Blog, Recipes

Crab Fried Rice Recipe

Ingredients:

  • 250 g of dry Jasmine rice
  • 2.5 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 1 Thai chili
  • 1 inch of fresh ginger
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • 2 large eggs
  • 150 g picked white crab meat
  • 2 spring onions
  • 1 tbsp fish sauce
  • 1 tbsp Fino sherry or Shaoxing rice wine
  • 1 tbsp light soy sauce
  • a handful of fresh coriander leaves
  • slices of cucumber, to serve

Serves: 2 people

We love this Thai variation on crab, which we’re used to seeing in salads, pasta dishes, or as a toast topper. The ginger and chili pack a punch and give the crustacean a wonderful aromatic flavoring. This versatile seafood, in season for most of the year, is less expensive than lobster and easier to find, making crabmeat a spring and summer favorite! Try this recipe paired with a crisp, chilled white wine or rosé from Provence whose acidity compliments the crab meat’s umami. For more tips on wine pairings with crab, check out Williams-Sonoma’s guide.

But back to the food! Begin by cooking and draining the rice. In keeping with classic East Asian cuisine, this dish is best prepared in a wok.

Put half a tablespoon of vegetable oil in the wok on high heat. Finely slice the chili. Peel and grate the ginger. Add both to the wok, stirring them for a dozen seconds as the mixture cooks and becomes fragrant.

Take half of the rice so as to not crowd the wok and stir fry it for 2-3 minutes. The rice should start to take on color and become chewy. Set the stir-fried rice aside and repeat the process with the rest of the rice. When the remaining rice has been stir-fried, add the first batch back to the wok, stirring to combine all of the rice.

Next, drop in a tablespoon of fish sauce and a tablespoon of either rice wine or sherry. Add the soy sauce. Stir the rice until the sauces have evaporated. Taking care not to spill the rice over the edge, push it toward the side of the wok to clear room for your two eggs. Scramble them in the wok with a fork or spatula and combine them with the stir-fried rice.

Now it’s time for the most important ingredient – the crab! Finely slice the two spring onions and add them along with the white crab meat to the rice. Stir until the crab meat is nicely warmed before adding the coriander. Continue to stir and taste the mix. You may want to add a bit of salt for seasoning. When it’s seasoned to your liking, you’re all set! Serve the rice in bowls topped with cucumber slices and set out chopsticks for the adventurous (maybe with backup forks, for the less agile!).

Blog, Recipes

How to Make Pizza Dough

Ingredients:

  • 1 kg white bread flour or Tipo ’00’ flour (alternately, 800 g white bread flour or Tipo ’00’ flour, plus 200g finely ground semolina flour)
  • 1 tsp fine salt
  • 14 g dried yeast
  • 1 tbsp caster sugar
  • 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 650 ml lukewarm water

Prep and resting time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Cook time: 20 minutes

Makes: 3-4 large pizzas, 6-8 medium pizzas

Ah, pizza—the any-ingredient holder—what would we do without it? If you are as much of a fan as we are, say no to stale, premade crusts and try this delicious, easy to make dough at home! We suggest using Tipo ‘00’ flour, which can be found in Italian delis or on Amazon, but a simple white bread flour will do as well. Just make sure that it is high-gluten to get the dough nice and elasticy. If you want add a little nutty flavor and subtle yellow coloring to your dough, use 800 g of the Tipo ‘00’ flour or white flour and 200 g of finely ground semolina flour.

You’ll want to start by clearing a large, clean workspace. Sieve the kilogram of flour (or flour and semolina mix) and teaspoon of salt onto this space, then poke a well in the middle.

Pour 650 ml of lukewarm water into a medium-sized bowl and add the yeast, sugar, and olive oil. Mix and let rest a couple of minutes before pouring it into the flour’s well.

Gradually scrape the flour into the well with a fork to incorporate it into the water, yeast, sugar and olive oil. Continue to stir the flour into the liquid until the flour starts to come together. Dust a bit of dry flour on your hands and pull the remaining flour into a ball, then knead the dough on the workspace until you have a smooth, somewhat sticky ball. To knead the dough, use the heel of your hand to push the dough forward on the workspace, then fold it in half, and repeat the process. Working the dough to make it smooth and somewhat elastic can actually be quite therapeutic, but be careful not to over-knead it!

Dust flour in a large bowl to avoid sticking and place the dough inside. Dust a little more flour on top of the ball of dough before covering with a damp cloth and leaving to rest at room temperature. Check in an hour later—the ball should be twice as big.

Time to “knock back” the dough, which means kneading it on your workspace (which should be dusted with flour) to force the air out. If you’re preparing the dough for later, cover it and store it in the fridge. If you’re using it right away, split the dough into as many pizzas as you plan on making. Using a rolling pin, roll the balls out into ½ cm thick circles and let rest another 15 minutes. Dust flour and rub a bit of olive oil on tin foil, preheat the oven to high, and prepare your toppings before adding them to the dough and popping your delicious homemade pizzas in the oven for 20 minutes. Voila!

Check out these unconventional pizza toppings to mix things up with this everyday pizza dough.

Blog, Recipes

The Ultimate Steak Sandwich

Ingredients:

  • 1 fresh baguette
  • 2 x 200 gram rib eye steaks, seasoned to your liking (salt & pepper)
  • 1 packet of Boursin (shallot & chive or garlic & herb)
  • half of a red onion
  • a handful of watercress

Prep and cook time: 10 min.

Serves: 2 people, or 1 person for the very hungry, very enthusiastic steak fanatic

It’s a classic American debate: what to put on the perfect steak sandwich? We prefer to keep it simple and avoid overloading the sandwich with messy ingredients that don’t add to the flavor so much as make a mess in your plate—and distract from the goodness that is a well-prepared steak on delicious bread. Put away your peppers and caramelized onions, save your tomatoes for a BLT, and get ready for the ultimate steak sandwich experience.

The key to this killer sandwich? It starts with good ingredients, of course. Find yourself a quality baguette, crisp on the outside and all fluffy softness on the inside. Get your hands on two excellent steaks (about 200 grams each).

Season your steaks highly with salt and pepper. Put the seasoned steaks on the BBQ for 2-3 minutes on each side, while flipping them every half a minute. (If you prefer medium or well-done, feel free to leave them on longer. We won’t call it blasphemy, but we’re warning you now: the best steak sandwiches aren’t overcooked.) Allow the steak to rest. Set aside.

When your steak is resting, turn back to the baguette. Cut it in half lengthwise.

Spread liberal amounts of flavored cream cheese on the bottom half. We recommend either shallot & chive or garlic & herb Boursin, which is so smooth and spreadable, it is practically made for this purpose. Don’t be shy. Stop when the packet’s empty.

Cut half of a red onion into thin slices and sprinkle them on top of your Boursin-buttered bread.

When your steaks have cooked and have rested, slice them in nice, thin strips the size of your baguette’s width to maximize meat placement. Arrange them over the onions and top it off with the delicious steak juices.

Add as much watercress as you feel necessary for vegetable intake or to make a pleasing color palate. You can also try cutting up the leaves to make them less prominent on the sandwich.

Put the baguette’s top half back on and slice the massive, delicious steak sandwich according to how generous you feel. Can easily serve two. We won’t judge you if you don’t want to share.