Spicy Seafood Sauce.

[StudentGuevara]

So tryouts for county competition are approaching, and quickly. This coming Monday to be exact, and I was only aware for the past week, I have come up with a basis of a menu. Money is tight, as I'm sure it is for everyone, and we had to keep it cheap. I am making a Shrimp cake (On the basis of a crab cake). On top I am going to put a Parmesan topped tomato slice that I heated up in the salamander. On the side I was going to put sauted garlic Asparagus, which I thought would go well with the cakes.

But I am stuck on what to use as a starch and a sauce. As for the starch I have no clue, I kind of wanted something light and fluffy to put under the cake in the middle of the plate. Sauce wise I was thinking of just throwing a lime and chive aioli on top, but I thought perhaps that was too simple. I wanted something with a bit of heat that would go great with seafood.

I would really appreciate some good ideas to help kick start my thought process, if thats not too much to ask.

Thanks,
Jordan.

[Peyton]

Not feeling the lime and chipotle sauce with a crab cake.

Before you look at starches take into consideration that shrimp/cake ratio and type of breading use in your cakes.

Maybe an olive/potato puree? With a corn/chipotle sauce?

[StudentGuevara]

So I was talking to my Chef about it,

I think I've decided on a black rice risotto, with wilted spinach as the vegetable, and just a quenelle of an Acidic Aioli on top of the Shrimp cake.


How about that?

[garball]

how about a wasabi aioli and a miso broth. also, I always like a quail egg on top of my cakes.....maybe

[bbally]

So I was talking to my Chef about it,

I think I've decided on a black rice risotto, with wilted spinach as the vegetable, and just a quenelle of an Acidic Aioli on top of the Shrimp cake.


How about that?

I would kill the wilted spinach and go with a julienne of root vegetables. Spinach is to strong for shrimp IMO.

Might look into a vanilla, blueberry, vodka sauce for that shrimp cake. One of the chefs here gave me his appetizer recipe for a shrimp cocktail made with this combo. It is so good I have expanded it to cakes, and all manner of seafood.

[lebelage]

I don't want to be a, but the Forbidden (black) rice risotto is a really bad idea.

Cooks unfamiliar w/Asian cuisines tend to look at black rice & treat it like a great visual potential for colour contrast.

1) the way forbidden rice cooks will be nothing like the texture of a risotto
2) unless you do something weird (again treating it like a visual rather than plate element) like draining all the liquid off (making it not risotto) it will leak unpleasant looking purple juices all over your plate
3) it has a very distinct flavour that sounds like it won't mesh w/ all the stuff going on in your plate

If you are married to the notion of black rice I suggest rather than a risotto (please, please tell this chef not to make risotto of black rice ever) maybe do puffed black rice (like rice crispies) to sprinkle over the top. It will taste bright and nutty, but most importantly it will add intermittant bites of crispiness/textural contrast.

[lebelage]

Also, chipotles while tasty have turned into a bit of a food network cliche.. plus having a lot of nationalities on one plate.

Scotch bonnet chilies (use judiciously) have a wonderful fruity flavour that is brilliant w/seafood AND (since this is a competition) are less expected.

If the smoked aspect of the chipotle is what you're after finish the plate by sprinkling a little smoked sea salt over the top.

[lebelage]

Um..just re-read the original post. lose the tomato slice/parm thing. Tomatoes are out of season-all you'll get is flavourless cardboard toms now.
The main problem w/your plate is that its just all over the place.

Pick a style and flavour profile and stick w/it.

Thai spiced shrimp cake w/chili-lime aioli, grilled long beans, mint salad & puffed black rice

Vietnamese shrimp cake "banh mi style" shrimp cake w/crostini, pickled vegetables. crostini, cilantro & chicken liver sauce

Japanese shrimp cake w/cucumber maki, wasabi butter

Shrimp cake w/confit garlic, preserved tomato salsa, fried basil & spiced parmesan crisps

Shrimp cakes w/Spanish tortilla chips (make a spanish tortilla, freeze, slice thin & fry), roasted pdron peppers & sherry beurre blanc

Can you see here.. how stylistically cohesive these sound? Less like a list of "things I like" put together?
A composed plate isn't about things you like put together. It is about creating a theme, even a mood with a plate. Highs, lows, a base, punctuation...

You don't want a dish to come off as tangental.