Seafood, Bubbles and Thai Prawn Salad

An evening of seafood, hands-on cooking, bubbly wine.

And it was so good, I tried it at home...

It started with attendance at one of the Sydney Seafood School's regular cooking classes.  The course was presented by food consultant and cookery writer, Lyndey Milan, who showed us how to prepare canapes for the holiday entertaining season, with matching sparkly wines. Then we replicated the dishes ourselves, and then - the best bit - we ate the fruits of our endeavours.

Lyndey Milan has run this particular class for the past 13 years (and some of the attendees have come to the 10 of those).  Lyndey is chatty and entertaining, with lots of helpful tips on making the dishes, the tools to use, the best ingredients, etc.  She has just launched a studio kitchen for film and photography use, hence the cameraman filming during part of the class. 

Here is what we prepared:

From top: salmon tartare with wasabi creme fraiche and crisp skin, swordfish souvlaki with skordalia, salt and pepper squid and Thai prawn cups. Our workstation team consisted of 5 lovely ladies and one handsome man. Everyone put in a stellar performance, chopping, mixing, cleaning and deep-frying squid (champion!), and plating up.

Then we set up a table in the dining room and settled down to enjoy the food:

We were also presented with wines to match the food, including Nicholas Feuillatte Brut Reserve Particuliere NV, The Great Wave sparkling pinot grigio, Charles Melton Brut Peche and Rumball NV sparkling shiraz. I loved the Champagne and sparkling pinot grigio, and thought they matched the best with the seafood, especially the salmon tartare and prawns.

Look at the magnificent effort:

The Thai prawn cups were served in lettuce leaves - scrumptious.

The swordfish souvlaki was served with skordalia (made with soaked sourdough).

The salmon tartare was served on finely sliced Melba toasts and topped with yummy wasabi creme fraiche and deep-fried salmon skin - a favourite.

The salt and pepper baby squid was amazingly tender, and beautifully coated in a crisp batter.

Sydney Seafood School is at the Sydney Fish Market. Classes cost from $85-$155. Website here.

Lyndey Milan also has a website here (and a diamond knife that I'm considering getting. She spruiked it during the class, and it looks good, incredibly light and sharp).

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The next day, with the weather being quite warm, I reproduced the Thai prawn cups for dinner.  I bumped up the volume of vermicelli noodles and prawns, and it was delightful.  Here is the recipe I used:

Thai Prawn Salad

serves 2

Ingredients

100g bean thread (mung bean vermicelli) noodles

300g medium cooked or green (raw) prawns

1/2 cup mint leaves, roughly chopped

1 Lebanese cucumber, seeded and diced

80g dry roasted cashews or peanuts, roughly chopped

Dressing:

30ml lime juice (from 1 small-medium lime)

1/4 tsp sesame oil

3 tsp Thai fish sauce

3 tsp grated palm sugar or brown sugar

1 small red chilli, finely chopped

Method

1.  To make the dressing: combine all dressingingredients in a screw-top jar, shake and set aside.

2.  Place vermicelli in a heatproof bowl, cover with boiling water and soak until just tender (about 5 minutes), then rinse under cold water and drain well.

3. If using green prawns, peel and devein the prawns, then quickly sear them in a little vegetable oil, over high heat, until just cooked, about 2 minutes each side.

3. Combine the vermicelli noodles, prawns, mint and cucumber in a large bowl and toss through the dressing.

4. Spoon onto a plate, sprinkle with cashews or peanuts, and serve.

Recipe adapted from Lyndey Milan

Ingredients, including mint, vermicelli, chilli, lime juice, cashews, grated palm sugar, fish sauce and sesame oil.

You can also add 1/2 cup of coriander - but I didn't, because coriander is evil.

The sauce is shaken together, then tossed with the prawns, noodles and mint.

Sprinkle with nuts before serving.

Perfectly fresh-tasting and super quick to make.