Shrimp and scallop "muffins"

It was time for an Asian-inspired dinner. I love making seafood burgers. I’ve done them many times with shrimp and catfish. This time it was shrimp and scallops. Two sides dishes: rice flavored with scallion and Chinese sausage; and homemade kimchi.

The challenge with these types of fish cakes is getting a texture that will hold together well in the sauté pan. Usually chopping the fish in a food processor gets you a pretty sticky result and no egg is necessary as a binder. I didn’t want to use egg and instead baked these cakes in a muffin pan. They came out light a fluffy. With a dipping sauce of some soy sauce, Shiaoxing wine, and some wasabi, there were lovely.

If you’re interested in my kimchi, you’ll find it in this blog. As for the rice, it was simply a matter of chopping up scallion and the Chinese sausage, sautéing the rice with them in the pan in just a bit of oil for a couple of minutes, adding the liquid (half chicken stock and half water) and letting the rice cook in the normal fashion. That’s all there is to it.

So, on to the fish cakes:

Shrimp and scallop "muffins" (makes 4)
8 oz. shrimp, peeled and de-veined
8 oz. scallops
1 or 2 scallions, white and green parts chopped fine
2 tbsp unseasoned breadcrumbs
2 tbsp mayonnaise
Shiaoxing cooking wine
Soy sauce
Wasabi (to taste)

Cut the shrimp and scallops into equal-size pieces, about ½” each. Put them in the food processor with the scallions and pulse to combine. You don’t want a puree. Think of it as a fine chop along with the two elements coming together.

Put the mixture into a bowl and stir together with breadcrumbs and mayonnaise.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and grease a muffin pan with Pam.

Divide the mixture into 4 “muffins”. Bake for 15 minutes.

In the meantime, mix together soy, wine and wasabi. Put it into a small dipping bowl.

King mushrooms stuffed with shrimp and scallops

This experiment was only partly successful. That happens some days. It does not dissuade me, however, from continuing my quest for interesting and innovative things to do in the kitchen.

I think there is the possibility of making this dish and having it turn out to be quite lovely. Probably by cooking the mushrooms by themselves and serving them with the stuffing along side.

The picture below doesn’t give you a very good idea of the size of these puppies. The ones I buy at my favorite Chinese supermarket are 6-7” long and about 2” in diameter. They are very dense in texture, much more so than portobellos. The bottom inch or two of the stem end should be cut off and discarded. It is tough. The top is the most tender portion, which leads me to wonder why the tops are trimmed when I buy them. When I say trimmed I don’t mean the tops are removed. They are shaved straight up the side, leaving you with a cylinder that looks, frankly, like a rather large, uncircumsized male organ.





The idea was simple. Slice the shrooms in half lengthwise. Excavate a deep “V” slit in each half. Stuff it. Tie it together. Saute or roast.

The stuffing I created was very good. It was a mix of scallops, shrimp, scallion, oyster sauce and sriracha. It also included chopped up mushroom from what was hollowed out of each mushroom which I sautéed and let cool before combining it with the seafood mix. I made so much of it that tonight we will have seafood “burgers”.

The problem is a simple one: king mushrooms are very dense in texture. I don’t know if there is a way to tenderize them when they are whole. Chopped up or sliced thin they are quite lovely.

Grilling a Portobello cap and then placing it under the broiler with the stuffing on it probably would be good. Oh well, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

The good news? I think we will have two very tasty shrimp/scallop burgers tonight.