Tasty tips for enjoying a spring treat
Asparagus, love and Algeria come together for this month’s In Season session at WITT. Journalist Virginia Winder finds out how these ingredients lead to divine dishes.
Every day on the way to her cocktail bar job, SueEllen Annane used to stop at Costa Coffee in Holborn, London, for a caffeine lift and a smile.
Her regular barista was an Algerian man called Nabil Annane, who she became rather fond of. ‘‘One day I gave him a note to ring me and he did. The rest is history.’’
The trained chef and the coffee expert enjoyed their first date at Pizza Hut.
‘‘There’s not a lot of options for Muslims,’’ she says referring the use of bacon in dishes both in England and New Zealand.
Pork meat needs to be kept separate from other food during the cooking process, a rule that also applies for Jewish people.
Animals also need to be killed the right way, which they are in New Zealand. Halal slaughtering is considered one of the more human methods of killing.
After marrying, and having their three children in England, they moved to New Plymouth, where Sue-Ellen opened the Star Anise Cafe´ in Buller St. ‘‘It closed about one-and-a-half years ago and I went back to working with my friends at Sushi Ninja.’’
When she owned the cafe´ , Sue-Ellen used to teach children’s cooking classes.
She has since joined WITT as a food technician and is now in transition to become a teacher.
She completed her own cooking training at the Practical Education Institute about 20 years ago and is enjoying sharing her knowledge with students.
Her personal interest in food began at home.
‘‘Mum used to do baking with me and I did all the cooking classes I could at school. There was never a question about doing anything else with my life, but now I can expand on that with teaching.’’
And creating In Season dishes.
Sue-Ellen has focused on asparagus, using it raw as peeled curls atop smoked salmon and sliced tiny into gremolata with prawns, couscous and chickpea battered onion rings.
Her recipes have a strong Algerian flavour to them.
Sizzling prawns in a pan, she adds cream with a touch of harissa by Julie Le Clerc. ‘‘This is a dish I made at the cafe´ , without the asparagus. There I made my own harissa.’’
The spicy paste packed with chillies, cumin and coriander are the spices regularly used in her husband’s home country.
‘‘He’s not a cook, but he tries,’’ she says of Nabil, now an electrical engineer at Tegel.
‘‘When he was over in England, his mum came to visit and she could speak no English and I couldn’t speak Algerian and she taught me how to cook a dish – it was all with hand gestures.’’
Embracing the universal language of food, she artfully positions the prawns and creamy sauce on a plate beside the fruitand-nut couscous, the crispgreen gremolata and moreish fried onion rings dipped in a chickpea flour batter.
For the gremolata, justblanched asparagus spears are plunged into iced water to maintain their bright green colour. ‘‘You can use the gremolata on braised beef and it just brings the freshness back.’’
Served with the prawns, couscous and onion rings, this dish is a picture of enticing colour.
‘‘This is a meal we would serve in Algeria and we had it for Christmas.’’
The family does acknowledge the Christian holiday, but the children are being brought up Muslim. That’s why she opened Star Anise. ‘‘Ten years ago, I couldn’t find anywhere they could sit down to eat.’’
Sue-Ellen says the peeled raw asparagus curls for the toast dish are also plunged into iced water to keep them green and wash of any sliminess, before bringing them out to be drizzled with olive oil. This dish, perfect for a healthy lunch, also uses pumpernickel or rye toast, a cream cheese-yoghurt mixture seasoned with toasted caraway seeds and topped with smoked salmon and the raw asparagus. For extra flavour she has drizzled each slice with balsamic vinegar.
There it is, a taste of Algeria, which began with coffee and love.
Smoked salmon and asparagus toast
1⁄3 bunch raw asparagus
2 Tbsp Greek yoghurt and 2 Tbsp cream cheese
1 tsp caraway seeds, toasted
2 slices toast (pumpernickel or rye)
6 slices smoked salmon Salt and pepper
Method:
Shave the asparagus lengthwise with a peeler, drizzle lightly with olive oil. Season yoghurt and cream cheese mixture with caraway seeds; spread over toast. Top with salmon and asparagus, season with salt and pepper. Optional: Drizzle with balsamic vinegar or vinaigrette.
Asparagus gremolata
1 bunch asparagus
2 spring onions
Zest of 1 lemon, chopped
1 tsp crushed garlic
2 Tbsp chopped coriander
2 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 tsp finely diced green chilli Large pinch sea salt
1 tsp sugar
Method:
Thinly slice the asparagus width wise (into little circles). Blanch asparagus in a pot of boiling water for 20 seconds, strain and dip straight into iced water to keep the colour and the crunch. Dry the asparagus circles on paper towels to remove any moisture. Finely slice spring onions on a diagonal with a sharp knife and place in a bowl with the asparagus. Add lemon zest, garlic, vinegar, and chilli. Mix. Add salt, sugar, a drizzle of olive oil and toss to combine. Can be used as a topping on any savoury dishes to add colour and texture.
Creamy harissa prawns with jewelled couscous and asparagus gremolata, served with cumin chickpea battered onion rings
Serves 4
Ingredients: Creamy harissa prawns
500g peeled deveined prawns
1 Tbsp crushed garlic
2 tsp harissa
350ml cream
1 Tbsp olive oil Salt/pepper
Method:
Gently saute the prawns in the olive oil and when almost cooked through (mostly pink), add the garlic and harissa. Fry on a low heat for about a minute to infuse the flavours then add the cream and salt and pepper to taste. Turn up to a high heat and reduce the cream by about half to thicken the sauce.
Jewelled couscous
400g couscous
475ml vege stock 1⁄2 tsp harissa
30ml olive oil
30g butter
1 cup mixture of dried fruit and nuts (sliced almonds, chopped pistachios, peanuts, chopped apricots, dates and sultanas)
Method:
Put the couscous in a bowl with the olive oil, harissa and butter. Pour the hot stock over these, stir through quickly and cover with plastic wrap for 5 minutes. Use a fork to separate the grains of couscous and mix through the fruit and nut mixture.
Cumin chickpea battered onion rings
2 brown onions sliced into rings
1 cup chickpea flour
3Tbsp Cornflour
1 1⁄2 tsp baking powder 1⁄2 tsp salt
2 tsp ground cumin
1 cup warm water Canola oil for frying
Method:
Sift together all the dry ingredients and quickly whisk in the warm water. Rest for 30 minutes. Heat up the canola oil to 180 degrees celsius on the stovetop using a wok or highsided pot. Make sure there is about 10cm of oil to sufficiently cover the onion rings and to fry evenly. Coat the onion rings in the batter and fry off in small batches. You can keep them warm in the oven for a short time before serving. Serve prawns, couscous and onion rings with asparagus gremolata.