Wizard Recipes

Seafood in the kitchen is almost like French pastry-it is quite a challenge to many cooks. While creating French pastries is difficult and it takes enormous experience and knowhow, preparing good seafood is easy. It takes only some basic knowledge and a little experience.

Here is some additional specific information about each of the 4 species of shellfish that you are likely to find at the fish market:

Abalone is a large single-shelled mollusk with a proportionally large creamy white, firm muscle that has a mild and wonderful flavor. The muscle that cooks commonly cut it into slices as steaks, is tough and rubbery when fresh and needs some tenderizing, either in a tenderizing bath or with a meat mallet.

This mollusk was in high demand in the 1970s and as a result fishermen severely over fished it. It virtually disappeared from markets through the 1980s, but aquaculturing abalone began in the 1990s. You’re still not likely to find it in any but the most exclusive seafood markets. It is a slow-growing mollusk (takes four years to develop 3½ ounces or 100 g of meat), and the appetite for abalone, especially in sushi bars in Japan, is insatiable.

Expect to pay $40 to $50 a pound (half a kilo) (U.S. price in late 1990s), including the shell! Count on 4 to 5 ounces (110 to 140 g) of abalone meat per person. About 30 percent of abalone in the shell is edible meat.

Clam is a bivalve mollusk. This means its shell has two halves, and the muscle that holds them together is the one we love so much. You can buy clams live in the shell, shucked (which means they have been removed from the shell) or pasteurized in cans.

Live is the best choice if you don’t mind the extra work of shucking. Steaming in a large pot loosens the grip of the muscle and the shells fall open. The best indication of a live clam is a tightly closed shell.

The major culinary division for clams is soft-shell and hard-shell (this one is also called quahog). The names refer to the thickness of the shells. Soft-shell varieties have shells so thin that you can push your finger right through them. The hard-shell varieties, on the other hand, are so thick you may need a hammer to break them. The best way to prepare soft-shell clams is to steam or fry them. You can eat small hard-shell clams raw.

If they are large, processors chop or mince them and use them in a preparation like chowder. Different kinds are available in different areas, but within the two major categories, you can substituted them for each other.

Occasionally you come across cockle, a species of clam. It may incorrectly be called winkle, a shortened name for periwinkle, which is an edible snail-like mollusk not commonly available. Cockles are far more popular in Europe and Southeast Asia than in Amercia.

Only 20 to 30 percent of the gross weight of clam in the shell is edible meat, more for larger clams, less for smaller ones. The giant geoduck clam (pronounced GOO-y-duck) for instance, is 70 percent edible muscle.

For most clams, 6 to 8 shells per serving is enough but ask the clerk if you are unfamiliar with the specific clam you are buying. Geoduck, however, has so much meat that count on 5½ to 7 ounces (160 to 200 g) of weight, including the shell, per person. Geoducks are huge, some weigh over 5 pounds (2¼ kg).

Conch (pronounced KONK) is a single-valved mollusk. It is locally available along south Florida shores and in the Caribbean, though you may find it in some restaurants in other areas. It is the large muscle of the foot that is edible, and it needs tenderizing, like abalone, or cooking it as ground meat. The flavor is mild, suitable for salads and chowders. Count on 2 or 3 conchs per serving or, if already shelled, 4 to 5 ounces ( 110 to 140 g) of meat.

Crab is one of the three most popular shellfish consumed. There are 20 commercially significant crabs species, eight of which are common in North America. In some species we use the claw meat mainly. In others, it is the body meat, and in a few it is the leg meat that is prized. Fresh crab is an excellent meat, but the canned variety is in an entirely different league.

Raw crab does not freeze well, so when you see frozen crab, it had been cooked or otherwise processed. Frozen crab can be very good.

The versatility of this shellfish contributes to its popularity. Different species have different textures, and some lend themselves more to certain cooking methods than others. In the kitchen, crab is in three main categories:

¨ Lump meat is a solid chunk of meat from the crab’s body. Use it in dishes where appearance is important.

¨ Flake meat is smaller pieces from other parts of the body, not as wholesome in looks as lump meat but still suitable for most crab recipes.

¨ Claw meat comes in still smaller pieces. Use it when appearance is not critical, such as in soups and in some salads.

Blue crab from the eastern U.S. is the most common species. Like all crabs, blue crab sheds its shell when it runs out of room. The new shell grows in just a few days, but while that is taking place, the crab is very vulnerable to predators. During those few naked days the rest of the crab, including the meat, also grows very quickly.

This is the ideal time for human predators to nab them, having extra meat and very little shell to fight on the plate. These are called soft-shell crabs. Experienced crabbers and distributors separate out crabs that are about to shed their shells

(they tell by a reddish coloration) and market them at premium prices as soon as the old shell comes off. About 25 percent of the total weight of a crab is edible meat. In the shell, 1 to 1¼ pound (450 to 570 g) of live crab per person is a generous serving, or 4 to 5 ounces (110 to 140 g) of crab meat if you buy it shelled.

‘April is the cruellest month’ wrote TS Eliot, but after a winter that seemed to last forever, the arrival of spring seems anything but mean-spirited now that brighter colours and flavours are breaking through - including wonderful wild garlic.

Cockles are small, edible bivalves. Traditionally sold with winkles and whelks, cockles have been a popular British seaside snack for many years. They were also sold by vendors outside London pubs who, in the absence of scales, used a pint glass as a measure. They’ve been sold by the pint ever since.

Live cockles in their shells are available from some fishmongers. Cooked and shelled cockles can be bought in jars, preserved in brine or vinegar. They can be used in seafood pie or tossed in a salad, eaten raw or steamed until their shells open, like mussels. Use them in soups, risotto and paella or stew them in a tomato sauce for pasta.

• Penclawdd cockle chowder
• Cockles with smoked chilli broth
• Penclawdd cockle chowder
• Cockles, laverbread and Welsh bacon

Crab

Crabs produce both white and brown meat. The sweet white meat comes from the claws, while the rich brown meat comes from the body, including the liver, which is considered a delicacy. Fans of crab say that this crustacean has sweeter tasting white meat than lobster has.

Male crabs tend to have larger claws and more white meat. However, the females can come with coral - a flavoursome red roe. You can buy a crab live and boil it yourself, or alternatively ask your fishmonger to kill it for you, or buy it ready cooked.

Crabmeat is great in pastas, salads, soups or soufflés. It goes well with cream, butter, lemon and chilli. Cooked crabmeat can be bought in cans too, which is useful for adding to pasta or making quick crabcakes, but the flavour is not as good as the fresh version.

• Dressed crab
• Crabcakes with a tomato, crab and basil dressing
• Crabcakes and mayonnaise
• Crab, saffron and leek quiche
• Individual crab soufflés

Lettuce

Lettuce was first cultivated as a medicine. Wild lettuce contains an active element with a mild sleep-inducing effect. Lettuce is now widely used in Asian and Western cookery. Cooked lettuce has long been popular in Asian kitchens - it is often stir-fried or blanched in China. It also makes a handy serving container for spicy minced meat salads in Thai or Korean cooking.

Cooked lettuce is becoming trendier in Europe - it all started with petit pois á la Française, the traditional dish of cooked peas and finely sliced lettuce. These days, chefs are adding it to risotto or grilling stuffed lettuce halves with cheese.

• Lettuce with oyster sauce
• An extraordinary way with lettuce
• Korean beef in lettuce Risotto with lettuce and spring onion
• Fish pie with petit pois á la Française

Spinach

Spinach is featured in cuisines all over the world. Full of vitamins and iron, its health-giving properties are well known, but it’s generally loathed by young children - in spite of Popeye’s attempts to promote its virtues.

Young leaves are best because older leaves can be tough. Spinach has a distinctly earthy flavour; the leaves can be enjoyed as a side vegetable or as salad, or they can be incorporated into a wide range of dishes including soups, pies, omelettes, soufflés or quiches.

• Mediterranean filo pastry pie
• Buttered spinach
• Spinach, mushroom and ricotta quiche with sautéed spinach
• Quesadillas with spinach and goats’ cheese

Spring lamb

Lamb is associated with spring in many cultures. In Christian cultures, it’s the roast to serve on Easter Sunday. Lamb is available all year round but spring lamb has small, slender bones with pink, rosy coloured flesh that is meltingly tender and more subtle than darker-fleshed summer or autumn lamb. Choose joints and cuts carefully; go for lean pieces and avoid any with yellow or crumbly fat.

• Roast leg of lamb with garlic and rosemary
• Spring lamb with spinach and feta rolls
• Spring lamb stew with ricotta dumplings
• Spiced spring lamb with black-eyed beansg

Wild garlic

In the UK, wild garlic (Allium ursinum) has many peculiar identities - ‘bear’s garlic’, ‘devil’s garlic’, ‘gypsy’s onions’ and ’stinking Jenny’ are just some of them. It’s no surprise that this seasonal ingredient is called so many names - it gives off an incredibly pungent smell in the wild. Unlike common cultivated garlic, it’s the leaves that are eaten rather than the bulbs. The taste is more delicate too, similar to the flavour of chives.

The leaves can be eaten raw or lightly cooked. Be sure to wash them well - some recipes also call for blanching the leaves for a few minutes in boiling water. Wild garlic can be stirred into risottos or omelettes, added to soups or used in sauces to accompany meat and fish.

• Honey and za’atar-glazed spring lamb with salsify and wild garlic purée
• Roast best end of lamb with garlic fritters and a wild garlic cream sauce
• Steamed monkfish with wild garlic and ginger