Diving for food

Amazing viz, underwater landscape and a cute seal

I've been MIA for a while. I realize that and I do feel guilty about it. It's a good thing that I went to Chocolatesuze's birthday party/food blogger gathering last May 21st as I got to meet new food blogger with whom I could go eat out with and enforce me to actually blog. Fingers crossed this will work. Thanks for the invite btw!!

Lately, I've been into scuba diving and underwater photography (click here if you wanna check out my photos). So that has been taking up my spare time. Also, this year thus far I have received 6 or 7 wedding invitations. Hence the pressure to fit on my dresses and keep the calories away are on. Anyway, I'm gonna share with you the food related part of scuba diving.

Last Easter, I went on a dive trip with a group of photographer divers, one of them is a food diver or hunter gatherer diver. Whatever the term you prefer, it basically means he dive, he takes food. Good right? Fresh seafood! Mmmm.... Mind you, if you do wanna try this make sure you have proper fishing license and know your catch limit. You don't wanna get in trouble with the department of Fisheries.

We wanted some crabs, but there were none. So we ended up with abalone (black lipped) and sea urchins. Yay uni sashimi! It was definitely one of the freshest uni I've ever had. I am so glad that I didn't have to crack it open though haha...

Sea urchins in their original form

Collecting the roes

And the final products!!

Plated... Not the best, but it's not Masterchef here! We just care about taste, taste and taste!

The abalone was so fresh too. It was boiled for a bit, sliced up then sauteed with butter, salt and pepper. We had some thinly sliced grilled eggplant to eat it with. To say it was really good would be an understatement. Freshly caught and prepared, enjoyed with some good cider and cool people...

Sauteed abalone in butter, salt and pepper

Mmmm... I wish I can turn back the time...

Grilled eggplants that we used to wrap the abalone before unceremoniously plonking them in our mouths!

BBQ Baby Octopus at home

Grilled Mediterranean style Baby Octopus

Inspired or rather haunted by the memories of the yummy BBQ baby octopus from Capitan Torres last Monday, I made a trip to Sydney Fish Market yesterday to get some fresh baby octopus. Imagine this, 500 grams (approx. 12 pieces) of baby octopus cost me a mere A$5 compared to the 8-10 pieces for A$16 ish at the restaurant.

However, because there is nothing more I hate than cleaning I improvised a few things so that I have minimal dirt in the kitchen. I lined up the pyrex with baking paper so that I don't have to scrub the dried crusty olive oil later as you can see below.

Pre-grilled marinated baby octopus

Here's the recipe. Let's call it Mediterranean style BBQ Baby Octopus.

500 grams of baby octopus (cleaned)

Marinade:

4 cloves of garlic (chopped finely/pressed)

5-6 tablespoon of olive oil

1/2 a lemon

salt (to taste)

black pepper (to taste)

2 small/medium sized tomatoes (not baby tomatoes - if using this you might need 8-9)

1/2 bunch of corriander (chopped)

1 medium spanish onions (sliced finely)

5 tablespoon of apple vinegar

1. Get a small bowl and mix sliced spanish onions with apple vinegar. Make sure that the onions are submerged and leave it be till step

2. Put finely chopped garlic in a small bowl with olive oil and salt. Mixed together and press the garlic so that the olive oil is infused. Add lemon juice, taste and add salt or olive oil or lemon accordingly.

3. Mix the spanish onions some more, then take it out while squeezing out any excess vinegar in it. In other words, take out the vinegar.

4. Get a container and put baby octopus, diced tomatoes, garlic infused olive oil, spanish onions and black pepper all inside and mix thoroughly.

5. Add chopped coriander on top, close the lid and let it marinade in the fridge for 4-5 hours, half a day or even better a night.

6. Heat your oven to 220C.

7. Lined your pyrex with baking paper (or you don't have to if you don't want to), put everything inside and popped the dish in the oven.

8. Let it grill for about 20-30 minutes and check them once in a while.

And now you should have a fresh off the grilled Mediterranean style baby octopus. I love the freshness of the lemon, tomatoes and olive oil.

Remember: always buy fresh seafood and not store them in the fridge for too long. Try to use it within 2-3 days.

Sydney Fish Market

Pyrmont Bridge Rd.

Pyrmont, NSW 2009

Seafood Galore @Long Beach Dempsey

Long Beach Dempsey's

I can still taste the Scottish bamboo clamp I had that night with my brother, fresh, succulent, meaty. Superb. I have to tell you though, I had the worst day ever before I sat down to enjoy my meal that night. I woke up at 4.30am with a massive headache all over my head, all the way to my jaws, this throbbing that I could feel all the way through my teeth. All these lasted almost 5 hours till I finally took some pain killer. I was so glad that my brother came that day to accompany me to the doctor, I couldn't even walk straight.

My plate with some peanuts and no idea why the towel's wrap is a girl in a swimsuit?

So, after the afternoon visit to the doctor my bro said to me, 'okay, lets grab some real nice fancy dinner and go home and rest'. Then I heard him say, "Long Beach"? That's when I knew that the meal was not a pure brotherly love but also some hidden craving for crabs. Anyway, I was game cause I love the Scottish Bamboo Clamps there. It's quite costly SGD 10/piece, but good heavens it is worth it. So I told him, let's go as long as I get my 2 pieces of Scottish Bamboo Clamps.

Scottish Bamboo Clamps in garlic and soy sauce

We ended up ordering the bamboo clamps, Singapore Chili Crab and Cereal Prawn. It was cholesterol madness, but last time I had my check up which wasn't too long ago, my cholesterol level is good. It'd be ok for this feast. The clamps were huge. The flesh so tender but yet firm and sweet. The simplicity of minced garlic and soy sauce brought out the freshness of the clamps.

The Cereal Prawn came after the bamboo clamps, it was huge, full of meat and sweet. The cereal nicely complimented the prawn. The cereal were crispy, savory and lightly sweet. I really wish I was more famished that day.

Plateful of Cereal Prawns

Notice the size of the prawn...

The Singapore Chili Crab had lots of flesh which was quite easy to pick apart. Since we ordered a female crab, the eggs were just fantastico! The Singaporean chili sauce was done nicely too, not too sweet but savory.

Singapore Chilli Sauce Crab

It was a nice crabby ending to a crappy day... Yeah, I know it's cheesy, but just give me this once...

Long Beach @Dempsey
25 Dempsey Road
Tanglin Village
Singapore
+65 6323 2222