This is sort of like a guest post. By the most acclaimed fan and number one critic of adobo down under - Dad! This is actually the dish that he prepared for dinner on Mother's Day, which is a Jamie Oliver adaptation. From his book - 30 Minute Meals. A gift from Mum for our 14th anniversary last year. A hint actually. To get him into the kitchen and start cooking something. And this was the first! From market to table. The best Mother's Day present from Dad, EVER! Quite impressive. Really. As it is a 3 course meal!
Sweet Chilli Rice
To make the rice you need:
1 large mug of Basmati rice
a small bunch of spring onions
3 eggs
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil
1/2 a lemon
a small bunch of fresh coriander
Put the rice in a shallow pan with 2 pinches of salt. Cover with 2 mugs worth of boiled water (use the same mug you measured the rice in). Pop a lid on and leave to cook for 7 minutes. Fill and reboil the kettle (Jamie must refer here to the kettle which you used to boil the water)
Trim and finely slice the spring onions and put into a mixing bowl. Crack in the eggs and add 1 tbsp each of soy sauce and sesame oil and a drizzle of olive oil, then whisk. Take the lid off the rice and use a fork to fluff it up. Pour the egg mixture all over. Squeeze in the juice of 1/2 a lemon and add a pinch of pepper. Put the lid back on and turn down to the lowest heat for another 4-5 minutes.
Finely slice the leaves and stalks of a small bunch of coriander and sprinkle over the rice. Drizzle a good lug of sweet chilli sauce on top, then put the lid on and take to the table.
Dressed greens
Prepare:
4 pak choi (or what would be locally available as Bok Choy)
200g purple sprouting brocolli (Dad used the regular broccoli variety)
200g asparagus
1/2 a lime
Half-fill a large saucepan with boiled water and put it on medium heat. Halve each pak choi lengthways, trim the broccoli and asparagus, then put in a large colander or sieve and cover tightly with a tin foil. Put over the saucepan of water to steam for a few minutes until tender, then take off heat.
Once tender, tip on to a platter. Drizzle with soy sauce and extra virgin olive oil. Squeeze over the juice of 1/2 a lime. Taste, Tweaking if needed.
Sticky pan-fried scallops
To prepare you need:
400g fresh scallops, shelled and trimmed
1 lemon
Chinese five-spice
sesame oil
optional: 1/2 a fresh red chilli
1 clove garlic
runny honey
2 small knobs of butter
a small bunch of fresh coriander
Lay the scallops on a piece of greaseproof paper. Score crisscrosses on top, only going halfway through. Drizzle over some olive oil, season with salt and pepper, finely grate over some lemon zest and dust with Chinese five-spice. Drizzle with sesame oil and toss together to coat the flavours.
Get a large frying pan on the highest heat.
Put a good lug of olive oil into the empty frying pan. Quickly add the scallops, scored side down. Finely chop the fresh chilli, if using. You can jiggle the pan but don't turn the scallops until they've had 2-3 minutes or are golden underneath. Quickly turn them all over and cook for 30 seconds, then crush over 1 unpeeled clove of garlic and sprinkle over the chilli. Squeeze in the juice of 1/2 a lemon and add a tiny drizzle of honey and 2 small knobs of butter. Take off heat and when melted and sticky put on a plate and sprinkle over the leaves from a small bunch of coriander.
To serve:
Take the rice, scallops and greens to the table. Divide everything between bowls and tuck in.
While Dad had a blast preparing this on Mother's Day, mum's equally thrilled to be putting it here. Jamie Oliver never ceases to amaze me on camera and even in his books. He's so open and honest. Definitely fits the Naked Chef title. Just reading through this specific recipe felt like he was there, right in front of me (maybe on TV or right here in the kitchen). So many words familiar words, not usually on recipe books. A knob of butter, runny honey, drizzle a good lug, a small bunch of this vegetable, a handful of pecans, pop a lid, jiggle, the pan! Well, cooking shouldn't be serious in any way! Cooking is always fun and the more adventurous you are, the more fun you're gonna get! So as Jamie says, tuck in!
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