Platinum Chef

During week 3, I had some buddies over for some warmth-inducing udon noodle bowls. I’ve been making udon noodles bowls quite often lately trying to get the soup base just right and the right mixture of extraneous “stuff” to accompany the udon. So that’s not the new dish. The new dish was the shrimp tempura that went alongside the noodle bowls.

First, I peeled, devined, washed and drained about 40 medium sized fresh shrimps. That took a little longer that I would’ve liked. Next, dip and coat the shrimp in the sequence of flour, egg, and Japanese breadcrumbs. And finally, deep fry in 350 degrees Canola oil or Corn oil for less than a minute on each side. (Stay away from vegetable oil because it gives fried foods a burnt oily taste)

The color was a little dark, which means the frying time could’ve been reduced.

On week 4, I made an experimental fish dish for my girlfriend. First, I made a couple of tin foil pouches. In the pockets, lay down slices of onions and chunks of garlic, add fillets of tilapia (or some other white fish), add slices of tomato and chopped basil, drizzle on some olive oil, add some salt and pepper, and finally add light/sweet white wine. Use decent wine for this because the fish will absorb the flavor of the wine you chose.

Seal up the pockets to make sure they’re air tight and bake in the oven at 375 degrees for 15-25 minutes. The time really depends on the thickness of your fillets and there’s a bit of trial-and-error with this. When it’s done, serve each pocket with some whole wheat couscous that’s cooked with chicken broth.