Candied walnuts with prawns

Few things in life give such immediate pleasure as candied walnuts. They are one of those things that everyone seems to adore, as they strike some happy chord in the brain.

Fortunately, they are also a snap to make. And, if you like tempura shrimp, combining them with candied walnuts and a bit of Japanese mayonnaise will turn this into immediate heaven for you. This is a lively Cantonese dish that is easy to master and fun to serve.

This is also great food for fancy dinners, as most of it can be done ahead of time, and yet just fancy enough that your guests will be thrilled. I served them to Mexican cooking icon Diana Kennedy at a party in her honor a while ago, and I heaved a huge sigh of relief when she pronounced them delicious.

Luscious halves and pieces

Serving up tasty walnuts -- as with any other nut -- depends on one thing and one thing only: freshness.  So, start with the best walnuts you can find, which for me usually means heading over to the health food store where I can rummage around in their bins and taste a couple before buying them.

Get the walnut halves and bigger pieces this time, rather than the smaller bits. These are usually the best when it comes to quality anyway, and it's nicer to serve up walnuts this way than as a crumble. 

The second thing you have to remember when using walnuts is that they must be blanched first to get rid of the bitterness in their skins. This will also serve to turn the nuts into tender pillows that only need to be fried to wake up their flavors. Candied walnuts are so good that I often serve them on their own as a cocktail snack or little side dish, and they disappear awfully fast. So be sure to make enough!

Fry the shrimp with tempura batter

The seasoning can be adjusted to fit your palate and whatever it is you are serving them with. I like a bit of spice in them, but this can easily be omitted or exchanged with something else. A dash of toasted sesame seeds also adds another dimension, if you like, and gives a nice, pale contrast to the dark walnuts, but this again is all up to you. 

Deep-frying prawns or large shrimp for this recipe is also easier than it looks. The secret is tempura flour, which you can buy already prepared in most East Asian markets (look in the Japanese aisle if it is a Chinese or Korean market). Then, stir ice water into the flour before dipping in the prawns and deep frying. It is the ice water that makes the batter explode in the hot oil, which then turns the batter into something lighter than air.

The sauce is simply Kewpie mayonnaise, a Japanese brand that I love. And I serve the prawns over nothing more than thinly shredded cabbage or iceberg lettuce. This may seem awfully prosaic, but the flavors of the mayo and walnuts and fried prawns trickle down into a delicious dressing. Plus, the heat from the prawns cooks the veggies every so slightly so that it makes this simple bed the perfect foil for everything else.

Cantonese delight

Candied walnuts with prawns 
Hetao xia  核桃蝦  
Guangdong

Serves 4 to 6 as part of a multicourse meal 

Candied walnuts:

3 cups very fresh shelled walnuts (halves and large pieces)

Boiling water, as needed

4 cups peanut or vegetable oil

¼ cup sugar

2 teaspoons sea salt

1 teaspoon five-spice powder

1 teaspoon ground ginger

¼ cup toasted sesame seeds, optional

Shrimp:

12 prawns or large shrimp, shelled but with the tail attached if possible

2 tablespoons Shaoxing rice wine

1 teaspoon sea salt

½ cup tempura flour

Filtered ice water, as needed

To serve:

Shredded head cabbage or iceberg lettuce (about 3 cups)

1. Place the walnuts in a medium heatproof work bowl and cover them with boiling water. Leave them in the water for at least 10 minutes (although longer is better here), and then drain and rinse. Pat the walnuts as dry as you can, since you will be frying them. 

Nuts before & after caramelization

2. Heat the oil in a wok over medium-high heat until a wooden or bamboo chopstick inserted in the hot oil is immediately covered with bubbles. Place a dry work bowl next to the stove for the fried walnuts and have a slotted spoon handy. Add the walnuts to the wok and gently stir them in the oil until they are a golden brown and taste toasty and crunchy. Remove them with the slotted spoon to the dry bowl. Drain off and reserve (you will need it later for the prawns) all but 1 tablespoon of the oil from the wok. Place a piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet and set it next to the stove.

3. Return the fried walnuts to the wok and sprinkle them with the sugar, salt, and spices. Stir-fry the walnuts with the seasonings over medium-high heat until the sugar caramelizes. Immediately empty the wok onto the parchment paper and use chopsticks or a fork to separate the walnuts. (If you want to add the sesame seeds, sprinkle them over the walnuts and then toss some more.) The walnuts can be prepared ahead of time up to this point, placed in a covered container, and refrigerated. Just before you cook the shrimp, pick out and reserve the prettiest walnuts and reserve them as garnish.

4. Clean and devein the prawns (slit the backs of the prawns only until you get to the long, gray string; remove that, as it is the prawn's sandy intestinal tract). Keep the tails attached, if at all possible, but remove any legs, heads, and shells. Place the shrimp in a small work bowl and toss them with the rice wine and salt; let them marinate for about 15 minutes and then drain. Pile the shredded cabbage or lettuce into a shallow mound on a serving platter and have a large, clean work bowl next to the stove, along with the mayonnaise and salt.

5. About 15 minutes before you want to serve this dish, mix the tempura flour with just enough ice water to make a batter the consistency of thick cream. Pat the shrimp dry. Return the oil to the wok and place it over high heat. 

Pick up the prawns by the tail

6. When a bit of the batter dropped into the hot oil immediately bubbles and floats to the surface, pick up the prawns one at a time by the tail and dip the bodies into the batter. Gently lower them into the hot oil and repeat with about half of the prawns. Fry and turn the prawns until the tails are bright pink, the batter is golden brown, and the shrimp float, but do not overcook them. Use a slotted spoon or chopsticks to remove them to the clean work bowl. Repeat with the rest of the prawns until all are cooked.

7. Immediately add all of the walnuts (except for the ones reserved as garnish) to the shrimp and squeeze about ¼ cup of the mayonnaise over them and a pinch or two of salt. Toss and add a bit more mayo as desired; it should be a light dressing and not be so much that it turns the batter soggy. Taste the dressing and adjust the flavors as needed. Quickly arrange the shrimp and walnuts on top of the cabbage or lettuce, sprinkle the reserved walnuts on top, and serve.

Tips

Use either fresh or frozen prawns/shrimp. The only requirement is that they are sustainable and of excellent quality. 

When you place any food in hot oil, do it this way to avoid getting burned: put it down on the surface of the oil and then slide it in so that the oil doesn't splash on you.

Add the prawns to the hot oil one at a time and in different places so that they do not stick to each other.

When deep frying anything, avoid overcrowding the wok with too much at one time. What this does is radically lower the temperature of oil, causing the food to poach rather than fry. Also, things will clump up this way. So, even though it may seem that you are taking more time by frying small amounts, you will end up cooking the foods faster and achieving nice, crispy exteriors.

Cleanup for a wok and spatula covered with caramel is a lot easier than it looks; simply fill the wok with hot water and wait a few minutes until the caramel has dissolved.

La fiesta Diana & tales of Halloween

Fiestas and Halloween are the topic of today's post. Let me start off by name-dropping big time: I went to Steve Jobs's house for Halloween. Yes I did. Not that I was invited. I just went there. And got candy and a stuffed werewolf. But more on that later. First, let's continue where I left off when Diana came to town.

I wasn't the only one thrilled to pieces that Diana Kennedy was in the Bay Area. Dinners and lunches and readings were held from the Wine Country down to Santa Cruz and every place in between. One of the most charming parties of all was hosted by Steve Sando of the justly famous Rancho Gordo in Napa. Rancho Gordo is beloved by foodies because of its extraordinary selection of heirloom beans, spices, and other native ingredients, and the fact that the walls are covered with campy Mexican images only adds to its considerable charm.

Tiny dancer

Steve pulled out all the stops on October 30, calling in a small army of children from Ballet Folklorico to perform traditional Mexican dances and inviting greater Napa to the party, which included wine tasting from Ceja Vineyards, flavorful sausage from The Fatted Calf, and some tasty Oaxacan-style mezcal supplied by Encantado. Even Steve's mom showed up! 

Finally, after all the eating and drinking and dancing had begun to wind down, Napa mayor Jill Techel capped off the festivities by proclaiming it to be "Diana Kennedy Day."

I've never seen Rancho Gordo so packed as it was that day, and what was even more astonishing was the vast number of native Oaxacans who were there to celebrate DK's remarkable new book. Every last copy of the scores of Oaxaca al Gusto available for purchase was sold, and it seemed like each person there wanted DK to sign this and all her other books. Standing behind a table decorated with vases of sunflowers, Mrs. Kennedy finally developed a severe case of writer's cramp... not that this slowed her down in the least. She continued to sign and dedicate each book with a flourish, never pausing to add a bold Buen Provencho! over her name.

Amelia Ceja, DK & Steve Sando

DK aside, the highlight of the afternoon, though, was without a doubt the charming children who performed three dances for their enthusiastic audience. Dressed to the nines in traditional Mexican costumes, the kids performed like seasoned pros.

It was hard to leave such a gracious host, but we were lucky enough to have DK staying with us that night before her flight home to Mexico, and we needed to get her fed, as she had been too busy talking with her fans and signing books to eat any of the great food that had long ago disappeared. As we drove south, we decided to go to one of our favorite Chinese restaurants on the peninsula, Little Sichuan, which - like pretty much every good Chinese eatery out there - makes up for its lousy decor with great food. We were just as famished as DK when we finally got to San Mateo, so we fell on our food with delight before heading home.

Now, I have to tell you that DK is one impressive bundle of energy. She was up at seven the next morning, ready to go on a hike before her flight. So up the hill we went before piling into the car and bundling her into a plane for a three hour flight back to Mexico City. I do wish she lived closer, but I know her heart belongs to her home in Michoacan.

The following day, my husband and I went in search of children dressed up in creative costumes, as it was Halloween. In years past we had parked ourselves in coffee shops so we could watch people hauling their kids around to the various stores. It soon got to feel too weird and alien, though, this new way of celebrating Halloween. I mean, we used to dress up in flammable things from Woolworth's, traipse around the neighborhood with flashlights, and fill up pillowcases with vast quantities of loot, which I would always sort out, immediately trading away anything that wasn't chocolate or Pixy Stix for better quality booty. I remember horrible tales of razors in apples, but we ate whatever the neighbors threw into our bags and consigned warnings about the apples to the same heap as the one about the one-armed guy with a hook that terrorized Lover's Lane. 

So anyway, we wanted to see some screaming children in clever getups for a change, so we cruised the streets until we arrived in Palo Alto's Professorville area. And boy did we come up with not only the best costumes, but also the best haunted house we'd seen in ages, as well as the most astounding pumpkin sculptures I've ever laid eyes on. 

As we drove around, we saw a bunch of costumed children and parents starting to line up in front of a house. Workers could be seen in the courtyard beyond the brick wall, hanging lights, hanging jack-o-lanterns, and, in the case of one unfortunate guy, one man. It was still light out, the guys were still running around frantically behind the wall, and we were anxious to get our Halloween fix, so we wandered down the street a bit. In one cul-de-sac was an astounding display of pumpkins, stuffed ravens and rats, and two of the best carved faces ever. 

Who did them, who went to this incredible expense, and all my other questions went unanswered. They were just there for everyone's enjoyment.

Then it was time to hit the haunted house. We straggled in at the end of the line just before everyone else within walking distance got the same idea. And that's when we started hearing "Apple" and "Steve Jobs" floating in and out of the conversations. Yeah, right, we thought. As if he lived in this neighborhood and as if he'd be so nice as to host a haunted house for the kids. So we asked. "Oh yes," we were assured, "he did this last year, too!"  

And it was decidedly cool. First thing on the right was what looked like a scene from an old print of "Children of the Damned" playing on a loop. That set the mood right away. A guy in the stocks squirmed in the eaves. Monsters and vampires and werewolves decorated every part of the small but probably quite lovely courtyard, and young men and women grinned at the kids and handed out the goodies. 

I became particularly excited when a bag was thrust into my hand, too, even though my costume was considerably less than lacking.

I've been a PC customer since forever. Now I want to buy an Apple. Yes, Bill Gates is saving Africa from AIDS. But Steve Jobs gave me candy!!

Diva of the Cucina: Diana Kennedy

It's difficult to think of a greater honor than watching culinary idols enjoy my food. But that's what happened last week at our house. There they were, women I've adored for ages, all standing around, noshing on Chinese food and talking to the center of attraction, Mexican cooking authority Diana Kennedy. 

DK was in town on a book tour for her new and fabulous survey of the food in just one gorgeous area of southern Mexico, and the result -- Oaxaca al Gusto -- is breathtaking, beguiling the reader with not only mouth-watering foods but lovely photos that include many by the author herself.

But I'm getting ahead of myself here. There's a story behind the party, one that needs telling, because how in the world did I find myself with great cooking mavens crowded in my kitchen?

Frankie, Alice, Linda & DK

This all began about two months ago when I was interviewing DK for my upcoming book, Culinary Goddesses. As we chatted away, we started talking about one of my favorite DK books, Nothing Fancy, which is a selection of some of her favorite, non-Mexican recipes.

Now, I've built up quite a bit of a name for myself among my friends over the years for the elderflower champagne I make every year. And I told DK that, which surprised her. "You're the only person I've ever met who's actually made my champagne," she told me.

So I said, "When was the last time you had some?" To which she answered, "Ages." And that led to an invitation to our house for a glass of bubbly, and then I thought, well why not invite some other foodies? And all I had to do was drop DK's name to get a bevy of lovely ladies (and one gent) to stop by.

Eleanor, Jerry, Alice, Linda, 
me, Tom, Dona, 
DK, Flo, & Betsy

I am nothing if not enthusiastic. So I went ahead and wrote or called to some of the people I've adored from afar, as well as some friends of friends who turned out to be every bit as charming as the famous names.

The roster? Flo Braker, Alice Medrich, Sunset's food editor for decades Jerry Di Vecchio, former Sunset food writer (and new cookbook author) Linda Lau Anusasananan, Dona Tomas restaurant's Dona Savitsky and Thomas Schnatz, chef Jessica Boncutter, My Mexico Tours's Betsy McNair, food publicist Eleanor Bertino, designer Ani Albers, and baking expert Frankie Whitman. A couple greats sent their regrets at the last minute - including Carol Field, Marlena Spieler, and Bruce Aidells -- but that only lowered my terror a few notches.

What to prepare for people who've eaten just about everything the world has to offer? That was the question that plagued me for days and days. 

Ani & Jessica

And then I realized that they had probably never had real Chinese food, the stuff that I came to love when I lived in Taiwan and that for some strange reason hasn't made it to our shores. Ah happiness at last. Now I know the general location that the food is to come from - China - but where in China? 

I mean, Sichuan alone is as big as France, so what to do, what to do. How do I show the incredibly huge variety of cuisines that China has to offer? And how do I balance everything so that there's a nod to all the different ways of cooking as well as ingredients and locations? Crunch has to be followed by the pillowy soft, the piquant and the subtle contrasting with the rich, meats balanced with vegetables, ribbons of starch winding through the dishes, and savory bouncing up against the sweet. 

One thing I knew for sure was that there had to be tamales... Chinese tamales, that is. It was a bit of a joke in honor of Sra. Kennedy, but I hoped a welcome one. The savory ones would be in the style of my father-in-law's Hakka relatives, and the sweet ones would be filled with date paste and pine nuts as they're done in Jiangsu. 

Fortunately for my own sanity and that of my long-suffering husband, I quickly understood that there was no way this could be done as a sit-down dinner; everything had to be out there as a buffet. And so I divided it into a battery of cold foods to start that would allow people to graze and chat, and when everybody's appetites were more or less piqued, out would come the hot dishes. And this was the result:

Menu

Assorted candied nuts & pickles – various provinces

Drunken chicken in red wine lees – Fujian

Preserved eggs with aged garlic vinegar –

nouvelle Shaanxi

Smoked quail eggs – Jiangsu

Braised beef shin & heart – Beijing Muslim

Fried scallion bread – Shandong

Chinese savory tamales – Hakka

Magistrate’s chicken – Guangdong

Wuxi ribs with stir-fried spinach – Jiangsu

Fried prawns with candied walnuts – Hong Kong

Boneless pork hock braised in red soy cheese

with flash-fried pea sprouts – Shanghai

Dongpo pork – Jiangsu

Steamed lotus buns - Beijing

Snap peas with XO sauce – Hong Kong

Assorted cookies – Shanghai

Date walnut chews – Beijing

Sweet jujube & pine nut tamales – Jiangsu

Elderflower champagne à la Kennedy

Once I had the menu nailed down, I still had three weeks to go, and the planning required an attention  to detail that I associate more with little things like D-Day than with a luncheon. It went something like this: 

Shop for the ingredients for one of the entrees, such as Dongpo Pork. Make three batches of the pork (see the recipe in the next blog entry) and figure out which one's not only the best, but find out ways to make it better without devouring the results, and freeze the results so that I'm no longer tempted to sample. Multiply this by every single item on the menu.

Clean the garden, trim plants, sweep driveway, wash the pets, clean the house to a fare-thee-well, buy new dinnerware, repaint the downstairs, buy new pots and pans, get new glassware, find something presentable to wear. Somewhere along the way I realized that the stove was giving out and the landlord wasn't going to be buying a new one in time, so I got a magnetic invection burner (Tatung brand from Taiwan - highly recommended) to help me avoid a nervous breakdown. Oh, did I mention that I was on a strict diet?

But do you want to know what made all of this worthwhile? The great DK spent most of the afternoon talking with me as I cooked, and she ended up liking everything, including my walnut shrimp!