Jun 06

Restaurant Review - Blue Shed, St Helens

For years I was never really into seafood.  I’ve always liked fish – I think because for many years we were spoilt with the freshest whiting caught off the beach by my grandpa.  But prawns, scallops, shellfish – it never really appealed.

I started to like prawns when J’s mum made the most amazing marinated prawn skewers that were cooked on the BBQ.  The prawns were fresh from a local prawn farm.  My love and appreciation of seafood has been slowly evolving since that point.  My most memorable scallops were cooked in cream and garlic in New Zealand, and were caught fresh off the dock out the front of the accommodation.

I guess there is a theme here – and that is freshness.  Tasmania has some of the most amazing seafood I’ve ever tasted, and in St Helens we ate dinner at a restaurant where you could literally see the boats that brought in the catch daily from the window.

It seemed an appropriate place to try lobster for the first time.  And although the price made me blanche slighly, we were on our honeymoon, so what better time to justify the expense!

It didn’t disappoint – the flesh was sweet and tender, with a pool of melted butter inside the shell.  The sides were a beautiful artichoke risotto and steamed greens.

blueshedlobster

J began with the oysters – again, the quality was unsurpassed, and they were served simply with a champagne sauce.  For his main, he had fresh ocean trout with a sesame skin and clams and noodles in an Asian style broth.

blueshedoysters blueshedoceantrout

Although my stomach was groaning at me, I couldn’t miss an opportunity to have dessert.  My eyes were bigger than my stomach, and there was no way I could finish the decadent chocolate torte -but I sure gave it a try!  J finished every bit of his delicious honey panna cotta – proclaiming that we would have to try to replicate it at home!

blueshedhoneypanna blueshedchoctorte

Blue Shed sits right out over the water, and we were on the side closest to the boats – it was a beautiful spot to stare out at the water and stars.  The service was attentive and cheerful, and I cannot recommend this place highly enough.   The fish and chip place next door is fantastic also – a bit pricier than usual but worth it!

Blue Shed
Marina Parade
St Helens, Tasmania
Ph: 03 6376 1170
Web: www.blueshedrestaurant.com.au

06.06.11 | Of: , , | In: Food | 3 comments

Jul 23

Garlic Prawn Pasta

garlicprawnpasta   This is a lovely easy recipe and is beautiful with fresh green prawns.  It’s a great mid-week recipe because it’s quite quick to prepare, and the sauce is smooth and silky.  I think it’s a nice change from having a tomato based sauce.

This dish reminds me of an amazing scampi (small prawns) pasta we had in Venice.  We had visited the amazing fish markets in Venice earlier in the day and had heard good things about the seafood at this restaurant.  After some language confusion we were presented with an enormous serve of fresh, fragrant garlic and tomato scamp pasta.  It was one of the best things I’ve ever eaten, and it was so simple.  I’m still working on recreating the taste – it all turns upon the quality of your seafood.

Garlic Prawn Pasta
Posted July 17, 2010 by Leah in Posted In:
A favourite and on reasonably high rotation in our household. I don't remember where I originally found the recipe (it's handwritten into my book) however I have made a few adaptations over time.

Cuisines:
Details
  • Prep Time:
    10 min
  • Cook Time:
    30 min
  • Ready Time:
    40 min

Ingredients

  • 500 grams Pasta (I use spaghetti or linquine)
  • 3 cloves Garlic, finely chopped
  • 1 cup White wine
  • 2 tbsps Butter (more if you want more sauce)
  • 1 tbsp Olive oil
  • 1 pinch Chilli flakes
  • 20 Green prawns, peeled except for tails
  • 5-6 Semi-dried tomatoes, chopped
  • 1 tbsp Lemon juice
  • 1 tsp Lemon zest
  • 2 tbsps Parsley
  • handful Cherry tomatoes, halved
  • 1 stalk Bok choy, chopped
  • 1 tbsp Parmesan cheese, finely grated

Directions

  1. Cook the past in a large saucepan of boiling salted water.  Reserve 1/2 cup of pasta water.  Drain pasta and set aside to keep warm.
  2. Put oil in a frying pan with the garlic and heat gently over a low heat.
  3. When the oil is hot add the prawns, chilli and half the parsley.  Increase the heat to high and cook for 2-3 minutes. Turn the prawns and cook through.
  4. Remove the prawns and set aside.
  5. Add the lemon juice and white wine to pan, allow to bubble and reduce for two minutes.  At this point I added the semi-dried tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, bok choy and some pasta water and parmesan.
  6. Once the bok choy has cooked down a bit, stir in cold butter and lemon zest until you have a smooth sauce.
  7. Add the prawns and pasta and toss through sauce and heat through.
  8. Top with remaining parsley and some more grated parmesan cheese.
  9. Enjoy!
23.07.10 | Of: , , | In: Food | 2 comments

Feb 15

Rustic Prawn Bisque

Ingredients

I will just provide you with the link to this recipe – I found it on the NY Times website.

We bought several kilos of prawns (green, unshelled) over Christmas and we have slowly been working our way through them.  My appreciation for prawns developed quite late in life, particularly surprising given I’m a Queenslander and loving seafood is like breathing for most of us!  However, I have come to enjoy those succulent little morsels, but like most shellfish, they result in an overabundance of leftover shells.  The great thing about this recipe is that it actually uses the shells to make a prawn stock, which provides a fundamental base layer of flavour to the dish.

Cooking the shells for the stock

This dish is very “prawn-y” so I don’t recommend it if you are not a fan.  However, if you like prawns I feel sure you’ll love this dish.  It is not overly complicated, although it does require a fair bit of stove time.  The leek adds a subtle sweetness and the rice texture and depth.  You will feel like you are eating a far more indulgent dish then you actually are.  We wiped our plates clean with thick slices of white tiger bread and sat back, replete.

Prawn Bisque
15.02.10 | Of: , | In: Food | Leave a comment

Dec 16

Prawn tacos

prawntacos

There is a lack of ‘authentic’ Mexican food available in Brisbane, unless  you consider Montezuma’s authentic…

I’ve been bemoaning this fact for quite a while – I’m convinced there must be more to Mexican food than Old El Paso taco mix and fajitas.  In such a situation, I turn to my fail-safe – the internet.

We made ‘prawn tacos’ on the weekend – using tortillas instead of hard shells.  I googled a few different recipes and came up with my own version.

Prawn tacos
Posted December 16, 2009 by Leah in

Details

Ingredients

Directions

[singlepic id=7 w=500 h=333 mode=watermark float=center] There is a lack of 'authentic' Mexican food available in Brisbane, unless  you consider Montezuma's authentic... I've been bemoaning this fact for quite a while - I'm convinced there must be more to Mexican food than Old El Paso taco mix and fajitas.  In such a situation, I turn to my fail-safe - the internet. We made 'prawn tacos' on the weekend - using tortillas instead of hard shells.  I googled a few different recipes and came up with my own version. [recipe-show recipe=prawn-tacos]
16.12.09 | Of: , , | In: Food | Leave a comment