Steffen's Dinners - Recipes and Photos

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For our most recent dinner invitation, I experimented a little bit. The result is this recipe for a very nice starter salad: Shrimp cakes (same idea as crab cakes) served on lamb's lettuce with a lemongrass, ginger and garlic dressing. Definitely a keeper.

Ingredients

Salad Dressing

• 1 stalk lemongrass (bottom third, outer layer removed)
• 1 oz / 30g ginger, peeled
• 2-3 cloves garlic
• ¼ cup vegetable oil (e.g. grapeseed)
• juice of 1 lime
• ¼ poblano pepper (use hotter peppers if desired)
• 1 cup / 250ml yogurt
• handful of fresh cilantro leaves, finely chopped
• salt to taste

Shrimp Cakes

• 250g raw shrimp, coarsely chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 egg yolk
• green parts of 3 scallions, chopped
• ½ cup fresh cilantro, finely chopped
• 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tbsp mayonnaise
• 2 tbsp flour
• 2 tbsp bread crumbs
• ¼ tsp freshly ground pepper
• ¼ tsp salt or to taste

Salad

• ½ lb / 250g Lamb's Lettuce (or Mâche).
• 1 red bell pepper cut into fine cubes (as garnish)

Salad Dressing

1. In a blender or food processor blend together lemongrass, ginger, garlic, yogurt, poblano pepper, lime juice and salt.
2. Slowly blend in vegetable oil.
3. Stir in chopped cilantro
4. Adjust seasoning with salt
5. Set aside, refrigerate

Shrimp Cakes

1. Combine shrimp and the other ingredients in a mixing bowl. Mix together. Adjust the consistency of the mixture with a bit of water or additional flour and bread crumbs.
2. Adjust seasoning with salt an freshly ground pepper. To check out seasoning, shape a small patty and cook it in the microwave.
3. Refrigerate for an hour so that the mixture becomes more firm
4. Form 2 in / 5cm diameter patties. You should get about 8.
5. Set heavy pan over medium-high heat (non-stick works best). Add generous amount of vegetable oil. Fry the shrimp cakes from both sides until golden brown. Remove from pan, blot dry with paper towels, set aside and keep warm.

Salad

1. Toss the mache with the dressing
2. Combine mache salad and shrimp cakes on plates - two shrimp cakes per plate. Sprinkle with cubed red bell pepper. Serve.

Preparation time ca. 1-1½ hours

Yields 4 servings (2 shrimp cakes per serving)