"wasabi" news and stories

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Shrimp cocktail. Photo: No Recipes.

While shrimp is delicious on its own, deep-fried or sautéed with pasta and butter, it it seems to pack the most flavor -- and color -- when served as part of the classic shrimp cocktail.

Pleasing to the eyes as well as the palate, this single shellfish from No Recipes is dipped in an Asian-inspired twist on the staid red cocktail sauce, combining the usual fresh tomatoes and tomato sauce with Thai sweet chili and fish sauces, lime juice and wasabi. It sounds so good, we're tempted to try to pluck the perfectly pink crustacean straight off the screen.

[Via No Recipes]

Is it just us, or does this look like a canapé Snow White might serve at a party for an assortment of her big-eyed woodland friends and dwarfs? Those mushrooms are practically leaping off the screen, they look so freshly plucked. I bet Disney's tough guys would have scoffed at this chi-chi wasabi-ricotta concoction and gone for burgers and beer instead, though. Not Eating Out In New York (a culinary blog for anyone anywhere) attempted a pretty bold take on a classic appetizer, so let us know if you give it a shot in your kitchen and how it turns out.

Long and crisp french fries just ask for creative seasoning to stick to the shiny remnants of oil. That seasoning can be almost anything -- potatoes are one of those perfect blank-canvas foods that can be amped up by a myriad of ingredients.

Unfortunately, it's not so easy to get the wonderful bite of wasabi on each fry. With many powders, a nice sprinkle will give you the flavor your looking for, but it doesn't really pop until you mix it up into that nice green ball of paste. But there are ways to get the wasabi to spice up your fries -- it's just not really on the fries itself.

A nice helping of salt and wasabi (or wasabi salt) is a good start on the fries, to get that hint of flavor. Salt is always a necessity, and with the wasabi, you're a small step in the right direction. But the easiest way to add wasabi is in your condiments. The paste can be mixed into ketchup if you like the red stuff, or into mayonnaise if you prefer the white stuff. Or, go wild and mix them both together.

That way, you get the flavor of the fry, the kick of the salt, and the wonderful punch of wasabi without over-coating your potatoes in the green stuff.

One of the best ways to enjoy scallops is dry-rubbed and pan-seared. One of the best ways to enjoy sushi is with a dollop of nose-clearing wasabi. Together, they make for a tasty and simple meal.

Forget about wasabi paste. For this meal, you just grind up some salt, pepper, wasabi powder, and other spices (the above included ground coriander and garlic), pat the scallops with the dry rub, and then follow normal pan-searing instructions. Put a solid amount of the tasty green stuff into the rub, and if you need a little more wasabi kick, you can bring some wasabi-flavored fleur de sel to the table to sprinkle as needed. It's a simple way to class up a bland dinner night, and it only takes about 20 minutes from start to finish (from prepping the greens and scallops to plating).

Note: In the above picture, the scallops are resting on butter-sauteed collard greens, previously mentioned here.