Tag Archives: appetizer

Gambas – Shrimp with Paprika, Chilis and Garlic

January 21, 2019 alaskaknitnat 1 Comment

Lately I’ve had a severe hankering for the gambas appetizer at South Restaurant in Anchorage. It’s a simple dish – shrimp, olive oil, garlic sautéed to perfection, paprika and guajillo chili topped with parsley.

It’s not really the shrimp that I crave. It’s the flavorful seasoned oil that is so perfect for sopping up with a couple of slices of crusty bread.

I’ve had this dish once a week for the past month. It’s time for me to make it at home.

This dish was surprisingly easy to create at home. I didn’t have sweet Spanish paprika and used the Hungarian variety instead. I also couldn’t find guajillo chilis at my local grocery store and used dried New Mexican chilis. The flavors were just perfect.

Gambas shrimp with garlic and paprika – an appetizer

Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 dried guajillo or New Mexico chili
12 raw shrimp, deveined and peeled
1 1/4 teaspoons sweet Spanish paprika (Hungarian will do)
1/4 cup olive oil
2-4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
Salt to taste
Splash of white wine (optional)
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped
Rustic bread for serving

Directions:

Using scissors, cut the dried pepper into rings. Place in a small bowl and cover with boiling water. Cover and let sit for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, toss the shrimp with the paprika and set aside.

Heat the oil in a small frying pan over medium. Add the garlic and softened chili and cook for 1 minute, stirring occasionally.

Add the shrimp and any remaining paprika. Turn down heat if needs be to avoid burning the garlic. Cook until shrimp is pink, turning halfway, about 4 minutes.

Salt to taste. Add a glug of white wine and let it bubble away for a few seconds. Toss in the parsley.

Serve with toasted crusty bread. Or add 1/4 pound of cooked linguine to pan and toss till thoroughly coated. This makes an amazing light dinner.

appetizers, Cooking, mexican, recipes

Spinach Bacon Quesadilla

January 2, 2018 alaskaknitnat Leave a comment

I didn’t have the energy to grocery shop or cook today so I dug through the fridge and pulled out some flour tortillas, cheese, spinach and bacon and set to make something with minimal effort and maximum flavor. Success!

Bacon Spinach Quesadilla

Makes one quesadilla

Ingredients:

1 large flour tortilla
2 slices of bacon
cream cheese
pinch of granulated garlic
pepper
Mexican-style grated cheese
Handful of baby spinach

Directions:

Fry bacon in a medium pan. Meanwhile, spread a thin coat of cream cheese all over the tortilla. Season with garlic powder and pepper.

Set bacon aside to drain on a paper towel and add spinach to the pan. Cook until spinach is wilted.

Chop the bacon into bits. Sprinkle the grated cheese on one half of the tortilla. Add the bacon and spinach. Fold tortilla in half and place back in pan. Brown on both sides until cheese is melted. Cut in half and devour.

alaska, appetizers, Cooking, recipes, seafood, side dishes

Smoked Salmon Dip with Kelp Pickles

September 27, 2017 alaskaknitnat Leave a comment

I recently read a story about a Juneau-based company that made food out of kelp. I was immediately intrigued by the idea. One of the best dishes I’ve ever eaten was when I spent a summer in Kodiak and a Chinese woman prepared braised fresh kelp for me.

Barnacle uses bull kelp to make salsa, spice blends and pickles. Their Instagram account displays gorgeous photos of Southeast Alaska along with how they prepare their products and what to serve with them.

Their dill kelp pickles are tangy, slightly sweet and, well, of the sea. What a perfect ingredient to add to a smoked salmon dip.

This dip comes together in no time and is a real crowd-pleaser. Impress your dinner guests by revealing its secret ingredient — wild kelp!

Continue reading Smoked Salmon Dip with Kelp Pickles →

alaska, appetizers, asian, seafood

Wild Alaska Salmon Poke

July 15, 2014 alaskaknitnat 2 Comments

If you live in Southcentral Alaska then you’re probably keenly aware it is sockeye salmon season. My husband is getting his hipwaders and dipnets all ready for the coming week where he will camp out on the shores of the Kenai River and make the most of the everlasting daylight by fishing into the wee hours of the night.

We still have some vacuum-packed filets in the freezer from last year so to make way for this year’s bounty we are trying to find creative ways to use it up. Sure, there’s nothing better than simple grilled salmon with a drizzle of lemon, but my dad started preparing poke out of the frozen filets that tops any store bought ahi poke.

Poke is a Hawaiian salad made of cubed sashimi such as ahi tuna, soy sauce, sesame oil, onions and hot chili sauce. It’s a bit like spicy tuna sushi without the rice and seaweed.

Here’s my dad’s recipe, which uses fresh-frozen sockeye, a.k.a. red, salmon. Keep in mind that the Food and Drug Administration recommends freezing fresh fish and thawing it before consuming it raw because this kills any parasites. This is how sushi-grade fish is prepared in America. The FDA also says cooking seafood is the safest way to consume it, so prepare poke at your own risk. If you are pregnant or are at risk for food-borne illness, then please be cautious about consuming fresh-frozen fish.

With that disclaimer out of the way, here’s my dad’s recipe!

Wild Alaska Salmon Poke

As featured on Anchorage Food Mosaic

makes about 4 cups

Ingredients:

2 pounds red salmon, previously frozen and thawed in the fridge overnight

1 bunch of green onions, finely chopped

1/2 cup finely chopped white onion

2 Tbs. Nori Komi Furikake rice seasoning (optional)

2 Tbs. soy sauce

3 Tbs. sesame oil

2 Tbs. chili garlic sauce

2 tsp. sugar

1 Tbs. sesame seeds

Directions:

Using a sharp filet knife, remove the skin from the salmon filets. If there are any pin bones, carefully remove them with needle nose pliers. Cut the salmon into bite-sized cubes.

Add all the ingredients in a medium bowl and mix thoroughly. If you are not using the rice seasoning, add salt to taste. If you like a little more kick, add an extra tablespoon of the chili garlic sauce.