Another Cooking Class At The North Carolina Aquarium.

Mr. Hawthorne, Glowria, and I headed back down to Manteo last night for another cooking class. Too bad you missed this one, Xmaskatie. It was quite good. But I have the recipes and will give them to you.

But first, TURTLES!

And ALLIGATORS!

And BEARS!!!! Ok, no bears.

OSPREYS! OK, no ospreys in this picture. Out back of the aquarium, soundside, there's an osprey nest with a camera. Every time I went to the TV screen inside to take a picture of the osprey, the bird would spread his/her wings, capture the wind, and be held aloft for second or two before he/she would soar into the sky. Sorry I couldn't get a picture of that for you.

Silhouettes of the trees.

Our guest chef tonight was Jason Smith, executive chef of the Black Pelican. (And Black Pelican happened to win the popular vote at the Taste of The Beach Expo with their seared scallops on couscous.)

Our first presentation was coconut shrimp toast. Texas toast style bread, a thicker slice than regular bread, was de-crusted, then cut into triangles. A prepared shrimp paste was spread over the triangles. Shrimp Spread: shrimp garlic sesame oil yellow onion ground ginger salt cayenne cilantro Mix in egg white at end. Pulse, not puree, above ingredients, in food processor until you have a lumpy paste. Spread onto triangles. Then dip the triangles into an egg batter: coconut flakes egg yolks water sesame oil eggs

Heat pans, then add oil. (I like peanut oil since it has a higher smoke point.) Add triangles to hot oil, shrimp side down. Fry until nicely browned. Turn and fry other side until browned.

Chef Smith served the shrimp toasts with shredded Napa cabbage, a sprig of cilantro, and a sweet chili/soy sauce mixture. This was very good. I loved the flavors. But I think I can make it better. How? I'm not sure just yet, but I'll think on it. I'm thinking fresh ginger. More sesame. Maybe Dijon? Give me a while. Stay tuned. This will be one of my future projects.

Next, Jason was making a Shrimp Foo Yung Cake.

For the vegetable mixture: shrimp shitake mushrooms red bell pepper green onions white onions Jason sliced the shrimp lengthwise and sauteed the shrimp and red pepper, then added the onions and shrooms. He let this mixture cool before adding it to the stirred, not beaten eggs with some fish sauce added to the eggs. The egg mixture was ladled into the hot oil, then cooked angel hair pasta was placed on top. Cook the first side.

Whoot! I caught him flipping the Foo Yung. The bottom right sauce pan is the delicious gravy: chicken stock soy sauce sugar rice wine vinegar and a cornstarch slurry to thicken Bring all ingredients except the slurry to a boil, then gradually add the slurry to the mixture to thicken. Slurry is equal parts cornstarch and COLD water.

Jason served the Shrimp Foo Yung Cake with the gravy, some sliced green onions, and fried angel hair pasta. Had I been alone, I would have licked my plate.

Delicious.

There's that lazy word again. I should be talking about the textures, the aromas, the flavors, the colors. But I'm lazy today. I've been steam cleaning my wood floors, my back is killing me (before I started cleaning), Dixie and I took a long walk and for some reason my feet hurt like crap before the walk I'm tired because I had too much to dream last night, and for the past 3 days I've been glued to my computer on my Quicken software, trying to update all my stuff for 2008 and itemize all the credit card statements so's I can take everything to my CPA. What I really need to do is get outside and cut back all my rose bushes and fertilize. We've had lovely weather lately - in the 70's. But did I go outside and work? Nooooooo. I sat in front of a computer and played catch up on 12 months. Bad Rosie! And now, the weather is supposed to turn cold and rainy tomorrow. Poor roses. Poor Rosie.