffed cheese with bacon and then fried. Then will bake into a beautiful, golden, and crispy piece of meat that’s perfectly swirled on the inside. It left us mesmerized.
Ingredients for the Chicken
4 chicken breasts
8 slices Swiss cheese
8 slices deli ham
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 nos large eggs, beaten
2 cups panko bread crumbs
Kosher salt to taste
Freshly ground black pepper
4 tbsp melted butter
1 tsp dried oregano
For the sauce
4 tbsp butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups milk
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
2 tbsp freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Method for making the chicken
Preheat oven to 400° and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Place a chicken breast between two pieces of plastic wrap on a cutting board and flatten to a ¼” thickness with a meat mallet or rolling pin. Top chicken with 2 slices of cheese, then 2 slices of ham. Starting at the top of the breast, roll up tightly and secure with toothpicks. Repeat with remaining chicken breasts.
Place flour, eggs, and panko in three shallow bowls. Season flour with salt and pepper. Add melted butter and oregano to panko and mix until incorporated.
Working with one at a time, roll chicken first in flour, then eggs, then panko mixture, pressing to coat. Place on prepared baking sheet. Bake until golden and cooked through, 30 minutes.
Meanwhile make sauce: In a large skillet over medium heat, melt butter. Add flour and stir until golden, 2 minutes. Slowly whisk in milk, then add mustard. Let simmer until thickened, 5 minutes. Add Parmesan and stir until melted. Season with salt and pepper.
Remove toothpicks from chicken and serve hot garnished with your choice of salad and sauce.
Please Note
One of the classic dish, you can give any shape as per your preferences, love to have it with extra bowl of cheese.
4 cups California seedless grapes 3 tbsp each sugar and cornstarch 1/2 tsp each ground cardamom and ginger 1/4 tsp salt 1 ready-to-use refrigerated pie crust dough(Make individual mini tarts or use the pie crust) 1/4 cup each chopped walnuts and packed brown sugar 2 tbsp butter 2 tbsp milk
Method of making
Combine grapes, sugar, cornstarch, spices and salt; mix well.
Place dough on baking sheet.
Mound grape mixture in center of pastry, leaving a 3-inch border.
Lift edges of dough up and over edge of grapes, leaving grapes showing in the center; fold edges of pastry to contain grapes.
Combine walnuts, brown sugar and butter; mix well.
Sprinkle over grapes. Brush pastry with milk. Bake at 375 F for 30 to 35 minutes or until pastry browns and the filling bubbles. Let stand 15 minutes before cutting.
Please Note
In the above recipe i have taken individual tart shells and stuffed with grapes and walnuts, its up to you how you want to do the decoration, or want to present the recipe.
4 lobster tails or small whole lobsters, halved, cleaned
24 scampi, peeled (tails intact), de veined
32 green prawns, peeled (tails intact), de veined
350g clams (vongole)
12 scallops in the half shell
2 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley
Avocado cream
2 ripe avocados, peeled, stoned, roughly chopped
1/2 cup thickened cream
1 garlic clove, chopped
1 tsp Lemon Juice
Seafood sauce
200ml whole-egg mayonnaise
1 small lime, zest grated, juiced
1 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
1 tbsp Tomato Sauce
Method for making
Combine the oil, garlic, basil, lemon juice and zest in a bowl, then season. Brush the marinade over the seafood.
Heat a barbecue hotplate to medium-high. Cook the crab and lobster for 2 minutes, then add the scampi and cook for a further 2 minutes. Add the prawns and clams, and cook for 3-4 minutes, then add the scallops. When the clams open and the prawns and scallops are opaque, transfer all seafood to a platter. Serve with parsley, avocado and seafood sauces.
To make the avocado cream: Pulse ingredients in a food processor until smooth. Season to taste with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. How to prepare avocados How to cut an avocado
To make the seafood sauce: Whisk the ingredients together. Season with salt and pepper.
Please Note
Seafood platter is not for the dainty. Make sure you have finger bowls spread over the table and plenty of napkins. Invest in a seafood cracker (it can double as a nut cracker) so you can get to every sweet and juicy morsel.
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (about 4 1/3 ounces) granulated sugar
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sour cream
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
For the Oreo whipped cream:
50 Oreo cookies (for decoration as just for tease i used Chocolate coated Strawberries)
4 1/2 cups heavy cream
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
Method of making
Make cake: Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat oven to 350°. Line bottom of a 9-inch cake pan with parchment paper and lightly coat the inside with non-stick pan spray. Sift flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt into large bowl; set aside. In medium bowl, whisk sugar, sour cream, oil, eggs, and vanilla until smooth.
Whisk wet ingredients into dry ingredients until smooth. Pour batter into pan and bake until cake is just firm and toothpick inserted into center comes out with moist crumbs, 20 to 25 minutes. Let cake cool in pan for 15 minutes, then remove from pan to completely cool on wire rack, about 1 hour.
Carefully cut 6 Oreo cookies in half; set aside. Chop remaining cookies into 1/4-inch pieces; set aside.
To Assemble Cake: make the Oreo whipped cream in 2 batches. In bowl of standing mixer fitted with whip attachment, whip 2 cups cream on medium-high speed to soft peak, spoon into large bowl and refrigerate. In same mixer bowl, whip remaining 2 1/2 cups cream, sugar, and vanilla to soft peak. Fold into already whipped cream.
Place about 1 cup whipped cream in bowl and refrigerate until ready to decorate cake. Fold chopped Oreos into remaining whipped cream.
Slice cake in half horizontally to create 2 layers. Place bottom layer on serving plate. Spread about 1/3 of Oreo whipped cream onto cake. Top with second cake layer and use remaining Oreo whipped cream to frost top and sides of cake. Chill in refrigerator for about 2 hours to allow cookies to soften.
Place reserved whipped cream in pastry bag fitted with star tip (re-whisk if necessary). Pipe 12 whipped cream rosettes around perimeter of cake and garnish with reserved Oreo cookie halves. Serve.
Love able Tease
Wife’s special cake been make as she asked for cake on one of the Sunday, she do not likes strawberries at all, but love to have ores biscuits at any point of time, so i got an idea to make this cake, which full of oreo and chocolate but i decorate it with strawberries, while distribution she got upset, one of her friend shout wow its oreos inside the cake. then she understand its a trick which i have played on her. she hug me and say thank you for this wonderful and surprising treat. enjoy you too with your dear ones.
Heat oil in the heavy bottomed pan, check the temp by inserting a drop of batter, if its come up that mean oil is ready for deep frying.
one by one dip each prawns in the tempura batter and deep fry till golden brown, repeat the process until you have done with frying the prawns.
Salad dressings
Place all dressing ingredients in a blender and blend for about 3-4 minutes to ensure the herbs are finely ground and distributed.
Assemble all salad ingredients in a large salad bowl.
Toss salad with dressing and arrange the salad in the oval platter and horizontally arrange the golden fried tempura flours
Recipe Notes
You can deep fried the prawns in the tempura batter and arrange it on the top of kale salad, similarly you can combined both as per you liking and preferences.
100 gms arhar dal (tuvar dal or split pigeon pea lentils)
or 150 gms arhar dal
100 gms masoor dal (split pink lentils)
1 or 2 green chilies – chopped or slit lengthwise
1 medium sized onion – chopped
2 medium sized tomato – chopped
½ inch ginger – finely chopped or grated or about
⅓ to ½ teaspoon of grated or chopped ginger (optional)
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 to 2 pinch garam masala powder
1 pinch asafoetida (hing)
2.5 cups water for pressure cooking
1 tsp crushed kasuri methi (dry fenugreek leaves)
1 or 2 tbsp cream (optional)
1 tbsp chopped coriander leaves
(cilantro leaves)
Salt to taste
for tempering/tadka
2 tbsp oil
1.5 tbsp ghee or butter
1 tsp cumin seeds
5 to 6 garlic cloves – finely chopped
½ tsp red chili powder
for garnish
1 tbsp chopped coriander leaves (cilantro leaves)
for smoke/dhunger
a small piece of charcoal
¼ teaspoon oil or ghee (clarified butter)
Method of making
Rinse the lentils and add them to the pressure cooker. The below pic shows only tuvar or arhar dal. You can also cook the lentils in a pot. Just soak the lentils for an hour or two before you cook them in a pot. Cooking the lentils in a pot, will take more time than cooking in the pressure cooker. Method on how to cook lentils in a pot is mentioned in the notes section of recipe details below
To the lentils, add chopped onions, tomato, green chilies, ginger.
Pour 2.5 cups water. If cooking in a pot, then about 4 to 4.5 cups water can be added.
Add turmeric powder and asafoetida. Stir well.
Pressure cook the lentils for about 7 to 8 whistles or more till they become soft and creamy. Mash the dal with a wired whisk or with a spoon and keep aside. If the dal looks thick, then add some water to get a medium consistency. Simmer the dal for 3 to 4 minutes. Pic of the consistency of the lentils in step 6
Once the desired consistency is reached, add cream (optional), garam masala powder, crushed kasuri methi, chopped coriander leaves and salt. Switch off the fire. Please note crushed kasuri methi can also be added in the tempering later and skipped at this step.
Mix well so that everything combines uniformly. Check salt before you add the tempering. If less than add more salt.
dhungar method (optional) for dal tadka
Next is the dhungar method of flavoring the dal with the smoky fumes of burnt charocal. For this with the help of tongs or on a grill pan like shown in the pic below, place the a small piece of charcoal. Burn the charcoal till it becomes red hot. Please use natural charcoal for this method.note that this is an optional step and you can proceed directly to the tempering method.
Place the red hot charcoal in a small steel bowl.
Pour about 1/4 tsp of oil or ghee on the charcoal. You will see fumes emanating as soon as you pour oil or ghee on the hot charcoal.
Place this bowl on the dal.
Cover the cooker or the pot with a lid and let the dal get infused with the charcoal smoke. Just keep for 1 to 2 minutes. The more you keep. The more smoky the dal will become. Remove the bowl carefully with the helps of tongs and cover the dal. Keep aside.
Making the tempering (tadka or chaunk)
Next heat oil or ghee or butter in a small pan. First add cumin seeds and crackle them. The cumin should get fried and not be raw but don’t burn them.
Now add red chilies, asafoetida and chopped garlic. Let the garlic brown and the red chilies change color.
Lastly add kasuri methi (add kasuri methi, if you have not added before to the dal) and red chili powder. Stir and switch off the stove. Make sure to fry the tempering ingredients at a low flame, so that you don’t burn them.
Pour the entire tempering along with the oil/ghee into the dal.
You can mix the dal or serve the dal tadka with the tempering on top it. Garnish it with coriander leaves. Serve dal tadka hot with steamed basmati rice, jeera rice or with rotis or phulkas.
NOTES
Instead of oil you can temper the dal with ghee (clarified butter).
The dal tadka consistency is neither thick nor thin but medium. But if you prefer you can go for a slightly thick or thin dal consistency.
You can also soak the dal for 30 to 40 minutes before cooking.
Add eggs; mix well. Combine milk and vanilla; add to creamed mixture alternately with flour mixture.
Fold in the raspberries. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full. Sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 375° for 20-25 minutes or until center of muffin springs back when lightly touched.
Please Note
Personnel favorite for tea time snack, i love to have at any point of time. you can add yogurt or muffin mix for the better result, or simply follow this simple recipes.
Chefs Nectar 