Jess Ho summer cookbook recipe: Wakame beurre blanc
This sauce has become such a staple that I douse all grilled, poached, or pan-fried seafood in it at all times of the year.
Every day this summer, we’ll publish an exclusive recipe from a favourite Australian author, dishes made with affection for family, friends or someone special.
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A side effect of working in the food industry is being open to trying new products all the time. It doesn’t matter if I am in a grocer, at the farmers’ market or a trade event; I am a sucker for an impulse purchase.
I don’t even need the sales pitch; if I see a new food product, it goes into my pantry.
I have more than 10 varieties of vinegars, five types of dried seaweed, dried fish and salts lining my cupboards at any time. My fridge is full of different locally made of butters, pates, hot sauces and ferments. I am currently in the process of purchasing whatever the minimum order is of native grain from Black Duck Foods. Do I need it? No. I want it. I want to work with it, see how it feels, what it tastes like and how to use it.
This was fine when I lived on my own, but now that I share my space with someone, my impulse purchasing has been reclassified as hoarding. Apparently, I am unhinged.
During one of the many Covid lockdowns in Melbourne when we couldn’t leave our 5km radius, the running joke was that I could feed the entire floor of the apartment building for two months with what I had in the pantry, so I didn’t need to leave at all. In that time, I was able to cook whatever I wanted. Unlike my friends, I didn’t make elaborate zone cross-over plans with other people just to acquire the key ingredients to make a project dish to pass the time. I was smug about it. It was my time to shine.
SUMMER COOKBOOK: THE WAY TO THE HEART
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Wakame beurre blanc
This sauce has become such a staple that I douse all grilled, poached, or pan-fried seafood in it at all times of the year.
Lemon Chicken
When our children were growing and my wife Steph was teaching evening classes, lemon chicken was the go to meal – simple and tasty.
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Summer Cookbook
Australia’s favourite authors share their most meaningful recipes.
I threw this sauce together in 2020, when you could buy two sizeable, live Southern Rock lobsters for under a hundred dollars, and my partner admitted that my hoarding was useful. I won the battle and my purchasing habits are now an accepted practice.
This sauce has become such a staple that I douse all grilled, poached, or pan-fried seafood in it at all times of the year. It may look like a lot when you first make it, but I guarantee you that whatever is left in the saucepan always gets mopped up and licked clean by guests – even if there is only one.
4 dried anchovies, heads and guts removed*
7g dried kelp*
500ml water
7g dried wakame, crushed*
2 spring onions, finely sliced
1½ tablespoon light soy sauce* (I use Megachef, which is more delicate. If using another brand of soy, reduce to 1 tbsp and taste to adjust)
1½ teaspoon rice vinegar*
125g cold unsalted butter, cubed
1. Add the dried anchovies, kelp and water to a small pot and bring to a boil. Simmer for 30 minutes.
2. Strain the stock and reserve.
3. Bloom the wakame with 150mL of the anchovy and kelp stock you’ve just made in a medium-sized saucepan, adding more if necessary, so the wakame is just covered. This will take about 10-15 seconds. Turn on the heat to medium-high, add the spring onions and cook until the liquid has reduced by half.
4. Reduce the heat to medium-low, add the soy sauce and rice vinegar and add the butter cubes a few at a time, whisking continuously until everything has incorporated and emulsified.
5. Take the sauce off the heat, taste and adjust the seasonings. It should taste briny, well-rounded, with light minerality and a subtle line of acidity to finish. It should not be overwhelmingly salty with the soy sauce masking the seaweed.
6. Spoon sauce directly onto a warm plate and top with crispy-skinned fish or pour directly over shellfish.
*Dried anchovies, kelp, wakame and rice vinegar can be found at Asian grocers.
*Light soy refers to the type of soy and not the sodium levels. Do not use dark soy as it will alter the flavour and colour of the overall sauce.
*Leftover anchovy and kelp stock can be kept frozen, or used as a broth for noodle soups.
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Jess Ho is a widely published freelance writer and the author of a memoir, Raised by Wolves. Ho was food and drink editor for Time Out Melbourne, has worked in five restaurants (three of them hatted), run a wine bar and presents regularly at food and wine events and festivals. Ho was also a judge on a commercial network food show, but don’t ask about it unless you know Ho has had something very strong to drink.
Raised by Wolves by Jess Ho, Affirm Press.