San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Sister’s XO Sauce
From executive chef Martin Salata of Oakland’s Sister. This sauce packs a powerful punch; you won’t need much more than a spoonful to enliven a dish. It will last a while — for months in the fridge, in fact, as long as all the meaty bits are submerged in oil. Salata recommends buying dried shrimp and scallops from Pacific Seafood Trading, which has locations in both Oakland and San Francisco Chinatowns, but you can also find them online. Fair warning: The cost for these ingredients adds up, but you’ll have enough to make several batches.
Green garlic juice
1 ounce green garlic or green garlic chives, trimmed Salt (optional) Grapeseed oil (optional)
XO sauce
½ cup dried Louisiana shrimp ½ cup dried scallops cup chopped prosciutto cups grapeseed oil or other neutral oil
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil ½ cup sliced shallots
6 cloves garlic, sliced
1 1-inch piece of ginger, peeled and sliced into 4 coins
3 star anise
¼ teaspoon pimenton 2 tablespoons crushed Calabrian chile
½ teaspoon sea salt
¼ cup dry vermouth 2 tablespoons Sherry vinegar 2 tablespoons mirin
¼ cup fish sauce
¼ cup shiro shoyu (white soy
sauce)
1¼
To make the green garlic juice: Run the whole green garlic through a juicer. If you don’t have a juicer, you can make a paste: Thinly slice the green garlic and place in a mortar and pestle with a pinch of salt. Pound until smooth. Add a splash of grapeseed oil to help release the paste from the mortar. You should have about 2 tablespoons.
To make the XO sauce: Soak the dried shrimp and scallops, separately, overnight in cold water, refrigerated. If you’re in a hurry, you can soak the shellfish separately in hot water for 2 hours. Drain both, reserving cup of the scallop water. Let dry, separately, on a paper towel-lined plate.
Cook prosciutto in a small pan over medium heat to render the fat, about 5 minutes. Let dry on a paper towel-lined plate.
When the shrimp, scallops and prosciutto are cool, separately shred each ingredient in a food processor. You want to break each one into fine filaments, almost like a fluffy floss; do not process them into a paste. Check after a few seconds of pulsing until you get the right texture.
Heat the grapeseed oil and olive oil over medium-high heat in a medium-size pot; you want high sides to protect yourself from oil splattering. Fry the shallots, garlic and ginger, stirring frequently to avoid burning, until the shallots are just shy of golden brown, about 5 minutes. Add the star anise and pimenton and allow to bloom briefly, followed by the flossed shrimp, scallops and prosciutto, the Calabrian chile and salt.
Turn the heat down to medium. The sauce will start to foam. Cook for 10 minutes while continuously stirring to avoid burning, then pull a spoonful of the XO out to look at the color. Continue checking until you reach a dark amber, potentially 5 minutes longer. Add the vermouth and reserved scallop water. Stir. Remove from heat and add remaining ingredients, incorporating 2 tablespoons of the green garlic juice last. Once XO has cooled, season to taste.